Since I can't seem to figure out how to spotlight articles I wrote before the new Gather update, I've decided to list them here and spotlight this article. This will be a collection of all my most important articles, so read up if you want to get to know the Small Town Atheist!
On Rational Thought
Taken from my blog at thesmalltownatheist.blogspot.com, this article briefly discusses rational thinking and its counterpart, faith.
The Fallacy of Emotion
I talk about how emotions and beliefs don't affect reality, and how many religious people will use appeals to emotion to create a need for their belief.
What Do Atheists Believe?
Explains that no two atheists are alike...they are only united under a single description: not holding a belief in a deity.
'Wonder What Thomas Jefferson Really Meant', A Challenge
My rebuttal to another Gather post. The article deals with the founding of America as a secular system, not based on Christianity.
Flunked, not Expelled
Exposes some of the ignorant claims present in Ben Stein's film "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed". This article reveals the deception, hypocrisy, and outright wrongness of the so-called documentary. Learn more at www.expelledexposed.com
Why Not Believe?
Another post from my blog, this article points out that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and we should remain skeptical if none can be provided.
Myths of Atheism
This began a series I did for Gather's Triple Points week. It covers ten of the most common misconceptions about the atheist perspective.
An Agnostic Atheist
My first ever video, defining what 'agnostic' and 'atheist' really mean. The video struck up a pretty long conversation between me and a reader who accused me of proselytizing. Check out the other videos on Gather, and visit my YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/smalltownatheist
This certainly isn't all my work here on Gather, so be sure to view my namespace for everything. If you enjoy my work (or completely disagree) and want to let me know, hit my blog, my YouTube channel, my Stickam profile, my Myspace portal, or my profile at Atheist Nexus. If you're looking for stimulating conversation on matters of faith and religion, stop by my Debate Faith group here on Gather.
EDIT: Since the time of this writing, Gather has made it possible to spotlight previous articles. But I've already written this, and it's good enough.
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 56
It's true we're all indoctrinated, or liable to be, by our elders, both present and past ones. There's a whole pressure of the past which is biased, or can be, or can be presented as being on behalf of 'good.' There is the history of this seemingly endless raging about guilt and sin and how we should be grateful and how it's all for us and so on, and so on. It is sold to our vulnerabilites and insecurities, especially at teenage, and we're offered a solution by this big 'machinery' .....which really can do nothing; we do it to ourselves.
I enjoyed reading the few articles I did read of yours and will chew over more of them. I get quite frustrated when I read elswhere on gather the repeated efforts of huge swathes of texts copied into articles by some well-meaning people, as if they are just scoring the points, with little or no comment, no real reason for publishing the stuff, other than feeling self satisfied when they get the shallow, sycophantic comments, and a few 'amen's' and 'way to go's!'.
One article recently was written as a 'devotional' piece and my efforts to open up the discussion were met, I felt, with a polite, kinda, 'this is not the place.' It must be so comfortable living in that kind of bubble, but no new discoveries or learning to look forward to.
What I find, also, is the selective memories of those who just want to tell you about this man in the sky. They forget, or simply don't know the details of, things like the Crusades where anything happened, incluing slavery, killing, pillaging, in the cause of 'converting' the natives of other countries, the Spanish Inquisition where untold torture and murder went on, the Inquisition in Venice where people were burnt, drowned, or boiled in oil because they didn't conform to the State Religion, and, more recently, the bad treatment of children in certain 'religious' schools...all in the name of 'religion.' Then we have that lovely man, the Great George, who claims he had 'god' on his side when making decisions to invade - oops! - help Iraq. It must be so reassuring to be THAT arrogant!
It is foolish for Man to think that he can know all the answers, even if he blames some of the ills on the old man in the sky!
My pet phrase is, "THE FROG THOUGHT THE WELL A FINE STRETCH OF WATER......UNTIL HE SAW THE SEA." I just wish a lot more people would try to think 'out of the box' and catch a glimpse of the beach!
Keep on keepin' on, Tristran!!!
Peace.
John, can you explain a bit more? I'll help if I can.
<a href="http://www.URL.com">words to link</a>
We atheists get that a lot, that we're somehow "mad at the church", or "your just angry at God". I can tell you, Mary, that I'm not mad at my church -- that is, I'm not mad at ANY church unless you count the fact they are brainwashing centers. I can't be "angry at God" to the degree that I can't be "angry at Spiderman".
But you're free to believe what you wish. I however have come to the point where I actually care about whether or not my beliefs are true or most likely to be true. I've decided that I'd much rather help others on earth by actual means of helping -- donating time, money, food, services...whatever -- rather than share fanciful stories about talking donkeys and Zombie carpenters.
She stated she just saw a white spirtual being going by her in the bathroom.
My brother knew he was going to die, as he apologized to all of us for what we didn't know. But found out that two weeks previous to that event, he was trying to get life insurance. He was only 21.
I pray you find your soul and not be so afraid of it.
When I was a Christian, my world view forced me to reconcile "strange occurrences" with the supernatural or God. When you're in that frame of mind, you'll attribute EVERYTHING to God, souls, or other supernatural things.
I am very sorry for your loss, and I can understand how such a thing would effect a close family. But we simply cannot count personal revelation or testimony as evidence -- because ANYONE can say such things. I could tell you that all throughout my life I've had experiences with the Invisible Pink Unicorn. Like this one time, I was walking in the woods and our dog, May, ran after something. I couldn't see what it was but she obviously could. And after a while she stopped chasing whatever it was and sat down. When I caught up to her, I looked down and saw a tiny hoof-print in the mud. It must have been IPU giving me a sign!
Now Mary, realize that I'm not trying to belittle your loss or your story. I'm just trying to show you how personal anecdotes can't be taken as proof of anything. We've all heard strange stories about premonitions, spirit sightings, and the like, but the fact of the matter is that there has NEVER been ANY SHRED of proof to them. Every test that has ever been conducted on these phenomenon has yielded little to no evidence, and those tests that do get a positive result fail to be replicated by other scientists.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't believe. I don't think you're being completely honest with yourself, and I think (I know because I've been there) that you're world view is coloring your interpretation of things. But believe what you will. I, like many other freethinkers, have decided to only put our money down on claims that are backed by evidence, reason, and science.
I will suggest though...that it is you Mary... who is afraid, not Tristan...not me...not the other freethinkers of the world, but you who is afraid. You are afraid of the unknown and so you substitute your faith for the real answers you cannot accept and those answers none of us can ever have.
You have excused yourself of your individual responsibility for your life and in doing so, you can blame your failures on the will of your god just as you attribute your successes to his will. It's a great place to be...if you are afraid of reality.
My words have been harsh, but I promise I mean them only as my point of view and as what I consider to be in constructive with regards to this conversation about faith in a supreme being.
Please consider c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y what Michael has just pointed out. He is spot-on in his analysis. It's tough to deal with reality but life is filled with better living in the 'real' world.
I feel privalaged and could only hope that you all could enjoy this ride too.
There are those of us who knew from day one what they were called to be, just as you knew what you wanted to do in work.
I do work for my fellow man in many ways, prayer wise and physically.
Your words are eloquent but so scientific.
Before making a final verdict on deciding to not believe. I would hope that you would at least take a survey of physicians who have handled doa's or those who expired and returned to life.
I will be honest and tell you that I feel you (pl) are afraid that someone else might be in control.
ps, I knew someone would have the gull to say that seeing spirits after my brother's death would seem delusional. But for someone who has not seen, nor felt where it came from, that would therefore make it an uneducated statement and guess. As for the trifecta dream from a very peaceful heaven to three different sources on earth, I would say that is definately spiritual. Guess you had to be there. And I hope you achieve 'there' as well. Because that's my prayers for you.
In God's way, Blessings
I enjoy talking about religion and faith in god. My opinions are not aimed at one person of faith, including you, but all who participate in the worship of a god and all who believe in the supernatural. Sorry to have offended you, I was merely expounding my opinions and those opinions stand.
Just so you will be aware...it is offensive to those who don't share faith in your god to be told that we will be prayed for....at least it is for me.
It would be fine with me, and it usually is, if someone uses faith, a strong belief in what ever "god", or thing they choose, to get by in their daily lives.. to improve, to have a means in which to feel loved. We need this as humans, and love is not all it's supposed to be, since we put so much expectation into it. Believers cross the line of decency and respect for others when they force their "one size fits all" system on the rest of us.
God is imaginary
We can see reality by looking at a simple example. Imagine that the rate of remission for some particularly nasty type of cancer is 5%. That means that if 20 people get this type of cancer, it is almost always fatal. Only one in twenty of the people who get the disease will survive. Knowing this, you can see what happens if we actually analyze prayer:
* 20 believers contract the disease
* All of them have read James 5:15, so all of them pray.
* 19 of them die
* The one who lives proclaims, "I prayed to the Lord and the Lord answered my prayers! My disease is cured! It is a miracle! I KNEW God would answer my prayers!"
* You never hear about the 19 who died. No one ever writes about them in a magazine. "Person prays, then dies" is not a great headline. And since they are dead, you will never hear from any of these people.
* Therefore, if you don't look at all the facts around the "answered prayer," and you only hear about the one out of twenty prayers that succeed, it appears that prayer is successful.
The fact is, believers who pray die from this disease at exactly the same rate as people who do not.
You write, "Your words are eloquent but so scientific." Your particular selection of vocabulary encourages one to think that perhaps your rational thought process sputters alive occasionally. Michael H. and Debra W. have shared with/about you some particularly cogent thinking. Debra's (above) is brilliant in its simplicity and poignancy. Again, I urge you to consider their wisdom.
No girl, rational thinking won't make your pain about fear of death go away, but if you try real hard you just might find you'll get what you need. (I promise: the pop-lyrical phrase just now popped into my head.)
Yeah, you should be "taking this personally." You see, rational people are beginning to push back politely and firmly. You put yourself out here and we responded. No longer is the vague mantle of so-called "faith" given a free hand in a public forum without challenge. These conversations are good for Gather and helpful to the further evolution of our human species on our home planet.
We are worth so much more than manipulation using old texts, sometimes spoken by a self-appointed hierarchy of 'experts' and 'scholars' in the subject. Thinking 'out of the box' is interesting.
I think a little more detail is important. Many things have been done 'in the name of god' which were, and are, unforgivable. The Inquisition was a sad time for ordinary people if they chose not to believe in the State Religion. Not only did it happen in Spain, but Italy, Peru and other places, where the 'church' of the day decided to imprison, torture, drown, murder those who refused to be told what label of belief they were under. See the history.
Tristran, it seems that, in the matter of religion, people make a decision about a belief, then make everything fit to justify the religion they follow. In science and, possibly philosophy too, we are faced with a set of questions, then find answers which make the most logic.
Why do good...who cares? Athiests have themselves to be accountable...quite simple indeed...
I am signing off this article. Blessings and prayers sent your way.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-75533394.html
My oh my. This is just tough love... and life in the real.
Question: Why do people with closed minds always open their mouths?
Gee oh gee.
Answer: Because, there's a place athiests haven't found yet...an indesputable sub-conscious.)))
http://www.pbs.org/inquisition/
I wonder what it is like being so 'right' that you can do no wrong, as they did at the time. In one religious quarter nowadays, at least, this is denied or kept quiet. I could never think of being connected with an organisation whose 'emperor' initiated this sort of thing, in Italy, Spain and as far as Peru.
I'd rather work life out for myself.
Peace.
You respond to my query: " Answer: Because, there's a place atheists (sp?) haven't found yet...an indisputable (sp?) sub-conscious."
Thank you for the retort because I believe that your choice of words is sublimely revealing and adds depth to this conversation. You blithely mention the existence of "an indisputable (sp?) sub-conscious (read: happy place - perhaps somewhere in your left-side brain) that you faith-fixated folks have chosen for cerebral retreat.
I believe Mary H. is psychologically hiding in her faith hovel … perhaps beside you … and is unable to connect her dreams with reality. That's the essence of Michael's observation about Mary's delusion. And it is hard not to make this personal when the evidence points to something so acutely so. After all, the extreme form of this state is known a schizophrenia.
Discussions such as these are uncomfortable for all concerned. It certainly does me. Fact is, I thought about poor disillusioned and delusional Mary last night before falling asleep and again this morning before doing anything else. But as I explained, my intellectual goal these days is to make your collective retreat to that "happy place" not as easy or as comfortable as it once was – especially when I've encountered one of you projecting your views toward me.
You aren't going to change. Neither is Mary. Rationalist know that. But slowly - confrontation by confrontation - a critical zeitgeist may develop toward considered reason and away from blind faith.
That, my dear antagonist, is but one facet of human e-v-o-l-u-t-i-o-n on the planet Earth.
Thanks for the blow back. I am intellectually pleased that you have found your 'happy place' to help you cope. In the short term, and in a limited way, there is no harm. But when one steps away from the 'me box' and considers the entire human picture and the broad sweep of human time this faith fixation becomes problematic.
And, of course, for the optimum evolutionary development modern life requires that people 'think.' You, on the other hand, seem to have not to bother yourself with such burdensome requisites. You don't have to exercise your mental muscle; you have only to f-e-e-l. And that's your fix … the faith fix that you so-proudly wave.
If you want to debate something, please bring it to the fore. No, come to think about it, that wouldn't do any good. You are 'IronWoman' and impervious to reason. To my mind, you are clearly in 'LaLaLand' and long ago dove deep into the euphoria of prayerful delusion.
What a pity to be guided by such an abiding sense of day-to-day fear!
Yours only in meaningful confrontation,
~ Ken
Know thy enemy: I am an a-t-h-e-i-s-t… not an 'athiest.' (sp) I've pointed this out to you twice in separate comments. (Sheesh. Gather is a literary web site, after all.)
Girlfriend, see what I mean about the long-term effects of conditioning yourself against 'thinking?' It's an insidious affliction.
Why do good...who cares? Athiests have themselves to be accountable...quite simple indeed..." --Charity
Charity, do you honestly believe that no one will care if you or I start harming people, or committing general malevolence? "Who cares" -- is it really that hard to imagine someone caring? Your theology instructs you to see the worst in people, to hate yourself, your body, and your humanity. It forces you to believe that "humans are basically evil, and it takes God to make you good".
Let me ask you this: if you somehow KNEW FOR SURE that there was no God, would you go out and randomly start killing/raping/stealing from people?
If your answer is 'yes', then by all means keep your ass in church, keep reading "The Word" and keep praying and believing in God, because most people wouldn't put up that kind of behavior!
However, if you decide that you could be a helpful, loving, kind-hearted person even when you knew you wouldn't get a prize at the end of your life for it, do you think that your acts of kindness and social irrespectively wouldn't go unnoticed or appreciated? And don't you think that doing "good" and helpful things is -- in itself -- a better reward than a "heavenly mansion"?
I'll let the rest of you address her No-True-Scotsman fallacy, her *knowledge* of an afterlife, her promotion of praying, and her ignorance on evolution. I've had a long, busy weekend!
Tristan, sir >
Ah ha. My middle-aged brain misplaced the well-worn message of the words "NO TRUE SCOTSMAN". I recalled it vaguely from some argumentation and debate class long, long ago. You see, like many Boomers, I'm trying NOT to let my previous schooling get in the way of my adult education and half the battle is relearning HOW to think.
So I went to Wikipedia, and a cut and paste a brief tutorial, to follow. But Tristan, I think we are wasting our time here with dear deluded Charity. She appears bulletproof to reason and logic. At best all we can reasonably hope for is to impact anyone who seeks to figure out the truth of a matter for them self rather than pontificate their mis-perceived truths.
That disclaimer aside, here for any interested readers (and me) is the abridged skinny on the "Scotsman" phrase from Wikipedia ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman:
Imagine Hamish McDonald, a Scotsman, sitting down with his Glasgow Morning Herald and seeing an article about how the "Brighton Sex Maniac Strikes Again." Hamish is shocked and declares "No Scotsman would do such a thing." The next day he sits down to read his Glasgow Morning Herald again and this time finds an article about an Aberdeen man whose brutal actions make the Brighton sex maniac seem almost gentlemanly. This fact shows that Hamish was wrong in his opinion but is he going to admit this? Not likely. This time he says, "No true Scotsman would do such a thing.
—Antony Flew, Thinking about Thinking, 1975
Flew's original example may be softened into the following [1]:
Argument: "No Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge."
Reply: "But my uncle Angus, who is a Scotsman, likes sugar with his porridge."
Rebuttal: "Aye, but no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge."
It should also be noticed that in putting forward this fallacious rebuttal one is employing an ad hoc shift in argument.
This form of argument is an informal fallacy if the predicate ("puts sugar on porridge" or "does such-and-such an act [as committing a sex crime]") is not actually contradictory of the accepted definition of the subject ("Scotsman"), or if the definition of the subject is silently adjusted after the fact to make the rebuttal work.[2]
As a real-world example, suppose a non-technical layman is debating the merits or otherwise of various video camcorders. He might assert that: "Any video engineer will tell you that the Matsushiba KYX300 format is vastly superior to the Magnasonic VBX2000." If someone points out, many engineers are on record as saying that the VBX2000 is actually the better system, the original speaker may modify his premise to state: "Any video engineer who knows what they are talking about."
This is really another form of begging the question. His assertion is essentially self-nullifying, in that, not being an engineer, he is hardly in any position to judge the credentials of people who are.
This is connected to the widespread attempt in debate to assert that positive terms (good, decent) imply, naturally or by definition, the characteristics argued for (opposition to capital punishment, pornography, smoking in public), rather than actually making an argument why they are connected. "No decent Scotsman" can be considered the moral (practical) equivalent of the theoretical "No true Scotsman".
Thank you, sir.
I for one REALLY appreciate your article(s) and the fact that such discussions serve to flush deluded grouse out the weeds and give some atheists a chance to locate each other amidst the chaos of day-to-day affairs.
Zowie, this is the power of the Internet at work!
In his own words: "I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism, cherish such thoughts."
"From fear or absurd egoism"? And I was going to ask people on this thread not to use such harsh language.... :-)
Aniko >
Thank you for the addendum on Einstein. To some on this string it will be welcome news. For some others there is nothing left but the application of some consistent confrontation.
Profanity? Agreed, THAT should be avoided. We are literate adults here. But for too many years (at least 1,500) rational minds have been consciously ignoring the insidious effects of irrationality and giving those who are fixated on faith a free pass during most open discussions.
So-called 'Faith' by its very nature is an intensely personal experience. Discussions like these will and must get personal at times... occasionally with strong undertones.
She stated she just saw a white spirtual being going by her in the bathroom.
I saw white things going by my bathroom door. They were ghosts of people and animals that had died in my house.
I don't even get to see UFOs and aliens from other planets, let alone get abducted and have wild crazy sex against my will.
I'm pissed!
I haven't experiences the UFOs and wild crazy sex. but promise I'll take pictures if it happens. My neighbor says he was abducted but I haven't heard any details.
Now when we let two of my step son's friends live there for a while last summer, they swore up and down the place was haunted. LOL. I thought they were just paranoid, hearing bumps in the night. Maybe she just didn't like them! hehe
JK
Jerome, sir >
You are spot-on with your comment and I thank you for reminding me about it ... again, and again.
Aniko, ma'am >
From the bottom of my heart I wish 'strong undertones' were not necessary. Nevertheless, they are ... for all the reasons (personal and public) we both know so well.
When confronted with the hard questions about your god...such as "why are millions of humans on this planet starving, without medical care, oppressed, without hope or opportunity"...your answer can only be.."because it is god's will". When and if you pray for the starving people on this planet...when you pray that they will be given food and medical care and hope...a chance...and nothing happens...your explanation is "it is god's will and it is not for us to understand"
This is amazing to me and surely you can understand why I feel, as do many others, that you have abandoned reality in favor the fabricated pacifier of blind faith.
We are all stardust, and to stardust we'll return.
As Buckminster Fuller pointed out, we are fellow travelers on Spaceship Earth.
Praise be to the Pink Unicorn!!!
The Pink Unicorn loves you and has a plan for your life!
P.U. Saves!!!
In my life I have known religious, spiritual and what I call highly evolved people. Many of these people were atheists and made the best 'Christians' I've ever known in how they lived their lives of integrity and honor.
Nice to meet you.
Dropping by to DB10 a Gather friend.
Personally, I have a belief in God, but does that mean that my personal truth needs to be your truth? No.
I applaud you and I think that you do such a great service to us by making sure that we as a people don't simply accept everything that we're told.