TS and the religious right wing

The praying and crying and gnashing of teeth by the fundamentalist right wing of this country over the Terri S. case is an obvious case of their strange need for everyone to see how pious they are. Somehow this group is so insecure with their own faith that they have to haul it out and make extravagent public displays of themselves. If you think praying helps, pray. You don't have to put tape over your mouth that says LIFE and pray. You don't have to stand outside the poor husbands home with candles and signs and pray. Just pray. Or do you just want a little attention for yourself? This picture shows what I mean I think in many ways.

Check out Leah's Worldly Gossip for a link to the NY times article about this as well.

The moral high ground

I was listening to the radio the other day (wgn as it turns out. Must have been comercials on all the other stations.) and the radio guy was talking about the feeding tube case in Florida. First off, do all weird and depressing stories come out of florida or is Mississippi just not reporting theirs? Anyway, this guy is discussing the interesting moral issues of removing someones feeding tube (boy does that sound like 'Brave New World' or what?) and to establish his position he tells his audience that he's a church guy, he goes to church and prays and all that, so then...

Now what am I supposed to think? I think he thjinks he is establishing himself as a moral person by telling me he believes in invisible beings that have some control or interest in life on earth. How does that work? I pray so I am good? I don't pray so I am bad? Once again most people think of church goers as the good people and the atheists as the bad people. And, once again there is no support for this position.

We are good and bad by our daily deeds. By how we treat each other. By how we treat strangers. By how we tend to our children and to theirs. All of these deeds stand separate from what one may or may not believe in. It is REASONABLE to be a fair and moral person. If you give it a moments consideration you see that we are all better off if we all are willing to some extent to give the other guy a break and help out once in a while even if it is nothing for you.

Makes sense.

Penn & Teller

Penn & Teller are my favorite atheists. They have a show that I've never seen where they debunk people who make supernatural claims. These guys are the ultimate example of how a life lacking any connection to spirituality is still vibrant and interesting. Here's a link describing their show in some more detail

http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/about.do

OH, and here's another site for atheists with a great Ayn Rand quote. Check it out...

http://www.atheists.com/index.php

THE ten commandments

I know it seems hard to believe but once again the supreme court has to decide whether or not a govermental body can legally post the ten commanments. Seems like we've been through this a few times. I heard a theist on the radio screaming that the ten commanments were what this country was founded on. Here's a surprise...he had a southern accent!

Separation of church and state means that you have complete freedom to believe anything you damn well pleas and nobody can stop you. ISN'T THAT ENOUGH? No. You are so taken with your own believe system that you feel the need to cram it down everyones' craw. What about the Atheists. Ok there's only a couple of dozen of us but still. What about Muslims? American Indians (see note about numbers of atheists) but you get my point. What one person finds awe inspring another may find repulsive therefore...SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.

I hope the Supreme Court does the right thing but nothing would surprise me anymore.

Here's a link to an Atheist site with more info on the vote today.

http://www.atheists.org/