An Expanded Definition of Atheism?

The dictionary definition of atheist is “one who lacks belief in God/gods”. I suppose that brief phrase is sufficient, since there is no official dogma or doctrine that atheists hold in common. But based on my experience some large percent of non-believers do hold in common certain basic principles, ethics, and philosophy on life.

In 1963 the Supreme Court stopped the practice of prayer in school. Their decision was in response to Murray v. Curlett, a suit brought by Madelyn Murray O’Hare a famous atheist activist. During that trial the following “definition” of Atheism was given to the Supreme Court by the plaintiff’s attorney. It makes a lot of sense, check it out:

“Your petitioners are Atheists and they define their beliefs as follows: An Atheist loves his fellow man instead of god. An Atheist believes that heaven is something for which we should work now – here on earth for all men together to enjoy.

An Atheist believes that he can get no help through prayer but that he must find in himself the inner conviction, and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue it and enjoy it.

An Atheist believes that only in knowledge of himself and knowledge of his fellow man can he find the understanding that will help to a life of fulfillment.
He seeks to know himself and his fellow man rather than to know a god.

An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand and love man.

He wants an ethical way of life. He believes that we cannot rely on a god or channel action into prayer nor hope for an end of troubles in a hereafter.

He believes that we are our brother's keepers; and are keepers of our own lives; that we are responsible persons and the job is here and the time is now.”

It’s not perfect, nor would I expect every atheist to subscribe to all of it. I don’t necessarily buy into the “brother’s keeper” phrase. But it makes a strong distinction between atheism’s reality based ethics, humanity for the sake of humanity, and personal ownership/accountability, Vs the theist’s “pie in the sky” supernatural dependency and abdication of responsibility to a myth.

It evidently had the desired effect on the Supreme Court justices.

Ten Commandments: New and Improved

Well, the Senate resolution (S.Res.483) proposed by the religious whack job Brownback, to make the first weekend in May “Ten Commandments Weekend”, hasn’t budged since it was proposed in March. Maybe our Senators aren’t total asshats after all. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, it occurs to me (as it likely has all of us) that if the Ten Commandments were suppose to be God's directive on how to live our lives, be good and moral people, and ensure the continuity of a civilized world, he sure blew a golden opportunity.

I mean “no other gods”, " no graven images", "no God Damn!!” , “observing the Sabbath” seem to be rather petty and self serving throwaways given the potential there was to avert a lot of bad human activity that this god should have surely known we'd lapse into.

So I came up with my "New and Improved Commandments for Thinking People". If these were the basis for morality and ethical behavior then religion would have been superfluous, its renowned excesses avoided, and maybe things wouldn't have gone awry so often. Here they are:

1. Don't murder folks.

2. Slavery is wrong, don’t do it.

3. Don’t take stuff that's not yours

4. Pedophilia is wrong, don’t do that.

5. Women and Men are equals; afford them equal respect.

6. Don't lie, unless by not lying it causes a greater injustice.

7. Don't war over imaginary supernatural things, or to spread your version of Utopia to every culture. Save war as the last resort for retaining your freedoms, maintaining the freedoms of allies, or preventing genocide.

8. Protect the defenseless from those who have no civility.

9. Be kind to animals, even if you are going to eventually eat them.

10. Genetic variances cause racial and sexual preference differences. Accept it. Treat everyone as you would be treated.

No need to live on a mountain for forty days, nor worship any dead minority, or stick your face in the dirt five times a day and mumble your devotion. It’s common sense for the ages, it’s ethics & morality evolved, it’s simple humanity.

Of course, I have an advantage over the original Ten Commandments authors; I’m not a Bronze Age politically motivated, controlling, genocidal, slavery suborning, male chauvinist cultist. I’m just a humble Free Thinking camel

May 1, 2008: The National Day of Idiocy, just in case you missed it.

In the 50’s a lot of crazy religious proclamations were made by Congress. They added the “under god” phrase to the pledge; added “In god We Trust” to paper currency; and declared the first Thursday in May a “national day of prayer”.

A lot of this stemmed from the “Red Fear”, the hysteria over Communism in the 50’s with Joe McCarthy the poster boy for fear, persecution and paranoia. The logic being that Communists wouldn’t handle money, or say the pledge…thus exposing them as the godless heathen fiends that they were. A brilliant plan by highly intelligent Christians.

So last week, Thursday May 1, theists of all sects, denominations and cults were supposed to bow their heads, or kneel, or prostrate themselves while mumbling some prayers to their respective concepts of God or gods. The focus was supposed to be prayer for our nation.

There is even an official National Day of Prayer website, that I will say, right here, and right now, is the shallowest, most insipid, and idiotic website I have visited since the last time I checked up on our good God fearing Christian friend Fred Phelps.

Check it out at your convenience, you won’t be disappointed: http://www.ndptf.org/home/home.html

The whole website reads like a caricature of theistic stupidity at its worst. I checked twice to make sure it wasn’t some parody site created by a smart ass atheist.

There you will find the official prayer for 2008, a meaningless and childlike assemblage of self serving drivel. A quick read, it infers God blesses America because it is more worthy than those other starving and hideously suffering peoples of underdeveloped nations that presumably don’t HAVE a National Day of Prayer. One is left to assume those countries are the way they are by God’s will…or his divine neglect. Basically it boiled down to “Thanks …and keep up the good work God! Amen.”

In another section you will find out how effective group prayer is, as proven by Washington DC having had six days without a murder. Similarly Orlando Florida had a reprieve from their body count too. Both were specifically attributable to God’s intervention as a result of intense coordinated prayers. (Presumably after DC’s six days, and Orlando’s brief respite from crime God decided “no more Mr. Nice guy”, and the shit hit the fan again … go figure).

The same section also offered a heart warming account of how a father’s prayer delivered his son from a shooting on campus, as well as sparing his whole athletic team: proof of the power of prayer. Evidently only non-athletic nerds were killed by the gunman so one is left to deduce that God responds best to prayers from sports fans or athletes’ fathers. Nerd’s fathers carry no weight with God it seems (no explanation was offered as to why God decided to let 16 non-athletes be shot to death instead … go figure).

If December 7th 1941, Pearl Harbor Day, is known as the “day that will live in infamy”, then the first Thursday in May is the “day we devote to idiocy” ... when modern day shamans and witch doctors stand before the theistically enslaved and utter their thanks and pleas to the nonexistent figment of their collective ganglia. And the good news is they get to do it again next year.

In ‘09 I’m not gonna sit on my hands. No sir! I’m going to do my part by sacrificing a virgin chicken to Baal. Hey … when it comes to meaningless gestures of superstitious nonsense every little bit helps.

Refuting Theist Myth: Exercise in Futility

In a message group I belong to a member recently posted an inquiry. It speaks to two common theist ploys: falling into the trap of trying to refute myth, and dealing with a patently bogus theist proposition.

Here’s his posting:

I am having a discussion on the resurrection of Jesus and the gentleman’s line of reasoning goes something like this –
“Jesus’ disciples went to their deaths proclaiming that He did physically rise from the dead. While others may die for their faith, these first followers of Jesus knew the truth—one way or the other. I know of no example of people dying for a lie.”
Now the last point is an argument from personal ignorance. But I was hoping to find some reference to refute the argument of the disciples’ personal "knowledge" of his resurrection. Can some one point me to a good argument?

My response:

You won't find any contradicting New Testament scripture as to his disciples’ belief in resurrection, if by disciples you mean the remaining eleven Apostles. And why would you? The New Testament wasn't exactly an even handed treatment of various Christian perspectives. It established exactly what the church fathers wanted it to, the Jesus' resurrection fable being central to the preferred Christian doctrine. Dissenting interpretations were not welcome.

James (alleged bro of Jesus) was the leader of the "Christian Jews" who practiced a reformed Judaism, and viewed Jesus as Prophet and Rabbi, but not a deity. Thus, it is likely they did not believe in resurrection. But their take isn't admitted into church canon. The losing point of view would be suppressed, purged, redacted / revised into obscurity leaving only 100% concurrence with the dominant cult's resurrection doctrine.

According to John 20:19-23, Jesus appeared to the apostles after his death and showed them his crucifixion wounds. Thus, scripture would have you believe they all would have had "personal knowledge" that he died and was resurrected.

So, now what? Trying to refute a fool's fable is a fool's errand at worst, an exercise in futility at best. You might as well try and refute Wicca theology that goddesses and gods are able to manifest in personal form; or argue with Muslims that Mohammed didn't really fly up to Paradise on his horse like the Quran says; or tell a Mormon that the Angel Moroni was a fabrication. It goes nowhere.

As for the inane comment about "not knowing of anyone who has ever died for a lie": Oscar Wilde said it best: "A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it." I'm sure you can dispatch that fallacious theist idiocy rather easily. Start with every Muslim who ever died for Islam; or every American soldier who died in Vietnam to stop the spread of Communism; or every soldier who died in Iraq, and those that will.

It Takes a Christian Mind to Call Child Rape and Murder "God's Gift"

I was browsing the internet looking for some good stupid theist quotes when I stumbled across this beauty:

[Talking about an eleven year old girl who was raped and then buried alive] “God was sacrificing this child as a way to show others the light. much as he did his own child. what a beautiful gift he has given us.”
Howie R, Yahoo Answers [Comments (269)] [2007-Nov-08]


As a result of that wondrous insight there were 11 pages of comments lambasting “Howie”, some as recent as just this week, although that posting was almost 6 months ago!!

What’s interesting about this phenomenon is that as sick and twisted as that statement is, “Howie” has done no more than any other Christian apologist who seeks to provide an excuse or justification for their mythical god's apparent unconcern / non-responsiveness to extreme evil / aberrant human behavior … or His outright endorsement of it.

“Howie” simply took a horrendous inexplicable act of a psychotic killer, and imbued it with religious significance that put a happy face on it. Praise Jesus!!!

The (happily) deceased Jerry Falwell did it with Katrina, declaring it God's wrath for New Orleans' evil ways; and by declaring the death of millions from AIDs as Gods vengeance. Pat Robertson did it by attributing the 3,000 innocent deaths of 9/11 to God’s retribution for America's tolerance of homosexuality. They both did it, as did Muslim Imams, when the 2004 tsunami killed thousands in se Asia. Heck, Fred Phelps credits God with wantonly killing people everyday… “God’s gift” to America he’ll tell you.

If in their sick superstitious minds their God will kill thousands by permitting, even causing, terrorist attacks, hurricanes, earthquakes, then why be shocked at one more hyper-religious Fundie whack job seeing God's hand in the rape and murder of one small child, and throwing a positive spin on it to boot? Besides, don’t Christians put a positive spin on the death of children all the time with their platitudinous “She’s in a better place.” or “God had a better need for her.”? Further, isn’t what “Howie” said right in keeping with the concept of “God’s Plan” which theists claim man can never really know or understand?

To hyper religious fanatics' convoluted mind gymnastics, these bizarre "leaps of faith" in lieu of reason, logic, common sense, good taste, and sanity are necessary to retain and justify their belief. Without this kind of obscene twisted illogic and self delusion they would be forced to see how patently absurd their total immersion in supernaturalism is.

The human mind is a marvelous thing. That it can be so badly abused by the religious brain virus is pretty damn scary.

Mark Twain: Humorist, Author, Man of Reason, Atheist.

As is more often than not the case, men whose minds are lucid and perceptive, who can see the foibles, fanaticism, and foolishness of men for what they are, stand out as icons of reason and creativity. Samuel Clements (AKA Mark Twain) was one of those men.

Beloved for his writings which have stood as the quintessential examples of American folk humor, wit, and observations on the human condition, Twain was also a Free Thinker. He commented often about religion, decrying its evils which he saw as outweighing any good it may contribute to civilization.

The following is an extract from one of his writings. Classic Twain, his wry observations are as true now as they were then, and will be for the foreseeable future … until man finally comes to his senses.

“During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. The Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church, after doing its duty in but a lazy and indolent way for eight hundred years, gathered up its halters, thumbscrews, and firebrands, and set about its holy work in earnest. She worked hard at it night and day during nine centuries and imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood.

Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. Who discovered that there was no such thing as a witch--the priest, the parson? No, these never discover anything. . . .

There are no witches. The witch text remains; only the practice has changed. Hell fire is gone, but the text remains. Infant damnation is gone, but the text remains. More than two hundred death penalties are gone from the law books, but the texts that authorized them remain."

-- Mark Twain, "Bible Teaching and Religious Practice", Europe and Elsewhere (1923)

Christian Charity: Altruism with an Agenda?

This Christian woman I know is pretty cool. Not fanatical, belongs to a very liberal church, has no problem with my atheism, touts the good works of her mega church in which she is very active and proud. Her church has adopted a village in Africa and each year members volunteer to go, at their own expense, to help improve the infrastructure, assist with teaching, provide books, increase food production, pay for medical treatment and their new clinic, etc.

Next fall my Christian friend and her husband are going. She is trying to raise money on her blog to help finance their travel costs. I was initially a tad ambivalent. From my knowledge of Christian charitable organizations, like various “12 step programs”, “faith based” government funded organizations, even relief efforts in SE Asia after the 2004 tsunami, all of them placed religious participation at the forefront, if not making it a prerequisite for help.

So I asked, is this trip fully dedicated to material / secular health, welfare, and educational ... life improvements for the community with out any proselytizing, with no expectation of conversion from whatever indigenous belief system some may hold, and with no bible study, preaching, etc.? She explains that the local village church with whom they partner is the spiritual provider. Their presence will be devoted to hands on improving of the physical condition and secular life of the people. I accept her at her word and will make a tax deductable donation to her & her husband’s travel fund.

But other seemingly altruistic Christian charities have an ulterior motive. Conversions. They dangle the carrot in front of struggling third world people who, in a weakened state, desperate for any support, would pay any price in order to better their physical condition and those of their children. Is that what Jesus meant by ministering to the poor?

I don’t recall Jesus saying: " For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink … and all I had to do was listen to your religious spiel and divest myself of my 3000 year old culturally held indigenous belief system." But that’s exactly what many of them do.

That's what often passes for "Christian Charity". It's altruism, on THEIR terms, with a carrot and stick, a hook and an agenda. It seems to me that true altruism is its own reward. That to show humanity toward your fellow man and then thrust a condition upon it, either stated or implicit, cheapens the act. It defiles the very concept of humanity.

Today my wife and I delivered food we bought at BJ’s to the local food bank. You know what we expect in return? That fewer people go hungry. Period.


[[ to contribute to my friend Joyce’s trip to Africa please visit her blog, scroll to her posting of April 11, and contact her directly through her comments section: http://rejoycing.blogspot.com/ ]]