I’d like to dedicate this post to my wife, and Stardust, and all of those atheist mommies everywhere…
YAY, UTERUS!…
“There is a very remarkable inclination in human nature to bestow on external objects the same emotions which it observes in itself, and to find every where those ideas which are most present to it.” - David Hume
Again, I approach the teleological argument, aka the fined-tuned universe (or what I amusingly term, the ‘argument from long odds’).
We’ve all no doubt heard the worn canard, “The odds of our universe being able to support life are 10 to the 86th power” or some such twaddle.
What intelligent creature (outside of the addicted gambler) actually stacks the odds against itself? Doesn’t this run contrary to anything vaguely resembling sense? (I’ll refrain from saying ‘common’, because as Voltaire noted so aptly, “I do not know why they call it common sense, as it is not so common”.) I maintain that in fact, you have to have some other criterion - all these formulations are from one side of a fence only. Where is the criterion, then? Do we have other universes to compare to? If we had actual access to another universe, completely devoid of life, then there’d be something to compare our own against. Until then, this is idle speculation. Billions of years multiplied by billions of planets would produce some kind of spark, I’d bet.
(NOTE: am borrowing this from Hume, in my own clumsy way.)
Another hoary old chestnut is the “look at how complex life is! How could it be so, without someone designing it?” Then ensues the battle - the theist will round up some irrelevant figure, about how the human cell contains more info than the Encyclopedia Britannica or somesuch. Billions of years, compounded simplicity, anyone?
I say this: the diversity of life, the complexity of the cell, is a severe argument against intelligent design.
Occam’s own razor prevents it.
Cogitate on this: if an ‘intelligent designer’ who is all-knowing, omnipotent, all-powerful, designed the world as we know it, why are there so many errors and misses? Why were the dinosaurs even brought about? There were even human species that died off. It’s as if some blind mad scientist was using this world as a petrie dish, for some vague purpose beyond our comprehension.
(Oh, wait: I imagine I hear the burbling bullshit of apologists in the peanut gallery, preparing their cant, spouting their presuppositional silliness with such platitudes as “the ways of gawd are mysterious” or some other non-answer.) Do we have a concrete number as to how many misses there were, prior to hitting the bull’s eye with our existence? A million? A billion?
“So the universe is not quite as you thought it was. You’d better rearrange your beliefs, then. Because you certainly can’t rearrange the universe.” - Asimov, Nightfall.
Till the next post then.
I heard Medea Benjamin from CODEPINK on the radio on my way in to work today, and I liked what she had to say.
Not only does her organization raise awareness on a myriad of gender problems (mostly but not exclusively in regards to the Iraq War), but it offers many ways for us to help. I often feel powerless in the face of what’s happening in Iraq among other issues, and clear directives and actions go a long way toward giving me something to do on, if you’ll permit my co-opting of an originally theistic phrase, the side of the angels.
One of the most wrenching subjects Benjamin brought up in her interview (on the Phil Hartman show that I was listening to) is the plight of poverty-stricken female Iraqi refugees. Unable to afford an escape to a more enlightened haven, they run anywhere that’s away from their violence-ridden homeland, ending up in Syria, Jordan, and other nearby countries. With no resources to rebuild their lives, they take what employment they can get, and most of it is in brothels. Benjamin reports observing girls as young as 10 years old dancing on “stages” before being selected for the night by clients.
Much of the problem is that these refugees are technically illegal aliens, and thus not allowed to work in these nations, so they gravitate to or in the case of the children and many adult women, are forced into illegal activities like prostitution. Europe and Scandinavia have been taking in refugees, but according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), have begun to limit their generosity. “Most European countries feel the U.S. is responsible and should take the lead, but the U.S. has a goal this year of only 12,000—a drop in the bucket—and I doubt they’ll even take that many [my emphasis],” Anna-Maria Deutschlander, a “Senior Protection Officer” said to Benjamin.
Refugees International reports that Syria ended its open-door policy and now imposes visa requirements on the refugees, whereas Egypt has closed its borders to them. Many of the refugees don’t want to remain in the Middle East at all (no, really?) and aim to immigrate to Europe and the US - but even though the US promised to take in 7,000 (what a joke; compare this to the 130,000 Egypt took in before refusing to accept any more!) in 2007, we only let in a total of 1,608. That’s less than a quarter of what we gave our word for.
And the US’s pledge for 2008 isn’t looking any better; the total promised is 12,000, and as of March, only 2,527 have been allowed in. So not only is this nation responsible for destabilizing Iraq to the point of chaos and displacement of its population, but is refusing to take care of the people it has victimized and what little care it’s giving, it’s giving reluctantly. I daresay this doesn’t surprise you all; if this administration doesn’t bother to look after its own military and veterans, why should it give a fuck about foreign civilians?
Nevertheless, there are groups out there saying what needs to be said and doing what needs to be done. Pessimists will say they’re doomed to failure, but I say we can make a difference. I know many of us are already involved in various types of activism, but there’s no rule saying separate efforts can’t overlap! Heck, just sending letters to government officials is a big help.
Again, CODEPINK…
And there are a lot of veterans’ groups out there, both government-sponsored and private; Google ™ “veterans” just for starters.
Happy Mothers’ Day, GifS moms!
Michelle Duggar caused quite a stir in the news media when she gave birth to her 17th child not that long ago. I posted about it in this story: “Quiverfull as God allows.”
Michelle Duggar continues to be “quiverfull” for the Lord” 
Happy Mother’s Day: Woman pregnant with 18th child
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - It’s a happy Mother’s Day for an Arkansas woman — she’s pregnant with her 18th child.
Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year’s Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.
“We’ve had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us,” she said, laughing.
The Duggars’ oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.
The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are home-schooled.
Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.
The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores — or “jurisdictions” — are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a “jurisdiction swap,” where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said.
“The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass,” she said. “The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms,” among other chores.
Duggar said she’s six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they’ll keep having children as long as God wills it.
“The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated,” Jim Bob Duggar said. “Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen.”
The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2.
They just keep plopping out babies because they believe it’s the Lawd’s will, but what about this “free will” and personal choices that Xians say they have? To me, this is highly irresponsible, and selfish. Why not adopt some of those children out there who need homes if you have so much desire to have children? Why does not their God call them to take in the needy and homeless children of our country instead of mindlessly plopping out more and more of their own?
Maybe it’s not so mindless. Maybe they are doing it for money and publicity? This comment might explain it all:
Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.
I wonder how much they get paid for that?
Jeez, all this hostility on this blog. Why are atheists so angry?…
McCain’s Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam
The leader of a 12,000-member congregation, Parsley has written several books outlining his fundamentalist religious outlook, including the 2005 Silent No More. In this work, Parsley decries the “spiritual desperation” of the United States, and he blasts away at the usual suspects: activist judges, civil libertarians who advocate the separation of church and state, the homosexual “culture” (”homosexuals are anything but happy and carefree”), the “abortion industry,” and the crass and profane entertainment industry. And Parsley targets another profound threat to the United States: the religion of Islam. In a chapter titled “Islam: The Deception of Allah,” Parsley warns there is a “war between Islam and Christian civilization.” He continues: I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.[…] Parsley claims that Islam is an “anti-Christ religion” predicated on “deception.” The Muslim prophet Muhammad, he writes, “received revelations from demons and not from the true God.” And he emphasizes this point: “Allah was a demon spirit.” […] At the end of his chapter on Islam, Parsley asks, “Are we a Christian nation? I say yes.” Without specifying what actions should be taken to eradicate the religion, he essentially calls for a new crusade. Parsley, who refers to himself as a “Christocrat,” is no stranger to controversy. In 2007, the grassroots organization he founded, the Center for Moral Clarity, called for prosecuting people who commit adultery. In January, he compared Planned Parenthood to Nazis. In the past Parsley’s church has been accused of engaging in pro-Republican partisan activities in violation of its tax-exempt status.
I don’t know about all you non-believers. You’re all way too hostile, and you just don’t understand the right path.