This is a problem that is becoming really irritating to me. I think it’s nervy of people who send religious/political propaganda to others, when they KNOW those people they are sending it to are atheists or others who have differing religious and/or political beliefs, and then to be rude on top of it! I have received these FWDs and such, not from strangers, but from FAMILY MEMBERS. I wonder how they would like it if I were to send atheistic emails to them? How about if I added the sentence that I sometimes find at the bottom of the things I receive… “if you don’t like it YOU JUST SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP”? Or a picture of a cross covered by a red circle with a line through it? Or maybe an article from American Atheist? Or the link to God is for Suckers! I don’t think they would like it very much! The christians in my family get angry and all bent out of shape by me merely telling them to please not send me those kinds of things. If you want to see a christian get really hateful and pissed off, just ask them to please keep their religion to themselves! It doesn’t work with some people to ask nicely; they keep on sending stuff anyway, and I keep on deleting it. My sister has a religious quote from the bible at the end of her emails and even though it is like sticking pins in me when I see it there, I don’t say anything because it is HER email. BUT when I recently put a Native American quote “A rocky vineyard does not need a prayer, but a pick ax.” at the end of mine, she was quite upset because it offended her! I have been tolerant for a long time now, but it’s really starting to piss me off. How do the rest of you handle this stuff with your families and friends?

Submitted for your approval:

“Movie Night” during the summer of 1978 at a small American missionary camp in the Dominican Republic. Pre-teens and brand-new best friends Eve and Martha Jean have bonded over their mutual obsession with Star Wars; Martha Jean dreams about marrying Mark Hamill, while Eve has begun writing the sequel. Little do they know that they’re about to watch a film from – the Bible Zone!

The camp counselors crowd the kids into the Recreation Center onto hard metal folding chairs, hit the lights, and set the projector rolling (yup, these are pre-video times, at least in this small Caribbean nation). There in the dark, Eve and Martha Jean watch in confusion, then horror as a live news broadcast, not a movie, flickers to life on the screen to report the beginning of the Rapture, Armageddon, and the end of the world – all happening right now.

“I’m scared,” Martha Jean whispers, clutching Eve’s arm.

“Me, too,” her friend sniffles back.

Huddled there in the dark, they watch the somber anchor people on the screen insist that the world is ending right at this moment. Eve wonders if her family back in her hometown might have been taken in the Rapture at the beginning of the newscast, leaving her to face the End Times all alone. A tiny, often-suppressed voice tells her it’s impossible and can’t really be happening; the adults would have already told them something – wouldn’t they?

Suddenly, the girl sitting next to Martha Jean murmurs something to her, and in turn Martha Jean hisses in Eve’s ear:

“Sally says Amy’s seen this before.”

Eve leans over Martha Jean past Sally to whisper to Amy, “Amy, you’ve seen this before?”

A missionary’s daughter, Amy answers nonchalantly, as if bored (which she probably is):

“Oh, yeah, it’s just a movie; I’ve seen it lots of times. My dad plays it all the time for people.”

Hugely relieved, the girls now view the film through new eyes; what seemed to be happening live now appears suspiciously dated – and who ever heard of a live newscast on film? Eve’s relief gives way to sheepishness; how could she have fallen so easily for such an obvious conversion ploy? By the end of the movie she just wants to forget the entire incident – but forgets to get angry at the people who succeeded for a while in tricking her so cruelly.

It will be years before she remembers, but the seeds have been sown…

The friends spend the rest of camp planning Martha Jean’s wedding to Luke Skywalker and editing Eve’s script for Star Wars: The Sequel. What lessons have they learned? Probably not the ones their counselors intended to teach them:

* Listen to your voice of reason.

* Find and use your common sense.

* Seek and share information.

And remember: sometimes you can’t trust those who have authority over you, especially when you’re in – the Bible Zone.

Hey Monty, or whatever your name is: Your first comment got deleted by accident. That was my fault, and I applogize. Your second one got deleted because I didn’t want the world to see what a pitiful whiner you are. You should thank me.

A College That’s Strictly Different

This is a lovely little article found via Pharyngula that illustrates student life at Pensacola Christian College- an unaccredited “college”.

The campus looks just like the glossy brochure: clean, green, and beautiful. The students are well dressed and well groomed, not a pair of jeans or scrappy goatee in sight. Inside the Commons building, two students engage in a spirited game of Ping-Pong. When one of them misses an easy shot, he cries, “Praise the Lord!”

Pensacola Christian College prides itself on being different, not just from secular colleges, but from fellow Christian ones, too. Some of those differences, like the way students dress, are obvious to any visitor. Others are not. Since its founding, more than 30 years ago, Pensacola has blossomed from a tiny Bible college into a thriving institution of nearly 5,000 students. Along the way it has become known as among the most conservative — and most secretive — colleges in the country.

(snip)
Lisa Morris was walking to class with her boyfriend last October when something happened. At first Ms. Morris, sophomore music major, is reluctant to divulge the details. Eventually, however, the truth comes out: He patted her behind.

Someone who witnessed the incident reported Ms. Morris and her boyfriend. At Pensacola any physical contact between members of the opposite sex is forbidden. (Members of the same sex may touch, although the college condemns homosexuality.) The forbidden contact includes shaking hands and definitely includes patting behinds. Both students were expelled.

Of Pensacola’s many rules, those dealing with male-female relationships are the most talked about. There are restrictions on when and where men and women may speak to each other. Some elevators and stairwells may be used only by women; others may be used only by men. Socializing on particular benches is forbidden. If a man and a woman are walking to class, they may chat; if they stop en route, though, they may be in trouble. Generally men and women caught interacting in any “unchaperoned area” — which is most of the campus — could be subject to severe penalties.

Those rules extend beyond the campus. A man and a woman cannot go to an off-campus restaurant together without a chaperon (usually a faculty member). Even running into members of the opposite sex off campus can lead to punishment. One student told of how a group of men and a group of women from the college happened to meet at a McDonald’s last spring. Both groups were returning from the beach (they had gone to separate beaches; men and women are not allowed to be at the beach together). The administration found out, and all 15 students were expelled.

Even couples who are not talking or touching can be reprimanded. Sabrina Poirier, a student at Pensacola who withdrew in 1997, was disciplined for what is known on the campus as “optical intercourse” — staring too intently into the eyes of a member of the opposite sex. This is also referred to as “making eye babies.” While the rule does not appear in written form, most students interviewed for this article were familiar with the concept.

(snip)
There are plenty of other ways to run afoul of the rules. Last spring Timothy Dow was caught playing the video game Halo 2. Such games are banned by the college. Movies are also forbidden, including those rated G. Music is restricted to classical or approved Christian (”contemporary Christian” artists are deemed too worldly). Students are allowed to watch television news at 6 o’clock, but that’s it. The TVs are controlled by college employees, who flip a switch to black out the commercials, lest students see anything inappropriate.

In the library, books and magazines are censored. One student says she saw a pair of black-marker boxer shorts on a photograph of Michelangelo’s David. Any books that students wish to read that are not in the library must first be approved by administrators. Those containing references to “magic,” for instance, are normally rejected. The rule book specifically prohibits “fleshly magazines and books.”

The most tragic outcome of this? These poor kids think they’re getting an education - however, attending a “college” that is not accredited means credits can’t be transferred. But, they still think they’ll be employable after “college”

Mr. Ghobrial, the student from Egypt who doesn’t mind the rules, wants to attend dental school. His first choice, West Virginia University, has already said it would not consider his application, because Pensacola is not accredited. “I’m hoping they change their minds,” he says.

So, what’s that about religion NOT being just indoctrination and control again?

Okay, so can you tell I finished a major project and am slacking big time today?

I have always been fascinated by Christmas Island. I mean, it sounds like a place out of one of those old Rudolph the Reindeer stop-motion Xmas specials.

I looked it up (don’t ask me why) on the CIA World Factbook today and discovered a fascinating statistic…

Religions:
Buddhist 36%, Muslim 25%, Christian 18%, other 21% (1997)

On Xmas Island itself, Xians are a minority!

Is that cool or what??

Man, the Webernets are just awash with fun stuff today.

Study: Praying Won’t Affect Heart Patients

Snippet:

NEW YORK - Does praying for a sick person’s recovery do any good?

In the largest scientific test of its kind, heart surgery patients showed no benefit when strangers prayed for their recovery.

And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications. Doctors could only guess why.

Several scientists questioned the concept of the study.

Science “is not designed to study the supernatural,” said Dr. Harold G. Koenig, director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at the Duke University Medical Center.

The researchers emphasized that their $2.4 million study could not address whether God exists or answers prayers made on another’s behalf. The study could look only for an effect from the specific prayers offered as part of the research, they said.

The study “did not move us forward or backward” in understanding the effects of prayer, said Dr. Charles Bethea, a co-author and cardiologist at the Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City. “Intercessory prayer under our restricted format had a neutral effect.”

Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School, co-principal investigator of the study, agreed. “We cannot come to a conclusion, except to say that by this study design, with its limitations, this is what we found,” he said.

Researchers also said they didn’t know why patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of complications than patients who only knew that such prayers were a possibility.

Maybe they became anxious by the knowledge that they’d been selected for prayers, Bethea said: “Did the patients think, ‘I am so sick that they had to call in the prayer team?’”

They spent 2.4 million dollars on this shit?? They couldda just donated the money to GifS as a good cause. We wouldda told them before they spent a single penny that they were gonna discover jack and squat.

How hilarious that the patients who knew they were being prayed for got even sicker.

That goes back to what we have said to many a drive-by theist on this site: Don’t say you’re gonna pray for me, butt-munch. I am just fine without it.

Through sheer circumstance, I stumbled across this post on a blog. How refreshing. A thoughtful theist who doesn’t dismiss us outright as morally bankrupt because we don’t believe what they believe. Worth reading. She is, however, in the end still missing a good chunk of the point. Christianity, to those who know a bit of history, has already demonstrated itself to be “harsh, vindictive” and “unthinking.” All of the sky-god religions have, Judaism included.

Anyway, I disagree with many of her points (and the points made by her sources), but kudos to her for even giving us a glance. Most religios could give a flying fug what we think. I guess the book, and the article she references, were comforting to her. As if we atheists are going anywhere any time soon.

Atheism: Holding Us Accountable

Christians know that our sins are, every day, counted as Christ’s; God counts them so. We need to be mindful that the unbeliever counts them so as well.

I saw this dude on the Jimmy Kimmel show months ago and I knew he was gonna be a huge smash. Indeed, he has.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Matthew Miller cuts a striking figure on stage with his black hat and beard. The fervent Hasidic Jew better known as Matisyahu is also an unlikely rising star of reggae and rap.

But no shows on a Friday, the eve of the Sabbath, and no fraternising with female fans. “There’s always one drunk girl who runs up to give me a hug. I have to pull away,” he said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

Here’s the Kimmel clip, still one of the best live recordings of Matisyahu out there.

Never let it be said that secular humanists don’t like religious people. After all, how could a humanist say that certain humans aren’t of any worth? It’s not that we don’t like them, it’s that we don’t like their ideas.