Sciency Basics for the Newly Deconverted

Both believers & atheists seem to put science at the core of atheism at times, when it really doesn't have to be, at least not as you deconvert.

My deconversion was due to skepticism about the supernatural in general, and due to learning about other cultures in Anthropology courses in college and by meeting people of other backgrounds as an adult. Science to me was the antithesis of pseudo-science, not of religion... at least while I was still going to church trying to "connect" with the religion of my childhood.

The skeptical literature I read at the time concerned things like:

• the numerical impossibility of souls being reincarnated
• fake faith healers' "miracles" no more than magic tricks
• "chi" of Eastern pseudo-medicine has no basis in fact
• psychics use "cold reading" to fool people

It took some time for me to realize the claims of my religion were just as ridiculous as the claims of pseudo-science.  I didn't consider for a moment whether the Earth was 6,000 years old, or whether the Bible contradicted itself, or whether Noah's Ark was a total impossibility (well, I'd figured that one out in childhood).  I just realized I'd gotten the same "results" from believing in God as I would believing in almost anything else.

...then I went trippingly through life free from the burden of wondering whether I'd go to Hell or whether some supernatural judge was eavesdropping on my thoughts.  I let people know I was an atheist, but unless they were part of a batshit crazy denomination or tried to convert me, I didn't press the issue.  (Heh heh, do NOT send me Godspam!  You've been warned!)

...and then I discovered atheist stuff on the interwebs.  ...and then the "New Atheist" movement created a few books for me to stumble across at Borders Books  (*sniff* still miss the place)

If you are new to atheism, you'll notice that the "professional atheists" tend to come from a few scholarly disciplines.  Only Christopher Hitchens could be counted as a "regular guy" who just told it like it is, though he was a professional journalist so only semi-regular.  Here are the disciplines some bullies think you have to be conversant in to have an opinion:

• Philosophy
• Ancient History
• Apologetics
• Cosmology
• Evolutionary Biology

...and possibly a few others. Fortunately, you don't really have to be conversant in a bullshitter's favorite form of bullshit to call them on their bullshit. But it helps. For the most part, though, we encounter believers who ask the same rather inane questions of us. Sometimes there are some sciency answers to the questions they ask, because they think their religion explains sciency things.

Here are some "answers" for newbies:
When you die, your brain cells stop doing what they do and you stop being who you are. It's hard to accept but "we" are our brains. Just ask someone who's been shot in the head and survived.  Oh wait, ask their family for a better answer.

Near-death experiences just prove that the brain has a process during death, not that there is a bright light in another plane of existence.

Where we came from is a series of totally natural processes that took millions of years. That includes possible abiogenesis (life from nothing) from chemical building blocks of what are now cells. It includes evolution, which the process of advantageous variations giving a few individuals an edge, while most variations are neutral.  You don't have to know every detail of all these things to know that "God did it" is a cheap and superficial answer.

Why are we here? We just are. If you need a reason for your existence, find one for yourself. Nobody gave it to you.  That's okay, because the people who find a "reason" in their religion have really found it for themselves, too.  They all find different purposes even when they supposedly believe the same things.

Yes, most of the stuff of religion is factually wrong. Sometimes it's accidentally wrong, and sometimes it's intentionally wrong. Just because some historical details from the Old Testament are true doesn't make the supernatural details from the Old Testament True. Atlanta really burned during the Civil War, but that doesn't make Gone with the Wind a true story.

There is wonder and mystery and poetry in the Natural World. You don't need to add a supernatural dimension to find that. It's there if you look.

Your brain is a fabulous thing, but it can deceive you. Under certain conditions you can see or sense other beings, feel a warm comforting feeling, or give yourself the will to continue under stress. Much of that you can get from relationships with other people. Cultivate your relationships and you'll find you haven't lost much by disbelieving in the supernatural.

Knowing the classic fallacies helps to see through nonsense when it's presented to you. "False prophets" are everywhere, but now you can call them what they really are: charlatans.

Trust in the scientific method and the people who use it is not the same as faith in a supernatural deity.  If the scientific method didn't work, it would be thrown out because scientists care about what's true.  Believers will cling to what is demonstrably false..

...well, for awhile they do.  Welcome to the World of What's True, newbie!

Christianity is a Totalitarian State

Some of the sects in the U.S. take their beliefs to a ridiculous level.  These fundamentalists are really totalitarians without a government.  The definition of totalitarianism is:

Of, relating to, being, or imposing a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed.

Some denominations are decentralized in the sense that they don't have popes or bishops declaring what they should believe, but they consider The Bible their centralized authority (not necessarily God).  The individual is subordinated to the cluster of beliefs they're required to believe, and woe to anybody who breaks the rules!  There are some of these churches around here and it's been an eye-opener for me.

The women won't cut their hair or wear pants, the kids can't watch TV, nobody is allowed to wear jewelry, they spend hours and hours in church every Sunday and more hours on other days, they're not allowed to marry outside of their denomination....  And there are the Mormons, who wear magic underwear, can't drink coffee or booze, and forbid the women from wearing pants.

None of these silly rules can possibly make someone a better "Christian," just a more obedient one.  One of my coworkers who went to a religious school pointed out that some of those "rules" are based on Paul's letters to people in cities that had very specific problems.  I can't remember the particulars but it had to do with not wearing the same kind of outfits that prostitutes wear in that locality.  Not dressing like a prostitute is pretty good advice for all women who don't want to be mistaken for prostitutes.  Not dressing like a first-century prostitute in the Middle East, uhhhh

Indiana also has Amish & Mennonites, who are kind of the Wahabists of Christianity.  They look like they stepped out of the 1850s.



What I find crazy is that they think this totalitarianism is a good thing. If Papal totalitarianism is bad, and Hitler's totalitarianism was bad, and Stalin's totalitarianism was bad, how can they justify this form?

This is the week that was

CNN's Ungodly Discipline revisits Fairhaven church in Indiana, where the church gives parishoners paddles to use on their kids and grown children of the pastor accuse him of abuse.  (thanks to fundamentally reformed blog for the link -- it's good to see Christians taking other Christians to task for a change)  Perhaps they should adopt a Fosdickian philosophy. (No, I didn't make that up!)

Catholic Ethical financial fund fails to make money.  Perhaps God is trying to tell them something.

Scottish Catholic bishop claims homosexuality cuts life span by 20 years.  Seriously.  God told him.  Or something.

Running on a platform of being against an Islamic center that's not even in your own district is apparently not a winning strategy, even in Tennessee.  Quote:
Zelenik pledged during the campaign that if elected she would "work to stop the Islamization of our society, and do everything possible to prevent Sharia Law from circumventing our laws and our Constitution."
... wouldn't that mean that would mean that the Fairhaven Indiana child-abusers who claim God wants them to paddle children will be subject to child abuse laws?

Malaysia's prime minister claims to be guided by his faith in Allah.  He says "Islam guides our nation."  Sounds like some American Christian politicians, no?

Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church are in bed together and a female punk rock group called Pussy Riot is now on trial for objecting.  Could the world get any crazier?  "Mr. Putin, tear down that wall... between church and state!"

Syrian Christians at risk.  Well, Syrian Muslims are at risk too.  All damn Syrians are at risk.  What a messed up place.  Oh wait, they've been warmongering barbarians for about five thousand years.  Carry on, Syria.  I really love it when I read the New York Times and I think I'm reading the Bible.

If they flee, they shouldn't go to Egypt!  The U.S. is demanding that Egypt crack down on attacks against Christians, because you know, the Christians of the U.S. are so kind-hearted toward the Muslims in the U.S.  (okay, they're not killing them, but it's not like they embrace them, either)  Funny how we're coming to the rescue of those Christians, but the Christians in Muslim-controlled Bosnia were on their own.

In Brazil, the Assemblies of God and Foursquare (yes) branches of Pentacostalism are growing.  But they're not teh crazee like in the U.S.: 

"Evangelical leaders in the country have expressed their concerns that some neo-pentecostal churches, which experienced large growth, are known for holding a liberal viewpoint and some controversial theological doctrines"

An Episcopal Church in NJ observes a one-day Ramadan fast.  Rather interesting idea.  At least it's a walk-a-mile-in-their-shoes kind of thing.  I'd do it myself but I'd postpone it until the winter, when dawn-to-dusk is only about eight hours!

Myanmar Buddhists & Muslims duking it out.  Buddhists?  Really?  What is the world coming to?  Hey guys how about dropping that whole supernatural baloney and being neighbors?  Sheesh.  "nothing to kill or die for..." 

Global Islamic Body urges aid for Myanmar Muslims.  Seriously?  How about not attacking Christians in Egypt and Jews anywhere, and then let's talk about others not attacking you.  Or how about this?  Nobody attack anybody else?

Missourians will vote on a right they already have.  Dumbasses.  The quotes in this article are priceless.

...and Chik fil-A, in case you didn't know, is run by someone who is a fundy and toes the fundy line, including the part about not learning how to spell.  He's against gay marriage and some people are surprised and shocked.  Oh my.  Hey, he has a right to be a religious jerk as long as he follows the law.  He hasn't broken the law so just boycott his joints (which I have always done) and leave him alone.  We can't win the "war" if we are as bullying as they are!

The Causes of Rampage Killing

As the child of a schizophrenic and the sister of another schizophrenic, and the step-daughter of someone with MS-related psychosis, I naturally follow the news whenever someone with a mental illness commits a crazy act of violence.  My own brother scared me when he became ill, because he exhibited some of the features common to mass killers:  an interest in firearms, an interest in mass murderers who used firearms, and loss of a job.  Of course, he lost his job due to his mental illness.  After this, he no longer saw his psychiatrist because he no longer had insurance  (a bogus excuse on both of their parts imho).   And then, being unemployed with time on his hands, his thought process had no brakes on it.  I was afraid he'd shoot up his workplace, but I knew him and knew he just wasn't a vengeful person.  In all the time we were growing up he never used direct or redirected revenge against anybody that I knew of.  I feared suicide more than homicide.  He wound up doing neither, but he never got treatment and is now homeless.  You can't force treatment on someone who poses no threat to himself or others, so his crazy choice to cling to his delusions and be unemployable is his to make.

Still, I want to learn what I can from the few experts that have studied rampage killers just in case.  There is very little written for lay people, and not a lot of peer-reviewed literature either, that I could find.  The popular press tends to focus on just one case, for example Whitman in Texas.

Of course, any time something bad happens in the U.S., some evangelical nutjob will claim it's due to our degraded morality.  We can dismiss this hypothesis out of hand because the Bible doesn't say anything about mass murder happening in Sodom and Gomorrah.  God took them out himself, he didn't rely on mass murderers to punish those sinful sinners!  But I'll add this to the long, long list of hypothesized causes for mass murder:

• Irreligiosity
• Religiosity
• Media violence
• Maleness
• Gun "culture"
• Lack of gun control laws
• Government conspiracies
• Bullying
• Mental illness
• Lack of mental health treatment
• It's just plain senseless

I may have missed a few, like Big Pharma or Communist conspiracies, but I think those are the ones I've seen the most. Mass murder seems to be a kind of Rorschach test that inspires people to attribute their pet theory to a sensational event as if to say, "See?  See?  I told you the world was going to hell in a handbasket!" Fortunately, there are people who have investigated the cases themselves to find commonalities.  I'm putting some of these on my reading list.  You may find some of them interesting too:

• Mass Murder in the United States: A History
• Mass Murder in the United States
(different book) by authors named "Holmes." Spooky, no?
• Extreme Killing. I have read this book and it's just so-so. It basically just tells stories you could read on Wikipedia but it does give you some vocabulary of the way the experts talk about this, and a broad overview.
• Suicidal Mass Murderers: A Criminological Study of Why they Kill. (mainly about Virginia Tech, which would be the most comparable case to the Holmes case)
• ...and this article makes the case that mass murder is an attempt on the part of the murderer to soothe his psychological angst.
• The pseudo-commando Mass Murderer fits the description of Holmes, except that he committed his crime at night.

My pet peeve with society, at least in the treatment of the generation that's been responsible for school shootings, is that teachers were taught to give kids empty praise, just for "trying." And everyone is included and nobody gets disappointed. Besides being dishonest with children, it didn't give them enough opportunitities to learn important life lessons. Sometimes things don't go your way. Sometimes you're not as good as you think you are. During my brief college teaching career, I encountered a lot of terrified students who really didn't know whether they were any "good" at something. They knew they could get away with cheating (at that school) but even when they didn't cheat, some of them felt like frauds. I was a demanding teacher and the feedback I got from students was that I was very fair. The students who passed felt a sense of accomplishment and the ones that failed knew it was their own fault. They seemed genuinely grateful for a real challenge in which their self-perception and my feedback were totally in synch.

I was at the University of Iowa when Gang Lu shot up the Astronomy department there. He was disappointed not to have received an award he felt he was entitled to. Well, sometimes you get disappointed in life. Kids should learn about that in kindergarten so they can handle it later.

Well, that's my rant, but it's mere opinion. Next I'll be reading some of the linked material to see what the people who have actually met mass killers have to say about what drove them over the edge.

Religion Clause: Many Claims Dismissed In Establishment Clause Suit On Philosophy Course Content

Religion Clause: Many Claims Dismissed In Establishment Clause Suit On Philosophy Course Content

I hope she's at least cost them as much in legal costs as they stole from her in tuition money!

Links du semaine

How the Mormon Church makes money.  My question is, why don't they pay taxes on this loot?  (They pay some taxes but not enough!) ...  No, wait, my question is what they wear at their Polynesian theme park. Do they have special Polynesian magic underwear?  Mormon defenders are out in force in the comments section.  If this money from for-profit companies is really being used for charitable purposes why is the LDS so secretive about it?

America for Jesus event in Philadelphia - will it become a dominionist election-year screed? How can they energize their base to vote for a Mormon?  Could be interesting.

Tragic but also ironic, Chik Fil-A PR chief dies suddenly.  It's too bad he was on the side of people who believe God smites people who are in the wrong.  Having to run damage control on his boss's bigoted statement would stress anybody's heart, but it sure seems like a smiting.

Methodist minister used to be a "she."  Gotta admit, except for that believing in God business, the Methodists can be cool sometimes:  "Weekley, 60, was invited to preach at Morningside as part of the church’s 17th anniversary as a Reconciling Ministry, a movement within the United Methodists Church to welcome LGBT parishioners."

As if to prove themselves as backwards as ever, a Catholic priest blames Satan for Holmes' attack in Colorado.  Uhhhh yes, the guy was demon-possessed in the same sense that the 'demon-possessed' characters in the Bible were demon-possessed, i.e., mentally ill.

Meanwhile, in Australia, the identity of a pedophile priest is kept secret and his victim commits suicide.  The victim's name appears prominently in this article.  What is wrong with the world?

Nuns on the Bus tour ends in Washington, D.C.  One of my friends from Wisconsin met them and she thought they were awesome.  I used to think nuns were just mean old hags who swatted boys on the hand (h/t George Carlin)

Another nun gets into trouble with the Vatican for saying things like "Any policy that is more pro-fetus than actually pro-life, if the rights of the unborn trump all the rights of those that were already born, that is a distortion."  Ahhh those modern-day Eves, trying to drag down the good ole boys...  Sister Pat wants to feed the poor and clothe the homeless... *sigh*  Silly woman.

The Southern Baptists are having trouble keeping up the bigotry.

Zombies counter-protest the Westboro Baptist Church.  Sadly, they found no brains to snack on.

A Baptist Church in Mississippi manages to make WBC look progressive.  The pastor, supposed to be a spiritual leader who does what's right, is too much of a coward to stand up to the bigots who don't want him to conduct a marriage ceremony between two black people who attend the church because they are black.

First female Episcopal bishop.   I still heart the Episcopal Church except for the part where you have to believe in a supernatural deity, take part in a cannibalistic ceremony, and listen to people read from a collection of fairy tales.

Louisiana's voucher system could pay for kids to go to evolution-denying schools.    Supposedly, the schools kids can use state cash for have to meet the same standards as public schools... in everything but biology.  *sigh*

Another reason not to fund creationism-based public education: Kids can go to creationism-based Vacation Bible School to learn that drivel.

One of Chik Fil-A's evangelical supporters admits he's gay (or gay-ish?)

Apparently female televangelists can be homosexual hypocrites, too.

With so many of their leaders turning out to be homosexual, why are evangelicals promoting homophobia in Africa?  Mormons are in on this, too. 

Colorado shooter was seeing whom????

News reports say he was seeing a psychiatrist but when you look her up at Healthgrade, it says she's  physiatrist, a physical therapist! But.... UCompare says she's a psychiatrist.  Maybe she's both!  On the hospital's site it says she is.

Not to be a snob... okay I'll be a snob... but if I'm having paranoid delusions and hearing voices, I would not go to someone who can't make up her mind whether to specialize in the mind or the body.  Sure, the mind lives in the body, but seriously....

And checking pubmed, she hasn't published anything in five years.  In academia, for someone on a tenure track this is really really weak.

CNN is having trouble verifying her credentials, too.  If she's been getting grant money to study schizophrenia, the granting agencies should demand a refund.  She hasn't published anything on schizophrenia so where's the evidence she was really qualified to help this guy?

The sadder thing is that after he was no longer a student she probably could no longer see him.  That should be the one big exception to insurance company plans.  My brother had this problem too.  He got fired due to his schizophrenia and then couldn't see his doctor any more.  Of course he could have paid cash but...  *sigh*  When someone leaves work due to a broken leg they can see their doctor and come back when their leg is healed.  When they get sick with a mental illness their entire support system goes *poof* due to the very thing they need support for.

You'd think grad schools would have wised up after the University of Iowa shooting.  They need good mental health providers and support for people who are disappointed.  Instead of having a psychiatrist on their staff who has many duties, they should pay for sick students to go to the best shrink in town.  It's not just enlightened self-interest, it's the right thing to do.