Carnival of the Godless

Well, I have not posted so much recently.  You know, life happens and stuff.  So, I decided that I would play host to a bunch of other people’s work to make up for it.  I will, as will not be a surprise to anyone who knows me, add a little commentary here and there.

Let’s start with the very first submission I received, from Arizona Atheist.  This blogger has recently underwent a back-an-forth with a non-atheist blogger concerning the topic of whether atheism and communism are linked.  It is clear that communism had more at it’s foundation than atheism, although atheism was an important factor in communist ideology.  The submitted post is apparently the last in the tit-for-tat, as not only has the interlocutor not responded, but the blog post that Arizona Atheist was posting in response to has disappeared.

(As a side-note, I too have had inter-blog conversations, such as this one and another one where the fellow blogger deleted the original post I criticized, so I feel your frustration Arizona Atheist)

—

The 360 Degree Skeptic is all around these days, it seems.  On of of his travels, he came upon one of those oh-so-entertaining end of days pamphlets.  360’s submission is a short deconstruction of one such pamphlet, noting the common generality and vagueness that infests such literature.  So, 360, who was first with the Sunday Sacrilege thing, you or PZ?

—

Now, I’ve never lived with Mormons.  And since I have spent most of my life in Philadelphia and now Atlanta, Mormons are not prominent in my world.  But when you do live with Mormons all around you (in other words, you live in Utah), you will tend to focus your godlessness on this particular theological backdrop.

Now, we’ve all heard the old quote which claims that if you “give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man,” but perhaps ol’ Joe Smith was indeed onto something with making them wait for it until they’re eight, as Living With Mormons argues.  He ends this particular post with a morose rhetorical proposition which I have heard before, and which may illuminate the problem of valuing the afterlife over this life.  And while I know some believers have followed such advise in the past, I doubt that most believers recognize the devaluing of life that ideas such as heaven encompass.

—

Speaking of Mormons, apparently they throw parties!  And yet, Boho will not be attending this one, unfortunately.  I’ll add that I also prefer not to go to parties that don’t serve beer.

—

William Lane Graig is considered by many to be one of the best Christian apologists and debate interlocutors.  Craig is fond of the kalam cosmological argument, and it appears that ex-apologist might be fond of Craig…or maybe not; I’ll let you decide.  ex-apologist gives us a handy resource for looking at two of the major problems with Craig’s analysis.

I’ll also link, for those interested, another resource that I (I know, shameless…) have contributed to at ironchariots.org.  If you don’t know about it, it is maintained by those godless in Austin who have a wonderful TV show and podcast.

—

Atheist Revolution asks us to evaluate the role of patriotism in our efforts to support secularity in American government.  Should the atheist community, or at least the part of it that focuses on separation of church and state issues, try to create a “take back America” campaign like the religious right has?

I don’t know, but I will link a video of a lecture by Chris Eisgruber, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Public Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School and the University Center for Human Values.  His perspective on religion and American Constitutional law is quite different than than of those I hear from at, say, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, but not hostile to it either.  Fairness, is the question, says Eisgruber.

—

The Uncredible HallQ submits to us that believing in God in the face of Thor and Santa are not all that dissimilar.  He seems to advocate that we might need to maintain a more intimate relationship with believers to better understand apologetics, despite his inability to conceive how they believe.

—

Cubik’s Rube is frustrated, understandably.  I’m also tired of the old canard that atheists oppress Christians by simply making it known that we exist.  By using the recently de-faced billboard in North Carolina (the one which simply said “One Nation Indivisible”) as a launching pad, the frustrating claim of oppression is deconstructed as a screaming insecurity and persecution complex.

Yes, never am I more oppressive and offensive to believers then when I let people know I’m an atheist and that I exist.

—

OK, let’s take a minute to calm down after that rant, and see if maybe we can’t find some awareness.  Now, I became aware that my skeptical nature perked up in reading this post, but I’ll agree with the claim that

Awareness does not require you to believe, or to have faith, or to be strong, or diligent, or to be spiritual.

Let’s try it.

OK, fine.  But before you start thinking this is some woo, keep in mind that Buddhism, which seems to be what’s being presented to us here, can be seen as fundamentally atheistic, even if not always in line with the metaphysical naturalism that many atheists (such as me) espouse.

—

I don’t know what to say about this.  Granted, I’m no English major of any kind, and literature has not always been my thing (although I did write a science fiction novel).  But is this godless? I see shades of Postmodernism here, and methinks postmodernism sounds like someone suffering from a mild form of aphasia while stoned.  But godless? You decide.

—

Well, that was a fun carnival, and I hope you won some good prizes at the land the ‘cuffs on the Pope game we had back there.  Personally, I think that game was rigged, as it seems almost impossible to get those damned things to fit right.

n any case, I’ll simply wish you all well, and keep posting godless propaganda for our eventual atheistic utopia that will be serving beer.  And not that crap that people call beer (Miller Lite, anyone?), but real beer (ah, for a Rodenbach Grand Cru…).

Shaun