The flames of hell, the lake of fire, eternal torment, unremitting agony - it sounds tough, and sufficiently off-putting to deter any potential sinner.
"But it's not like that," say the religious moderates. "That's an outmoded view of Hell," they say. "Hell," they say, "is separation from God."
Oh really. Well in that case, as an atheist I'm here to tell you - it's not so bad.
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Californians are selfish?
Sooner or later we'll have to deal with this in the UK, but for now we can only look in abject amazement at what the Californian majority has done.
Personally I can't understand it. The nearest thing I can liken the passing of Proposition 8 to is an unbelievably selfish dog-in-the-manger attitude. We can be thankful for one small mercy I suppose: at least those same-sex marriages that occurred during the brief respite will not be annulled.
"Marriage is ours! You can't have it!" seems to encapsulate what the vote is saying. The majority don't want gay marriage. Fine, it's entirely up to you whether you approve or not. But don't deny it to those who do want it. Gay marriages aren't performed in church, so it's not a religious issue.
In the UK we have church marriages and we have registry office marriages. The church should consider itself privileged that signing the register as part of a church ceremony counts as a legal wedding. Those who don't wish for a church ceremony can have a civil wedding at a registry office - and they will be legally married under UK law.
The church is free to make up its own rules as to who can and can't be married in church (though in the case of the Church of England it's a bit more complicated than that, because they are the 'established church'). Those who don't like the rules can get married in a registry office.
It seems to me that what's happened in California is that the majority has voted for the church to have dominion over the secular. In a country whose constitution explicitly forbids such interference, this is a serious matter indeed.
In the general euphoria surrounding the news that the American electorate made a wise choice on November 4, the passing of Proposition 8 in California is unpleasant and embarrassing.
UPDATE, 2008-11-12:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVUecPhQPqY
Personally I can't understand it. The nearest thing I can liken the passing of Proposition 8 to is an unbelievably selfish dog-in-the-manger attitude. We can be thankful for one small mercy I suppose: at least those same-sex marriages that occurred during the brief respite will not be annulled.
"Marriage is ours! You can't have it!" seems to encapsulate what the vote is saying. The majority don't want gay marriage. Fine, it's entirely up to you whether you approve or not. But don't deny it to those who do want it. Gay marriages aren't performed in church, so it's not a religious issue.
In the UK we have church marriages and we have registry office marriages. The church should consider itself privileged that signing the register as part of a church ceremony counts as a legal wedding. Those who don't wish for a church ceremony can have a civil wedding at a registry office - and they will be legally married under UK law.
The church is free to make up its own rules as to who can and can't be married in church (though in the case of the Church of England it's a bit more complicated than that, because they are the 'established church'). Those who don't like the rules can get married in a registry office.
It seems to me that what's happened in California is that the majority has voted for the church to have dominion over the secular. In a country whose constitution explicitly forbids such interference, this is a serious matter indeed.
In the general euphoria surrounding the news that the American electorate made a wise choice on November 4, the passing of Proposition 8 in California is unpleasant and embarrassing.
UPDATE, 2008-11-12:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVUecPhQPqY
Burnee links for Sunday (belated post - more soon)
Missed a post last Sunday - here's what would have been in it (probably) . . .
"Website censorship erodes the very freedoms that the home secretary
purports to defend"
John Ozimek: A victory for the terrorists | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
The UK's law banning the display of material that "directly or
indirectly" encourages terrorism is likely to be unenforceable.
"There is no contradiction between creation and science, says Benedict XVI"
Stephen Hawking to address Vatican conference on evolution -Times Online
"The Catholic Church accepts evolution, but sees it as part of the
divine plan. Pope Benedict has been described as a 'theistic
evolutionist' who believes that God created life through evolution,
and thus that there is no inherent clash between religion and science.
"The Catholic Church does not take the Genesis story that God created
the world in six days literally, regarding it instead as an allegory.
However some Christians - not least in the United States - do take the
Genesis account literally and object to evolution being taught in
school."
"A passion for conservative values has united diverse Christian
groups, giving them influence way beyond their numbers"
Religion remains fundamental to US politics | Susan Jacoby - Times Online
"To most of my European friends, an inexplicable aspect of American
culture is the quixotic persistence and social influence of religious
fundamentalism. They cannot understand how Americans could seriously
consider for the second highest office in the land a candidate who has
worshipped all her adult life at churches where congregants believe
the literal truth of every word in the Bible and practise 'speaking in
tongues'. Thanks to YouTube, we even know that Sarah Palin has been
blessed to protect her against witchcraft."
(Some of the comments on this article are discouraging, to say the least.)
Vatican approves psychological tests for screening out homosexuals :: Damian Thompson
"The Vatican has given cautious approval to the use of psychological
tests to root out men with 'deep-seated homosexual tendencies' from
seminaries. Rome first used this phrase in 2005, when it said that
these tendencies were a bar to ordination; now, in a document released
today, it sanctions the use of tests to identify those 'deep-seated'
traits - but not without the seminarian's permission.
"Voluntary tests can also be used to identify men for whom the burden
of celibacy is too great and will cause emotional disturbance even if
they manage to keep their vows."
Two posts from Tim Farley:
The Long Tail of Skeptical Web Sites « Skeptical Software Tools
Skeptics! Load your google bombs! « Skeptical Software Tools
If you've previously linked to Stop Sylvia Browne, you should now link to Stop Sylvia Dot Com, like this: Stop Sylvia Browne. Why is this important? See Tim's post.
"Website censorship erodes the very freedoms that the home secretary
purports to defend"
John Ozimek: A victory for the terrorists | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
The UK's law banning the display of material that "directly or
indirectly" encourages terrorism is likely to be unenforceable.
"There is no contradiction between creation and science, says Benedict XVI"
Stephen Hawking to address Vatican conference on evolution -Times Online
"The Catholic Church accepts evolution, but sees it as part of the
divine plan. Pope Benedict has been described as a 'theistic
evolutionist' who believes that God created life through evolution,
and thus that there is no inherent clash between religion and science.
"The Catholic Church does not take the Genesis story that God created
the world in six days literally, regarding it instead as an allegory.
However some Christians - not least in the United States - do take the
Genesis account literally and object to evolution being taught in
school."
"A passion for conservative values has united diverse Christian
groups, giving them influence way beyond their numbers"
Religion remains fundamental to US politics | Susan Jacoby - Times Online
"To most of my European friends, an inexplicable aspect of American
culture is the quixotic persistence and social influence of religious
fundamentalism. They cannot understand how Americans could seriously
consider for the second highest office in the land a candidate who has
worshipped all her adult life at churches where congregants believe
the literal truth of every word in the Bible and practise 'speaking in
tongues'. Thanks to YouTube, we even know that Sarah Palin has been
blessed to protect her against witchcraft."
(Some of the comments on this article are discouraging, to say the least.)
Vatican approves psychological tests for screening out homosexuals :: Damian Thompson
"The Vatican has given cautious approval to the use of psychological
tests to root out men with 'deep-seated homosexual tendencies' from
seminaries. Rome first used this phrase in 2005, when it said that
these tendencies were a bar to ordination; now, in a document released
today, it sanctions the use of tests to identify those 'deep-seated'
traits - but not without the seminarian's permission.
"Voluntary tests can also be used to identify men for whom the burden
of celibacy is too great and will cause emotional disturbance even if
they manage to keep their vows."
Two posts from Tim Farley:
The Long Tail of Skeptical Web Sites « Skeptical Software Tools
Skeptics! Load your google bombs! « Skeptical Software Tools
If you've previously linked to Stop Sylvia Browne, you should now link to Stop Sylvia Dot Com, like this: Stop Sylvia Browne. Why is this important? See Tim's post.
Friday, 7 November 2008
Iconoclasts - Andrew Keen - BBC Radio 4 (repost from other blog)
I didn't hear it live (I was watching a fireworks display at the time), but the programme mentioned on a previous post is available to stream for a few days more:http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/iconoclasts
The debate was bit of a mess, and nothing much was resolved. None of the participants addressed the fundamental issue - that new media technology has rendered the old gatekeeper-style of publishing obsolete. We live in a different world now, and there's no going back.
When the audio streaming link above expires, download the mp3 from RapidShare:
http://rapidshare.com/files/258029640/Iconoclasts_AndrewKeen_BBCR4i-20081105.mp3
Sunday, 2 November 2008
YouTube - Palin Ignorant About Scientific Research
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wezdbLqRnzs
This video clip (in various versions) has by now done the rounds of the blogs and news sites, and it might seem superfluous to repeat it here. But this is just one more example of the continuous anti-science, anti-intellectual and anti-elite stance taken by McCain/Palin throughout the current US election campaign. Just one more to add to the list, which now includes:
'planetariums and other foolishness'
'overhead projector' - referring to the Zeiss projector of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago (a planetarium I have visited myself, and where I found the educational facilities especially impressive)
'fruit fly research, in Paris, France. I kid you not!'
This isn't dumbing down - it's dumbing off the bottom of the scale.
UPDATE 2008-11-03:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKrpnfTISaE
(From Wendy Chao, via Skepchick)
This video clip (in various versions) has by now done the rounds of the blogs and news sites, and it might seem superfluous to repeat it here. But this is just one more example of the continuous anti-science, anti-intellectual and anti-elite stance taken by McCain/Palin throughout the current US election campaign. Just one more to add to the list, which now includes:
'planetariums and other foolishness'
'overhead projector' - referring to the Zeiss projector of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago (a planetarium I have visited myself, and where I found the educational facilities especially impressive)
'fruit fly research, in Paris, France. I kid you not!'
This isn't dumbing down - it's dumbing off the bottom of the scale.
UPDATE 2008-11-03:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKrpnfTISaE
(From Wendy Chao, via Skepchick)
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Andrew Keen and the end of new media (repost from other blog)
Internet curmudgeon Andrew Keen is at it again, moaning about people creating stuff for free, and telling them that they've got it coming:Andrew Keen predicts the end of "free labor" online - Boing Boing
...which links to this article at Internet Evolution:
Economy to Give Open-Source a Good Thumping
Keen continues to judge Web 2.0 by mid-twentieth-century standards, but new media technology is fundamentally different from what we had back then, and many of the old criteria have ceased to apply. In the UK we'll be getting more of his doomsaying next week. Here's an extract from RadioTimes.com:
It will be interesting to learn who's on the panel of experts. It's a live show, and the producers are asking for listener input during the broadcast: iconoclasts@bbc.co.uk. Until then I offer this quote from Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan: "What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."Iconoclasts
Wednesday 05 November
8:00pm - 8:45pm
BBC Radio 4Edward Stourton chairs a live discussion series in which guests set out their strong views on a subject, before being challenged by a panel of experts. 2: Andrew Keen, one of the pioneering entrepreneurs of the internet boom, argues that Web 2.0 is an anarchic movement that destroys culture of real value.
Monday, 27 October 2008
My Confession - Elyse - Skepchick.org
Some people's path to scepticism is a gentle amble along a relatively unchallenging track. You learn some science and begin to question the beliefs of your childhood. The final break from the world of irrationality may be emotional, but short lived, and once you emerge into the clearing of rational, evidence-based reasoning, the relief can be its own reward.
It's not like that for everyone. Check out this awesome post at the Skepchick blog, where Elyse relates her own heart-rending story of sceptical awakening.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
