And who could heed the words of Charlie Darwin
Fighting for a system built to fail
Spooning water from their broken vessels
As far as I can see there is no land
Welcome!
7.07.2009
The Low Anthem - Charlie Darwin
7.04.2009
Militant Inoffensiveness
I am trying to think of the most inoffensive thing possible to say about atheists. Something to put on a bus or billboard that no reasonable person could possibly be offended by. Something like 'Atheists Exist' or 'It may be that someone you care about is an atheist'. Then our website in case anyone is interested in our group.
You may think such a slogan lacks 'sizzle'. I think it doesn't matter how inoffensive we are, we will offend a lot of religous folk just by reminding them that some people are atheists. That's the beauty of an inoffensive slogan, the disproportionate response demonstrates to the reasonable that attacking us for saying something innocuous is not very reasonable at all. We get the moral high ground AND the publicity of controversy in a two-for-one deal thanks to the inability of so many fundamentalists to tolerate our existence quietly. It's advertising aikido where our opponents do the hard part. Now if we can just get enough money to put the darn slogan up.
6.27.2009
The Money Pit
In Nova Scotia, there is an island called Oak Island. On this island is the Money Pit where countless treasure seekers have spent considerable labor, fortunes, and even lives in their quest to recover a treasure that no evidence suggests exists. The Money Pit itself is most likely a natural phenomena and not the work of clever pirates who hid treasure there. But as Joe Nickell put it, "The more elusive the treasure has proved, the more speculation it has engendered."
Religion is similar to the Money Pit. Religion is a clever construct that lacks evidence, but this lack of evidence only adds to its mystery and the devotion of its followers. Like the treasure seekers on Oak Island, religious people have expended considerable labor, fortunes, and lives in pursuit of their religious aims.
The Religion Pit works by a few tricks that snarl believers in ever deeper delusion. Here is a list of them:
1. THE FAITH TRAP
The faith trap works by convincing believers that faith is the highest virtue and contrary evidence is merely a test of that virtue. The more evidence that is presented the more the believer must exercise faith. The result is that religion is unfalsifiable. Nevermind that many believers will cling to every form of evidence they can get from creation science, intelligent design, or what have you. Failing these efforts, they will manufacture their own evidence resulting in the numerous religious relics that have popped up over the centuries. The most famous of these is the Shroud of Turin which was discredited by carbon dating as a forgery, but true believers dismiss this. In short, the only evidence they acknowledge is the evidence that confirms their a priori belief.
2. THE GUILT TRAP
The guilt trap works by holding the believer in a snare that is inescapable. It is relatively easy to not steal or kill. It is somewhat harder not to have sex or smoke pot or masturbate to hot internet porn. It is impossible to be free of selfishness. This is where Christianity has it down to a science. No matter how good you are if you did anything for the sake of your own happiness this is sin. It doesn't take much to realize that everything we do is done from some aspect of self-interest. This necessitates the constant need for salvation and purgation. Catholicism takes this ever higher with their sacerdotal system. Prostrate and self-hating is the good Christian always in need of forgiveness for an infinite sinfulness that will never abate. Hell itself cannot be as bad as this.
3. THE DEATH TRAP
The only sad thing about being an atheist is that I will never have the chance to gloat in the afterlife and tell the believers, "Aha! I was right. There is no God or afterlife." Every believer dies never knowing they spent their lives devoted to a lie. Because we cannot peer beyond the veil, this leaves a blank for believers to fill with an infinite number of pleasures and pains and possibilities that face no empirical scrutiny. Throw in Pascal's wager, and there you have it. Death is forever, and the weight of that trumps whatever you can say about making the most of this short existence. The result is that all religions postpone happiness to another world and enslave their followers in this world.
If you were to collect all of the capital expended on Oak Island to find buried treasure, it would be a treasure that would rival anything Blackbeard or Captain Kidd could have ever put there. Religion is no different. It is a waste of human capital and a negation of life. The sad thing is that you cannot save these people from their delusions because even your efforts push their delusions further. The only people who will profit from the Money Pit will be those who charge admission to see it and to tell the stories of wasted lives.
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NOTES
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Island
2. http://www.csicop.org/si/2000-03/i-files.html
6.21.2009
Banner/Logo
Go vote for your favorite GC banner/logo!
http://atheists.meetup.com/64/polls/191698/
We've had an extended period of time to mull over logos/banners but pretty much saw the idea of changing my original image die from neglect. Although I solicited new entries, very few were proposed. Charlie uploaded a new one recently. Now it's time to vote.
See all the offerings here: http://picasaweb.goog...
Original: http://picasaweb.goog...
Daniel N. Atom Logo: http://picasaweb.goog...
Charlie Flag 1: http://picasaweb.goog...
Charlie Flag 2: http://picasaweb.goog...
Kelli Flag 1: http://picasaweb.goog...
Kelli Flag 2: http://picasaweb.goog...
Charlie New: http://picasaweb.goog...
Feel free to discuss the options below in the comments section and/or vote for one of them. Also, to add more email them to our gmail address (godlesscolumbia) or post it to the blog or post a link here.
6.20.2009
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