Skeptical Sunday: Refuting “Materialism”(?)

Here’s another SS post that I began back at the beginning of the year and which subsequently lay fallow until now. A young man named Ethan posted this comment on my post about the YouTube apologist murder-suicide:

Hello, Mr. Dorkman. I recently happened upon the RvD videos on Youtube and they are very nicely done. Through a chain of events, I found your blog.

I am a Christian, and as such disagree with this. I think you might be interested in my blog post on Materialism. Feel free to check it out and any other parts of the blog if you so desire. Nice to have met you. The link is below:

http://edsnotofthisworld.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/materialism-and-the-reality-of-god/

Take care,
Ethan Stech

As you’ll see, I commented on his post at the time and intended to post a response here…and then didn’t. I started writing one but never got the chance to finish.

So here’s me finishing. We have to grant that the original post is over seven months old at this point, and written by quite a young man. It may no longer represent his level of rhetorical skill or, in fact, his actual opinions. But I promised a response and here it is.

Skeptical Sunday: Dear Atheist…

Hey guys.

I’m drowning in work right now (no pun intended. I know you don’t know why that’s a pun but after I’m done with the gig, I’ll tell you and then you will) but I want to get something new on the blog. I really want to do more posts on writing, but also want to get Skeptical Sundays up and running again.

So here’s a post I wrote toward the beginning of the year and then didn’t post, for some reason. I think I was saving it for a rainy day. So I’ll put this up for now, and continue on with our regularly intermittent programming.

* * *

I saw a link regarding an “open letter” to atheists posted on a Christian forum. You can find the original here.

Since it was addressed simply to “Atheist,” it seemed to be as much for me as anyone else, so I thought I may as well answer it, just for fun.

Happy Everyone Draw Mohammed Day — First Annual!

My Skeptical Sunday posts (which I will get back to, promise) occasionally got comments like “Why are you only picking on Christianity?” This one’s for you guys.

Okay, so short version. South Park was going to air an episode with a depiction of the Muslim prophet Mohammed, in a bear suit. Even though they’d depicted Mohammed back in 2001 in the episode “Super Best Friends,” after a bunch of radical Muslims got butthurt and rioted over Danish cartoons depicting Mohammed, everyone’s been gun-shy of depicting Mohammed and getting death threats from said radical Muslims.

Which is exactly what happened when it was announced that South Park would be depicting Mohammed again in this episode — a terrorist organization sent them a death threat. And while Matt and Trey apparently didn’t blink, Comedy Central did and the episode was altered.

You see, in Islam it is forbidden to make a depiction of Mohammed, which is all well and good for Muslims. The problem is, they want the rest of us to have to follow the rules of their religion. Which only makes sense — they believe their religion should rule over everything and everyone. And they use threats and intimidation to try to limit free speech and force a de facto conformity to Sharia law by ranting and raving and making a bigass stink any time someone does something that they aren’t allowed, by their religion, to do.

YouTube user Thunderf00t — a long-time champion of free speech — explains it pretty well.

There are other blogs that are collecting cartoon depictions of Mohammed today. One is Citizens Against Citizens Against Humor. Another, the aptly-named Everyone Draw Mohammed.

Me? I can’t draw, and stick figure Mohammeds are everywhere. So I made a loldog.

It’s not just offense for the sake of being offensive. It’s an important reminder that just because something offends you, doesn’t mean you have the right to censor or silence it. And you are especially not entitled to attempt to silence the free speech of others while enjoying the benefits of such speech yourself. Not in a free society. Not in the 21st century. And not on our watch.

Celebrate your free speech, today and every day!

Skeptical Sunday: Word Salad

Like most people of my generation, I know the most reliable, unbiased and hard-hitting sources of news on television are the Daily Show and Colbert Report.

I don’t want to get into TDS or Colbert particularly in this post, but there was something interesting that happened on Tuesday. During a segment on the Catholic Church holding a summit about the possibility of alien life, Colbert had a priest on to discuss the matter and — well, you can just watch the interview.

(Currently embedding isn’t allowed, so I’ll just have to link you to the clip and update in the future if I remember. The interview starts at 2:45:)

View the segment.

The part that interested me most was this little excerpt (from 3:45) of what the guy said:

But we also read in the beginning of the gospel of John, ‘In the Beginning was the Word,’ and the Word, of course, is a second person — this is what we’re celebrating at Christmas — this could be a Word that exists even before the Earth existed, before anything existed.

Now, if you’re a Christian (or a former one), you likely followed what he just said. I went to four years of Catholic high school myself, I got it. But look at it objectively for a moment and you realize something striking: this is actually total gibberish.

Skeptical Sunday: Putting Faith in its Place

YouTube user QualiaSoup has produced a number of fantastic videos, which clearly explain — with entertaining visual aids — the scientific method and the skeptical perspective. I’ve previously posted his treatise on the concept of open-mindedness.

He’s been away, but he returned this week with a fantastic video titled “Putting Faith in its Place.” It actually answers a number of questions that come up on this blog about the subject, from the proper application of faith to “why do you need to prove God doesn’t exist?” It also addresses an overall issue with Case for a Creator.

I highly recommend taking the time to watch all his videos. They are well-thought-out, easy to follow, and will clarify a lot of questions you may have about reality-based worldviews.

Enjoy.

Skeptical Sunday: Our Impossible Nature

It’s been some time since I had the chance to write much of anything here, much less wade into the quagmire of bad science and shoddy logic that is The Case for a Creator. But I’m doing my best to take the backlog of “stuff I should have finished by now” and making that, you know, happen. I’ve got a 60-hour-a-week-minimum gig coming down the pipes for September so I can’t guarantee it’ll happen during that month, but I’m going to do my best to get through it ASAP.

I could save you a lot of time reading this book, however, and other books and pamphlets and websites by apologists all relaying the same half-baked pablum, with a very simple summary of their argument. Any apologist supposedly using scientific evidence to support the assertion that a deity exists is arguing a premise and conclusion that can be summed up in three words:

Nature is impossible.

Whether the specific evidence at hand is the so-called Big Bang, DNA, human consciousness, the majesty of a tree, the mystery of consciousness, the argument is essentially the same: it is impossible for this to occur naturally. Therefore God.

What Wouldn’t Jesus Do?

This is really starting to get ridiculous. I go on and on with long posts on this stuff, and then someone comes along and makes an entertaining satire with nice graphic design and/or stick figures. 

A terrible tragedy

I kind of don’t know what to say about this other than that it’s a horrible tragedy. But I, and the person who uploaded this video, can’t help but notice the cruel irony of someone so on fire for da Lawd, someone so obsessed with the notion that atheists are “angry,” committing such a heinous act. 

I’m not saying that his religion necessarily led him to do this. But I think it’s important to note that his god did nothing to stop it. A loving god would have every reason to prevent a madman from carrying out these kinds of criminal acts in his name, a vested interest in protecting his reputation and even demonstrating that he loves and cares for all people. That’s what he wants us to believe, isn’t it? That’s the faith we’re supposed to have. 

Instead, nothing. Nothing. If a god is watching, then he is an accessory in this crime if not the perpetrator. He may even be malevolent, he may have wanted this to happen and enjoyed it as it did. 

Or, the most likely case, there is nobody watching, and that’s why nobody acted from on high. 

I say again, I’m not accusing his religious beliefs of inciting him to homicide, but it goes back to some questions in recent comments: why didn’t his god work in his heart to prevent him from doing such a thing as this? Why doesn’t religious belief have a statistical effect on its adherents for moral behavior if it is supposed to be so intricately tied to the source of morality? 

This is not an emotional appeal regarding my lack of belief in a god, though it does impact me emotionally. My point is: even granting you that a god does exist, if you ask me to believe that he is good and kind and loving, if you ask me to apply faith where it really counts, I can only point to this.

I would say I’d laugh in your face, but I don’t feel like laughing about anything at the moment. 

Secular Sunday: What Sacrifice?

Today is Easter Sunday. The holiday when Christians celebrate being forgiven for something that a just god wouldn’t hold them responsible for in the first place. 

Ignoring the injustice of the notion of sin in general, and original sin in particular; ignoring the injustice of eternal punishment for temporal crimes; ignoring the immorality and barbarism of requiring blood and sacrifice to atone for any wrongdoing big or small; pretending for a moment that all of these things make any kind of sense, let’s focus in on what folks are celebrating this weekend: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

So the big deal is that God sent his son (who was also God) to sacrifice himself for the good of mankind. We’re supposed to kneel in gratitude at the feet of the ultimate sacrifice. 

And my question, as I’ve already alluded to, is: what sacrifice?

Secular Sunday: This I Believe(d)

With this being my birthday weekend, my gift to myself is once again not having to read CFAC. I thought instead I would go back to a pre-blog journal that I wrote when I was still a devout believer, and post a few segments of what I used to believe and express. 

I have to say, I kind of wish I’d read CFAC instead. I find some of the things I said to be truly alarming, drawing comfort only from the knowledge that I eventually pulled my head out of my ass. 

But let’s not be coy, let’s dive in.