Secular Transhumanist

James Ledford has started up a new blog on the subject of Christian Transhumanism. It remains to be seen what sort of Christianity Mr. Ledford is advocating, as his initial post is sort of rambling and seems to come to a conclusion without ever actually building up to a conclusion.

There are certainly venal responses to his conclusion. Such as when he says,

I want to be all I can be.

The clear response is that this is simply not so. What he wants is to be all that he can be within the limits set by some imaginary super-being who supposedly has some abiding interest in the minutiae of human behavior, down to the shape of our penises. Be all I can be? Not if what I want to be somehow contradicts what a bunch of desert sheep-herders thought their sky-god wanted them to do.

I hope future posts on his blog will be more substantive, because statements such as “Forgiveness is important to spiritual growth because it establishes an exhaust for misunderstanding and disorder” and “the cognitive high ground could be no other than Christ” are quite simply meaningless patter, impossible to debate because they don’t mean anything.

admin Uncategorized

Famed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking did an interview with Diane Sawyer and the money quote is sure to give a lot of folks heartburn:

“There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.”

It will annoy the Jesoids and other religious nuts all the more because he’s right.

admin Uncategorized Religion, Science

So tell me, Madame Speaker, be specific. Which words in The Word are your favorites? The one where children are killed by the invisible guy-in-the-sky because they dated to call one of his favorites bald?

Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” So he turned around and looked at them, and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the LORD. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. (2 Kings 2:23-24)

Or maybe this one? Should help with those negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations … then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. (Deuteronomy 7:1-2)

Or this? Want to make this the law of the land, perhaps? Sort of puts “don’t ask, don’t tell” in perspective.

If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10)

Ah, yes. What a kind, understanding, loving Word it is. So forgiving of childrens’ youthful indiscretions, so… wait, what?

All who curse their father or mother must be put to death. They are guilty of a capital offense. (Leviticus 20:9)

Oh, and lest you think that all the assholery in the Word is tucked away in the Old Testament, here’s something that surely goes over well with the Congressional Black Caucus:

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. (Ephesians 6:5)

Oh, and Nancy, here’s a rule that applies to Church, but I’m sure we’d all be better off if you would just apply it in your daily life as well:

As in all the churches of the holy ones, women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. But if they want to learn anything, they should ask their husbands at home. For it is improper for a woman to speak in the church. (1 Corinthians 14:33-35)

admin Uncategorized Atheism, Democrats, Politics

Apparently, Bill Maher ruffled more than a few feathers on his HBO show, “Real Time with Bill Maher” the other night. I didn’t get to see it myself, but the responses have been strident enough that I can work out the broad outlines of what he said.

In particular, one Jason Whitlock at the Kansas City Star felt compelled to write an op-ed piece criticizing Maher. Specifically, Mr. Whitlock objected to Maher’s assertion that anyone who believes in a god is “deluded”. He brings up anecdotes about his mother, who was apparently a devoted Christian, and his grandmother (ditto), and Martin Luther King, Jr. (presumably ditto as well). Specifically, he says:

Will Maher use his enhanced platform to tell me my mother is “delusional?”

It was faith that gave my mother the strength to work a full shift at a factory and a second job at night so that my brother and I could live in a safe neighborhood with a good school system.

Or will Maher attack my grandmother’s faith?

It was her belief in Christ that allowed her to move emotionally and mentally beyond the racist atrocities her family endured living in the South.

Does Maher believe that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a group of atheists withstood water hoses, police batons, dogs, lynchings, bombings and jail so that dark-skinned citizens could pursue the American dream?

What does Maher believe got Jewish people through the Holocaust or Nelson Mandela through 27 years of incarceration?

Was Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad paved with well-meaning atheists or primarily by white people willing to take great risks because they believed they answered to a higher power?

But Mr. Whitlock misses the point utterly. Nothing in his examples refutes Maher’s assertion that belief in god is a form of delusion. The Free Dictionary defines the word delusion as “a false belief or opinion”. Note the answers to all of Mr. Whitlock’s rhetorical questions; it is always “belief” or “faith”. His mother’s faith… his grandmother’s belief… the faith of the Jews… The fact that these people used their faith to overcome obstacles does not in the slightest speak to the reality of those beliefs. The faith of the ancient Romans in their multitude of divinities surely helped tens of thousands of them overcome personal tragedies, obstacles, and worse. Does that speak to the real nature of the Roman gods, or to the psychological effect of belief in general? Of course not! One can believe in a delusion and still find great strength and comfort in it.

Indeed, I would say that is precisely what Mr. Whitlock’s mother and grandmother were doing; leaning on their delusion for strength and comfort. The fact that it provided that strength and comfort to them doesn’t make it any less delusional.

Now, he does indulge in a bit of atheist-demonizing, despite his protestations that such is the last thing he wants to do. He’s good at hiding it, but he just can’t seem to help himself:

Does Maher believe that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a group of atheists withstood water hoses, police batons, dogs, lynchings, bombings and jail so that dark-skinned citizens could pursue the American dream?

…

Was Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad paved with well-meaning atheists or primarily by white people willing to take great risks because they believed they answered to a higher power?

That is the worst form of guilt by association. Atheists weren’t at the center of Martin Luther King’s marches, so the inference is that they were against the Civil Rights movement. Atheists weren’t behing the Underground Railroad, so naturally they must have favored slavery and the Confederate cause.

What absolute rubbish, and such demonizing is beyond the pale for any serious news organization to publish, even under the guise of an opinion piece. The simple fact is, there probably were atheists with Martin Luther King and Harriet Tubman. But the societal prejudices against anyone who dared to stand up against the popular delusion were such as to make it unrealistic for anyone who was an atheist to declare himself as such. I notice there weren’t any homosexuals with King or Tubman, either. Why doesn’t Mr. Whitlock feel compelled to point that out, I wonder?

admin Uncategorized Atheism