Atheist Revolution Religious belief is a destructive force that causes far more harm than good. Atheist Revolution is a blog dedicated to breaking free from irrational belief and opposing Christian extremism in America. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 1 0 119 9348

Articles from Atheist Revolution

Why "Know Them By Their Deeds?" 2007-08-08 05:34:00 Regular readers will know that I periodically post reports of crimes committed by Christians (and yes, they are real Christians). I often include the phrase "Know Them By Their Deeds" in the post titles of such reports and have received criticism for doing so. So, why do I do it?The meaning of the "know them by their deeds" phrase comes from the Christian bible. Matthew 7:16 reads, "Ye shall know them by their fruits," and translators of the Greek and Hebrew generally interpret "fruit" as "deed," "act," or "work." The meaning is that it is often misleading to base one's impression of someone on their words and that we are better off focusing on their acts. That is, know them not so much by what they say but what they do.I use this phrase to highlight Christian hypocrisy. We all know that believers are fond of claiming moral superiority over nonbelievers. And yet, their deeds often suggest otherwise.My use of this phrase is not intended to signify that I believe all believers are wick ...

Christian Taliban Running the American Military? 2007-08-07 05:40:00 Time reports on a story which I expect will be familiar to many of you - the "Christianization" of the American military. Reports of this disturbing trend have been around for awhile, but it is nice to finally see some coverage in mainstream media.According to Time,...the Inspector General's office of the Department of Defense released a report concluding that a former Pentagon chaplain and several generals inappropriately loaned the prestige of their positions — and that of the Pentagon and the U.S. government — to make a fundraising film for a non-governmental evangelical group, the so-called Christian Embassy. The report identified Christian Embassy as affiliated with the group Campus Crusade for Christ.For more on what is happening in the military and why we should be concerned, see this excellent article at Truthdig.Tags: American Taliban, Christian extremism, military, religion, Christianity ...

More Evidence That Abstinence-Only Programs Don't Work 2007-08-06 05:58:00 Programs based on fundamentalist Christianity and championed by President Bush took another hit with the release of an Oxford University review of 13 US trials published in the British Medical Journal. The conclusion? "Sex abstinence programmes do not stop risky sexual behaviour or help in the prevention of unwanted pregnancy."As a taxpayer, I am appalled to learn that my tax dollars are supporting a budget where "a third of the President's HIV budget is given to abstinence programmes." People continue to die of AIDS while we squander resources on demonstrably ineffective treatments.Researchers found none of the abstinence-only programmes had an impact on the age at which individuals lost their virginity, whether they had unprotected sex, the number of sexual partners, the rates of sexually transmitted diseases or the number of pregnancies.I have no problem at all with abstinence being part of comprehensive sex education, but to continue funding abstinence-only programs in light of mo ...

Carnival of the Godless 72 2007-08-05 09:11:00 Welcome to the 72nd Carnival of the Godless! Contributions have been pouring in all week, and there is some great godless reading to be found here. I hope that you will enjoy the posts as much as I have.If this is your first visit to Atheist Revolution, welcome. I am an atheist blogger living in a particularly harsh climate for atheists, Mississippi, so I appreciate the opportunity to interact with my fellow atheists more than I can quantify. I started this blog in early 2005 to promote freedom from irrationality and to oppose Christian extremism in America.ActivismMike Haubrich presents How Two People Can Influence the Education of A Nation posted at Tangled Up In Blue. AtheismBob Kowalski presents What would it take for me to stop being an atheist? posted at Bob Kowalski.James Lewitzke presents Top 10 Reasons to Not Believe in God posted at Toptenlisted.com.EntertainmentJon Swift presents Harry Potter Is a Brat posted at Jon Swift.James Westfall presents West Palm Beach woman sets to ...

Give Dawkins Money or You're Not a Real Atheist: Postscript 2007-08-04 09:30:00 I really appreciated all the thought-provoking comments I received on my recent post, Give Dawkins Money or You're Not a Real Atheist. However, a few of the comments and some of the e-mail I received indicate that additional clarification might be beneficial. I am saddened to receive correspondence suggesting that my disagreement with either Richard Dawkins or PZ Myers is somehow harming the atheist movement. This sounds dogmatic, and this is something I think we need to avoid.First things first, I have the greatest respect and admiration for PZ Myers. I have a category in my RSS aggregator called "Best of the Best," and Paryngula is one of only four feeds there. When I am running short on time, these are the feeds I check first. I commend PZ for putting a public face on atheism because I know what courage this takes.Having said this, I do not necessarily agree with everything PZ says. We are not the same person, and it seems absurd to expect that we would agree on everything. In fact ...

What's Next For Atheism? 2007-08-03 11:03:00 The first step of the atheist revival has been a full-scale assault on religious belief. Books by Harris, Dawkins, and Hitchens have reminded modern atheists of classic arguments against theism, framing them in a contemporary context. Increasing numbers of atheists are utilizing the Internet to criticize religious belief, discuss atheism and secular humanism, and connect with other freethinkers. Others are coming together offline via meetup groups and secular organizations. Now some at the forefront of the atheist revival are starting to ask an important question: what's next for atheism?Bolstered by everything from a faith-based American presidency to the explosive growth of the atheist blogosphere, 2007 really has been the year of the atheist. Fueled primarily by recent atheist books on the bestseller list, the American media is paying more attention to atheism than they have at any point during my lifetime.With the spotlight on atheism, it is no surprise that new atheist blogs, onl ...

Chuck Colson: Atheists Are Irrational And Ignore Evidence 2007-08-02 13:17:00 According to Chuck Colson, writing a guest column for Christian Post, Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens represent "a new breed of atheist" which Colson refers to as "the anti-theist." Yep, this is yet another article condemning the atheist revival. Colson focuses primarily on Hitchens, but you'll find little more than recycled arguments that don't work here any better than they did the first 30 times you heard them.Colson claims that the contemporary atheist movement is quite different from anything we've seen previously. Why? Because today's atheists "don’t want to just deny the existence of God, they want to wipe religion off the map."Colson's evidence to support this bold assertion? He takes a few of Hitchens' sentences out of context and then draws unwarranted interpretations of them which are not at all evident in Hitchens' book. Never mind what Hitchens actually says - just take Colson's word for it that his bizarre interpretations are supported.Colson says that Hitchens wr ...

Words of Wisdom: Bertrand Russell 2007-08-02 06:31:00 Cited in Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism by David Mills:The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence that it is not utterly absurd; indeed,, in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.-- Bertrand RussellTags: Bertrand Russell, belief ...

Give Dawkins Money or You're Not a Real Atheist 2007-08-01 05:24:00 I trust that you've now heard of the OUT Campaign, championed by Richard Dawkins. What an ingenious way to sell crap! Okay, maybe I'm being too hard on Dawkins and the folks who support this campaign (to my genuine amazement). In truth, my real objection has little to do with Dawkins trying to make a buck off of this and more to do with a statement by a certain prominent blogger that those who refuse to wear Dawkins' mark have no right to claim that they are helping the atheist movement.Atheists are increasingly looking to the gay rights movement as a model for how to gain respectability, political power, and to ensure that our rights are protected. The key lesson many atheists seem to have taken from the GLBT community is that "coming out" solves all ills. The idea is that if more atheists were to come out, we'd be impossible to ignore, we'd have tremendous strength due to our large numbers, it would no longer be possible to discriminate against us, etc.This sounds good in princi ...

Christian Legacy: The Inquisition 2007-07-31 05:43:00 The Inquisition is one of the darkest and least understood chapters in history, and yet, one cannot understand Christianity and the threat of Christian theocracy without delving into this horrifying part of the Christian legacy. In recently watching Secret Files of the Inquisition, I was surprised to discover just how much I did not know about this period. I had bought into many of the intentionally false claims made by Christian apologists without even knowing I was doing so.Here are some examples of some of what I learned from watching this documentary:The Inquisition was not simply some brief case of Christian extremism run amok. The Spanish Inquisition alone lasted over 300 years.The Inquisition was not some ancient mistake with little impact on the modern world. The Roman Inquisition was thriving into the mid-1800's, and the Christian program of systematically confining Jews to ghettos, depriving them of rights, and making them wear identifying symbols likely influenced Hitler.Ha ...

"So, What Church Do You Go To?" 2007-07-30 06:06:00 If you've spent any time in the American South, you are fully aware that asking this question to complete strangers is commonplace here. I am not sure if I will ever get used to it, but a recent article in The Charlotte Observer suggests that I should not expect to stop hearing the question anytime soon. It is part of the culture here, although I do not say that in order to excuse it.I moved to the South after having spent most of my life on the West Coast. I'd lived in California, Washington, and Oregon. Religion was a private matter, not to be discussed with strangers. I believe that the inherent divisiveness of religion was recognized on some level. People seemed to realize that public proclamations of one's religious beliefs were antithetical to the maintenance of social cohesion.But the South has a very different history than the West, so it should not be surprising that a very different culture has emerged. Church is far more important here than in many regions of America.In t ...

Ingroups, Outgroups, and Pharyngula 2007-07-29 09:26:00 Alonzo Frye, author of Atheist Ethicist Journal, wrote a recent post in which he took issue with my support of a statement made by PZ Myers about a map of America showing the density of religious believers. I think he made several good points that should be considered, but I stand by my support for what PZ said.In the original Pharyngula post, PZ Myers indicated that the map demonstrated,the concentration of ignorant, deluded, wicked, foolish, or oppressed victims of obsolete mythologies in the United States, with the lighter colors being the most enlightened and the dark reds being the most repressed and misinformed.Since the map in question was designed to show the density of religious believers throughout America, I expressed my support for this statement.Alonzo's first issue is whether PZ actually intended his comment to be take seriously. He quoted PZ later referring to the comment as a "casual and flippant comment." If the issue is whether PZ deserves the criticism he has receiv ...

Know Them By Their Deeds: Methodist Volunteer Held in Molestation 2007-07-28 15:14:00 According to The Arizona Republic, a youth fellowship volunteer was arrested for allegedly molesting a 13 year-old mentally retarded girl. Police reports and court records indicate that 39 year-old James Ward Chapman III admitted to inappropriate touching. As is generally the case with this sort of offense, it appears that this was not Chapman's first foray into sexual depravity and that the church had prior warnings about him.Police indicated that Chapman has generated prior complaints of inappropriately hugging teen church members, and Rev. Dan Morley confirmed that teens have complained to him about Chapman. One cannot help but wonder why the church permitted Chapman to continue in the youth fellowship after receiving multiple complaints about inappropriate behavior."The complaint was that he was engaging in too much interaction with the youth . . . too much hugging," he said. "We discussed boundaries, and he was no longer working with the youth fellowship group."The response of th ...

New Blog: Shared Difference 2007-07-28 06:16:00 "Shared difference, self-belief, and a rational humanism" is the tagline for a new blog by James C Buckley, Shared Difference. Although Shared Difference is still in its infancy as a blog, I really like where it is going. As a therapist, Buckley brings an interesting perspective to his writing that will help make his contributions stand out in the secular blogosphere. Check it out.Tags: secular, blog, blogs, blogosphere, humanism ...

Pope Acknowledges Reality of Evolution 2007-07-27 07:19:00 I know that the Pope is irrelevant to many of us and what he says may be of little interest. However, there are still many Catholics who value what he represents to them. Thus, I am happy to have received this article from a reader via e-mail. The Pope has acknowledged "much scientific proof in favour of evolution."Speaking to an audience of 400 priests, the Pope addressed the creationism-evolution "controversy," noting,This clash is an absurdity because on one hand there is much scientific proof in favour of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such.Not surprisingly, he still insists on creating a role for archaic superstition by claiming that evolution leaves many questions unanswered. Ah yes, the god of the gaps may be smaller and smaller, but as long as there are gaps, we'll get to hear about it.The Pope is starting to sound like a bit of a Deist, isn't he? He now accepts evolution but still tries to cli ...