The Thinking World - A Haven for Nonbelievers

Well hello

2009-10-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a hell of a long time, no? I'd best get back to updating on here.

For now, since I must be off to school, I will leave you with this little gem: a screenshot I took a few minutes ago.

Oh look, it are me.

2009-07-03T15:08:00.001-07:00

Marcus preaches on Mill, and one of his compatriots caught me arguing with him on camera. For the record, the only reason I couldn't answer his question is because I couldn't remember the names of the experiments I was thinking of. :(

Divine Blindness: Day 5

2009-06-26T05:54:00.001-07:00

Still nothing! I am disappointed in the extreme. Surely God can have no more excuses? I mean, why would an omnipotent, omniscient being have any difficulty at all in doing as His follower bade Him? It’s been five days and the time for traipsing Mill Ave. is nearly upon us again. If God is so interested in the goings-on of Mill, wouldn’t it benefit Him to have one of the Resistance out of action and suffering a crisis of non-faith?

Wait, you’re thinking. God doesn’t have to obey anyone! So what if Cesar claimed to be able to call down the Lord’s wrath upon me? That doesn’t mean He’s going to do it.

But why, though? This deity, who would necessarily have to be very well acquainted with who I am, knows what proof I need to believe in him, and to thus be “saved”. If he can perform such enormous feats as destroying Sodom and Gomorrah and (paradoxically) impregnating a young woman sans genitalia, why can’t he blind me to save me from the fires of Hell? Surely he knows that I would be more inclined to believe after such a miraculous experience.

Perhaps the Lord is as I suspected: a cruel god, a tyrant unmatched. Perhaps he truly does not care for his followers one bit…

Or perhaps, just perhaps, He is not the god of the Bible. He could be a different god entirely, one who never claims to intervene. Or maybe it is a deist god, who does not interfere with the universe much after creating it, leaving its creations (us) in a state of benign neglect…

Or maybe, and much more likely, it’s none of these things at all. The reason Cesar couldn’t blind me using the power of the Lord is because there is no Lord. There is no power to call on outside of ourselves to get the things that we want. Didn’t Jesus claim several times (in Mark 11:24 - 25, for instance) that whatever a Christian believed would happen and prayed for would take place? Not so, it would seem.

Science has never found much in the way of evidence for gods at all, and nothing that can’t be explained by naturalistic causes. And thankfully, when science (and the scientifically-inclined mind) doesn’t know something, it tries its damndest to discover what it is. That’s in direct opposition to religion, which can only spew the same nonsense it ever has, with some obnoxious apologetics thrown in for flavor.

My point is this: I very much doubt that there will ever be evidence for a god or gods. With so much progress being made by science in the past few hundred years, evidence has begun to increasingly show that the natural world has far more explanations and answers than any religious book. And as this progresses, the gaps for God to exist in become smaller and smaller. When you get to present times, He becomes little more than a handyman, stepping in to do the heavy lifting when things get too hard for poor little science to handle. And nearly all hypotheses involving God have either gone kaput or are regarded as nonscientific.

Religion is simply not reconcilable with scientific observation. Hence the overwhelming majority of atheist/agnostic scientists. They’re applying the scientific principles of skepticism to their own lives, as all of us should.

And as for those who believe in the Christian God, the one called upon to blind me, they have no basis at all for what they believe other than an ancient book written by men and deemed infallible. The God of the Bible could never have created the universe or us. I doubt he could ever do more than sit and have a temper tantrum of the floor of some cosmic nursery.

However it may be (and my position on the matter should be obvious), the truth remains that I am not blind. Hooray!

Pisses Me Off

2009-06-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

I'm becoming more familiar with the general Phoenix area, and I've noticed an odd fact: there are more churches here than there are schools.

What the hell? With public schools bulging at the seams to contain all those ill-educated over-medicated little crotchfruit, you'd think maybe someone would have the idea to convert a few of these essentially useless institutions into ones that actually benefit people. With reductions in class sizes and more individual attention to each student, maybe they'd actually learn a little! Maybe even a lot, thus saving them from an endless string of shitty food-service jobs.

I mean, really. "Fuck schooling! Turn those kids towards Jesus." What a load of rubbish. It's a statistical fact, as well, that the less education you get the more likely you are to be heartily religious. And a kid who has had crap for a scholastic experience isn't going anywhere near a college after high school, if it even makes it that far. No, that kid's going to pump out like seven more and PRAZE TEH LOARD.

I think churches could stand overcrowding more than schools can. Want to argue with me?

No, wait, before you do, can you hear that? Listen real hard. I think I can hear Sweden, Japan, and all the other secular, well-educated countries laughing at us. But what does that matter? We have Jesus.

Divine Blindness: Day 2

2009-06-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

Being blind seems to be remarkably similar to having sight. I’m beginning to think that perhaps nothing is happening at all.

Then I remember that Father’s Day was yesterday. I can’t expect so much out of God. I mean, like any good dad He was probably partying into the early hours with His son Jesus, going all Old Testament on a keg of prodigious size. The resulting hangover will surely take a day or two to overcome.

Meanwhile I sit and wait for the proof that he even exists. Surely blinding an 18-year-old girl shouldn’t be too hard for him? Once He can get up off the couch without puking up a universe or two, I’m sure he’ll get right to it. Cesar’s request is probably not far down the queue, right?

We’ll see.

Mill Ave. - 6/20

2009-06-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

I’m so excited I can barely contain myself. The Lord is going to blind me!

Last night was a fairly calm night, as Phil and those with him were the only ones hanging around. The exception was Edwin, who vanished soon after we arrived. With Phil was Cesar, a preacher I’d seen around only a few times.

He came up to us immediately as we approached the post office corner, and started in on his usual shtick. “I love you. You are my sister,” he said, indicating me, “and you are my brother.” He waved his hand at Kazz. “I love the both of you. But you need to respect us.”

He rambled on in the vein of "respect" for a while, and his main premise seemed to be that we would be bringing the wrath of God down on us if we continued to do what we do. He ignored me when I told him that while I respected their right to preach what they wanted to preach, I didn’t have to respect what they were saying. Also, the very fact that he seemed to be threatening us with God’s wrath was not terribly “respectful” of him to do.

“I can make you blind,” he said, looking at me. “For a little while, you will be blind.” I took this again as somewhat threatening, until he assured me that he had no need of touching me. He had only to speak to God, telling him that I was a child of Satan and to reveal himself to me. He did this, at my request, and he told me that the blindness would start some time the next day.

Phil made his usual mischief, and Jim rolled up to discuss the "merits" of creationism with us. We were at one point convinced that everyone was leaving when it turned out they were just making a final lap around Mill, preaching out of their portable loudspeaker. We followed behind, our megaphone held at the ready. The cacophony of the mixed sounds migrated down the street as we tailed them, and we left them only when they began to preach directly into the bars. I was sure that the police would be along soon enough to stop them from disrupting the merrymaking of the bar patrons.

The night itself was fairly nondescript, with the main event being Cesar’s little séance. Today has not brought me blindness, but I am willing to give him some leeway. Today was Father’s Day after all. Perhaps God was busy; perhaps Jesus took him out for a nice lunch and a Mylar “Best Dad Ever!” balloon. I’m willing to wait and see if this blindness thing will come through.

I can’t wait.

Quote of the Week
Phil: "Jesus said if you have hated in your heart, then you have committed adultery!"

Stoning

2009-05-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have no sympathy for Islam, only for the people it hoodwinks into believing its ludicrous claims, and for those that end up hurt, maimed, and/or killed by its adherents (often themselves believers). It is true that I have great distaste for most religions, but anyone seeking for greater public concession of the "religion of peace" will be laughed at by me. Just like they should be laughed at in Europe, where sharia courts may be instituted, given that the national leaders are spineless enough to allow it.

This article in Slate describes a particularly nefarious UN resolution that would prevent all anti-religious speech, the text of which makes references to the unfairness of Islam's association with ill deeds. In the fifth paragraph of the resolution, the UN states that it:

"expresses its deep concern that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism".

Human rights violations? Islam? My word, who would have thought it?

This religion is particularly insidious to the minds of its followers, mainly because it claims utter and absolute infallibility as the word of Allah. Anything written therein must be true, and thus anything that contradicts this 7th-century text must be destroyed as heresy. This alone would guarantee pretty terrible things, but when the "word of God" is written by a murderous, thieving, vengeful, hypocritical, immoral sexual deviant of a man, it all gets a little bit more explosive.

I just finished watching a video that I don't recommend to everyone. It is graphic and sickening evidence of what people (not just Muslims) will do when they feel that they have divine right. It can be found here, but I stress again that it may not be something you want to watch.

I beg of all people reading this to do what they can to stem the tide of fundamentalism. Islam, as an inherently fundamentalist religion, should not be left alone to do as it will. I stress that I am not calling all Muslims fundamentalist, nor do I think they are all capable of the acts above. What I would ask of them, and all others, is to closely examine this belief system and to determine for themselves if it is not among the most immoral, disgusting, depraved, and dangerous of things contrived by humankind. That's all.

EDIT: Pat Condell is updating his Youtube channel again, and I found his newest video to be relevant.

Mill Ave. - 5/22

2009-05-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

This Friday night was sparse with us-lings, since many were at the SFTS end-of-year party. Kazz, Spyral, Ezra, and I all dropped in on the revelry; Spyral and Ezra decided to stick around while Kazz and I went out to Mill.

An unpleasant little surprise awaited us upon our arrival. The Door were out, in all their screaming, shouting, spooky glory. I had never yet seen them, only heard tales of their insane antics and occasional violent behavior. They were all I could have hoped for and more on this night. A large number of them were dressed in black bodysuits, dancing and wailing with skeleton-painted faces as a mad preacher howled above their writhing bodies. Some waved ghostly gauze banners with images of what may have been demons on them. A reasonably large crowd looked on, and Omar and Jim stood not too far from where we set up the speaker.

A couple of the less-crazy members came to speak with us while the show wore on. However, when I say "less-crazy", please remember to whom I'm referring. These two young men seemed completely devoid of anything resembling sense. The one I spoke with primarily seemed absolutely unwilling to consider, even for the moment, that the Bible was fallible or in any way untrue. He seemed to dance around my questions regarding his presence on Mill; after all, didn't Jesus proscribe such behavior as public worship and showing off?

After some time, the large group began to pack up and leave. Relieved at their retreat, we began heading back down Mill towards Urban Outfitters. As we walked, Omar told us about having the cops called on him earlier that evening. As when this happened before, the Door simply didn't want to share the corner and decided to make a police matter of it. Of course, once the police turned up they could do nothing about it except to make sure no one was obstructing the sidewalks. This was welcomed with frustration by the Door, as one could expect. And to top it off, Omar went on to say that the guy who had called the police on him got a faceful of bird feces some time later. Ah, irony.

On the northwest corner of 6th St. were Jonathan, Phil, and their attendant hangers-on, who were about to set up at the southeastern corner and begin their usual proclamations. As we walked up, Phil hastily removed his arm from its position around Missy's shoulders and sat up straighter on the planter box. Refraining from teasing him about "lusting in his heart" was quite difficult, especially as he crossed his arms and leaned back, yelling "Jesus is LORD!" at passerby as we spoke with Jonathan about having a debate.

We attempted to set up near them as they moved to the southeast corner, until we were shooed across the street by the hot dog vendors. Here, Jonathan performed the most sickening act of the entire night: he began to administer the "Good Person Test" to a group of kids, all of whom looked to be no more than twelve or thirteen at most. Not five feet from us, we looked on as he smilingly asked them what they'd call someone who lied, or stole. They seemed generally willing to listen to him, and I admit that I was saddened and angered beyond belief by his tactics. It's disgusting enough when these mind tricks and falsehoods are used on adults, but when he tries them on children...

A man who'd been hanging around us, however, asked us to think about how Jonathan thinks of what he's doing. He doesn't see it as bad, or evil, but as helping people. I still cannot find it in myself to condone such behavior, even when considering it from that side. What he does preys on the weak and the gullible, at the best of times. In this instance, he was polluting the minds of those who aren't sure of themselves yet, who can be more easily shaped to think certain things than adults are. I find it abhorrent, no matter what the context there is within Jonathan's mind.

At long last, however, Jonathan packed up and Kazz and I returned to the party, there to watch the antics of our compatriots and try to feel less ill about what we had witnessed.

Christians Gone Bad (Or Worse)

2009-05-13T01:24:00.000-07:00

The actual video has nothing to do with Bush (I don't think, anyhow).

Mill Ave. - 5/9

2009-05-11T01:56:00.000-07:00

Saturdays are definitely getting more active, possibly due to the fact we haven't been out so much in past weeks. Even though we've recently been out a bit more and a bit stronger, the effects are delayed and we're still getting a considerable amount.

The first part of the night was dominated by Valerie and Erin, who I've only ever seen at First Friday. Valerie is an odd type: she's more willing to speak with us than many (Jeremiah comes to mind), and she has a tendency to get distracted and jump around, rather than "proclaim". She also, from what I have seen, never presents any definitive evidence for anything she says, preferring rather to make pleas to emotion.

However, her willingness to answer our queries makes her far more personable and interesting to speak to, but she did have a loudspeaker this night and hence we brought out ours. I was on the microphone with Valerie for a while when Erin sidled up and initiated conversation. She told me that, not having read the entire Bible, I can't possibly know if it's true or not. I told her that for any text to be claimed infallible is absurd, since such a quality doesn't naturally exist. Furthermore, I countered that since she has (by her own admission) never read the Qur'an (or, indeed, any of the other thousands of holy texts written in the last few millennia), she can't possibly know if she's got it right either.

Al was also hanging around, though he was for the moment without loudspeaker. He did, however, ask me how something could come from nothing, which is a pet peeve of mine and will probably be the death of me and several other people simultaneously. Kazz, Rocco, and Kyle engaged Valerie and Erin in further debate, while Al and his compatriot wandered off. After the women had left, Kazz and I went to speak with Andrew the caricaturist by the post office. We found Al there, loudspeaker out and rambling on about his tiresome quiz. By the way, if you want to make money off him, remember this simple mantra: "Green, trees, Jesus...green, trees, Jesus..." We stayed to bother him for a while, though I fell asleep on the sidewalk after blathering at him for a bit and likely missed interesting things.

There were also sightings of a third group of preachers, ones I didn't recognize. I went scouting earlier in the evening, having heard of their presence, and found them on the corner of the Library bar. There were perhaps five or six. I didn't realize until then that I would be very conspicuous to preachers, as I was wearing a "Yahweh? No way!" shirt. They looked at me and pointed, whispering to each other and seeming a little alarmed. Perhaps our reputation precedes us? Passersby confirmed that they were Jesus people and rather annoying. However, they seemed to be packing up as I arrived, and were not present by the time we meandered down there.

A busy night, with a possible count of three preacher groups crawling the fair Ave. I noticed that it's been a while since the Douchebags (Jonathan, Ken, Phil, Scotty, etc.) have been around, and while this seems like it would be welcome, I must wonder if they aren't going elsewhere. I doubt they're sitting at home with their thumbs in their asses, though there's little we could do about it if they are going to other places. We will have to wait and see what, if anything, we hear on the subject.

The Resistance will be sparser over the summer, I'm told, but I'm sure the preachers will be coming out just as strong. Think about it, if you're considering joining us for fun and profit (well, intangible profit) on these warm summer nights.

Neologism of the Week
Milth [portmanteau of "Mill" and "filth"] n. 1) the thin (sometimes thick) layer of crud lining most areas of Mill. Causes one to avoid touching and in some cases sitting on the sidewalk, due to the knowledge that a hobo has probably peed there at some point. Also found on lampposts and the lower parts of buildings.

Freakishly Long Comment!

2009-05-04T23:38:00.000-07:00

Gadfly seems to be the wordy, longwinded sort, doesn't she?

A Little Bit on Islam...

2009-05-03T18:54:00.000-07:00

I notice that a lot of Christians often feel like they get unfair attention when we oppose them. Yet that is only because they are so vocal about their beliefs and why they feel others must believe them too. I personally have a problem with any baseless claims to ultimate knowledge. For instance, Islam. We've all heard so much about the religion of peace and its inclination towards a Bronze Age flavor of law. In my World Religions class, we were given this online forum assignment:

Your reading for this forum is from the Qur’an. Read Sura 35, The Initiator, and Sura 42, Consultation:

http://www.masjidtucson.org/quran/noframes/ch35.html
http://www.masjidtucson.org/quran/noframes/ch42.html

1) What do these passages say about the nature of God? What is the nature of the relationship between God and humans? How is communication established between them?
2) What are some of the traits of the believers - those who are right with God? According to these passages, what is justice/injustice in Islam?

Create a post/thread in this forum with your answers to the questions. Please write at least 3 full sentences for both questions 1) and 2) or you may not receive full credit for the assignment.

Now, allow me to inform you that I was in a most annoyed mood on this day, and also that I wrote much more than was required, rambled a bit, and didn't argue my point terribly well. This is what I wrote in response to the prompt. I did, however, remove the little quip about Aisha, since I felt it to be a bit much.

1) What I find most interesting in this passage is 35:22 as compared with 35:25-26. It would seem that Allah can cause whomever he wishes to hear if he wills it, and yet does not cause everyone to hear, obviously, since there are those who do not believe in Allah, condemning them to the fires of Hell. This is of course a mere point, but one I feel is worthy of note. 35:39 also seems to indicate Allah's disgust with the unbeliever, even though it would seem he could change their minds as he does with some. This god seems to be near megalomaniacal, claiming to not need anything but also demanding worship and adulation from His followers. The relationship seems to be one not unlike that between an abusive tyrant and his subjects.

Instead of doing as he could (and as he supposedly did with many), and changing their hearts himself directly (itself a form of supernatural rape), he leaves the care of His word in the hands of people He knows will be disbelieved by some. This is accepted as a matter of course in 42:8, where it's dismissed as a matter of Allah's will. There is also 42:30, which implies to me that Allah (or more accurately, Muhammad, since he wed Aisha when she was six did he not?) feels that a child who is molested deserved it in some way, and that those that fall ill (even babies) deserve to die. I find this to be immoral in its entirety.

2) To me, it seems a trait of a follower would necessarily be blind obedience (42:16, 42:18). If you question the inerrancy of the scriptures, you're automatically up for consideration of a hefty dose of god-wrath (which, as we all know, is the worse sort of wrath to incur). It says that believers who have been "righteous" (unspecified term there) will enter into Paradise. Unbelievers are characterized as humiliated, looking for another chance, yet doomed to "an everlasting retribution". This begs the question whether or not eternal punishment could be justified by an earthly deed - but I digress.

The believer is righteous, because he/she believes in a text which contains such things as I've described above, and the unbeliever is doomed to Hell, because the question the inerrancy of the scriptures. This confuses me, but I suppose it's Allah's will that it does so, or merely my own ignorance.

Goes for Christianity, as well. So I promise I'm not picking on you guys solely. You're just more annoying than most religious types!

To nonbelievers, I hardly need remind you that reading a religion’s scriptures is nearly always beneficial (I exclude Scientology, which is a cult with crappy taste in books). Sometimes the things you find in there are scarier than what you’ve heard!

Mill Ave. - 5/2

2009-05-03T12:59:00.000-07:00

Mill Ave. wasn't quite crawling with preachers this Saturday, which isn't to say there weren't any. Since it's usually pretty devoid of them on Saturday nights now, there seemed to be a comparatively large amount. Al and his cronies were handing out their "I.Q. Test" tracts by the Fail Rail, and we kept an eye on them for a while. Then word came that the dreaded Jeremiah was on on the corner of 5th St.

A cameraman was out to document Jeremiah's incredible preaching abilities, and we set up our equipment nearby. Joe and Kyle were already there, and Rocco turned up a while after. We were bothered for a while by the adversarial cameraman, who intimated that we were cowards for not "preaching" our beliefs on our own, instead of merely reacting to the street preachers. He didn't seem to understand when we tried to explain to him that we aren't really fond of annoying people without cause.

Jeremiah began to speak, and we all watched as the crap began to fly from his mouth and splatter, moist and mushy, onto the pavement and the deaf ears of the crowd. He seemed fixated this night on the "10 out of 10 people die" line, as well as "God knows what's on your computer history!". His infinite loop seemed even shorter than usual, inducing yawns after about three revolutions of the "Jeremiah's brain" turntable.

Appropriating Rocco's megaphone, I said my usual stuff too. Hey, if he can have reruns so can I. Kazz and I passed it back and forth for a bit, then I gave it to him to recover from the thin fog of smarm particles emanating from Jeremiah, which were beginning to overcome me. Hence the new saying, "When Mill gives you smarm, make smarmalade."

Of course, it does not do to forget why we're out here. What Jeremiah does hurts people. It doesn't take a lot of thought to know that. As Kazz told him, if he had a leg to stand on he wouldn't have to resort to frightening people with tales of "the lake of fire" and such. There is also the simple fact that he is not willing to debate with us. When asked, he said, "I'm not here to debate! I'm here to proclaim," which induced gales of laughter from all present.

Eventually Jeremiah got frustrated and stomped off, carrying his equipment with him and almost visibly sulking. We stayed around for a while, and Rocco spoke with several young men of an unsavory, rather intimidating character. El Presidente also granted the cameraman an interview, which will be ostensibly be shown in their church and almost certainly have Rocco misquoted to the point of ridiculousness.

We decided to pass on an opportunity to harrass Al, who had since brought out his speaker. A few of the hecklers we'd had earlier were there, and we figured they were capable of handling anything Al had to dish out (which as usual wasn't really much).

Last night was an important reminder to us, however. Saturdays can't be neglected, no matter how dead they've been. As ever we need lots of people out to contend with the "proclamations" of those such as Jeremiah. We've recently been a little sparse, especially on late Saturday nights. Sometimes it's difficult making sure you have enough people with you to be safe. Even if there aren't many preachers out on Saturdays, it's important to be safe because things can always happen even when you aren't opposing anyone.

That's all for now. I'll post updates on events as they arise.

First Friday - 5/1

2009-05-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

Last night's First Friday brought to you by...silly creationists that don't think about what they say! :P

The results of the SFTS officer elections are in. Rocco is now the president of the SFTS, and an amazing day it is when a chimp may hold office (hey, he said it himself! :P). The vice presidency is now held by Kyle, and Joe is now treasurer. Former president Brad obtained the position of secretary by default, which led to some interesting ballots (including "a monkey?" and "Hitchens").

Later on, down at the Art Walk, we were met with some obnoxious preachers I've not seen before. They really weren't up to par, in my opinion. Most of their arguments were pleas to emotion and such, along with the usual "Are you a good person??" claptrap. I handed out tracts for most of it, while Rocco argued with the woman speaking. I must say, she did not have a chance against the Maul of Science. She mostly proclaimed the same creationist arguments we always hear, and Rocco refuted them. Easily.

Highlights of the night were a man who entirely ignored me when I reminded him that Buddhism and atheism are not mutually exclusive, and when Kazz was accosted by three Christians who didn't really seem to know a damn thing about, well, anything.

Overall it was a pretty interesting night, courtesy of the screechy weird woman and her compatriots. I didn't do a whole lot, as Kazz and Rocco mostly had it covered. I didn't get to see much of the art, either....

However, it was a fairly good First Friday for me, and I can't wait until the next one.

Well...

2009-04-28T21:07:00.001-07:00

Not a lot going on in the world of being a professional (well, not quite) atheist of late. I've been a bit distracted by schoolwork and other things, and thus have been turning up at Mill only after the preachers have scuttled back to their darkened lairs to flagellate themselves for unsuppressed boners and suchlike.

The area in front of the SFTS table has been pretty tame, though there was a memorable instance last week of Phil...actually listening to what we had to say! That is, until he was pulled away from us by Ken, who can scent the danger of free thinking from a mile away. I couldn't help but mumble "bitch" pityingly under my breath as poor Phil was lead away from the discussion. Or, according to the Kenzorz, away from from we whose hearts are "hardened". Funny, I've always thought hearts were kinda squishy. Maybe those are only Christian hearts?

But! This Friday is First Friday, and that means Art Walk and preachers and Anonymous, oh my! Kazz and I will unfortunately not be selling shirts and hats as I thought we would due to difficulties beyond our control, but it remains a possibility for June. Hooray for art stuff and debate with complete nutters!

The TRUTH continues to make a nuisance of himself on BTF. I continue to be amused and disgusted by turns.

In other news, a friend of ours has temporarily left active duty. Kyt Dotson, the Prince of Mill Ave., has left for Michigan for the next six months. I salute him, in all his superior writery-ness and excellent dress sense. We eagerly await your return, good sir, along with that of the non-hellish weather!

That's all for now. I have crap to do! But expect actual reports for First Friday and for Saturday on Mill. See you then.

Dammit.

2009-04-15T19:20:00.001-07:00

Found this when browsing hitchenszone.com. It's from February, and would cause me to vomit if Hitchens wasn't there to distract me.

Long Rant is Long

2009-04-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

I reserve the right to skepticism in all claims of deity and divinity. I will not say they do not exist, but I see no evidence for them unless it is implicit in existence, and therefore inextricable from it and undetectable. However, I feel that if there exists a god who could have brought all of this forth into existence, then it would not have any especial interest in us. If this god has anything to do with “judging” us for an afterlife, what criteria could it possibly use? And what would be "good" to a deity who could have created all of this? Unknowable.

Suffice to say, I do not presume to believe in gods. I’m not going to claim knowledge of that which it is impossible to know. However, in my experience I have no reason to believe in gods, since there is no outward evidence for them. I live my life as if there were none. I feel that this could not possibly offend anything.

As for organized religion, I feel that it has a great purpose in giving us something to laugh at. A good farce is always welcome. All of the specific claims made are ridiculous. Their ritual and pomp is meaningless to me. Being human, I of course have a taste for ceremony, but I find the practices of most religions laughable. All of these claims to specific knowledge…claims generally made by illiterate desert peasants thousands of years ago, who were somehow more morally "pure" than we! Of course, that refers only to the Abrahamic religions, but the same applies true for all of the similar claims.

Yet religion isn’t always as funny as it seems…it is the single greatest cause for divide, hatred, and war in the history of humankind, other than the basic struggle for resources. You might think it would be enough for me, and for those like me, to live our lives in quiet atheism. However, when one sees what religion does to people through its determined spread of cruelty and violence, it’s nearly impossible for one to be silent. I personally feel ill when I think of all the sickening deeds done in the name of gods, by people with a prehistoric mindset and a fetish for feeling worthless.

That is why I do what I do. I feel that, if I can possibly change anything and make people at least think about what they believe, then I have done a good thing. Some people (like "the TRUTH", who commented here) have a misguided notion that we paradoxically believe that God exists and want to go to hell anyhow. Now, I myself would rather brave hell than sit around saying "holy holy holy" and serving a sadistic celestial dictator for all eternity. But how stupid and cruel does this person think we are, that we would attempt to draw others away from what we knew to be "the truth", and to doom them to hell with our lies?

This, I suppose, is the concept many religious people have of us: denying the love (and wrath!) of God because we want to do as we like. What they don't seem to realize is that we aren't denying anything. We simply do not see any reason to believe, and prefer to go without the empty comfort to be had in making a superficial show of it.

I don't believe in gods. I have no reason to. But I am open; an agnostic atheist, you could say. If there is evidence, I would like to know it. But no evidence has come forth thus far, which tells me that it is likely to never surface. All evidence given to me by various people does not satisfy me. Logic breaks them down. I deny all organized religion, and all assumptions about the nature of deity. In my own life, I try to act in such a way that will cause the least harm, within reason.

I see no wrong in this. Some seem to see wrong in everything...yet I feel that it's wrong to presume to have answers that you can't possibly know. I don't know whether there is a god, or gods, or even the very specific Abrahamic god of revenge and rage. It is all possible...yet, to me, improbable. I prefer to follow the evidence rather that my primitive inclinations to be afraid of the dark, and to create gods to comfort me.

Mill Ave. - 4/4

2009-04-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry this post is so late in coming, but I've been busy with silly things like classes and studying and such. :P

Last Saturday was probably the most annoyed I've been on the Ave., ever. Kazz and I met up with Kyt outside Urban Outfitters, where he was being interviewed by a small group of people making a documentary entitled "Pleading the First". The others took part in the questioning, but the film crew didn't seem too interested in me, so I stayed back. I am very much looking forward to seeing the documentary, and finding out whether or not Kazz's "Pwned" shirt makes an appearance therein.

After this, I went to scout out the area and met up with Joe, who mentioned some possible preacher action by the Fail Rail. Rocco also showed up and confirmed it, and we all headed down there. Unfortunately, they'd left by the time we arrived. We made the walk back to Urban Outfitters once more, growing rather weary and unamused.

Then came the word that Jeremiah was definitely by the rail, and definitely making a nuisance of himself. We made our way back down, and found him surrounded by groups of people and preaching his usual flavor of unscientific nonsense. One man, seemingly drunk, repeatedly laid his hand on Jeremiah's stool and began to pray. Joe and Rocco took turns with the megaphone, which annoyed him to the point that he moved further down the street.

After Jeremiah decided to get off his damn stool, we broke off to speak with people. The one I spoke to was a particularly nasty fellow. He acted as though he merely wanted evidence of evolution, when he actually wished to prove his mental superiority and smirk at someone. After finding out that I'd had no college biology classes (irrelevant, since I had an excellent biology education previously), he proceeded to puff himself up to the point that I was rather afraid he'd levitate with pompousness.

My own chagrin was nothing to what was happening elsewhere. Apparently Rocco was threatened by a man who was pushing him and promising to bring some of his friends back around later. It's this sort of escalating violence that we want to avoid. Our fight is with words, not with blows, but it seems as though there will always prefer to make their point with force. Depressing, but unavoidable. The best deterrent, as I found the previous week, is to come out in strong numbers and to defend one another when it's needed.

The night overall was frustrating in the extreme, made no better by the presence of violence. What we need are more people, soon. We're growing jaded and indolent, and our absence on the streets has brought out more preachers, old and new. If you haven't been out in a while, by all means come out and help us. If you've never been out, I encourage you to come find us. We're out on Fridays and Saturdays. If for some reason no one is there, do it yourself. Make signs, talk to people, and present your views in a logical fashion.

That's all for now. I'm hoping that this week, things will be better. We must continue on.

First Friday - 4/3

2009-04-05T15:33:00.000-07:00

First Friday seemed pretty tame to me, though it was my first time out there. Few enough of the group turned up after the SFTS meeting, though Todd, Rocco, and some others made it out in addition to Kazz. I didn't know that the intersection near where we were protesting (3rd and Roosevelt) was home to a Church of Scientology. Anonymous were out there, sporting their festive masks and holding up signs that said "CULT".

I don't yet know the name of the guy who was preaching when I got there, but his methods are old hat and I noted how similar they are to the "what are your crimes?" questions of the nearby Scientologists. "Are you a good person?" he called to the passersby, who were mostly ignoring him. "Have you ever told a lie? Ever stolen something? Come on, not even when you were a kid?" I passed out tracts and hurled some comments his way a few times while Kazz manned the mic.

To the annoyance of all involved, Edwin was up next. I'd never had the displeasure of meeting him before now. For those of you that feel I'm being too harsh on him, my critique of his methods has nothing to do with his speech impediment and everything to do with the fact that he is an utter moron. To listen to him speak is to hear an insipid speech that's been well-prepared, but can't be remembered in the least.

Later I spoke with a man whose name I didn't find out, but he seemed to be rather philosophically-minded and spoke to me about basic assumptions of reality and of the material nature of consciousness. Later, though, he revealed himself as a creationist Christian who mostly wished to spout his views on the judgement of God, those that sin will burn in Hell, etc. Further down the sidewalk, Rocco spoke to a young woman who seemed absolutely incredulous about what we were doing. They talked for some time and she quietly prayed for him right there on the spot.

Being my first time out at First Friday, I don't have much to judge it against. The preachers came on strong but were small in number, and the proximity to the Church of Scientology wasn't as weird an experience as I might've hoped. I think it was a fairly interesting experience however, and the arts and crafts were quite lovely as well. I look forward to next month, when plans are to sell some shirts and also, for me, to attempt to peddle some crocheted hats.

April Fools' Shenanigans

2009-04-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today was an excellent day by Resistance standards. Being the last day that Bro. Jed would visit ASU for the year, the SFTS turned out in large numbers to witness the fun. Of course, this wasn't the half of it - what would April Fools' Day be without, well, some fools? We decided to become that which we despise for a day.

There were several preachers out, drawing quite a crowd. Kazz began his convicing "Don't you be gay!" speech, faking a hilarious accent. I sported a new sign proclaiming that "JEEZUS IZ LOARD!!1" Brad preached the wonders of Scientology ("Tom Cruise says so!") and roundly abused modern psychology. Averroes posed as a Muslim, throwing a cloth over various women and claiming them as his brides as he playfully whacked them for their disobedience.

The latter drew the fire of the Muslim students, who seem leave us alone most of the time. They refused to listen as we told them the nature of our joke. Most others found our mockery of Christianity to be far more amusing. Some mistook Brad for an actual proponent of Scientology, and Kevin showed up dressed as a Mormon elder, complete with the book. I flipped my sign and wrote down "Jesus Says: Masturbate Your Neighbor!", based on the verse regarding loving your neighbor as you do yourself. Jed did not like it at all, and told me so.

At one point I took the video camera, and was amazed at the assorted madness. One of the usual preachers held a skull of someone he called "Jimmy", standing in front of a sign that condemned pretty nearly everyone to hell. Next to him was Jed, yelling at us for getting "waaaaaaaaasted!!!" Further right was Kazz, flailing his arms in mock-preacher fashion and shouting. Next was Brad, pounding a copy of Dianetics while Kevin stood by, beaming in a creepily Mormon-esque way. Averroes was yelling something about, "You call me a terrorist?! I am not a terrorist, I will blow you up for saying so!" At the end was a guy who had been out around us before, talking about the national debt and calling, "Fornicate, people! We need more people to pay off the national debt!" All in all it was bedlam, and very much my kind of April Fools'.

The day cooled down after a while, and my Horn of Reason was fetched as Ken and Phil showed up to join the fun. I made loud, rude noises every time Ken tried to speak. Phil ended up speaking to Max, who took great exception to Phil's description of him as a "Christ-killer." Max was getting visibly agitated, swearing that he would ensure that Phil was kept off the campus permanently. Phil responded with repeating "Jesus is lord!" over and over and bouncing in characteristic fashion, perhaps in the hopes that it would save him from an angry attack. Unfortunately, we had no opportunity to see if it was effective, since Max went away after vowing to take the matter up with the relevant authorities. I made more rude noises with my Horn at the gathered preachers until it was time to go.

What I found most disturbing about the whole day was how often we were mistaken for the people we lampooned. I think it shows how absurd these people are in their preaching methods, that their audience can't distinguish them from ironic mockers. We were amazingly ridiculous in our methods, and yet people still thought we were with them. Others thought our jokes were in poor taste, and said so in a strong fashion (i.e., the Muslim students). Many more, including those that recognized us from other events, simply thought it was a great joke.

Overall, it was a great day. Jed won't be back until next year, and it's possible that the offense given by Phil will make it so that his group can no longer preach on campus. Of course, that means he and his compatriots will simply find other places to preach...

Happy April, peeps!

Reason and Rationality

2009-03-31T20:35:00.000-07:00

I often state that religion can be defied on reason alone. Simply put, if there is no evidence for it, there is no reason to believe it. There is also no reason to disbelieve it, though if evidence can be brought against it, the claims become increasingly absurd and defy Occam's razor to the point of ridiculousness.

Thus, it's often seemed silly to me that so many of us are forced to argue the specifics of Bible passages and the like in order to make our point. The thing is, though, that many of the people we're debating against are willing to make great rationalizations for what they believe. They're incredibly forgiving with the book. They variously condemn us for taking a phrase too literally or, alternately, not literally enough.

And yet they say that their book is not open to interpretation, that it is concrete and infallible. I find this disturbing; they accuse us of living our lives without a guiding code, but it is they who are willing to mold their scriptures to reflect whatever they like them to. And they still claim infallibility, and promote that their own interpretation is the only way. All others are not the *true* followers.

Of course, so many people won't listen unless we know the specifics of their particular faith (usually varying forms of Christianity). They'll call us on these specifics when what we're arguing is for reason. It's like discussing bad slash-fiction with a middle-aged basement dweller: none of it ever happened, none of it will ever happen, and yet you're arguing over specific plausibility like it really matters. It's not about the specifics. It's about fundamental concepts of rationality. They're large, large enough that it seems people can't see them so often, preferring to pick over smaller things.

It isn't about the smaller things. It's about the things required for faith in their God: deep solipsism, the relinquishment of personal responsibility, suppression of the questioning intellect, and the acceptance of personal unworthiness and helplessness that are necessary to be "saved." All of these things are, to my mind, unhealthly in any person looking to improve the state of things. These are the mentalities of downtrodden slaves, not of thinking human beings.

Little is accomplished by going down the list of contradictions and conflicting interpretations in the Bible, of which I understand there to be many. But it would seem that we will never be listened to if we cannot play their game. With any luck, by showing proficiency with their texts, they become more willing to listen to what it is we have to say: that reason and rationality should not be suppressed, and that religion is a prime enemy of the intellect. I hope that one day people will listen to reason, rather than arguing empty, truthless scripture.

Heckling

2009-03-30T11:25:00.001-07:00

The method of heckling the street preachers often gets questioned by passersby. Last Saturday, a young man came up to me and asked, "Why are you wasting your time?...They aren't converting anyone. People think they're annoying. I don't see why you'd waste your life down here arguing against them."

I think he misunderstood a bit what we're up to. Not his fault, really, since a lot of people seem to get the impression that we're wasting our time out on Mill and in general. After all, why would we be trying to make these preachers examine their beliefs when it's so obvious that they are unwilling and in some cases lacking in the mental facilities with which to do so?

We aren't. Simple answer. What we're doing, to the best of my observance, is not to convince the preachers of our viewpoint. What we're doing is for the people passing, the ones that probably think we're wasting our lives shouting at people. I know that, for myself, I hope only that people will stop and watch us. Perhaps they'll get entertainment out of it, or a feel of annoyed disgust with us.

But others might actually watch as the ideas and concepts fly, and might begin to examine what it is they believe. Maybe we'll raise a question that they can't answer. It might bother them a bit, and they might realize all the rationalizations that are required for faith. There might also be closeted atheists and agnostics in the crowds we draw, those that have always felt alone. I was once one of them, and finding out that there were people like me was a great relief.

I don't feel that we're wasting our time and our lives opposing religion. I believe it's something that should be done, that needs to be done. It brings certain people together, and combats the spread of anti-reason which chokes our culture and our world. If this is not a worthy pursuit, then there is no such thing as one.

EDIT: It was pointed out to me that perhaps I should not be so harsh on the preachers - they are capable, in some cases, of changing their minds and have done so in the past. I concede the point, and apologize for my rather sweeping generalization. I often forget that I am somewhat new and haven't been around long enough to have seen a lot of the action. Peace, little noob, peace!

Mill Ave. - 3/28

2009-03-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

Last night was a bit different than most Saturdays, because I'm usually the last to get there. I was the first this night, and also allegedly the first member of the group to be physically assaulted.

I knew that Rocco would be there later, so I went to scout out the preacher action. Unfortunately, Jonathan and Ken were out, with their characteristic "you guys!"es and enormously uninformed style. Almost too easy, really. A couple kids who had been around on Friday night were out, one heckling and the other passionately debating with Jonathan.

I decided it was time for a sign, since I was effectively the only one there as yet. I let the kids handle it for a while as I got some materials for a sign saying "GODS = FAIL!!1" However, as I got back, I couldn't resist my trademark - a sign saying "BUTTSEX 4 JESUS", the original of which has been stolen or destroyed.

I held it up, pleased, and saw the disgusted looks on the faces of the preachers. The crowd began to laugh. "Come on, why you gotta do that?" Jonathan asked, perched on his bike for the moment. Behind him, a guy whose name I can't recall was bouncing up and down on the stool, saying something nonsensical. And behind this guy was a scruffy busker I'd seen before.

He saw the sign, and put down his guitar. He walked over to me quickly, and tore the sign out of my hand. I was terribly amused and annoyed, as I watched him tear it in half. Then, for good measure, he whacked me across the side of the face and neck with the thin end.

Cops are never around when you need them, so I decided not to bother with it. Right after, the three stooges decided to pack up their act and go home, after apologizing to me and assuring me that he had no affiliation with them in the least. I took this assurance of legal non-liability in stride, specifically in stride down Mill.

Rocco was crossing the street at the next light down, and I flagged him over and told him what happened. We found the guy, and Rocco reassured me that he was a crazy hobo. So we went back to the center of the street, which was closed for the Art Walk and covered in tents. Another preacher was setting up, one I hadn't seen before, called Jeremiah. He seemed particularly resistant to reason, and used the tiredest, tritest old excuses for why the Bible was infallible, Jeezus iz Loard, blah blah blah.

We took turns with the bullhorn, and I feel I did pretty well with my debate for once. I could see Jeremiah getting physically frustrated with my presence and loudness and (dare I say it?) rationality. Rocco proceeded to whip out the Maul of Science and bash him into his component atoms, which by the way are fundamentally no different than the atoms that comprise anything else. :P

The rest of the group had abandoned the party and decided to come to Mill, and were quite annoyed with my story of earlier. Kyt knew who I was talking about and so, urged by them, I lead them to the Hippie Cove, where he was standing and looking nutty and hobo-like. Kazz gave him a stern talking-to away from us. I can admit that I really was asking for it, though: I was out entirely alone with an offensive sign in a sea of drunkards, mad bums, and preachers. It was something I should've thought about, but then again I generally see myself as being invincible...

Later we went back to the side of the street, where Jeremiah had set up again. Kazz and the others went home, and Rocco and I stood around calling to the drunken, unsaved masses the message of the Cookie-Dough Dragon. Jeremiah was again not pleased, and after an hour or so he packed up and left. It was an evenful hour though, with guest appearances from local drunks telling him to get off his damn stool.

Overall, I'd give this night a rating of 7.5 stars out of 10. It wasn't as much of a social event as our protests usually are, but it was definitely eventful and also a lot of fun if you leave out the whole being whacked in the face part.

I know I don't have to tell any of you veteran Mill Ave. peeps this, but to others who are interested in protesting religion (especially in possibly offensive ways), make sure you don't go out without some kind of backup. I often feel, upon entering the fray, that we're going into some kind of battle. And it is - a battle of ideas. We're not trying to convince the preachers, since we know they're too far gone. But the people around us, those walking the Ave., might stop and hear us, and they might even think about what we're talking about. Anything that provokes thought is a good thing, in my eyes. But when the battle becomes physical, there is a problem. My incident was just an isolated crazy bum, but it could've been much worse than that. Make sure you've got a good group of people with you, ones you can trust to back you should something go awry.

Okay, that's enough public service announcements for now. :P I didn't mean to get so tl;dr. Our next event is going to be on Wednesday, where we will pretend to be fire-and-brimstone preachers for April Fool's Day (specifics to be determined). Should be fun, and if you live around here and are interested, don't hesitate to come say hi.

That's all for now. I'll post more as the occasions warrant.

Hello Everyone

2009-03-28T15:40:00.001-07:00

If you're here, chances are you belong to the SFTS of Arizona State University and/or the Mill Ave. Resistance. If not, you're welcome anyhow!

I've created this blog as a tool to work over some of my annoyance with religion, and also to get feedback from as many people as would like to offer their opinions. I'll also post things of that may be of interest, such as links to relevant articles and videos.

I feel that religion is a negative influence on human life. At its most benign, it creates in the individual a tendency to accept things without proof - in other words, it fosters credulity and it rewards "faith", or taking the greatest amount of assertions on the least amount of evidence.

I hardly need mention what religion can do at its worst, when these tendencies of religious thought allow for people to commit heinous acts against humanity. When people feel as though their actions are justified by a ruling authority, they can (and often will) justify any action they take on that same basis.

If you belong to neither of these groups or don't live in these parts, then you likely haven't heard about betterthanfaith.com - a Phoenix-based website run by friends of mine. I suggest you visit the site and give it a look-over. :)

That's all for now. I will be posting many more things in the coming weeks, such as my take on Mill Ave./SFTS activites as well as rants and raves on teh religionzorz. I am open to all comments, and all feedback is appreciated.