Reflections on Atheism (VI)

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I have to say that the beginnings of the comments from Peter and Sean to my last post saddened me.

From Peter:

First off, thanks for stating the blindingly obvious. I genuinely mean that: I??ve read all too many blogs and forum posts which say that morality without religion is impossible, so thanks for being reasonable.

From Sean:

I??m glad that you so easily come to the right conclusion here.

The reason it saddens me is that it should be pretty obvious that atheists do have morals. I even posited a number of rules or norms in my last post on which we could pretty much all agree and both Peter and Sean seemed to agree that those were fair game though Peter didn’t like the thought of rules as the basis for morals.

One interesting thing about Peter and Sean being the atheists with whom I am in dialogue is that Peter is in the UK (national church of which the queen is head) and Sean is in Colorado which is home to the Focus on the Family people. I’m in northern California which tends to be a fairly secular part of the U.S. compared to the Bible Belt, the Midwest, and maybe even parts of New England. The UK apparently has had atheist prime ministers and has what I’m guessing is a more secular society than the U.S. does apparently. As far as having a secular society is concerned, I think a problem is that there is division on what would be too secular and what would not be secular enough. An extreme example is Turkey which is a Muslim country but… veiling is forbidden in government and in a university setting. Another example would be the burqa ban in France which wants to make men and women the same… but is disenfranchising a number of Muslim women who want to be niqabis because they view not doing so as being immodest. (Note that this is the women who are making this distinction, not the men.) Of course, you can cite a number of Muslim countries as examples of the extreme of not being secular, the worst offender probably being Saudi Arabia where churches/synagogues/temples are banned.

So what would it look like for the U.S. to be a completely secular country? Things I’m envisioning:

[+] No laws banning homosexuality or abortion
[+] Evolution taught in school instead of the Genesis account or Creation Science
[+] No National Day of Prayer
[+] The Bible not taught in public schools except perhaps as literature

Other than not having laws banning homosexuality and abortion, this is pretty much what I grew up with in California. We *DID* have to read the Bible for Junior Honors English and AP English but that point of that was understanding the context of the literature we were studying, not for the purpose of indoctrination.

OK… ready for comments on this.

7 Quick Takes Friday — Weird Things About Me

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7 Quick Takes

I figured I’d do one of these posts where I name some quirks that I have.

–1–

I separate M&M’s, Skittles, jelly beans, and other candies by color and number. Why yes, I have seen “As Good As It Gets” and the jars of separated candies in Jack Nicholson’s apartment. Shut up.

–2–

I like my drinks cold. Stuff has to be refrigerated and cold for me to drink it. I even chill my glass.

–3–

I like my sheets cold. Jon knows not to “warm my spot” on the bed. The sheets have to be reasonably chilly. Cat-warmed sheets are acceptable however.

–4–

I hate watching movies of books that I’ve read. I’d prefer to use my imagination to visualize characters and watching someone’s interpretation of them ruins it for me. (I’m also a stickler for following the book which is why I haven’t gone beyond the third Harry Potter movie.)

–5–

I’m not a fan of pop-culture Christianity. Many people swear by The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren. I’d rather swear AT it. (Seriously, I hated the book so much that I had to stop at Day 32 because I was going to burn the thing if I didn’t.) I’m also not a fan of Joel Osteen (long rant there), Joyce Meyers, T.D. Jakes, or anyone else like that. I am, however, a fan of Billy Graham and Tony Campolo because they preach the Cross and repentance and not the patsy crap that the others espouse.

–6–

I have to have the tabs on scrollbar (or whatever that bottom thing is) in a specific order. I think we’ve established that I’m a little OCD.

–7–

I prefer the older hymns to modern worship music. Give me a good hymnal any day. I could care less about overhead projectors — I want to read the music and words and turn the pages. The older the hymn, the better.

(For more of this, head to Conversion Diary.)

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: May 9, 2011

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY May 9, 2011

Outside my window… Sunny and warm.

I am thinking… about the stuff for Medi-Cal (getting stuff from February covered) and the home visit for the Regional Center.

I am thankful for… being able to participate in the Promise Walk for Preeclampsia with my family. Also for Mom and Jeanette taking over Daniel duty for two hours on Saturday so I could sleep.

From the kitchen… tomato soup with mozzarella.

I am wearing… grey shirt and black sweats.

I am creating… various entries.

I am going… to Target, Walgreens, and Trader Joe’s today.

I am reading… The Ladies Auxillary by Tova Mirvis — at least I’ll be starting it next.

I am hoping… to keep this week as unstructured as possible so I can enjoy things like morning snuggles with Daniel while I wake up and he has his apple juice.

I am hearing… Daniel making grunting sounds in his crib.

Around the house… I need to clean up the debris field from Daniel taking apart the diaper bag.

One of my favorite things… cat-warmed blankets and black cats who cuddle during naps.

A few plans for the rest of the week: errands and maybe the Strawberry Festival this weekend.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing… The Flathead County Courthouse in Kalispell, Montana taken in 2008.

Flathead County Courthouse in Kalispell, Montana

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia

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On May 7th, I participated in the Promise Walk for Preeclampsia with my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and Daniel. As many of you know, I’m a preeclampsia/HELLP Syndrome survivor so it was a way for me to get some emotional healing from the experience. Originally, I was going to be helping with the social media presence but we had the move and then Daniel got sick.

They had a group of high schoolers helping with registration. There were tables with preeclampsia shirts, hats, and stuff and I got a survivor shirt from them. There were also face-painting and crafts for the kids, a silent auction, tables from various birth groups and an OB-GYN, a table for a sporting goods store, and a lot of activities going on. They had a speakers at 9:30 a.m. (one survivor who had lost her daughter and two publicity people for local blood banks who were also preeclampsia moms), a dove release remembering those who had lost kids/moms/daughters to the condition, and the two co-coordinators spoke. One common thread was that it is just awful that a condition this prevalent (5-8% of all pregnancies) is so relatively unknown. I think the first speaker would have moved me to tears if I hadn’t been so tired — Daniel woke up at 6 a.m. and I was feeling pretty flattened. The dove release was pretty spectacular — they were trained birds and were flying in formation around the area.

The walk itself was “interesting”. Somehow, we all missed the signs so we ended up taking a wrong turn on the trail and walking much farther than anticipated. I kept a good pace and was proud of myself since I was also dealing with a migraine and fibro pain.

Afterwards, Sean (my evil twin) and Dad headed home with the stroller while Mom, Jeanette (sister-in-law), Daniel, and I hit up Costco and Trader Joe’s.

I’m glad I got to do it — preeclampsia awareness is one of my passions and this was a way to use it. One really wonderful thing is that of the $200 I raised myself, $150 of it was from Jon’s congregation. (Go Metanoia!) I’m very thankful that there are now people in the congregation who know about it and I’m hoping that maybe one of them knowing what it is will save a friend’s life or a daughter’s life or a grand-daughter’s life.

Reflections on Atheism (V)

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One sore subject that comes up in the dialogue between Christians and atheists is the idea that atheists have no morals. Let me make this very clear from the beginning:

BEING ATHEIST/AGNOSTIC/FREETHINKING DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU HAVE NO MORALS.

I want to be clear on that.

The difference, I think, is that Christianity has one sense of what is moral and what isn’t and we get really irritated when others don’t conform to it. Purity is a virtue which is why we frown on adultery, homosexuality, pre-marital sex, and pr0n. If I was judging atheists by those I knew in college or who I read online, this would be a bit questionable (i.e. Jen McCreight’s post on the Dan Savage pr0nfest in Seattle and her comments from the AHA gathering in Boston). However, I know that she isn’t representative of all atheists and she and I also would agree to disagree on that. (At least… I think she would.)

I think that there is a set of morals that all of us (believers and non-believers) can agree to:

-no cheating
-no murder
-no stealing
-no adultery
-fair wage for a day’s work
-help others who need it
-Golden Rule: do unto others as they would do to you

Having said that, there exists the question of atheists/agnostics not having a chance against Christians when running for office. I think I’ve addressed this before but I think it is unfair and that the Christian generally has the upper hand because they’re a known quantity (in theory) and they’re expected to uphold a certain moral standard. On the other hand, I really have a problem with those who run for school board elections that make their faith/philosophy into an agenda, be it Christians wanting to put God back in the schools or atheists who want to secularize things. I have no problem with secularization and evolution being taught in science classes — I have a problem with it when it is taken to an extreme.

This is kind of a lukewarm post based on my last ones but the issue of atheists having morals isn’t a hard one: they do — they just may differ from ours. Again, I’d love to have feedback on this.

7 Quick Takes Friday — 7 Mystery Authors I Discovered in the Last Year

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7 Quick Takes

I thought I’d share seven murder mystery authors I’ve discovered in the last year.

–1–

Leslie Meier: Writes about the adventures of Lucy Stone, a newspaper reporter in Tinker’s Cover, Maine.

–2–

Tamar Myers: Writes about the happenings of Magdalena Yoder, a Mennonite innkeeper in Hernia, Pennsylvania.

–3–

G.A. McKevett: Writes about the delightful private investigator Savannah Reid in San Carmelita, California. (She’s also a Facebook friend and interacts with her fans.)

–4–

Mary Daheim: Two series of note — one follows Judith Flynn (an innkeeper in Seattle) and the other follows Emma Lord (newspaper editor/owner in Alpine, Washington). The Judth Flynn ones (the Bed & Breakfast mysteries) are silly and the Emma Lord ones are a little more normal.

–5–

Denise Swanson: Writes about school psychologist Skye Denison in Scumble River, Illinois.

–6–

Livia J. Washburn: Writes the Fresh Baked mysteries about Phyllis Newsom and her housemates in Weatherford, Texas.

–7–

Katherine Hall Page: Writes about rector’s wife/caterer Faith Fairchild in Aleford, Massachusetts.

(For more of this, head to Conversion Diary.)

On Osama bin Laden’s Death (III)

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CNN.Com: Obama won’t release photos

I saw in the news story that 56% of the people in the CNN Opinion poll want the death photos released.

Ummm… no.

(By the way, the death photo that was on the cover of newspapers around the world is a fake.)

There is the question of what the release of the death photos would solve. The answer: nothing really at all. The U.S. has already identified him in a number of ways (DNA, biometrics, etc.) and the photos were taken for the purpose of proving all this to those who are in control (i.e. the President, Secretary of State, military officials). Releasing them isn’t going to bring back any one of the 9/11 victims, those killed in the bombings of the embassies, those killed the bombing of the barracks in Saudi Arabia, or any of the thousands whose blood is on the hands of bin Laden and his Al Qaeda operatives.

Conspiracy theorists aren’t going to believe them and would probably demand to see his body (which is at the bottom of the Arabian Sea) and releasing them would only serve to fan the flames of the anger of the jihadists who believe that America is the Great Satan. Do we really want to do this?

An added reason: the pictures of bin Laden are apparently pretty gruesome and not fit for publication in a newspaper. If the photos were released, who’s to say that someone wouldn’t plaster them on the front page of a paper?

I believe that we need to let this go. Osama is dead. He isn’t coming back and God willing, the documents and computers recovered at his compound are going to help the authorities stop Al Qaeda from doing anything else dastardly in the world.