07 Sep 2010
by ryanin Religion Tags: atheism, physics, Religion
Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements – the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life – weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today. –Lawrence Krauss
via Atheists are People, Too.
09 Apr 2009
by ryanin Politics, Rants Tags: fundies, gays, Politics, Religion, same-sex marriage
While this feels like feeding the trolls, here we go…
The National Organization for Marriage, in case you’ve been living under a rock, recently started their campaign to “defend” marriage. As with many cultural issues, this one is another case study in logical fallacies, a complete misunderstand of one’s own belief system, and reasoning so flawed it would be hilarious if they weren’t dead serious.
This video (I refuse to embed it) is making the rounds, with the kind of fearmongering usually reserved for Those People. With a host of actors, NOM insinuates all kinds of tragedy and falsehoods about what “gay marriage” would cause. My favorite is the argument that, because a same-sex couple may be married, a doctor somehow has to make some awful choice between faith and profession. Here’s a quick reference line for later, doc (who’s not actually a doctor, BTW): If you have a hard time choosing between what’s right medically or morally and what’s preached on Sunday for anyone, you may have chosen the wrong profession.
But my favorite portion on NOM is the FAQ on their site. With language like “threaten marriage” or “San Francisco-style judges” or making a clear distinction between “moms and dads” and “parents”, the page reads like the dance instruction pattern for How to Tap-dance Around My Bigotry.
I was going to do a point-by-point, but frankly I want to say a couple things and then be done.
Recent articles in the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek discussed the recent declines in religious worship and participation in the church. National Organization for Marriage, you are the poster child for why this is happening. You are the latest face of a sect in this country that has perverted faith and belief into a discriminatory political force. You are the people that have turned a large portion of an entire generation against the very ideals you claim to support because your message is filled with hate, and bile, and lies. You are the smirking face of bigotry which claims, like a child caught in a lie, that that wasn’t really what you meant.
You are, in short, doomed to irrelevance in a world that will cease to care about you or your cause. It will take a while because, like all hysterical ninnies who refuse to grow up, we–my generation–will have to force you into tolerance, much as our parents’ generation forced the bigots before you to accept civil rights.
Let me explain why you’re doomed, because I think you’re not sure. From Progressive States:
Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal has gained some well-deserved youtube stardom for his extremely thoughtful remarks on the Senate floor. Responding to a request to suspend the rules and co-sponsor a leadership bill to amend the state constitution to overturn the decision, Majority Leader Gronstal replied:
“One of my daughters was in the workplace one day, and her particular workplace at that moment in time there were a whole bunch of conservative, older men. And those guys were talking about gay marriage. They were talking about discussions going on across the country. And my daughter Kate, after listening to it for about 20 minutes, said to them: ‘You guys don’t understand. You’ve already lost. My generation doesn’t care.’ I think I learned something from my daughter that day, when she said that. [Watch the video here or by clicking on the image above.]
Support for marriage equality has been growing among the whole population, but the fact is that a clear majority of Americans age 18-34 support same-sex marriage by a margin of 51-40 according to a December 2008 Newsweek poll (reflecting many other surveys), meaning that when it comes to full equality for GLBT Americans the question is not if, but when.
Your actions cement that future every day because you turn people like me into advocates.
10 Mar 2009
by ryanin Religion Tags: dogma, evangelicals, Religion
Michael Spencer over at the Christian Science Monitor has this article today about the imminent collapse of the evangelical church in America. He claims that “Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants” which sounds about right. Christianity has likely peaked in this country, due in no small part to the evangelical, or worse, the fundamentalist elements within.
Depending on how you define “evangelical”, I was raised in such a church (Dutch Reformed, as a matter of record). So, the assertion that this flavor of church is turning stale raised an eyebrow. I have to say, after reading his article, I think Spencer is onto something.
Why is this disaster about to befall the church? Spencer’s reasons, with my comments following:
1. Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This will prove to be a very costly mistake.
Bingo. I can’t even begin to highlight this enough. This movement has even gone so far as to have priest and pastors alike saying that a vote for one candidate is a sin. What tripe. But buried within this first point is something that deserved it’s own bullet point.
Being against gay marriage and being rhetorically pro-life will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of Evangelicals can’t articulate the Gospel with any coherence. [emphasis mine]
I can’t even begin to count the number of times before and after leaving the church where I’ve had conversations where the person debating and/or arguing with me got the Bible wrong. If you’re going to argue a religious viewpoint, you sure as hell better have your own sacred text straight. The knowledge the average Christian has about their own faith is astoundingly small and only serves to belittle their faith and religion in the eyes of those to whom they attempt to proselytize.
2. We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught…. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community.
Here we disagree. My experience was actually different, and I saw it mirrored in the experiences of my friends growing up. Yes, we have deep beliefs about the “culture war” (ed. ug, really?), but we reject the previous generations’ stances. We know full well what the Church’s stance is on gays, evolution, abortion, etc., but our experiences tell us that those stances are wrong. We reject the hypocrisy of a church that discriminates against gay people but continues to employ or welcome adulterers, or spiritual leaders who rail against such sins while committing those very sins or stealing from the coffers. We reject a church who views science as an evil force aligned against Faith, then tells their pew neighbor they’re doing very well thanks, the treatments are working quite well.
My entire childhood was spent in the shadow of fear of what would happen if God caught me not praying before dinner, prayers, incidentally, I realized very early on I could rattle off without thought and still fulfill my obligation somehow. Orthodoxy was boring, and asking questions was frowned upon or outright challenged, only confirming that it’s engaging qualities were either for the adults or non-existence. Either way, as a child, I’m not interested.
3. There are three kinds of evangelical churches today: consumer-driven megachurches, dying churches, and new churches whose future is fragile.
Maybe, but I don’t think this is a cause, merely a symptom.
4. …Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism. Evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself.
I’ll have to take his word, but I can’t imagine accomplishing much talking to an echo chamber.
5. The confrontation between cultural secularism and the faith at the core of evangelical efforts to “do good” is rapidly approaching. We will soon see that the good Evangelicals want to do will be viewed as bad by so many, and much of that work will not be done. Look for ministries to take on a less and less distinctively Christian face in order to survive.
Frankly, there’s only one answer to this: bullshit. This is a total copout argument: “We have to do un-Christian-like things because that’s what people expect. If we did what we should do, it would be viewed as bad.” Hmm, maybe that’s because undermining and oppressing everyone who doesn’t fall into line with your strict definition of “good” is, in fact, bad.
And, let me dispense with one other pet peeve. “Cultural secularism” is not “cultural”. It’s just secularism. Full stop.
6. Even in areas where Evangelicals imagine themselves strong (like the Bible Belt), we will find a great inability to pass on to our children a vital evangelical confidence in the Bible and the importance of the faith.
Now we’re just expanding on the previous points. Why can’t the average Joe and Jane pass on confidence in the Bible and the importance of faith? See point 1: they don’t know the Bible, and therefore even they can’t live by. When I was active in the church, I could count the number of people in my church who were All Week Christians on one hand. Most of the others were Sunday Morning Christians. The rest came out of compulsion or familial necessity (Mom said you had to).
How do you expect to instill confidence in a book and dogma even you don’t really believe in? You pay it lip service, sure, but only when the meal’s on the table or someone’s watching. Religion, in public just as much as in the sanctuary, is spectacle. The prayer always sounds better and lasts a little longer when someone’s watching or listening.
7. The money will dry up.
Well, no duh. And, not only that, but I’d wager that before the actual balance is $0, many churches will have gone under simply because of the way they spend money. The money spent on actual ministry, sending people in amongst the unwashed heathens, is dwarfed by building funds, sound systems, projectors, printing costs, salaries and benefits. Oh, didn’t they tell you? Being an evangelical preacher is pretty lucrative, even without a TV show.
The big question is, now that someone finally said all this in a fairly well-read publication, what’s the response from those still on the inside? My guess? Stunning denials that will shatter any irony meters deployed nearby. Then character attacks on Spencer (“He’s not the right kind of Christian to make these points.”) Then we’ll get the pseudo-intellectual rebuttals of how this needs to happen for some reason, but it will all work out because God wants it to or something.
The only saving thing here for evangelicals? It doesn’t mean your faith is dying, just the mechanism. Hm, maybe that’s not such a bad thing after all.
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