The Charter For Compassion

This video ended up in my facebook feed, and I thought it was worth sharing on here.

I think that we can often get bogged down by semantics and the power of words and concepts as relates to this debate. But I think when you look past the “look at these kids and this diverse group of people and listen to their message” of this, what is essentially an ad, and get to the message, I couldn’t agree more: human suffering. How do we, as a species, alleviate the suffering of our fellow humans? How do we work to increase the quality of life? If you do it under the guise of doing what Christ told you, or what your church is telling you, or what you personally think is right, then what is there to argue?

Carl Sagan – Pale Blue Dot

Carrying the Torch

You can call it whatever you want: a belief, an idea, a feeling. And you can practice it however you want: tradition, ritual, reading, reflection. It’s how you read a book, how you watch the news and vote, how you live your life. It’s reason and it’s faith. But I think we all have, or at least want, to stand for something. We select a career, a partner, a lover. We have kids or don’t. We find happiness, keep trying, or give up.

We can argue semantics and talk about Truth; we can read ten books or one. The point, gentlemen and ladies, the only thing that matters is that is does matter. It matters to me just as much as it matters to anyone else. And that is why we must keep talking about it. When we stop talking about it people get dragged through the streets and tortured, disappear in the night, or fly planes into skyscrapers.

I don’t have the cosmos or heaven or an all-knowing, all-powerful creator’s blessing to back up my claims, but I am going to keep making them. And I expect someone to keep countering them. And then I’ll counter you and we’ll go on not shooting each other. But today I pick back up the torch that I picked up when Katie and I started this blog, because it matters to me that this perspective be a part of the discussion. I want you to be intellectually curious enough to question the rules set arbitrarily before you, even the secular ones. And I want you to keep talking to me about why you can’t not believe in God and why I should start. Why your god? Why any god?

Let’s let loose the Leviathan of discourse and see where we end up, shall we?

Not every opinion should be treated equally

“When talking about morality we value differences of opinion in a way that we don’t in any other area of our lives… Whenever we are talking about facts certain opinions must be excluded. That is what it is to have a domain of expertise. That is what it is for knowledge to count. How have we convinced ourselves that in the moral sphere there is no such thing as moral expertise, or moral talent, or moral genius even? How have we convinced ourselves that every opinion has to count? How have we convinced ourselves that every culture has a point of view on these subjects worth considering? Does the Taliban have a point of view on physics that is worth considering? No. How is their ignorance any less obvious on the subject of human well-being?” — Sam Harris

Bobby covers the major points

“One question that really shakes me, really shakes me — if God exists, why do poor people exist? Why does Hitler arise? I can’t give an answer for that. Only faith…. Yes, I do believe in an afterlife. Religion is a salve for confusion and misdirection.”

-RFK, 1967

via Esquire, Jan. 2010 issue

I especially love the outdated headshot.

Thank you to the brilliant minds at The Onion.

Dear Kirk Cameron, Please Stop.

I don’t want to make a long post about this, but a friend of mine sent this to me the other day (sort of as a joke).

The single biggest problem I have with Kirk Cameron and many of his Apologetics compatriots is the relentless assertions of misinformation.

While TMZ is being snarky, I think it’s important to propagate these videos and encourage people to think about the things that he says and how intellectually thin and transparently refutable they are.

Video 1: http://www.tmz.com/2009/11/24/kirk-cameron-mauled-by-a-bruin-in-darwin-fight/

Video 2: http://www.tmz.com/2009/09/22/kirk-cameron-plays-the-hitler-card/

Anyone else? Just me? Does anyone actually think that kids can’t pray in public? Does anyone think the Gideons should be allowed to hand out bibles in schools (Read: PUBLIC schools)?

Also, Darwin NEVER claims, scientifically or unscientifically, that “nothing created everything” (the image there seems to allude to the Big Bang Theory, which is NOT Darwin’s). Darwin was also COMPLETELY IGNORANT OF DNA—and genes, for that matter. Those discoveries come later.

Also [also], I’d like to know where he gets that Albert Einstein supports Creationism?

I’m just sayin’.

Creationism in the Muslim World

I’ll begin with a question: why are religion and science so often grouped together in single categories? Do you think science would have religion fail under scientific scrutiny? Do you think religion would have science denied outright by being compared one-for-one with revealed truth? Or is it some extraneous, societal factor?

For instance, there’s not a “Religion” section of the newspaper, and it is very common for articles with religious themes to be categorized in the Science/Technology section (as is the case with the article which inspired this post). Or, as is pointed out in the article, there are books on religion sometimes found in the science section of the bookstore, even though the “science” content is questionable.

Subway Gospel on the 2 – ramblings

I was trying to read The Brother’s Karamazov (which, I recommend to you all; there’s a lot of religious discussion in it) on my way into the City yesterday, when a man started preaching the Good Word to anyone on the car who would listen. I am normally nonplussed by such mass transit missionaries, however, I decided on this occasion to lend an ear.

The takeaway from his spiel was this: Jesus Christ is your lord and Savior; accept him and be saved or don’t and be damned… He quoted some verses and brought up a few topical references to examples of the mighty power of god, etc. Overall his message was uplifting and not too harsh on the sinners.

But for some reason, for the rest of the night and even today, I am left with the burning, simple, perennial question: why? Why? Why Jesus. Why God? Why can’t you just be a good person? Why can’t you care about mankind and the world, read the newspaper, read books, participate in life, exercise, love your parents, make mistakes, experiment with drugs and unreasonable behavior, learn your lessons, travel, eat, test your limits… why can’t you donate your time and money when you feel moved, help people carry stuff up subway steps, get into a fist fight with someone over something stupid, help old ladies with their groceries, bake, be relentlessly yourself and not care… why can’t you be thankful for the life you have and the opportunities you’re given and your achievements and your struggles… why can’t you do all of these godlessly? Or with your own god? Yahweh. Allah. Zues. John From. Is the creator of the universe so caught up in semantics? I can’t believe it.

Side Note: Let’s not go to that place

Going through the different articles on the recent subway ad campaign I’ve been perusing through a great deal of comments. While I can’t decide yet if this is a wonderful thing or the worst thing ever, the comments at least make for invigorating, if sometimes frustrating and mildly illiterate, reading.