Owner: 20 gram Soul URL:http://20gramsoul.com Join Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 09:44:30 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Discussing issues relating to religion, science and spirituality through links, reviews, general ramblings and (with any luck) some intelligent discussion. Site statistics:Click here
How Rudy Rucker Showed Me God 2007-06-17 08:07:06 One of the earliest books I can remember reading that had an influence on my spirituality was not a book on religion at all but a book by a science fiction writer, Rudy Rucker. “God” is usually talked about as a father figure, or some mystical being (who looks somewhat like us - old dude, white beard) in the sky - and while these stories might be just metaphors for the true nature of God, it created a barrier to the possibility of me ever accepting the existence of higher power. I remember that “The Fourth Dimension: And how to get there”1 inspired me to think about the possibility of this higher power in a new way. Rudy Rucker is best known as a science fiction writer, but the book “The Fourth Dimension” is a work of non-fiction. In it, Rucker draws on the works of Edwin A. Abbott who wrote “Flatland” in 1884.
In “Flatland” Abbott explores the fictional life of “A. Square”, who lives in a two dimensional world an Read more:Showed
Response to “The Veil is Dehumanizing” 2007-06-14 04:06:09 I’ve just finished reading a post by the Daylight Atheist which I’m not quite sure how to respond to. I totally agree that all religions have a lot to answer for in the ways they oppress certain groups or ideas - I find the negative attitude of certain denominations of Christianity towards homosexuality disgraceful, for instance. But I find this issue slightly more complicated. The Daylight Atheist suggests that:
Burqas, Hijabs and other such &ldquo
;garments oppress women and are an affront to human dignity. By design, they are dehumanizing and degrading, and remain so even if the woman freely chooses them for herself.&rdquo
;
This is a really difficult one for me, because while I agree with most of what is said, I think taking it to the point where any veil is dehumanising “even if the woman freely chooses them for herself” might be taking things a little far.
I think it’s certainly possible to argue that in these cultures it is not possible for a woman to Read more:Response
Ways to Compare World Religions 2007-06-12 23:19:46 Here are some simple ways that you can compare all the major world religions:
Read The Big Religion Chart,
or
Read this:
TAOISM - Shit happens
CONFUCIANISM - Confucius says: “Shit happens.”
BUDDHISM - If shit happens, it isn’t really shit.
ZEN - What is the sound of shit happening?
HINDUISM - This shit happened before.
ISLAM - If shit happens, it is the will of Allah.
PROTESTANT - Let shit happen to someone else.
CATHOLIC - If shit happens, you deserve it.
JUDAISM - Why does this shit always happen to us?
JEHOVAH’S WITNESS - Let us in and we’ll tell you why shit happens
HARE KRISHNA - Shit happens. Shit happens. Shit happens.
PAGAN - Shit is part of the goddess, too.
SCIENTOLOGY - This book gets rid of your shit.
EXISTENTIALISM - Everything is shit, so let’s be depressed.
NIHILISM - Everything is shit, so let’s blow it all up.
SATANISM - I made this shit happen and I’m glad about it.
SOLIPSISM - This shit happens to me alone, but I am t Read more:Compare
, World
Flat Earth Theory 2007-06-12 09:01:49 … and you thought Creationists lived with their head in the sands.
I found a podcast recently by The Infidel Guy, where he discusses a group I couldn’t believe actually existed today - The Flat Earth
Society.
On this podcast, he discusses the beliefs of the Flat Earth Society who still believe that the earth is actually flat. A round disk, centred at the north pole, with a 150ft ice wall which keeps all the water in. How is it, then, that us “Round Earthers” are utterly convinced that the earth is actually round? Well, it’s a world-wide government conspriacy. One of the most disturbing things about this, is these views are apparently not motivated by religious dogma, but rather… just plain stupidity!
Have a read of their FAQ to fully understand just how nuts these views are. While it appears that the actual number of members who believe what they preach is small, I’m still hoping it’s just a big joke, but even Pastafarianists don&rsquo Read more:Theory
20 gram Links for June 11th ‘07 2007-06-11 19:36:36 Here are some of the sites I’ve been looking at recently, that I wanted to share:
Heed the word of God - An amusing commentary about George Bush’s claims that God is speaking to him
I Believe In Evolution, Except For The Whole Triassic Period - From The Onion: “Scientific reasoning can explain nearly every stage of life from the Big Bang to the present day. I say &lsquo
;nearly’ because the period commonly known as the Triassic period was quite obviously the work of the Lord God Almighty.”
The Atheist Delusion - A satirical response to Richard Dawkins’ “God Delusion”
The Official God FAQ - Visit this page to find out everything you need to know about God
God is Imaginary - 50 simple proofs - It is easy to prove to yourself that God is imaginary. The evidence is all around you. Here are 50 simple proofs
World Religions Religion Statistics Geography Church Statistics - A collection of statistics and religious geography citations
You Know Yo
Belief in Traditional Religion 2007-06-09 22:38:26 When someone asks me if I’m religious, my standard answer is “no, but…”. The “but” refers to my issues with religion specifically, but not the underlying teachings and spirituality. I like to call myself “eclectic”, as I don’t subscribe to any one religion, but at the same time I think each one of them has some founding in truth. Personally, I’ve found that every religion I’ve looked into (notably: Christianity, Buddhism, … even Pastafarianism!) has some very good ideas, but also has some which I just cannot believe.
I came across a post by Paul Hartigan on Open Source Theology recently which outlined 7 reasons that make it hard to believe in traditional christianity. I think his arguments can be summarised by two very common theological issues, and one I’m not sure I’ve thought of before, but is important none the less:
The problem of evil - why does God allow bad things to happen? Even worse, why d Read more:Traditional
, Religion
20 gram Links for June 6th ‘07 2007-06-05 19:52:58 Here are some of the sites I’ve been looking at recently, that I wanted to share:
YouTube - Red State Update: Night at the Creation Museum - Jackie and Dunlap on Kentucky’s new Creation Museum, the new Billy Graham library, and Murfreesboro’s own Bible Park. Plus, a sneak peek at the new Ben Stiller comedy “Night at the Creation Museum”.
Question Everything… - Funny photo of graffiti on a wall
Even Evangelical Teens Do It - How religious beliefs do, and don’t, influence sexual behavior.
26 Reasons What You Think is Right is Wrong - A cognitive bias is something that our minds commonly do to distort our own view of reality. Here are the 26 most studied and widely accepted cognitive biases. Just show’s how important it is to really think about things.
With God on side - Opinion - theage.com.au - “Atheism might be all the rage, but Christianity is about more than fashion”
Nearly 1 in 3 Believe Bible is Literal Word of God - Bel Read more:lsquo
The Eclectic Agnostic’s Wager 2007-06-03 07:18:38 In my last major post, I look at the idea of “religious eclecticism“, and how I think it’s likely that all religions share the same basic ideas. I also said I’d try and use a variation of Pascal’s wager to help justify my position.
Pascal’s wager goes something like this:
Living your life as if God exists will bring infinite benefit (you go to heaven) if, in fact God exists. If it turns out that God does not exist, then you haven’t missed out on much. If, on the other hand, you were to live as if God didn’t exist, but you turned out to be wrong, then you’d suffer infinitely (hell and damnation). Even if you were right about God not existing, the benefit you’d gain while you were alive would be minimal compared to eternal damnation. In a more graphical format, Pascal’s wager looks like this:
God exists (G)
God does not exist (~G)
Living as if God exists (B)
+∞ (heaven)
−N (none)
Not living as if God exist Read more:Agnostic
Satan vs. Noah 2007-06-02 05:01:09 Ever wondered what would happen if Satan
took on Noah? Well wonder no longer - Noah wins! (at least, he does when I play as Satan, and I’m more worried about getting a screenshot than winning - but don’t worry, Satan kicked Eve’s arse).
Check out the game, if you’ve got some time to kill (or, need to procrastinate) - it’s called Bible Fight.
bible, christianity, flash, game, humour, procrastination, satanShare This
Atheists’ Distortion of History 2007-06-01 02:17:29 I just got an email from a lecturer of mine who’s going to be talking about the “Atheists
’ distortion of the History
of Science” in a couple of weeks, which I thought might be interesting to anyone living in Melbourne.
Dear “God ….” fans,
I’ll be speaking to the Atheist Society in a couple of weeks.
“Atheists’ Distortion
of the History of Science”
Tuesday 12 June 2007
8 pm
Trades Hall
54 Victoria St (crnr Lygon Street)
atheist_agnostic@lycos.com
You will have heard much of my argument before, but this time I’ll be attacking my fellow atheists’ for distorting history. It should be fun.
Neil
If you’re interested, email the above address, or just turn up!
agnosticism, atheism, education, history, lecture, melbourne, scienceShare This
On The Nature of Proof 2007-06-20 09:39:50 Creationists (how we love them) might suggest that we can’t “prove” that evolution is true, not 100% anyway. About Atheism just posted a nice succinct response (written by a forum member) to that argument, which I wanted to share.
Creationist: You can’t prove evolution is true, 100%.
Me: But evolution has been proved true beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s like in court, to prove a defendant is guilty, the jury needs to decide that it is beyond a reasonable doubt that the claim is true.
Creationist: A ha! But innocent people are sent to jail all the time!
Me: Okay, but imagine a different court. In this one, a juror has to first pass years of tests to prove that he knows about the law and the case at hand. Then, he and a million others who also passed the test hear case after case after case. A million different defenses [sic.] are launched against the truth of the claim. Every single of the million jurors after every single of the million cases concluded th Read more:Proof
Why Some People Resist Science 2007-06-20 00:40:02 I found an interesting article today about why some people resist science, and what these authors suggest is that distrust in science can be traced back to how science and alternative views are presented to children.
Essentially, in matters for which we are unable to understand and evaluate the facts for ourselves, we try to evaluate the trustworthiness of the source.
Few of us are qualified to assess claims about the merits of string theory, the role in mercury in the etiology of autism, or the existence of repressed memories. So rather than evaluating the asserted claim itself, we instead evaluate the claim’s source. If the source is deemed trustworthy, people will believe the claim, often without really understanding it.1
It seems only natural, and a perfectly valid way of making up your opinions about things. The problem occurs when we don’t know what sources to trust.
(Scientific claims) clash with intuitive beliefs about the immaterial nature of the soul and the purpo Read more:Science
Dawkins, Truth, Hijabs and Freedom 2007-06-22 09:23:09 Dawkins (we all know him, right?) is suggesting that, while we all are aware of the threat to science by creationists and religious fundamentalists, there are other threats which must also be taken seriously.
“I think we face an equal but much more sinister challenge from the left, in the shape of cultural relativism - the view that scientific truth is only one kind of truth and it is not to be especially privileged.”1
Sure, Dawkins has a point. While I certainly would disagree with his implied (correct me if I’m wrong) view that scientific truth is the only legitimate form of truth, suggesting that scientific truth should not be privileged above that of, say, religion or even philosophy would certainly be a mistake. Religious “truth” seems almost an oxymoron, but philosophical truth does have some merit. Perhaps we could also talk about “personal” truth (gotta love Dr. Phil). Of course, if science and philosophy (or science and my “perso Read more:Dawkins
, Truth
, Freedom
A Scientist Meets God 2007-06-27 00:53:28
God is sitting in Heaven when a scientist says to Him, “Lord, we don’t need you any more. Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing. In other words, we can now do what you did in the beginning.”"Oh, is that so? Tell me…” replies God.
“Well,” says the scientist, “we can take dirt and form it into the likeness of you and breathe life into it, thus creating man.”
“Well, that’s interesting. Show Me.”
So, the scientist bends down to the earth and starts to mould the soil.
“Oh no, no, no…” interrupts God,
“Get your own dirt.”
(via Vanessa Byers)
creation, god, humour, life, scienceShare This
20 gram Links for June 26th ‘07 2007-06-26 19:48:56 Here are some of the sites I’ve been looking at recently, that I wanted to share:
What if the Women of the Bible Had All Been Feminists? - “After the ladies loosen up around the table, Mary Magdalene would begin by talking about sex workers? rights, and returning belly dancing to its origin as an exercise for giving birth.”
Intelligent Design Ruled “Not Science” - Thank God! (pun intended) At least ID is officially not science in the UK.
Calvin & Hobbs: Do you think there’s a God? - Calvin and Hobbs on God.
FSM on Calculator - How to draw the Flying Spaghetti Monster on your TI graphing calculator
Non Sequitur - Moses - Moses using MapQuest Version 1.0 (BC) to lead the Jews through the desert
Paris finds God in jail | Herald Sun - So that’s where God’s been hiding…
bible, charity, creationism, feminism, fsm, god, history, humour, intelligentdesign, jail, links, map, moses, paranoia, parishilton, religion, science, ukShare Thi Read more:lsquo
Morality Part 1: God Hating Atheists 2007-06-24 08:56:44 It seems a common claim that morality is impossible without religion. While I might agree that in some cases religion (or, more specifically, the fear of eternal damnation) can be a pretty good motivator, I think that a morality that doesn’t rely on religion is not just possible, but it’s a lot more desirable. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be outlining what some people think of morality without religion, why religion-based morality is potentially suspect, and my ideas on morality.
God HatingAtheists
Some have claimed that atheism is responsible for immoral acts, and that lack of Christian morality (ignoring the possibility of other types of morality) in schools is responsible for school shootings. Both these articles describe various violent acts and crimes committed by young USAians1, and then jump right into blaming Atheists and Darwinists (perhaps I’m missing a step in the argument, but I can’t see it - although “How to build a bomb in the public Read more:Morality
Morality Part 2: Immoral Religion 2007-06-30 09:00:00 It seems a common claim that morality is impossible without religion. While I might agree that in some cases religion (or, more specifically, the fear of eternal damnation) can be a pretty good motivator, I think that a morality that doesn’t rely on religion is not just possible, but it’s a lot more desirable. Last time, I outlined a somewhat extreme view of what some people think of morality without religion. In this post, I’d like to explain how I feel Christian morality (and religion-based morality in general) can be flawed and potentially abused. Next time, I’ll outline some of my ideas about morality.
Morality
Part 1: God Hating Atheists
Morality Part 3: (To be continued next week…)
ImmoralReligion
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg1
As Steven Weinberg suggests, some people use religion to justify th
Citizen of Planet Atheism 2007-06-28 21:11:38 Looks like I’ve just been accepted as a citizen of Planet Atheism
!
Planet Atheism aggregates some great blogs by “non-believers and free thinkers”, and most of my favourite blogs are already there! If you want a nice simple way to catch up with a whole range of Atheist ideas, you can subscribe using their full RSS feed, or via email (you’ll get my blog posts that way, too - but of course, you could just use my RSS feed if that’s all you want!)
atheism, blogs, links, planet atheism, rssShare This
Read more:Citizen
Eight Things About Me 2007-06-28 03:19:02 I just got tagged by the Friendly Atheist, and while I generally ignore chain letters, it’s probably about time I put something a little more personal up here anyway… so here goes.
The Rules:
We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. (I’m changing this rule - please feel under no obligation to continue this)
At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
Don’t forget to leave them each a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
So, eight things, huh? I’ll try and stay away from anything that might otherwise get covered on this blog, so… here we go:
My first favourite author was Agatha Christie - I read many of her books while I was still in primary school.
I like learning new and interesting (read: diff Read more:Eight
Morality Part 3: Non-Theistic Morality 2007-07-07 09:14:46 It seems a common claim that morality is impossible without religion. While I might agree that in some cases religion (or, more specifically, the fear of eternal damnation) can be a pretty good motivator, I think that a morality that doesn’t rely on religion is not just possible, but it’s a lot more desirable. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve outlined how some people think that religion is the only kind of morality, even though religious teachings aren’t necessarily moral. This week, I’d like to outline some moral structures that can (and do) exist without religion.
Morality
Part 1: God Hating Atheists
Morality Part 2: Immoral Religion
Non-Theistic Morality (or, what you do when nobody’s watching)
In line with my theory of religious eclecticism, I think that all religions share the same basic ideas on morality.1 That said, however, morality based on religion is flawed not because of what is taught (be good to others, don’t kill, etc.) but ho
Religion vs Christianity 2007-07-11 23:33:50 Here’s a concept I hadn’t come across before - an irreligious Christian. The post at DeConversion centres around the quote from an apparently irreligious Christian:
“Christianity
is not about a religion… Christianity is about a relationship…” I even recall myself saying, on probably more than one occasion, “I’m not religious, I’m a Christian.”
While “Thinking Ape” claims this person is being dishonest about their religion, I think it is (at least in principle) possible to distinguish between the two. Religion
, according to one definition is “an institution to express belief in a divine power”1. By this definition, perhaps “the church” and “religion” would be synonymous. My major gripe with religion has always been the institution associated along with it - sure, the beliefs are almost certainly delusional as well, but the beliefs alone (in my view) don’t cause any harm. It’s for
Jesus, Mo and Socrates 2007-07-11 09:57:29 I thought Jesus
and Mo was a perfect combination to highlight the illogical nature of religion, but I was wrong - who could pick apart Christianity better than Socrates?
It’s a long read, but it seems to sum up Christianity quite well. A small snippet to tempt you:
Socrates: If God created man’s eyes, legs and mind, he also created man’s desires; all his desires, even his desire for knowledge and sex. Why did man sin?
Jesus: He sinned because of his weaknesses and his evil nature.
Socrates: Who created man’s nature?
Jesus: God.
Socrates: It seems to me that you Lord God has merely created man to watch him suffer. This business of Satan, the Garden of Eden and free will is merely a facade. God merely wanted an excuse to harass, persecute, torment and oppress mankind. If an all-powerful and all-knowing being creates everything, and allows his creations to react in a certain way, he actually intended them to act in that way and is solely responsible for the results
Soft Atheist, Hard Agnostic 2007-07-15 02:03:17 While I was watching a documentary on the history of religion recently, my sister said to me “but aren’t you an Atheist
?”1 At the time I replied, “no, I’m Agnostic
”. It has made me think, however, about the nature of Atheism and Agnosticism.
While I generally describe myself as “agnostic”, and avoid describing myself as “atheist”, I could be viewed as both, depending on your definitions. As there seem to be many different views on what Atheism and Agnosticism entails, let me be very clear about what I take the meaning of these words to be.
Belief
Definitions for both Atheism and Agnosticism rely on the notion of “belief”, which itself can be contentious at times. For my purposes, when I say “belief”, I refer “to the attitude we have, roughly, whenever we take something to be the case or regard it as true”2 Belief, here, does not imply any lack of certainty - even though it might sometimes in
20 gram Links for July 13th ‘07 2007-07-13 19:35:45 Here are some of the sites I’ve been looking at recently, that I wanted to share:
Letter to the Editor: Kick the Atheists out of America - “I don’t care if they have never committed a crime, atheists are the reason crime is rampant.”
Philosophy and the proof of God’s existence by Roger Jones - A nice summary of many of the traditional “proofs” of God’s existance, including the argument from design, pascals wager, and the philosophies of Kant, Hegal and others.
What Evolution Left Behind On Humans - “I?ve always been fascinated with human evolution. To me, the most fascinating part of human evolution is learning about what was ?left behind? on our bodies from our ancestors and from our prenatal development.”
Wife Beating - It?s therapeutic - I’m glad someone’s cleared this up. Wife beating is not a rule, it’s just therapeutic. Oh, but there are limits!
Pharyngula: They’re running out of virgins! - Nice Read more:lsquo
Welcome to Hell 2007-07-13 08:07:30 I found a link today which reminded me of a Rowan Atkinson sketch. I know there are different ideas about when the “Sabbath” actually is. Christians seems to set Sunday as the “holy” day, whereas Jews mark the time between sunset on Friday and Sunset on Saturday instead. Of course, it all comes down to biblical interpretation.
While not particularly relevant to the rest of us (although, I discovered recently on my travels to Adelaide - one of Australia’s smaller major cities1 - shops still aren’t allowed to open on Sundays, and I’m sure we can blame the Christians for that) I thought “Remember the Sabbath” was quite interesting.
Oh, and then - of course - the Rowan Atkinson sketch I was reminded of… (This was linked recently from one of the Atheist blogs I read - I forget where, but if you think it might have been you, let me know and I’ll link to you)
Link to Video
Oh, and if you don’t see the association:
Chr Read more:Welcome
Misquoting Jesus 2007-07-16 05:05:19 I just came across a review of a book I’ve been reading off and on for the last month or so - Misquoting Jesus
: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why - on a couple of different sites. The review itself (at Powell’s Books) gives a nice summary of Bart Ehrman’s arguments regarding the impossible task of obtaining and understanding the “original texts” of the bible.
Many people have a vague notion that all the original biblical texts are preserved in vaults somewhere, and translators work from those original texts. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. The earliest surviving versions of the gospels are handwritten copies dating from centuries after the original texts were written. Also, we don’t just have a single version of each gospel; we have many versions, and even more fragments. The trouble is, none of the versions agree with each other.1
If you haven’t read the book, I’d highly recommend it. Dawkins even mentions it in h
Freedom From Religion Party 2007-07-19 01:58:47 Given that most of the Atheist blogs I read are from the USA, I realise that discrimination against Atheists and the religious influences on politics are much greater there than in Australia. That said, we’re not entirely free from these problems.
I’ve been catching up on some podcasts recently, and caught an interview of Frank Gomez, the leader of the newly formed Freedom
from ReligionParty
on John Safran’s weekly radio show “Sunday Night Safran“. For those of you who aren’t aware of the show (I’m aware there’s only a few Aussies who actually read this blog), on his show, Safran interviews many people alongside Father Bob Maguire. I’ve found a clip of the relevant part of the show (the full show is available here) - it’s a 16 minute interview, but it’s quite interesting.
Either way, looks like I might be voting for a new party come the next election…
(the 5mb MP3 is available for download here, in case the embed
Slightly Used Soul For Sale 2007-07-18 10:28:28 A writer friend of mine writes humorous short stories every couple of days on a blog called The Double Agent. His most recent post was not only humorous, but highly appropriate for this blog. (also reminded me of someone else you might know):
One human soul - sure, it may slightly used, and more than a little tarnished around the edges and the conscience, but the damage is nothing that can’t be made clean with some minor acts of penitence, a couple hundred Hail Marys and some good old fashioned elbow grease. Single White Male, Good Sense Of Humour, reserve price US$1,000,000,000.00 with considerations met.
(continued…)
Ok, so his asking price is a little steep, but it’s worth a read if you like a good laugh. You might also consider subscribing to his RSS feed (oh, and mine, if you haven’t already!)- he writes well, I promise!
atheism, double agent, ebay, friendly atheist, humour, soul, stories, writingShare This
Conversations with God 2007-07-22 02:38:03 After discussing Misquoting Jesus recently, I thought it was about time I talked about another book that’s had a profound impact on my views - “Conversations with God”. A 3-part (now, with many more1 ) work in which the author, Neale Donald Walsch, claims to be having an actual written dialogue with God.
“I was unhappy … and my life was feeling like a failure on all levels … This time, rather than another letter to another person I imagined to be vicimizing me, I thought I’d go straight to the source; … I decided to write a letter to God.”2
… and, God replies. The book follows with a written dialogue between Walsch and God, talking about prayer, love, divine inspiration and the nature of the bible, and all sorts of potentially controversial topics.
Now, if you haven’t already read these books, you’re probably thinking exactly what I thought when a friend first told me about them - “what kind of nut-jo
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