My Blog/What’s New

A running commentary on whatever strikes my fancy and an update on new developments with the book and additions to the web site.

July 10, 2008

A profound sense of loss—That’s what I felt when I heard the news that comedian George Carlin had died of heart failure on June 22. He was 71. Carlin was a comic genius with a talent for puncturing hypocrisy with an acerbic wit. His routines were punctuated with profanity, it is true, but also with an understanding of words and how we humans use them to disguise the truth about ourselves and what we are doing. Carlin was our best-known gadfly for the better part of 50 years. He will be missed.

Unpatriotic—Speaking of Carlin, Matthew Rothschild dedicated a piece called “Why I’m Not Patriotic” to the comedian. Published in Progressive magazine, of which Rothschild is the editor, on July 4th, the essay details his reasons for rejecting the celebratory mood of the holiday and for rejecting patriotism itself. I can’t help agreeing with Rothschild. Loving one’s country makes too much of what is essentially an accident of birth. Like most nations of the world, there are things about the United States that are admirable (especially some of the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence) and others that are not. We have no monopoly on virtue, and our unwillingness to acknowledge our own failings as a society breeds a kind of cultural myopia that is dangerous. There is no virtue in slavish parochialism. Religion and nationalism are the two great tribalisms left in the world. If we are to advance as a species, it may be time to abandon both.

From our cold, dead hands—Gun ownership got a boost when the Supreme Court declared, in a 5-4 ruling, that the Second Amendment guarantees individuals the right to own guns and, therefore, the handgun ban in force in Washington, D.C. was unconstitutional. In an interesting piece in the Washington Post, “Packing Protection or Packing Sucide Risk,” reporter Shankar Vedantam notes the strong correlation between gun ownership and suicide rates. Several studies indicate a connection between the two. Although firearms are used in a relatively small percentage of suicide attempts (400,000 people were treated for such attempts in the nation's emergency rooms in 2005), they account for more than half of the deaths attributable to suicide. In fact, more people took their own lives using guns than were the victims of homicides by people using guns. None of this has anything to do with the constitutional questions surrounding the Second Amendment, but it certainly ought to give pause to anyone contemplating a trip to a local gun shop to buy a pistol.

le Tour—One of the reasons I’m a bit late with this update is that le Tour de France began on July 5, and I’ve been spending some time watching the quintessential athletic challenge as it unfolds across the Atlantic. I first became interested in the tour when I began doing some bicycling myself back in the late ‘70s. Please note, I was in my late thirties and never competed at any level. However, bicycling fascinated me, and the idea of a bicycle race across the French countryside, a race that includes segments in the Pyreenees and the Alps, a race that covers (this year) 3,500 kilometers over a grueling 21 days and ends in Paris on July 28, is mesmerizing. Of course, my interest was further piqued when the tour began to show up on television (If you have cable television you can watch most of the action on VS.), and Lance Armstrong began his incredible string of victories. But I’ve continued to watch the action even after Lance retired and long after my own breathing problems made cycling an impossibility for me. It’s a grand spectacle, full of interesting characters, beautiful scenery and no small portion of drama. And although international cycling has suffered through more than its share of doping scandals, I really do think the tour sponsors have done their utmost to assure a clean, competitive race. Vive le Tour!

Crackers—In one of the more bizarre religious stories of the year, a student at the University of Central Florida says he is receiving death threats because he smuggled a communion wafer or Eucharist out of the mass he was attending. The student, Webster Cook, says he took the wafer to show to a friend. A spokesperson for the perpetually offended Catholic League equated Cook’s action to a “hate crime.” She also said she expects the university to take the matter seriously and to send a message that this sort of “complete sacrilege” won’t be allowed. For his part, Cook has returned the wafer. If religious people want to be taken seriously, they really need to get their members to stop overreacting to this sort of thing. Going crackers over a cracker does nothing to advance their cause. It simply makes them seem ridiculous.

On the web—I’m adding two new essays to the site this month. The first discusses the incoherence of the idea of “God” as presented in separate studies from the John Templeton Foundation and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life respectively. It’s titled “Garbled ‘God’ leads to flawed studies.” The second is an appeal to the presumptive nominees in the upcoming presidential contest. It’s called, “Memo to Messrs. McCain and Obama concerning a wall that needs mending.” I’m also adding a link to PZ Myers science blog “Pharyngula” in the “Information and education” section.

More to come…GR

June 7, 2008

Another brick in the wall—The Space Coast Freethought Association has created a “Virtual Wall of Separation between Church and State.” You can view the wall and add your own, personalized brick to those already in place by going here. This is a symbolic gesture to be sure. However, it’s also an easy, cost-free way to express your support for secular government and the maintenance of strict separation between governments and religions.

Godless campers—As more and more parents opt to teach their children about life without gods, there is a need for facilities that offer secular alternatives to religious programming. With five locations in the United States and one in Ontario, Canada, Camp Quest offers nonreligious parents a secular alternative to the religious youth camps that dot the landscape. It’s beyond belief. One of the more encouraging signs of the age we live in is that there are more and more resources available for those who choose to live without gods and religions. The U.S. remains the most overtly religious of modern industrial societies, but there are indications we may be seeing a turning of the tide. Whether is is simply a temporary aberration or a trend that will continue and grow remains to be seen. But there are more and more organizations offering more and more opportunities for those seeking alternatives to the religious point of view.

Dispelling superstition—Meanwhile, the Atheist Centre, which is aligned with the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), in Vijayawada, India held a two-day camp for high school and college students on May 17-18. The IHEU reports a highlight of the camp was “a practical demonstration of conjuring tricks, to show how conmen deceive their audiences. The Atheist Centre has existed as an agent of social change in India since its founding in 1940. Cliff Walker of Positive Atheism has put together a marvelous section called “Atheism in India” which includes writings from the founder of the movement, Gora. We Americans often get so caught up in our own part of the world that we develop myopia about the rest of it. Here’s a chance to look at atheism and secularism in another place.

R.I.P. Universal Human Rights 1948 - 2008—That’s the cover story of the May 2008 issue of the International Humanist News. The co-option of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council by states who have no respect for human rights has resulted in the death of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, according to the lead article by Roy W. Brown, IHEU representative at UN, Geneva, and former President, IHEU. Brown’s article documents how the changing of language in an amendment renewing the mandate of the commission’s Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression to require him to “report on instances in which the abuse of the right of freedom of expression constitutes an act of racial or religious discrimination ….” Brown writes that this change, pushed by Pakistan and other Islamic nations, would require the Special Rapporteur who is supposed to promote free expression to police that expression. Expression which constitutes religious or racial discrimination is already covered in other parts of the declaration and falls within the bailiwick of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. In a related article Keith Porteous Wood notes that, as a result of the elections held on May 21 of this year, the number of “free” countries on the 47-member Human Rights Council now stands at 22. Islamic bloc nations control about one-third of the seats.

Voting for change—Barack Obama is now the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party and will be squaring off against John McCain in the presidential election. It appears Hillary Clinton will endorse Obama and could even wind up on the ticket. Certainly this is already an historic election, and Obama’s campaign theme has been that he will be a harbinger of change. There is one historic change he could make if he had the stomach for it. Let this be the election year that a presidential candidate finally stands up and says that regardless of his personal religious opinions, his administration will be totally committed to the defense and the reconstruction of the wall of separation between government and religions that has been so severely damaged in the last two decades. Let him declare that yes, when all is said and done, our constitution does guarantee freedom from religion as well as freedom of religion. That, in fact, we cannot have the latter without the former. Let him state clearly and unequivocally that government agencies have no business promoting either individual religions or religions in general, that religious opinions or their lack are the business of individual Americans. Let candidate Obama make it clear that his White House, should he win the election, will stand firmly for the rights of conscience of all Americans, regardless of their religious opinions, and will function as a secular institution charged with the protection of those rights. That would be a change this American would find most welcome. It’s a change I could believe in.

Communion denied Obama supporter—According to a piece by E.J. Dionne, Jr., in the Washington Post on June 3, “For an ‘Obamacon,’ Communion Denied,” a prominent Republican—a conservative and long-standing critic of Roe v. Wade, was denied communion in April at a Mass for a group of Catholic businessmen, whom he later addressed at a dinner. The reason? Douglas Kmiec is an “Obamacon”—which, according to Dionne, is a new term in the political lexicon denoting a conservative who supports Obama—and was denied communion because the candidate he supports is on the pro-choice side of the abortion debate. Dionne noted that the priest (his name was withheld at Kmiec’s insistence) who denied Kmiec communion was acting on his own and out of line with the policy of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. However, the incident is troubling nonethless. Kmiec is a pro-life, conservative Republican whose stance is well known. He supports Obama in spite of the candidate’s stand on abortion, not because of it. How many other Catholics will be forced to choose between their religion’s dogma and their own political opinions this election year?

On the web—The web site continues to attract interest, although traffic has been down a bit this spring. I am adding two new essays with this update. One is called “An economic fix: going cold turkey” and discusses how not spending may be the long-term solution to our short-term economic problems. The other “What the thunder says” is a reflection on being human.

More to come…GR

May 23, 2008

Changing the guard—A changing of the guard is under way at American Atheists. Ellen Johnson is out as president. Frank Zindler has been named acting president by the board of directors until they settle on a permanent replacement for Johnson, who had served as the organization's president for more than thirteen years, since the brutal kidnapping and murder of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, her son, Jon Garth Murray, and her granddaughter Robin Murray O’Hair. More details are available at the American Atheist web site. For reactions to the change, check out Dave Silverman’s NoGodBlog.

Chump change—Apparently having nothing better to do, the House of Representatives has passed a bill requiring the U.S. Treasury to mint a commemorative coin for the Boy Scouts of America. Thus, our government will be funding a fund-raiser for a private organization that openly discriminates against atheists and gays. To learn more about the legislation and send a letter to your senators urging them not to pass it visit the Secular Coalition for America’s web site. Let the Boy Scouts, or any other organization for that matter, do their own fund-raising. There’s no reason for the federal government to get into the act at all. Of course, it is an election year. Think the congress critters are playing us for chumps again?

Apostate?—Among the more ludicrous charges that have been leveled against Senator Barack Obama during his bid for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States, possibly the most absurd is the notion that he is an apostate Muslim and this fact will damage his possible effectiveness as president. The charge has been made by several right-wing pundits. Most recently, the Christian Science Moniitor featured this story by Shireen K. Burki, “Barack Obama — Muslim Apostate?.” Ms. Burki provides an added twist, claiming that Obama must be Osama bin Laden’s dream candidate because having an apostate Muslim at the head of the U.S. government will make recruitment, etc., much easier. Apparently, since Obama’s father was once a Muslim, the son was born a Muslim and must now be regarded as a Muslim apostate—even though, by all credible accounts including his own, he was not raised a Muslim and has never practiced Islam—because he has converted to Christianity. None of this seems to be a matter of concern in the Arab media, although it has the Republican sound machine making all sorts of noise. According to Jalal Ghazi and Souhelia Al-Jadda, reporting on the New American Media web site, “Obama is No Apostate – Arab Media Have No Problem with his Christian Faith.”

The claim of apostasy seems to be based on little hard information, but like many internet rumors, it has gained currency through endless repetition by those who either don’t comprehend the difference between fact and fiction or do understand it but hope their readers won’t. Since this nonsense has been appearing in many email inboxes for a while now, Snopes.com has researched the matter (along with a number of other false charges) and reported the results in a piece called “Who is Barack Obama?” To make a long story short, it appears that Obama’s father, who was born a Muslim, had renounced his religion and was calling himself either an atheist or an agnostic when he met Obama’s mother, also an atheist. So if the charge of apostasy has any currency at all, it would have to be charged to the father, not the son. People in the media who continue to perpetrate this nonsense should have no cause for complaint if no one accepts anything they say as credible. This sort of toxic rumor-mongering has become far too commonplace in our political discourse. Unfortunately, it appears that for many the truth is a poor substitute for a truly vicious lie.

More to come…GR


May 7, 2008

Religion imagined—According to anthropologist Maurice Bloch, humans are the only species to practice religion because humans alone have the necessary neural architecture to be able to imagine gods and religions. In “Religion a Figment of Human Imagination” Andy Coghlan reports on Bloch’s findings and notes they challenge the view that religion developed and spread because it promoted human social bonding, which is the position taken by most anthropologists. Either way, it seems clear that religions and gods are the product of the human intellect and not the other way around. Imagine that!

Parents charged in death of daughter—According to the AP, the Wisconsin parents who substituted prayer for medical treatment have been charged in the death of their 11-year-old daughter, who died of a treatable diabetic condition on Easter Sunday (March 23). Reporter Robert Imrie writes that when Madeline Neumann’s parents were told an autopsy would be performed on their daughter the next day, they responded, “You won’t need to do that. She will be alive by then.” The parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann have been charged with second degree reckless homicide. According to Imrie, the criminal complaint says, in spite of pleas by family and friends that the Neumanns seek medical help for their daughter, the father thought the illness was a “test of faith” and the mother thought her daughter was under a spiritual attack. In similar news, a couple in Oregon was charged in the death of their 15-month-old daughter last month. Again, the parents prayed, the daughter died. I spend some time talking about this sort of thing in “Suffer the children,” Chapter Nine of my book, Godless in America: conversations with an atheist. Although I would not prevent adults from resorting to prayer instead of medicine if they felt that was what their religious beliefs required, I think it is clearly a form of child abuse when parents risk the health, the lives of their children in order to accommodate their own religious opinions. Religions have lots of bad ideas. The notion that prayer is a valid substitute for sound medical practice is among the worst.

Gods on short rations—The Washington Post reports that “In India, Even Gods Are Going Hungry.” According to the article, soaring food prices have caused the poor to cut back on donations of food and milk, which is used to bathe statues of Hindu deities, to temples. That a nation in which poverty and malnutrition are rampant devotes any portion of its food budget to “feeding” the gods seems absurd. Then again, calling anything about gods and religions “absurd” seems redundant.

Obama disses pastor—Also in the Post, “Obama Calls Minister’s Comments ‘Outrageous’,” Senator Barack Obama seems intent on putting as much distance as possible between himself and his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., folllowing the minister’s appearance at the National Press Club on April 28. Wright, who is now retired, said attacks on him were really attacks on black churches and black theology. Obama said the minister’s remarks were “divisive” and “outrageous.” Saying he had previously given Wright the benefit of the doubt, Obama noted he particularly resented Wright’s assertion that his own rejections of earlier remarks by the minister was political posturing. According to the Post, Obama said, “If Reverend Wright considers that political posturing, then he doesn't know me very well. Based on his comments yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought, either.” Although Wright’s remarks have little news value, except as an embarrassment to Obama (who has consistently repudiated his former pastor’s comments, even while refusing to renounce the man), the national media apparently considers it THE story of the campaign so far. I was once proud to be a professional journalist. These days, I am, with a few rare exceptions, ashamed of the profession, especially as it is practiced by the dominant media in our society.

Older but no wiser—It has been five bloody years since President George W. Bush stood on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln beneath a banner that declared “Mission accomplished” and announced that major combat operations in Iraq had ended. Since that premature announcement thousands of American military personnel have been killed and tens of thousands wounded. It is impossible to estimate the number of Iraqi casualties, but the amount clearly runs into hundreds of thousands killed and wounded (most of them civilians). Meanwhile the nation of Iraq has sunk into a prolonged civil war between various factions seeking to gain control and the U.S. military has become an occupying force whose presence only exacerbates the violence. Yet, for all of that, we still hear claims that our departure would signal disaster for Iraq and for the region. Republican John McCain insists the American people won’t mind keeping American troops in Iraq for one hundred years, as long as there aren’t many casualties. The U.S. Senate wants Iraq to pay for the war and the reconstruction of the infrastructure that has been destroyed in the fighting. Our troops continue to come under fire in Iraq and in the forgotten war in Afghanistan. Our illegal invasion of Iraq has become an illegal occupation. We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars that we don’t have on a fiasco that has been a disaster from the beginning, yet Bush, McCain and others continue to insist we must “stay the course.” This isn’t just stupidity. It’s insanity.

On the web—The web site is now up and running again after the glitch in early April. Unfortunately, the statistical data for the site apparently was wiped out in the crash so we are, in a sense, starting over where that’s concerned. In any case, the site continues to attract visitors and continues to be ranked in the Top Ten of the Best of Net Atheism, finishing April at #5. The site also continues to attract visitors from around the globe. During the month just ended, the United States, South Africa, Candada, Germany and France were the five countries with the most visitors.

After a hiatus, Rich Orman has reactivated his Dogma Free America web site. I’ll be adding it back to my “links” page under “web connections.” I was a guest on Rich’s show when it was on before. That was episode #21. I talked about Godless in America and about “The New Atheism.”

I hope any of you who are so inclined will sign my guest book…again, if you have already signed it once. During the recent crash, one of the casualties was the visitor’s log.

In addition to adding a link to Dogma Free America on the site I’m also adding two new articles. In “Let us think.” I talk about the National Day of Reason and why it’s a better idea than a National Day of Prayer. “Only words” is a discussion of how the values we practice creep into the language we use and reveal attitudes we prefer to keep hidden.

More to come…GR



April 21, 2008

Past due update—This update is long overdue. As some of you may have noticed, the web site was down briefly at the beginning of the month. This was due to a problem at the hosting company (a crashed server or something like that). As a consequence, the site was unavailable for viewing for a few days, and I was unable to post any new material for the better part of a week. Meanwhile, my wife and I took a vacation and were busy visiting friends and family and, especially, meeting our new grandson. The upshot of all of that is that I am only now getting back to work on the site. I expect to have some new material to add before the end of the month, but it isn’t ready now.

One thing I did want to mention. One casualty of the crash was my “Visitor’s Guest Book.,” which is located at the bottom of the “About” page. Any of you who have signed it in the past are welcome to do so again. In fact, I would appreciate it. Needless to say. Any who haven’t are encouraged to do so.

I’ll be doing a more extensive update later in the week. I just wanted to get this posted, so that everyone would know I haven’t gone anywhere.

More to come…GR

March 11, 2008

A high old time—“Moses was stoned when he set Ten Commandments, researcher claims.” That’s the headline of a story on the Guardian web site this month. The article goes on to report the claim of Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, that the Old Testament patriarch may have been on more than a religious high when he climbed to the top of Mount Sinai. Shanon says psychedelic drugs formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times. Maybe that’s why there is no ban on drug use in the big ten rules.

Bible suit settled—The New York Times’ Neela Banerjee reports that a West Texas school district has agreed to modify the curriculum in a high school course on the Bible that critics said amounted to religious indoctrination. The suit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way on behalf of eight families in Odessa, Texas, argued that the course promoted Protestant Christianity and taught a specific reading of the Bible as a historical document. Public schools may offer Bible study courses, but those courses may not proselytize on behalf of a particular religion and must approach the text in a neutral way, not as it would be treated in a Sunday School class.

The Ector County Independent School District agreed to adopt a new curriculum for the course, one that has been developed by a committee of local educators.

Religious attitudes in flux—The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has released a study titled The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, which reports that almost half of adult Americans change their religious affiliations during their lifetimes. While all of the groups in the survey gained and lost members, the largest gains were shown in the group that claimed no religious affiliation. According to the survey, 16.1 percent of the adult population are unaffiliated. Of that group, 4 percent say they are either atheists or agnostics. The remaining 12.1 percent is broken into those who say they are primarily secular and are not affiliated with any religion (6.3 percent) and those who indicate they are religious but are not affiliated with any particular group (5.8 percent). The survey is based on interviews with 35,000 Americans, aged 18 and older. Protestant denominations now account for slightly more than half (51 percent) of adults, down significantly from previous surveys. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, has had its losses offset by the influx of immigrants from nations where it is the dominant religion and so has managed to maintain its percentage of the total at around 25 percent.

While I think it is always a mistake to get caught up in the numbers game, the survey does make interesting reading and offers a useful snapshot of the religious landscape of American society in the first decade of the 21st Century.

A grim anniversary—On March 19, the illegal and misbegotten invasion of Iraq by the United States will have lasted five years, making it the longest war in U.S. history except for Vietnam. Almost 4,000 U.S. military personnel have died making war in Iraq, with tens of thousands more wounded. The cost of the war has now run into hundreds of billions of dollars, with no end in sight. Of course, our costs pale in comparison to the price exacted from the people of Iraq, who have seen their nation reduced to a pile of rubble, have watched the butchery of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children—the “collateral damage” of the conflict, and have witnessed the descent of their society into barbarism. It may be decades before we know all the hidden costs of this tragedy, but, even now, we know they are staggering.

On the web—I’m adding two new essays to the site this month. The first is about a battle of dueling billboards in Chambersburg, PA, and how that skirmish illustrates the difference in tactics between the rational and the dogmatic. The second offers some suggestions about reforming our approach to elections, especially the presidential kind, here in the United States. I’m also making some additions to the links page with connections to two blogs, Juan Cole’s Informed Comment and Joshua Micah Marshall’s Talking Points Memo, and one of my favorite sources of news and information, Common Dreams. You’ll find them in the “News and Commentary” category.

On a personal note, thanks again to all of you who have continued to buy my books and visit the web site. Your support is most welcome.

More to come… GR
February 10, 2008

In the wake of an outbreak of tornadoes and winter storms that have left, at least, 54 people dead and hundreds more injured, the call has gone out to aid the victims of the disaster. Readers of this web site are encouraged to donate whatever they can to one of the many organizations involved in this effort. One such organization is SHARE, the Secular Humanist Aid and Relief Effort, which has been sponsored by the Council for Secular Humanism for more than two decades. Funds collected by SHARE are donated to aid agencies who give direct relief to the victims of natural disasters. You can mail donations to SHARE at PO Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226 or make them online here.

Feb. 12 will mark the 199th anniversary of the birth of both Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. Here in the U.S. we celebrate Lincoln’s birthday (along with that of George Washington) on President’s Day. Until the last few years no one had paid much attention to Darwin’s birthday. However, as the 200th anniversary of his birth approaches, Darwin Day celebrations have become more common, and a number of observances will take place in the days ahead (some already have). You’ll find a listing of planned celebrations of Darwin Day here. Join in the celebration of science and humanity by attending a celebration near you.

Ironically, on Feb 11, the state of Florida will hold its last public hearing on the new science standards being proposed for public schools in grades K-12 around the state. One of the chief bones of contention has been the adoption of standards that identify evolution as the basis of modern biology. Previously, Florida’s science standards had used the phrase “change over time” in order to avoid giving offense to those who prefer their science laced with religious myth. The state board of education is expected to decide on Feb. 19 whether to adopt the new standards as written or to amend them to appease the “evolution is only a theory” crowd. Any who are interested may attend the hearing from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Orlando Hyatt in the Orlando International Airport. To view the hearing via live web cast, go to the Florida Department of Education’s web site. To learn more about the controversy and/or to review the proposed standards, go to the Florida Science Education Standards Committee’s web site.

Political note: In the race for the presidency of the United States, Sen. Barack Obama’s unexpectedly strong showing on Super Tuesday has left him in a virtual dead heat with Sen. Hillary Clinton, who had been viewed as the presumptive heir of the Democratic nomination. Clinton’s campaign is hoping for strong showings in upcoming primaries in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania in order to regain the momentum lost. Meanwhile, the Republican Party, which seemed in such disarray a month ago, appears to have settled on John McCain to head the ticket in the fall. Mike Huckabee, the only other major candidate still in the race, is being touted as a possible running-mate for the Arizona senator. The question for McCain is this. Will he lose more votes by taking the darling of the Religious Right on the ticket than he will gain by appealing to the extreme conservative faction of the GOP. I think this is a lose-lose situation for the Republicans. They cannot win a national election without the backing of the Religious Right. However, after eight years of the Bush Administration, taking Huckabee on the ticket may kill any hope of appealing to independents and moderate Republicans. Frankly, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the state of the American economy will be the issues that decide November’s election, and the GOP seems out of touch with the electorate on both.

Godless in America.com continues to attract visitors from around the world. This January, visitors from the United States and South Africa headed the list, with the Netherlands, Spain and Canada rounding out the top five. About 54 percent of the visitors accessed the site with bookmarks or direct addresses, 38 percent arrived here using search engines and 8 percent linked to this site from other web sites, other than search engines. Some of you have been kind enough to sign my guest book. Others have emailed me with questions or comments. Thanks to all for your interest.

Last month I spoke before the Friendship Fellowship at Pineda, a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Brevard County and was very warmly received. I have posted the text of my talk on the web site. It is slugged “Rethinking the A Word,” which was actually the subtitle of the presentation. “Concerning ‘The New Atheism’” included material from the essay with the same title that was already posted on the site, but also incorporated some other material as well. I am also adding a new essay called “Amendment protects bigotry, not marriage.” This piece is about a proposed amendment to the state constitution of Florida that will ban same-sex marriage and civil unions between gays and lesbians. Although it’s a local political issue, I think it raises important points about equal justice before the law and how we treat one another. The essay is slugged “voting for bigotry.”

More to come … GR


January 10, 2008

The new year has begun with a few surprises on the domestic political front and new concerns about old problems abroad.

Following Sen. Barack Obama’s surprising victory in the Iowa caucuses, the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton spent several days fending off the obituaries being written about her prospects for winning the Democratic nomination for president. However, New Hampshire left many political pundits wiping egg from their faces, as the junior senator from New York defeated Obama narrowly in the primary held Tuesday. She’s now the second Clinton to be anointed the “comeback kid” in the media. Clearly, Obama poses a serious challenge to Clinton, one that is surprising not only because of the Illinois senator’s relative inexperience, but also because Clinton had been widely assumed to have a lock on the nomination. Setting aside opinions about the relative merits of the two candidates, I think it does say something positive about the state of our democracy that the two leading contenders for the Democratic nomination are a woman and a black man. Neither one deserves any special consideration because of race or gender, but it is a good thing that neither factor prevents them from running and being taken seriously.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, so to speak, the race for the Republican nomination is a mess. Following his win in the Iowa caucuses, Mike Huckabee ran third behind Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney. Rudy Giuliani, at one time considered the clear front-runner, was largely a no-show in both Iowa and New Hampshire, and, most recently (yesterday) was seen stumping in Florida. Huckabee hopes to pick up support from conservative Christians in South Carolina. Whether or not the former Baptist preacher and Arkansas governor will garner enough support from the Christian Right to offset his considerable liabilities remains to be seen. None of the other GOP front-runners appears to have much appeal for conservative Christians. If Huckabee fails to win the nomination, this may well be the year in which they make good on their threat to bolt the GOP and form a third party. One can only hope.

On the international front, the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has intensified concerns about the political situation in Pakistan, which has a small nuclear arsenal. Bhutto’s son, Bilawil, has called for a UN-sponsored investigation into the death of his mother, saying he thinks the inquiry by the government of Pakistan lacks transparency and credibility. The government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has enlisted the aid of Britain’s Scotland Yard and insists it is determined to learn who is responsible for Bhutto’s death.

The United States’ claim its warships were harassed in the Straits of Hormuz by small boats manned by Iranian Revolutionary Guards was met with considerable skepticism by those old enough to remember the Gulf of Tonkin, the Reichstag Fire, and other historical “provocations” used to justify military actions by regimes in and out of Washington in the past. According to BBC News, the release of grainy footage supposedly showing the action prompted derision from the government of Iran who claimed the film was “stock” footage and the voices had been fabricated. I have no doubt the Bush administration would use such tactics to generate support for military action against Iran. I also have no doubt there are elements inside Iran who are foolish enough to think they can play such games with impunity. This may well be one of those cases in which both governments are being dishonest.

In 2007 this website had almost 17,000 visits, averaging more than 46 per day. Those visitors looked at slightly more than 100 pages each day. That’s quadruple the number of visits in 2006, when the site was up for only 10 months, and almost quadrupled the number of pages viewed, 36,522 in 2007 as against 9,871 in 2006. Of course, many visitors popped in and popped right back out again. But there were others who stayed around and came back for more. Some of you have been kind enough to let me know you appreciate the site, and I’m most grateful for those expressions of support. Since it was listed in “The Best of Net Atheism,” in spring of 2007, “Godless in America.com” has consistently ranked in the top 10 of the sites named there.

Because of such responses, and because book sales continue to furnish enough royalties to pay for the site, I’ve renewed the domain and site for another year, so you can depend on this continuing through March 2009, at least.

As noted last month, I’ll be the guest speaker at the Friendship Fellowship at Pineda, a Unitarian Universalist congregation that meets in Brevard County, Florida. I’ll be talking about my two books and the phenomenon being called “The New Atheism” in the media. My talk will be at the 10:30 a.m. service on Sunday, January 27. Any of you who are in the area should stop by. This is, as the name suggests, a friendly group. I was guest speaker in January of 2006 and found it an enjoyable experience. My talk will be titled “Concerning ‘The New Atheism’” and will be followed by a Q&A as time permits.

I’m posting a new poem called “One child” to the poetry page and making some minor revisions to the essay “Concerning ‘The New Atheism’” that I posted last month. I’ll be adding new material later this month.

More to come … GR

December 9, 2007

A 14-year-old Washington youth died of leukemia on November 29 after refusing a blood transfusion for religious reasons. Dennis Lindberg was designated a “mature minor” by the courts and thus was considered mature enough to make decisions about his medical treatment. A Jehovah’s Witness, Lindberg had been diagnosed with leukemia on Nov. 8. His aunt, Dianna Mincin, who is also his legal guardian and a Jehovah’s Witness herself, supported Lindberg’s decision. Doctors treating the young man had said that with the transfusions and other medical treatment, Lindberg would have had a 70 percent chance of surviving the next five years (the benchmark for cancer survivors). According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the boy’s parents, both recovering drug addicts, opposed his decision. I’m not one of those who believes in forcing medical treatment on people who are competent to make the decision not to accept it. However, this story raises some questions. Can we really consider a 14-year-old to be that mature? And is it not reprehensible, setting aside questions of legality, to teach a child that the “God” he worships regards a necessary medical procedure to be sinful. I won’t quarrel with the right of adult Jehovah’s Witnesses to believe such nonsense. However, I do think it is incumbent on the rest of us to denounce it as such. Bad ideas shouldn’t get a pass just because they come dressed in the trappings of religious expression.

On a happier note, the U.S. Supreme Court has let stand a lower court ruling that a monument outside a Texas courthouse must be removed and that Harris County must pay the legal fees of the woman who sought its removal. The monument, which features the King James Bible, had been in place since 1956. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake had ordered the monument be removed. His decision had been upheld by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. County officials had argued that, since the monument had been removed (temporarily) while renovations were made to the courthouse, the ruling should be vacated as moot. However, the appeals court had let the ruling stand. The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case should close the matter. (Houston Chronicle)

In Berkley, Michigan, voters rejected an amendment to the city charter that would have required the city to display a nativity scene on the grounds of the Berkley City Hall from Thanksgiving through January 6 of each year. After a hotly debated campaign, which featured advertising and web sites on both sides of the issue, the citizens of Berkley voted overwhelmingly (by a 55% to 45% margin) to reject the charter amendment. Mayor Marilyn Stephan expressed her relief at the outcome of the election. “I think it’s the best solution a city could come to,” she told the Detroit Free Press. “This wasn’t a hasty decision for us. Government should do government and religion should do religion.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Those of you who missed it may want to visit PBS.com and take a look at the NOVA documentary “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial.” The documentary tells the story of what happened in Dover, PA, when a group of teachers and parents opposed the school board’s efforts to have a statement casting doubt on the validity of Darwin’s theory of evolution and suggesting “Intelligent Design” as a legitimate alternative read in the public school science classrooms. The documentary is very well done and includes interviews with most of the people involved, as well as dramatizations of scenes from the trial itself.

My essay, “The trouble with NOMA,” will be featured in the January, 2008 issue of American Atheist magazine. This is one of the pieces I selected for inclusion in my new book, mere atheism: no gods…no problems! It is also available here (on the web site).

I have been invited to be the guest speaker at the Friendship Fellowship at Pineda, a Unitarian Universalist congregation that meets in Brevard County, Florida. I’ll be talking about my two books and the phenomenon being called “The New Atheism” in the media. My talk will be at the 10:30 a.m. service on Sunday, January 27. Any of you who are in the area should stop by. This is, as the name suggests, a friendly group. I was guest speaker in January of 2006 and found it an enjoyable experience. My talk will be titled “Concerning ‘The New Atheism’” and will be followed by a Q&A as time permits.

The new book is now available almost everywhere. Barnes & Noble.com is discounting it. Both mere atheism: no gods…no problem! and Godless in America: conversations with an atheist are selling copies in the UK as well as the United States and Canada. Thanks to all of you who have ordered it. At least one person has told me he intends to order a copy of each and donate them to his public library. Needless to say, I’m delighted to hear that.

There are added two new essays to the web site this month. The first is titled “Concerning ‘The New Atheism’” and is about what is being called “The New Atheism” and some of the reactions to it. Some of this material will be used in my talk next month. However, even though they share the same title, the talk will be different than the essay. There is also a piece called “Friday night at Curry’s,” which is a reminiscence about a pool hall I used to frequent. Just another reminder that we atheists don’t spend all, or even most, of our time being fixated on gods and religions.

Finally, the calendar tells me the Winter Solstice is nearly upon us, along with all the various holidays that are associated with this time of year. So, wherever you are and whatever you celebrate, I hope you will do so with peace, joy and love. Have a very good end to 2007 and an even better beginning in 2008.

More to come…GR


November 6, 2007

My new book, mere atheism: no gods…no problem!, is now available. It can be purchased at online booksellers like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble and should be available by order from brick-and-mortar bookstores in the near future, if it is not already. You’ll have to special order the book. Most bookstores don’t stock print-on-demand (POD) titles. Of course, if enough of you ask for it, maybe some will start. The publisher is iUniverse and the book is also available for purchase directly from them.

For more information about the new book, including links to some online booksellers, just toggle the “Buy mere atheism” button on this page.

According to a recent article on AlterNet by Jon Basil Utley, “America’s Armageddonites Push for More War,” millions of fundamentalist evangelists in the United States not only believe the biblical prophecies of Armageddon but are actively seeking to bring it about.

Utley writes, “These end-timers have great influence over the U.S. government’s foreign policy. They are thick with the Republican leadership.” He notes they support the war with Iraq and seek a military engagement with Iran. They are also united in supporting the expansion of Israeli settlements on the West Bank, even though those settlements violate the terms of several, now moribund, peace agreements and, at least, one United Nations resolution.

Author and former New York Times reporter Christopher Hedges, according to Utley, argued in his book, American Fascists, that the world view of this group of fundamentalist evangelists tends toward fascism, and focuses on their obedience to leadership, their feelings of humiliation and victimhood, alienation, their support for authoritarian government, and their lack of interest in constitutional limits on government power.

In other news, one of the Bush Administrations chief allies in the so-called “War” on terror has decided to apply the Bush doctrine of preemptive military action to a problem of its own. Turkey has troops massed on its border with Kurdish territories within Iraq in response to several incursions into Turkey by members of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PPK), one of which killed 17 Turkish soldiers. The Turks are threatening an invasion and already have shelled some positions in Iraq. In contrast to our own invasion of Iraq, however, Turkey can actually point to a genuine threat and is responding to actual attacks that happened recently. They have no need to manufacture evidence or concoct excuses. Of course, the Bushies oppose any Turkish invasion because it’s likely to screw up their own plans, whatever they are.

Meanwhile, another ally in the same war, Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, declared a state of emergency and suspended his country’s constitution over the past weekend. Britain and other nations have called on Musharraf to resign as head of Pakistan’s army and to guarantee “free and fair” elections next year. The Bush administration is “insisting” Musharaff “restore democracy” and end martial law. Musharaff insists his actions are aimed at preventing terrorist activity in his country. Isn’t that the same rationale Bush and his gang have used to justify shredding parts of the U. S. Constitution?

Meanwhile, consider this. While the United States government has been beating the drums over Iran and the possibility it might be planning to try to develop nuclear weapons, Pakistan, which is far less stable, already has them. Pakistan also has many more terrorist groups and more virulent brands of Muslim extremism operating within its borders. Can you spell “oops?”

I have added a new page to the web site, “Buy ‘mere atheism,’” and updated the “About” page as well. I have also added a new section to the “Links” page called “News and commentary.” The first entry in that section is the web site of Christopher R. Brauchli, who specializes in political commentary and satire. His site is called “The Human Race and Other Sports.”

More to come…GR

October 9, 2007

In a new essay, “The Problem with Atheism,” author Sam Harris (who penned two best-sellers, The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation) suggests atheists should abandon the term altogether. In a written version of remarks he made to the Atheist Alliance International convention, Harris states, “So, let me make my somewhat seditious proposal explicit: We should not call ourselves ‘atheists.’ We should not call ourselves ‘secularists.’ We should not call ourselves ‘humanists, or ‘secular humanists,’ or ‘naturalists,’ or ‘skeptics,’ or ‘anti-theists,’ or ‘rationalists,’ or ‘freethinkers,’ or ‘brights.’ We should not call ourselves anything. We should go under the radar—for the rest of our lives. And while there, we should be decent, responsible people who destroy bad ideas wherever we find them.”

However, much as the idea of abandoning all labels sometimes appeals to me—because, like Harris, I think labels can get in the way of much more important concerns—I don’t think Harris’ idea will fly. First, in his analysis of what’s wrong with the word “atheism,” Harris seems to fall prey to some of the same sort of stereotyping used by atheism’s critics. But more importantly, I doubt seriously that those “decent responsible people who destroy bad ideas” whereever they find them are going to be able to escape the label “atheist” once they begin attacking any of the many bad ideas promoting by religion. Even Thomas Paine, who clearly was not one, got labeled an atheist once his Age of Reason was published. I think a far more sensible course of action is to try to promote the understanding of what “atheism” is and what it is not.

Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists, responded to Harris with an essay of her own on the Humanist Network News. Ms. Johnson’s response is very much to the point as she notes fundamentalist theists don’t much care what we call ourselves. They aren’t concerned about the label we wear but the actions we take. Read “Ellen Johnson responds to ‘The End of Atheism.’”

There are a couple of events that may be of interest to any of you who read this and either live near or plan to be visiting the Orlando area on the third weekend of October. My friends at the Space Coast Freethought Association are sponsoring Freethought Day at Disney on Oct. 20 at Walt Disney World. To learn more visit the web site at http://spacecoastfreethought.org/disney/. On that same weekend, Lori Lipman Brown, director of the Secular Coalition of American, the nation’s “Ist Congressional Lobbyist for Non-theists” will be the guest speaker at the Orlando Atheists & Freethinkers meetup. The meeting is on Oct. 21 at the Seminole Country Library. For more information, including a map and directions, go to the web site at http://atheists.meetup.com/36/calendar/6231016/.

The Catholic Church celebrated its 54th Annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew in Washington D. C. on Oct. 1. The Red Mass, an annual event in which the Roman Catholic Church seeks to inspire the political and judicial leaders of the nation to follow its lead on social issues, was attended by President George W. Bush, the five Catholic members of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Roberts, along with Justices Alito, Kennedy, Scalia and Thomas) and Justice Breyer, who is Jewish, as well as other political leaders. Legal scholar Marci Hamilton wonders whether it is appropriate for the justices to attend such a politically charged event in her essay on FindLaw. Hamilton doesn’t fault the church for trying to influence the political leadership. Obviously, the church has every right to do so. However, she does wonder whether it is proper for sitting Supreme Court Justices to attend such an event when a large part of their authority depends, at least in part, on preserving the appearance of impartiality. As I noted earlier this year, and Hamiton reiterates in her essay, the presence on the court of a majority of Catholics does not necessarily mean they will march in lockstep on the decisions that come before them. However, it does, and should, raise concerns about whether or not a particular religious perspective has now been enshrined as the de facto, if not de jure, law of the land. Time will tell.

I expect my new book, mere atheism: no gods…no problem!, to be available before the end of the year. I’m hoping for publication in November, barring any unforeseen complications. I’ll be making an announcement here once the book is actually available for purchase.

This web site continues to attract steady traffic, although things have been a bit slower of late. Godless in America.com has consistently ranked in the top ten on the “Best of Net Atheism” site for months now. You’ll find a link to that site on the links page on this web site. Look at the end, under “Web Connections.” The site continues to attract a sizeable amount of traffic from South Africa, which is second only to the United States as a source of visitors. In September Canada, Great Britain and Luxembourg rounded out the top five. Thanks to all who visit here.

I’m adding a new essay on an old calumny about atheism. “The truth about atheist atrocities” takes up the charge that atheism was somehow responsible for the statist atrocities of the 20th century. I’ve also added a new section called “Sticks and stones” to the essay “mere atheism,” which, in case you are wondering, is the title essay of my new book. Finally, I’ve added a link to Edwin Kagin’s Answers in Atheism, a new podcast on the web. Ellen Johnson is the scheduled guest on this week’s show, which is scheduled to air on Oct. 11 (Thursday).

More to come…GR

September 10, 2007

According to a new report by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life “…religion is not proving to be a clear-cut positive in the 2008 presidential campaign.” The two front-runners for the Democratic and Republican nominations, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Guiliani respectively, are seen as less religious than most other leading contenders. The hot-button social issues, gay marriage and abortion, also appear to be taking a back seat to the war in Iraq, global warming and other matters. However, the report also indicates that six out of ten voters would be least likely to vote for a candidate who did not believe in a god.

And, of course, that has been the conventional wisdom for some time, that an atheist cannot be elected to any major political office, and few minor ones, in the United States of America. On the face of it, the claim seems indisputable. Apparently, in the entire United States government there is only one lone congressman, Rep. Pete Stark (D) of Fremont, California, who is willing to openly acknowledge he does not believe in a supreme being. There may have been a few similar declarations by local politicians but if so, they must have been made in a broom closet with no one listening.

I can’t help wondering about the conventional wisdom though. Oh, I don’t doubt the poll results. Most voters probably are theists, and voters tend to prefer to vote for people who share their view of things, so it’s not all that surprising. Besides, most voters probably don’t realize how many atheists they know. There is this persistent illusion of the lone village atheist, sitting grumpily out on the edge of the town, obsessing about gods and religions, miserable and angry, with no friends and no family members willing to admit to the relationship.

In the introduction to Godless in America, I tell the story of coming out to a coworker and her reaction to my announcement that I was an atheist (this was in answer to a question she had asked). Her response was fairly typical of others I have experienced from other people and been told about by other atheists. “You can’t be,” she proclaimed. “You’re too nice.”

So I’m not at all sure an atheist couldn’t run for public office and win or, at least, make a respectable showing. Of course, one wouldn’t run as “The Atheist” candidate. Atheism has no political agenda, so one’s atheism should have no relevance to one’s qualifications for the office in question. Of course, it would be an issue. I’m not so naive as to suppose it wouldn’t. But I think a qualified candidate who articulated thoughtful stands on the issues and spoke directly to the constituency she aimed to represent could have good success. Running openly as an atheist should no more prevent one from being elected to public office than running openly as a Christian. I suspect this may be one of those self-fulfilling prophecies. As long as everyone agrees an atheist can’t be elected, no one seems willing to test the waters.

At any rate, it might be fun to try. If it weren’t for a firm conviction that voters would be even less likely to vote for an atheist wearing an oxygen tank and obviously sometimes out of breath, I might be tempted to give it a whirl myself. But, while one’s religious opinions should not automatically disqualify one from public office, the health of a candidate is an entirely valid concern.

However, if there are some healthy atheists out there who feel the urge to run for public office but think it’s a hopeless cause, my advice is to give it a go. If you get attacked for being an atheist, you might even be able to turn the tables on those who attack you and generate a sympathy vote that will carry you to victory. Then again, maybe not. One thing is certain though. Until some viable candidates are willing to run openly as atheists, there’s no chance any will be elected.

On a sadder and more personal note, I see my alma mater, the University of Miami (Coral Gables), will stop playing its home games at the Orange Bowl after this season. In 2008, the Hurricanes will begin calling Dolphin Stadium home, leaving one of the nation’s most famous sports venues without a home team or a steady source of income.

The news comes as no surprise to me. The Orange Bowl has steadily deteriorated over the years, and the city of Miami has failed to maintain the property, let alone upgrade it. Back when the late Joe Robbie, then the owner of the Miami Dolphins, tried to get the city to step up to the plate and make improvements, he was told, in no uncertain terms, that if he didn’t like his deal at the Orange Bowl, he should go build his own stadium. He did. And, yes, that’s the same Dolphin Stadium the Hurricanes will be playing at in the near future. They follow both the Dolphins and the Orange Bowl Game itself to the newer, better facility.

Still, I feel a tinge of regret over all this. The Orange Bowl was where I saw my first college football game. A school chum and I were taken by his father. We sat in end zone seats that would, in the not-to-distant future, be cleared away to make room for a tank and a live dolphin, who entertained the crowds back when the Miami Dolphins were a new pro football franchise. My only clear memory of that first game, though, is that the Miami Hurricanes were playing and they had a fullback named Don Bosseler who would go on to play for the Washington Redskins.

While a student at the University of Miami, I attended many games. Back then the players were named Curci, Mira, Miller, Otto, Banacek and so on. The coach was Andy Gustafson. The team was never a threat to win a national championship, although they were good enough to post a few upsets and, if memory serves me correctly, managed to creep into the top ten for a short time. But that was long before the championship teams who dominated college football for most of two decades.

The Orange Bowl was also where I saw my first pro football game. It was the first game of the Miami Dolphins first season, and a Miami running back named Joe Auer ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown—if I believed in such things, I might say it was a portent of things to come. Oakland won the game nonetheless.

I saw several Orange Bowl Games while they were still being played there, and it was at the Orange Bowl that I attended my only live Super Bowl (one of five played there). It was a low scoring affair between the Baltimore Colts and the Dallas Cowboys. The Colts won. For me the most memorable highlight didn’t occur on the field, but when Johnny Unitas, smiling the whole time, gave the finger to a Dallas fan who had been ragging on him during the pre game warmup. The man was sitting in the end zone seats opposite the open end of the stadium (which now housed a dolphin tank) and was only a few rows down from my party. The back of his neck turned a lovely shade of red after Unitas made the gesture. There were no TV cameras around and no 24-hour sports networks back then, so there was no scandal and no tedious endless replays. But it certainly did spice up an otherwise dull affair.

Those are just a few of the memories I have of the Orange Bowl. I’ll miss the old barn.

On a much more somber note, Americans and Iraqis continue to die in a war that began as an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation and has now degenerated into a full-blown civil war. A while back I used to write a newsletter called One Voice. One item in that newsletter was a section called “Facts and fictions.” In the summer of 2005 I wrote:

• It is a fact that, when the dust finally settles, the government of the nation of Iraq is far more likely to resemble that of Iran than that of the United States. How long it will take to get to that point is hard to say. There is the distinct possibility of prolonged civil strife, maybe even a civil war, before the situation plays itself out completely.

• It is a fiction that anything the United States has done in Iraq has contributed to stability in the Middle East or made us safer here at home.

This seemed a very safe assessment back then. It seems even safer today.

Meanwhile, dizzy from its success in Iraq, the Bush administration is now itching for a fight with Iran and attempting to whip up support around the country by unleashing its coterie of conservative (I know, this sounds like an oxymoron) think tanks and media lapdogs to spin us into yet another unwarranted and illegal conflict.

There’s an essay called “Getting fooled again” on this web site. You might want to take a look at it (click on “fooled again”) if you haven’t already. And if you live in the United States and are as fed up with the antics and the policies of this administration as I am, write your representatives in Congress and the Senate. I know at times it seems hopeless, but maybe if enough of us make enough noise we can head this thing off before the Bushies plunge us into another disaster. Write letters to the editor, join a protest, do something. Don’t just sit back and wait for the ship of state to right itself. There’s no one competent at the helm, and the crew is busy scalping the passengers.

I don’t have any new material to add to the web site this month. I’ve been busy with doctors and dentists (nothing serious, mostly maintenance) and am working on getting my new book ready for publication. I’ll be making an announcement about that in the near future.

In the meantime, thanks for your interest in my writing.

More to come… GR


August 8, 2007

Reporter Jacqueline Salmon of the Washington Post has retracted a statement in which she said Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family has praised the Harry Potter books. The retraction does restore my confidence in the order of things. I was thinking I might have to modify my exceedingly low opinion of Dobson. However, Dobson’s organization quickly spotted the error and got the post to correct it. As a press release issued by Focus on the Family indicates, Dobson has spoken strongly against all the Harry Potter books and movies because he feels they may have an adverse impact on young, impressionable minds. Well, they wouldn’t be the first people magical thinking has led astray, now would they?

Meanwhile the U.S. Army and Air Force are considering disciplinary action against seven officers—including four generals—who violated ethics rules by helping a Christian group produce a fundraising video. Apparently the video included interviews of the officers in uniform and in identifiable Pentagon locations. They did so without the approval of either the Pentagon or their superiors. According to a report by the Pentagon inspector general, the officers in question made statements that “conferred approval of and support” to the evangelical group, Christian Embassy. According to Michael Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the report reveals a “long and deep collusion with a fundamentalist, religious military organization.” Weinstein wants Congress to hold oversight hearings over the Defense Department’s failure to separate church and state, according to the AP. Given this Congress’ inability to grow a backbone, I hope Weinstein isn’t holding his breath.

According to a new study by researchers at the University of Chicago and Yale New Haven Hospital, atheist and agnostic doctors are just as likely as religious physicians to provide care for the poor. The survey of 2,000 doctors indicated that 35 percent of non-religious doctors, compared with 31 percent of religious doctors, said they were likely to care for people with little or no medical insurance. The study, which was published in the Annals of Family Medicine, was the first of its kind.

I’m adding two new essays to the web site this month. The first is the story of a memorable hurricane that I went through 60 years ago. It’s called “Remembering the storm of ‘47.” It doesn’t really have anything at all to do with gods or religions, but since we are in the midst of the Hurricane Season, I thought some of you might find it interesting. The second piece also has nothing to do with gods and religions. It’s called “See no evil” and is a bit of a political rant on my part. As I have explained before, I have many interests. This essay grows out of my frustration at the current political situation in the United States. One of the nice things about being godless in America is that one is free to consider propositions of all kinds. I’m also making some additions to the links section. The first, butterfliesandwheels.com is a site that says it is devoted to “fighting fashionable nonsense.” The second, “Critical thinking on the web” is a directory of online resources having to do with, you guessed it, critical thinking. You’ll find both in the “information” section of the links page.

More to come ... GR

July 27, 2007

Godless in America: conversations with an atheist has been selected as the freethought book to be discussed this quarter on BookTalk.org. We are just getting under way with this so there’s plenty of time for any of you who want to be involved in the discussion. Whether you just want to stop by from time to time to see what’s being said or you want to actively participate (you have to register to do this, but it’s free and the process is painless), just toggle on BookTalk.org. and drop on by. While you are there, check out some of the other discussions. There is almost always an interesting conversation going on somewhere on the site.

That’s all for now. I’ll be posting my normal monthly wrap-up the first week in August.

Later … GR


July 8, 2007

Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, was knighted Saturday, July 2, on Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday honors list—an action which incensed many Muslims (something that’s not terribly difficult to do these days) and was tantamount to a British Royal’s “up yours” directed at religious fanatics. Predictably, the governments of most Islamic nations expressed outrage and called on the British to rescind the action. When the pending knighthood was announced in June, group of muslim clerics in Pakistan announced that it would present an award designating Osama bin Laden “Sword of God” in retaliation. Only a religious fanatic could equate writing a novel with acts of terrorism that have resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocents. There is a serious intellectual disconnect at work when religionists claim that the follower’s of their “religion of peace” can be provoked to acts of thuggery by a work of fiction. After a similar controversy over some cartoons last year, I wrote about this in an essay called “R*E*S*P*E*C*T: cartooning religion,” which you’ll find on this web site.

Let it be stated clearly. There’s no clash of civilizations at work here. This is a clash between the rational and the insane, and in the minds of some fanatics, insanity clearly has won the battle.

Closer to home, the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that taxpayers have no standing to challenge a president’s use of discretionary tax dollars. The issue was raised by the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s suit challenging the expenditure of funds by the White House in pursuit of faith-based inititiatives being orchestrated by the administration. The case, Hein v Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., was decided by a 5-4 majority with Chief Justice Roberts joining justices Alito, Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy (good Catholics all) in the majority. I don’t suggest that the justices’ religious affiliations necessarily color their opinions. However, I do suggest it will be interesting to see how often, if ever, they break ranks on questions of church-state separation.

Using the third veto of his presidency, George W. Bush once again ignored the wishes of the Congress and a majority of the American people to void a law that would allow federal funding for stem cell research using embryos from fertility clinics that would otherwise be discarded. I wrote about this after Bush’s first veto of a very similar bill last year. You’ll find the essay titled “When faith trumps reason” on this web site. After reviewing it, I see no reason to change a word. Bush cites the same rationale he used before. It’s no better the second time around.

The web site continues to average around fifty visits a day. Most visitors are from the United States. South Africa, Germany, Canada and the Russian Federation, which just edged by Great Britain, rounded out the top five this month. My book continues to sell a few copies each month. I hope those of you who have read it and liked it will consider posting a review on Amazon.com or the Barnes & Noble web site.

I’m adding a couple of new essays to the site. One, called “Whining for Jesus, part deux,” revisits the so-called “war on Christianity.” The other, “Mockingbird: a joyful noise,” is a short observation on the world outside and its effect on the world within. Enjoy.

More to come ... GR