Daily Archives: April 2, 2021

Evangelist Franklin Graham upset his followers last week when he urged them to get vaccinated, so I guess hes trying to win them back over by saying the dumbest possible things.

This time, hes giving God credit for freeing the Ever Given from the Suez Canal:

Did God lend a hand in freeing the Ever Given? After a week of blocking trade, on Monday a higher than normal tide brought on by an old-fashioned Super Moon helped to free the massive container ship. I read that this ship is 20x heavier than the Eiffel Tower! Now the backup of 300 cargo ships can resume passing through the Suez Canal. Thank you God.

I know this is Atheism 101 here, but its telling that Graham credits God with freeing the boat while never blaming God for the boat getting stuck in the first place. Egypt lost an estimated $90 million in toll revenue. $10 billion worth of cargo was delayed, and in some cases (like food), thats just going to waste.

But Graham thinks God sent a Super Moon one which we knew would occur well in advance of the incident due to science to unclog the canal instead of just preventing the boat from causing chaos.

If Grahams God gets credit for the recovery, the Grahams church ought to pay some of the costs associated with the boat getting stuck.

(Featured image via Shutterstock)

Original post:
Franklin Graham: God Sent a Super Moon to Free the Boat from the Suez Canal - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

The secularization of U.S. society the waning of religious faith, practice and affiliation is continuing at a dramatic and historically unprecedented pace. While many may consider such a development as cause for concern, such a worry is not warranted. This increasing godlessness in America is actually a good thing, to be welcomed and embraced.

Democratic societies that have experienced the greatest degrees of secularization are among the healthiest, wealthiest and safest in the world, enjoying relatively low rates of violent crime and high degrees of well-being and happiness. Clearly, a rapid loss of religion does not result in societal ruin.

For the first time since Gallup began tracking the numbers in 1937, Americans who are members of a church, synagogue or mosque are not in the majority, according to a Gallup report released this week. Compare todays 47% to 1945, when more than 75% of Americans belonged to a religious congregation.

This decline in religious affiliation aligns closely with many similar secularizing trends. For example, in the early 1970s, only one in 20 Americans claimed none as their religion, but today it is closer to one in three. Over this same time period, weekly church attendance has decreased, and the percentage of Americans who never attend religious services has increased from 9% to 30%.

In 1976, nearly 40% of Americans said they believed that the Bible was the actual word of God, to be taken literally. Today only about a quarter of Americans believe that, with slightly more decreeing the Bible is simply a collection of fables, history and morality tales written by men. And the percentage of Americans who confidently believe in Gods existence, without a doubt, has declined from 63% in 1990 to 53% today.

Fears that this rise of irreligion might result in the deterioration of our nations moral fiber and threaten our liberties and freedoms are understandable. Such concerns are not without historical merit: The former Soviet Union was a communist country deeply rooted in atheism and was one of the most corrupt, bloody regimes of the 20th century. Other atheistic authoritarian regimes, such as the former Albania and Cambodia, were equally crooked and vicious.

But heres the thing they were all godless dictatorships that tried to forcibly destroy religion by persecuting the faithful, actively oppressing religious institutions, and making a demagogic cult out of their thuggish rulers. Such coercive secularization is, indeed, something to dread.

However, there is another, alternative kind of secularization, one that emerges organically, amid free and open societies where human rights, including religious freedom, are upheld and respected. Many societies qualify for this label including those in Japan, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Australia, Canada and Uruguay, among many others. In these places, religion is not actively repressed, nor do governments promote secularization. And yet, it occurs simply because the people living in these societies lose interest in the whole religious enterprise.

Organic secularization can occur for many reasons. It happens when members of a society become better educated, more prosperous, and live safer, more secure and more peaceful lives; when societies experience increases in social isolation; when people have better healthcare; when more women hold paying jobs; when more people wait longer to get married and have kids. All of these, especially in combination, can decrease religiosity.

Another major factor is the ubiquity of the internet, which provides open windows to alternative worldviews and different cultures that can corrode religious conviction and allows budding skeptics and nascent freethinkers to find, support and encourage one another.

In the United States, these factors are further compounded by strong backlashes against the religious right, the evangelical-Republican alliance, conservative religions anti-gay agenda and the Catholic Churchs sexual-abuse scandals. This has resulted in the winds of secularization swirling like never before, Ryan P. Burge, a political scientist, recently said.

Fears of atheistic authoritarianism aside, some may worry about religious organizations fading away because they do so much good. They do engage in a tremendous amount of charitable work that includes holding food drives and setting up soup kitchens and homeless shelters. However, such welcomed charity is ultimately an altruistic response to symptoms, not a structural cure for root causes.

This is why highly secular democracies do a much better job of ameliorating homelessness and poverty by employing decidedly secular solutions, such as responding with rational social policies and wise economic strategies, and setting up more responsive institutions. Affordable housing and subsidized healthcare do a far better job of alleviating the suffering of the poor and the sick than faith-based charities.

Secularity is highly correlated with a host of moral orientations that will markedly improve our nation. For instance, secular people when compared to their religious peers are far more likely to understand and respect the scientific method, which results in their increased willingness to get vaccinated, for instance, and adhere to empirically grounded health recommendations, a rational orientation that saves lives. Secular people are also more supportive of sex education, which reduces unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

Research shows that secular people are more likely to support womens reproductive rights, universal healthcare, gay rights, environmental protections, death with dignity, gun safety legislation and treating drug abuse as a medical rather than criminal problem all of which will serve to increase dignity, liberty and well-being in America.

The organic secularization we are experiencing in the United States is a progressive force for good, one that is associated with improved human rights, more protections for planet Earth and an increased sociocultural propensity to make this life as fair and just as we can in the here and now rather than in a heavenly reward that fewer and fewer of us believe in.

Phil Zuckerman is associate dean of Pitzer College and author of Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment.

Read the original post:
Op-Ed: Why record godlessness in the U.S. is good news - Los Angeles Times

SOME weeks ago I argued onThe Conservative Womanthat it is a human trait to believe without evidence. With the proper stimuli, people can be made to believe practically anything. I also said that if this were not so, belief in God would not exist.

This comment drew a surprising number of responses from people who felt their faith had been derided and who asserted that I was wrong. They made the usual arguments for the existence of God, with the usual expectation of educating the godless and of course the usual result: no meaningful change in anybodys belief system. This is the essence of faith, the human capacity for asserting a belief based on an internal system of logic which cannot be adjusted or effectively challenged. It is this capacity for a kind of mental inertia that makes the Covid-19 project possible by exploiting the human tendency towards faith, a belief system which engenders hope in the face of hopelessness.

I decided at the age of ten that there was, quite simply, no evidence for the existence of God. I have never found a good reason to change that belief: Ive examined it thoroughly and had it challenged albeit indirectly by many voices and sources. I have, over time, struggled with expressions such as atheist or agnostic and finally have settled for humanist, the epithet I feel most comfortable with. None of this means I think there is anything wrong with believing in God. Some of my friends are devout Christians, or Buddhists. They are intelligent, often humble people whom I admire beyond measure. Nor would I attempt to convince believers in God that their faith is a mistake. Why should I? Of what possible benefit could this be? All I can do is to assert my own understanding of the universe in its own terms, and my own faith in the capacity of humanity to grow beyond the kind of thinking and reasoning that ends up with a cycle of self-referential logic. Quite possibly, the end result of such thinking is only endless questioning. Towards the end of his life, Stephen Hawking was questioning the Big Bang theory of the universe which he had supported when younger; Hoyles Steady State theory is being re-examined having previously been consigned to the dustbin of scientific history.

Its often assertedthat belief in God has been at the root of atrocities throughout history, such as religious wars or Islamic terrorism. I dont altogether agree with this. I contend that bad people will always find compelling reasons to do and justify doing bad things. Its also said that secularism, a society not founded on religious belief, is harmful and pernicious, denying us our basic humanity. Again, I disagree. A belief system founded on essentially decent values cannot be used as a justification for doing bad things. It is true that secularism has, for many of us, forced us to see the world through a confusing lens and to build entire political constructs out of our insecurities, grudges, fears and hatreds. But religious belief permitted the same things. Both religion and secularism can be corrupted for bad ends.

There is a need for faith in all of us, a point at which we no longer feel impelled to provide evidence for our fundamental view of the world. The alternative, endless scepticism, is the privilege only of a few with the discipline to embrace this.

My point is that belief in a religious faith, even one that atheists like myself reject, does not make one a fool. But if the same mental processes lead us to believe absolutely in the goodness of those in power as we are continually programmed to embrace life-destroying measures in the names of health or the environment, it is time we grew up.

History teaches us, only too well, that powerful people will do bad things and find good reasons for doing them. To ignore this is to embrace mindless reflexes as a way of life. As the evidence becomes overwhelming that the Covid-19 project is a monstrous disaster for which those responsible are continually finding good reasons to justify, we must understand that to find hope, we must challenge ourselves to ask each other some difficult questions. As Ive tried to explain, its only by asking questions that our understanding grows. I cannot understand what it must be like to be someone who thinks that if we all wear masks, get the jab, keep following the rules, everything is somehow going to be all right. Perhaps this makes them happy. I dont know. But its time we claimed, as part of our growing up, the right to be unhappy.

Faith in government is a fallacy proven again and again throughout history. The truth, whether you want to believe it or not, is that the Covid project is being forced on us by powerful people, for reasons which are becoming increasingly difficult to understand unless we assume that its a good reason for bad people to do bad things. If your faith lies in government and the powerful, take the time to question it, just as I questioned my atheism over the years. Many people who believe in God do not seem to believe in the virus. This is a good thing, because it means that there is a difference between faith and the capacity to believe without evidence when your own experience tells you something is wrong. Maybe thats what we should all be thinking about.

Original post:
Of all the things I don't believe in, this government comes top - The Conservative Woman

As a legislator, columnist/blogger, educator, and quasi-raconteur, I enjoy back-and-forth regarding sports, politics, movies and more. But I generally avoid getting into religion. Still, as someone who feels that vibrant religious communities with their associated values and activities are important parts of a healthy society, I sometimes get cognitive dissonance about avoiding the topic.

Some might call it conscience.

Which brings me to a friend Ill call Ed. Hes a non-believer with whom I have conversed about religion. Being a former Marine, I once asked Ed if he believed Marines had esprit de corps.

Of course, said Ed.

What does it mean?

French expression meaning spirit of the corps, replied Ed. A common feeling of pride and purpose that motivates a group. Sure, Marines have it in spades.

Can other groups have it?

Sure. Teams, clubs, organizations. If they have good leadership and common goals.

So you believe in this esprit, or spirit? Even though you cant see or touch it?

Yes, laughed Ed. Of course.

Can a religious group also be animated or motivated by an esprit de corps, like Marines or teams or clubs?

Why not? said Ed.

So what if religious folks claim theyre motivated by a special esprit de corps that they refer to as a holy spirit?

Ed is silent. Having already acknowledged the existence of an intangible esprit, he wont use the English word for it. He saw where I was going. To admit the existence of a Holy Spirit which is what some religious folks refer to as an animating esprit that inspires themis essentially to admit the existence of God, in that some Christian doctrines describe the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity, or God as spiritually active in the world.

Without listing names, there are many transformative figures throughout human history who, clearly inspired by a certain esprit (Holy Spirit?) have provided humankind with lessons, parables, belief structures, and inspiration to live good and productive lives. And happy ones too.

Countless surveys and research document that the religious are more generous and happier than non-religious. With exceptions of course. But the data is out there. Google away.

I ask Ed to consider the incredible good work that programs like Catholic Charities do around the world effectively and efficiently. What do atheist charities do? Might Ed be happier if he donated wherewithal or energy to one of the many wonderful religious charities?

I pay taxes, says Ed. The government does a lot of good work.

Of course.

And I dont need to go to church for a spiritual experience. I can get that by climbing a mountain.

But isnt that a bit narcissistic? Isnt there strength in numbers and value to being part of a group or community animated by an esprit/spirit to do public good and help people?

Ed laughed.

But at least he didnt get personal. A challenge for some of us when we summon up the nerve to talk about religion or values is that we must brace for personal criticism.

Who are you to talk about this stuff, given all your foibles, flaws, and sins? And what about all the hypocritical religious people who do bad things?

Sigh. Some require an unattainable measure of perfection from the inherently imperfect before engaging about religion a measure not expected from others.

But we drift away from our historical religious roots at our own peril. Witness the growing coarseness, alienation and violence that seem to accompany Americas increasing secularization. New Hampshire is rated as the least religious state. It also features about the highest rate of substance abuse. A correlation?

History is replete with religious conflict. True. As well as plenty of anti-religious violence. After the horrific French Revolution, Pariss Notre Dame Cathedral was converted by the secular to what they called a Temple of Reason. After the horrific Russian Revolution, official atheism shut down the churches. Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ridiculed religious influence, asking How many divisions can the Pope deploy?

Funny thing though. Notre Dame Cathedral eventually returned to religious splendor. And churches are now open all over Russia even if some are closing in Concord. The Holy Spirit can be ridiculed, quashed, or denied, but its apparently eternal as it provides hope and inspiration for individuals and communities to pursue kinder, gentler paths.

Easter Sunday is April 4. A chance for Ed to pick out a church and perhaps witness some real esprit first-hand!

(State Rep. Mike Moffett of Loudon is a retired professor and former Marine Corps officer.)

Read this article:
My Turn: Educating Ed on Easter - Concord Monitor