Mar 27 2012

Reason Rally 2012

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I had the amazing experience of being part of history – I attended the Reason Rally in Washington, D.C. on March 24, 2012.

The purpose of this rally was simply to give a voice to those of us who are non-theists. We are atheists, we are agnostics, we are secular humanists, we are free thinkers.

We are reasonable.

The most amazing part is that there were ~20,000 people in the crowd – in the rain!

I didn’t get to see everyone – it was my first trip to DC so my friend LouFCD and I   wandered around to various monuments/and memorials in addition to watching the big name folks who spoke. And when we walked down to the Lincoln Memorial, we could hear the crowd cheering all the way from the rally!

Tim Minchin was, hands down, my favorite. He performed “Confessions” – dedicating it to Rebecca Watson (hands down, the absolute best thing he could have possibly done), a new song called Thank You God (can’t find a video of this one),  the Pope Song (check out the interpreter in this one – she was AWESOME), If I Didn’t Have You, and Storm. I literally jumped up and down when I found out he was going to do Storm.

Other notable speakers were Richard Dawkins (obviously), Sean Faircloth, Adam Savage, Nate Phelps, PZ Myers (I got a picture with him!), and many many others.

I think it was one of the best experiences of my life. It was eye-opening. I really am not alone in the world. It’s one thing to interact online with the atheist community, but to see this crowd in the flesh was paradigm-shifting. I also got to meet my longtime online friend TechSkeptic, which has been 5 years in the making!

All in all, I am so happy I went. It’s sad that the secular movement had to have a rally like this, but it was quite the experience.

I will leave you with this Tim Minchin song – one I wish he had performed at the rally, but didn’t.

 

Nov 23 2011

God Teleports People to China…

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This is… absolutely ridiculous.

This man believes that God physically teleported him from Pensacola, FL to China.

The red flags for me are:

  • The woman who gives the introduction doesn’t believe he was physically moved – she speaks of being translated or transported in the Holy Spirit.
  • If you’re not familiar with Christianity, the words this man is speaking would be completely foreign to you. It’s completely Christianese – “the third heaven”, “in the natural”, “we see in part…”, “the realm of the glory”, “the realm of the natural”, “the eternal perspective of things”… what does any of that even mean?
  • Teleportation. TELE. PORT. ATION. It doesn’t exist.

He says that several people had similar experiences that night. Mass delusion. That’s what this is.

Nov 22 2011

The Ledge

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This past weekend, I finally got to watch The Ledge - the movie that has made the rounds as an “atheist movie.”

Wow.

It’s taken a few days to process everything, but my general opinion is that every person in this country needs to watch this movie.

Honestly, parts of it were pretty uncomfortable for me to watch. Joe, the Christian antagonist, sounded exactly like me at certain points in my life. I do think his character was a little over caricatured as a whole, but it was really eye-opening to hear those words and see what they sound like from the other side. It was disconcerting. It was a little embarrassing.

 
I may have had a little more passion in my eyes when I spewed those words, but I have argued those points many many times in my life.

Now, I see things the way Gavin does. And seeing my old self through those eyes isn’t really pleasant.

The movie isn’t atheist propaganda. Its purpose isn’t to plant atheistic ideas in your head (though if it makes you stop and think, all the better). The tag line of the movie is “What would you die for?” and Gavin is telling his story while standing on the ledge of a very tall building.

People think that just because we don’t have a god in our life that we can’t have meaning in our lives. That we can’t live or love. That we have no convictions or morals. That there is nothing that we believe in enough to die for.

This movie intends to change those perceptions. And I think it does so wonderfully.

 

Sep 9 2011

9/11 isn’t special; I must be un-American

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On the way to work this morning, my local country radio station dedicated their morning show to remembering 9/11. Every song they played was somehow geared towards making you remember (think Toby Keith “American Soldier”, Alan Jackson “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning”, Ray Charles “America the Beautiful”, and even Taps played on a bugle). All of the songs were cut with quotes from President Bush and other folks who spoke against the attacks on the WTC that day and rallied American patriotism to a frenzy.

Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this sort of thing. It’s good to remember past tragedies so that we can learn from them and move on. It’s good to remember those we have lost.

What I don’t understand is why 9/11 is so special.

The attacks of that day were heinous and tragic, there’s no arguing that point. But these events are not the only events of this nature that we have experienced in this country. So why are they the only events that are consistently and constantly remembered?

Why don’t we remember the WTC basement bombing from February 26, 1993 that killed 6 and injured more than 1,000 others?

Why don’t we remember the Oklahoma City bombing from April 19, 1995 that killed 168 people, injuring many more?

Why don’t we remember the Columbine High School massacre from April 20, 1999 that killed 13 people, injuring 25?

Why don’t we remember the sniper attacks in Washington, DC during October 2002 that killed 10 people and injured 3 others?

Why don’t we remember the Amish school shooting from October 2, 2006 that killed 5 girls, injuring 5 others?

Why don’t we remember the Virginia Tech massacre from April 16, 2007 that killed 32 and injured 25 others?

And these are only the high profile events that I can remember off the top of my head.

What makes the events of 9/11 so much more special than these events? Did the lives of those lost in the WTC have a higher value than the lives of those lost in these other “lesser” events?

Sep 7 2011

Ernest Willis Finally Convicted and Sentenced for Rape

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When Tina Anderson was fifteen years old, she was raped by a male member of her church. Then she was forced to stand before the church and apologize for adultery. I’ve written about this twice before.

Ernest Willis was convicted of three counts of forcible rape and one count of felonious sexual assault in late May – fourteen years later.

Yesterday, he was sentenced to 15-30 years for his crime. Before the sentence was read, Willis read an apology. While he never admitted to rape, he apologized for “sexual misconduct”.

I am thrilled that this man is finally paying for his crime against Tina. But what about the rest of the church leadership who helped cover up the rape? When will those folks be held accountable for their actions?

Jul 27 2011

The Porcelain Unicorn

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There was recently an international short film contest called “Tell It Your Way.” Contestants were given six lines of dialogue to use any way they wished, and the films could be no more than 3 minutes long.

This beautiful piece was the winner: