Defaithed

This has nothing to do with religion, either for or against. I just like this picture of Rocket Jesus lifting off, to symbolize the soaring Brazilian economy. (That's the 40 meter-tall Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, in case anyone should not recognize it.)

"This is my solid rocket booster stage which is for you. Launch this in remembrance of me."

J minus 10 and counting!

In I predict more predictions!, I predicted not only more religious and other supernatural predictions, but also the rise of some system on this site for tracking the same. And... OMG IT REALLY HAPPENED!

Took me long enough, and the result is little more than a page both crude and ugly at present. (Heck, the whole site needs a face lift...) But underneath, the predictions are actually input as data records with a date. They can be sorted or displayed in various ways, and as their deadlines pass will automatically move from the "still active" to the "failed" section of the page. (Er, if their deadlines pass, I have to say! That Rapture just might happen, right?) 

A nice countdown feature is called for down the road, but what the list needs right now is simply this: More predictions! Your help here would be fantastic. When you see some soothsayer make a prediction with a trackable date, telling us of the Imminent Fall of Newtonism, the New Amended Re-revised Surefire Day of Armageddon [version 27c], the One World UN Jihad under Obammed the Anti-Jebus, or The New Ten Plagues #11-20 (boxer wearers, you're gonna hate #14), please drop a line and let me know! (And if you know of someone already doing a much better job of tracking these predictions, I'll be happy to send love and readers that way.)

Anyway. Prepare to leap into the world of that which may be, and that which somehow just didn't work out:

Prediction Watch!

A farmer in Egypt is now the proud owner of a two-headed (or, judging by the photo, two-faced) calf. His explanation for the poor creature? It's a "divine miracle".

The miracle can't yet stand, as its legs are unusually weak and the head(s) too heavy. Yet so far, it is surviving. We can sympathize with the farmer's desire to nurture the calf and try to help it live. His stated motive, though, is purely a believer's one: He wants to keep the animal as a reminder that "God is able to do anything". 

Everything except prevent crippling birth defects, apparently.

Quick pointer to a humor piece at The Onion, If You Put Your Mind To It You Can Believe Anything:

It may seem hard at first, but once you start believing in God, and presupposing that this God condones all of your thoughts and actions, it gets a whole lot easier. Believing in a supreme being like that not only absolves you of any responsibility whatsoever, which is handy, but it also allows you to be self-righteous about the made-up stuff you've convinced yourself is true in order to gain some sense of structure or meaning in your worthless life.

And much more along those lines. Of course, this is where Poe's Law steps in: any attempt to parody fundamentalists ends up indistinguishable from the real thing. There are indeed believers saying things awfully close to the above. Or things like this – apparently earnest! – question that I just love: How do I find enough faith to believe that prayer works?

Just put your mind to it, Brother!

I recently heard mention – maybe in a podcast? – of a maxim related to skeptical or critical thinking. The gist, if I heard correctly, is something to the effect of "Before delving into the hows and whys of some claimed phenomenon, confirm that the phenomenon actually exists".

Examples might include: Before offering convoluted explanations for a paranormal sighting, first confirm that the alleged sighting actually took place. Before trying to debunk legends surrounding some mysterious ancient artifact, first confirm that the alleged artifact exists. And so on.

I only heard the mention in passing, and didn't catch the name. I thought I heard "<Somebody's> Maxim" given as the name.

I asked this question on the Richard Dawkins forums, and the good folks there offered "Evidence before explanation", The Complex Question, and other possible labels. All good suggestions, but I'm still wondering whether there's a "<Somebody's> Maxim" name floating about out there as well.

Does this ring a bell with anyone reading?

Sometimes one gets depressed over the latest bit of religious thuggery – Jesus-happy textbooks in Texas, a conviction of "blasphemy" in some Muslim land – but those distract from the big picture. It's always refreshing to take a step back and appreciate anew the incredible fall religion has taken, from its near-global rule of raking in tithes and appointing kings and burning dissenters, to... what's increasingly the position of a "Will Work for Food" bum. At least in some parts of the world.

Is it just me, or are news stories like these more common every day?

Kirk’s College of Divinity has so few students it is ‘scarcely viable’

Some Harlem Churches in Fight for Survival

Heh. Who says the news is always bad? : )

(Yes, there are legitimate worries over the loss of any beneficial community functions performed by a given church or mosque or temple. But there isn't, and never has been, anything stopping people – believers or not – from continuing those activities without throwing in lies about sins and afterlives and magic bread and the inferiority of women and on and on.)

I was away from the usual web stuff for a few days and missed Everyone Draw Mohammed day. Fortunately, like any worthwhile event, EDM Day sounds like something one could choose to celebrate any old time. So I'll have to get on it – perhaps as part of designing a logo for this site. 

In the meantime, a little web surfing will find you all the Mohammed pics you could like. Let's give a thumbs-up to Google for not caving in to anyone's demand to censor these!

Speaking of which: The Atheist Experience points out a pathetic attempt by some enraged Muslim(s?) to retaliate against EDM Day by creating... get ready... Everyone Draw the Holocaust Day! 

It's as dumb an idea as it first sounds. See the brutal takedown in the article and comments. The short version, which you can easily guess, is this: Er, no one's ever decreed a ban on drawing Holocaust pictures. EDtH Day may be crass and tasteless, but mainly it's clueless, completely misunderstanding the point of EDM Day. (So it goes when "enraged" and "humorless" combine to give birth to "stupid".)

Here and there you'll hear people make reference to "cartoons making fun of Mohammed". But that's where the offended keep missing the point. No one, really, is making fun of Mohammed. Those of us who would draw cartoons or make jokes mostly don't even care about Mohammed. 

What cartoon sketchers (and general wags) make fun of is not a semi-mythical bearded man, but the dolts who shriek "No, you mustn't draw pictures of the bearded man!" We make fun of the fist-clenching, threat-hurling, eternally-offended, living believers, not the long-dead ersatz prophet.

It's very funny how the offended never get that. So if the chance pops up, be kind and fill them in. "I'm not making fun of your prophet. I'm making fun of you. Which is a very good thing. And so very easy, too."

Finally: Ooh, this pic is sweet: a LEGO Mohammed... er, "stacking blocks" with a LEGO Aysha. I wonder whether the author intended the little extra irony of using a Danish toy product for this fine bit of "blasphemy".

This really has nothing to do with anything on this site. It's just... I felt it has to be noted, and I have nowhere else appropriate to put it:

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford coins a most delightful term:

Look, I don't care if Dick Cheney threatened you with razor wire and a concrete pumps. I don't care if Karl Rove said he'd suffocate you with his giant clammy hog thighs if you dared to speak up...

Karl Rove and his "giant clammy hog thighs". That spot of journalism deserves some sort of award, even if only for Worst Mental Image Ever. Thanks (sort of), Mark!

Ah, those eloquent Victorian gentlemen and ladies. A selection from Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, Chapter VII, "Miscellaneous Objections to the Theory of Natural Selection": 

A distinguished zoologist, Mr. St. George Mivart, has recently collected all the objections which have ever been advanced by myself and others against the theory of natural selection, as propounded by Mr. Wallace and myself, and has illustrated them with admirable art and force. When thus marshalled, they make a formidable array; and as it forms no part of Mr. Mivart's plan to give the various facts and considerations opposed to his conclusions, no slight effort of reason and memory is left to the reader, who may wish to weigh the evidence on both sides.

Modern translation:

Some Mivart guy thinks he's got all the arguments against my theory – but gee, funny, he forgets to give you the evidence against his claims. So, allow me.

Rather wordy, those 19th-centurians, but I do like their style!

Quick pointer: Derek Sivers, creator of CD Baby and now a TED Talks-type inspirational kind of guy, relays an overheard conversation between an atheist and a believer. The short version is an argument you've certainly already heard: "You ask how I can disbelieve in your God? Well, the same way that you disbelieve all those other gods." But it's a nice write-up; take a look.

The point Derek draws is a good one: Even where we disagree, we can still find and emphasize the points of agreement. It's something to keep in mind. There are times and places to hold the faith-vs-reason discussion with no holds barred, and there are times and places to set it aside and focus on other stuff.

Oh, the atheist in the conversation reveals one more great point: In this age of Google and Wikipedia and what not, getting terribly invested in a topic is no longer a requirement for holding useful knowledge about it. Expertise will always remain hard-won, but anyone can at least pick up the basics of a topic – and some useful facts, too – with incredible ease. Whatever our sides on any issue, that's a wonderful development in our ability to maybe make real headway in resolving our disagreements.