Setting aside the unintentional humor of it all, I was especially struck by . . . → Read More: I can certainly think of some wonderful things your mouth can do.]]> You can’t beat Christian television programs aimed at kids for unintentional hilarity. Take for example this clip about how you shouldn’t cuss or use God’s name in vain. In particular the song plays hell with a corrupt mind like mine:

Setting aside the unintentional humor of it all, I was especially struck by the woman’s statement that we should be respectful of God when speaking of him because “our mouths were made to give him honor and praise.”

Really? Any other uses we might have for it, say eating food to keep us alive or breathing or having meaningful conversations with other humans, all of that is incidental and not really what God was worried about when he slapped our pie holes on our faces? No, our mouths were designed specifically to masturbate God’s ego because he’s so fucking insecure that he has to whip up all of creation just to have some pathetically flawed creatures tell him how amazingly wonderfully amazing he is regularly in hopes he won’t throw them into a fiery pit for all of eternity.  Talk about having an inferiority complex…

But beyond that the other overriding thought while watching this video is: Wow, could these people be any more… struggling to come up with the right word… I kinda want to say “white”, but not sure that’s what I really mean.

It’s like they’re trying so hard to appear squeaky clean that my skepticism sense goes into overdrive. I don’t know of anyone who behaves like any of those people in real life and I’m instantly distrustful of anyone who seems to be trying convince others that they really are that way all the time. I know a few people who are somewhat close to that most of the time, but even they have their bad days where cussing is not only not out of the question, but engaged in liberally.

The really odd thing about this clip is that I don’t really disagree with the idea that little kids should probably avoid cussing until their old enough to do it effectively. At the same time there are times when a kid might cuss that I would totally understand and tolerate because it’s the sort of situation I’d probably cuss in as well. Yeah, that’s pretty vague and arbitrary and is probably a result of my own upbringing more so than any well-thought out moral principle. Still, while I agree with the message, the presentation is just awful.

I suppose it could just be my natural cynicism. I’ve said more than once that motivational posters don’t really work on me because they cause my cynicism to flare up. Perhaps that’s what’s happening when I watch this video clip.

Though you have to admit, it is pretty damned funny.

An awesome video by Jared Scheib and one of the finalists in the Richard Dawkins Foundation’s Ten Point Vision of a Secular America contest.You can see the rest at that link and vote for your favorite one.

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Admittedly, there's a certain amount of schadenfreude in listening to two Christians argue over whose church is better because of the gender of the person leading it, but it's also illustrative of the easily justifiable sexism which the Bible promotes and how some people latch . . . → Read More: Pastor Mark Driscoll reveals himself to be a douche-bag. Admittedly…]]> Pastor Mark Driscoll reveals himself to be a douche-bag.

Admittedly, there's a certain amount of schadenfreude in listening to two Christians argue over whose church is better because of the gender of the person leading it, but it's also illustrative of the easily justifiable sexism which the Bible promotes and how some people latch onto that. Some particularly douchey people. #google+ #religion #sexism #assholes

Did Anyone Else Know Pastor Mark Driscoll Was Sexist?

If only every question had that obvious of an answer… Pastor Mark Driscoll , who just wrote a how-not-to book about marriage in which he admits he wouldn’t have married his wife had he known she “sinned” just after high school, just outed himself as even more of a douchebag. During a radio interview with British radio host Justin Brierley , Driscoll got into an argument over whose church was better — the one Driscoll runs or the one run by Brierley’s wife. Chris Massey has the transcript and …

Part of what the neighbors had to put up with this year.

I did something today that I always hate doing and yet I do it every year: I took down the outside Christmas decorations.

I’m not much of a romantic, but I am very, very sentimental. Part of the reason I’m a huge . . . → Read More: You know you’re getting older when your pragmatism overrides your sentimentality.]]>

Part of what the neighbors had to put up with this year.

I did something today that I always hate doing and yet I do it every year: I took down the outside Christmas decorations.

I’m not much of a romantic, but I am very, very sentimental. Part of the reason I’m a huge fan of the holiday season despite being an atheist is because of all the wonderful memories I have of it from my childhood. The religious aspects of the holiday took a backseat to the whole Santa thing and the cliche that it’s the one time of the year when people are a little more decent to each other. A cliche I bought into as a child with each Christmas special that I watched. It really did seem magical to me as a kid and I reveled in it. When I was finally old enough to participate in putting up the decorations it only added to the excitement each year.

As with most things you highly anticipate, there’s a minor feeling of loss that occurs once it has come and gone. It’s kind of like riding a roller coaster. All that excitement and build-up and then it’s suddenly over with the memory already starting to fade along with your heart rate. When it comes time to take down the decorations and pack them away for the year it brings a definite finality to the events. You can’t even pretend that Christmas was just yesterday anymore by turning on the lights just one more time. In years past I’ve so dreaded this day that it wasn’t unusual for my decorations to stay up until into February. For years I’ve had a standing agreement with my wife that they come done by her Birthday, which is January 30th.

Of course as you get older you don’t get as excited about the same things you did as a kid and thus the let down afterwards isn’t as strong as in the past. Eventually you get to a point where your pragmatism starts to override your sentimentality. Or at least I do. Today when I woke up the sky was clear and almost cloudless with a outdoor temp of 33° – practically a heat wave for a Michigan January — so I went outside and took down all the lights I had put up back in November along with the other miscellaneous decorations.  Didn’t even bother to put on a jacket.  I felt the old familiar pang as I did so, but it wasn’t as bad as in years past. My reasons for doing so were definitely pragmatic. There’s no snow on the ground, as unusual as the temperature for this time of year, and I know that if I let the opportunity pass that the next time I get up the gumption to do it before the birthday deadline will probably be after it has snowed six feet and the temps are sub-zero. Better to get it done now than once the winter finally catches up with us.

But I was still a little bummed while doing it. The only lights still outside are the lanterns that have the fake LED candles in them. We thought they’d make excellent lights for the path to the back door and they aren’t particularly seasonal so they’ll stay up. My Christmas tree is still up and I’m trying to decide whether to take it down today or wait until Courtney visits us next weekend. It’s looking a little sad as the cats have gotten most of the plastic ornaments on the bottom half of the tree off to play with, but if I use the excuse of Courtney’s visit to keep it up then I could at least pretend that the holidays haven’t fully passed for one more week. It’s definitely tempting.

I think this is part of why religion has such a tenacious hold on people. We don’t like letting go of things that make us feel good. We become irrational in trying to hold onto those memories and emotions. We want to keep those warm feelings regardless of the date (or the truth). It can lead us to do foolish things like ignore global climate change or, as I did the first year I lived in my apartment in Canton back in my early 30′s, leave a Christmas tree up all year long*.

Don’t know if any of that makes sense, but I wrote it down anyway.

^{*In my defense I was traveling a lot for a job with GMAC dealing with upgrading computers to prevent problems with Y2K and was rarely home long enough to mess up the apartment let alone put the tree away.}

It really was amazing to see some of the reactions to the death of Christopher Hitchens and the rise of the Twitter hashtag that was the title of one of his best selling books. You have to wonder if these people really think Jesus would approve of their statements. . . . → Read More: More of that fabled Christian love. It really was…]]> More of that fabled Christian love.

It really was amazing to see some of the reactions to the death of Christopher Hitchens and the rise of the Twitter hashtag that was the title of one of his best selling books. You have to wonder if these people really think Jesus would approve of their statements. The scary part is that many of them are serious. #google+ #religion #twitter #assholes

Theists Threaten to Kill Atheists, Again.

Earlier this year Blair Scott did an interview on Fox News and it stirred up the religious rage against Atheists. Hateful comments filled the Fox News’ Facebook page. Christians were saying things like, “I hope someone rapes you” and “Atheists are scum, can we start killing them now?” All these threats were in response to Scott questioning the constitutionality of a cross being included at the 9/11 Memorial.
Hatred must lay just beneath the surface for many theists (of which I suspect many ar…