Guess What...More Religion in the News

The other day I mentioned that religion is the most important topic in the up coming election (and any election for that matter). I pointed out that one just has to scan the newspaper, any newspaper, to see that we are inundated with religion every single day, whether believer or not.  What did I come up with, like, a million gazillion examples from USA Today. Well, let's look at the Mighty SF Chron today.

The Golden State Warriors, Mark Jackson, is a preacher...and he has an epic three page article in SF Gate. So it doesn't matter that dude is a believer, but we always get called out for shoving our atheism down peoples throats, but do we get to complain when that happens to us (and I feel that generally, we are innocent of that charge). So little 'ol me innocently reads the paper in the morning and I have to hear about Pastor Jackson. WTF. I'll also mention that evangelical Christianity has infiltrated the armed forces and all of pro sports. It has to do with that dominionism thingy that everyone has been talking about lately.

Here's a neutral-ish article. A new movie has come out called "Higher Ground." It is based on a book called "This Dark World: A Memoir of Salvation Found and Lost." In both the book and the movie the main character goes on that journey we all have to go thru and she enters and then ultimately leaves evangelical Christianity. The movie has been praised for it's fair and balanced look at religion (and I admit that at times movies about religion can be ugly pants). So that is pretty coolio.

Super weirdo and awesome film maker David "Frackin' awesome" Lynch is...opening a niteclub. OK that is not religious, but he does practice Transcendental Meditation (TM). He credits his bizarre films and the organic-ness of their flow to TM. I used to follow him on Twitter, but his tweets reek of self help crap...great film maker tho.

Prez "The One" Obama correctly asks the court to throw out the super stupid "Don't Ask"suit. Bible based homophobia is so gay. First of all, who the hell wants to join the armed forces to kill other people. They should be welcoming anyone that wants to join their exclusive and violent club. Bible based homophobia is the source of tremendous amounts of manpower and resources. A total waste and all because some people think that their bronze age book told them to think so. Sheez.

And finally...all the religious wars. What is that?  Anytime it is us v. them. Anytime there is one group, err, let's say Islam, and they are intolerant of, I'll just randomly guess, American Christians that want to kill them also. This one is the elephant in the room, but how can we forget this one when so many people are dying.

I would say the big three are sexism, homophobia and war. Pretty much everyday those are topics in the news. Why. Because the bible told peeps that they are better than others, that they must spread their faith and that they don't have to tolerate different views.

Have a nice weekend everyone (and read and support your local newspaper).

Gods Survey

Y'all no that I heart me my numbers and statistics so when I heard that there was a new God survey...my mouth started watering. It's even better than that, which is awesome.

"When asked to evaluate God on some of the issues it is responsible for, voters give God its best rating on creating the universe, 71-5," the polling report said. "They also approve of its handling of the animal kingdom 56-11, and even its handling of natural disasters 50-13 (CNN BB)."


52% of those surveyed, and it was a small survey, said that the Great Surveillance Camera in the Sky is doing a good job, while only 9% said dude was doing a bad job. Obviously they didn't ask the super awesome atheist blogosphere. Who the hell are these people. 


It is like that stupid 9/11 cross thing at ground zero. Believers are happy that by coincidence that two pieces of metal formed a cross and that tells them that God has not abandoned them. Hello, but what about all those people that died and all the lives that have been crushed, where was God then (formulating an idea for a stupid cross. c'mon).


Obviously God, if that is your real name, is not doing a good job, or even a decent job. This morning I heard a story on NPR about sex slaves in Bosnia and (is it in) Somalia where aid cannot get to starving peeps because of a stupid civil war, and some people believe that God is doing a good job. People are starving, lives are ending in pain and misery, the rich get richer and the poor get fucked...and God is doing a good job. 


They didn't survey me.


* Survey

The Myth of Forever 27

Oh goody, Team Skeptic has a new thingy to be skeptical about...Forever 27. This one is new to me. A couple of years back I got into the myth that celebrities die in three's and admittedly had a morbid fascination with that. Everytime a celeb died we would anxiously scan the newspapers for our trifecta. Of course it, death that is, doesn't work like that.

The Forever 27 club is dedicated to chronicling the deaths of rockstars at age 27. There is Morrison, Hendrix and now Amy Winehouse. Interestingly enuff, they are looking for a number cruncher to do some statistical  analysis to prove their theory. Howz about we debunk it instead.

"There is a social psychology phenomenon known as causal attribution. This is when a person (or society) attributes outcomes to particular causes. When there is a tragic death, such as that of a famous young person, we tend to look for a reason why it happened. We try to make sense of it. And when we can't make sense of it, we find a way for it to make sense. And when a number of famous musicians have died young, we try to find a common thread, in order to make sense of it all. So the "27 Curse" began (Huff Po)."


It is just like that myth that there is more crime when there is a full moon. Statistics have shown that there is no relation between the monthly lunar cycle and crime and yet peeps still believe that. Why. When something bad happens and there is a full moon out then people do that causal attribution thingy. They notice both so there must be a relationship, right. Wrong. 


If you just think about it skeptically, for even a second, I think you can come up with a million reasons why rockstars don't die at age 27. First of all, what about all the rockstars that are older than 27. Aren't there more of them than the ones that died. What are the chances that a rockstar that is addicted to drugs dies at 27. By age 27 that particular person probably has been doing drugs for quite some time, therefore increasing the probability of OD-ing. Lastly, they fly hella a lot more than the average person. I used to joke that when I become a rockstar I'm not going anywhere near a helicopter, that's how rockstars die. Famous people fly a lot more than us regular folks and when they do crash and die, it is all over the news. 


If it was something more interesting like rockstars that die that had Siamese cats, then I would be interested in that. Forever 27, not so much. 


* Forever 27

* Huff Po

* Famous peeps that died in aviation crashes.