Atheism

Last night we attended “Bat Boy: The Musical”(reviewed here by the Arizona Republic). The play is based on a recurring character in fake (but sourced) news stories in the Weekly World News. While it didn’t exactly describe the Bat Boy we were familiar with from the WWN (for instance, he didn’t fight with U.S. troops in Afghanistan), it was a humorous and entertaining performance at the Phoenix Theater by the Nearly Naked Theatre troupe. The “Bat Boy: The Musical” play was co-authored by Brian Flemming, the director of the atheist DVD “The God Who Wasn’t There” and the silly “Blasphemy Challenge” that has prompted many YouTube videos.

A Christian blog reports on a Barna poll of believers and atheists: Most atheists and agnostics (56 percent) agree with the idea that radical Christianity is just as threatening in America as is radical Islam. Two-thirds of active-faith Americans (63 percent) perceive that the nation is becoming more hostile and negative toward Christianity. Atheists and agnostics were found to be largely more disengaged in many areas of life than believers. They are less likely to be registered to vote (78 percent) than active-faith Americans (89 percent); to volunteer to help a non-church-related non-profit (20 percent vs. 30 percent); to describe themselves as “active in the community” (41 percent vs. 68 percent); and to personally help or serve a homeless or poor person (41 percent vs. 61 percent). Additionally, when the no-faith group does donate to charitable causes, their donation amount pales in comparison to those active in faith. In 2006, atheists and agnostics donated just $200 while believers contributed $1,500. The amount is still two times higher among believers when subtracting church-based giving. The no-faith group is also more likely to be focused on living a comfortable, balanced lifestyle (12 percent) while only 4 percent of Christians say the same. And no-faith adults are also more focused on acquiring wealth (10 percent) than believers (2 percent). One-quarter of Christians identified their faith as the primary focus of their life. Still, one-quarter of atheists and agnostics said “deeply spiritual” accurately describes them and three-quarters of them said they are clear about the meaning and purpose of their life. When it came to being “at peace,” however, researchers saw a significant gap with 67 percent of no-faith adults saying they felt “at peace” compared to 90 percent of believers. Atheists and agnostics are also less likely to say they are convinced they are right about things in life (38 percent vs. 55 percent) and more likely to feel stressed out (37 percent vs. 26 percent).The results about “convinced they are right about things in life” is not surprising–that strikes me as the difference between arrogant dogmatism and open-mindedness and humility, and brings to mind studies which have shown that the highly competent believe themselves to be less competent than the incompetent believe themselves to be. The lack of voter registration could also be a sign that atheists and agnostics don’t think their vote makes a difference. What I find contrary to my own personal experience are the results regarding charitable giving and assistance to the homeless. From my perspective, all of the charitable donation dollar amounts ($200/year for atheists/agnostics, $400/year for believers not counting church giving, $1500/year for believers including church giving) seem quite low. I’d like to see more of the data, and see how income level and political affiliations are correlated with charitable contributions. (I previously commented on another study that found that conservatives were more generous than liberals, which also said that the religious were more generous than the secular.) I’ve found significant differences within secular groups when raising funds for RESCUE’s Bowl-a-Rama two years ago (which Kat was a bowler for last year)–my requests for donations to groups of skeptics yielded absolutely nothing from people who have known me (at least online) for years, while my request to the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix yielded well over $1,000 in donations, many from people who didn’t know me at all. (My target was to raise $3,500 for the event, which I surpassed.) I’ve heard, similarly, that more donations to the Center for Inquiry come from humanists than from skeptics, even though there are more skeptics subscribing to Skeptical Inquirer than there are humanists subscribing to Free Inquiry. HSGP, by the way, is a regular contributor to HomeBase Youth Services, a group that helps homeless youth in Arizona. Another comparison from my own experience that is inconsistent with these results is that Kat and I know a couple of homeless people by name who we periodically help out in various ways (typically not by just giving them money), yet we’re unaware of any similar activities by our extended families (who are all born-again Christians on my side). But perhaps the survey answerers were counting giving cash to panhandlers at freeway ramps or on the street, which is something I make a point of not doing, and don’t consider to be an effective way of helping the truly needy (though I have, in the past, fallen for the occasional well-told sob story from a con artist about a lost wallet, dead battery, need for bus fare to a job, etc.).

I just came across an old post of mine on the Internet Infidels’ Discussion Boards: February 22, 2004, 05:24 PMI keep seeing this TV commercial from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The commercial shows a girl standing on a dock on a lake, with a life preserver sitting on it, and another drowning in the water as she looks on. The voiceover says something like “If you had a friend who was drowning, you’d help, wouldn’t you?" Every time I see it I think it’s going to be an argument for the nonexistence of God. The ad is online, though it doesn’t seem to be one of the ones the ONDCP put on YouTube, with subsequent ridicule. The ONDCP ad campaign has been studied by the GAO and found to be ineffective, but the government continues to spend over one hundred million dollars per year on it. ...

Until yesterday, I’d only attended funerals or memorial services for four people I’ve known; three of those have been in the last three years. All were at least nominally religious or spiritual funerals, and all (except the first, which I was too young to fully understand) struck a deep emotional chord in me. They were celebrations of the lives of these people, combined with grief for the loss of their presence. I wondered if a non-religious funeral would have the same emotional content. Yesterday, I flew up to Las Vegas for Clark Adams’ memorial service. Mel Lipman of HALVASON was the officiant–he said it was about the 50th such service he had done, but was the first for someone that he had been such a close friend to. He was followed by remarks from Clark’s friends Rob and Raul, who shared personal memories of Clark and what he meant to them. Clark’s mother was represented by a beautiful letter that closed with “THOUGHTfully yours, Clark’s mom.” There were photos and video of Clark. We laughed, we shed tears, we hugged. We shared memories of Clark and we made new friends. At dinner afterward, several people gave homage to Clark by ordering Diet Cokes with no ice (even though Matt said “I hate Diet Coke” and Brandon said “and I love ice!”). The emotional content was the same–a mix of joy for the positive contributions Clark made to all of our lives and sadness that he’s gone. But I found it a better experience than the religious ceremonies in this regard, in that these are people like me, that I can genuinely connect with on a deeper and more honest way, despite the fact that I don’t know many of them very well. We know that Clark is gone, and that our lives here are all we have, making every moment more precious. ...

When I wrote my tribute to Clark Adams, I included this paragraph: Suicide always provokes questions about the cause. Given Clark’s activism in support of atheism, I won’t be surprised to see opportunistic speculation on the part of some advocates of religion that Clark’s atheism was why he killed himself, but there’s no evidence to support that.Patrick Trotter has now commented on Clark’s death, exemplifying exactly what I was referring to, under the heading “When One has no Hope…": This is what happens when someone has no hope or faith. Nothing to Believe in…Nothing or No one to turn to. It’s a shame that a life this young was wasted. It’s also a shame that he spent his whole life, dedicated to waging war against God. I hope he found peace and salvation before he went…..but with his resume, I doubt it.Patrick, who I’m sure never met Clark, is making a number of erroneous assumptions–that Clark believed in nothing, that Clark had no support, that his life was “wasted,” and that he was “waging war against God.” He’s made no attempt to find out anything about Clark, what his life was like, what he thought, what he did, or the effects he’s had on other people. Patrick Trotter here demonstrates the offensiveness of a religious bigot who has no interest in understanding, and who can’t resist making the suggestion that Clark is now burning in hell for his disbelief, an argumentum ad baculum to try to keep his fellow believers in line. Clark believed in many things–he was a fan of science, of magic, of comedy, of music, of a good argument and a good joke. He was a funny man who had many friends. He lived a productive life that had positive impact on everyone around him. And he didn’t believe God existed–he no more waged war on God than on Santa Claus. He opposed religion and didn’t care for religious ritual (even in secular form)–his statement that has been most repeatedly quoted is “If atheism is a religion, then health is a disease." A contrasting Christian commentary on Clark’s death comes from Anne Jackson, who ponders the extent to which Christian stigmatization of atheists helps reinforce their negative impressions of Christianity: Aside from the extreme “turn or burn” preachers in our day, we “modern, contemporary” Christians probably do an equal part of stigmatizing those of different (or no) faiths. The “unchurched”…the “lost souls we must save!!”…I have far too often encountered the almost immediate and disapproving looks and attitude that so many of us habitually carry around when discussing someone who is a “wayward child” or “bless his heart, he’s just so lost.” I am ashamed that I have not made it a bigger priority in my own life to be more sensitive and less prideful in my faith. And as the title of this post says, I pray for mercy and forgiveness because we know not what we do. ...

You scored as Scientific Atheist, These guys rule. I'm not one of them myself, although I play one online. They know the rules of debate, the Laws of Thermodynamics, and can explain evolution in fifty words or less. More concerned with how things ARE than how they should be, these are the people who will bring us into the future. Scientific Atheist 75% Apathetic Atheist ...

I received the unfortunate news this morning that Clark Adams has died, and that he took his own life. Clark was a long-time board member of the Internet Infidels (and for many years its public relations director) and a frequent speaker and attendee at atheist, freethought, humanist, and skeptical events. He was a jovial, funny man whose talks about atheism in popular culture were always crowd-pleasers. He was not particular about what label to put on his nonbelief, and was supportive of all groups that promoted rationality and critical thinking, including the “brights”–though he did not care for what he called “religion without the god stuff." In a recent posting in which he gave his opinion of last month’s celebration of 30 years of Humanist chaplaincy at Harvard University, he described himself as a “conference junkie,” noting that he attended “upwards of a half dozen atheist, humanist, skeptic and freethought conventions a year.” He frequently spoke to freethought and atheist groups on college campuses, and was an active promoter of student freethought groups like the Secular Student Alliance and the Campus Freethought Alliance. He was one of the founders of the Secular Coalition of America and regularly helped organize the annual July gathering at Lake Hypatia, which is where I first met him. The frequency of his speaking schedule can be seen in an April 2006 posting on the Internet Infidels Discussion Boards, which showed him giving six talks in April, June, and July, which included talks on “How to Prevent Your Freethought Group From Looking Like a Funeral” and “Godless Role Models." Suicide always provokes questions about the cause. Given Clark’s activism in support of atheism, I won’t be surprised to see opportunistic speculation on the part of some advocates of religion that Clark’s atheism was why he killed himself, but there’s no evidence to support that. He attended a performance by his favorite comedian, Doug Stanhope, on Sunday evening, and was found by a friend and his ex-wife in his apartment after the friend did not receive her expected daily call from him. She announced Clark’s death on the Internet Infidels Discussion Boards, where his friends have left their condolences. Clark has left a mark on the world in the lives of people he’s met at these conferences, and communicated with online. He’s left an extensive record of postings, which he usually closed with “THOUGHTfully Yours, Clark,” which includes the story of his deconversion to atheism in the south. If anyone has a video record of any of his presentations, it would be great to see them made available online. Clark will be missed. UPDATE: Cathe Jones has put up a tribute to Clark, with some links to some of his writings. She has put up a more extensive blog entry now, as well. UPDATE: Friends are also leaving tributes on Clark’s MySpace page, and there are blog tributes from Friendly Atheist and Mark Vuletic. UPDATE (May 24, 2007): The American Humanist Association has issued a tribute to Clark. UPDATE (May 25, 2007): Information about a memorial service for Clark will be posted at the Las Vegas Freethought Society website. His ashes will likely be scattered at Lake Hypatia at the June 30-July 2 event he was scheduled to emcee. UPDATE (May 27, 2007): Raul Martinez has put up a story about an amusing experience with Clark a few months ago. UPDATE (May 31, 2007): There will be a memorial service for Clark from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, June 3 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Las Vegas, 3616 E. Lake Mead Blvd. There will also be a memorial service at the Lake Hypatia event mentioned above, at 12 noon on Monday, July 2. UPDATE (June 7, 2007): Eric Pepke has put up a tribute to Clark. UPDATE (May 25, 2008): Clark’s MySpace account has been deleted, but this story in the Las Vegas Weekly reports what happened after Doug Stanhope heard about Clark’s death: — A few days later, he receives word that longtime fan Clark Adams killed himself the night after the Tommy Rocker’s performance. Not that it pushes him over the edge; more apparently, it provided a high note upon which to take his leave. In Adams’ MySpace “Heroes” box, he’d included Doug Stanhope under the heading, “People I Admire that I’ve Had the Honor of Meeting.” There’s a bit on 2002’s Die Laughing: “Life is like animal porn. It’s not for everybody. … Life is like a movie, if you’ve sat through more than half of it and it’s sucked every second so far, chances are it’s not gonna get great right at the very end and make it all worthwhile. No one should blame you for walking out early.” And there’s a new entry in Adams’ Comments box from one Doug Stanhope: ...

The Secular Coalition of America is throwing its support behind the one member of Congress who has expressed a willingness to be identified as not having a belief in God or gods. It’s Rep. Pete Stark (D-California, District 13, which covers the east Bay–Oakland, Fremont, Alameda, Union City, etc.). Stark, born in 1931, was first elected to Congress in 1973. He earned a B.S. in general engineering from MIT in 1953 and an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley in 1960. Prior to entering politics, he served in the Air Force and was a bank executive. He is currently a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee and chairman of the Health subcommittee. He’s pro-choice, anti-war, he opposed making the USA PATRIOT Act permanent, he supports medical marijuana, opposes the death penalty, and opposes Internet gambling bans. He’s unfortunately also a big advocate of regulation, opposes free trade, advocates gun control, supports network neutrality, and appears to oppose both legal and tax reform. A list of his positions on issues as of 2000 may be found here. His Wikipedia entry gives the following ratings that he’s received from various groups on the basis of his voting record, from Project Vote Smart: American Civil Liberties Union-100% for 2003-2004.Americans for Democratic Action-90% for 2004 and 2005.AFL-CIO-93% in 2005.Drum Major Institute-100% for 2003-2005League of Conservation Voters-100% for 2005.NARAL Pro-Choice America-100% for 2003-2005.National Education Association-100% for 2005.National Journal-Composite liberal score of 98% for 2005 and 91% for 2003.National Organization for Women-100% for 2005.Population Connection-100% for 2000-2005.Republican Liberty Caucus-41% for 2005.The Center for Public Integrity’s “Well Connected” project has a record of contributions Stark has received from media companies. (Via Pharyngula.) UPDATE: Wonkette offers snarky comment.

This YouTube video is of a talk by Daniel Dennett at the TED conference in 2006, following (and commenting on) Pastor Rick Warren. jpbenney (2007-07-08): The idea that religion is a natural phenomenon is very reminiscent, oddly, of Jared Diamond in books like Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, as well as Phillip Longman. The idea of subjecting religion to serious social study, too, is nothing new. Leonard Shlain's The Alphabet versus the Goddess is a flawed if highly enthralling example.Daniel does seem an interesting person, I must say. He is very articulate and lively, so one imagine him to be a very convincing speaker. ...

Mark Vuletic points out that the March 11 New York Times hardcover bestseller list includes five books of interest to infidels in the top 25: 7. Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Infidel 12. Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion 13. Chris Hedges’ American Fascists 21. Victor Stenger’s God: The Failed Hypothesis 24. Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation