Religion

Mark Morford at the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, back on June 6: Barack Obama isn’t really one of us. Not in the normal way, anyway. … Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment. These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul.Sorry, but this is crazy talk–and crazy talk of the sort that the religious right will grab a hold of, translate “Lightworker” into “Light bearer” into “Lucifer,” and decide that Obama’s the Antichrist. Morford writes that he doesn’t literally believe this, and warns up front that: Warning: If you are a rigid pragmatist/literalist, itchingly evangelical, a scowler, a doubter, a burned-out former ’60s radical with no hope left, or are otherwise unable or unwilling to parse alternative New Age speak, click away right now, because you ain’t gonna like this one little bit.But even on a non-literal level, I don’t like it. The job of the president is to lead the executive branch of the government, not to be national daddy, mommy, or Messiah. Obama clearly has a lot of charisma and speaks very well, which is something that can be used positively or negatively–and more often than not it’s the latter. ...

Network World has a good summary of the story of the firing of Melanie Kroll’s firing by 1-800-Flowers. Kroll was fired after her husband Chuck sent a death threat to P.Z. Myers using her corporate email account, saying that if he didn’t quit his job by the first of the month, he would “get [his] brains beat in.” Chuck Kroll, presumably a conservative Catholic, issued this threat because Myers blogged in support of University of Central Florida student Webster Cook, who took a consecrated host from a Catholic church in Orlando, Florida. Cook was accused of a hate crime equivalent to kidnapping by Bill Donohue of the Catholic League. After receiving threats, Cook returned the magic cracker. Cult members believe the wafer has been literally transformed into the body of Jesus, while also retaining the properties of a cracker. This is not to be confused with Scientology, which believes that we are infested with the bodies of murdered space aliens, though both views seem to be on a par with respect to their reasonableness and quality of supporting evidence. UPDATE (July 16, 2008): Melanie Kroll has been active in the comments at Greg Laden’s blog, where she claims she was not connected to her company VPN when the email was sent. This is patently false, since otherwise her computer would not have been able to send the email through the company mail server from an RFC 1918 private IP address, which it did. It seems that she, like her husband, is incapable of taking responsibility for her own errors. She also writes this, by way of explanation for husband’s behavior: My husband went on to the drudge report site that he reads and clicked on a link and came across that man pz’s notice and responded as he always does when he is upset. Was his text extreme yes it was, would he follow through, never.So he always sends email to the authors of people who write things that make him upset, threatening to beat their brains in if they don’t quit their jobs by the end of the month? That sounds like a very serious personal problem.

Casey Luskin of the Discovery Institute, writing at the Evolution News & Views blog (which accurately describes itself with its motto that begins “The misreporting of the evolution issue is one key reason for this site”), has outdone himself again. Regarding a paper by Neil Shubin about Tiktaalik, Luskin complains that Shubin makes a comparison to the wrist bones of tetrapods, but never identifies any by name: When discussing Tiktaalik’s “wrist,” Shubin says he “invites direct comparisons” between Tiktaalik’s fin and a true tetrapod limb. Surely this paper must have a diagram comparing the “wrist”-bones of Tiktaalik to a true tetrapod wrist, showing which bones correspond. So again I searched the paper. And again he provides no such diagram comparing the two. So we are left to decipher his jargon-filled written comparison in the following sentence by sentence analysis: ...

Guillermo Gonzalez, one of the proclaimed victims of oppression and infringement of his academic freedom in the film “Expelled,” has taken a job at Grove City College, a Christian liberal arts college in Pennsylvania. The school has been under censure by the American Association of University Professors since 1963 for its failure to respect academic freedom. A report by the AAUP Investigative Committee concluded “the absence of due process [in the dismissal of professors at Grove City] raises…doubts regarding the academic security of any persons who may hold appointment at Grove City College under existing administrative practice. These doubts are of an order of magnitude which obliges us to report them to the academic profession at large." More at Dispatches from the Culture Wars.

President George W. Bush gave a speech at Monticello on July 4 that said, quoting Jefferson: On the 50th anniversary of Americas independence, Thomas Jefferson passed away. But before leaving this world, he explained that the principles of the Declaration of Independence were universal. In one of the final letters of his life, he wrote, May it be to the world, what I believe it will be to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.Here’s what Jefferson actually wrote: May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.As Wonkette aptly notes, “Yeah dude, looks like you forgot the good part.” (Though Wonkette incorrectly attributes the Constitution to Jefferson along with the Declaration of Independence.) (Thanks to Scott Peterson on the SKEPTIC list.) UPDATE (July 16, 2008): Roger Kimball has responded to this issue, and Ed Brayton points out what he’s gotten right and what he’s gotten wrong about Jefferson’s views on religion. (Contrary to Dawkins and Hitchens, Jefferson was no atheist, nor even a deist. He referred to himself as a Unitarian, and Brayton calls him a “theistic rationalist.”) ...

Webster Cook smuggled a magic biscuit out of the service of a lunatic cult, in order to show a friend what it was like. Members of the cult issued death threats, the local spokespeople for the cult suggested that he was in danger of eternal damnation and called it a “hate crime,” and completely insane national spokespeople claimed that he had committed the moral equivalent of kidnapping. Details at Pharyngula. This sounds like something that could have fit in Bill Maher’s “Religulous." (Hat tip to Wowbagger for the title.) UPDATE (July 10, 2008): The Pharyngula post linked to above has resulted in Bill Donohue of the Catholic League taking notice and calling for P.Z. Myers to be fired. That in turn has resulted in P.Z. Myers receiving 39 pieces of hate mail so far today, of which 34 have demanded that he be fired and four have included death threats. 25 have suggested that, instead of desecrating a cracker, Myers should desecrate a Koran–showing that those individuals don’t think the tolerance they demand for themselves applies to other religions. (Sounds like our commenter Jenn!) UPDATE (July 11, 2008): The Catholic League has issued another press release, which contains this insanity: As a result of the hysteria that Myers’ ilk have promoted, at least one public official is taking it seriously. Thomas E. Foley is chairman of Virginia’s First Congressional District Republican Committee, a delegate to the Republican National Convention and one of two Republican at large nominees for Virginia’s Electoral College. His concern is for the safety of Catholics attending this year’s Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Myers’ backyard. Accordingly, Foley has asked the top GOP brass to provide additional security while in the Twin Cities so that Catholics can worship without fear of violence. Given the vitriol we have experienced for simply exercising our First Amendment right to freedom of speech, we support Foley’s request.It’s the Catholics who have been comparing taking instead of eating a cracker to kidnapping and hate speech, and issuing death threats against someone who suggested doing the same. But now the Republican National Convention, being held 150 miles away from Myers’ home, needs extra security because of his proximity? Lunacy. Myers has also published the email he’s received. Some of the alleged death threats don’t, I think, pass legal muster as such, but I think this one does: You are really fucked now. Lock your doors at night, and check under your car before you turn the ignition key.This one doesn’t quite make it: IF Catholics had half the testosterone of muzzies, the answer would be simple. Holy hollowpoint. But alas, I expect they will whimper and grovel as usual.UPDATE (July 12, 2008): Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars weighs in. Andrew Sullivan, after taking Myers to task, publishes dissenting opinions that make better arguments than his. Ed Brayton responds to Sullivan. P.Z. Myers catches Catholic sock puppets commenting on his blog. John Wilkins writes an insightful comment on “Desecration, blasphemy in public, and manners." UPDATE (July 13, 2008): P.Z. Myers has received more nasty email, which he has posted with full headers. If the first one is not actually from Melanie Kroll at 1800flowers.com, I’d say she has a compromised machine, and it’s a clear death threat. The second is from Steve C. Montemurro, a 41-year-old conservative Catholic from Hastings on Hudson, NY, and it appears to be more of a wish for Myers’ death than a threat. UPDATE (July 16. 2008): Turns out the email from Melanie Kroll’s machine was the result of a compromise of sorts–it was from her husband, Chuck Kroll, and she lost her job as a result of it. Makes sense–she shouldn’t have allowed her husband to use her computer to access her work resources at all, let alone to send death threats. Details at Pharyngula. UPDATE (July 18, 2008): Network World has coverage of Melanie Kroll’s firing. The Science Museum of Minnesota will be closed down during the Republican National Convention as part of the security measures for the Xcel Energy Center, across the street. As P.Z. Myers observes, there’s a metaphor in that. UPDATE (July 26, 2008): Webster Cook has been impeached and removed from his position in student government at the University of Central Florida, and both he and his friend Benjamin Collard have been charged with misconduct, disruptive conduct, and giving false identification and had a hold put on their ability to sign up for classes. The school is buckling under to pressure from Bill Donohue and the Catholic League to persecute these students on trumped up charges. P.Z. Myers suggests writing to the UCF president; I suggest the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education get involved. P.Z. Myers has posted another selection of crazy Catholic hate mail he’s received. Do these people genuinely think they are doing the Lord’s work? ...

I just came across Doug LaPointe’s “Top Evidences Against the Theory of Evolution” which is noteworthy for being wrong in every point, including the bogus argument about “Lucy”’s knee joint which I refuted in a Talk Origins FAQ. LaPointe wrote his article of nonsense while a student at the Calvary Academy, a Christian school in Lakewood, NJ. It is responded to point-by-point by “A Critical Look at Doug LaPointe’s ‘Top Evidences Against the Theory of Evolution,’" which includes reference to my FAQ in part 2. (I can’t vouch for the rest of the response, as I haven’t reviewed it in detail, and I see that it misspells “hominid” repeatedly in part 2, but a quick scan looks like the author has otherwise done a decent job.) So what is LaPointe up to today? He’s a pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Stuart, FL, and still proudly advertises that he is the author of “Top Evidences Against the Theory of Evolution.” A naive person would think that a man of God would correct his mistakes. A cynic would think that a man of God makes a living from spreading falsehoods. ...

The fifth ApostAZ podcast (MP3) is out: Episode 005 Atheism and Freethought in Phoenix- “Every Sperm is Sacred” from Monty Python’s ‘The Meaning of Life’. Group Events. Phoenix, Billboards! Suckics hone in on Autism. Astromnology. Us vs Them? Phelps Hallucinations. Gay marriage, still an issue, still a tax money black-hole! Greydon Square, “Dream” from ‘The Compton Effect’ album.I didn’t get my contribution in on time, but I’ll have a science and skepticism segment in episode 006. My comments on this episode: While McCain opposes gay marriage and pays lip service to the idea of same-sex civil unions, Obama also opposes gay marriage (though says he’d like to repeal DOMA and institute a federal law supporting same-sex civil unions, even in front of audiences that oppose gay rights, so he is somewhat better than McCain on that issue). They also both support faith-based government programs–neither is a strict separationist on church and state. (But again, I think Obama is slightly better than McCain on that subject in terms of what he says–at least he opposes giving federal funding to groups that discriminate or proselytize, though it’s unclear he’ll take action to stop it.) On abortion, there can certainly be secular moral arguments for restrictions on late-term abortion, just as there can be secular moral arguments against infanticide. Arguments that abortion involves killing a person, a being with a right to life, need to come to terms with Judith Jarvis-Thomson’s violinist argument, which argues that even if a fetus has a right to life, it doesn’t have the right to be supported by its mother’s body if the mother did not consent. This has further implication that if the fetus could be transplanted or removed and survive on its own (e.g., it’s already reached the point of viability, which is the standard applied by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade), then that’s immoral and criminalizable. But it also implies, it seems to me, that there is a reasonable range of actions which could constitute consent to supporting a fetus–such as voluntarily engaging in sex without contraception, which any reasonable person should know has a reasonably high probability of producing a child. My own view is that abortion is immoral to the point of justifying legal prohibition in any case where (a) there’s such at least tacit consent to carry a child and (b) the fetus has reached a point of brain development where there’s a reasonable case to be made for personhood. I’m not convinced that (b) ever happens in reality, since I think there’s a strong argument that personhood requires a capacity for self-awareness, which doesn’t seem to occur until about six months after birth, but I can certainly conceive of empirical evidence that would change my mind about when that point is reached. There may be other cases where abortion is immoral, e.g., intentionally waiting until late in the pregnancy, and then terminating for a trivial reason of convenience. On the Biblical justification for opposition to medical treatment: Jehovah’s Witnesses oppose blood transfusions on the grounds of Old Testament prohibitions on consuming blood (Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 17:11-14, and Acts 15:20, 29), even though those all refer to consuming animal blood and have nothing to do with transfusions of human blood. Christian Scientists oppose medical treatment not on the basis of anything in the Bible, but based on the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy. Their view is that everything good and holy is spiritual, while everything physical or material is evil, yet is also illusory or at least a distortion of the spiritual world. This has some resemblance to Buddhist views of “maya,” and also to the early Christian heresy known as Docetism, which was the view that Jesus’ humanity was an illusion, because the physical cannot be holy. Thus, under this view, engaging in physical repair (medicine) of what is an illusory distortion of the underlying spiritual reality is not only a waste of time, but sinful–the only real repair possible is spiritual, through prayer. (And further, illness itself is of the physical, and thus illusory.) The ApostAZ website is here. ...

The country shrink, whose point #2 from his post on “some psychological aspects of atheists” I critiqued in my previous post, also listed six other alleged characteristics of atheists. These were: 1). They tend to take the moral high ground. They look down on believers as simplistic, uneducated, stupid, weak, intolerant, gun toting, racists, and simple minded dolts. 2). [Responded to in my previous post.] 3). There is something in their lives that they are afraid they would have to give up if they believed in God. It’s usually some pattern that brings them pleasure in a way that they feel believers might label as immoral. They are typically not conscious of this. ...

David Byrne has collaborated with David Hanson, the guy who made the Philip K. Dick robot at NextFest in 2005, to make a robot named Julio that sings, for a show titled “Machines and Souls: Digital Art” at the Museo de Arta Reina Sofia in Madrid. Byrne writes: I love where this is going. It brings to mind an image of someone sitting in a comfortable chair, maybe with friends, and maybe they’re having drinks—and at the same time Jentsch posits that layered over or under this image is the profoundly creepy, the deeply strange and disturbing. We’re in the land of David Lynch and Hitchcock. ET landing in the familiar U.S. suburbs could be viewed this way, or the various living dead and vampire movies. More recently Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori proposed the existence of something called the uncanny valley. This “valley” is an area of emotional uncertainty and often revulsion experienced by an observer when a robot or computer animation (for example) approaches being human, is almost believable, but not quite. ...