Religion

An October 2005 Pew poll shows that American Christians (and Catholics in particular) have remarkably strong support for the use of torture, while secular Americans more strongly oppose it. This is another piece of evidence against the common claim that morality requires religion, or that religious people are more moral than nonreligious people. More details at the Secular Outpost. UPDATE (March 25, 2006): Steve Hays at Triablogue has chimed in with some highly critical comments on my post, mostly based on incorrect inferences about what I was arguing. (I didn’t actually spell out an argument in any detail, so I’ll accept some of the blame for that–but it’s funny to see positions attributed to me that I don’t hold.) I’ve posted comments in response to him on his blog, and spelled out an actual argument in the comments at the Secular Outpost: 1. Torture is prima facie wrong; it is only justifiable, if ever, in rare circumstances. 2. Those who advocate widespread, common use of torture against suspected terrorists are less moral than those who oppose most or all use of torture against suspected terrorists. (I could also insert here some premises about the use of the word “suspected” here–I believe the intent of the use of the term is to make the point that we don’t know that these are terrorists and probably wouldn’t have sufficient grounds to convict them in a court of law–e.g., like many of those being held in Guantanamo Bay). 3. Those who describe themselves as secular are more likely to oppose torture than those who describe themselves as Christians. 4. Those self-descriptions are mostly accurate. 5. Therefore, with respect to the subject of torture of suspected terrorists, those who are secular tend to be more moral than those who are Christian. 6. This is a point of evidence against the thesis that those who are Christian are more moral than those who are secular. Steve’s main three points of criticism on my original post were these (he has more to say at his blog): i) Notice how he assumes, without benefit of argument, that “torture” is always wrong. That’s the nice part of being a secular rationalist. You don’t have to give reasons for your rationalism. […] ii) He also doesn’t bring any critical thinking skills to bear on whether we should frame the issue of interrogation in terms of torture. Surely there’s a continuum here, is there not? There are many degrees and kinds of coercion. In addition, if we capture a high-level terrorist, and he doesn’t want to talk, should we do absolutely nothing to extract actionable information from him? If that’s the position of secular humanism, then secular humanism is one of those useless ideologies like pacifism which is incapable of meeting the challenges of a real world situation. iii) Then there’s his position that belief in use of “torture” under any circumstances makes you a worse person than someone who rejects the use of “torture” under any circumstances.To which I responded in comments on the post: ...

Roger Friedman at Fox News reports: Isaac Hayes did not quit “South Park.” My sources say that someone quit it for him. I can tell you that Hayes is in no position to have quit anything. Contrary to news reports, the great writer, singer and musician suffered a stroke on Jan. 17. At the time it was said that he was hospitalized and suffering from exhaustion. He goes on to quote Hayes defending the show–including the Scientology episode specifically–on The Onion’s AV Club: ...

A story on CNN reports that, according to unnamed “industry sources,” Tom Cruise refused to participate in Mission Impossible 3 publicity for Paramount unless the Scientology episode of “South Park” was pulled from reruns on Comedy Central. Comedy Central and Paramount are both owned by Viacom. This appears to be confirmation of the rumor that had already been reported on numerous blogs.

Jeff Shallit reports on Nancy Pearcey, a young-earth creationist who used to be a regular contributor to the Bible-Science Newsletter (and some of those pieces became part of the intelligent design textbook, Of Pandas and People, published by the Foundation for Thought and Ethics). Jeff checked out her 1994 book, The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy, co-authored with Charles Thaxton (who was also the co-author of The Mystery of Life’s Origin, the first book from the FTE). He shows how her book gives a simple, short, clear, and straight-forward description of information theory, which suffers only from being completely wrong.

Comedy Central has pulled the “Trapped in the Closet” episode, which criticizes and exposes Scientology, from reruns. Rumor has it that Tom Cruise threatened not to do publicity for the movie “Mission Impossible 3,” which will be released this summer, unless it was pulled. As Paramount, the distributor of the Cruise film, and Comedy Central are both owned by Viacom, this has some plausibility. A Cruise representative denied the rumor, phrased in a way that may have been crafted to be literally true but misleading (a method frequently used by George W. Bush, as documented in the book All the President’s Spin). (Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars.) UPDATE (March 18, 2006): Trey Parker and Matt Stone have declared war on Scientology: Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the animated satire, are digging in against the celebrity-endorsed religion after a controversial episode mocking outspoken Scientologist Tom Cruise was yanked abruptly from the schedule Wednesday - with Internet rumors it was covert warfare by Cruise that led to its departure. “So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun!” the “South Park” creators said in a statement Friday in Daily Variety. “Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies… You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail!”

Isaac Hayes has quit “South Park”–no more appearances from Chef, at least not with Hayes’ voice. His reason, however, is bogus: “There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins,” the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said. “Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored,” he continued. “As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices." ...

Lest anyone think that Flew’s only lapse of judgment has been his off-again, on-again (PDF), off-again support for intelligent design and theism, it seems that he has also lent his name to the advisory board of Scientology’s anti-psychiatry front group, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, which opposes the use of drugs to treat mental illnesses.

The Arizona Republic reports today that a number of Arizona legislators have been sponsoring bills on behalf of Scientology’s Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), an anti-psychiatry group. Several of them have taken trips to Scientology events at the Celebrity Center in Los Angeles to meet with John Travolta. The CCHR and Scientology have a religiously-based opposition to psychiatry and medicine pertaining to mental health. This derives from L. Ron Hubbard’s own opposition to psychiatry and his development of Dianetics as an alternative to psychological therapy. When he created Scientology (after having temporarily lost control of his Dianetics organization to his partner Don Purcell of Wichita, Kansas), he adopted the trappings of religion and invented a cosmology involving evil intergalactic psychiatrists who assisted the warlord Xenu in order to eliminate those who opposed him. They did this by injecting billions of people with alcohol and glycol, loading them onto space planes that looked just like DC-8s, and flying them to planet Teegeeack (Earth), where they were dumped into volcanoes and blown up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls (or “thetans”) departed their bodies and are still here, attached to our own souls and causing all manner of psychological ills for us. Psychiatry and psychology, according to Scientology, are bogus methods which do nothing to address the real problems caused by these “body thetans” attached to us–only the Scientology process of auditing with an e-meter can free us from them. (You can find more details about Scientology’s cosmology at Wikipedia, which has a very comprehensive set of articles about the religion, as well as at Operation Clambake. I also highly recommend Russell Miller’s book about L. Ron Hubbard, Bare-Faced Messiah, which is online in its entirety.) So who are the Arizona legislators working with CCHR and attending Scientology functions? Sen. Karen Johnson (R-District 18, Mesa). Karen Johnson is on the Family Services, Finance, Appropriations, and K-12 Education committees. She is one of the nuttier fundamentalists in the legislature, a member of Concerned Women for America and in tight with James Dobson’s Focus on the Family and Gary Bauer’s Family Research Council. Johnson has gone so far as to lend her name to the CCHR’s Advisory Board. Sen. Linda Gray (R-Glendale, District 10), who is on the K-12 Education, Higher Education, Government, and Family Services committees and is a big supporter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. She has degrees in recreation administration and sociology. Sen. Carolyn Allen (R-District 8, Scottsdale), who is on the Commerce and Economic Development, Health, and Transportation committees. Sen. Marilyn Jarrett (R-District 19, Mesa). She just died on Friday after having a stroke in her office on Thursday. Sen. Albert Hale (D-District 2, Window Rock). Former president of the Navajo Nation, on the Government Accountability and Reform, Government, and Higher Education committees. Rep. Tom Prezelski (D-District 29, Tucson). On the Counties, Municipalities, and Military Affairs, Federal Mandates and Property Rights, and Transportation committees. Rep. Pamela Gorman (R-District 6, Anthem). A member of “Pure Heart Christian Fellowship,” the Arizona Women’s Shooting Association (she holds a concealed carry permit), and Concerned Women for America. She’s on the Appropriations, Transportation, and Ways and Means committees. Rep. Russell Pearce (R-District 18, Mesa). A pro-lifer and strong advocate of English-only and against illegal immigration. Sen. Thayer Verschoor (R-District 22, Gilbert). On the Family Services, Government Accountability and Reform, Higher Education, and Transportation committees. Verschoor is the guy who introduced a bill to require state universities to “provide a student with alternative coursework if the student deems regular coursework to be personally offensive” where “a course, coursework, learning material or activity is personally offensive if it conflicts with the student’s beliefs or practices in sex, morality or religion.” He didn’t introduce this over the issue of evolution, but because of the book The Ice Storm, which features a 1970s “key party.” He missed the point that it was not portrayed in a favorable way. Rep. Lucy Mason (R, District 1, Prescott). She’s on the Appropriations, Natural Resources and Agriculture, and Universities, Community Colleges and Technology committees. Kudos to Sen. Robert Cannell (D-District 24, Yuma), the only M.D. in the state legislature, for calling them on this. Any legislator dumb enough enough to promote bills based on Scientology advocacy and pseudoscience is unfit for public office and should be voted out at the earliest opportunity. (By the way, this doesn’t mean that every position the CCHR advocates is wrong–but when they’re right it’s generally not for the right reasons, and they are completely unreliable on the science.) (My previous blog entry on Scientology recounted my experiences interacting with the church when it decided to declare war on the Internet, and an earlier one reported on the updated “Space opera in Scientology” Wikipedia entry.) ...

George W. Bush has issued an executive order creating “a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the Department of Homeland Security.” The Center will be run by a Director appointed by the Secretary of Homeland Security after consultation with the Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. The original Director of WHOFBCI, John DiIulio, who blasted the Bush administration in Esquire magazine in 2002 and then quickly attempted to retract his criticisms. Once again, reality matches The Onion. (UPDATE: This is apparently primarily focused on disaster recovery efforts–but it still seems quite wrong for the government to engage religious organizations via contract or grant to aid in disaster recovery efforts, when these are voluntary charitable organizations. It not only involves taking from the general public to support a particular religious viewpoint, it turns a voluntary charity into a taxpayer-supported service.)

That’s a picture of me on September 9, 1995 in front of the Church of Scientology in Mesa, Arizona, picketing about the “Cancel poodle” (better known as the “Cancel Bunny”). This was about two years into Scientology’s war on the Internet, which, despite a few Pyrrhic victories in court, was characterized by huge losses on the part of Scientology in the court of public opinion. ...