More Religion

I am glad the NYT publishes stuff like this but it would be nice if they put the truth in the paper.

So where is this “media?” Two sources, and they are — no surprise here — the usual suspects. The first, of course, is Rush Limbaugh, who claims the largest radio audience in the land among the microphone demagogues, and his word is Biblical among Republicans. A few quick examples of the Limbaugh method:[....]
Climate-change denial is a special category all its own. Once on the fringe, dismissal of scientific consensus is now an ariticle of faith among leading Republicans, again taking their cue from Limbaugh and Fox.
It is nice to see that other people understand republicanism is a religion and you need faith to believe in it.

Faith

As with trust, faith involves a concept of future events or outcomes, and is used conversely for a belief "not resting on logical proof or material evidence.

Do Not Mess With Their Religion

A good op/ed by Thomas Homer-Dixon in the NYT. It is about the catastrophic climate change we are undergoing and how we are not dealing with it.

But social scientists have identified another major reason: Climate change has become an ideologically polarizing issue. It taps into deep personal identities and causes what Dan Kahan of Yale calls “protective cognition” — we judge things in part on whether we see ourselves as rugged individualists mastering nature or as members of interconnected societies who live in harmony with the environment. Powerful special interests like the coal and oil industries have learned how to halt movement on climate policy by exploiting the fear people feel when their identities are threatened.

To be a republican you have to believe some pretty crazy things.

Conservatism/Republicanism/Very Serious Personism Has Become A Religion

Krugman calls out the cultists.

As I look at what passes for responsible economic policy these days, there’s an analogy that keeps passing through my mind. I know it’s over the top, but here it is anyway: the policy elite — central bankers, finance ministers, politicians who pose as defenders of fiscal virtue — are acting like the priests of some ancient cult, demanding that we engage in human sacrifices to appease the anger of invisible gods.

It is something I have been thinking about for a while. You have to believe so many things that have no basis in fact to be a republican.

Loosing Their Religion

Americans are becoming less religious! 18-29 year old 31% are unaffiliated to a religion. 30-49 year old. 40% are unaffiliated. These are the groups that are most likely to be having and raising children. If they have no religion, it seems that their children are less likely to be religious.
The article does not contain these numbers. You must click on Appendix 1. Select age pdf from menu,

Good to Hear

Religious groups are loosing support.

The percentage. of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less Catholic. And everywhere, more people are exploring spiritual frontiers — or falling off the faith map completely.[...]
• So many Americans claim no religion at all (15%, up from 8% in 1990), that this category now outranks every other major U.S. religious group except Catholics and Baptists. In a nation that has long been mostly Christian, "the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion," the report concludes.

I bet the number of people who claim to be christian is much higher than the actual number of christians. I know quite a few people who say they are catholic that do not attend church and are not raising their children in the church. In another generation far more people are not only going to be non christian but admit they are.
Via Chris Bowers who looks at the voting patterns of non christians. Looks good for reality based people.

Winter Solstice!

Winter solstice, originally uploaded by bryanilona.

Happy winter solstice!

Atheists Are Happier

And nicer and a whole lot lees mean.

It is at this point that the "We need God to be good" case falls apart. Countries worthy of consideration aren't those like North Korea and China, where religion is savagely repressed, but those in which people freely choose atheism. In his new book, Society Without God, Phil Zuckerman looks at the Danes and the Swedes—probably the most godless people on Earth. They don't go to church or pray in the privacy of their own homes; they don't believe in God or heaven or hell. But, by any reasonable standard, they're nice to one another. They have a famously expansive welfare and health care service. They have a strong commitment to social equality. And—even without belief in a God looming over them—they murder and rape one another significantly less frequently than Americans do.

Denmark and Sweden aren't exceptions. A 2005 study by Gregory Paul looking at 18 democracies found that the more atheist societies tended to have relatively low murder and suicide rates and relatively low incidence of abortion and teen pregnancy.

I think a lot of crime has to do with poverty. Get rid of poverty and a lot of social problems go away.

No On 8

Stop the home invasions! This really is about certain religions trying to enforce their beliefs on the population. California voters please vote no on 8. No Hate!

Conundrum

Peyote vendors are having a hard time finding their crop.

Suggestions to allow greenhouse cultivation of the plant on Native American reservations don't pass muster either. Church members believe the plant gains its spiritual properties only when it grows naturally.

The solutions are tricky, but ultimately necessary, Terry said.

"How can you have a peyote-based religion without peyote?" he said. "It's kind of like substituting Kool-Aid for wine in a Christian Church."

Smokey The Bear Sutra

I am not exactly sure what a Sutra is but via Mahablog the monks at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center have requested the Smokey the Bear Sutra.

A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs, showing that he is aroused and watchful.

Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath appearances; cuts the roots of useless attachments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war;

Read it all. I really like this line as it rings true to me.

all true paths lead through mountains

Blog Against Theocracy

BAT logo, originally uploaded by flangum.

It is blog against theocracy weekend. It is important to keep the separation of church and state. The founders of this nation knew how divisive religion could be. Maryland my home state was founded by Catholics who were thrown out of England because the were not the right kind of Christians. Do we really want to argue over Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation again? Me, I opted out of the cannibalism: ritual or otherwise.

Blog Against Theocracy and First Freedom First are good resources for the separation of church and state.

What Would You Ask?

Tengrain asked readers of Mock Paper Scissors to place this on their blogs. The people at First Freedom First are working to keep separation between church and state. I would ask if we have a official religion do we have to tithe? A tax just for the church so it can tell us how to live our lives righteously.

Ten Commandments

Avedon pointed me to this article. I was thinking about linking and displaying the various ten commandments. I found this Wikipedia article on the ten commandments. It is better than I would do. There are too many versions for even Wikipedia to link to them all. I did not know Islam had its own version. Next time some person in the media talks about the Ten Commandments, ask whose commandments. I have now written my own. I am neither drunk or sober enough to place them on the internet.