GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Will The Future Be Godless?

I love this cartoon. I think it epitomizes the tension between scientific and technological advancements and the retrograde nature of religion.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Theocrat Roy Moore Loses U.S. Senate Race in Alabama

Hmmm, count one electoral win for the godless in Alabama last night. Roy Moore, an unrepentant theocrat who was twice removed from his elected position as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for his refusal to follow the law of the land (once for placing a huge monument to the Ten commandments on state property and once for refusing to enforce the same-sex marriage decision Obergefell v Hodges) lost a special election to Democrat Doug Jones last night.

Born-again and evangelical Christians voted for Moore at the astonishing rate of 80% to 13% while "everyone else" voted 76% to 22% for Jones. How does this voting pattern align with "christian" values?

Other demographics of the vote are also interesting:

This shows that white people overwhelmingly voted for Moore, despite the controversial allegations involving sexual misconduct with minors. It was Black people who were an eye-popping 30% of the electorate and voted for Jones (or against Moore) at the rate of 97 to 3 for Black women and 92 to 7 for Black men.

These exit poll data show the stark differences in the electorate. People under 40 voted for Jones, while people over 40 voted for Moore, but not in as large numbers (and voters over 40 were a large fraction of the electorate, at 75%).

Hat/tip Friendly Atheist

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Another Survey Confirms Increase In Godlessness In United States

Another study of Americans has documented the rise in the "religiously unaffiliated" which we like to call "godlessness" at this blog. The Houston Chronicle reports about a study commissioned by the Desert News (a Mormon-affiliated publication) and  the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University which documents that a plurality of Americans (the largest group in the survey) respond "None" when asked their religious affiliation.

34 percent of respondents said they had no religious denomination, compared to 33 percent who identified as Protestants and  21 percent who said they are Catholic.
[...]
Baptists made up the largest Protestant group, at about 32 percent, with 19 percent saying they belonged to a non-denominational or independent church. Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed consider themselves "born-again" or Evangelical Christians.
Thirty-seven percent of respondents say religion is very important in their lives, but only 24 percent say they attend religious services one or more times a week. Fifty-four percent said they seldom or never attend church.
Of those polled, 21 percent said one of the most important issues facing families is "decline in religious faith and church attendance.

Interesting results, eh? I wonder when public policy and politics will start responding to how Americans actually live their religious lives, instead of how people "wish" (or "believe") they do.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: 24% Of Americans Are Religiously Unaffiliated

For today's Godlesss Wednesday post I want to return to the topic of how the demographics of religious identity are changing in the United States. A report from the PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute) titled "America's Changing Religious Identity"  released on September 6 2017 chronicles these changes. Some of the findings are:

• White Christians, 81 percent of the population in 1976, now account for less than half the public — 43 percent of Americans identify as white Christians, and 30 percent as white Protestants.
• 92 percent of Lutherans are white, more than in any other denomination.
• White Christians are aging. About 1 in 10 white Catholics, evangelicals and mainline Protestants are under 30, compared with one-third of all Hindus and Buddhists.
• Muslims and Mormons are the youngest faith groups in the U.S., with 42 percent of all Muslims under 3o, and nearly a quarter of all Mormons.

The PRRI report is based on a survey of 101,000 Americans in all 50 states and has a margin of error of 0.5 percentage points. Another big take-away from the report is that no single religious group in the United States is larger than the group of "religiously unaffiliated," which makes up 24% of the population.

This is awesome news!

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Poll Reveals Republicans Do Not Believe In Religious Liberty

Here at MadProfessah.com we are extremely interested in religious liberty, especially for those who are atheists agnostic or godless. A new exclusive poll from PPP for DailyKos.com reveals that Republicans (who seem to spend a fair amount of their time bleating about religious liberties) really don't seem to understand what taht term actually means.

Nationwide, more than a third of Republicans say that Islam should be illegal in the United States, according to a new PPP poll provided exclusively to Daily Kos Elections. Nearly half—a 44 percent plurality—say Christianity should be our official religion. 

[...] 

Lest you think this is solely confined to Republicans, smaller numbers of both Democrats and independents also admitted to wanting to outlaw Islam (15 percent of Democrats, 20 percent of independents) and make Christianity our official religion (28 and 24 percent, respectively). 

Overall, for all respondents, the share that supports freedom of religion in deed, not just in word, barely clears the halfway mark: Just 53 percent of voters oppose making Christianity the official religion of the United States, and only 56 percent think Islam should be legal.

As the post describes this result: It looks like we are "halfway to theocracy"!

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Rogue Kentucky County Clerk Demonstrating Necessity Of Church-State Separation

In case one needed more evidence of why the separation of church-state is so important, the ongoing saga of  Kim Davis (the rogue Rowan County, Kentucky clerk) who has been refusing to issue marriage licenses despite exhausting all her possible legal avenues. (The United States Supreme Court denied her request for a stay on an order from a federal district court judge to issues marriage licenses on Monday night.)

On Tuesday, Davis responded to a question asking what authority she was using to continue denying marriage licenses to duly qualified married couples by saying "God's authority."

Davis and her Deputy Clerks have been ordered to appear in court on Thursday to explain to federal judge David Bunning why she should not be sanctioned (held on contempt of court) for not following his court order. Maybe this saga will be over soon and the proper relationship between church and state will be restored.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Pew Documents Increase In "Religiously Unaffiliated"!

A report from the Pew Research Center on Religion and Public Life is documenting the rapid change in the religious demographics of the U.S. population. Specifically, the percentage of "religiously unaffiliated" (what we like to call "Godless" around here) has risen from 16.1% in 2007 to 22.8% in 2014. The report indicates that the number of religiously unaffiliated has jumped from 36 million people in 2007 to roughly 56 million in 2014.


Before we get too cocky, one should recognize that although the fraction of the population that identifies as Christian is decreasing, it went from 78.4% to 70.6%. That is still a huge supermajority of the United States. The mechanism for the increase in the godless apparently is occurring from people primarily switching from being Catholic. The total number of Christians has declined from 178 million to 173 million.

Friendly Atheist notes that atheists and agnostics are a growing fraction of the unaffiliated:

Joe Jervis quotes from the report:

The decline of Christians in the U.S. has corresponded with the continued rise in the share of Americans with no religious affiliation (religious “nones”). People who self-identify as atheists or agnostics (about 7% of all U.S. adults), as well as those who say their religion is “nothing in particular,” now account for a combined 22.8% of U.S. adults – up from 16.1% in 2007. The growth of the “nones” has been powered in part by religious switching. Nearly one-in-five U.S. adults (18%) were raised as Christians or members of some other religion, but now say they have no religious affiliation.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God and Friendly Atheist

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Tennessee State House Passes Bill To Make Bible The State Book

Just in time for Godless Wednesday! Despite the Attorney General of the state saying clearly that the act would be struck down for violating the Tennessee  and United States constitutions, the State Assembly has decided to pass a bill declaring that the Bible is the "state book."

The Holy Bible is the official book of Tennessee in the view of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Despite questions of constitutionality, lawmakers beat back an attempt to make Andrew Jackson's Bible the official book and voted 55-38 in favor of Rep. Jerry Sexton's original bill.

Do these people even care that some people think "The Bible" is just an old book of Jewish fairy tales.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Mississippi Heritage Amendment Proposed To Declare Christianity "Principal Religion"

Whoa! Mississippi may be considering a state constitutional amendment in 2016 that would, among other things, declare "Christianity" the "principal" religion of the state, and insert the words "Holy Bible" into the founding document of the Magnolia State. The Magnolia State Heritage Amendment reads, in part:

The State of Mississippi hereby acknowledges the fact of her identity as a principally Christian and quintessentially Southern state, in terms of the majority of her population, character, culture, history, and heritage, from 1817 to the present; accordingly, the Holy Bible is acknowledged as a foremost source of her founding principles, inspiration, and virtues; and, accordingly, prayer is acknowledged as a respected, meaningful, and valuable custom of her citizens. The acknowledgments hereby secured shall not be construed to transgress either the national or the state Constitution’s Bill of Rights.

In case you think  I am making this up, here is the official summary of the amendment from the Mississippi Secretary of State's office:

Initiative #46 would amend the Constitution to restrict or define Mississippi’s heritage in the following areas: religion, official language, state flag, nickname, song, motto and state university mascots. Further, the initiative would prevent the consolidation of Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi University for Women, and Mississippi Valley State University, designate the month of April “Confederate Heritage Month,” and reinstate Mississippi’s Constitutional boundaries.

I guess Mississippi does not have the legal requirement that ballot measures restrict themselves to dealing with one topic! Oh, and it also insists that the state government can not offer government services in any other language than English. Is "y'all" English? I guess well find out if the measure qualifies for the ballot and voters get to see the measure in November 2016.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Federal Judge Declares Secular Humanism A Religion

This is interesting news that seems perfect for Godless Wednesday. Think Progress reports that a federal judge has ruled that secular humanism must be considered a religion, and that its adherents must be granted the same special rights that the state offers to religious people.

On Thursday, October 30, Senior District Judge Ancer Haggerty issued a ruling on American Humanist Association v. United States, a case that was brought by the American Humanist Association (AHA) and Jason Holden, a federal prisoner. Holden pushed for the lawsuit because he wanted Humanism — which the AHA defines as “an ethical and life-affirming philosophy free of belief in any gods and other supernatural forces” — recognized as a religion so that his prison would allow for the creation of a Humanist study group. Haggerty sided with the plaintiffs in his decision, citing existing legal precedent and arguing that denying Humanists the same rights as groups such as Christianity would be highly suspect under the Establishment Clause in the U.S. Constitution, which declares that Congress “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” 

“The court finds that Secular Humanism is a religion for Establishment Clause purposes,” the ruling read.

This is an excellent deelopment. Although I do not support the privileged position religion is granted in our society, if that is the situation we have to deal with right now then I support other belief systems like Pastafarianism, secular humanism or even agnosticism be treated like religion as well, if it means that their adherents will receive the same special treatment other religions like Christianity currently receive.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: What Others See When Christians Pray At Public Events

Hemant Mehta points out this story of yet another Christian feeling "their God" compels them to flout the law about praying at public graduation ceremonies.

What [Fox News's Todd] Starnes and [Christian student Marcus] Hamby don’t understand is that there are times when it’s inappropriate to talk all about your personal beliefs regarding crispy, crunchy, delicious Jesus. When you’re at a public school function attended by students and their family members who aren’t all Christian, talking about how correct your faith is isn’t kind or gentle. 

It’s just a combination of ego and martyr-complex. 

(Plus, you *know* the same crowd applauding Hamby would’ve lost their [censored] if anyone gave a speech about Islam or atheism.) 

Just to be clear, what he did wasn’t courageous. Not even close. You don’t need to be brave to make references to Christianity when the majority of the audience already agrees with you. 

It does, however, take maturity to realize that there are others out there who disagree with you — and a graduation ought to be a time to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments instead of opening up about your personal theological views.

That's today's post on godlessness!

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Supreme Court Rules Wrong Way In Public Prayer Case

The Town of Greece, New York has won its U.S. Supreme Court case about the right to have public prayers ("invocations") before meetings of the city council. The High Court ruled 5-4 (straight conservative-liberal split) in the case of Town of Greece v. Galloway this week.

SCOTUSblog reports:

Narrowly defining what is not allowed in such prayers, the Court said they may not be used to praise the virtues of one faith and may not cast other faiths or other believers in a sharply negative light.  Courts have no role in judging whether individual prayers satisfy that test, but can only examine a “pattern of prayer” to see whether it crossed the forbidden constitutional line and became a form of “coercion.” 

The majority clearly moved the “coercion” test to the forefront of analyzing when government and religion are too closely intertwined.  The alternative test — whether government action “endorsed” a particular faith — was nearly cast aside as taking too little account of the role of religion in America’s history and civic traditions. 

[...] 

The four dissenters complained that the new ruling will strike a heavy blow against the nation’s tradition of religious pluralism, and will lead to prayers that will actively promote a single faith’s religious values.  Justice Elena Kagan wrote the main dissent, joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor.  Justice Breyer also wrote a dissenting opinion speaking only for himself; that opinion focused more narrowly on the facts in this specific case.

Godless heathens like myself were outraged by the decision, but the godless have a plan to respond:

So, the Humanist Society, a supplemental arm of the American Humanist Association, launched a website that offers atheists information on secular invocations, including a definition of what these non-theistic prayers consist of, examples of these invocations and an interactive U.S. map showing where individuals who are qualified to deliver them reside. 

“In a way, the concept of a secular invocation is quite simple: It is essentially a short speech that calls upon the audience’s shared human values for assistance and authority in their public discourse,” explains a description on the American Humanist Association website. 

It continues, “Unlike a traditional invocation, a secular invocation does not call upon a supernatural entity as a guide. It redirects our attention away from those supernatural entities towards those common human values that we do in fact share for guidance.”
The American Humanist Association is also offering a program to approve those who wish to begin delivering secular invocations. 

“Non-religious people are often asked to contribute to a ceremonial event, but some struggle to find an alternative to religious wording,” Roy Speckhardt, the organization’s executive director, said in a statement. “We want to make it easier for anyone who wants to give a secular invocation so that legislative meetings can be nondiscriminatory.”

Sounds good to me!

GODLESSS WEDNESDAY: The Bible Put In Costco's Fiction Section; Controversy Ensues

Just in time for Godless Wednesday, this story is hitting the news today:

A California pastor says he found the Bible filed under “fiction” at a Costco store near his home. 

Pastor Caleb Kaltenbach said he made the discovery Friday while shopping for a present for his wife in Simi Valley. 

“All the Bibles were labeled as fiction,” said Kaltenbach, pastor at the nondenominational Discovery Church. 

“It seemed bizarre to me.” 

The pastor said he checked the shelf for other Bibles, and he told Fox News’ Todd Starnes that each copy had a sticker that said: “$14.99 Fiction.” 

Kaltenbach said none of the Costco employees he found would answer his question about the Bibles, so he took a photo of one and posted it on Twitter.

“People are pretty shocked and upset,” Kaltenbach said. “We are supposed to be living in an era of tolerance, but what Costco did doesn’t seem too tolerant.” 

The pastor said he doubted the Washington-based company would have labeled a Koran as fiction and took the label personally. 

“If they don’t believe in the Bible, that’s fine – but at least label it as ‘religion’ as some bookstores do, or ‘inspiration,’” he said. “On the one hand Christians should not yell out.’ We aren’t living in Iraq or Iran. But on the other hand, I believe that we do need to stand up for our faith and we need to be vocal about our concerns.” 

A spokeswoman for Costco told Starnes the Bible was mislabeled as the result of human error at a warehouse,” and that the issue had been resolved.

It doesn't seem surprising to me that the Bible should be labeled as fiction. Where did he want it to be put, Biography? Of course, Costco should have just labeled it as "religion" but I wanted to blog about the story, which of course is now being picked up by Faux News and the conservative blogosphere, as an example of how controversy is manufactured in this country.

And, yeah, it's sorta funny, too.

Godless Wednesday: Religious Affiliations of U.S. House On A Map

Buzzfeed has mapped out the religious affiliation of all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and displayed their religion in a map of their districts.

There are 31 religions represented in the House, including 26 different sects of Christianity. Catholics make up the largest group with 136 members, followed by Baptists with 66 members, Methodists with 45 members, Anglicans/Episcopalians with 35 members, Presbyterians with 28 members, and Jews with 22 members. There is only one atheist.

The majority of Catholics and Jews are Democrats, and the majority of Anglicans/Episcopalians, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Mormons. and Presbyterians are Republican. Among religions with more than more than five seats, Jews are the most partisan; 21 of the 22 Jews are Democrats. Mormons are the second most partisan; seven of the eight Mormons are Republicans.

Other than states with a single seat, Idaho and Utah are the only states to be represented exclusively by a single religion.

Do you really think there is only one member of the U.S. House of Representatives? Yet, it is religious people, not irreligious people who complain vociferously about being discriminated against and marginalized in the public sphere.

I think this map is a good counter argument to such spurious claims.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God.

Godless Wednesday: The World Will Become Less Godless

Joe.My.God highlights a study projecting the worldwide growth of Christianity from 1970-2020. The study (Christianity in its Global Context, 1970-2020) is published by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. The main conclusion of the study is that the world is getting more religious, not less, on a global scale. The figure above indicates that the number of Christians in the world will more than double from 1970to 2020. While this is happening, the fraction of the world that is godless is decreasing.

The world in 2010 was more religious than in 1970, and this trend will continue to 2020 and perhaps beyond. The year 1970 was the symbolic height of the world’s agnostic and atheist populations, which at that time together claimed 19.2% of the total population (see figure at right). While secularization had been slowly in progress around the world, especially in Europe, the numbers of agnostics and atheists increased greatly under Communism in Eastern Europe and China. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, large numbers of the non-religious returned to religion. One of the most profound examples is Albania, the first officially atheistic state, which in 2010 was 62.7% Muslim and 31.6% Christian. Russia also experienced a resurgence of religion, rising from 38.4% Christian in 1970 to 71.2% in 2010, with a projected increase to 81.2% by 2020 (these gains are being made primarily by the Russian Orthodox Church).

Projections to 2020 indicate a sustained decrease of the global share of the non-religious. This is due primarily to the resurgence of Buddhism, Christianity, and other religions in China, and Christianity in Eastern Europe. If this trend continues, agnostics and atheists will be a smaller portion of the world’s population in 2020 than they were in 2010. Although the number of atheists and agnostics continues to rise in the Western world, the current growth of a variety of religions in China in particular (where the vast majority of the nonreligious live today) suggests continued future demographic growth of religion. From the point of view of 1970–2010, there has been a global religious resurgence, and it seems likely to continue into the future.

I guess the only good news about this is that at least the Western World is moving in what I would assess asa positive direction, with less religiosity rather than more. However, it can not be a good thing for humanity as a whole for more and more people to believe in an unknowable, mythical creature from which blessings and punishments flow.

This sad result can be seen in the following graphic:

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Godless Wednesday: Bill Maher Explains Atheism

For today's Godless Wednesday enjoy this video compilation of Bill Maher explaining godlessness to the religious, to great comedic effect.

Hat/tip to Evolution is True

Godless Wednesday: Biblical Marriage(s) Graphically Depicted

When people who oppose marriage equality make the claim that "the Bible says marriage is between a man and a woman" you should show them this graphic for the win!

Godless Wednesday: Is America A Christian Nation?

For today's edition of Godless Wednesday I can think of nothing else better than to suggest that you watch Mrs Betty Bowers (a.k.a America's Best Christian) explain to you whether America is a Christian nation.

Enjoy!

Godless Wednesday: 1/3 Of Americans Want A State Religion

A new poll indicates that as many as one-third of Americans are in support of completely ending the idea of separation of church and state and would favor (and strongly favor) "a Constitutional amendment which would make Christianity the official  religion of the United States." Happily, 52% would oppose (or strongly oppose) such a measure with those feeling strongly in opposition outnumbering  those feeling strongly in favor 34% to 18%.

The Huffington Post reports:

Although a large percentage of Americans said they would favor establishing a state religion, only 11 percent said they thought the U.S. Constitution allowed states to do so. Fifty-eight percent said they didn't think it was constitutional, and 31 percent said they were not sure. 

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment, which (among other things) prohibits the government from establishing an official religion, also applies to the states. 

Republicans were more likely than Democrats or independents to say that they would favor establishing Christianity as an official state religion, with 55 percent favoring it in their own state and 46 percent favoring a national constitutional amendment. 

The relatively high level of support for establishing Christianity as a state religion may be reflective of dissatisfaction with the current balance of religion and politics. Respondents to the poll were more likely to say that the U.S. has gone too far in keeping religion and government separate than they were to say religion and government are too mixed, by a 37-29 percent margin. Only 17 percent said that the country has struck a good balance in terms of the separation of church and state.

Sheeesh, even I would say that the country has struck a bad balance between church and state. The word "God" is on the currency, school children are expected to recite the word every day in school and atheists are still barred from holing public office in some states!

I'm glad that at least a clear majority of Americans do realize it would be unconstitutional to attempt to set up a state religion. It still baffles me as to why religious people always think that their particular view of "God" will be the one that gets to control the Government. What's to say that if you don't separate government and religion that the government will not be controlled by people who religious belief is different from yours, say Muslim or Hindu? What part of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment do they not understand?

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Godless Wednesday: North Carolina Tries To Establish State Religion

The North Carolina legislature  is considering a bill which basically purports to allow the state to establish a state religion. The text of House Bill 494 is

SECTION 1. The North Carolina General Assembly asserts that the Constitution of the United States of America does not prohibit states or their subsidiaries from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.
SECTION 2. The North Carolina General Assembly does not recognize federal court rulings which prohibit and otherwise regulate the State of North Carolina, its public schools or any political subdivisions of the State from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.

As a local news report explains, the bill is in response to an ACLU lawsuit about explicitly Christian prayers being performed at public events:

A resolution filed by Republican lawmakers would allow North Carolina to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies statewide.

The resolution grew out of a dispute between the American Civil Liberties Union and the Rowan County Board of Commissioners. In a federal lawsuit filed last month, the ACLU says the board has opened 97 percent of its meetings since 2007 with explicitly Christian prayers.

Overtly Christian prayers at government meetings are not rare in North Carolina. Since the Republican takeover in 2011, the state Senate chaplain has offered an explicitly Christian invocation virtually every day of session, despite the fact that some senators are not Christian.

In a 2011 ruling on a similar lawsuit against the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not ban prayer at government meetings outright, but said prayers favoring one religion over another are unconstitutional.

The idea behind House Bill 494 is that the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows states to do defy federal laws and ignore federal judicial rulings. Typically, such laws are quickly overturned by federal courts. In fact the North Carolina state constitution explicitly says (in Article 1, Section 5) "Every citizen of this State owes paramount allegiance to the Constitution and government of the United States, and no law or ordinance of the State in contravention or subversion thereof can have any binding force."

Gee, I wonder what state religion the Majority Leader of the House (who has signed on to the legislation) would like to enact in the state?