Religion

Cool. Here's my 15 minutes.

I emailed my "Christian Side Hug" posting to Melissa over at Shakesville and Deeky put a link to it in his post about it!

Woot! Welcome Shakers! 450+ hits already.

Srsly?


"Gimme That Christian Side Hug"

This is so much in this video that is so weird.

Christians are so hung up about sex that they can't even hug face to face?

The juxtaposition of claiming to be a "rough rider" and being scared that you'll get aroused by a "front hug" is very funny to me.

Add in the whole idea of "Christian Gansta Rap" (and yes, it's supposed to be Gansta - sideways hats, sirens and gun shots) just adds another level of hilarity.

(And yes, that's the Star Wars Imperial March they are rapping over.)

[Transcript] [I can't believe I listened to it over and over again to try and get the words...]

(gun shots, sirens)
Oh yeah!
Hands Up!
2009!
What's up Ladies and Gentlemen?
Ya'll ready to party up in here?

(chorus)
Gimme that Christian side hug
That Christian side hug
Gimme that Christian side hug
That Christian side hug
I'm a rough rider
Filled up with Christ's love
Gimme that Christian side hug
That Christian side hug

(rapper 1)
Hoopties are the EG rule so
Pay attention, it's essential
This ain't no front hug zone
You ain't that fly, you ain't my jones(?)
Stop! and listen
No front hugs and no kissin'
I ain't that scared to call yo' mama
You'll be ridin' home wit a coma [mimes hitting - others fall down]
I got my crew
You ain't got nothin
Follow these rules
'Cuz D ain't bluffin
Now ah, you ain't no rabbi
You ain't no priest
So rise up off me
Like the (garbled) with no piece
Now ah, don't use that front hug, boy
That (garbled)
That's inappropriate
You back up off her 'cuz
We wanna keep our minds pure
Wanna keep away from sin
That means it's you too girl
(garbled) arms around him

(chorus)

(chorus)

(rapper 2)
We be walkin' like
We be talkin' like
We be side huggin'
Every day and night
It's how we do, boo
This ain't no club
So don't be hatin' on me when I show no love
We livin' holy
It ain't no thing
So put your hands in the air and let that shoulder hang
I'm goin' global
'Cuz you don't know me
I'm buyin' babies like Angelina Jolie [wtf?]
So quit that huggin'
And slow down mama
And hit my fist like President Obama
Now, Democratic shift in the Congress
Repub! (?)
Democratic shift in the Congress
Repub! (?)
Democratic shift in the Congress
Repub! (?)

(chorus)

(chorus)

(rapper 3)
I'm a married man
You know I can hold hands
Front hug all day long
With no other demands
But as for all of you
Until you say "I do"
No front huggin' or PDA
Or EG time is through
But some of ya'll is slick
Try to pull this trick
Your hug starts from the side
But soon it turns legit
So if you end up here
Then go ahead and scream it:
"When I hug people I leave room for the Holy Spirit"
If a girl walks up
With her arms spread wide
And she's front hug bound
With that look in her eyes
You'd better
Turn to the side
Pat her on the back
Jesus never hugged nobody like that! [how do they know that?]
Screamin'!

(chorus)

(chorus)

(gun shots, breaking glass, everyone falls down)

I sent my last missive - Why Do I Care About Other's Religions - to my email list and got this thoughtful message in response:

Tim,
You raise many good points. In our age of better communication and open exchange of ideas, this list is a very good example of this, why or how does religion persist? I ask not to bait you into an argument, but am curious about your thoughts on why people still believe in the face some of the points you raised. And on a similar note I am happy to say I have an atheist friend, you. I think the wide range of opinions on this list gives us all a more balanced view on life.

This is a very interesting question: In this age of enlightenment why is religion still around?

I'll start off by suggesting that we are not currently in an age of enlightenment. I personally feel we are heading down the slope into another dark ages. The religious right has become very vocal again (remember the Moral Majority in the late 70s?)

Science is looked upon as something bad or evil (the stem cell research issues, global climate change nay-sayers, the movie Expelled - which is full of lies - and Ben Stein's subsequent statement that science leads to killing people.)

Republicans are practically required to kowtow to religious leaders and are proud that they are ignorant about science and knowledge.

In a hearing about Abstinence Only Education, Representative John Duncan (R-TN) said "It seems rather elitist to me for people who maybe have degrees in this field to feel that because they’ve studied it somehow they know better than the parents what is best for [their children].” (If this doesn't flabbergast you, you need your flabbergaster reset. And this man is a politician who is creating laws for our country.)

There are a few bright spots. The latest Pew Forum Religious Survey shows that the number of atheists and non-affiliated people is increasing. There are many very prominent and vocal atheist and scientific blogs on the internet. And I have a lot of friends that are either atheists or non-religious.

And yet religion still persists. Why?

I emailed a link to my previous blog posting about the Hello Kitty Jesus tattoo to a mailing list I am on. I got the following question in response.

Tim, with all due respect, I get not you not believing in religion - specifically Christianity, but I don't get why you seem to care so much about the belief system of those who do. (?)

This was my response:

I care because I feel the people who believe things "on faith" with no evidence do harm to all of us. Believing things because the are written in a book, with no supporting evidence, makes no sense. Denying rights to people based on what is written in the same book (e.g. gays and lesbians) is abhorrent. Basing your moral system on the same book, when if you read it at all you will discover the moral system in it is bloody, brutish and not the one currently in use, is insane.

I care because believing things "on faith" with no evidence is irrational. If you believe some things "on faith" and some things you know due to evidence you have a schism in your world view that causes problems.

I care because people who "believe" hassle those of us who don't. Both of my daughters have been hassled at camps and at school (public school) by children who have been brainwashed by their parents and religious leaders into believing they are superior to anyone who does not follow their "faith". And yes, I consider religious indoctrination of young children brainwashing.

I care because like it or not, and regardless of what the "Christians" believe, the USA was formed as a secular nation. Where belief in god is not a requirement to be a citizen. Where there is no state religion.

I care because all the right-wing religious "Christian" politicians are two-faced hypocrites and they are horrible role models for the youth of America. Shall I make a list of them for you?

I care because religions are supposed to get unquestioning respect, just because they are religions. Why should we not be able to question religious viewpoints? Why should we respect religious viewpoints that are clearly irrational?

I care because religion gets a free ride from the press, the police and the government. How many sex scandals have there been with Catholic priests and alter boys? So many that we make jokes about it while the church just quietly shuffles the priest off to another parish where he can molest more children. If I molested a 12 year old boy I'd be in prison faster than you can say "Pope Ratzi". But priests just get reassigned. How is this possible?

Man, you really opened the floodgates. Thanks for asking the question. Do I really need to go on? Yes, I do. Click the Continue Reading Link .

From over at PZ's pad comes this hilarious rap video:

This was in the Star Tribune on Monday and there was also a story on NPR about it yesterday.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has released a survey of The Religious Landscape of the United States.

They have some good tools there for drilling down into the data, but I question their findings in regards to atheism.

16.1% of respondents claim no religious affiliation, yet only 1.6% claim to be atheists.

I know many, many people who are atheists.

I think we are under-represented, and I'm not sure if it's due to the survey sample, the survey questions or the reticence of atheists to stand up and be counted.

Maybe I think there is a higher incidence of atheists because I prefer to associate with atheists?

But it does make me wonder something: If people feel religions are so interchangeable, why are there so many?

Of course PZ Myers has some things to say about it:

16.1% is still a minority, but keep in mind that Catholics are 24% of the population — we could pass them by in a few years. Look at that table on the right. We're huge (but not at all organized or unified, of course) and growing fast. It's worth looking at past assesments: in 1990, the nonreligious were about 7.5% of the population; in 2001, 13.2%; now, 16.1%.

The Pew people break down the "unaffiliateds" a bit more, and it looks like a significant number of them do still have considerable affection or perhaps dependency on religion — they just don't seem to like the existing sects. I suspect we can blame that not on the attraction of atheism, but the repulsion from overreaching, grasping American religion.

Thank you PZ for giving me hope.

Preach it Brother Henry!



(h/t to PZ)

From the Atheist Revolution blog comes an entry about how to communicate what is wrong with religion.

It contains a link to a post on the An Apostate’s Chapel blog.

There the chaplain does a really good job of laying out three fundamental (can I use that word?) problems with religion:

The first problem that I have with religious beliefs is that ... acting on the basis of false beliefs can lead to ill-conceived, even harmful, behavior and decisions.

...

The second problem I have with religious belief is that believers do not live in vacuums. Their religious beliefs are not always private and those beliefs do affect others, including me, in numerous ways.

...

The third problem I have with religious beliefs is the persistent entreaty that I respect religious beliefs simply because they are religious.

Well worth going and reading.

Preach it Brother Condell!

Ramen!

(and a h/t to PZ for the video.)

PZ Myers gave a talk to the Freethinkers group at St. Olaf the other day. I wish I had been there.

He has the transcript up and I think you should read it.

I am here to bring you some good news.

The universe is about 13.7 billion years old, plus or minus a few hundred million, and the earth itself is about 4.6 billion years old. How do we know this? The work of astronomers in measuring cosmological constants, in calculating the age of stars and the size of our universe; the work of physicists on principles of radioactive decay, and measurements of the age of rocks; the work of geologists in charting the many layers of rock and puzzling out the mechanisms of change.