Reprinted with permission.
U
of M Morris prof: You got creationism in my zoology
By
Emily Kaiser, City Pages, December 24, 2008
When
University of Minnesota-Morris biology professor PZ Myers heard that
the Cincinnati Zoo and the infamous Creation Museum were offering a
joint ticket deal to lure in customers, he took his outrage to the
blogosphere.
The
pairing was a curious one to begin with. The Creation Museum,
located in Kentucky and started by the apologetics ministry Answers
in Genesis, claims the earth and all its life forms were created
6,000 years ago. (Our favorite exhibit is the stegosaurus and
triceratops living large on Noah's Ark.)
"The
Cincinnati Zoo is promoting an anti-science, anti-education con job
run by ignorant creationists," Myers wrote on his blog,
Pharyngula . "I believe the Cincinnati Zoo has betrayed its
mission and its trust in a disgraceful way, by aligning themselves
with a creationist institution that is a laughing stock to the rest
of the world, and a mark of shame to the United States."
The
news quickly spread and two days later, the deal was off. The flood
of emails and phone calls were enough to scare the friendship to a
halt.
Take
that, Jesus!
|
|
Minnesota
Atheists has joined as a plaintiff to a lawsuit by Michael Newdow to
halt the prayers and religious invocations scheduled for Barack Obama’s
presidential inauguration on January 20, 2009, as a violation of
separation of state and church . PDF versions of the lawsuit and its four appendices are linked below.
The lawsuit contains names of both groups and individuals as plaintiffs. In
addition to the group Minnesota Atheists, August Berkshire, president
of Minnesota Atheists and vice president of Atheist Alliance
International, is listed as an individual plaintiff. Berkshire is the owner of the ATHEIST car license plate for Minnesota.
Michael
Newdow achieved prominence in 2004 when he argued before the U.S.
Supreme Court that public schools should not lead children in the
“Pledge of Allegiance” because it contains the words “under God.”
Minnesota Atheists signed on to a friend of the court brief in that
case. (The
U.S. Supreme Court threw the case out, declaring that Newdow lacked
standing because he was not the primary caregiver for his daughter.)
Newdow had previously prevailed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
in 2002. See case details here .
Minnesota
Atheists was the only group to testify at the Minnesota State Capitol
against legislation mandating the recitation of the “Pledge of
Allegiance” in Minnesota public schools. (Feb. 13, 2003.) Minnesota Atheists did this
because the Pledge contains the phrase “under God.” While the
legislation ended up passing, the final bill contained greater
protections for the rights of dissenters than the original bill,
probably due to Minnesota Atheists’ testimony. Read more here.
“Minnesota
Atheists was pleased to accept a personal invitation from Michael
Newdow to be a plaintiff in this lawsuit,” stated August Berkshire,
president of Minnesota Atheists. “The swearing in of a president is a
secular event. The oath of office is in the U.S. Constitution and it
contains no religious references. It
is unfortunate that while Barack Obama campaigned on a theme of unity,
the very act of becoming president will serve to divide Americans along
religious lines.”
|
|
 by Eric
Jayne
I
love Christmas! That shouldn't come as a big surprise since it's
arguably the most popular holiday in America. However, I might raise
a few eyebrows if I added I am an atheist who loves Christmas.
Many people might find a tremendous contradiction in a
self-proclaimed atheist wishing friends, family, and neighbors a
merry Christmas.
Like
many freethinking secularists, I see absolutely no contradiction and
I will continue to unabashedly practice Christmas traditions with my
family while staying consistent with my freethinking philosophy. The
way I see it, all of the fun parts of Christmas are secular:
decorating trees, exchanging gifts, candy canes, eggnog, cookies,
parties, lights, culinary overindulgence, Santa Claus, Rudolph,
Frosty, and so on. And, in my opinion, the numerous festive secular
and novelty Christmas songs are far better than their dreary
religious counterparts.
|
|
Posted at thenewsleaders.com
August Berkshire, President Minnesota Atheists, Minneapolis
Ron
Scarbro claims “One of the tenets of Christianity, thankfully, is
tolerance.” He then spends the rest of his column berating atheists and
pagans. (Newsleaders, Sartell, Opinions, “So this is Christmas - peace
and goodwill to all!” Dec. 12).
Christmas is not to be found in
the Bible. Judging from the nativity story, the birth of Jesus would
have occurred in the spring. (Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate
Christmas.) The earliest reference to Christmas being celebrated on
Dec. 25 - the winter solstice in the old Julian calendar - was in Rome
in 354. In 380, the Roman emperor Theodosius ordered all pagan temples
to be destroyed and forced pagans to accept Christianity.
Pagans
had celebrated the winter solstice as the birth/rebirth of their
sun/savior gods. It was so popular the early Christians could not stamp
it out, so they co-opted it for the birth of their god. However, all
the fun parts of the celebration are pagan in origin: gatherings of
families and friends, feasts, gift-giving, lights, music, decorated
trees and more.
In fact, the Bible states, “Learn not the way of
the heathen... For the customs of the people are in vain: for one
cutteth a tree out of the forest... They deck it with silver and with
gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.”
(Jeremiah 10.2-4)
From
1659 to 1680 the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony prohibited
the observance of Christmas: “Whoever shall be found observing any such
day as Christmas and the like, either by forbearing labor, feasting or
any other way upon such account as aforesaid, every such person so
offending shall pay for each offense five shillings as a fine to the
country.”
The U.S. Congress was in session on Dec. 25, 1789, and
also for 64 of the next 67 years. It wasn't until 1836 that Alabama
became the first state to make Christmas a legal holiday. In 1894,
Christmas was included in the first group of federal holidays.
Previously, Congress often met, and mail was delivered, on Christmas
day.
Scarbro wonders if atheists and pagans can be “at least as
tolerant as Christians?” We'll do better than that. We'll allow
Christians to continue to imagine their god was born on Dec. 25, so
long as they don't try to force their religion on the rest of us.
|
|
To Our Friends
Thank you for your support of Minnesota Atheists in 2008!
Minnesota Atheists has a lot to be thankful for this year. First, we
spent a lot of time working with different media to reach out to the
atheist community and to the public.
MediaWith
the start of the new year, we shook up the Freethought scene in
Minnesota with a newly designed website implemented by Bjorn Watland.
Minnesotans in the Twin Cities enjoyed atheists on the radio as
Minnesota Atheists broadcast Atheists Talk
every Sunday at 9 AM on KTNF AM 950. People even web-streamed or
downloaded the podcast from places as far away as Europe and Africa.
Without the help of dedicated volunteers, our radio show could not be
produced. Members August Berkshire, Mike Haubrich, Lynn Fellman, Grant
Steves, Steve Petersen, Cynthia Egli, Scott Lohman, George Kane and
others have been very generous with their time and talents, either
producing content or providing helpful feedback to make the show a
success. We'd also like to thank the sponsors who purchase advertising
on our show, the American Humanist Association, the Humanists of Minnesota, the Secular Coalition of America and Q. Cumbers Restaurant. If you appreciate the show, let our sponsors know.
|
|
|
Make a donation
of $12 or more and you get a t-shirt!
