By Eric Jayne
(editor's note:
This article first appeared in the June 17th edition of the Star Tribune. It is a response to Katherine Kersten's article "Hostility to Religion Bodes Ill for Society," which appeared in the June 7th Star Tribune.
The premise of Kersten's article was that religion, Christianity in
particular, is necessary to keep scientific progress in check. She
argued that without Judeo-Christian beliefs, society would be morally
corrupt and incapable of compassion. )
I
am convinced that there is absolutely no value to the muddled ramblings
of Katherine Kersten. In her recent column, "Hostility to religion
bodes ill for society," she shamelessly blames secular freethought and
atheism for infanticide, the Holocaust and general draconian attitudes
toward social welfare while crediting Christianity for human
compassion. In making her assertion she conveniently ignores the
numerous Bible passages where the bloodthirsty Judeo-Christian God
condones war and ethnic cleansing. In Numbers 31: 17-18, for example,
God actively calls for the killing of male children and the raping of
female children. That's one of the many Bible passages Kersten is
forced to gloss over when she touts that Judeo-Christianity teaches us
"universal standards of right and wrong." Also, since she had brought
up Hitler, I would like to point out to Kersten, and her
atheist-bashing ilk, that the SS belt buckles Nazi soldiers wore during
the Holocaust bared the motto: "Gott mit uns" (God is with us).
Kersten ends her article by suggesting that Social Darwinism is a
legitimate science that promotes the notion of the survival of the
fittest. Therefore, Kersten argues, scientific progress needs to be
constrained by religion so that the poor and vulnerable citizens of
society are protected. Her position might have merit if Social
Darwinism were an actual science, but it's nothing more than
pseudo-science just like astrology and intelligent design. Darwin's
theory of evolution by natural selection is a biological science that
was never intended to be co-opted by the social sciences. In fact,
Charles Darwin wrote that human beings could not "check our sympathy
even at the urging of hard reason without deterioration in the noblest
part of our nature." If Kersten simply understood legitimate science
she probably wouldn't be so afraid of it, and she might even tone down
her spiteful and erroneous anti-secular rhetoric.
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By Crystal Dervetski
On June 20th, Minnesota Atheists met at Lilydale Park in St. Paul
for a fossil hunting adventure. Everyone met outside in the parking
lot, grabbed an information packet about the park and the fossils, and
then made the hike up to the three fossil beds located in the park.
Everyone found something, and had a great time sharing their finds with
one another. Families were out in full force, and even some of the
really tiny ones made the trek up the hill. After the find, everyone
came back down and drank some much needed water and munched on granola
bars. The adults were entertained by a miming of a light saber battle
and a spot-on impersonation of C-3PO, courtesy of a couple of the
youngest fossil adventurers. The weather was beautiful, the fossils
were abundant, and the socialization couldn't be beat!
Mark your calendars for an easy fossil hunt at the Intergroup Secular Labor Day Picnic on Saturday, September 6th in Northfield, MN.
Crystal and Vic will take everyone out to a very easy site after the
picnic that is right next to a road; no hiking involved!
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By Victor Tanner
Is
“Atheist” a strong enough word for skeptical thinkers? It really only
denotes a non-belief in gods and, as we all know, there are many more
wacky things out there. What's stranger than believing that an
invisible friend is watching over your every move? Or than believing
that the world is only 6,000 years old despite the evidence to the
contrary? How about believing that a race of tiny elves that cannot be
seen by human eyes are inhabiting the world all around us?
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By Jack Caravela
You may be wondering why a group of atheists would choose to see a film titled Drag Me to Hell.
The short answer is that the movie's co-writer and director, Sam Raimi,
treats the concept of eternal damnation about as seriously as we do.
Mr. Raimi, recently at the helm of the three blockbuster Spider-Man films, decided to return to his roots with his latest offering. Fans of the Evil Dead
series which launched the filmmaker's career will welcome this
throwback horror flick, whose first wink to the genre comes before the
movie even begins, with the retro Universal Pictures tag (Raimi opted
for the rotating Earth logo last seen in the early sixties rather than
the modern version).
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By Eric Jayne
Like
it or not, Christian music is undoubtedly popular. Among my daughter's
peer group "Jesus Take the Wheel," by Carrie Underwood, is a very
popular song that her friends sing when they get together. During my
own adolescence I was an unwilling participant in an evangelical youth
group where many discussions took place regarding Christian artists
like Amy Grant, Petra,
and DC Talk. Given the seemingly timeless popularity and ubiquity of
pious music I felt the need to come up with a list of my favorite
pro-atheist songs, many of which are delightfully sacrilegious. Some
of these songs promote rational freethought, some satirize religious
beliefs, and others celebrate science. In creating this list I
factored musical composition and anti-ecclesiastical lyrics. Although this list consists of only 30 songs I will pretend to be Casey Kasem and introduce them in the American Top 40 show fashion starting with number 30.
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