By Bjorn Watland
On Friday, August 7, 300 atheists descended onto the Creation Museum in Petersberg, Kentucky. The Creation Museum, an Answers in Genesis project, is designed as a more traditional science museum than some carnival ride (as other "creation museums" have been).
It presents evidence to support their pre-drawn conclusion that all
that has ever happened in the past is contained in the Christian Bible. Since the Christian Bible contains lineages and ages of people, they conclude that
that scientists who have used material evidence to come to the
conclusion that the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old must be
mistaken about atheism.
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By George Kane
With
his health insurance reform initiative bogging down in the face of
declining public support, President Obama is calling on religious
leaders to turn it into a moral crusade. On one day in August he held
two teleconferences to this end. In the morning he asked about 1,000
rabbis to preach his political agenda in their sermons on Rosh
Hashanah, while that afternoon he spoke to a mostly Christian audience
of about 140,000 religious leaders in a conference call and webcast.
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By Crystal Dervetski
Recently, Minnesota Atheists sent out a survey to gauge interests
and opinions of our membership. The response was absolutely
overwhelming, mostly in a good way. There appear to be many questions
regarding what Minnesota Atheists as an organization actually does,
what we offer, and who we are as a group of people. I had already
started answering some questions
in previous articles. In one, I had discussed why we ask new members
how they found out about Minnesota Atheists, and why they chose to
become members, as there seemed to be some confusion in this area as
well. Now that we have the survey data fairly complete, I'm going to
start tackling some of the bigger issues that were brought up in the
free form responses.
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By Vic Tanner
On July 9, the Republic of Ireland
passed a law against material that is "abusive or insulting in relation
to matters held sacred by any religion". Why would the government of an
enlightened secular country choose to enact a blasphemy law at this
point in history? Though many countries, some of which may surprise
you, still have blasphemy laws on the books, these laws are often vague
to the point of meaninglessness and are seldom enforced. For instance,
the Greek Penal Code defines a blasphemer as "one who publicly and
maliciously and by any means blasphemes God" yet makes no attempt to
clarify who "God" is or what these malicious acts may consist of.
Whether these laws were intended to placate religious individuals or to
protect religious institutions, they accomplish neither.
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By James Zimmerman
You're not going to learn anything new reading this book. But that's not an indictment of the book, no, it's a comment on your age. Disbelief is intelligently designed to appeal to the tween/early-teen crowd, and it does a superb job. Indeed, it is the best book on the topic of disbelief available for young people.
The
author begins right away (well, after an introduction by Tom Flynn) by
assuring young people who may be nervous reading such a book that he
understands their fears. S. C. Hitchcock (writing under a pseudonym for
the safety of his family) tells such readers that, if they take nothing
else from the book, and if they are unable or unwilling to read
anything else, to remember that there is no God. "Religion," he says,
surely striking a nerve with everyone in his intended audience,
"survives and is a huge force in the world because it relies on the
indoctrination of children." It was this observation, Hitchcock noted
in an interview, that drove him to write the book.
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By Ryan Sutter
On July 10, Minnesota Public Radio Midmorning discussed the topic "New polls indicate a dim view of U.S. scientific achievement." The polls in question were from the Pew Center and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The short of it is, the vast majority of scientists (97%) accept that life evolved over time from a shared common ancestor but only 61% of the general public believes the same. On the topic of global warming, the divide is even greater. 84% of scientists are convinced that global warming is real and caused by human activity but only 49% of the public agrees.
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By George Kane
President's Note: This is a great example of the kinds of social events Minnesota Atheists host. For those who think all we do is talk about atheism and religion, think again! To learn about more events like this, sign up for Atheists Weekly Email.
Whenever possible I select for the fourth Wednesday Reel and Meal a movie of particular interest to the atheist community. A few years ago, Christian parents were objecting to the Harry Potter books for glorifying the occult, and demanding that they be removed from school libraries, and lead actor Daniel Radcliffe has recently revealed that he is an atheist. So when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came to Lagoon Cinema in July, it was a natural selection. Ten of us turned out for the movie, after most of us enjoyed dinner across the street at Uptown Drink.
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By Bjorn Watland
The end of June marks the start of our attendance at GLBT Pride Festivals around the state. First, we attend the Twin Cities Pride Festival and Parade, then Rochester, LaCrosse, Duluth, and Mankato. Some atheists are puzzled. Of all the summer festivals, why do we go to so many GBLT Pride Festivals? Our attendance at GLBT Fesivals has become a tradition, largely due to the efforts of founding member August Berkshire. We continue this tradition for several reasons.
First, GLBT Pride events have been very welcoming.
If people, no matter their sexual orientation, are gathered together to
support an oppressed minority, I think that people are more aware of
how to treat everyone fairly.
There are also plenty of GLBT atheists out there who are so exicted to
see our organization supporting their rights, both as an atheist and as
a GLBT person.
Second, I think that the GLBT community and the atheist community have similarities. We are both hated by different religious groups. We both seek respect and understanding. We both can have difficulty with family who don't agree with our identies. We seek social justice and advocate for the rights of a minority.
Members of the GLBT community are also strong supporters of the
separation of church and state and we can use all of the allies we can
in that fight.
Lastly, GLBT Festivals are inexpensive
to attend and a great way to put our money where our mouth is with
regard to supporting equality for all citizens, regardless of sexual
orientation.
I thank you for supporting Minnesota Atheists and our effort to educate the public about atheism.
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By George Kane
On
a Sunday morning at the end of May, Dr. George Tiller, who was well
known as one of the few doctors in the country who performed late-term
abortions, walked into Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita Kansas,
which he had attended regularly for years. Inside the church, long-time
anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder shot and killed him.
Many
online abortion opponents could not conceal their delight with Roeder's
"street justice." Dr. Tiller had also for years been the object of
incendiary attacks from Bill O'Reilly of Fox News,
which many blame for inciting Roeder to the murder. Abortion opponents
rankle, of course, at the notion that they bear any responsibility for
the criminal violence of extremists like Roeder. They point out that
the mainline anti-abortion organizations denounced Dr. Tiller's murder,
and that few of them would ever engage in violence. Nevertheless, the
argument on which religious opposition to abortion is always based,
that abortion is murder, is inherently inflammatory. If they insist
that Dr. Tiller committed hundreds of murders, they can hardly denounce
his own murder as inappropriate or disproportionate punishment. Their
arguments justify violating the law by appealing to a higher law.
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By Crystal Dervetski
When
you join up with Minnesota Atheists, you are asked two questions: "How
did you hear about Minnesota Atheists?" and "Why did you join Minnesota
Atheists?"
I know, you're an atheist, you're a skeptic, and you're cynical about
these questions. It's totally understandable if it seems like they are
bordering on an intrusion of your privacy. You do not, of course, have
to answer these questions at all. Please keep in mind, though, there
are a few really basic reasons why we'd like to know these two things
about you.
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