Thursday, January 12, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
A Universe From Nothing
Terrific lecture by Lawrence Krauss, who gives you the science behind what we now know best about the universe and throws a few zingers in along the way to keep it light. One of the major arguments for the existence of god is why do we have something rather than nothing? If we have something, that should imply a cause and creator. They then take this creator argument to further plug their particular doctrines and dogmas. Through science and equations and testable predictions we now know that the very universe we live in couldn't have had a creator, that we did actually come from "nothing" and here's how:
This talk led him to write his new book, "A Universe From Nothing" which just came out, I believe, and should go more into detail at how we arrived at such an amazing conclusion.
Krauss is such a great speaker too, it's almost like he's not even using a slideshow, that he could just go on and on about this stuff and keep you entertained. These are my favorite living scientists, with respect to the contributions to their fields and how they make science approachable to everyone... my current favorite science ambassadors:
1. Neil Degrasse Tyson
2. Lawrence Krauss
3. Brian Cox
4. Jerry Coyne
5. Brian Greene
6. Michio Kaku
7. Phil Plait
If only they had scientist action figures! Who are your favorite scientists and why???
This talk led him to write his new book, "A Universe From Nothing" which just came out, I believe, and should go more into detail at how we arrived at such an amazing conclusion.
Krauss is such a great speaker too, it's almost like he's not even using a slideshow, that he could just go on and on about this stuff and keep you entertained. These are my favorite living scientists, with respect to the contributions to their fields and how they make science approachable to everyone... my current favorite science ambassadors:
1. Neil Degrasse Tyson
2. Lawrence Krauss
3. Brian Cox
4. Jerry Coyne
5. Brian Greene
6. Michio Kaku
7. Phil Plait
If only they had scientist action figures! Who are your favorite scientists and why???
The Garden of the Church and the Wilderness of the World
It's quite an amazing story how we came to have religious freedom here in this country. I came across this incredible article the other day about the founding of the colony of Rhode Island and the impact theologian Roger Williams had on our current understanding of the separation of church and state.
God, Government and Roger Williams' Big Idea - Smithsonian, Jan 2012
(It's a bit long but well worth the read)
When the colonies were started, the first people who came here were the puritans who escaped from religious persecution in Europe and wanted to start the colonies with their own version of religious doctrine, but enforced through colonial government. Roger Williams had a different and more radical idea. He saw that religion mixed with government tended to poison and corrupt religion (whereas now we almost see it more as the other way around). Williams saw how the other colonies were starting to shape up and started to speak up with his idea, he was persecuted for it. He founded the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation as almost a trial of sorts to see how his idea would play out. He wrote an exhaustive book detailing his vision of the separation of church and state, which later heavily influenced the founding fathers like Jefferson and Madison as they drew up the Constitution.
Some great quotes from Williams' book, The Bloody Tenet of Persecution, For Cause of Conscience, Discussed in a Conference Between Truth and Peace - 1644:
I find it terribly fascinating that the religious christians in this country are now the ones arguing for more public expression of religion, declaring that there is "no such thing as separation of church and state" (but what they really want is their religion in government and in public policy and in our schools), when it was a baptist theologian who first came up with the idea now held so precious by the secular portion of American society, as well as religious minorities. What the religious (christians) are really fighting for is their continued religious (christian) privilege over other religions and non-religions in this country.
Even though Williams' motive was entirely religious, his writings laid the groundwork for people during the enlightenment like John Locke and Thomas Jefferson, who later wrote in his letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802 (referring the the establishment clause in the First Amendment to the Constitution):
And the fight continues to this day, FFRF and other groups continue their efforts to pry the death grips of (christian) religion off of government affairs to keep it secular, to keep it separate from church influence. Williams was right, politics does soil religion. We are seeing it now with the new republicans, especially during this primary. But the other side of the coin is also true, religion soils government. In the words of the great Christopher Hitchens, "religion poisons everything". If we learn a little about our past, and the history of christianity especially, you see that religion had its chance in government affairs and ruined it for everyone. It set us back hundreds if not thousands of years of intellectual growth and prevented or delayed the recognition of universal human truths and liberties. Providence... it was named so because one could live there without fear of persecution of religious or non-religious beliefs, especially from their own government.
Roger Williams - Wikipedia
The Bloody Tenet of Persecution, For Cause of Conscience... - Wikipedia
Separation of Church and State in the U.S. - Wikipedia
Rhode Island - Wikipedia
God, Government and Roger Williams' Big Idea - Smithsonian, Jan 2012
(It's a bit long but well worth the read)
When the colonies were started, the first people who came here were the puritans who escaped from religious persecution in Europe and wanted to start the colonies with their own version of religious doctrine, but enforced through colonial government. Roger Williams had a different and more radical idea. He saw that religion mixed with government tended to poison and corrupt religion (whereas now we almost see it more as the other way around). Williams saw how the other colonies were starting to shape up and started to speak up with his idea, he was persecuted for it. He founded the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation as almost a trial of sorts to see how his idea would play out. He wrote an exhaustive book detailing his vision of the separation of church and state, which later heavily influenced the founding fathers like Jefferson and Madison as they drew up the Constitution.
Some great quotes from Williams' book, The Bloody Tenet of Persecution, For Cause of Conscience, Discussed in a Conference Between Truth and Peace - 1644:
"When they [the Church] have opened a gap in the hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world, God hath ever broke down the wall itself, removed the Candlestick, etc., and made His Garden a wilderness as it is this day. And that therefore if He will ever please to restore His garden and Paradise again, it must of necessity be walled in peculiarly unto Himself from the world, and all that be saved out of the world are to be transplanted out of the wilderness of the World."
“It is the will and command of God that, since the coming of his Sonne the Lord Jesus, a permission of the most Paganish, Jewish, Turkish, or Antichristian consciences and worships, bee granted to all men in all Nations and Countries.”
“I infer that the sovereign, original, and foundation of civil power lies in the people.” The governments they establish, he wrote, “have no more power, nor for no longer time, than the civil power or people consenting and agreeing shall betrust them with.”
I find it terribly fascinating that the religious christians in this country are now the ones arguing for more public expression of religion, declaring that there is "no such thing as separation of church and state" (but what they really want is their religion in government and in public policy and in our schools), when it was a baptist theologian who first came up with the idea now held so precious by the secular portion of American society, as well as religious minorities. What the religious (christians) are really fighting for is their continued religious (christian) privilege over other religions and non-religions in this country.
Even though Williams' motive was entirely religious, his writings laid the groundwork for people during the enlightenment like John Locke and Thomas Jefferson, who later wrote in his letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802 (referring the the establishment clause in the First Amendment to the Constitution):
"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State." (To read this entire letter, see the Intellects section above)
And the fight continues to this day, FFRF and other groups continue their efforts to pry the death grips of (christian) religion off of government affairs to keep it secular, to keep it separate from church influence. Williams was right, politics does soil religion. We are seeing it now with the new republicans, especially during this primary. But the other side of the coin is also true, religion soils government. In the words of the great Christopher Hitchens, "religion poisons everything". If we learn a little about our past, and the history of christianity especially, you see that religion had its chance in government affairs and ruined it for everyone. It set us back hundreds if not thousands of years of intellectual growth and prevented or delayed the recognition of universal human truths and liberties. Providence... it was named so because one could live there without fear of persecution of religious or non-religious beliefs, especially from their own government.
Roger Williams - Wikipedia
The Bloody Tenet of Persecution, For Cause of Conscience... - Wikipedia
Separation of Church and State in the U.S. - Wikipedia
Rhode Island - Wikipedia
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Isn't This Enough?
Some people think that once someone comes to the realization that their long-held religious beliefs are unfounded, the next phase becomes depression with respect to the afterlife, that there is some sort of downgrade in the thinking that you won't actually get to live forever. I say, check your ego at the door and be thankful for the life that you do have. Take a look around, this place is pretty freaking amazing and we have the faculties to appreciate it and understand how it all works! We are the lucky ones who get to experience it at all, so enjoy it and make the most of it while you're here.
"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Sahara. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?" - Richard Dawkins
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Matt Dillahunty vs. Mark Allison Debate 11/17/11
Kinda long and the audio could be better, but great debate nontheless.
Dillahunty is the outspoken non-believer from the infamous Atheist Experience tv shows from Austin, TX, and a former Southern Baptist seminarian who decided to see if what he believed was actually true. He ended up an atheist, and an outspoken one to be sure. He is currently nominated for atheist of the year (The Hitchie) and is dialing up his public debates, taking it from his all-access show to higher profile debates like this. Allison is a teacher at Covenant Connections Church in Flowery Branch, GA. He is a good sport and seems like a well-spoken, stand-up, pleasant kind of guy, but Dillahunty takes it to him in my humble opinion.
Matt Dillahunty vs. Mark Allison - Good Without God? - Examiner 11/18/11
Dillahunty is the outspoken non-believer from the infamous Atheist Experience tv shows from Austin, TX, and a former Southern Baptist seminarian who decided to see if what he believed was actually true. He ended up an atheist, and an outspoken one to be sure. He is currently nominated for atheist of the year (The Hitchie) and is dialing up his public debates, taking it from his all-access show to higher profile debates like this. Allison is a teacher at Covenant Connections Church in Flowery Branch, GA. He is a good sport and seems like a well-spoken, stand-up, pleasant kind of guy, but Dillahunty takes it to him in my humble opinion.
Matt Dillahunty vs. Mark Allison - Good Without God? - Examiner 11/18/11
Christianity, Its Nature and Influence on Civilisation | Charles Watts
Fantastic essay by Charles Watts, written around 1868, but many of the words and themes still ring true today. Loved this quote from the end:
Christianity, its Nature and Influence on Civilisation - Charles Watts 1868
Interesting take on the argument against organized religion. You usually hear about (and I usually discuss) the main objections that 1) it most likely isn't true, 2) would still be morally questionable/morally reprehensible if true, and 3) even if it were true and morally sound, it still would be no reason to force others to believe it. Watts takes a different approach; while lamenting the utter stagnation of society, he notices that the majority of the last 2000 years has been controlled in nearly every aspect at some point by members of the clergy and what has it gotten us? The only advances to society seem to come against the grain of religious belief, through much argument and trial, overcoming fear of torture or death in some cases to further prove a particular field or theory that may go against the current theology of the day. Its a powerful argument that religion, and christianity in this particular case, has had its chance to prove it is the true way that it claims and has utterly failed in almost every aspect. It's high time we realized this as a society and attempt another route, one based on reason and free inquiry, on science and education, on humanity and the general good of all society, regardless of supernatural beliefs and traditions.
Charles Watts - Wikipedia
A Brief History of the Rationalist Association - New Humanist - Watts Literary Guide
"If Christianity contained any real remedy for existing evils, it would have displayed itself ere now. It has had every advantage in its favour; the influence of the priests, the patronage of kings, the alliance of the great and powerful, the use of untold wealth, the command of the armies, first place among the councillors of nations, the willing subjection of the populace, the command of their affections, and the dominancy of their fears. Science, art, education have humbled and enlisted themselves in its train. The ties of domestic affection, the bonds of the social compact, the political relations of ruler and ruled, all have surrendered themselves to its influence. It has been absolute monarch of the world. Yet with all these advantages it has proved unable to keep pace with a progressive civilisation."
Christianity, its Nature and Influence on Civilisation - Charles Watts 1868
Interesting take on the argument against organized religion. You usually hear about (and I usually discuss) the main objections that 1) it most likely isn't true, 2) would still be morally questionable/morally reprehensible if true, and 3) even if it were true and morally sound, it still would be no reason to force others to believe it. Watts takes a different approach; while lamenting the utter stagnation of society, he notices that the majority of the last 2000 years has been controlled in nearly every aspect at some point by members of the clergy and what has it gotten us? The only advances to society seem to come against the grain of religious belief, through much argument and trial, overcoming fear of torture or death in some cases to further prove a particular field or theory that may go against the current theology of the day. Its a powerful argument that religion, and christianity in this particular case, has had its chance to prove it is the true way that it claims and has utterly failed in almost every aspect. It's high time we realized this as a society and attempt another route, one based on reason and free inquiry, on science and education, on humanity and the general good of all society, regardless of supernatural beliefs and traditions.
Charles Watts - Wikipedia
A Brief History of the Rationalist Association - New Humanist - Watts Literary Guide
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
God is Intelligently Designed
Great chat between dprjones and Dr. Andrew Thomson... fascinating look into human cognition and how it relates to religious beliefs and morals.
Monday, January 2, 2012
The Apocrypha and Other Non-Canonical Scriptures
Watched an interesting show on History2 the other night, about banned books of the bible. Usually, I don't watch history channel much because most of their programming is ridiculous and honestly I don't feel confident they get all the facts straight. So if I take interest in a show they do, I always try to follow up with my own research to get as full an understanding as I can. Anyways, the program went into some detail about some of the banned books of the bible, ancient texts that had meaning to the early christians but did not make in into the official canon of the church for various reasons. Sometimes the texts were written too late to be considered, other times they dealt with topics and characters that would skew the overall narrative, from Mary Magdalene to Mary, mother of Jesus, to Jesus himself, to heaven and hell. Other texts take some of the bible stories and go into more depth, like adam and eve, and the apocalypse.
This website has a fantastic collection of these ancient "banned" texts and are really worth a read for a much more complete picture of the early christian church. Also it gets you thinking, why weren't these texts included with the others? What were the excluding criteria? Who decided these texts weren't for everyone's eyes???
Sacred Text Archive - The Apocrypha
Some of the more interesting books are:
First and Second books of Adam and Eve - Very in depth tale of the first two humans after the fall from the garden of eden. Temptations from satan, and the gamut of emotions from two people starting life in an alien world. The stories of Cain and Abel and the history of the founding fathers until Moses.
Book of Jubilees - Another account of Genesis from the beginning to Moses but with some different twists and a heavy push from the author to switch from a lunar to a solar calendar.
Book of the Secrets of Enoch - Apocalytpic, legendary, stories of giants and fallen angels, influenced the writers of the New Testament.
Gospel of Thomas - Various sayings of Jesus
Infancy Gospel of Thomas - Jesus growing up, coming into his own as a god-man. Various miracles are performed, but depicts young jesus as malevolent and a trickster, a spoiled divine angry brat. Jesus actually kills some children and adults and shows attitude to his teachers, makes people blind and fearful of his power.
Gospel of James (The Protevangelion) - Infancy stories and nativity of Jesus. Interesting take on Joseph being a widower with children before Mary, thus allowing Mary to be a perpetual virgin. Also describes Mary's life in more detail.
Gospel of Philip - Eludes to a more special relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, goes into more gnostic views on various sacraments like marriage and baptism.
Gospel of the Egyptians - A discussion between Salome and and Jesus on topics from celibacy to children to death.
Gospel of Mary - very radical thoughts in this text, from the role of women in the church to the reality of Jesus' life and teachings, that his teachings are a way toward inner peace, not necessarily believing in his death and resurrection as the path to eternal life.
Gospel of Nicodemus - A book written in the 2nd or 3rd century AD purporting to be the Acts of Pontius Pilate, and details the events around the crucifixion to garner favor for the new religion.
Apocalypse of Peter - Visions of heaven and hell, punishment for specific crimes...
Here is another great resource for reading more of these early christian texts. Helps put A LOT of things into perspective... Makes it easy to see how man-made this literature is, how it has been manipulated over the years by the early church and how and why some texts made it into the canon and some did not. Please enjoy these resources. I will post them to the left for reference.
Early Christian Writings
This website has a fantastic collection of these ancient "banned" texts and are really worth a read for a much more complete picture of the early christian church. Also it gets you thinking, why weren't these texts included with the others? What were the excluding criteria? Who decided these texts weren't for everyone's eyes???
Sacred Text Archive - The Apocrypha
Some of the more interesting books are:
First and Second books of Adam and Eve - Very in depth tale of the first two humans after the fall from the garden of eden. Temptations from satan, and the gamut of emotions from two people starting life in an alien world. The stories of Cain and Abel and the history of the founding fathers until Moses.
Book of Jubilees - Another account of Genesis from the beginning to Moses but with some different twists and a heavy push from the author to switch from a lunar to a solar calendar.
Book of the Secrets of Enoch - Apocalytpic, legendary, stories of giants and fallen angels, influenced the writers of the New Testament.
Gospel of Thomas - Various sayings of Jesus
Infancy Gospel of Thomas - Jesus growing up, coming into his own as a god-man. Various miracles are performed, but depicts young jesus as malevolent and a trickster, a spoiled divine angry brat. Jesus actually kills some children and adults and shows attitude to his teachers, makes people blind and fearful of his power.
Gospel of James (The Protevangelion) - Infancy stories and nativity of Jesus. Interesting take on Joseph being a widower with children before Mary, thus allowing Mary to be a perpetual virgin. Also describes Mary's life in more detail.
Gospel of Philip - Eludes to a more special relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, goes into more gnostic views on various sacraments like marriage and baptism.
Gospel of the Egyptians - A discussion between Salome and and Jesus on topics from celibacy to children to death.
Gospel of Mary - very radical thoughts in this text, from the role of women in the church to the reality of Jesus' life and teachings, that his teachings are a way toward inner peace, not necessarily believing in his death and resurrection as the path to eternal life.
Gospel of Nicodemus - A book written in the 2nd or 3rd century AD purporting to be the Acts of Pontius Pilate, and details the events around the crucifixion to garner favor for the new religion.
Apocalypse of Peter - Visions of heaven and hell, punishment for specific crimes...
Here is another great resource for reading more of these early christian texts. Helps put A LOT of things into perspective... Makes it easy to see how man-made this literature is, how it has been manipulated over the years by the early church and how and why some texts made it into the canon and some did not. Please enjoy these resources. I will post them to the left for reference.
Early Christian Writings
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