Atheist Is Not A Dirty Word

     

Tucson Weather Today


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An Atheist . . .

An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that deed must be done instead of prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated.
--Madalyn Murray O'Hair

Who Was Madalyn Murray O'Hair? In 1964, Life magazine referred to her as "the most hated woman in America".

Madalyn Murray O'Hair was an American atheist activist.who founded American Atheists, "a nationwide movement which defends the civil rights of non-believers, works for the separation of church and state and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy". She served as its president from 1963 to 1986.

On August 27, 1995, O'Hair, her son Jon, and granddaughter Robin suddenly disappeared. Speculation abounded on the cause and meaning of O'Hair's disappearance. Ultimately, a murder investigation focused on David Roland Waters, who had worked as a typesetter for American Atheists.

In January 2001, Waters informed the police that the O'Hairs were buried on a Texas ranch, and he subsequently led them to the bodies. When the police excavated there, they discovered that the O'Hairs' bodies had been cut into dozens of pieces with a saw. The remains exhibited such extensive mutilation and successive decomposition that identification had to be made through dental records, by DNA testing and, in Madalyn O'Hair's case, by the serial number of her prosthetic hip. The head and hands of Danny Fry, an accomplice of the killers, were also found at the site.

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EVENTS IN HISTORY

On this day, April 16, in 1947 a giant explosion occurred during the loading of fertilizer onto the freighter Grandcamp at a pier in Texas City, Texas. Nearly 600 people lost their lives and thousands were injured when the ship was literally blown to bits.

Details

Also . . .

On this day, April 16, in 2007, in one of the deadliest shootings in U.S. history, 32 students and teachers died after being gunned down on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University by Seung Hui Cho, a student at the school who later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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WORD FOR TODAY

prerequisite
noun
A thing required as a prior condition for something else to happen.
adjective
Required as a prior condition.
synonyms
noun precondition - premise
adj.   necessary - requisite - needful

A prerequisite is a required prior condition. If something is required in advance of something else, like if you have to take a beginning Spanish class before signing up for Spanish II, then it’s a prerequisite.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin
(16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977)

Charlie Chaplin was a British comic actor and filmmaker who rose to fame in the silent era. Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen persona "the Tramp" and is considered one of the most important figures of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from a child in the Victorian era to close to his death at the age of 88, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.

Paul David Graf
(April 16, 1950 – April 7, 2001)

David Graf was an American actor, best known for his role as Sgt. Eugene Tackleberry in the Police Academy series of films.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Born April 16, 1947)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr.) is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points.  In college at UCLA, he played on three consecutive national championship teams, and his high school team won 71 consecutive games. At the time of his retirement, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA’s all-time leader in points scored, games played, minutes played, field goals made, field goal attempts, blocked shots, defensive rebounds, and personal fouls. Abdul-Jabbar also has been an actor, a basketball coach, and an author.

Jonathan Niven "Jon" Cryer
(born April 16, 1965)

Jon Cryer is an American actor, screenwriter, film director, and film producer. He made his motion picture debut in the 1984 romantic comedy No Small Affair, but found greater fame in the 1986 John Hughes-written film Pretty in Pink. In 1998, he wrote and produced the independent film Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five. Although Cryer gained subsequent fame by starring in these films, it took several years to find success on television. The shows in which Cryer starred, such as The Famous Teddy Z, Partners, and The Trouble with Normal, did not last long. In 2003, Cryer was cast as Alan Harper on the hit CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009 and 2012.

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Religion has caused more misery to all of mankind in every stage of human history than any other single idea.
--Madalyn Murray O'Hair

Religion is induced insanity.
--Madalyn Murray O'Hair

Reverence, Einstein, And Creationism

     

Tucson Weather Today

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The modern-day Christian knows little or nothing about the actual doctrine of Christianity. And does not want to. Today's run-of-the-mill Christian wants to believe in his or her own personal belief, rather than what his or her Church preaches.

For instance:

When you speak of a man as being 'reverend,' such as The Reverend Jesse Jackson, what do you mean? Are you saying that Jesse Jackson is to be 'revered?' Worshiped? Godlike?

Consider this:

"He sent redemption unto His people; He hath commanded His covenant for ever, holy and reverend is His name"
--Psalm 111:9.

The word, reverend, is found only one time in the entire Bible of the King James Version and then it was attributed to God; and it is derived from the Hebrew word, Yare, which occurs several hundred times in the original Bible.

reverend
noun
A hypocritical older man who strives for social status and respect through assuming titles that are usually undeserved. He is a fraud and a fake. This person thinks he knows everything. Usually active in the church, and very visible in the community, always seeking the limelight. This man is always chauvinistic, married, and a womanizing adulterer whoremonger...

More about the word reverend


I suppose that in most (Christian) people's minds the title Reverend is derived from the word reverence -- and they would probably be correct in the modern popular-usage definition.

Which renders this entire opening text moot.

[Meaning of moot: Of no practical importance; irrelevant.]

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Yesterday, there being nothing of any particular significance to watch on television while the terribly dreary reportage of the presidential inauguration was being presented, I used that time to view a 48 minute Youtube video titled Albert Einstein- How I See the World, and I have only one regret for having done so, this being that the video was not so very interesting.

LINK

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As I have often stated, I am not an atheist, and in one sense it seems to me that I might even be labeled a creationist. This is because I know (intuitively) that biological life on Earth is meaningless (in the human sense of meaning,) in that biological life (both individually and collectively) comes into existence, endures for a short time, then enters the realm of death and finally extinction.

It is the folly of human beings in believing themselves to be nearly supreme, of great importance, or even at all relevant within the scope of the total (not the humanly knowable) universe.

There must exist, well beyond the limited sensory recognition of mere humans, alien lifeforms (or non-lifeform forces) owning capabilities beyond human comprehension or even human imagination. These entities (or non-entities) may well be responsible, purposefully or not, for the creation of what we call our known universe.

Is that not creationism?

Of course, that is nothing more than speculation on my part. But, so what? How does one substantiate the unknowable?

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WORDS FOR TODAY

reverend
Adjective
1. Deserving reverence.
2. Relating to or characteristic of the clergy; clerical.
3. Abbreviation Rev. Used as a title and form of address for certain clerics in many Christian churches.

reverence
Noun
Deep respect for.
Verb
Regard or treat with deep respect.
Synonyms
noun  respect - veneration - esteem - obeisance - regard
verb.  revere - venerate - respect - honor - honor - esteem

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Historical Clip

On Jan 22, 1973 the Supreme Court legalized abortion.

In a historic decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Roe v. Wade that women, as part of their constitutional right to privacy, can terminate a pregnancy during its first two trimesters. Only during the last trimester, when the fetus can survive outside the womb, would states be permitted to regulate abortion of a healthy pregnancy.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Linda Blair

Born Jan 22, 1959
Age:  53 years old

Linda Denise Blair is an American actress. Blair is best known for her role as the possessed child, Regan, in the film The Exorcist (1973), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and two Golden Globes, winning one. She reprised her role in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977).

Bill Bixby

Born Jan. 22, 1934
Died Nov. 21, 1993

Wilfred Bailey Everett “Bill” Bixby III was an American film and television actor, director, and frequent game show panelist. His career spanned over three decades, appearing on stage, in films and on television series. He is known for his roles as Tim O'Hara on the CBS sitcom My Favorite Martian, Tom Corbett on the ABC comedy-drama series The Courtship of Eddie's Father, stage illusionist Anthony Blake in the NBC crime drama series The Magician, but is perhaps best known for his role as scientist Dr. David Banner on the CBS sci-fi drama series The Incredible Hulk.

Piper Laurie

Born Jan 22, 1932
Age:  80 years old

Piper Laurie (born Rosetta Jacobs) is an American actress of stage and screen known for her roles in the television series Twin Peaks and the films The Hustler, Carrie, and Children of a Lesser God, all of which brought her Academy Award nominations. In 1991, she won a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of Catherine Martell in Twin Peaks.

Sam Cooke

Born Jan. 22, 1931
Died Dec. 11, 1964

Samuel Cook, better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and influence on the modern world of music. His contribution in pioneering soul music led to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and popularized the likes of Otis Redding and James Brown.

Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, and a further three after his death. Major hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", and "Twistin' the Night Away" are some of his most popular songs.

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Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.
--Aristotle
  

Why I Am Not An Atheist

Tucson Weather Today

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I am not an atheist for the same reason I am not a theist; both the atheist and the theist look down upon me as being an inferior little fellow -- an ignorant lout of a person who must be educated into one or the other of their differing personal conclusions as to what life is all about.

The theist feels it is a duty to persuade me that there is a specific supernatural being who is responsible for the creation of all things and that the human race that this creator has brought into existence is somehow special. And even though there is not the slightest indication of proof that this claim is valid, I must believe that it is so. Because this theist says that it is so.

The atheist feels it is a duty to persuade me that there is certainly no supernatural being who is responsible for the creation of all things and that the human race simply sprang into existence through natural means, by way of biological processes and ordered chemical reactions within a natural universe. And I must believe this because the atheist says it is so.

Both the theist and the atheist in their monumental arrogance believe themselves superior to me, a person who really doesn't give a hoot which of them is or is not correct. They both therefore feel compelled (for some reason) to bring me around to their way of thinking.

But I believe that it does not really matter why I exist (if I actually do exist) because my puny human mind with its limited sensory and limited imaginative abilities is not equipped to grasp the mysteries of the overall workings of the universe.

Do I believe in creationism?

Well, after all, within the realm of infinite possibility itself, there surely can exist some humanly unimaginable mighty force inside or outside the universe that brought about the beginning, or the Big Bang... or whatever.

And that about sums it all up.

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WORD FOR TODAY


sangria [sahn-GREE-un]
noun
Spanish drink of red wine, fruit juice, sugar and soda water.

Recipe For Sangria

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Jerry Van Dyke

Born July 27, 1931
Age: 80 years old.

Jerry Van Dyke is an American comedian and actor. He is the younger brother of comedian and actor Dick Van Dyke, and made his acting debut on The Dick Van Dyke Show with several guest appearances as Rob Petrie's brother, Stacey. Later in his career, he was one of the stars in the TV sitcom Coach (1989–1997).

Bobbie Gentry

Born July 27, 1944
Age: 67 years old.

Roberta Lee Streeter, professionally known as Bobbie Gentry, is an American former singer-songwriter notable as one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material. Her songs typically drew on her Mississippi roots to compose vignettes of the Southern United States. Gentry shot to international fame with her intriguing Southern Gothic narrative "Ode to Billie Joe" in 1967.

Norman Lear

Born July 27, 1922

Age: 89 years old.

Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude. As a political activist, he founded the civil liberties advocacy organization People For the American Way in 1981 and has supported First Amendment rights and liberal causes.

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Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?
--Douglas Adams

Not Always What It Seems To Be

Tucson Weather Today

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Believe it or not, the latest picture of Hillary Clinton has actually made me soften up a bit about my ongoing, often overly harsh criticisms of her. The surprising lady has now won my approval and my respect. Not that she would care or even know about that. But at last she seems to be casting off some of her old phony persona along with the extreme makeup. Good for her. Good for the real Hillary.

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Taslima Nasreen is an award-winning writer, physician, secular humanist and human rights activist, known for her powerful writing on women's oppression and unflinching criticism of religion, despite forced exile and multiple fatwas calling for her death.

But sometimes Taslima goes a bit overboard in her blogging enthusiasm.

For example,when she wrote:

"Atheists need more enlightenment to become humanists  -- I dream of a day when all atheists would be free from racism, misogyny, homophobia, megalomania, and other silly problems."

Taslima and others who write with passion for an ideal seem to believe that those {deluded idiots?} with other convictions need to become more enlightened, -- and enlightenment is what I believe, no matter what it is that I believe.

I Am Woman . . . Hear Me Roar!

That is not a criticism . . . well, yes it is; it's criticism.

Taslima's words above appeared HERE

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Because I am an atheist . . . is an open invitation to readers to tell their personal reasons for not bowing down to the pressures of conforming to traditional religious beliefs. One of these, from Jennifer, I found to be simple, clearly-written, and sensible. Below is Jennifer's first paragraph:

Because I am an atheist I am able to truly appreciate my marriage. It’s not foreordained that I love my husband, which means that every minute I spend with him is a conscious choice to invest time and love and energy in this relationship. I don’t feel like I’m failing God when I fail to do my part to maintain the relationship; instead, I just recognize that it’s a failure on my part to put in the work necessary to sustain this choice that makes me so happy, and I fix it. I don’t get complacent about it because, again, it’s a choice, and it takes work. We’ve only been together a few years, and we are a good enough fit that it hasn’t felt like work yet, but in the more difficult moments we’ve had I have reveled in the fact that no, I am staying *here* because it is what *I* want, and that he is doing the same, because we love and value one another, not because we feel like we have to. It’s glorious.

Read the rest of it HERE

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WORD FOR TODAY

apocryphal [uh-pock-ruh-fuhl]
adj
1.  of questionable authenticity
2.  of or like the Apocrypha
3.  untrue; counterfeit

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Fred Astaire


Born May 10, 1899
Died June 22, 1987

Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz) was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years,

ALSO

Gary Owens

Born May 10, 1936

Gary Owens was the deep voiced announcer on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Remember?

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Man is certainly crazy. He could not make a mite, and he makes gods by the dozen.
--Michel De Montaigne

What's In A Word?

     

Tucson Weather Today

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Early this morning I discovered a promising new blog. Well, the blog is not new, just new to me, but it certainly does appear to be promising. Promising as in interesting.

Sarah "Mowgli" Moglia says she is a Professional atheist, Feminist, liberal, and part dinosaur. What she actually is, is a producer of well-written thoughts that she shares freely. Anything else I might say about her could be misconstrued, so I won't say anything else, except that if you take a look at what she has to say you will probably not be disappointed.

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In a recent NASA announcement was this statement: "During the weeks following the arrival, Enterprise will be demated from the 747 and placed on a barge that will be moved by tugboat up the Hudson River to Intrepid in June."

Demated? Is demated grammatically appropriate usage in the above phrase? I was not sure so I tried to look it up via Google, but the only definition I found was: The word demated is derived from dematerialized = cease to be physically in existence.

I doubt that the shuttle Enterprise will be dematerialized from the 747, but then who knows what the Enterprise is capable of?

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WORD FOR TODAY

problematic [prob-luh-mat-ik]
adjective
of the nature of a problem;  doubtful; uncertain; questionable.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Carol Burnett

Born April 26, 1933

Bobby Rydell

Born April 26, 1942

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“History is a set of lies agreed upon.”
--Napoleon Bonaparte
 

I'm Not An Atheist, Dammit!

Tucson Weather Today

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Recently, after explaining that it was President Eisenhower in 1954 who added the words "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance, I was told via email, "All you damned atheists are so f***in' stupid it was our Lord who wrote that."

Well, in the first place, I am not an atheist, as I have said over and over again here in this blog. An atheist believes and announces that there is no god, while I merely doubt the existence of the personal god who created all things as described by most religious organizations. And that is a big difference. I do not flaunt my intelligence by arrogantly proclaiming, "There is no god" -- nor do I decry the faithful when they repeat some of the fantastic and unreasonable things that they feel compelled to say in defense of their chosen dogma.

The phrase "under God" was incorporated into the Pledge of Allegiance June 14, 1954, by a Joint Resolution of Congress.

'nuff said.

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As mentioned yesterday I walked across the street to the styling salon and asked for a GI haircut.

This is how I look now.

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WORD FOR TODAY

canny
adj.
showing self-interest and shrewdness in dealing with others
Synonyms:
sly - astute - artful - prudent - crafty - wily - wary

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Tony Danza

Born April 21, 1951

Known for playing the character Tony Banta on TAXI and later as Tony Micelli on Who's The Boss.

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“Poetry is a language that tells us, through a more or less emotional reaction, something that cannot be said.”
--Edwin Arlington Robinson
(3 time Pulitzer Prize winner)

And GOD Said . . . (to whom?)

Tucson Weather Today

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Reading all this constant bickering between Atheists and Theist on the Internet blogs is becoming tedious. It might not be so boring if any one of them could just come up with some new argument for their side to present to those unpretentious readers who are earnestly seeking some hint of uncorrupted truth.

Here is a snippet of what I see as rationality that I am now allowing to escape, some seemingly lucid thoughts displaying my own version of What I Probably Believe.

Below are some of the declarations of Jesus, taken from the first book of the Christians' New Testament, from the book of Matthew:

5:17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets...

5:18
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

5:19
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven:

How many supposedly devout Christians truly believe those words? Do they actually believe that Jesus commands Christians to follow the Old Testament laws when he says that until heaven and earth pass away you must obey all those ancient laws? Or else, if you don't, you are verily a doomed sinner worthy only of the damnation of eternal punishment?

No. Of course not, you might answer. You might chuckle and say that the Twenty-first century Christians have modified their internal moral codes to echo, not biblical dogma, but the childish fairy tale beliefs they themselves, each individually, want to agree with, and nothing more.

Such as, for example, the absurdity that all of their friends and family members who die, no matter how despicable they had been in life, immediately ascend to Heaven, or Paradise, and there assume the form of a glorious Angel, where they recline up there at their ease on drifting white clouds dressed in white robes with a golden halo encircling each holy head, playing the harps and watching over the risible comings and goings of their Earthly acquaintances and their still living loved ones.

You may scoff at that and say that all the modern-day Christians are enlightened, and that they do not believe all that beautifully poetic malarkey to be the literal truth.

But they do. Ah yes, they do. I know some of them... I know, and have known, some of them intimately. Down deep, in their heart of hearts, as they term it, they do believe those childhood-impressed images.

And who am I to say they are wrong?

As I have said previously, many times: "I am not an atheist." I do not profess to know (or even suspect) that there is no God. I admit freely and often, that I do not know what GOD is. And if there is (or ever was) some unseen but somehow sensed sentient entity that brought about the existence of mankind on the Earth, in the Solar System, within the Milky Way Galaxy, a minuscule part of the billions and billions of other galaxies and galactic clusters... or even the human concept of a vast, possibly unending, Universe, or MULTI-VERSE...

Well, I just don't know.

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I found a word I was unsure of
its meaning -- so I looked it up.

beget
(verb)
1.
(especially of a male parent) to procreate or generate (offspring).
2.
to cause; produce as an effect: a belief that power begets power.
Synonyms
1. spawn, sire, breed, father. 2. occasion, engender, effect, generate.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Willard Scott

Born March 7, 1934

I spoke briefly with Willard Scott back in the 1990s (or was it the late 1980s?) when I was employed by Walt Disney World as a House Man at The Contemporary Resort. One morning I was standing just inside the doorway of the hotel's VIP Lounge when the famous celebrity entered. I recognized him immediately and called out, "Mister Willard Scott!" He swung his gleaming bald head around, raised his hand in an expansive wave, grinned at me, and said, "How ya' doin', Pardner?"

That was the extent of it.

But it's one of those secretly harbored memories we all seem prone to treasure, nonetheless.

(At this moment I am pursing my lips and shrugging my shoulders)

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Back to my original subject . . .

The God Wars is the title of an article in New Statesman written by Bryan Appleyard. The article's sub-head first states then asks:

To hardline atheists, it is now unreasonable and "dramatically peculiar" to argue that religion is not altogether evil. How did such intolerance become acceptable to rational minds?

This article helped me to get a better feel for the meaning of the term neo-atheist which has been irritatingly unclear in my mind. There are so many disparate views as to what constitutes a clear definition.

In the article Appleyard proposes: By "neo-atheism", I mean a tripartite belief system founded on the conviction that science provides the only road to truth and that all religions are deluded, irrational and destructive.

He goes on to say that this tripartite comprises Atheism, Secularism, and Darwinism, and then he elaborates on the difference between the three belief systems.

More about Bryan Appleyard.

Bryan Appleyard's blog

I try to keep up with the writings of some of the more popular Atheist bloggers, like PZ Myers, Greta Christina, Hemant Mehta (The Friendly Atheist) -- and a few others, but some of their shouted vituperations make me wince and stop reading, and I go on to other (relatively) milder, and quieter voices of reason. Such as the colorful, droll, and sometimes intellectual site named Quarkscrew.

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One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.
--Robert A. Heinlein

America's Fastest Growing Religious Status

"The fastest growing religious status in the United States is no religion" is a statement that is becoming more and more ubiquitous, at least in the many readings of one citizen (me) of The United States. I have read that particular statement in many blogs as well as in articles in various issues of respectable print media.

As I have stated previously on this website: "I am not an atheist." But neither am I a proponent of organized religion. If I had to classify myself regarding religion I would say that I am irreligious -- irreligion being the absence of religion.

Atheism is a lack of belief in gods, from the original Greek meaning “without gods."

But, in the majority of minds an atheist is one who thinks not only that there are no gods but that 'god' or 'gods' absolutely do not exist. This conception (or misconception) separates me from atheism; while I do not believe in the existence of a personal god who is responsible for the creation of mankind, who is concerned with the welfare and behavior of human beings, and who relegates the dispensing of divine knowledge to preachers, priests, and assorted Sikhs and seers... While I do not believe in any conventional god, I do not deny the possibility of the existence of beings or entities within the cosmos in forms (or even formlessnesses) undetectable to human senses who possess powers and abilities that would appear miraculously God-like to we biological beings.

So: an atheist, especially the new-atheist, knows there are no gods. I, on the other hand, doubt there is a god, but I do not know that there isn't.

Here's a thought. What if the vast expanse we humans perceive as the universe is, in its totality... the actual essence of God?


Am I, perhaps, a humanist?

Humanism . . . what is it?

According to Wikipedia -- Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In other words it is an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters.

A simple definition I read somewhere is: "Humanism is about being a good person for the sake of being a good person."

Am I a humanist?

I don't think so. After all, I do not even know what a 'good' person is.

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Being a humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead.
--Kurt Vonnegut

An Extra Long Walk

Tucson Weather Today

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The weather was so marvelous this morning that I extended my daily walk for an extra half-hour and snapped a few photos along the way.

Here is the first one...

Looking North on Camino Seco at Speedway Boulevard

Tucson, Arizona

(Click each photo for larger view)

Santa Catalina Mountain Scene

Another Santa Catalina Mountain Scene

There are several more but that's enough for now.

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PZ Myers has asked his readers to write an essay titled Why I Am An Atheist which he will include in his blog. Well, since I am not an atheist, I cannot truthfully write such an essay because I am neither an atheist nor a theist... I am merely an evolved primate who does not know whether God, a god, or even a godlike creature exists... or not.

But I should be able to write an essay titled Why I Am Not An Atheist.

Perhaps I will do so.

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On Religion (Yes, Again)

While conducting personal research regarding religions, I recently read in The Dominion of War by Fred Anderson and Andrew Cayton that the Aztec religious system demanded the blood of human beings to maintain the balance of the cosmos and insure that the sun would rise each day. By 1500 approximately 50,000 prisoners of war had to be taken annually to serve as sacrificial victims.

Now that, to me, is hard to believe -- that the entire populace of a 'civilization' could be taken in and their lives guided by such nonsense. Of course, it is just as hard for me to believe that a few men could be so immersed in their own set of religious beliefs that they would actually conspire to fly airplanes into public buildings and kill thousands of innocent people. Or that a group of nomadic shepherds could proclaim themselves as The Chosen People of The One True God, in effect branding all other peoples as dogs... thereby fomenting unrest, violence, and brutal hatred of their race and religion by millions of other human beings throughout history.

Serious study of the history of religions can make your head spin. People, it seems, will believe anything no matter how fantastic if it is presented to them convincingly and is something they want to believe.

One of Lewis Carroll's characters said, "If you set to work to believe everything, you will tire out the believing-muscles of your mind, and then you'll be so weak you won't be able to believe the simplest true things."

Despite Lewis Carroll's warning, I'm afraid that after seven decades I have tired out the believing-muscles of my mind,

But I am not an atheist. I do not blather from a soapbox (or a blog) and shout out that "There is no God and all religions should be abolished." Those who do so are (in my estimation) no different in their narrow-minded thinking than are the religionists or the theists that these science worshiping naysayers preach against with such scorn.

The modern militant atheist pooh-poohs the recently proposed idea of 'Intelligent Design.'

It seems to me that Intelligent Design could be the method by which human beings on the Earth came about... but not by any of the simplistic personal gods proposed by organized religions. To say, as do the atheists, that some kind of race or entity could not have set in motion human kind is even more an example of vanity than is religious 'faith' itself. How can one declare so definitely that some being or non-human race of beings exist that are absolutely undetectable by human senses and totally unimaginable to human cognition could not be powerful enough to have 'created' thinking man from a previous prehistoric animal state?

After all... as of now, there are more than 500 million Facebook users worldwide, and the company is valued at more than $43 billion. Who would have believed that?

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Why All The Fuss?

What information does our government want to remain unrevealed, and why?

Here is a well-publicized link to supposedly secret stuff that you might like to look over.

I really don't know what all the fuss is about.

. . .

Here Is A Photograph Of God

Or it might be just a big rock.

One can never be sure.

I have often written that I am neither a theist nor an atheist. As closely as I can apply a label to my conclusions regarding the existence of God (or 'a' god) I propose this statement, "I am an agnostic."

What is the difference between a theist, an atheist, and an agnostic?

In my opinion:
- The theist believes that God exists... period.
- The atheist believes that God does not exist.
- The agnostic does not know if God exists.

An article in Slate offers a pretty good analysis.

Here is the first paragraph:

Agnosticism is not some kind of weak-tea atheism. Agnosticism is not atheism or theism. It is radical skepticism, doubt in the possibility of certainty, opposition to the unwarranted certainties that atheism and theism offer.

Another (paraphrased) paragraph:

The term agnostic was coined in 1869 by one of Darwin's most fervent followers, Thomas Henry Huxley. Here is how he defined his agnosticism: This principle may be stated in various ways but they all amount to this: that it is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty.

I think it is an interesting and intelligently presented article, although several of the appended comments disagree. Again, the link is:

http://www.slate.com/id/2258484/pagenum/all/

. . .

It rained huge quantities last night, enough to raise the level of the swimming pool several inches. I imagine that it also helped raise the level of the Tucson area's water table as well. Good news indeed. And more rain has been forecast for each day of the coming week.

Oh well, it is, after all, the annual Monsoon Season in Arizona.

This was yesterday's sky before the clouds began to form

I have been told that Heaven is located within that sky.

Who am I to argue with that?

A Hodge-Podge, Of Sorts

Well... I've been living here in Tucson for more than two months now, and I must admit that I am being affected by the hot, dry, sunshiny atmosphere. Living so close to the border of Mexico is causing me to change some of my attitudes toward life in general. Or is it? I'm not sure if I have adopted the Manana Is Good Enough For Me lifestyle or if perhaps I have always believed and acted in that way.

Peggy Lee says it well on Youtube . . .

Manana Is Good Enough For Me

On a completely different note...

Is this not an excellent statement of scientific thought?

I am NOT an Atheist. But neither am I a Deist. Nor a creationist. I am not a believer in a 'personal Savior'. I do not feel that being a member of The Human Race is anything special, anything to brag about, anything beyond natural happenstance.

I'm more of an I Don't Know And I Really Don't Care type of guy.

But I don't feel like delving deeply into any of that right now.


Recently. Eva was sniffing and snuffling, nose to the trodden surface of the swimming pool deck, as she is often wont to do, when all at once she jerked her head erect, shook it from side to side and then explosively sneezed... twice. Without wasting an instant for thought, I looked down at her and said, "You are SO good-lookin'!"

And if you don't understand that... if you don't see the humor in it... well, then. you are evidently not a Seinfeld afficiancado.


Whoa Nelly . . .

The Onion has an article titled: The Massive Flow of Bullshit Continues to Gush From BP Headquarters. I found it to be quite entertaining. Check it out... HERE.
(nyuk, nyuk, nyuk)

And . . .

I read the following yesterday in The Independent:

Naughty By Nature: Why Has Britain Become So Rude? Below is an excerpt:

God we're rude, aren't we? The British are so rude. We're obsessed with bums, tits, willies, lavatory humour, vicars, knickers, smells, foreigners, fat tummies, fat slags, Fat Les, fat wrestlers, Benny Hill, Carry On Up The Khyber, Viz, Private Eye, men dressed as laydeez, women dressed as anarchic schoolgirls, sitcoms that offer howling tsunamis of verbal abuse, from The Young Ones to The Thick Of It. We love to see an irate, fictional British hotelier smacking his Spanish waiter around the head. We admire the host of BBC2's Newsnight when he roasts politicians with scarcely believable belligerence. We quiver when a middle-aged, redheaded quiz-show hostess tells her guests how thick, ugly and badly dressed they are. We lap up radio shows in which grouchily opinionated men insult members of the public who hold views contrary to their own. We celebrate Christmas by buying our loved ones "lavatory books" with titles like Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Complete Shit In Pants?

Wow! The Brits do seem to be inordinately rude.


Finally... AVT has been waxing nostalgic lately regarding Sicilians and how ALL of them can sweetly croon and how ALL of them are fastidious about small details such as personal appearance and other things of a similar magnitude of importance

I have met a few Sicilian-Americans in my time -- Bruschetti, Correo, and others... and not only were they not crooners, they were not particularly fastidious; in fact, Bruschetti was a fat and slovenly gravel-voiced slob of the first order. And Correo, possessing horribly neglected crooked brown-stained teeth, had the disgusting habit of scarfing down odoriferous home-cooked Italian Food his Mama sent him from NYC (via the USPS) with his perpetually-dirty fingers, loudly smacking his lips wetly and eating (always) with his mouth wide open.

Don't tell me about ALL Sicilians, please.


A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule.
--Michael Pollan