Another Example of Bad Science Reporting
The newspaper, The Telegraph, has published a story with the exciting title, Large Hadron Collider rumoured to have found God Particle. What makes this bad science reporting is that the actually text of the article is more along these lines:
“It is far too early to say if there is anything to it or not. There are 3,000 scientists working on ATLAS and they divide the analysis work up between them.
“This is an internal communication that highlights something interesting, but it has to go through several stages of assessment by the scientific team before it will be released as an official result by the collaborative team.
“The majority of these things turn out to be nothing at all. It is very speculative at this stage, but there is a great deal of excitement and anticipation that something will be found which is probably why this has found its way onto the internet.”
What the story is really about is this:
Despite the official caution, there was intense speculation on internet blogs and scientific websites that the results described in the memo signalled the first discovery of the Higgs boson.
This is a story about the rumors of the discovery of the Higgs boson, not about the actually discovery it’s self. This is not science reporting, this is rumor mongering. Isn’t the current state of the general public’s science knowledge bad enough without the media having to sensationalize a non-story?
Why Are Atheists So Angry
As most of you who read this blog know, I was at the American Atheists Conference in Des Moines, Iowa this weekend. One of the speakers was Greta Christina, a wonderful blogger, writer, editor, and speaker. She gave an excellent speech titled, Why Are Atheists So Angry, which I wrote about very briefly about in an earlier post. I also recorded her speech and posted the videos which you can fine here.
A friend of mine responded on my Facebook wall to my various post about the conference and asked:
“so why are athiest so angry? please just the headlines”
Unfortunately, I can’t give just the headlines because that would never do justice to the question. I decided to transcribe all the reasons that Greta gave in her speech and publish them here. Please understand that I am not a stenographer, so I may have missed a few words or something here and there, but I think it is pretty accurate overall.
People are so used to whispering around religion that an everyday voice sounds like a shout.
I am angry that atheists get pegged for being angry and confrontational simple for existing and being open about who we are.
I am angry that according to a recent Gallop pool, only 45% of Americans would vote for an atheist president.
I am angry that that is took until 1962 before atheists could serve on juries, testify in court in every state in the country.
I am angry that atheists in the U.S. are frequently denied custody of their children in divorce cases strictly because they are atheists.
I am angry that the Iranian atheists blogger in Iran who said that they have to blog anonymously or they will be executed.
I am angry that that school boards across the country, 80 years after the Scopes trail, have to spend money and resources fighting the drive to teach creationism and ID in schools. This is money that can be spent on making real improvements for our childrens’ education.
I am angry that science teachers in public schools often don’t teach evolution, or only give it a cursory mention even when teaching it is sanctioned nor ever required, because they are afraid of sparking controversy and don’t want to deal with angry fundamentalist parents.
I am angry that women are dying of AIDS in Africa and South America because the Catholic Church has taught them that using condoms makes baby Jesus cry.
I am angry that preachers tell the women of their flock to submit to their husbands because it is the will of God even when those husbands are beating them to within an inch of their lives.
I am angry thatt the belief in karma and reincarnation gets use as justification for the caste system in India.
I am angry that people bon into poverty and despair are taught that it’s their fault, that they must have done something bad in a previous life and that the misery they are born into is their punishment for that.
I am angry that people in Africa are being terrorized, driven from their homes, tortured, and killed over accusations of witchcraft; not in the middle ages, not in the 1600s, this is happening now, today, as we speak.
I am angry that so many parents and religious leaders terrorize children who:
a) have brains that are hard-wired to trust adults and believe what they are told.
b) are very literal minded.
are told stories of eternal burring and torture to insure that they will be too frightened to ever question religion.
I am angry that children are taught by religions to hate their bodies and their sexuality.
I am angry that female children get taught to hate and fear their femaleness, and that queer children get taught to hate and fear their queerness.
I am angry that in fundamentalist, Mormon, polygamous cults, girls are raised from birth to believe that they will be tortured and burned in hell if they don’t marry whatever man they are told to marry by their preacher, in most cases when they are teenagers, and in some cases when they are as young as 13, and in some cases younger than that.
I am angry that in the non-fundamentalist, non-polygamous entirely mainstream Mormon Church girls are raised from birth to believe that they will be tortured and burned in hell if they don’t marry, have lots of children, and be submissive to their husbands.
I am angry that gay kids are raised from birth that they will be tortured and burned in hell if they don’t deny and suppress their sexuality.
I am angry that in Salt Lake City, Utah, 40% of all homeless teenagers are gay because they have be kicked out of their house by their Mormon families. Yeah, let’s hear it for family values.
I’m angry about the Muslim girl in the public school, who was told in the public school by her public school, taxpayer paid teacher, in the United States, in the classroom, that the red stripes on Christmas candy canes represented Christ’s blood, that she had to believe in him and be saved by Jesus Christ, or she would be condemned to hell and that if she didn’t there would be no place for her in his classroom.
I’m angry at the Sunday school teacher who told comic artist Craig Thompson that he could draw in heaven, and that she said this with the complete conviction of authority when, in fact, she had no basis whatsoever for that assertion. How did she know that, as she asserted, that you could sing in heaven, but that you couldn’t draw?
I am enraged at priests who rape children and tell them that it’s God’s will.
I’m angry at the Catholic Church who consciously, deliberately, and repeatedly, for years, acted to protect these priests who raped children, and literally acted to keep it a secret. I’m angry that they placed the Catholic Church’s reputation as a higher priority that children not being raped.
That the Catholic Church is now trying to argue in court that protecting child raping priests from prosecution and the shuffling of them from diocese to diocese so that they could continue raping children in new diocese and keep hidden from view, is constitutionally protected freedom of religion.
I’m angry about 9/11. That after 9/11 happened that people of Middle Eastern decent were attacked and their businesses vandalized, because the were Muslims, or because people assumed that they were Muslims even if they weren’t because they blamed all Muslims for the attacks.
I’m angry that Jerry Farwell blamed 9/11 on pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays and lesbians, the ACLU, and People For The American Way.
I’m angry that this theology of an angry, wrathful god exacting revenge against pagans and abortionists by sending radical Muslims to blow up buildings secretaries and investment bankers. I’m angry that this was a theology held by a powerful widely respected religious leader with million of followers.
I’m angry that little girls are getting their clitorises cut off because their parents’ religion teaches that it is necessary.
I’m angry that many people try to defend religion against the charge of female genital mutilation by saying, “Oh, that’s not what the religion really teaches if you look at the religions text, etc.” The fact is that Islamic religion, as it is actually widely believed and practiced; and not just Islam, but other religions in the region as they are actually believed and practiced teach that little girls need to have their clitorises cut off. And it enrages me that so many people defend the religion and not the children.
I’m angry about honor killings.
I’m angry that in Islamic theocracies, women who have sex outside marriage, women who date outside their religion, women who spend time with male friends, woman who disobey their male relatives are executed.
I’m angry that in Islamic theocracies that even women who have been raped and be, and are, exacted for the crime of adultery. I’m angry that the ones who only get imprisoned and beaten are the ones who get off lucky.
I’m angry that in Islamic theocracies, girls as young as nine years old can be married against their will.
I’m angry that when a nine year old girl in Brazil was raped, the doctors who preformed an abortion on her and the family who approved the abortion were excommunicated. And I’m angry that there was no excommunication for the man who raped her.
I’m angry that in 13 states in the United States, child care centers operated by religious organizations don’t have to adhere to basic standards of health and safety and don’t even have to be licensed. I’m angry that children in these child care centers have been harmed and have even died because of poor on nonexistent staff training and grossly unsafe conditions, and that the operators are immune from prosecution.
I’m angry that seriously ill children needlessly suffer and die because their parents believe in faith healing and believe that medicine treatment will anger their god. And I’m angry that in 39 states in the United States these parents are protected from prosecution for child neglect.
I’m angry about what happened to Galileo, still. And that it took until 1992 to apologize for it.
I’m angry that what happened to Galileo is, relatively speaking, a walk in the park. I’m angry that astronomer Giodarno Bruno was burned at the stake for, among other things, advocating that the sun was one star among many.
I get angry when advice columnist tell their troubled letter writers to talk to their priest or minister or rabbi where there is absolutely no legal requirement that the religious leader have any professional training in counseling, and that the advice they offer isn’t based on any evidence about what does and doesn’t work in people’s lives, but is based purely on what their religious doctrine tells them God wants.
I get angry when religious leaders opportunistically use religion, and people’s trust and faith in religion, to steal, cheat, lie, manipulate the political process, take sexual advantage of their followers and, generally speaking, behave like the scum of the earth. I get angry when it happens over, and over, and over again. I get angry at the fact that we open up the newspaper and see the headline, “Religious leader behaves like the scum of the earth.”, that we all shrug and say, “Oh, what, that again? It must be wednesday.”
I get angry when people see this happening and and still say that atheism is bad because without religion, people would have no basis for morality or ethics, they can just do whatever they want.
I’m angry that when my dad had a stroke and went into a nursing home, the staff asked my brother on intake, “Is he Baptist or Catholic?”. And I’m not just angry on behalf of my atheist dad, but I’m angry on behalf of all the Jews and the Buddhists and the Muslims and the Neo-pagans and the Hindus who’s families were almost certainly asked that same question.
I get angry when religious believers make arguments against atheism, and make accusations against atheists, without having bothered to talk to any atheists, or read any atheist writing. I get angry when they trot out the same old “atheism is a nihilistic philosophy with no joy or meaning, and no basis for morality or ethics, when if they spent 10 minutes in the atheist blogosphere…they would discover countless atheists who experience great joy and meaning in their life, and are intensely concerned with right and wrong.
I get angry when believer say that the entire, unimaginable hugeness of the universe was made solely and specifically for human begins, when atheists say that humanity is pretty much an infinitesimal eye-blink in the vastness of time and space, and then they accuse atheists of being arrogant.
I get angry when believer argue against atheists by saying that we are intolerant or mean, we’re superior, we’re whinny, and we are, yes, angry, without actually making an argument for why we’re wrong and they’re right.
I’m angry that I have to know more about their religion then they do. They say things about the text and tenants of their religion that are flatly untrue and I have to correct them on it.
I get angry when believer consider any criticism of their religion, i.e. pointing out that their religion is a hypothesis about the world that has to stand up on it’s own in the market place of ideas, as insulting and bigoted.
I get angry when believer accuse atheists of being intolerant for saying things like, “I don’t agree with you”, or “I think you’re mistaken about that”, and “What evidence do you have to support that position?”.
I get angry when believers respond to some, or all, of this litany of offenses by saying, “Oh well, that’s not the true faith.” “Hating queers, rejecting science, and stifling questions of dissent, and cutting off people clitorises and so on, that’s not the true faith. People who do that, they’re not real Christians, they’re not real Jews, they’re not real Muslims”. As if they had a pipeline to God. As if they had any reason at all to be sure what God wants and they know what true Christianity is, and the billions of others who agree with them have clearly got it wrong.
Christopher Hitchens’ Letter to American Atheists
The main reason I initially wanted to attend the American Atheists Conference this weekend was to hear Christopher Hitches speak. He is one of the most eloquent, thoughtful, and powerful writers and speakers about atheist issues today. Unfortunately, he has been battling what seems to be terminal cancer since last year, and was unable to attend. I pass on his letter which I present verbatim from PZ Myers blog, Pharyngula:
Christopher Hitchens was scheduled to appear at the American Atheist convention, but had to cancel because of his illness. He sent this letter instead.
Dear fellow-unbelievers,
Nothing would have kept me from joining you except the loss of my voice (at least my speaking voice) which in turn is due to a long argument I am currently having with the specter of death. Nobody ever wins this argument, though there are some solid points to be made while the discussion goes on. I have found, as the enemy becomes more familiar, that all the special pleading for salvation, redemption and supernatural deliverance appears even more hollow and artificial to me than it did before. I hope to help defend and pass on the lessons of this for many years to come, but for now I have found my trust better placed in two things: the skill and principle of advanced medical science, and the comradeship of innumerable friends and family, all of them immune to the false consolations of religion. It is these forces among others which will speed the day when humanity emancipates itself from the mind-forged manacles of servility and superstitition. It is our innate solidarity, and not some despotism of the sky, which is the source of our morality and our sense of decency.
That essential sense of decency is outraged every day. Our theocratic enemy is in plain view. Protean in form, it extends from the overt menace of nuclear-armed mullahs to the insidious campaigns to have stultifying pseudo-science taught in American schools. But in the past few years, there have been heartening signs of a genuine and spontaneous resistance to this sinister nonsense: a resistance which repudiates the right of bullies and tyrants to make the absurd claim that they have god on their side. To have had a small part in this resistance has been the greatest honor of my lifetime: the pattern and original of all dictatorship is the surrender of reason to absolutism and the abandonment of critical, objective inquiry. The cheap name for this lethal delusion is religion, and we must learn new ways of combating it in the public sphere, just as we have learned to free ourselves of it in private.
Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal: the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need). Perhaps above all, we affirm life over the cults of death and human sacrifice and are afraid, not of inevitable death, but rather of a human life that is cramped and distorted by the pathetic need to offer mindless adulation, or the dismal belief that the laws of nature respond to wailings and incantations.
As the heirs of a secular revolution, American atheists have a special responsibility to defend and uphold the Constitution that patrols the boundary between Church and State. This, too, is an honor and a privilege. Believe me when I say that I am present with you, even if not corporeally (and only metaphorically in spirit…) Resolve to build up Mr Jefferson’s wall of separation. And don’t keep the faith.
Sincerely
Christopher Hitchens
Live From The American Atheist Conference – Day 2, Part 1
The speaker this morning was Jamila Bey, a reporter for NPR. Her talk was entitled, We’re Not Unicorns — People of Color in the Atheist Movement. Jamila has an interesting background, being raised by a Souther Baptist mother who converted to Catholicism when Jamila was 5. Her father was a Black Muslim and she is married to an ethnic jew.
She said that black atheists are hiding for fear of social ostracization. She call them the low hanging fruit surrounded by thorns. We learned that 30% of blacks under the age of 30 identify themselves as non-religious.
Nest she talked about the how history of the black youth culture, back to the Harlem Renaissance, has been driven by heathens and homosexuals.
She talked about the history of black churches and how they have historically been a place of sanctuary going back to the time of slavery, since they were the only places where more than two blacks could gather. This has made black churches the only real social outlet that most African Americans have that are not gang or street related.
There is an interesting dynamic going on in these churches in that the congregations are made up mostly of women and their children, but are lead by men. She tells us that only 13% of black children are born into two parent families so that the women are the dominant force in the community, except when it comes to the churches. The children see these strong, outspoken black women being submissive in the presence of the pastors and other male leaders of the church, and most of them can see the inequality in this. This oppressiveness of the male dominated churches in the lives of black women leads to huge inequalities.
The average net worth of a black woman in America is $5.00. These women, most of who do not have savings or retirement funds, are told that the must give at least 10% of their earnings to the church, and they do. She cites the bible passage about the widow who gives all that she has as tithe to the temple and Jesus tells his disciples that she will be blessed because she gave out of her need. This glorifying of giving our of their need has been hammered into black women for generations and keeps them from becoming financially secure and independent.
She spoke about the image of the shepherd and the sheep and describes how this image is keeping black men out of the churches because they do not want to identify with being helpless followers. She said that the only reason the shepherd has you in his flock is because he wants to sell your meat and wool.
Jamila tells us of a county in Maryland that has the wealthiest black community in the country, but also has the worse school in the state. She told us how one of the major churches there is lavish, with a pastor who drives a car worth more that many of his flock’s homes, and yet their schools are crumbling because people give their money to the church instead of the schools.
She said that the story of the civil rights movement as being something that happened in the churches is a lie. These churches were the only place where people of color could gather in any number. Many of the leaders of the civil rights movement were atheists, including Bayard Rustin, a counselor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and one of the main organizers of the Freedom Rides who was gay and and atheist.
Jamila tells us that we need to reach out to black men who are alienated from Christian churches where they can never meet the standard of being like their blue-eyed, light-skinned savior.
She urged use to proudly wear our atheist buttons and shirts so that people can see us and start to learn who we are. When people ask us questions about what we are wearing, we can engage them in discussion and they can see us as just regular people, rather than someone to be feared.
We Are Defined by What We Believe, Not What We Don’t Believe
I posted some pictures from the American Atheists Conference on my Facebook page yesterday. A good friend posted the following comment:
“Can you help me understand why people convene to talk about what they don’t believe in?”
It is a question we atheists get a lot. Here is my response:
We talk about things that we believe in, like the freedom of, and from, religion, human rights, social justice, and equality for all people. We talk about our ethical and moral responsibility to those around us in this life, and the imperative to relieve human suffering where ever we see it. We are defined by these things we believe, not what we don’t believe. That would be like me defining you as a non-believer in the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus.
Religious belief is so ingrained in our culture that people just assume that if we don’t believe in a supernatural power greater than ourselves that we are somehow missing something. We are not. We are embracing this life, which as far as we can tell is the only one we have, and we are doing everything we can to make the most of it for ourselves and others. We see suffering and we don’t claim that it is the will of some fickle god, but something that we must make every attempt to alleviate. We believe in many, many things, just like anyone else, but we are not, and will not, be defined by what we do not believe.
Live From The American Atheist Conference – Day 1
I arrived at the conference around 11:30am and the first thing I did was find Surly Amy and say hello. She’s such a sweetheart. I finally got to meet her dude Surly Johnny! I didn’t want to go into the conference room and interrupt the talk so I chatted with Darrel Ray for a bit, then I saw Amanda Kief, who I met last year at the Midwest Humanist Conference. I also said hello to PZ Myers and we chatted briefly.
The first speaker up was Edwin Kagin. His speech was titled Our Legal Philosophy and Activity. He is the legal advisor for the American Atheists and has won several important cases that have upheld non-believers’ rights to freedom to not have religion forced upon them by local, state, and federal government. In speaking about the difference between Intelligent design and evolution he said, “The opposite to evolution is ignorance.”
Greta Christina was up next. Her talk was called Why Are Atheists so Angry and she listed many of the reasons she is angry, all having to do with the social injustices and human rights abuses that religions around the world have caused. I recorded her talk and will upload it as soon as I can get a decent internet connection.
The next speaker was Eddie Tabash who gave a talk called Taking Atheism To The General Public: The Time Is Now. He began by talking about our political responsibilities as atheists and how we need to vote for candidates who support separation of church and state, even if we disagree with them on unrelated issues. He spoke about how we need to stem the influence that the religious right currently has on our society in the U.S. or we could well become a theocracy. He said that American Atheists are a beacon of light against religion and theocracy.
He is realistic of what it will take to get to the point where the influence of religion on our society is no longer dominant, calling his plan a 100 year plan. He called on us to use the same never-ending patience that zealous religious people do when we in try to let people know that there is no heaven or hell and that this life is what we need to focus on. He said that we need to show sympathy for those who still believe and also support those new non-believers who are grieving over the lose of the comfort of their faith.
During the Q & A Mr. Tabash answered the a question that is currently being hotly debated within the atheists community; that of if we should use ridicule and satire against religious ideas. He believes that they are a tool and that we, as atheists, need to decide when to use them based on our audience and the situation, but that we must use all tools in our arsenal.
The final speaker of the day was Matthew Chapman who, besides being a great grandson of Charles Darwin, is also the director of the movie The Ledge. He gave some of his personal history traveling around the U.S., especially in the south, where he saw rampant discrimination against non-believers. The movie is about a young man who is an atheists and who has an affair with a minister’s wife. The movie will be screened here tonight. It was one of the few movies at the last Sundance Film Festival that was bought while it was still being screened there.
He spoke of religious strife and observed that religion is stupid on the front end and violent on the back end.
I chatted with Greta Christina briefly about how much I enjoyed her talk. I also asked if I could talk to her later about trying to get an article I’ve written about the moral aspects of polyamory published on alternet.org where she’s regularly published. She said that she’d be happy to talk to me.
They are starting the costume ball now. Expect pictures!
Off to corner Greta!
Happy Zombie Weekend!
PZ Myers has a link to a great a story about what he calls, first Zombie Uprising of 33AD. It is smart, funny, and oh so topical. PZ also calls this weekend Zombie Weekend, hence my wishing everyone a Happy Zombie Weekend.
I also found this great artwork that combines those two paragons of Easter, Jesus and The Easter Bunny. You probably know how I feel about those two; both myths, both just as implausible. I think the two items above can say more about my feelings about Easter than my words could. Enjoy!
I’ve Been Added to The Atheist Blogroll
Freethinking For Dummies has been added to The Atheist Blogroll. You can see the blogroll in my sidebar. The Atheist blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts for more information.
Another WTF! Moment, Brought to You by the Catholic Church
According to the BBC, Former Belgian Bishop, Roger Vangheluwe, has gone public with his explanation for the molestation of two of his nephews. While Fr. Vangheluwe freely admits that he engaged in sexual relations with his two nephews for 13 years, he contended that, “It had nothing to do with sexuality.”
When asked how the abuse began he stated:
“As with all families, when they came to visit, the nephews slept with me. It began as a game with the boys. It was never a question of rape.”
“I don’t have the impression at all that I am a pedophile,” he said. “It was really just a small relationship. I did not have the feeling that my nephew was against it, quite the contrary. It was not brutal sex.”
I don’t know what kind of family the former bishop was brought up in, but I certainly don’t find that kind of activity to be normal; as he tries to make it out to be.
This is a grown man who preyed on the most vulnerable of our society; children. He was a trusted adult, more specifically, a family member. He played a “game” with them that involved sexual contact. These were children who did not have the capacity to understand what the real point of the “game” was. They were emotionally unprepared and ill-equipped to deal with the powerful emotions that they surely must have felt. For this douche-bag to say that this wasn’t a question of rape is beyond the pale. For him to insist that he didn’t feel that his nephew was against it is obscene. Children are unable to make such judgments. Kids will go along with a trusted adult in anything because, as children, they rely on the adults who care for them to guide them and teach them.
The really sad part about this case is that he cannot be charged with a crime because too much time has passed. I think the laws should be changed, where the statute of limitations on child abuse should be equal to the life span of the victim.Roger Vangheluwe is nothing but a sick, abusive man. There are no excuses. There are no rationalizations.
For the Catholic Church’s part, it has stated that the cleric:
“…had been ordered to leave Belgium and undergo spiritual and psychological treatment.The disgraced cleric has not been defrocked but the Vatican spokesman added that it was “obvious” he would not be allowed to practice as a priest while he was undergoing treatment.”
In other words, nothing is going to be done to hold him accountable in any way. And people wonder why I’m an atheist.
My Best Friend is a Magic Jewish Zombie!
I was browsing my favorite art site, deviantart.com, a few days ago and came across this painting. A nicely done picture of Jesus titled, My Best Friend. My tollerence of bullshit was very low at that particular time (lower than it ususlly is!). In a fit of pique I left a simple, harsh, comment, “I’m sorry”. I am not usually so blunt, espeically with someone I’ve never met. I probably should have just ignored it and moved on. I didn’t and now I have an interesting situation to deal with.
Today, the artist who made that picture sent me a note. Here is the exchange:
i read your comment on my work.,my best friend,….and this has many interpretations…
may i ask your reason for being sorry…so that i may comment accordingly my friend…I’m sorry that your best friend is someone who doesn’t exist, or at least who you can’t see, touch, or hear. I believe that this life is precious and that it is all that we are sure that we have. For me, to put emotions into something that you can’t be sure is there is a waste. It does you and the people around you a disservice. By expending time, emotion, and even love on something that may or may not be real takes that time, emotion, and love away from the people around you who need it here, now.I am not trying to say that you shouldn’t believe in Jesus, but you live in this world with people who love you and need you. Make the most of it and give yourself and those you love every minute you have, every bit of love that you can. If after doing this, you feel you still have time and energy left for Jesus, great. But to say that he is your best friend is an insult to your real friends, who are here now and who need you.
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