This podcast, my host Ryan and I will be talking about Scientology. What is it all about? Does it have anything to do with science, or is it a cult?
This episode, we talk about the renewed sensitivity of the very religious. Are atheists and other secularists on the attack, or are they simply puffing smoke whenever someone doesn’t share their worldview?
Praise Yahweh, and dance while sitting on a chair!
Just how did Darren Brown manage to convert all of those atheists with simply a touch? If you were a gambler, and you had to place your bets on either the existence of God, or on his non-existence, which would be the better bet? This week, we try to answer these fascinating questions, as well as comment on the state of music these days!
There’s a long stranding belief that astrologers, psychics, and Tarot readers generally do no harm. Most people who read their horoscope do so out of sheer curiosity, and because they enjoy being surprised by the occasional reading that seems genuine. Of course, this belief often disregards the giant disfavor done to individuals who often rely on such quacks to tell them what do with their lives.
The technique every psychic relies on is called ‘cold reading’. There’s nothing too difficult about it. First, you start off with a rather general statement about a person based only on their appearance and demeanor. You can then proceed by making educated guesses on what might be bothering someone. Human beings are generally very similar, and we all share the same fears that others would in our situation. In fact, a psychic could simply be reading the same generic profile and have every single client believe it was an extremely accurate representation of their personality.
Enter Derren Brown. Derren is a performance artist who doubles as a debunker of psychics. He puts on shows to demonstrate to others how easily they can be fooled. In this particular video, he exposes just how easy it is for someone to fill in the gaps in their personality, by simply applying the most basic cold reading. Derren does not even need to be one on one with the person. A prewritten ‘assessment’ and the victim’s imagination are all he needs to have them completely under his spell.
It’s interesting to note after the initial embarrassment and subsequent enjoyment of the performance, many of the participants left feeling more confident in their ability to apply rigorous skepticism to claims of paranormal talents. Some no doubt left with a distaste for the relatively cheap parlor trick being played on their friends and loved ones. Many probably left the studio wanting to warn them of just how easy it is to be fooled.
It takes professional entertainers to be able to fully awaken the rest of us to the dangers psychics can represent. An illusionist is aware that the same ability to fool people can be used to entertain as it can be to control, confuse, and abuse. They can appreciate the vulnerabilities of the human mind because it is their job to exploit them for our entertainment. No doubt they must look upon their counterparts, who claim supernatural powers while simultaneously bilking their fellow human beings of their hard earned money, with a great deal of contempt and anger. Mr. Brown has found an avid new fan with his obvious display of compassion. Keep up the good work!
This week, my guest is Tom, filling in after the mysterious disappearance of Ryan. We’ll be talking about the ‘lost’ continent of Atlantis, as well as hear some great stories from my traveling friend, as he recounts his experiences around the world!
Remember Mother Teresa? You may recall often today, every time someone fails to commit an act of selfishness, they are automatically criticized for not being like her. This woman is still revered by many as a symbol of goodness and generosity. Unfortunately, it would seem her saintliness was not a result of her religious conviction. It seems to have been only a facade, as recently published letters indicate for years, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu had completely lost her faith.
This stunning revelation is made all the more confusing by the fact its publisher, Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, released the letters in order to bolster Mother Teresa’s chances at sainthood. Why? Well, according to this obviously confused preacher man, it supposedly demonstrates her tortured nature, and difficulty in accepting what can only be described by this humble writer as reality. Here are a few choice quotes from her:
“Where is my faith? Even deep down, there is nothing but emptiness and darkness… If there be God” please forgive me!
Such deep longing for God: Repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal
What do I labor for? If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true.”
She had asked that the letters be destroyed after her death, to cover up the reality that for almost a decade, she had completely lost her faith. The church decided otherwise, for reasons which are still quite baffling.
It’s a strange reminder that those who shroud themselves in the veils of saintliness often do so to cover up some gigantic character flaw. Obviously, I’m not saying her faithlessness was such a flaw; on the contrary, it was a woman admitting to herself there simply was no real evidence for her belief. Still, you have to wonder how many other high profile religious folks are simply closet atheists, hiding secret diaries that would otherwise expose their inability to admit to themselves and the world they have stopped believing in fairy tales.
What you believe about the supernatural has a powerful influence over how you treat the natural, physical world. For instance, if you think life begins right at the moment of conception, you may feel the need to deny the right of others to terminate unwanted pregnancies. It wouldn’t matter if you lacked any real evidence of this; it’s inconsequential. Some can be so convinced of this fact they would be willing to try any tactic to deny the ability for others to seek, what is essentially, a medical treatment.
In Denver, a Planned Parenthood facility is being built. Although they had attempted to construct it in secret, word quickly got out, and now the Colorado Right to Life organization is protesting its construction. Their objection is based on their theological conviction contraception is evil, all fetuses should be brought to term, and any planning beyond getting married and having more kids is the work of the devil.
All of this joyful protest would normally have gone right over my head, had it not been for an interesting article I read in the New York Times. It involved a study that found 90% of pregnant women who have had a Down syndrome test choose to abort. Now I’m no mathematician, but the pro life group in the US doesn’t have those kinds of staggering numbers. That’s because when the issue having an abnormal pregnancy comes biting them in the face, many pro-choice have to agree that life can often be relative cruel and hard, and the benefits of being able to avoid the burden of a serious mental handicap often outweighs their supernatural convictions. In other words, the real world doesn’t always obey your simple, black and white, good and evil platitudes.
This is what the issue boils down to. People who are pro-choice and believe an individual should have sovereignty over their own bodies don’t force young teenagers in Texas into having abortions. Many of them will quietly respect their neighbor’s right to procreate and raise children in their own fashion. Pro-lifers, however, do not generally have the same respect of their counterparts. They wish to suppress and deny these rights, if only due to their religious conviction. Whether they like it or not, the issue of when life develops, and deserves the same rights as a breathing, thinking human being, is not a black and white issue, just as the termination of fetuses with Down syndrome isn’t. Just what is the right thing to do?
I don’t pretend to know the answer. I only hope that we give people the chance to make the right decisions. In this case, it’s to allow someone the option of choosing the direction and course of their lives. I, for one, would never protest a facility that offers choices to people, since perhaps one day, I may be faced with a similar decision to make.
Does it take as much faith to believe in evolution as in the Bible? This week, my co-host Ryan Harkness and I will discuss a rather interesting correspondence I’ve had with my Christian counterpart. Also, we’ll be talking a little bit about a New Age group that believes staring directly at the Sun is healthy for them. Just where do they come up with this stuff?
I received an interesting little letter, and I thought it might be a good idea to post it on the site to let others know how I feel about my atheist views
“Hey, how’s it going? My name is Anthony I was browsing around and saw you profile [on myspace.com]. I have a question. Just curious, why did you decide to become an atheist? What convince you that there is not a God?”
Hi Anthony,
If you’d like to hear the reason I became an atheist, I’d be more than happy to explain it to you. I hope you don’t mind that I will include this open letter to you on my site, www.thegoodatheist.net.
I never in actual fact decided to become an atheist. I have always been one. My parents were not very religious, but their philosophy was to allow their children the opportunity to decide for themselves what they would believe. I was lucky enough not to have that decision made for me.
As a young child, the issue of God never really came up that often. Although my school was a Catholic one, and although they made prayer in the morning mandatory, for me, they were mere words. Just as children may not fully comprehend the significance of the song “ring around the rosie” (which is about the bubonic plague), the prayer “Our father…” was just routinely memorized in order for me to avoid the floggings handed out for not chanting it aloud.
As I grew up and became more curious about this notion of God, I couldn’t help but feel as though the answers everyone claimed to have were simply guess-work. A priest would inform his parish that a man was born of a virgin, and somehow this person was supposed to be my lord. But where was his proof of that if this was true? His reliance lay in a book that, just a few hundred pages earlier, claimed that one man had fit two of every animal on a single boat. Clearly, such a tome was not to be trusted.
Also during this time, my high school class was being taught Greek mythology. The comparisons between the two were immediately obvious, and I began to understand religion served not as a historical account of human history, but rather was a way for confused and superstitious people to explain the world around them. In my own lifetime, the mysteries about the weather, earthquakes, and even the development of life on earth have been satisfactorily answered by the sound and tested methods of science.
I used to feel as though religion did no real harm; it was just a way for people to bring comfort in their own lives. However, I began to realize a strange and deadly hubris is formed when individuals assume their improvable theories are tantamount to supreme truth, especially when these truths conflict with the equally improvable claims of others. Clearly, no one was willing to have a rational discourse on the matter simply because the foundations of their arguments were irrational to begin with.
In any case, the ‘decision’ to become an atheist was simply a refusal to believe any claim made that isn’t supported by evidence. There are some hard core believers who try and fabricate evidence to prove God’s existence (such as citing miracle). It’s ironic that these efforts obviously undermine religion’s claim that only faith is needed to believe. It is quite obviously not enough for the human mind to accept treatises that fly in complete opposition to what it knows as fact.
You might be religious. Odds are you consider me strange for not believing in the same mythology you do, but in reality, you might not fully appreciate just how strange it is to believe in the invisible, or the improvable. A pagan who believes in fairies in Ireland, or a cargo cultist in Taanu (who think a man by the name of John Frum will come and deliver life giving cargo) would consider the idea of a son of a god being born of a virgin as completely ludicrous. It’s easy to dismiss the strange beliefs of others; but in so doing we ignore the nonsensical things we hold dear. It is better to face the possibility that we may be wrong, rather than foolishly hope we are right.
A group of 18 men in Northern Nigeria are facing a possible death sentence for taking part in a gay wedding. The men were dressed as women, and were promptly arrested for alleged sodomy. Unfortunately for them, the town of Bauchi is under Sharia law, and so the men face the possibility of being stoned to death.
For those of you unaware of what Sharia law is, in Arabic it translates directly to the way. It is the legal system bound by Islamic dogma. Their obvious and violent aversion to homosexuality makes it a crime punishable by death, and failing that, there is a real possibility they could face torture or even amputation for their alleged crime.
It seems almost impossible that in this day and age, the biblical traditions of the 1st century are still being practiced, and yet, in Nigeria, it’s not uncommon for people to be flogged for drinking, or have their hands cut off for adultery. Most of the citizens there support this. In fact, they’re down right confused about why we make such a big deal out of it. They mistakenly assume our morality must somehow be inferior to theirs, since they derive their laws from sacred texts, while we foolishly base it on precedence, and habeas corpus.
Obviously, there are some people in the US who actually support similar laws like the Sharia edicts. It’s not surprising these same individuals are highly religious. At the same time, many of us in the West feel it is important to respect other cultures, and their way of doing things. I, on the other hand, feel that it’s necessary to remind people that simply because it is culturally acceptable to do something, does not make it right. There are many different ways to live a good life; but there isn’t an infinite amount. If your laws and morality reflect the habits and mores of the Bronze Age, the level of sophistication of your moral development will reflect this fact. As the world becomes smaller, we can no longer take the attitude of live and let live, particularly when it comes to violent offences against our fellow human beings. We should take these kinds of issues very seriously, and not allow relativism to confuse the important issue of human rights.
There are so few hard core right wing religious groups in Canada you can sometimes forget they exist at all. In typical Canadian fashion, most religious organizations are reluctant to get involved in any politics, and prefer not to make a fuss. However, a new proposed program has one province’s Right to Life group up in arms. Newfoundland is facing some opposition for wanting to offer vaccines for HPV to young girls, as religious groups claim such vaccines would further encourage kids to engage in sex. They want the program, which would help reduce cervical cancer rates by well over 70%, to be replaced by an abstinence only one.
I love these abstinence guys. Despite the overwhelming evidence that abstinence only teaching actually dramatically increases the instances of both pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, the religious organizations that push for this infantilizing program refuse to accept reality. It’s not a complete stretch for them to ignore strong evidence; it’s practically a daily habit for them. Luckily, the provincial government is more interested in the health of its citizens than in their immortal souls burning in eternal hellfire.
You have to wonder if any of these ignoramuses would quickly switch camps if one of their daughters or wives suddenly developed cervical cancer as a result of the human papillomavirus. Would they think their God had a special plan in place for their soon to be departed loved ones, or would they kick themselves knowing they could have prevented it? Even if giving out the vaccination did somehow slightly increase how many teenagers engage in sexual intercourse (for which there is zero evidence indicating it would), it’s a small price to pay for these young girls to have a greater chance of living long and healthy lives
Hira Ratan Manek (or HRM as he’s known) believes staring at the sun heals
When navigating around the endless New Age nonsense out there, inevitably you’ll run across a gamut of different emotions, ranging from surprise to utter shock at the gullibility and stupidity of the human race. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, a new group of doe eyed true believers come out of the woodwork. This time, it’s a goof troop in Atlanta who believes staring directly at the Sun, 5-45 minutes a day, is making them lose weight and feel great. I admit it; I’ve been tempted sometimes to look at that giant ball of gas millions of miles away; after all, it’s the reason there’s life here on Earth. Who isn’t curious to see what it really looks like? Luckily, we can in complete comfort using special telescopes (yeah science!) Of course, we were always told that staring directly at the Sun without special equipment was about as smart an idea as shoving a fork in an electrical socket; but, than again, not everyone takes good advice. These sun-gazers believe that the life-giving properties of our favorite star revitalizes them, by infusing them with vital energies.
If you’re looking for some scientific proof to these crackpot claims, don’t waste your time. It’s the same tactic every New-Ager uses: say the word energy, and life force, and people will buy anything you say (as well as your crummy high-priced merchandise). Who needs science anyways, when your guru is a retired Indian spice trader who has rabbit like sideburns? His ideas are so beyond science, it takes a spin doctor to understand what the hell he’s saying.
We have a super computer in our bodies given to us by the nature, which is our brain. HRM (Hira Ratan Manek) calls it the brainutor. The brain is more powerful than the most advanced super computer. Each and every human being is gifted with innumerable talents, and infinite inherent powers by nature. Individuals should never underestimate themselves. Everyone is gifted. If we make use of these powers we can take ourselves to great levels. Unfortunately, these infinite inherent powers are programmed in that part of the brain that is largely dormant and goes unused. Even medical science agrees we hardly make use of the brain but about 5-7% the most brilliant of humans like Albert Einstein is reported to have used only about 32% of their brains.
Where does HRM get his facts? Presumably from the wisdom of Mother Earth! But wait, there’s more nonsense! He goes on to say:
Sun energy is the source that powers the brain, which can enter and leave the human body or the brain only through one organ that is the human eye. Eyes are the Sun Energy’s entry door to the human brain. Present day teachings and ideas such as don’t look at the sunlight at all –you will damage your eyesight; never go out in the sun as you will get cancer, are causing needless hysteria and paranoia. The more you are away from the nature, the more there is a cause for illness and you will automatically support global corporations.
Well, just in case you thought that perhaps Mr. Manek might not know what the hell he’s talking about, bask in his unique understanding of our solar system, as HRM informs us that the Sun is the biggest planet in our planetary system. Wow, and here I stupidly thought it was a star!
The rest of us who possess a little common sense can laugh at the ridiculous claims of people like Manek, who is just another type of Breatherian (those who essentially believe they can survive on only sunlight and water). So long as people are desperate to believe anything a bearded weirdo is willing to tell them, we can expect the continued survival of similarly sad and deluded individuals.
I don’t spend a lot of time wondering where my money goes when I buy food. I figure it’s going to the employees, the owner of the franchise, and whatever is left goes to some obscure CEO locked up in an office, counting his money. I always figured these guys were like Scrooge; they made you work in the cold, giving you as little time off to spend with your invalid son as possible. It never occurred to me some of these guys might actually hold religious views that seriously jeopardized the liberties of others. Thomas Monaghan, founder of Dominoes Pizza™, has built a rather large Catholic town in Florida called Ave Maria. After purchasing precious swamp land, he decided to create a new Eden, where fresh faced young Christians can witness to one other, while they deny their fellow citizens birth control, and the ability to have safe abortions. He didn’t go halfway into this venture; Monaghan poured his billion dollar fortune into building his Catholic haven, selling his business to afford this dream.
When 27 million dollar creation museums are springing up, you know fundamentalists have access to some serious cash, but Monaghan goes far beyond the hopes and dreams of exclusionary pious folks. He’s not the only business owner with deep pockets who is pushing an agenda; Gary Heavin, the founder and CEO of Curves™, donates a considerable amount of his earnings to pro-life organizations. Although the chain itself is not involved, its growing popularity has no doubt allowed a substantial increase in his donations.
Although I do believe people should be allowed to spend their money as they see fit (so long as no one is hurt), I nevertheless feel it is my duty not to support any company or institution I feel is doing people a disservice. Monaghan’s University is just another fledgling religious lapdog, ready to churn out countless generations of conservatively minded individuals who oppose women’s right to choose, gay marriage, or not generally believing in a bearded, andro-centric god. Although he no longer owns Dominoes, it might prompt me to be a bit more careful where I choose to purchase.
In this episode, my host Ryan Harkness and I will discuss the movie The Secret in detail. We also talk about how a princess in the Netherlands thinks she can talk to angels.
