A Little Humor. Just A Little…

There’s always someone… And you thought it was all about religion. There’s always 2012. Ummm… Maybe you ought to just call. Mike, you might want to just use your first initial. Or your middle name. Or both. I’m thinking George doesn’t want no stinkin’ apology. His reputation is sealed. Yep. That ought to reassure her. Last but not least, some REAL reassurance! del.icio.us [...]

Howard Jacobson and the Temple of Darwin

Jacobson and Grayling at the Natural History Museum

George Jellis isn’t too impressed by Creation, but has a few tips for the Natural History Museum as well.

Howard Jacobson is quoted as maintaining that “comedy is a very important part of what I do.”

So perhaps that was what he was attempting in his presentation in the first part of The Bible: a History. (The first episode, Creation, is still available online and the series continues on Channel 4.)

As he explains in his introduction on the C4 website: “The big question for me is how to believe, and not to believe, at the same time.” He concludes at the end of the film: “The concept that something can be both true and untrue is something that religious people seem better able to grasp than athiests.”

Plenty of scope for double entendre then, one would think.

Unfortunately he actually seems to have been taking these irrationalist theses seriously.

As he says in a related article in the Daily Mail, “We need, in my view, to jettison the idea of utter truth altogether.” And further: “We are complex beings, able to believe and not believe at the same time. We do it with a TV soap opera. We accept as truth what we know not to be true, and sometimes that which is not true affects us more profoundly.”

Jacobson began the programme with an outright attack on a straw-man version of atheism, and continued such quixotic attacks to such an extent that, in common with many other commentators, I found myself almost shouting at the television. He is “moved to fury” by the ‘New Atheists’, but despite being filmed looking at one chapter title of The God Delusion, doesn’t actually seem to have read the arguments in the rest of the book. In the Daily Mail article he even refers to “fire-and-brimstone atheists” who are “closed-minded in the name of science”.

Despite A. C. Grayling’s patient explanation to the contrary, Jacobson seems to think that atheists can have no appreciation of art, music or literature.

His main thesis was that New Atheists misunderstand the nature of religion, in particular the function of the Creation myth, which seems simply to be “to stir the imagination even of unbelievers like himself”.

The thing is, if he’s so keen to believe that everything can be true and not true at the same time, then surely Jacobson should be the first person to accept that, for some, the Creation myth simply isn’t very interesting or moving at all, when set against the wondrous works of natural history.

* * *

The interview with Grayling was conducted at the Natural History Museum in London which Jacobson described as “a temple to Charles Darwin”, kneeling reverently on the steps beneath the great naturalist’s statue. Having paid a visit to the museum myself in the last week, for a look around the new “Cocoon” structure, I have to agree with him that it has taken on the air of a Darwinian Temple.

The statue of the man who engaged the architect and planned the building, Richard Owen, I found is now relegated to a dark corner up the stairs to the left of Darwin. The fact that he is sculpted in devilish black marble and bears a resemblance to Olivier’s version of Richard III, whereas Darwin is enthroned like a bearded sage in saintly white marble adds to the impression. OK, maybe Owen was wrong about evolution, and a bit of a sly politician, but he did get the work done by founding this magnificent building. In my view he should be reinstated in a more prominent position. The obvious place would be in the Central Hall, guiding people to the Dinosaur exhibition, which is still the most entertaining and best presented part of the museum.

He could perhaps be matched on the other side of the hall, at the entrance to the Ecology exhibition, by the statue of Joseph Banks, which is currently to be found in another dark corner up on the second floor.

My visit to the Cocoon I have to say was a disappointment. This may have been in part because no adequate explanation was given about how to operate the exhibit screens. No doubt children are taught such elementary things at school now, and pensioners like me are expected to keep up to date, but I’m finding it going too fast for me. For instance, I tried pressing the Help symbols on the touch screens and nothing ever happened.

The only access and exits from the Cocoon appear to be by lift, which is worrying to someone claustrophobic like me, and most of it consists of a single rather featureless spiral corridor.

Surely it should have been in a double helix design! Anyway, I enjoyed the Dinosaurs once again!

George Jelliss is the secretary of Hastings Humanists and has an interest in history of ideas.

George Barnsby bigs up the BHA

George Barnsby, aged 90, “lifetime anti-racist and anti-fascist,” wrote this blog from his hospital bed where he is recovering from MRSA.

Such was my confidence at this time, that I was tempted to revert to the original purpose of the Blog, and advertise the latest bulletin of the British Humanist Association. The BHA represents what is probably, the largest body of people in the world, those who are Atheists or non-believers of every sort. People would be most likely to seek the services of a trained BHA official on the hasppy occasion of a wedding or the less happy occasion of a funeral, and it is interesting to note that at least 3 courses to train such officials, are now underway.

Another issue on my mind has been that of church schools, the majority of which are operated privately and outside the control of the Local authority, which still has to pay the bills even though they have no control over the syllabus or the ethos of the school.

Hopefully I’m not being too morbid when I say that another issue on my mind lately has been that of assisted suicide. The recent case of the mother of a girl who was bed-ridden for 17 years and who had clearly expressed a wish to end her life, being charged with attempted murder, only highlights how much clarification and ammendment is still needed to the law in this country.

http://gbpeopleslibrary.co.uk/blog/?p=2022

The BHA does indeed support a network of celebrants offering Humanist Ceremonies, campaigns on ‘faith’ schools and religion in schools in general, and also on legalising assisted dying for the terminally ill.

Judge addresses Sikh exemptions from knife rules

Sikhs should be allowed to wear their ceremonial daggers – known as Kirpans – to school and other public places, Britain’s first Asian judge has said.

There have been a number of cases of Sikhs being refused entry to venues because they wear the Kirpan or other religious artefacts.

Sir Mota Singh QC, who is retired, has criticised schools over the issue.

“Not allowing someone who is baptised to wear a Kirpan is not right,” Sir Mota told BBC Asian Network.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8500712.stm

It shouldn’t be news that science is fallible

John Krebs puts recent coverage of climate science in context.

My non-scientist friends are beginning to ask me “What’s gone wrong with science?” Revelations about melting glaciers and potentially dodgy emails about global warming, the resurfacing of Andrew Wakefield and the MMR scare, and the sacking of the Government’s drugs adviser, have created the impression for some people that science is in a mess.

Of course science isn’t in a mess, nor has anything changed. But the stories underline two important features of scientists and science. First, scientists, just like every other trade — bus drivers, lawyers and bricklayers — are a mix. Most are pretty average, a few are geniuses, some are a bit thick, and some dishonest.

Second, science itself is often misunderstood. Scientists tend to be portrayed as voices of authority who are able to reveal truths about arcane problems, be it the nature of quarks or the molecular basis of ageing. In fact, science is almost the opposite of this. InThe Trouble With Physics, physicist Lee Smolin considers how to describe science and concludes that Nobel Prize winner Richard Feyman’s phrase says it best: “Science is the organised scepticism in the reliability of expert opinion.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article7018438.ece

Stephen Fry Joins British Humanist Membership Boom

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed the author, comedian, presenter, and director Stephen Fry to its membership and as a Distinguished Supporter of Humanism. The news comes during a busy membership drive month in which the BHA has announced that it has doubled in size in the last five years, to 10,000 members, and wants to double again--in just half the time.

read more

What Is Secularism?

This month, I want to write about some words important to the atheist movement that are frequently misused and abused by religious apologists. The first of these words is secularism. In the rhetoric of spokespeople for the religious right, secularism is often assumed to be the desire to ban all forms of religious expression from public [...]

British Humanist Association supports Power 2010

The BHA is supporting a campaign promoting a healthy, inclusive and vibrant approach to democracy. The Power 2010 campaign hopes to increase participation in, and discussion about, democratic processes in the UK by creating a list of people’s priorities for democratic reform.

The campaign began in September when anyone could submit their ideas for reform to Power2010, The 4,500 received were then deliberated on by a random selection of the public who created a shortlist of 29 key ideas.

BHA Campaigns Officer Pepper Harow stated, ‘The BHA is heavily involved in work that encourages participation and involvement by all individuals at all levels of government. Our local groups and members are hugely active at local level; whether it be joining local coalitions or working with others on equalities and citizens forums. Democracy can only work as a system if it gives people a voice and allows people the freedom to stand up and be counted and this is exactly what this campaign is about.

‘Some of the suggested courses of action from Power2010 are of particular interest to humanists. For example, although the BHA takes no position on a preferred structure to the second chamber, a fully elected second chamber would remove the automatic right for 26 Bishops to sit in the House of Lords, the debate around a Bill of Rights may have important implications for freedom of belief and extending the Freedom of Information Act to cover, for example, the Church of England, would have an effect on the BHA’s campaigning work.

‘The BHA will be encouraging all its members and supporters to take part in the campaign.’

Sabio bites the dust


OK, I admit, this post’s title was a cheap, journalistic trick, but in a way, it is true:  People may soon notice that my icon has changed and leaping-Sabio is gone! Sniffle …

When I began this blog one year ago, I decided that due to the nature of the material and the community I lived in, I would use a fictitious name and symbol to keep my pedestrian identity secret.  So while trying to create a icon, I ran upon a leaping paleolithic hunter on some nutrition sites and decided to photoshop the fellow over a setting sun and call it my own.  Thus, the Sabio you know and love was born.    But alas, little did I know that this silhouetted  primal maniac was someone’s official corporate logo.  And this week I got the following letter in my e-mail box.

Hello, Sabio,
My name is Aaron Fox. I am the editor of MarksDailyApple.com and the GM of Primal Nutrition, Inc. It was brought to my attention that you are using our brand logo on your site as your own. Our image of “Grok” is the logo for the Primal Blueprint brand. As such we ask that you remove the graphic from your site (as seen here) in the manner in which it is used. Thank you for your cooperation.

Aaron Fox, Editor
www.MarksDailyApple.com
Serving up health and fitness insights (daily, of course) with a side of irreverence.

So, to protect my legal butt and because it is the right thing to do (in that order), I have changed my icon.   BTW, Marks’ Daily Apple is a fantastic website for carnivores and/or people interested in nutrition, exercise and health!

In deciding on my new icon, I used a well-researched principle of mythology:  To make a myth easy to remember and thus effective one should tell a fairly normal story and only change one or two facts to be extra-normal or miraculous.  Thus, I am leaving the sun the same and only changing the leaping-lad into an ouroboros — boy, I hope he is not someone’s property.   I use the self-consuming Ouroborus as a symbol for the undoing of self, a theme in my blog.  The Ouroborus is appropriately also used in myths, like the Phoenix, as a symbol for re-birth or eternal return.   The rising sun is a symbol for optimism, strength, inspiration and support.

Though my former version of Sabio has “passed on”, I am not saddened.  One of my favorite posts, called Mini-Deaths, describes why.  Oddly enough, that post was read by few because I posted it back-to-back with another post.  Hint:  If you really have a post you want your readers to see, don’t post back to back or only the most devoted and diligent readers will find it — and don’t be deluded that you have any of those readers.  :-)

So, I thought some of you may enjoy the story and I thought it wise to head off questions and so this post.  It will take time for my new symbol to propagate over the web.  Some of the places I have had to change it are:

  • bloggers.com (which I established to comment on blogspot blogs.
  • gravatar (for your universally recognized avatar)
  • WordPress.com Favicon ( btw, if you have a wordpress, account, try jazzing it up with a flavicon!)
  • Intense Debate (another commenting tool used by some sites)
  • Atheist Nexus (a great site)

Who’d have guessed it would take so much work to change an image.  If you find my icon elsewhere on locations I have forgotten, please let me know so I can wipe leaping-Sabio off this etheric plane !  And BTW, I am updating my blog’s organizing, so if you subscribe by e-mail, you may be getting hit with several posts over the next few days — sorry.

Photo Sunday: Pharaoh Lake Sunrise

This week's guest contributor says: "This is why it pays to rise with the sun. Very few people are blessed with the experience of a wilderness sunrise such as this gem. After a morning like this, the world cannot help but seem a miraculous place." Sunrise, Pharaoh Lake, Adirondack State Park. Photo credit: Jim Sabiston, Essential Light [...]

What Kind of God?


I couldn’t resist posting an oldie but goodie today:

– the chaplain

Filed under: humor, rationalism, religion

Noah’s Ark-God, Giraffes & Genocide

Don’t get caught using logic!

Great stuff by The Thinking Atheist
Via: Atheist Media Blog


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Would assisted suicide threaten the vulnerable? - Big Questions

source: iPlayer including Debbie Purdy (first 24 minutes)

Virtual Revolution - 2

source: Episode 2 - http://bbc.co.uk/i/qsbvv/ -watch on iPlayer until 27 February 2010 and episode 1: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qn37q/hd/The_Virtual_Revolution_The_Great_Levelling/ Virtual Revolution - http://www.bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution/ full interviews - http://www.bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution/interviews.shtml eg  Stephen Fry 1.21 - "connection is what humans crave" Aleks

Skeptics with a K podcast - founders of 10:23 campaign

source: http://www.merseysideskeptics.org.uk/skeptics-with-a-k/ Skeptics with a K is the podcast of the Merseyside Skeptics Society, recorded and edited at the region’s internationally-renownedSummit Studios. Each episode features Mike, Marsh and Colin chatting about stuff that interests them, often with a skeptical angle.

iFail!

My friend Anthony over at MySpace recently posted a blog titled The Apple iTampon reviewed which reminded of me of the following post from my favorite Pic/Photo blog My[confined]Space.



Also, the title of his blog inspired me to recollect the 2007 skit posted below from Mad TV which Mr. Jobs obviously didn't see:-)

Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing (Part 2)

This is of course a continuation of Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing.

For this I will turn to one of my favourite pre-Socratics, Parmenides. I will present his arguments which will hopefully help answer this ultimate question.

P1: If you can think about nothingness, then it has at least two attributes: it is knowable and thinkable.
P2: If ‘nothingness’ has attributes, then it isn’t nothingness; it is ‘something’ knowable and thinkable.
P3: It is absurd to claim that nothingness is something.
Conclusion: You cannot think about ‘nothingness’.

P1: If the cosmos comes to be it must come to be from what is not (nothingness) or from what is (something).
P2: The cosmos cannot come to be from not being/nothingness.
P3: The cosmos cannot come to be from something/what is because it already is.
Conclusion: The cosmos cannot come to be.

P1: If the cosmos is perishable it perishes into something or nothing.
P2: It cannot perish into something because that is still the cosmos.
P3: It cannot perish into nothing.
Conclusion: The cosmos cannot perish.

No related posts.

More Wintry Views from the Old Homestead


This weekend’s snowstorm is the fourth – count ‘em, four – major snowfall we’ve had in northern Virginia this winter. It’s also the third – count ‘em, three – snowfall we’ve had this week. This past Tuesday’s snowfall of 3 inches or so (which, in any normal winter in these parts would have been major news) pales in comparison to the two weekend storms that surrounded it. It has now been snowing for over 24 hours and it is supposed to keep snowing for several hours more.

I’ll start by offering you a comparison of last week’s view from my window with this week’s view, which is still in progress as I type.


You can see that there’s a considerable difference between what happened then and what is happening now.

As a bonus, I’m also going to show you a view from my front stoop.


You can see that the maintenance guy has cleared some pathways. As I type, the poor fellow is out there again, shoveling the snow from my stoop and plowing the path again. Just before I took this picture, I measured the snow on the pathway (which had been cleared two hours before I got out there) and found that it was about 4 inches deep. So, as you look at the photo, keep in mind that the low bit is four inches deep and see for yourself how much deeper the untouched snow is. You can also see that, if the guy hadn’t cleared away some of the snow from the fire hydrant (lower right hand edge), it would be buried. The accumulation thus far is at least two feet deep. It’s 95% (or more) fresh snow, because most of the stuff that fell on us last weekend and earlier this week had melted by midweek.

I’ll close this post with a photo I took after Tuesday’s snowfall. You know, the one that Phil predicted hours before it happened (maybe there is something to this groundhog prognostication thing!). This photo was taken the day after Groundhog Day (as was the one in the 50 Word Bible post) and, I must admit, the snow was gorgeous that morning.

That’s all for now. I think it’s about time to enjoy some hot Irish cocoa!

– the chaplain

Filed under: announcements/news, photography

Movie Review: Creation

Last night I had a chance to see Creation, the independent film by British director Jon Amiel that presents an account of the life of Charles Darwin and his struggle to write his great work, On the Origin of Species, while mourning the death of his beloved daughter Annie. The movie is based on Annie's [...]

Obama's Faith-Based Discrimination Office Must Change

Obama has reinvigorated my hopes for his presidency this year beginning with his renewed commitment to push Congress to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy—which bars gays and lesbians from openly serving in the armed forces—in his first State of the Union Address.  Other positive news includes the administrations global health imitative which focuses on family planning by calling  for an increase in reproduction health education services, contraceptives for young people, linking HIV services to family planning and focusing on prenatal care to reduce unsafe abortions, all of which firmly rebukes nearly a decade of Bush era policies focusing on evangelical Christian and Catholic ideology.

All that being said, I think it is high time that President Obama begins to dismantle the architecture of President Bush's Faith-Based Initiative which condones taxpayer funded discrimination practices and allows religious groups to openly refuse to hire or provide services to people because of their beliefs and lack thereof.

I recently joined a broad coalition of groups asking Obama to reform the 'faith-based' initiative by writing a letter facilitated by Americans United For Septation of Church and State.

Please join me by writing your own letter if you think the cause is worthy.

Bellow is my letter to President Obama. My words are in bold and the form letter prepared by AU is in italics.

Dear President,

When you took office, I had hoped that you would make much-needed changes to the Faith-Based Initiative, as you had promised during your campaign. Today, I am disappointed to note that none of these changes have been made. I care deeply about civil rights and religious freedom, and I ask that you take swift action to restore important constitutional and civil rights protections to the provision of social services.

I personally do think there should even be a “faith-based office,” but if it’s going to exist, then it should comply with long-established protections guaranteeing civil rights and civil liberties.

I distinctly recall hearing you promise that you would end the taxpayer funded discrimination practices, made legal by five Bush-era executive orders, in which many religious groups openly refuse to hire or provide services to people because of their beliefs and lack thereof. In fact I specifically remember hearing you say that “if you get a federal grant, you can't use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can't discriminate against them—or against the people you hire—on the basis of their religion.”

It's been a year now and the "Faith-Based Initiative" under your watch has continued—practically unchanged—from the Bush Administration.

Your promise to end these discriminatory practices is one of the main reasons I voted for you and I think it is time you fulfilled that promise.

When an individual wishes to dedicate his or her professional life to serving the neediest members of his or her community, that individual's religious beliefs should not be an obstacle. But today, qualified public servants can be turned away from government-funded providers and told that the work of restoring justice in their communities is not an option for someone of their religious background and beliefs. Until your Administration revokes the Bush executive orders and regulations, this remains the policy of the United States government. Allowing such discrimination stands contrary to the ideas of fairness, equal opportunity, and civil rights that I had hoped your Administration would uphold.

Furthermore, federal protections are still inadequate to prevent proselytizing and other religious freedom abuses. The most vulnerable members of our society deserve to receive treatment and services that are free of religious coercion and influence. As of now, the existing regulations do not adequately protect those in need of services. Please issue executive orders clearly protecting social service beneficiaries' religious liberty now.

It's time to end government-funded discrimination and proselytizing once and for all. Please take action without delay to address these issues.

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