Monday, November 26, 2007

Atheists In Foxholes


There has been a myth generated by some members of the Christian community that Atheists are unpatriotic cowards.

That you won't find an Atheist in a Foxhole during wartime.

Since they essentially build their lives around belief in a myth, it shouldn't surprise anyone that they're also good at fabricating them.

"The scurrilous foxhole canard originated with a god-fearing Catholic chaplain, Father William Thomas Cummings, during World War Two.* Father Cummings, is quoted as uttering these patently bigoted words, “There are no Atheists in the foxholes,” during a field sermon on Bataan in 1942. What he was saying, of course, is that he couldn’t face what was coming without clinging to the fantasy that he would go to heaven and it wouldn’t be a total loss. He projected that fear onto everyone else around him, including those who had no belief in god. How could he possibly know the beliefs of all the millions of men in the service?"
Source: --The Myth Of The Foxhole Atheist

Aside from the fact that this was a lie (WWII had a lot of Atheist soldiers) this myth is used to smear those who disagree with the status quo of Christianity.

The military culture, like the police culture, requires bonding amongst the men and women in a unit. People have to be able to rely on each other to cover each other's backs, particularly in dangerous, life-threatening situations.

When statements like this are made, an atmosphere of mistrust is generated against those who don't fit the status quo, like Atheists. Fragging can occur when this bonding, these very strong ties are broken because of a perceived breach of trust.

The fact is, that the men and women in the military span the entire system of belief and value systems as do Atheists. Being an Atheist simply means you don't believe in God. An Atheist can be a conservative, liberal, leftist, or anything else for that matter. Most have extremely high moral and ethical standards, a few may not, because Atheists establish their own moral and framework based on their ethics and beliefs.

Yes, human beings are capable of doing that! Some of us don't need a God, or a myth to tell us how to be decent human beings.

Pat Tillman (photo above) is a good example of this:
"He was the star National Football League defensive back who, after the 9/11 attacks, walked away from his $3.6 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist as an elite U.S. Army Ranger and go off to Afghanistan to whip some terrorist ass. No matter what your opinion on the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, or your theory on who was ultimately responsible for the 9/11 attacks, Tillman was clearly acting as a selfless hero in the traditional sense of the word. The media sang only one song at the time-dirtbags in Afghanistan did this to us-and "deterrence" through violent retribution was the only discussable response. Both Tillman and his brother Kevin, like most every American, bought into the program-but they actually volunteered to fight. "
Source: --Who Killed Pat Tillman

Tillman was looking forward to fighting in Afghanistan, to "kick some terrorist butt". He was presented to the world by the Media and the American government as a Hero. Instead he was sent to Iraq. A war he disagreed with, believed was immoral, and by a President who's policies he felt were wrong. He was open about his opinions and months before the Presidential elections in 2004 connected with Noam Chomsky. He wanted Bush voted out of office and there was concern that, due to his Hero status, he would succeed.

On April 24, 2004, Pat Tillman was killed. Three shots to the head. The bullets were American.

The Tillman story is an American tragedy and due to the Media's silence, a travesty and injustice. A full and proper investigation has never been done into his death. Evidence has been destroyed and misinformation has been spun about who he was and what he believed:
"What was deliberately ignored was an incident at his funeral-reported in the May 4, 2004, San Francisco Chronicle and New York Daily News-when Tillman's youngest brother, Rich, took offense at words that Tillman was now "with God"; he stated to the gathering, "Pat isn't with God. He's fucking dead. He wasn't religious." More importantly, what was buried was the complex story of Pat Tillman's opposition to the Iraq war and the Bush agenda."
Source: --Who Killed Pat Tillman

Isn't it time that Pat Tillman, our American Hero, received justice?

Isn't it time that our Atheists In Foxholes received the respect that they deserve?

Background:

Pat Tillman Foundation
Playing the Atheism Card Against Pat Tillman’s Family
Ellen Johnson, President Atheist Organization speaks about Pat Tillman
News Report, Army Insults Family Of Tillman
Military Association Of Atheists And FreeThinkers


Saturday, November 24, 2007

What Is Atheism?

This video received the award for "Excellence in Humanist Communications" from the Harvard University Humanist Chaplaincy.


The Other Side ;)

Friday, November 23, 2007

Why do Christians celebrate Christmas? - Upd&Rev.

Every so often in Toronto, the PC Brigade (politically correct police) starts making noise about the "right" way to handle Christmas.

Is it PC to say Merry Christmas if you're not a Christian or should we be saying Happy Holidays and not offend other religions?

If we're going to have a Christmas tree shouldn't we also have symbols from other religions?

Blah Blah Blah ….

I sit there listening to all these various and sundry Media types thinking:

What planet did they come from?
Do they apply these research methods (none) to other topics they talk about?
Why does it seem that Everyone is talking out of their ass on this one?

Everyone appears to be operating from the basic fallacy that Christmas is a Christian religious holiday. A fallacy perpetrated by the Christian church with their "Let's put Christ back into Christmas" campaigns.

The fact is that it makes absolutely No Sense that Christians celebrate Christmas.

1. Christ (assuming that he existed) was Not born in December. The closest date they have to his birth is sometime in the early spring, some say early September. What is known is that he wasn't born in December.
2. The Christmas story (Nativity story) is questionable even in Biblical terms. It's only spoken of in one place in the Bible and is one of the major Biblical stories that remains unconfirmed anywhere, including anywhere else in the Bible.
3. All of the traditions associated with Christmas are Pagan with origins in ancient German (Geol or Yule) and Roman (Saturnalia) festivals.
4. All of the recent (last 100 years) traditions, Santa Claus, etc. are secular and were promoted by the retail industry.
5. Even the blessing of Peace and Goodwill came out of the politics of the Industrial revolution and was directed at strikers, and Not the Bible.

I think it's time that Christians recognized that the current tradition of Christmas is not a religious, but a secular holiday, based on pagan traditions. Perhaps they should find a day closer to the day that Jesus was actually born and celebrate that day more in accordance with their biblical and religious traditions? Just a suggestion.

This is precisely the reason that the Puritans refused to celebrate it. They knew that celebrating Christmas was inconsistent with their Biblical belief system. They were smart enough to take the Christ Out of Christmas, unlike certain Christians today, who for reasons known only to themselves, want to put Christ back into Christmas.

So why did the ancient churches want to hijack these pagan traditions and celebrations? Because they couldn't convince the populace to stop celebrating them. Once the church realized that, they went with option 2, call the holidays christian, get people to include the church in the celebrations, and gradually take them over presumably in the hopes that people would eventually abandon the pagan part.

Unfortunately for the church, this plan only worked periodically, and today we're back to celebrating Christmas with an emphasis on those evil Pagan traditions.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not being a Scrooge here.

I love Christmas with all its trimmings and have celebrated it all my life.

For me, Christmas is a time for family and friends to get together, to share in the joys and pleasures of the season, to remember that kindness, love, and sharing are paramount ... and to just have some fun.

I also love seeing people from All beliefs and religions celebrating this secular Christmas.

Secularist Atheists (like me), Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, Christians, etc. can get together on this one, holding hands around the Christmas tree and singing Jingle Bells :)

Would keeping Christ out of Christmas be such a bad thing? It would certainly make more sense to me!

Merry Christmas, one and all :)


Wednesday, November 14, 2007

An Atheists Creed

Written by an exceptionally bright guy amongst many on an Atheist NG.
Thanks Drafterman!


An Atheists Creed

I hereby do not accept the premise of god's existence. My reasons for

doing so are mine and mine alone and do not reflect the beliefs (or
lack of beliefs) of other atheists. Any other philosophies or systems
of belief that I hold to be true in addition to (or, in my opinion,
because) of my atheism are also mine and mine alone and do not
reflect
the beliefs (or lack of beliefs) of other atheists. If me
and another
atheist commonly hold another belief or beliefs to
be true, it does
not reflect upon atheism. Whether or not I choose
to accept or reject
unrelated beliefs is at my discretion and will
have no affect on my
status as an atheist.

At such a time as I accept the premise of god's existence, I will
cease to be an atheist. This will not inherently affect any other
belief I hold, since there are no other beliefs based strictly on
atheism.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Atheist's Prayer 2

Atheists Prayer 2

Our brains

Which art in our heads

Treasured be thy name

Thy reasoning come

The best you can do be done

On Earth as it is

Give us this day new insight

To help us resolve conflicts

And ease pain

And lead us not

Into supernatural explanations

Deliver us from denial of logic

For thine is the kingdom of reason

And even though thy powers are limited

And you're not always glorious

You are the best evolutionary adaptation

We have for helping this earth

Now and forever ever

So Be It

http://nobeliefs.com/GAMOW/GAMOW24.htm

Saturday, November 10, 2007

An Atheist's Prayer

An exceptionally creative guy from an Atheist NG came up with this. Thanks Bob600!

My fellow men, turn away from your false God and stride with me

into a broad sunlight plain of enlightenment and understanding.

To be blessed with the understanding of atheism

will cause a mighty change in a person's heart

so that he has no more desire to believe in myths,

but rather desires to seek the things of the real world.

Follow me and I will put a new spirit within you.

Those who believed not in Christ's name

will be reborn, not of blood, but of logic.

Except a man be the torchbearer of the intellect

he cannot enter into the kingdom of mankind.

We can be born again by the mighty force of our intellect

and whosoever is born of this great force

will not continue in the darkness of the sin

of confusion and mythology.

For whatsoever is born of the intellect

overcomes the world.

Have ye yet been born again of intelligence and logic?

if not ye cannot inherit the kingdom of man.

Whosoever believes on my words shall be born again

of me and walk as a giant amongst men.

And I say onto you.

Repent: for the kingdom of intellect is at hand.

And I saith unto all you computer programmers,

follow me, and I will make you programmers of men.