Adults under 30 have more doubt

By Mathew Goldstein

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released the results of the latest Pew Values Study survey. Compared to 1987, fewer citizens of the United States of America think books that contain "dangerous ideas" should be banned from public school libraries. Fewer people think that school boards should be able to fire teachers who are homosexual. Fewer people claim to have "old fashioned values" about family and marriage. The poll results in the "religion, social values" section have otherwise not changed much, with one exception.

In 2007 81% of people who were 18-29 years old said they never doubt the existence of God. The numbers that year were 87% for people 65 and older, 83% for people 50-64, 84% for people 30-49. Those numbers subsequently diverged as more people under 30 admitted to sometimes having doubts. The percentage went down to 76% in 2009 and 67% in 2012, increasing the sometimes doubting count from 19% to 33% over 5 years. Meanwhile, over 80% of people 30 or older continue to say they never have doubt.

Ire in Ireland

by Edd Doerr

Many years ago TV guru Bishop Fulton Sheen, in a book about philosophy and religion, had this, and only this, to say about Bernard Shaw: "Tsk, tsk, an Irishman without the faith." Were Sheen here today, one wonders what he would say about this ----

Sunday, May 10, saw the opening in Dublin of a week long Eucharistic Congress. Only 12,000 people reportedly showed up for the opening mass in a stadium. At the last Eucharistic Congress in Ireland, in 1932, one million attended, a quarter of the country's population.

The Congresses are held to highlight the peculiar Catholic doctrine of "transubstantiation", the idea that the bread and wine at the Catholic mass are magically changed by a  guy with a backward collar into the actual 98.8 degree body and blood of a Nazarene carpenter.

According to a new poll by the Irish Times, 2/3 of Irish Catholics do not believe this core doctrine and do not attend weekly services.

The Irish, justifiably upset by the massive clergy sexual abuse and coverup scandals, not to mention the Magdalene Sisters scandals, are secularizing in droves. The country's narrow abortion rights law may be liberalized and the church's long time near-monopoly on K-12 education may be ending.

In 1968 I was in Colombia when a Eucharistic Congress was held in Bogota, right after the Vatican had issued its encyclical condemning birth control. A million people were expected. Few showed up, largely as a result of the negative reaction to the anti-contraception statement.

Most Catholics are sensible people, but the Old Boys Club of bishops and pope, with their wars on women's rights,  public education, religious liberty, church-state separation and Obama, seem to want to retreat into a small mental ghetto

What Making a Point about the Harm of Religion Sounds Like

By Gary Berg-Cross
I felt a point was made when I read a HufPo article by lawyer & "liberal Christian," "liberal Christian" Mark Osler called When the Atheists are Right.
Osler got to the point he had sadly learned about the harm that religious belief may promote with this:

“But then, last week, I received a letter that truly broke my heart. It did so, in part, because I know well the claims of atheists that religion does more harm than good in the world, and have often responded in the defense of faith. But there are some times that the harm done by religion is so clear that I doubt myself. A letter I received this week from "Kevin" presented me with one of those moments of doubt.”

The letter was by a Kevin responded to one of Osler’s article (which itself was filled with numerous references to the Bible or at least the New Testabment) but which accused Osler of ignoring the Bible. Kevin interprets that book (perhaps from sections of the older,  Jewish testament) to “REQUIRE condemnation by all of us of those who sin (at least so long as the sin is homosexuality). “

Olsler quotes from Kevin’s letter discussing "the homosexual agenda" and "lifestyle choices," but then comes to an upsetting section where Kevin’s personal tragedy is conflated and mixed into the Old Testament God’s demand of punishment for sin:

Lastly, I can speak on this subject very clearly as I am the Father of a child that has chosen the homosexual lifestyle. Even now as I'm writing you this email, my son is lying in a hospital bed dying from his acts of homosexuality. His Mother and I raised him to know Christ, but as a young man he took up this lifestyle against our counsel. Because of his lifestyle and nothing else, he is now facing death. Just know that our sins are forgivable and God is a gracious and loving God, but he is very, very clear about the penalties, especially homosexuality. We are saddened and heart broken that our baby son is going to die such a horrible death and is suffering because of his decision to live the homosexual lifestyle. But we also know and knew what God say's about the wages of sin. The wages of sin are DEATH.
Sincerely,
"Kevin"
 
I don't know if this is enough to claim hypocrisy in some Biblical message believers but it does point out the conflicting messages and interpretation that sacred writing can produce, It was enough for Prof. Osler to speculate that atheists can be right about religion, or at least about the idea that Religion's prophetic book allow people to “twist the truth.” To Osler the Gospel  are stories of love and leave no place for an expression of hatred, especially to one’ own dying child. It is perhaps a conflict of the older religious stories with the more liberal, progressive stories found in the New Testament.


A liberal Osler would hope that a proper lesson comes from something like the story of the prodigal son Jesus tells found in the Book of Luke.  I take this story as a general human, moral tale about a father’s unquestioning love for his sons as wells as learning lessons about one’s self, and not one in which there is a God role. The prodigal son demanded inheritance and then squandered it through "dissolute living" (wine, women and song?) When the son hits bottom, the story has him learning a lesson and starting off to return to his father and repent. However, when he arrives and before screw his courage up to repent, his father, filled in unquestioning love runs to him, puts his arms around him and kisses him. Not exactly an old testament,  tough love stance, but a more humanistic one that I can like. It’s a rationalization that Christ is the one that has to direct us to such love. I find fatherly (and now grandfatherly) love natural and would believe that fatherly love for children is an ancient part of human nature shaped by evolutionary processes that work to help the species survive. It’s great that cultures have progressively shaped and institutionalized (including stories) what nature has given us to work with.
As for religious culture, I can agree with Olser  when he says of the dilemma  posed by Kevin’s  interpretation of Godly demands for punishment, “ I despair of that religion”.

Sometimes, even good intentions are clueless

Today, PZ Meyer wrote an awesome post.  In it, he said some things about the atheist movement and issues that have cropped up regarding women, minorities and other groups which are often discriminated against such as the LGBT community where many in those groups have felt left out of this movement, to say the least.

Basically, his message is that if those of us who are actively trying to promote a non-theist community really are serious about opposing the deleterious affects of theism and the theocratic movement in this country or indeed, the world, 

we won’t achieve that by telling women and people of color that they need to adopt our priorities to fit in; we need to recognize that social justice, equality, and fighting economic disparities must also be a significant part of our purpose.

He goes on to say,

Using our white male position of power to tell others that they must adapt to us to fit in actually is an example of the logic of white supremacy, offensive as that sounds…even if we mean well, intent does not override the fact of what we do.
…
And the beginning of wisdom is to wake up and notice.
The second step is to try and change it.
And then it’s a long, long march afterwards.

I don’t want to try and steal his thunder here (I couldn’t if I tried) so I won’t belabor what he said except to tell you to go and read his post.  It is a wonderful eye-opening look into how a white male (like me) must begin to see himself as he is and how he is wrong before he can truly begin poking at the other guy’s eye.

So, go!  Read it, now!   I’ve even provided another handy link for you!  But I want his post in your mind before you come back here.  I'll wait.

Finished?  Good, read on.

So here’s my own spin on it.

Like PZ, I am a white male.  I grew up in Texas, where white males have a special place in heaven.  I’ve got a college education, a good, senior government job I’ve worked at for over 38 years and a salary to match that privilege.  In short, like PZ, I’ve got absolutely nothing to kick about.  Well, ok, I’ve got this handicap where I don’t quite fit the “P” part of the WASP thing, but, seriously, it’s never really affected me in a major way.  I live in Maryland, if that helps explain it.

Like PZ, it takes effort to stop, take notice and realize that I’m not being deliberately biased or racist - but I am often acting in that “institutionally” biased way PZ was talking about.  I have to stop and realize that there are issues and problems that I’ve never experienced because I’ve never been exposed to them, so I have no clue that they even exist.

That isn’t easy.  As a matter of fact, until he wrote about it, I’d not seriously even looked at it in quite that way before.  Now that I’ve read his post, it’s damn uncomfortable.

I’ve always thought of myself as an inclusive kind of fella, at least once I married a girl from another country and realized that America wasn’t all there is.  But I now see that it has been a journey, and a long one at that.  It isn’t finished, either.

It has just started.

I genuinely like people.  All sorts.  Tall, short, skinny, fat, black, white, brown and whatever other colors there may be, male, female, transgender or bi.  Living in Maryland has helped there, because I’ve been exposed to a lot of folks I’d never have known if I’d stayed in Texas.  It’s been an interesting experience, and I’ve found that most people are just that - people.

...and that’s my problem.

I have this tendency to see other people as just another person and have tried for so long to think of all sorts of folks as “just another human being”, that I’ve overlooked one of the most important things about those “other” people:  by being different, their experiences are different, giving them a different perspective on life and what the problems a secular, humanist and atheistic community should be worried about.

In other words, “it ain’t just about me.”

So, here’s what I’d like for you, my dear readers, to do for me.  If you are one of “those” folks with a different life experience, and you don’t see me talking about or linking to places that talk about things that you know are important in order to make you want to join our efforts in building a secular, humanist centered community, tell me about it!

Please.  Just tell me.  I am all ears, and really want to learn, because if our community doesn’t talk about and work to correct problems that affect you, we can’t expect you to care about ours.  This has to be a two way street, where all of us care about each other and work for the common good.  Together we can be stronger.  Divided, of course, we remain, well, divided and weak.  

If we want you to join us, we have to be willing to join you.

Final note:

Please, understand that I am not trying to limit the definition of “other”, above.  I mean to include women, transgender, gay, lesbian, bisexual, all ethnic groups, races, nationalities and whatever other definition that helps to separate us into differing segments of humanity, including economic strata.  Every viewpoint is valuable, every opinion counts.

Oh, and if you think this is an important topic, link to it on Facebook or Twitter!

Robert Ahrens

The Cybernetic Atheist

New, but biologically Poorer ,World A-Coming?

by Gary Berg-Cross

We're heard bits and pieces of this before. Bill McKibben wrote on it in 1989 The End of Nature. More recently in Eaarth he asked us to:

" Imagine we live on a planet. Not our cozy, taken-for-granted earth, but a planet, a real one, with dark poles and belching volcanoes and a heaving, corrosive sea, raked by winds, strafed by storms, scorched by heat. An inhospitable place. It’s a different place. A different planet. It needs a new name."
There have been noted declines in some species which has evoked imagines of past mass extinctions, some of which seem to have been climate related. Anthony Barnosky, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, was one of the voices on this topic earlier including his 2009 book, “Heatstroke. ” Well Barnosky and the hard science on the issue has moved along. Anthony Barnosky is now lead author of a review paper appearing in the June 7 issue of the journal Nature adds to the dark tipping point image of what we are facing in a few generations with both climate change and increased human population. The rate of species loss is faster than it ever has been over evolutionary history, especially if the species currently listed as “threatened” aren’t rescued.

ANTHONY D. BARNOSKY, source: University of California, Berkely

Mass extinctions for amphibians could take as little as 240 years, 540 years for birds, and 330 years for mammals.
"It really will be a new world, biologically, at that point. The data suggests that there will be a reduction in biodiversity and severe impacts on much of what we depend on to sustain our quality of life, including, for example, fisheries, agriculture, forest products and clean water. This could happen within just a few generations."
Mass extinctions seem especially likely for larger animals like tiger, elephants & bears, who are icons for us. There is also the problem of “shifting baselines”, where it depends on what we are comparing present conditions to. We may consider species richness to be quite normal now, when it is in fact very low, compared to pre-human times, based on the fossil record. So we start from a deficit.
One can't dismiss this paper authored by 22 internationally known scientists who describes an urgent need for better predictive models. Their detailed understanding is based on an empirical look back to how our biosphere reacted in the distant past to rapidly changing conditions. This includes a look at how climate affects human population growth.In the Nature paper they compared the biological impact of past incidences of global change with processes under way today and assess evidence for what the future holds. It's timely and will appear in an issue devoted to the environment just in advance of the June 20-22 United Nations Rio+20 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Of course the result of such a major shift in the biosphere would be mixed, with some plant and animal species disappearing, new mixes of remaining species, and major disruptions in terms of which agricultural crops can grow where. NASA-built Landsat missions confirm that more than 20 years of warming temperatures in northern Quebec, Canada, have resulted in an increase in the amount and extent of shrubs and grasses. It's good for the weeds too.

Please Support SSA Week

Local colleges and universities have closed for the summer. Local school systems are about to go, or recently have gone, on break. It is time to turn our thoughts to -- next fall? Yes, the forces supporting theocracy never rest and we can't either.

I live in Vienna, Virginia just minutes from where the Northern Virginia Chapter of WASH will be having its monthly meeting on Sunday. Do you know what is even closer to my house? The Vienna Community Center where children come to be part of a Good News Club. Next fall the children attending that club will probably be taught that genocide is okay if those killed do not share their specific version of a belief in a god and the genocide is ordered by their god. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/30/christian-fundamentalists-plan-teach-genocide

As appalling as that thought is, we live in a free country and we can't stop homicidal fools from preaching the joys of genocide. What can we do?

We can support organizations which offer young people who question, or who come from homes which question, a port in a storm.

The Secular Student Alliance has been growing like mad the past couple of years. You can read an inspiring blog post by Lyz Liddell, Director of Campus Organizing for the SSA here: http://www.skepticmoney.com/the-unstoppable-secular-students/. And maybe the best news of all out of Columbus, Ohio (the home of the SSA) is that organizing of secular groups in high schools is now taking off despite the passive, and not so passive, opposition of some school administrators. For an example of the problems high school students face and what the SSA is doing to support them, you can read this guest post by a high school blogger at the Friendly Atheist: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/06/05/the-challenges-for-high-school-atheists/.

The SSA is working right now to prepare for the next school year. June 6-16 is SSA Week (week and a half?). Everybody who can, please donate something to SSA here: http://www.secularstudents.org/ssaweek/donate. Jeff Hawkins and Janet Strauss have offered to match donations to SSA up to $250,000 so everything you give will be worth twice as much. Thank you Jeff and Janet.

And if you happen to have a little left over after the SSA donation -- Todd Stiefel will match gifts to Camp Quest, another great organization which provides awesome opportunities for our youth. Thank you Todd. You can donate to Camp Quest here: http://www.campquest.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1.

Let's not leave the field to the theocrats. Fight Back!

Evolution Education is Pushed a Step Back in Korea

by Gary Berg-Cross

OK, we have some progress in Norway, but a now step back in South Korea (SK). Nature magazine reports that South Korea has surrendered to creationist petition demands to:

"remove references to evolution from high-school textbooks claimed victory last month after the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) revealed that many of the publishers would produce revised editions that exclude examples of the evolution of the horse or of avian ancestor Archaeopteryx.

The petition was spearheaded by independent body called the Society for Textbook Revise , which is an offshoot of the Korea Association for Creation Research. They won acampaign to remove mentions of the evolution of the horse and of the Archaeopteryx (as we know an avian ancestor from the late Jurassic period) from secondary school textbooks in May. They apparently used conflicting debates in evolutionary research on the Archaeopteryx's capacity to fly as support for its position. Revise is not done, they now want to remove excerpts on human evolution and references to Darwin's infamous finch research from On the Origin of Species.

The move has caught SK biologists off guard and they are alarmed saying that they were not consulted about the petition.

“The ministry just sent the petition out to the publishing companies and let them judge,” says Dayk Jang, an evolutionary scientist at Seoul National University.

We'll see what they do about the new drive. Until now the Nature article notes, the scientific community has done little to combat the anti-evolution sentiment. Says Dayk Jang:

“The biggest problem is that there are only 5–10 evolutionary scientists in the country who teach the theory of evolution in undergraduate and graduate schools,”

Having seen the fierce debates over evolution in the US, he adds:

" some scientists also worry that engaging with creationists might give creationist views more credibility among the public."

People commenting on the Korean phenomena make some interesting points. One is that Christianity in South Korea is a bit different because it is a mix of Western religion, along with older practice from Confucian philosophies that are built into their daily lives. So some are "Christian" on Sunday, but Confucian daily at home and perhaps at work.

Among the influences are a degree of Asian-Korean social conformity. So they conform to "modern" Western tradition of being Christian. It goes with a large capitalist trend. They may not be so Bible studying and believe much of what the it says.

In this they may be part of a modern tendency for their Korean version of unconscious "hivemind". This triggers upset at people like Dawkins and Stephen Hawking if they say that the God concept is unfounded. They don't need to read the source articles to have an emotional reaction. So evolution is attackable.

Sounds familiar in a way. It's System 1's Associative Memory and bias at work in modern culture - see the Blog on this. It still simplifies human thought and puts critical thinking in that familiar secondary role forcing us to re-actively catch up.

Norway - the Secular Model

by Gary Berg-Cross

Edd Doerr always says that Norway is the most secular and humanist of places. The Norwegian Humanist Association is the world's largest. And the quantity and quality has an effect.
In May parliamentary committee report presented on Tuesday contains a unanimous recommendation to move the church a step further away from the state & the Norwegian Parliament planned on amending the country's constitution to continue the long, drawn-out effort to separate the church from the state.

The amendment to abolish the Lutheran Church of Norway, which will then be renamed The People's Church passed (161 votes in favor and just three opposing votes.). Reports are that this will take effect around June 15.

This means that Noway will have no official religion, and the government will no longer participate in the appointment of church deans, bishops etc. From reports the church tax exemption will still remain in place. So churches will still receive the bulk of the $$. Counties, for example, will still be responsible for maintaining their local church buildings and pay for their priests. Humanist organizations will get a share, but a smaller one. Norway's King Harald and Queen Sonja are still required to belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church, so there is still some steps to achieve complete separation and perhaps this step is more properly called a new relation of Church and State. Still a step.

Svein Harberg, the spokesman for the Church, Education, and Research Committee stated that the decision "is historic both for the Norwegian Church and for the politicians in Parliament."