And this really is it.  The more atheists that come out, the more WILL come out.  Changing public acceptance and image of atheism is fundamental.  I believe that there are far more people out there who don’t believe in magic-men-in-the-sky then we think, and I think there are even more people out there who say they believe but are just in denial because they see no other options.
More Atheists Shout It From the Rooftops – NYTimes.com

“It’s not about carrying banners or protesting,” said Herb Silverman, a math professor at the College of Charleston who founded the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, which has about 150 members on the coast of the Carolinas. “The most important thing is coming out of the closet.”

Expelled, and his behavior since, have made me very sad.  I loved his gameshow. (H/T P.Z.M.).  I could go on the usual rant about how many people have died in the name of god and how few have died due to science (I have NEVER been beaten with a test tube, or even a periodic table), but whats the point?  This says it all.
Below The Beltway » Blog Archive » Ben Stein: Science Kills People

Stein: …Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.

Lets summarize first.

1. Rick Warren is anti-gay.
   

   Dr Warren said that homosexuality is not a natural way of life and thus not a human right. “We shall not tolerate this aspect at all,” Dr Warren said.

2. Rick Warren is anti-woman (see #32) I don’t see how you can tell a woman to let a man beat her instead of getting a divorce and be anything but anti-woman
3. Rick Warren is anti-AIDS prevention.  His ‘main man’ in Uganda is named Ssempa:
   

   Ssempa’s stunts have included burning condoms in the name of Jesus and arranging the publication of names of homosexuals in cooperative local newspapers while lobbying for criminal penalties to imprison them.

And this man isn’t run out of town on a rail?  Why?  Because of the most insidious aspect of religion.

It justifies anything and everything.  Once in a blue moon, as in the case of Madeline Kara Neumann, there will be a cry for people to be held accountable for their religions beliefs and the actions that stem from them, but as a rule, anything goes.  If I said the things Rick Warren said, and my only justification was “because”, I’d been called a monster.

This is the twisted result of backwards tolerance.

You see it in some Middle East and African countries where women are treated like property ON A GOOD DAY.  We say to ourselves “Well, thats just their way”.  We can’t question their religion because then, y’know, you might have to apply that to religion here too.  Further, most people don’t fully understand that this isn’t ‘their’ way, its forced upon the women.  The idea that there is ABSOLUTELY NO CHOICE doesn’t fully compute to us, and so we make the assumption that the women want to be treated worse than dogs and that religion can justify this anyhow.

Any other name put on this would make these people devils.

This is an interesting read.  Surprisingly, Warren appears to be living in a world unrelated to reality.  And since AIDS only kills faggots and whores, why should he care?
I have to say, it is getting harder and harder to figure out exactly why anyone who cares about human beings could possibly like this guy.

Condom Burnings and Anti-Gay Witch Hunts: How Rick Warren Is Undermining AIDs Prevention in Africa | The Smirking Chimp

But since the Warren inauguration controversy erupted, the nature of his work against AIDS in Africa has gone unexamined. Warren has not been particularly forthcoming to those who have attempted to look into it. His Web site contains scant information about the results of his program. However, an investigation into Warren’s involvement in Africa reveals a web of alliances with right-wing clergymen who have sidelined science-based approaches to combating AIDS in favor of abstinence-only education. More disturbingly, Warren’s allies have rolled back key elements of one of the continent’s most successful initiative, the so-called ABC program in Uganda. Stephen Lewis, the United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, told the New York Times their activism is “resulting in great damage and undoubtedly will cause significant numbers of infections which should never have occurred.”

Warren’s man in Uganda is a charismatic pastor named Martin Ssempa. The head of the Makerere Community Church, a rapidly growing congregation, Ssempa enjoys close ties to his country’s first lady, Janet Museveni, and is a favorite of the Bush White House. In the capitol of Kampala, Ssempa is known for his boisterous crusading. Ssempa’s stunts have included burning condoms in the name of Jesus and arranging the publication of names of homosexuals in cooperative local newspapers while lobbying for criminal penalties to imprison them.

PALIBAN . . . a new day for Christian America

The PALIBAN!

Clear Vision For A Pure America
The Paliban is a grassroots organization inspired by the principles of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and the Evangelical and Christian Reconstruction movements.

So the wife spent some time trying to convince me this site was a joke.  And it is.

But it took her a LOT of examples before she found something that didn’t sound completely reasonable fro the nutjob perspective (specifically, it was a few remarks in the sex toys article).

The fact is that when you have a pope comparing gays to the destruction of the rainforest, when you have laws that let doctors and pharmacists impose their own morality on patients, when you have people who think that we should be encouraging the wars in the middle east so that the rapture will come all the sooner, exactly what counts as too insane?  What becomes surprising?

We live with teh crazy.

Recently, I was watching an episode of West Wing.  Toby and Josh have been talking about the upcoming election and candidate.  Josh says something to the effect of “Toby, you want to beat this guy, but I want to win”.
Thats something of the problem I’m seeing with atheism of late.  The Xmas sign, the lawsuit to get “so help me god” removed from inauguration, and so forth.
Are they right?  Of course.  Religion should be kept apart from government and, in fact, religion is just a series of myths (or lies). 
But these tactics don’t get us the win.  They make the religious folks, even those just nominally so, go on the defensive and that doesn’t help.  I’m not suggesting that we get all cozy and cutesy and humor the theists, just that we not smack them…yet.
We have to become more present, more open.  That will cause our ranks to swell as atheism becomes more accepted. 
Once we have taken that step forward, I think that many theists will begin to understand our perspective.  They will see that including ‘god’ in our texts isn’t any different than including ‘jesus’.
Smacking our opponents around may be very satisfying, but that doesn’t mean it progresses the cause any.

If a Christian group bought some ad space on some busses advocating accepting Christ, the Jews of DC would not blink an eye.  If the Jews did something similar, there’d be no outcry from Christians.  But when atheists do it, there’s no end of venom.

Why is that?

At the core of virtually any theistic religion is the belief that ALL other religions are simply wrong.  However, in the U.S., that doesn’t get bandied about much in public.  There’s sort of a wink and a nod agreement that one group doesn’t put up a sign saying another group is wrong.  Further, there’s a bit of rationalization that goes on.  Oh, sure, those guys are wrong, but it is just because they misunderstand, or are naive.

In other words, when someone says “My God is great” the subtext, that everyone else is wrong, stays subtext and everyone is OK with that.

The thing is, with atheism, that subtext is, in fact, the text.  There is no real way to say that there’s no god or, at least, no reason to believe god exists without saying that everyone else is wrong.  There is no way around it, and no way for people to ignore the statement with any kind of respect.  Theists can work around each other, but the nature of the atheist/theist relationship is conflict.

Does that mean that the two can’t communicate reasonably?  No, it does not.  But it does require honesty along with civility.  I am an atheist.  I do not in any way respect the beliefs of theists.  However, I do respect the fact that many people hold those beliefs strongly.  My brother is Christian and when I want to talk religion with him, I go about it with the understanding that, if I insult him for his beliefs, the discussion goes no where.  Its just a fight.

The bus signs in DC were respectful of the fact that many people believe, and still sent a clear message that those beliefs were not shared.  The Olympia sign was not.  The sign could not be seen as anything but a smack across the face (though I believe the sign to be accurate).  Maybe that was the goal.  I’m OK with that.  I think these myths are a disease rotting the U.S. from within.  But it isn’t very productive for me to open a conversation that way.

I was talking with a friend last night and told him I’d posted this.  Then I realized I had just ranted about it.

Rick Warren is seen as ‘bringing people together’ because it is still OK to hate fags and atheists.

Yet another rule allowing doctors to deny treatment
Yes, this is aimed at abortion, and yes, I know there are already rules allowing this bullshit. But it angers me every time it comes up. Doctors can decide what care you do and don’t get, but god forbid they make your little girl get vaccinated against HPV.
I wonder, what if the doctor belonged to a religious group that said surgury was unethical? Or drugs?
The rule allows doctors to NOT EVEN PROVIDE INFORMATION.
So, if I felt that surgury was wrong, I could recommend, y’know, lots of tea to get rid of that tumor.
Or if I thought medicine was sinful, I could prescribe drinking lots of water to manage your diabetes.
Or, maybe, I think your STD is punishment and nothing should be done about it at all. If you end up infertile, you got what you deserved.
Thank god. For a moment there, I thought my well-being might come before the desires of my doctor.
Whew.

Some things make me sad

“I could see the longing my little girl has to have a right relationship with God. She knows something is wrong, she is broken because of sin, and she is desperate for the love and comfort of Jesus.”

it seems more likely she wants the love of a mother who doesn’t say things like…

I do not believe in teaching children self esteem or that they should feel good about themselves, because they should not.