Carnival Of The Godless Number 29

Hi All, and welcome to the 29th Carnival Of The Godless!

I just have to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their entries. Wow. This COTG was just overwhelmed with entries. Some didn't make it, because they were not posts about godlessness. But a lot of posts did make it. I was originally going to split these up into "positive" and "negative" posts about godlessness, but due to the time crunch this last week and this weekend, you'll have to settle for a simple list. So, hang on folks! It's going to be a godless ride.

Being Positive about Atheism
By Francois Tremblay - Goosing the Antithesis

Is it possible to be positive about atheism ? Well, sure. One can talk, for example, of one's own positive experiences with the abandonment of religion. However this obviously still involves negative ideas - to say that abandoning religion is good implies that religion is bad. Nevertheless, in the spirit of the questioners, I submit my own answer to : Why be an Atheist ?

U.S.S. Indianapolis
By I AM - The Evangelical Atheist

I just can’t comprehend how men who have gone through something like this can hold on to god. This is one of the most horrifying events in the history of warfare, and many of the survivors came away with stronger faith. God made the sharks. God didn’t stop the sinking of the ship. When the Navy ignored their S.O.S. because they thought it was a Japanese trick, god didn’t intervene. When they were two days late arriving in the Philippines, god didn’t plant any kind of suggestion that someone should look for them. How is it possible that these men "wanted to know God" after all this? How is it possible that one of the survivors brought rosary beads on the expedition?

I'm definitely getting older...
By Jodi Wheeler - Naked Writing

Now, with aged eyes and a soul run through the washer, dyed experienced and hung out in the icy wind to dry, reading passages that say the minimum standards for people who can enter the priestly ranks of the RCC are those whose sexuality was, at worst, an "...an expression of a transitory problem, as in, for example, one whose adolescence is not yet complete," pushes a giggle from my lips.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow
By Dante - Superlicious

…there is a pot of gold that can fix some of Ireland’s problems. That gold is atheism. Sure, the Republic of Ireland is 92% Catholic, but only 48% regularly attend Mass. Is Ireland becoming more secular just like the rest of Western Europe? This blogger thinks so; slowly but surely.

Dueling Absurdities
By Duck - The Daily Duck

Chesterton's statement is somewhat disingenuous. It would be more accurate to say that "people who don't believe in god will believe in something else". To say that they believe in "anything" makes them out to be foolish simpletons, the spiritual equivalent of rubes in the big city who will be scammed out of their savings by fast-talking confidence men. But Chesterton somehow feels that his faith, the faith of the Christians, is totally different from this "anything", when in fact it is one of the many "anythings" that this simple rube, Man, will believe in.

Thanks for the holiday, or, "You're enslaved! You're a fool!"
By Chris Hallquist - The Uncredible Hallq

At any rate, what we have is an obnoxious response to a almost entirely secular display, and an obnoxious response to the obnoxious response. This is one of those symbolic tussels where I wish each side would just stuff it.

Types of Atheistic Belief
By Uberkuh - Uberkuh

To begin to uncover atheism's semantic richness, one need only ask why atheists exist. Many reasons can then be found that collectively paint a much less abstract picture of what atheism means to those who identify with it. Until one has attempted to understand why atheists are who they are, one's biases and arguments for and against atheism must be said to be superficial and trite, and should not be taken seriously.

The war on Winter Solstice
By Nanovirus - Nanovirus

We thought the War on Winter Solstice had ended in the fourth century. How wrong we were: it was merely dozing. Once again, it was those Christ Cultists that attacked. No longer content to share in this ancient celebration, they wanted to own it.

War on Christ-mas
By Fidel Ramos - Thinking Sheep

We all have heard the hype about this "war on Christmas". Tell me where in the bible it says Jesus was born on Dec. 25 and we are supposed to shop ourselves into the poor house?

In Defense Of Godless Liberalism
By Austin Cline - About Atheism

For people who see their god or their religion as the source of all order and morality, godless liberalism may be treated as impossible or even as a threat. The fact that godless liberals do not derive their political positions from religious doctrine does not make them anti-religious, though. They may personally be anti-religion, but politically they may not be – indeed, they may have no problem with making common cause with religious liberals.

An Atheist Christmas
By Galgacus - Mons Graupius

I'm going home for a family holiday, but I'm not celebrating christmas. I haven't celebrated the christian festival of christmas for perhaps twenty years, so I'm not going to re-start now. If I was going to celebrate anything on 25th December, then I would be celebrating the birthday of Sir Isaac Newton.

An Atheist's Christmas
By Addie - Musings Of A Liberatheist

At first, when I realized I was an atheist, I had some difficulty swallowing my ongoing love of the holiday season. I mean, it doesn't hold any "meaning" for me anymore, right? Well, if that were true, it would be pointless to go on with my celebrations, but actually... it may hold more meaning now then it did when I believed in those childhood fairytales.

Some Thoughts on the Death Penalty
By Stephen Littau - Fearless Philosophy For Free Minds

No visits from a clergyman and no magistrate would be allowed to say “May God have mercy on your soul.” Why do we want to help the worst among us find ‘salvation’ and make them believe they are going to heaven after repeating a few lines?

Atheists cross at memorial
By Skeptico - Skeptico

Now, the atheists may be technically correct, and I understand the issue is the protection of the non-Christian minority, but I’m afraid I am going to have to disagree with the class on this one. Don’t get me wrong. I like to point and laugh at Christians with their silly rituals and beliefs as much as the next atheist. But I would suggest this action is going to get very little support among the public, will make atheists look mean and foolish, and is likely to provoke a backlash.

The Next Great Revolution in Reality
By The Huge Entity - The Huge Entity

We are but one species amongst millions of mutation-governed organisms, ruled over by the nature of brains we have little understanding of and cast on our single planet afloat an infinite cosmological sea. Each shift exposing a deeper purpose, without God; each individual note when composed together dictates the flowing melody that is our existence.

Philosophy Friday: The Nazi Religion
By Samurai Sam - A Beginner's Mind

One of the documentaries I caught has really had me thinking. It was called Nazis: The Occult Conspiracy and it spoke in great detail about the religious aspects of the Nazi movement. Given that Nazi Germany is often cited by theists as an example of how destructive an atheist government is, I thought this was a topic needing more examination.

Origin of the Specious
By Ronald Bailey - Reason Magazine

What's going on here? Opponents of Darwin traditionally have been led by biblical literalists, whose "arguments" on the subject have been generated mostly by the Book of Genesis. Now their camp includes some of the most prominent thinkers in the conservative intellectual movement.

Christian Apologist Inadvertently Supports My Arguments
By Aaron Kinney - Kill The Afterlife

I started this blog making claims and accusations against afterlife belief and god. Then I used scientific studies to confirm my claims from a scientific perspective. Then I used news reports of Christian and pro-afterlifer behavior to support my claims from a psychological perspective. Then I used quality of life studies to support my claims from a social perspective. And now I am using Christians' own apologetic methods to support my claims from a religious perspective!

Ever Wonder Where...
By Matt - Pooflingers Anonymous

Worse than that, the elves, fed up with the grueling hours, low wages, lack of overtime pay and holidays, had voted unanimously to sign with the International Brotherhood of Vertically Challenged Toy Makers (or, IBVCTM, for short). The union, their demands so far unmet, was threatening a work stoppage.

The Slow but Steady March From Turing’s Apple to Happy Holidays
By Kieth - The Invisible Library

We often loose sight of the fact that Western Civilization as a whole is creeping towards the Enlightenment that our forefathers dreamed of, more than 200 years ago. It sometimes seems like we’re sliding backwards, but only if you believe the insane things that come pout of Pat Robertson’s mouth.

They’re all gonna laugh at you
By Sean - God Is For Suckers

Sorry, I had to steal Rockstar’s reference to "Carrie" (good on ya, mate… I love that movie). But the fact is, they are laughing at us. That is, they are laughing at Americans.

Memo to the vast anti-Christmas conspiracy
By Goddamn Liberal - No More Mr. Nice Guy!

Naive and innocent liberals that we are, we were so full of high hopes that by saying "Happy Holidays", we would instantly abolish Christmas, make christianity illegal, change the pledge of allegiance into "one nation under Darwin", force cities nationwide to display scenes from the Kama Sutra instead of nativity scenes, and magically cause the words "in god we trust" to vanish off the coins in our pockets.

Selling a giant war on Christmas
By TNG - The Neural Gourmet

I’ve talked about the religious right’s war against the war that doesn't exist on Christmas before. In this manufactured culture war, Alito is just one more artillery round to lob into the already shell-shocked enemy’s camp. Except, this round is a bit of a dud and rather than trying to damage the enemy, it’s really the right’s most fervent supporters who are being targeted. Yet, the response of the religious right is predictable and it reminds me of a nearby tourist attraction.

More Demon-Haunted Politics
By Coralius - Revolvo Inritus

I don't know about you, but I'd like to think that the American justice system doesn't depend on God's will to protect the innocent. God's will being so sketchy, and all.

The war against objectivity
By Russell Glasser - Kazim's Korner

The dictionary definition of "faith" in the religious sense is "Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence." The Bible declares that "faith is he substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Mark Twain, through the mouth of Pudd'nhead Wilson, said "Faith is believing what you know ain't so." Any way you slice it, having faith means coming to a conclusion first, and then filtering the facts to match your expectations.

Kibozing
By Josh Rosenau - Thoughts From Kansas

And how do you balance? Equal time? Weighted by proportion of the population? And equal time for whom? Do you give rotate through the religions: Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Taoists and Hindus, then back to Jews? Or do you do it by denominations? Does each Lutheran Synod get its own day? Or should all the Protestants get lumped together? It's legitimately tricky.

The Evolution Of "Happy Holidays"
By Publius - Legal Fiction

I grew up in a town not knowing a single Jewish person. By the end of college, most of my immediate friends were Jewish. And there were just certain situations where it wasn’t appropriate to use "Christmas." For instance, when I left town for winter break, "Have a good Christmas break" eventually became "have a good break." It wasn’t rooted in hostility to James Dobson. It was just the polite thing to do. That was the animating spirit behind the practice.

Kristians Korraling Kristmas
By Hellbound Alleee - Hellbound Alleee

Christmas is a celebration of "Christ's Birthday" in name only. As I have stated many times, the origin of the Christ's mass being placed on the day is in Rome (Constantius II), where Christ's Birth was officially placed on the day of the Birth of the sun, Sol Invictus, for obvious and completely unhidden reasons.

‘Tis the season to be Christian
By Ron - Ron's Blog

Oz has already now stated explicitly that he wished we had Christmas. How could he not wish this? Not only is there all the lights-n-presents stuff, but he wants to socially belong; and no message is being sent to him more obviously than that belonging at this time of year means participating in Xmas.

It is Nobler to be Damned
By AA - Braving the Elements

And so it begins. Perhaps even ends. Or maybe it’s just along continuation, one battle after another with no end in site. Now that the circus is over in Dover and we await the judge’s decision; now that the citizens of Dover have kicked out their “IDiot” school board; now that science and creationism (and its bastard cousin ID) have had their day in court perhaps it’s time to reflect a bit about what Creationism and its bastard cousin really do to religion. Or to those raised in religion or around religion or those who have to share a neighborhood, country, dorm room, etc., with those who believe (whatever they believe).

A simple explanation
By Coturnix - Science And Politics

I've seen this on a couple of other blogs and the commenters always fixate on the ten lines in the middle, dissecting the similarities and differences between each of these rights and responsibilities and the same-numbered Christian Commandments. But this is not seeing the forest for the trees.

Religion is conquering our schools!
By Adam Gurri - Sophistpundit

That's a, ah, mighty fine city you got there, fellas. Would be a shame if it were to, ah, break. Accidents do happen you know. It would be a real shame...

Secular Morals
By Alon Levy - Unscrewing The Inscrutable

It goes without saying that a group of billion people defined solely by their lack of belief in a deity will have a very wide variety of moral views. I will talk about several different moralities here and the moral dilemmas that they answer differently, but these will only be the major moral systems inside secular humanism; in particular, I am going to skip the brand of secular conservatism common in China. What is left mostly coincides with political liberalism, but in this article I will focus exclusively on moral and ethical aspects, and only use political examples when there is no other way to illustrate my point.

That's it, folks. Thanks for reading!

The next COTG will be the Christmas Extravaganza on December 25th, 2005 over at Nanovirus! Send your submissions to cotg-submissions@brentrasmussen.com. If you would like to host a future CIOTG, please send your hosting request to cotg-host@brentrasmussen.com.