Why Cons are forever stuck around 33 percent

An Angus Reid poll did a comparison among Canadians, Britons and USians on the question of "the origin and development of human beings on earth."

That's my emphasis. Am guessing Angus Reid doesn't want to rule out humans having originated and/or developed elsewhere in the universe.

To the results!

68% of Britons and 61% of Canadians believe human beings evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years.

47% of Americans believe God created human beings in their present form within the last 10,000 years in tune with creationism.

Now go to page four and you'll see the regional breakdown for Canada:

	BC	AB	MB/SK	ON	PQ	ATL
Human beings evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years	64%	51%	50%	60%	66%	64%
God created human beings in their present form within the last 10,000 years	21%	31%	39%	25%	17%	28%

The rest are 'Not sure'.

Summary: If one applies critical thinking to the question of human origins, one tends LESS to vote Conservative. Alternatively, if one REFUSES to apply critical thinking to that and other questions, and instead blindly accepts the 'teachings' of certain authority figures - e.g., priests, politicians, FOX-style media -, one tends MORE to vote Conservative.

Rather than religion being the opiate of the masses, it's more a dumb-downing, anti-education tool of certain frequently as stupid, power mad, self-promoters among the elite.

ETA: Here's an example of such a self-promoter. Rona Ambrose supports, through her actions, inclusion of religious-based practices and language that have no place in Canada's criminal code.

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Treat Welfare System Like Criminal Justice System

Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.

The Blackstone ratio guides our criminal justice system. The same theme has appeared in one version or another throughout human history, including in the writings of the 12th century philosopher Maimonides and in the Bible.

Would that poverty were treated like a crime. In that case, the same principle would justify a guaranteed annual income for all. That it doesn't, and the overwhelming reason why it doesn't, is among the ironies.

Certain conservative types fear that a GAIA would discourage people from working. They imagine the default human condition is to do nothing, to contribute nothing and never to strive for a better life.

That's a decidedly un-Christian perspective of the human being, which was purportedly made in a certain deity's image. For Christians, in fact, it's an illogical point of view, one that's inconsistent with other Christian principles.

Charity is another argument used against a GAIA, even against having a public welfare system at all. Charity and charitable institutions are supposed to take care of 'the needy', 'the less fortunate', 'the vulnerable'.

Again, there's an underlying inconsistency.

How might one fill one's charity quota if a public system exists to ensure there are no impoverished unfortunates?

Charity preys on need. Its very existence requires a class system and people who are without.

Those two religiously historical concerns, for 'the work ethic' and 'Christian charity', are why the principle that underlies our welfare system is opposite to the one that guides our criminal system. It's the principle:

Better that ten innocent suffer in poverty than one guilty person escape.

[Cross-posted at economicus ridiculous]

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His Popishness Has a Problem

If His Popishness canna forgive paedophile priests and hence keep them in the church, then how can he ensure there'll be enough priests to herd the world's unruly flocks?

Proposed solution: 1. Let women become priests. 2. Let clergy marry - each other. (Hetero marriages, natch.)

In that event, your popishness, sir, will be all set to grow your own suitably indoctrinated band of insufferably moralizing doom-sayers.

Problem: If you allow women to become priests, won't they be priestesses? In which case, there'd be the hint of paganism - da devil! - having entered the church.

If you allow priests to marry priestesses, might not all that frolicking and child-rearing divert attention from your church's cause of world domination?

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A Long Way?

International Women's Day. Today. One day only. Set aside to 'celebrate' women's progress in a (still) male dominated world. The rest of the year is dedicated to men and the mess most of them are making of our little blue planet.

Like this diatribe visited on women unfortunate enough to be anywhere near 'right-wing ultra-extremists CHRISTIAN men'.

When Virginia Del. Bob Marshall publicly stated his desire to defund Planned Parenthood in his state (they receive a whopping $35,000 in Medicaid reimbursements NOT for abortions, but for primary reproductive and sexual health care for women, men and young people), he used his interpretation of certain Biblical passages to justify his positions. He said:

“The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children,” said Marshall, a Republican.

“In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.”

In other words, a disabled child is a punishment from God doled out to the child’s mother for having had a prior abortion.

Hiding behind the guise of organized religion, these North American men are terrorists. And their target is women, much like the religious fanatics we so abhor from the Middle East.

To say that women have 'come a long way' or made 'progress' irks me to distraction. Why, oh why must women have to 'fight' for the right to be fully human and equal with their mates?

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Church Flies Gay-Pride Flag

This atheist has always had a soft spot for the United Church of Canada. Here is one reason why.

A church might not be the most likely place to see a gay pride flag flying, but that's exactly what's happening at the James Bay United Church.

The church, part of the United Church of Canada, raised the rainbow flag in honour of Pride Week, which ends today with a parade downtown. It's the first year the church has decided to display the flag.

One of my few fond memories of childhood involves the UCC. As a foster child, I attended craft classes in one of their lovely old stone churches in Toronto. The people there never, not once, tried to indoctrinate me. As a result, I felt welcome.

One memory is of being in an upper room, my head bent to my task, and the sun shining through a narrow leaded window on my right, lending comfort, light and warmth. That day, I relaxed long enough to paint and to let go of some of the unhappiness and stress I always carried with me.

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What an Absurd Survey!

Most Canadians believe country 'a Christian nation'. Such is the survey result and blaring headline.

Well, duh!

The survey ... found ... 58 per cent identified the country as Christian. Among those who believe in God, 61 per cent think Canada is a Christian nation, while fully 48 per cent of non-believers feel that way.

Am surprised that the result is so low. I'd have expected 80 or 90 percent, at least. But perhaps people were confused (an intended result by the survey designers?) between what they'd LIKE Canada to be versus what it IS.

Given that almost all of Canada's statutory HOLI-days are centred around Christian days of celebration, it's a no-brainer that this country was both born out of and continues in the tradition of Christianity.

I'm an atheist. I say that without any hesitation, although with a sense of despair.

Irving Hexham, a professor of religious studies at the University of Calgary, says there are many social issues that create disagreement ... but the real narrow-mindedness ... doesn't come from other faiths but rather Canadians lacking religious ties of any kind.

"It's the atheists and agnostics," says Hexham, an Anglican. "They're very intolerant of any traditional Christians, despite the fact they want tolerance for everybody else."

Uh huh.

Once the whole damned country doesn't have to dance in step with the timing and traditions of YOUR celebrations, Mr. Hexham, THEN you can talk of intolerance by non-religionists. Not before.

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Pot, meet Kettle

Headline: Shun witchcraft, Pope tells Angolans.

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Bare Decades Ago a Bonus Came as a Surprise

... and was awarded to outstanding employees whose performances far exceeded their job descriptions and their employers' expectations.

A salary was the normal compensation employees received for simply doing their jobs as prescribed. If they failed to perform to standard, they were fired.

So when did bonuses become part of the expected "compensation package," particularly for management? And when did they start getting issued regardless of performance?

In other words, what are these bonuses for? Simply hanging in there, no matter how incompetent you are?

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HarperCon Pattern Emerges

If you ask the Minister for Science & Technology about his thoughts on the theory of evolution, you are asking him about his religious beliefs. You are not asking about his understanding and support of a scientific theory on which so much other science has been based.

If you demand that a recent immigration and refugee board appointee be fired because he opposes same-sex marriage and views homosexuality as sinful, you are making such demand on the basis of his religious belief. You are not making such demand on the basis of his support for Canadian law.

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In clarifying evolution position, Goodyear digs deeper hole

... Gary Goodyear offers this nugget of wisdom on a program today on the Conservative Television Network.

Jane Taber: So you do believe in evolution. You believe in the theory of evolution. Let’s just get this off the table right now.

Gary Goodyear: We are evolving, every year, every decade. That's a fact. Whether it's to the intensity of the sun, whether it's to, as a chiropractor, walking on cement versus anything else, whether it’s running shoes or high heels, of course, we are evolving to our environment. But that's not relevant. And that's why I refused to answer the question. The interview was about our science and tech strategy, which is strong…

Huh?! You were asked about the theory of evolution. Do you even know what that is, Mr. Science & Technology?

Then we've The Canadian Press reporting Goodyear having said, also today, that he "does indeed believe in evolution."

Tip for journalists: Using 'X' in a sentence doesn't mean the utterer has any understanding of X.

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Headline Scan delivers a Giggle

Item 1: Scientists discover tiny dinosaur
Item 2: Is Canada's Science Minister a Creationist?

Ya know, being a Canadian during these Harper years has become a terrible embarrassment. My sole consolation are the sympathies being extended from our southern neighbour. They know the pain we're going through, having just been through eight years of such crap.

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Atheism, deism, theism, consumerism...

...environmentalism, capitalism.

How fundamentally different are these in terms of shaping how we perceive the world and our role in it?

Atheism, deism and theism each posit an unique position with respect to the notion of a omniscient, omnipresent supreme creator.

Professional religionists work to sell their favourite flavour of theism.

Atheists don't so much try to sell rationalism as attempt to defend it against theism, particularly blind faith.

The raison d'être of the Wee Three (formerly Big Three) is to sell people not only individual cars but an entire culture in which the North American automobile rides dominant.

Sellers of televisions, iPods, "homes" (how can you sell or buy a HOME?) strive to sell people not just their products but a whole way of life. Typically, new houses are built in suburbia. New transportation arteries accompany development. The new homeowners cannot walk or cycle to and from work since their place of employment is, conveniently for the auto makers, kilometres away from their new bedroom community.

Selling society on the philosophy of consumerism - on selling it to accept a transformation in which certain products and services become needs - is fundamentally no different than selling society on a way of looking at the world and the human role in it.

Is not environmentalism a worldview? Is not capitalism?

If the makers of cars, iPods, television sets, can collectively promote their consumerist ideology through advertising, then no valid argument exists which warrants barring atheists from buying ads to sell rationalism.

Were atheists to sell rationalism it might end the sale of religion.

If rationalism captured the imaginations and hearts of the people, perhaps we'd reduce the greed driving us to destroy our planet, greed driven in the names of "free" trade, perpetual "economic growth," and "competition."

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Atheist Ad "grates on" you, Ms. Wilkinson?

How do you think atheists feel, Ms. Wilkinson, when surrounded by religionists who would - and do - impose their beliefs on all society?

And how is it that your faith cannot bear something as innocuous as "There is probably no God"?

Or that you would find the ad "demeaning"?

Ms Wilkinson, THIS ISSUE ISN'T ALL ABOUT YOU and your hurt feelings.

It's about a large and growing minority in this country that doesn't believe in your God. It's about the alienation THEY feel.

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What the Hell are the Religionists afraid of?!

Can your 'God' not handle a little competition?

Are you so fearful of your world view being challenged that you deny others their freedom of NON religion?

And the freedom to say so? Publicly? In ad campaigns? As your religious institutions do?

The City of Ottawa has rejected a "no God" bus ad campaign, a move that organizers hope will serve as a rallying cry for proponents of free speech across the country.

"We need to get people as offended about censorship as they are by the ad," said Justin Trottier, president of the Freethought Association of Canada...

The [group] had been hoping the posters would soon plaster the sides of OC Transpo buses in Ottawa, but their advertising request was denied last week as "offensive."

"It's not the first rejection we had," Trottier said. "We got rejected in Halifax a week or two ago."

OFFENSIVE?!

Gawd, I'm sick of religionists and their crap.

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Create your own bus slogan!

Like those "There is no God" ads? Wanna create your own? Well venture over here.



H/t Gordo's Brain.

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Darwin Bashing

It seems the really religious members of society are still refuting Darwin's theory of evolution.

Throughout much of the 20th century, opponents of evolution (many of them theologically conservative Protestants) either tried to eliminate the teaching of Darwin's theory from public school science curricula or urged science instructors also to teach a version of the creation story found in the biblical book of Genesis.

But beginning in the 1960s, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a number of decisions that imposed severe restrictions on those state governments that opposed the teaching of evolution. As a result of these rulings, school boards, legislatures and government bodies are now barred from prohibiting the teaching of evolution. Teaching creation science, either along with evolutionary theory or in place of it, is also banned.

Recent public opinion polls indicate that challenges to Darwinian evolution have substantial support among the American people.

Why is it that religiously minded individuals, who believe in a god without a shred of proof are so ready to dismiss scientific facts?

This view is not shared by the nation's scientists, most of whom contend that evolution is a well-established scientific theory that convincingly explains the origins and development of life on earth. Moreover, they say, a scientific theory is not a hunch or a guess but is instead an established explanation for a natural phenomenon, like gravity, that has repeatedly been tested through observation and experimentation. Indeed, most scientists argue that, for all practical purposes, evolution through natural selection is a fact.

Having been brought up by a "good Christian family", it took some time to extricate myself from dogmatic religion. The weight of guilt, the feeling that god was watching my every move and the fear of a life in hell has dissipated.

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Obama to expand Bush "faith" program

Oh, Gawd.

George W. Bush created the White House faith-based grant program, and Obama intends to keep the same structure. But Obama is going a significant step further, with the creation of a new board of advisers whose recommendations will be woven directly into his policy-making apparatus...

Under Obama, the President’s Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will allow 25 faith and secular leaders to provide regular input on policy and to advise the White House faith office, which is tasked with distributing grants.

“The conventional wisdom suggests that, since Bush used much rhetoric about his commitment to working closely with religious leaders and communities, that the new Democrat coming to the White House might seek to diminish the role of religion in his administration,” said the Rev. Jim Wallis, the president of the progressive Christian group Sojourners and a member of Obama’s new council. “But I believe the opposite may turn out to be true. There will be a new paradigm of religious influence under the Obama administration.”

...The council will pull together an evangelical megachurch pastor, a Reform rabbi, a former Southern Baptist Convention president and the first female bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The membership is intended to cross the political and religious spectrum, fulfilling Obama’s promise to run an inclusive administration. But with the diversity could come conflict.

A White House faith office?! Please don't tell me we've something like that in Canada!

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To His Popishness: Time to resign

... says at least one Catholic theologian.

Criticism following the pope's Jan. 24 announcement has been particularly cutting in Germany, where denying the Holocaust is a crime punishable with a jail sentence.

"If the pope wants to do some good for the Church, he should leave his job," eminent liberal Catholic theologian Hermann Haering told the German daily Tageszeitung.

A senior Vatican official acknowledged the Vatican administration may have made "management errors" with the decision...

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Oh, Gawd!

That was precisely my reaction as I read this Scientific American article about a group of "scholars" who met to discuss "the natural (that is, Darwinian) foundations of religious belief and behavior."

My reaction was prompted by the first item in the writer's summary of the weekend's topics:

As the resident psychologist, I reiterated my empirically based argument that belief in the afterlife is more or less an inevitable byproduct of human consciousness. Since we cannot conceptualize the absence of consciousness, even non-believers are susceptible to visions of the hereafter.

So if I CAN conceptualize nothingness and DO NOT believe in an afterlife, then I'm a Darwinian anomaly? Cuz, believe you me, I am human and I am conscious.

Haven't read the rest of the article yet. Can't wait to learn more about the "natural" foundations of religious belief.

...OK. This bit is interesting:

What if, as I suggested in my answer to this year’s “Annual Question” [regarding the existence of a supreme being], the data suggest that God is actually just a psychological blemish etched onto the core cognitive substrate of your brain? Would you still believe if you knew God were a byproduct of your evolved mental architecture?

No, cuz I don't believe in the first place. Ergo, might one argue that people who don't have that blemish etched onto their brains are further up the evolutionary chain?

I rather like that interpretation.

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Morning Chuckle

Red Canuck gave me my morning chuckle with this amusing post on the There is No God campaign in the UK. Laughter should always be part of one's morning routine; 'tis great exercise for the lungs.

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