Sign the Petition!

I'm currently at a nerd camp at Clemson. It's really fun; we're studying polymers, etc. I've been busy, and that's why no posts.

But guys, you really need to sign this petition. It's about IN GOD WE TRUST and ONE NATION UNDER GOD. Need I say more? From the Petition:

We should be able to embrace or reject faith and profess or not profess our individual conclusions without our government advancing conflicting conclusions on behalf of all citizens. Equality before the law is best respected by government laws and institutions that are indifferent regarding agnosticism, animism, atheism, deism, monotheism, pantheism, polytheism, etc. Those "isms" are personal beliefs belonging to individuals, not to governments. Democratic government shouldn't express favoritism regarding competing candidates for government office or competing commercial products. Similarly, democratic government shouldn't express favoritism regarding competing metaphysical beliefs.

So, with your 1st amendment rights of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition, sign it.

About the Bible

comments from Friendly Atheist blog

I know, it seems stupid, but I just find it so damn interesting how much it shocks these kinds of people when they meet a non-Christian, are unfathomably rude and condescending to them, and then still receive an open-minded response. It freaks their minds, I tells ya 0_0

“A gentle answer deflects anger,
but harsh words make tempers flare.”
-Proverbs 15:1

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone…
If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
-Romans 12:18-21

I think we’re on the same page with this.

Along with the usual fairy tales, blood, and gore, there’s actually some pretty good advice.

Unfortunately,
a) People pick and choose what to follow and what not to, and
b) There’s so much sadistic non-believer-hating stuff in there, it outweighs the good stuff.

I hate it when people pick and choose bible verses, especially when they take them out of context. For example, why do Fundies hate gays, but have no problem eating pork or shellfish? Why don't we just go ahead and have an oyster roast and pig pickin' at an anti-gay rally, guys?

As for the good-bad-bible argument, I think that Pedro has a great understanding of it at this blog posting--the three levels of bible rules.

Hopefully, I'll have some more Youtube vids up--maybe guitar this time. But it probably won't be until after school ends, which is Wednesday.

Bleh!

Sorry no posts lately. Finals! I'll have some up soon enough. I can't write much if I don't have good ideas, anyway.

But for a shameless plug, I did win a talent show with this:

A Reply.

This was originally a reply to Misanthropic Scott's comment on a previous blog post. I guess it got a little too long. Here's the comment:

I'm sorry for your loss. You are not the first to notice that life is more precious to atheists precisely because we truly understand that when life is over, it's really over.

I once pointed out to a friend and colleague that I was not afraid of death. I pointed out that death was not the worst thing that could happen to me. I have seen worse than death.

He is a practicing Catholic. He stated that he does not fear death either. I pointed out that he was incorrect. I do not fear death. He does not believe in death. He acknowledged the point.

Good luck with the scholarship.

First of all, thanks for the condolences and the wish for luck :-)

I've read that anecdote before--probably either in a blog post or another comment (on another blog). I've remembered it ever since, because it's a really good idea that I would have never thought of.

I guess, though, you could say that I do fear death; I think that if you don't fear it, you're not living your life to its fullest potential. It's not death itself I fear, but it's dying without doing the things I want to do. Death is real, but one's legacy lives on.

Death of a Grandmother

So, Saturday night was the first night of Passover. Being the good Jews my parents are, we had a Passover Seder that night. It wasn't particularly bad; lots of friends coming over, doing stuff like searching for the afikoman and eating matzo. I guess you could say I'm a Cultural Jew. But really, it's only because I'm forced to. I'm more of an atheist-with-jewish-parents-who-push-their-religion-on-you. (But that isn't an option on the SAT, so I put Jewish instead.)

After the Seder, and everyone left, things started to get interesting.

"David! Come over here!"
"What'd I do?"
"Nothing. I don't know how to tell you, so I'll just tell you bluntly. Your grandmother died earlier tonight at about 6:30."

This wasn't an unexpected death at all. For the past week, she hasn't been eating, and she's had senile dementia for awhile. So basically ever since then I'm being visited by people saying that they've been blessed with the life of my Grandmother. And they really have, if you take out the God-connotation of the word. She was a really great and hospitable person.

I suppose I'm the saddest to see her go because really I'm one of the only people who really does believe in death, if you think about it. But I'm also relieved because she was in pain and I would have done the same thing.

In other news, I got a letter to qualify me to compete for semifinals for National Merit Scholarship. Yay.

The best damn religious joke I've heard in a long time

This is a joke I found on ComedyCentral.com. :)

There were three country churches in a small Texas town: Presbyterian, Methodist and Catholic.

Each church was overrun with pesky squirrels. One day, the Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about the squirrels.

After much prayer and consideration they determined that the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will.

The Methodist group got together and decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creations.

So, they humanely trapped the squirrels and set them free a few miles outside of town. Three days later, the squirrels were back.

It was only the Catholics who were able to come up with the best and most effective solution:

They baptized the squirrels and registered them as members of the church. Now they see them only on Christmas and Easter.

Creative Commons License Thingy

Anyone can use any part of my blog as a resource if they want, as long as they:

1. Give me credit / Cite the Blog
2. Do not plagiarize
   
3. Realize that this is not a scholarly paper, and that I do not necessarily know what i'm talking about.

Thanks a lot