Agnostic Universe

Merry Christmas! This is the day Christians celebrate the fact that a married woman who had not yet had sex with her husband was impregnated by God through a Holy Ghost. It sounds like rape to me and if I were Joseph I’d be furious if Mary claimed she was impregnated by God.

Merry Yule! That’s for those of us that don’t believe such an odd story passed down from our more primitive ancestors.

This is a funny one from Atheist Cartoons to complement my post this month called Santa and God – The Same Kind of Real.

I love the British version of The Office and I think Ricky Gervais has always been outstanding. Now I know why I really like him as a person. Here’s some excellent holiday reading for you all:
A Holiday Message From Ricky Gervais: Why I’m an Atheist

Along with the excellent follow-up:
Does God Exist? Ricky Gervais Takes Your Questions

The fact that science can say “we don’t know” is exactly my point. Science doesn’t start with a set of convenient conclusions and try to justify them. It follows evidence. In fact, it tries to prove itself wrong. When it can’t, it’s right. Superstition, religion and blind faith cherry pick the evidence and justify the results by changing the goal posts. There are no cover-ups in science. For better or worse it finds stuff out. It has no moral code as such. It leaves those decisions to society. It discovers life saving drugs but leaves it up to you whether to use them or not. It discovers that splitting the atom can release a massive amount of energy very quickly and leaves it up to governments to try it out or not. It finds out what and how and why. It asks can we? Not should we? This is why it baffles me that some god fearers believe that without a god there is no reason to be good. Really?

If you don’t know what made the universe it seems pointless to say a God must have made it then. You have to then say “But what made God?” If you are then willing to say that God was always around, you may as well say that the universe was too. Saves time doesn’t it? How long did he wait till he made the universe by the way? And where was he? Did it turn out just like he planned? If he had to make another one would he do it any different? Where would he put it?

Since there is nothing to know about god, a comedian knows as much about god as any one else. An atheist however is alone in knowing that there is nothing to know so probably has the edge. An Atheist comedian can make people laugh about belief or lack of it. A good atheist comedian can make people laugh AND think about belief or lack of it. An agnostic would say that since you can neither prove the existence nor the non-existence of God then the only answer to the question “Is there a God?” is “I don’t know.” Basically they are saying just because you haven’t found something yet doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Well firstly we have to know what definition of God we are asking about. Many can be dismissed as logical impossibilities. In the same way that if you were asked can you imagine a square circle the answer is of course “No.” Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. Let’s just say there is a definition of a God that is possible. Does he exist? “I don’t know” in this case is indeed the correct answer. However this must also be the answer to many other questions. Is there an elephant up your a—? Even if you’ve looked you can’t say “no.” It could be that you just haven’t found it yet. Please look again and this time really believe there is an elephant up there because however mad it sounds no one can prove that you don’t have a lovely big African elephant up your a—.

Peace to all mankind. Christian, Jew, Muslim and Atheist.

What about Agnostics?

Uhm?…I don’t know. Only joking. Yes even Agnostics.

Peace and goodwill to ALL mankind.

We love you Ricky! Peace and goodwill to you too!

I enjoy The Daily Show very much!

It’s that time of year again to have some fun with the kids and celebrate the secular aspects of an American Christmas. It’s also that time of year that I think about how Santa and God are the same kind of real. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and he’s the God of the Children! He’s like a God with training wheels.

Santa Claus has some disputed origins from Sinterklass that might even trace some of his current traits back to Odin. The stories of the miracles of Santa have expanded and spread throughout the world because they are a compelling message of the true power of Santa. Santa could be credited with childhood morality and the source of all good girls and boys. We would certainly have an entire population of juvenile delinquents without Santa watching over them and keeping them good, right? The only reason for childhood goodness and morality is because Santa commands it in order to receive the ultimate gift he could give the children. That gift is to grant the wishes of the children for toys or other presents through the greatest miracle I’ve ever personally witnessed. That miracle is that all of those presents are delivered on a single night to all of the true believers of Santa around the world. If you don’t believe then you usually have to settle for lesser gifts from your parents or other loved ones. Some kids never receive presents at all no matter how much they wish for Santa to bring them. Hopefully the US Marine Corp Toys for Tots program can help them through the work of generous people like you.

This time of year I see all of the signs of Santa Claus and his believers spreading the message of Santa to keep him alive and well in the minds and hearts of the people. He has representatives in every mall spreading his image and message of goodness in trade for gifts. He’s all over our culture and media and does so much good that there would be no reason to stop this belief from continuing. I’ve personally witnessed and taken part in the greatest miracle I’ve ever seen and would never spoil that for any little kid today even though my own children have outgrown this belief. It’s fun and harmless for elementary school kids and younger as they do experience the real miracle of Santa. The concept of Santa delivers even though Santa himself is not real and what Santa is based on could never do what the concept has been able to accomplish year after year.

But what would you do if your teenager or coworker professed a deeply held belief in Santa? It’s a harmless belief, right? Can you imagine a distraught coworker coming in after the holidays fearing that they’re a bad or evil person because Santa didn’t deliver a present to their solitary apartment? Can you imagine a happy coworker that says with all honesty that Santa brought them an iPod for Christmas because they got a gift from “Santa” written in the handwriting of one of their loved ones? Do you really think that kind of delusion is a good thing and would be comfortable telling that person to not do something you think is wrong because Santa is watching and might not bring them a present next year?

There are parallels between the reality of what is accomplished by the concept of Santa and the concept of God. The concept of Santa has some good and harmless effects on humanity as long as we grow up and see Santa for what it really is so we can keep the adult part of this concept harmless. The concept and how we all perpetuate it for the children makes it feel very real for them. But what if we didn’t grow up and we thought Santa was still real in adulthood and that he just needed us to help deliver his presents? How would we treat the unbelievers that wouldn’t give credit to Santa for some presents? The goodness of our children are in jeopardy if we let the unbelievers stop serving Santa!

What will Santa bring you this year on his own without any help? How can you be a good person without a belief in Santa Claus? Borrowing from the United Coalition of Reason, millions of Americans are good without Santa. Think about it.

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

I’ll probably say some Merry Christmas with my Happy Holidays. This cartoon is what I remember about the holiday growing up with only a sprinkle of Catholicism thrown in, even though my mother now claims we were more religious than what I saw us practice. We had a small nativity scene, we sometimes went to mass, and we sometimes had prayer before eating but I don’t remember these things as a constant tradition. Even if it was, once I reached my own age of reason I know I’d still be where I am today in my beliefs.

There is a definite traditional side of Christmas that is rooted in pagan and Roman celebrations since Jesus most likely wasn’t even born on December 25th or any other time in the winter. The true meaning of the holiday isn’t Christ’s birth. You can actually find all sorts of info on when he might have been born from many Christian sites. You can also learn about some of the true history of Christmas at History.com.

Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to most of my fellow Americans! Do you all really know the origins of this national holiday believers think is under attack? Happy Hanukkah and Kwanzaa too for some of my other fellow Americans! I hope we all have a nice time and just enjoy the fact that we’re all human and we’re still alive.

If you’re looking for some good fun to celebrate Christmas day, I have a wonderfully funny movie to suggest. If you’ve never checked it out or if it’s an old favorite, I’d suggest watching Monty Python’s Life of Brian. There is a lot of underlying truth to the comedy that demonstrates how a religion could be created by people foolishly searching for answers and someone to follow. Here is a funny clip from the movie:

Alternet has an interesting history of Christmas in early America: Once Upon a Time the Religious Right Demonized Christmas, Even Banning Its Celebration. There’s a history of early Americans hating the holiday and banning its celebration. It also has a good rundown of some of the true origins of many of our Christmas traditions:

Several of the holiday’s most common features grow out of pre-Christian religions. The ancient Romans celebrated Saturnalia in mid-December, a time of general merriment, feasting and gift exchanges. Slaves were given time off and were even permitted to play dice games in public. During this period, many Romans decorated their homes with evergreens as a reminder that life would persevere through the dark days of winter.

Evergreen trees had long been viewed as a symbol of fertility by Pagan peoples. When winter came and most trees lost their leaves and appeared to die, the evergreen was a reminder that life would endure and that long days, warmer weather and a harvest would come again. Germans were early boosters of the Christmas tree and brought it to America. (The pious legend that Martin Luther decorated the first Christmas tree is not taken seriously by scholars.)

Candles, a necessary item during the dark winter period, were a common Saturnalia gift. Some scholars consider them a precursor to Christmas lights.

Originally celebrated on Dec. 17, the Roman Saturnalia eventually expanded to last an entire week, ending on Dec. 23.

So where did the Dec. 25 date for Christmas come from?

Many scholars believe that date came from another Roman festival, one that became popular around the middle of the third century – the feast of Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun.

During this festival, various gods related to the sun in the Roman pantheon were honored. The festival was most popular during the reign of the emperor Aurelian (270-275 A.D.), who attributed his military victories to the sun god and may have wanted to establish a solar deity as supreme in the Roman pantheon. Images of Sol Invictus remained popular and appeared on Roman coinage even during the reign of Constantine the Great (306-337 A.D.).

There is some evidence that early Christians celebrated the festival alongside Pagans, and that church leaders, seeing these practices under way, simply appropriated the date for the birth of Jesus as Christianity grew and became the dominant religion of the empire throughout the fourth and fifth centuries.

Michael Grant, the late scholar of the ancient world, noted in his 1985 book The Roman Emperors that Dec. 25 was “a bequest of the solar cult to Christianity, converted into Christmas Day.”

Legal codes laid down by the emperors Theodosius I and later Justinian made Christianity the state religion and banned Paganism. Church leaders were generally tolerant of people taking old practices and adding a Christian gloss to them. Overt worship of Pagan gods disappeared but the Dec.25 date – and many residual practices associated with the old festival – remained.

As strange as it may seem, when Religious Right legal groups go to court to battle the “War on Christmas,” they may really be defending practices historically associated with the worship not of the son of God but the sun in the sky.

Here is a belated Happy New Year to everyone! My laptop was out for service for nearly a month getting the hinges fixed and we visited my family for the holidays so I’ve been less inclined to post than usual. I know I think enough of my Agnosticism to provide this website for the hopeful benefit of my fellow humans, but I find that I don’t always have as much to say about Agnosticism itself that I thought I did when I started this project.

The truth is that my family lives a wonderful and happy life almost completely devoid of religion. My wife and 2 children very rarely talk about religious topics and we are rarely exposed to religion in our lives. I guess we’re just fortunate to not have to deal with such things. My wife’s family would call themselves Christians but they never go to church and never talk about it. If you told them they should go to church, they would be insulted by the idea that they have to do such a thing to be a believer. They just believe because that’s what they’ve always done and there’s nothing more active about their faith than that.

We live somewhat far away from my family, so like I mentioned, we visted them for a few weeks over the holidays. My mom is (was?) Catholic (and loosely raised me that way). I believe my dad is an Agnostic that just plays along with whatever my mom wants. My sister is a Christian that doesn’t go to church much. Come to think of it I’m not sure what church she’s a part of now that she’s out on her own. My brother joined some sort of nondenominational bible church and has recently talked my mother into joining him. I jokingly asked her “I thought you were Catholic” and she replied that she can go to whatever church she wanted to. I thought about pointing out that if you can pick and choose what you believe then it must not really matter what is right, but I just left it alone. She’d probably just say that God and Jesus are the only things that matter and the specific details aren’t important. What a wonderful basis for belief to not have specific details that matter.

The only time any of this believing caused any trouble or was visible to us was in two cases. One was the saying of “Grace” at dinner (not lunch). I noticed we did it when my brother was around but when he wasn’t there for dinner we conveniently just started eating as we had always done during past visits. My wife, 2 kids, and I sat quietly as my brother or nephew said a little prayer. My kids may have closed with their amen response but my wife and I just simply and respectfully remained quiet without bowing our heads. Nothing was said of any of this and we were just accepted as we are without question. The dinner prayers were somewhat new to the family and only happened on a few special occassions in past years like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners. Those were also from the prompting of my brother now that I think about it.

The other case that caught me off guard as completely new was the request that we all go “as a family” to church for Christmas Eve. This was to my brother’s bible church and not to the Catholic church that we grew up with (for Christmas and Easter). I simply said “no thank you” and my wife said something like “have fun but we’re definitely not going.” My mother seemed disappointed and did a little attempt at making me feel guilty for not being part of this “family” event and implied that it destroys our family concept or bond in some way. I wasn’t buying it of course. We are not defined together by our belief, particularly if it appears to mean we follow my brother to this new church he found. If my mom was true to her belief she would be going to the Catholic church as my brother went to his bible church.

Then my mom asked if she could take my children. I said that it was entirely up to them and she could ask them herself. I told her my son probably would not be interested (I was correct) and that my daughter might (she went). So off they went with our 10-year-old daughter who hasn’t come to us with the same conclusion that our 12-year-old son has. He’s already decided that religion and its various stories are complete fiction. Our daughter came back from church saying she didn’t care much for it and she got bored. All I said was to remind her that she doesn’t have to go. When Sunday came around they asked again if they wanted to go to church and this time they both declined the offer. Fortunately my mom and brother are not trying to push them into it. I like to think that they are refraining from doing that out of respect for me as their father. Even if they were to try to push them into religion I wouldn’t mind so much because they might experience such pressure at some time in their life. Right now with conflicting information coming from their own family should remind them that nobody has the answers and it is best to question everything. They still seem to respect my answer the best still: “I don’t have all of the answers because nobody has all of the answers. It is good to question everything.”

I do my best to raise my children as good human beings and as good members of the society we live in. I’m finding it easy to do this without the crutch and threats of religion to explain to them what good and bad is.

It is now time to draw the line, ladies and gentlemen. We must decide whether we value our heritage or not. Make no mistake about this. “Merry Christmas” is an emotional, but small issue. The drastic change the secular progressive movement wants in this country is the big issue.

Those people want an America free from spirituality and judgments about personal behavior. And they may get it.

FOXNews.com – The O’Reilly Factor – Talking Points – Merry Christmas, Maybe…

Yes, it is now time to draw the line and I hope my fellow unbelievers use intelligence and reason in this supposed War on Christmas. Brian Flemming has responded with this:

“Christian conservatives complain nonstop about the ‘War on Christmas,’ but there really isn’t any such war,” said Beyond Belief Media president Brian Flemming, a former fundamentalist Christian who is now an atheist activist. “So we have decided to wage one, to demonstrate what it would look like if Jesus’ birthday were truly attacked.”

Beyond Belief Media Declares War on Christmas

I hope that Brian’s war remains tongue-in-cheek and never becomes a true reality. I don’t want an America free from spirituality or Christmas, I just want a free America where believers and unbelievers are equally free to be themselves.

In a free America you will be told “Merry Christmas” by lots of people and that is just fine by me. I take it as meaning the same as the “Happy Holidays” from an unbeliever. I may not believe in Christianity but the spirit of Christmas as a secular American holiday is a good tradition that promotes family and love. The Christ in Christmas can be easily avoided by any unbeliever and I think the holiday is just fine the way it is. I don’t think we need to trash Christmas just because some aspects of it are Christian.

I have a Christmas Tree because that’s what I’m used to calling it since I do have some Christian relatives. Christmas is symbolized to me by lights on houses, decorated trees, and Santa Claus. None of of these things scream Christianity. Nonbelievers can easily enjoy a secular Christmas holiday.

I am not shocked by a nativity scene since a majority of people might like these things. It means nothing to me so I don’t dwell on it. I’d prefer my tax dollars not go towards such things, but it won’t kill me if it does.

Unbelievers should share in the fellowship and love of the season. The roots of many Christmas traditions go back to the Pagans, so the holiday is presently just a mismash of various traditions from and outside of Christianity. It doesn’t matter to me what we call it as long as we join together with our community and let everyone be themselves. I support the ideal of the American Christmas and don’t care about the Christian Christmas.

I don’t want In God We Trust on our money or One Nation, Under God in our pledge, but the celebration of Christmas and observation of it as a federal holiday does not force me to display a belief in Christianity. I’m still free to sit around on Christmas and say the Christian God is a myth if I want to do that. However, I’ll be too busy with presents from Santa Claus for my children and celebrating a day of family and love.

I think trying to take away the current Christmas in its jointly secular and religious form is the same as telling kids that since many adults don’t believe in Santa Claus they can’t believe in him either and they won’t be getting any presents any more.