Southeast Wisconsin FreeThinkers

Thursday, May 20th is “Draw Mohammad Day” on Facebook. Well, sort of. A new page was launched on Facebook to encourage people to draw their idea of what the prophet Mohammad looks like. The whole thing supposedly started out because a Seattle based cartoonist made a cartoon in protest to Comedy Central’s censorship of an episode of the cartoon South Park. In the episode, Mohammad was depicted in a bear suit. In Islam, it is blaspheme to depict an image of Mohammad.The writers of South Park got death threats from Muslims so Comedy Central edited the show.

Now we have this. Are people taking it a little too far? Or, are we (Americans) being subjugated by a radical faction of Islam that has effectively taken away our freedom of speech? Tolerance or too much? The late Carl Sagan once wrote that, “Belief systems that cannot withstand scrutiny, are probably not worth having.” We criticize everything in this country. Part of that criticism sometimes involves mockery. Is it alright to mock a handicapped person who cannot defend themselves? I would argue that is not alright. Religion, on the other hand, is not a defenseless handicapped person. Religion, all religion, is guilty of subjugating its followers and persecuting everyone who does not subscribe to their madness. Religion kills human lives for disagreeing with its dogma. Religion spreads lies and hatred. When we criticize a religion and engage in open dialog with its adherents, we usually are mocking the dogma and superstition, not the individuals who fall prey to the religious indoctrination.

Bottom line: Islam can and should be scrutinized just like any other belief system. The fact that many are afraid to scrutinize it for fear of personal harm is a horrible repugnant notion that goes against everything this country was founded on. Personally, I do feel that the Draw Mohammad Day is in poor taste, but it is not illegal (yet) and certainly not unwarranted considering how our freedoms are slowly being stifled by fear.

Wow!!! In a stunning victory for freethought, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb has ruled in favor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in their two-year-long lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of National Prayer Day. Judge Crabb stated,

“It goes beyond mere ‘acknowledgment’ of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function in this context. In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience. When the government associates one set of religious beliefs with the state and identifies nonadherents as outsiders, it encroaches upon the individual’s decision about whether and how to worship.”

—-U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb

This is a groundbreaking ruling that will have sweeping effects in the United States. The big question is whether President Obama, who was named as one of the defendants, will abide by the ruling. SWiFT praises the Freedom From Religion Foundation for their dedication and hard work. This is a victory for secularists of all stripes.

Click on the links below for statements from several other freethought organizations.

FFRF celebrates National Day of Prayer victory

CFI Applauds Federal Court Ruling against National Day of Prayer

Americans United Praises Federal Court Decision Striking Down National Day of Prayer

Being good means doing good. Not when it’s convenient, but sometimes when it’s inconvenient. One of the biggest fallacies that theists wrongly attribute to us non-theists is that we cannot possibly be good without swearing allegiance to a god. As it is consistently shown, we (atheists) are not the ones hijacking airplanes, bombing subways and setting children on fire. Not only can you be good without a god, I maintain you have a much better chance of being a good person without a god. However, the majority of people in the United States would tend to disagree with me. They, of course, are wrong. I don’t have the luxury of a fictitious all-powerful deity to forgive me when I do something wrong. I must live with the consequences of my own actions. That is why it is so important to lead by example. We’re all human. We all get upset and harbor unpleasant thoughts from time to time. It is how we act upon those thoughts that define our morality. It’s hard to be good all of the time. We all get frustrated, but sometimes all we need is a little symbol to remind us of who we are.

The other day I was driving to work on the freeway. I have a long commute that can sometimes last over an hour. As I sit there I watch bad drivers cutting people off and doing everything they can irritate as many people as possible – not to mention endangering their own and other people’s lives. On this particular morning there was a person tailgating me in the right lane. I was already exceeding the posted speed limit, but I deduced it wasn’t fast enough for him by the fact that he continually charged and gestured at me. As I approached an entrance ramp, with the tailgater practically on my bumper, there was a vehicle to my immediate right trying to merge onto the freeway. I was tempted to ignore the situation and just go at my current speed and let the merging driver try and fend for himself even though the entrance ramp was coming to an end. However, I looked up in my rear view mirror – and saw, not the jerk that was tailgating me, but the American Atheists’ decal on my rear window. My actions were clear. I had to slow down and allow the driver to merge into traffic. That’s exactly what I did. Yes, I know I ran the risk of getting rammed, but I felt compelled to do it. I did it not to irritate the person behind me, but to aid the person trying to get onto the freeway. The merging driver raised his hand in a gesture to say “thank you” and I reciprocated in kind, making sure my gesture was overt enough that my tailgater behind me saw it. I wasn’t just a member of American Atheists. I was a representative of, not only the organization, but of atheists in general. As an atheist, it was my duty to do good.

I will never know if the person behind me identified the American Atheist logo or if he thought I was doing a good deed or not. It does not matter. What does matter is that whenever I get into my American Atheists logoed car, I am representing atheists. I have a responsibility to act appropriately and exercise good judgment in accordance with the aims and principals of American Atheists, as well as, my own Humanist worldviews. I will not be the cause of someone saying they witnessed a godless atheist being a jerk. I will instead be the cause of someone saying, “Hey, did you see that?  That atheist let that guy in. What a cool thing to do. Maybe atheists aren’t so bad after all.” I know it’s a little thing. But, if we all do good little things on a consistent basis, we might not have so many big problems and maybe more people would identify us as the good people that we truly are.

I think everyone with an appreciation of Darwin (or science in general) would enjoy the sarcastic anguish of this: http://www.landoverbaptist.net/showthread.php?t=3498 at the Landover Baptist Church (a fictional baptist church that parodies fundamentalism). Or perhaps I’m the only one not to know about this. The site in general is worth visiting, and I have some reservations about some of its posters’ heavyhandedness, but this link is a gem

The folks over at richarddawkins.net have made it really easy to give money to help those in Haiti. There is now a consortium of Free Thought groups that are part of this initiative.  Partners include the following groups:

Atheist Alliance International
Atheists Helping the Homeless
Atheists United
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
Freedom From Religion Foundation
James Randi Educational Foundation
Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers
New Humanist magazine
Pharyngula
Rationalist Association
Rationalist International
Reasonable New York
Secular Student Alliance
Skeptics in the Pub
The British Humanist Association
The International Humanist and Ethical Union
The Reason Project
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
The Skeptic Magazine
The Skeptics Society
Unreasonable Faith

The money will go to either the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders. You can choose how you want your donation to be applied. Donations are taken through Paypal. You do not need a Paypal account to contribute and Paypal has waived all transaction fees. This is an excellent way to help those who are really in need. Plus it is an outstanding way to show the theistic world that one does not need to believe in imaginary beings to be charitable and help our fellow human beings. Just click the below banner for more information.

For those in the know, Humanist Charities, which is associated with the American Humanist Association, has been helping people since 2005. This organization is made up of atheists, agnostics, humanists, and other freethinkers who contribute to relief efforts around the globe. Unlike Christian charities that spend a great deal of their contributions on proselytizing (read Salvation Army and others), Humanist Charities funnels the contributions to where they are needed most – helping people.  Less than 5% of the contributions actual go for administrative costs.

The people of Haiti have been struck a tremendous and horrific blow. If you are considering donating money to help, please consider Humanist Charities. For more information click on links in this post or use the contact information below.

Humanist Charities
1777 T St NW
Washington, DC, 20009

800.837.3792
202.238.9088
Fax 202.238.9003

info@humanistcharities.org
http://www.humanistcharities.org

For those of you who have not been following the destructive exploits of the creationists, this one’s for you.

Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron of the Living Waters Ministries are giving away free copies of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. The catch? Ray comfort has added his own introduction with false stories of Darwin being a fascist and racist. He also denounces evolution and science in general as false. Comfort further goes on to edit the work itself. His version actually omits key chapters. He basically altered the book to act as a propaganda machine for his warped creationist ideas. He is trying to confuse people by flooding schools with this false and harmful book. The mission is to use deceit and lies to surreptitiously get their insane creationist propaganda into our countries schools.

SWiFT officially condemns the Living Waters Ministries version of Origin of Species, with the introduction by Ray Comfort, as complete and utter nonsense. The introduction is nothing more than fabricated creationist propaganda. The body of the book has been edited and altered in such a way as to render its original purpose and meaning unintelligible. The original text of Origin of Species stands as one of the greatest contributions to civilization. The Living Waters Ministries has committed a sad and despicable act of sabotage against human progress and knowledge by defacing this great work and disseminating their deluded, hateful disinformation.

If creationism had anything intelligent or relevant say, perhaps its practitioners would share it rather resorting to defiling accepted works of scientific reasoning. The vacuous claims made by the creationists are still just that, empty.

If you would like see the Ray Comfort abomination, grab as many of them as you can at universities, but by all means do not send them any money to purchase a copy. If you would like to read the introduction – or the entire book for that matter, you may download it for free below.

Living Waters abridged version of Origin of Species (free download)

Hey you! Ya you. That’s right, I’m talking to you – all of you freethought lurkers.  This website is for you. SWiFT is your organization. This forum is for all of you to share ideas and opinions. USE IT!

Tomorrow is the monthly SWiFT business meeting. If you are a SWiFT member, you should go. If you are not a SWiFT member, now is your chance to join and meet fellow freethinkers in Southeast Wisconsin. The cost of membership is currently only $15.00 annually – a little more than $0.25 per week! Nothing really. If SWiFT is going to make a difference in our community, we need members. If you have been thinking of joining, now is your chance. See you tomorrow.

Kurt

Amazon.com has made a big blunder. They have mixed the reviews from the adulterated Ray Comfort 150 Anniversary Edition of Origin of Species (see previous post) with the actual 150th Anniversary Edition of Origin of Species. So, when people leave negative reviews for the Ray Comfort version, it also shows up on the “real” version as well.  When you leave positive reviews for the actual Origin of  Species it shows up on the Ray Comfort version too. I actually started a discussion yesterday on each book explaining this on the Amazon.com website and sent an email to them.

Amazon.com actually did try to fix this last night, but it is messed up again today.  What is worse, is the that when you do a search Origin of Species, the Ray Comfort version comes up first. The actual 150 Anniversary Edition does not even come up at all!

I need everyone to send an email to Amazon.com customer service and complain.  Do NOT leave a review – either positive or negative because it will go to both books.  The more reviews that are left, the worse the problem gets. You see, both books have the exact same title and the same author (Darwin). You would think that Amazon.com would sort the books by their ISBN numbers rather than the titles, but apparently they are not that smart.

Let’s try and get this resolved. We do not need one of the most important and relevant books of all time tainted by this creationist garbage. Not one person has left positive feedback for the Ray Comfort version, but yet it receives all of the positive reviews from the actual Origin of Species. People are being duped into purchasing the fake version. Please help.

Below is a link to Amazon’s customer service page.

Amazon.com Customer Service