The End of Faith

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It’s not very often that I finish reading a book I’ve started. Today, I finished one. It was a good one, too, about philosophy, religion, politics, etc.


The End of Faith

It’s written in a way that’s accesable to laymen, but there’s a huge pile of endnotes for people who want to dig into the academic philosophical stuff.

Without giving the whole thing away, it’s basically a look at the differences between religions, between religion and rationality, and between mysticism and religion.

It even goes so far as to cliam mysticism is a rational enterprise whereas religion is not.

Mysticism is a rational enterprise. Religion is not. The mystic has recognized something about the nature of consciousness prior to thought, and this recognition is susceptible to rational discussion

I don’t think I agree with the above, but I haven’t thought about it very much.

Another of my favorite parts:

Jesus Christ – who, as it turns out, was born of a virgin, cheated death, and rose bodily into the heavens– can now be eaten in the form of a cracker. A few latin words spoken over your favorite burgundy, and you can drink his blood as well. Is there any doubt that a lone subscriber to these beliefs would be considered mad? Rather, is there any doubt that he would be mad? The danger of religious faith is that it allows otherwise normal human beings to reap the fruits of madness and consider them holy.

I’m not exactly sure what “The fruits of madness” are for normal people, but I got a chuckle out of it.

I particulary liked the next-to-last chapter (A Science of Good and Evil) because I’ve been a fan of rational approaches to moral philosophy ever since I first read Kant.

Anyhow, it’s a good book. Anyone who wants to pay shipping can have my copy. (I try to never read the same book twice)

Solstice

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Every autumn, the days get shorter and shorter until eventually the people tire of the darkness and set out to do something about it.

A few nights ago, a few friends and I made our way to the shores of the mighty Susquehanna. There, alongside the liquid soul of Pennsylvania, we prepared to awaken the sleeping sun.

The plan:

  1. Build a bonfire big enough to warm the toes of the almighty goat-lord
  2. Drink large quantities of mead for inspiration and warmth
  3. Hoot, holler, carry on, and dance in a foolish way around the aforementioned fire
  4. Hope that all the above activities will awaken the sun

So, we build a fire

Bonfire

And we stoked it to insane proportions

Big Fire

And we chanted in arcane tounges and drunken slurs

Your humble author, offering prayers to the sun

The goat-lord responds!

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME: We are professional idiots.

For a limited time (until I run out of bandwidth), you can download a video(23MB), wherein the goat-lord announces himself with a powerful explosion from the ceremonial bonfire.

Building my Ark

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Widely respected ridiculed theologian media-whore Pat Robertson is warning that God is going to descend upon Pennsylvania and smite us with his almighty wrath.Apparently, God has his panties all in a bunch because the good people of Dover intelligently re-designed their school board. It seems God doesn’t much care for democracy.

I guess I better get to work on my ark. I sure hope it’s a flood this time. We already have enough darkness, locusts, and vermin.

Scopes Monkey II

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Here we go again

I don’t really like to talk about political stuff on my blog, but this horseshit has landed in my backyard, and I can’t take it anymore.

The theory, as I understand it, is this:

“The universe is so complicated, that it must have been designed by an intelligent being.”

In order for this to be an assertion of science, I think we need some stuff:

  1. An objective way to measure the complexity of things
  2. X = “An objective measure of the complexity of the Universe “
  3. Y = “A measure of complexity such that things less complicated than Y can be accounted for by natural processes. “

If we had all those things, we could do an experiment. If X is greater than Y, the intelligent design theory is correct.

Otherwise, your theory is crap. Sit down, shut up, and leave the science to the scientists.

Blasphemy

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Since I recently moved to a new township, and since I was bored, I took a peek at the listing of local ordinances. I was somewhat surprised to see that Blasphemy is illegal.From the site:

It shall be unlawful for any person within the limits of this township, on the streets, public places or elsewhere therein, to:
[…]
B. Use publicly profane or blasphemous language, commit open lewdness or any act of public indecency or make any indecent exposure of the person; to be found publicly in a state of intoxication or drunkenness; or to be gathered together in disorderly assemblies on the streets or in drinking places, gambling houses or houses of prostitution.

I guess that whole “separation of church and state” thing never really caught on around here.

Happy Solstice

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The weather got really cold and I was worried about frostbite so I haven’t been commuting. In addition, winter festival preparations are eating up my time.
I will ride tommorow, it’s supposed to be warmer. I have some better equipment on order that should get me on the road next time it gets into the single digits.

Today is the Winter Solstice! Woo Hoo!

Be nice to the Yule Goat, if he comes to visit you!