PROFILES IN ATHEISM - CONFUCIUS

Some time ago, I pontificated on how religion sprang from the womb of evolution. A theistic poster responded thusly: "“From the womb of evolution, sprang [atheism]”

We run into this misconception constantly. Most theists assume that atheism is a recent development, dating back only to Madelyn O' Hair. Sometimes, on the bigger blogs, somebody will occasionally spout off about O' Hair, carrying on as if she was the spearhead for the entire movement, and we atheists are following/worshipping her in some obscure way. Or that evolution was somehow the progenitor of atheism.

Personally, I'd never heard of the woman until after I decided I was an atheist. And truthfully, she's hardly the sort of person I'd follow, let alone listen to. She had some good points, but her personal life was...short of stellar, let us say, and leave it at that. Also, I had little opinion about evolution, as well. I made that decision independent of the facts of evolution. Hell, I'd even embarked on a (short-lived, egotistic) effort at reconciling gawd with evolution.

So, I will henceforth begin a listing of famous atheists in history, a much-neglected topic, which shows that atheism has been extant since the roots of recorded history.

We begin with an Asian fellow, by name of Confucius [items in bold are my emphasis]

"Confucius, Philosopher

• Born: 551 B.C.
• Birthplace: Lu, China (now Shandong province)
• Died: 479 B.C.
• Best Known As: Chinese sage

Also Known As: Kong Fu-Zi

Confucius was a teacher, scholar and minor political official whose commentary on Chinese literary classics developed into a pragmatic philosophy for daily life. Not strictly religious, the teachings of Confucius were a utilitarian approach to social harmony and defined moral obligations between individuals and social systems. After his death his pupils collected notes on his sayings and doings and recorded them as the Analects. This compilation was added to over the years, and many sayings attributed to him are probably only loosely based on his teachings. His approach was formalized into a political and religious system during the Han Dynasty in the early part of the third century. It was embraced by subsequent generations and was the "state religion" of China until the latter part of the 20th century. In recent years critics have condemned Confucianism, characterizing its reliance on tradition as an impediment to modernization."

A few brief glimpses into his point of view:

(snip)

"Philosophy

Main article: Confucianism

Although Confucianism is often followed in a religious manner by the Chinese, arguments continue over whether it is a religion, because it makes little reference to theological or spiritual matters (god(s), the afterlife, etc.).

Confucius' principles gained wide acceptance primarily because of their basis in common Chinese opinion. He championed strong familial loyalty, ancestor worship, respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives, and the family as a basis for an ideal government. He expressed the well-known principle, "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself" (similar to the Golden Rule). He also looked nostalgically upon earlier days, and urged the Chinese, particularly the politicians, to model themselves on earlier examples. "What the superior man seeks is in himself. What the mean man seeks is in others"

(snip)

"Ethics

"The Confucian theory of ethics is based on three important concepts:

"While Confucius grew up, lǐ referred to the three aspects of life: sacrificing to the gods, social and political institutions, and daily behavior. It was believed that lǐ originated from the heavens. Confucius argued that it flowed not from heaven but from humanity. He redefined lǐ to refer to all actions committed by a person to build the ideal society. Lǐ, to Confucius, became every action by a person aiming to meet his surface desires. These can be either good or bad. Generally, attempts to obtain short term pleasure are bad while those, which in the long term try to make one's life better, are generally good. These concepts are about doing the proper thing at the proper time."

(End snip)

Note that Confucius came up with the 'Golden Rule', otherwise known as the 'ethic of reciprocity' prior to Jesus and Hillel (though it is attributed to the legendary Moses).

A few choice quotes to wet the palate:

The superior man is modest in his speech but exceeds in his actions.
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.
The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action.
Mankind differs from the animals only by a little and most people throw that away.
Do not be desirous of having things done quickly. Do not look at small advantages. Desire to have things done quickly prevents their being done thoroughly. Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished.
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
They must change who would be constant in happiness and wisdom.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Till the next post, then.

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THOSE THETAN THUGS - OF CLAMBAKES, CONSPIRACY WACKOS, AND COERCION

I have discussed this before, but it bears repeating.

We have a far worse enemy that walks amongst us. Their modus operandi is 'attack, take no criticism'. They use every legal ploy possible to squelch dissent, or the hard word, instituting frivolous lawsuits.

Here's a great point-counterpoint -Arnie Lema, former Scientologist (who was with them for a decade) who now speaks out against the cult. Their alleged 'Religious Freedom Watch' of course slanders him as an anti-Semite and a Nazi extremist. Scienmythology cams have shot videos of their inner teachings, which were broadcast on Youtube, but have since been taken off.

Read this: "A policy letter by L. Ron Hubbard, distributed in early 1966, admonishes:

This is correct procedure:

(1) Spot who is attacking us.

(2) Start investigating them promptly for FELONIES or worse using own professionals, not outside agencies.

(3) Double curve our reply by saying we welcome an investigation of them.

(4) Start feeding lurid, blood sex crime actual evidence on the attackers to the press.

Don't ever tamely submit to an investigation of us. Make it rough, rough on attackers all the way."

Read Hubbard's 'Fair Game policy' here:

"Fair Game was a status assigned to those whom the Church of Scientology had officially declared to be Suppressive Persons or SPs. "Suppressive Persons" are those whose actions are deemed to "suppress or damage Scientology or a Scientologist." Often, this means they have been overtly critical of the church. The term "Fair Game" has also often been used to refer to a set of tactics used against perceived enemies of Scientology."

They also have their fingers in the proverbial pie, vis-a-vis anti-psychiatry:

"Scientology and psychiatry have often come into conflict since the foundation of Scientology in 1952. Scientology is publicly, and often vehemently, opposed to both psychiatry and psychology. It offers itself as an alternative to psychiatry, which Scientologists believe to be a barbaric and corrupt profession. [1] . According to the Church of Scientology, this opposition is focused on psychiatry's practices:

What the Church opposes are brutal, inhumane psychiatric treatments. It does so for three principal reasons: 1) procedures such as electro-shock, drugs and lobotomy injure, maim and destroy people in the guise of help; 2) psychiatry is not a science and has no proven methods to justify the billions of dollars of government funds that are poured into it; and 3) psychiatric theories that man is a mere animal have been used to rationalize, for example, the wholesale slaughter of human beings in World Wars I and II. [2]

They abuse the legal system:

• "Alleged copyright infringements. Scientology’s religious documents are copyrighted, and many are available only to members who pay for higher levels of courses and auditing.

• Alleged libel and slander, as in the $400 million lawsuit filed against Time Magazine in 1991, which the church lost.

• Claims of religious discrimination. The church has brought several cases before the European Court of Human Rights challenging refusals to recognize local Scientology groups as religious organizations^[1]. "

As with most cults, they fight tooth and nail, claiming their way is the only true way. And fear is their club: they thrive on argumentum ad baculum, argumentum ad hominem. They've been know to accuse a critic of foul crimes, such as pedophilia (which, in our culture, is tantamount to ruin).

And they have these Hollyweird dweebs backing their play:

"In 2005, Elfman appeared at the Church of Scientology's controversial "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death" Museum, which puts forth a conspiracy theory connecting Adolf Hitler to the psychiatric profession. [1] In June 2006, Elfman and Bodhi Elfman reportedly approached independent film director John Roecker on a street in Los Feliz, California because of a shirt Roecker was wearing that ridiculed Scientology and Scientologists Tom Cruise and John Travolta (The front of the shirt had a picture of Tom Cruise. The caption read "Scientology Is Gay." The back of the shirt had a picture of John Travolta. The caption on the back read "Very Gay.") Jenna Elfman loudly asked Roecker what crimes he had committed and was so agitated that she continued, "Have you raped a baby?" [2]. This is a well-known scientology tactic, of confronting critics with demands that they confess whatever crimes the scientologist insists they have committed."

Female or not, I'd be hard put not to slug someone for an accusation like that. These freakshows are more than just the occasional tinfoil hat conspirators: they have a whole millinery shop that assembles New Age madness from the wreckage of old tired memes. That clueless conman Hubbard simply substituted Xenu instead of Satan, with a piss-poor tale of an evil alien emperor whose character is more suited to a farcical burlesque villain, and a plotline that a ten-year-old could cobble up. Read his biography on answers.com - it's readily apparent, to anyone with a lick of sense that this clown was not only a liar, but a poor one at that.

So again, I tell you all: search these people out. Tell them their epistemology is null and void. I am no advocate of suppression: but this cult pushes the envelope. It cannot stand under criticism. It is, like any other religion, a house of cards. Like any other religion, it deserves scant respect. All are entitled to their beliefs: but no one is entitled to an exemption from criticism.

So go forth, my children, be judgmental, and multiply the critiques, deluge them with condemnation, trounce them with the truth, derail them with details: they, as anyone else, are entitled to believe whatever hogwash. But no more mollycoddling madness.

Here is a good starting point.

It's time to hold the 'clam' to the fire - it's time to 'roast' some shellfish.

In the meantime, here's a video for your viewing pleasure.

Till the next post, then.

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WHEN ATHEISM GOES BAD - OF SPACESHIPS, SURREALISM, AND SLAPSTICK SOPHISTRY

Here it is - the item all the theists have been waiting for - an actual atheist religion.

I speak, of course, of the Raelians, whom the answers.com people describe as "Raël is the founder of the Raëlian Movement, an "atheistic religion" which he created in 1973."

It's fair to describe it as 'Mr. Toad's Wild Ride' for secular humanists. It's a tale filled with secrets revealed, a following, a messianic figure, and...drum roll, please!...a recipe for immortality.

Yes, you read that last one right.

This Frenchman, name of Claude, a former race-car driver, had the 'truth' revealed to him by space aliens in a volcano crater. These folks, it turns out, call themselves the 'Elohim' (of all things!), and claim that they began life on earth. Yes, you got it: panspermia, of all things. Here's the entry:

"Raël claimed that an extraterrestrial being came out of the craft, and told him (in French) that he had come for the sole purpose of meeting with Vorilhon. The alien being gave Vorilhon a message and told him that it was his mission to pass this message on to the people of Earth. His meetings with the human-like extra-terrestrial lasted for six consecutive days, one hour each day, and Vorilhon describes them in his first book "Le Livre qui dit la vérité" (The Book That Tells the Truth).

In this book, Rael claims that every life form on Earth was created by advanced human scientists from another planet with 25,000 years of scientific advances who, according to Raelians were originally called Elohim or "those who came from the sky". Allegedly, some forty prophets in Earth's history were sent by Elohim, but their messages were misunderstood and distorted by humans, largely because of the difference in the level of scientific understanding between the advanced race and our primitive one."

So these 'elohim' took credit for Jesus, Moses, Buddha, etc. Oh, and can you guess the name of his otherworldly contact, the one who assigned our 'salvation' to ol' Claude? YAHWEH. He also claims to be the 'Maitreya' of Buddhist scripture.

Wow, this guy gets around, doesn't he?

Here's a laundry list of his 'vision' for us:
Human rights (the Raelians have written their own version), cloning, genetic eugenism, nanotechnology, and (get THIS!), geniocracy. That is, only the smartest people get to rule:

"While having a democratic electoral apparatus, it differs from traditional liberal democracy by instead suggesting that both candidates for office and the body electorate should meet a certain minimal criterion of intelligence. The thresholds proposed by the Raëlians are 50% above the average mean for an electoral candidate and 10% above the average mean for an elector."

Now, I've spoken at length before about humanity being the 'DNA love-chillun' of space aliens before. This particular one is far more appealing to the 'lost souls'. It's got all the proper ingredients: a charismatic leader, free love, ample reworkings of folktales (just enough to sound plausible to the gullible), an appeal to science, oh, and did I mention immortality? That's right: you can go CLONE YOURSELF, buddy! Via that startup company, Clonaid:

"Clonaid" is the alias for a self-described "human cloning company" associated with the Raëlian Movement (though not in a financial sense), which sees cloning as part of the path to immortality.

Many scientists in the field, noting the high incidence of malformations and fetal deaths in animal cloning, have condemned Clonaid for premature human experimentation. Clonaid's stance on this subject is that the same problems are true of animal In vitro fertilization (IVF), while assisted reproduction in humans has come a long way since the first test-tube baby in 1978.

Claims of success in human cloning

On December 27, 2002, Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, a Raëlian bishop and CEO of Clonaid, announced to the world press that Clonaid had successfully cloned a human being. Boisselier said that the mother delivered by Caesarean section somewhere outside the United States, and that both the mother and the little girl, Eve, are healthy. Dr. Boisselier did not present the mother or child, or any DNA samples that could be used to confirm her claim at the press conference, although she did explain the procedure which she intended to use to confirm her claims. It has subsequently become apparent that the announcement was made prior to genetic testing to evaluate whether the child in question is actually a clone: Dr. Boisselier was therefore stating her belief that her procedure had resulted in a clone, not announcing results showing that the child was a clone."

Here's the 'space-age' technology that's supposed to do this:

I'm sorry, but that looks like something I'd see in an MST 3000 spoof.

Let's never mind that:

"So far, no verifiable evidence has been presented by Clonaid, despite claims that they would do this within days of their initial announcement. They claim that the parents of the first cloned child have had second thoughts about submitting their child to scientific tests, following the U.S court order in January, 2003.

On January 10, 2003, a U.S. court ordered Clonaid to reveal the identity and whereabouts of the alleged cloned baby.

On October 9, 2003, newspaper Le journal de Montréal published an article accusing Clonaid and the Raelian organization of maintaining an outright hoax in its claims regarding cloning a human baby.

Dr Boissilier has since stated that providing such evidence of her claims would have her jailed for up to thirty years, following a law passed by the French government in 2004 that prohibits any French citizen from performing cloning within France or abroad."

Nutshelling it: no proof whatsoever.

It's all standard messianic stuff - the lone visionary, who is the only connection to a mysterious outer source of wisdom no one else can experience, pontificating from on high, borrowing freely from chimerical mythology, and of course, the 'Judas' meme.

"The biggest media brouhaha arose in 1992 when Rael appeared on the French TV talk show "Ciel mon Mardi," hosted by the popular journalist Christopher Dechavanne. Towards the end of the show (where Rael’s liberal views on sex were critiqued by a priest, a social worker, and a psychologist), an [apostate] ex-Raelian [Jean Parraga] suddenly appeared and unleashed a diatribe claiming that Rael was holding his [i.e. Parraga's] wife and children prisoner, had engineered the breakup of his [i.e. Parraga's] family, and personally presided over child sacrifice and pederastic orgies at the Sensual Meditation camp.

This apostate, Jean Parraga, was elegantly dressed and played the role of the concerned father and heartbroken husband. What was not mentioned was his criminal record as a drug dealer and car thief, and his attempt to shoot Rael to death in August 1992."

They do have the earmarks of a cult, as follows:

1. A movement that separates itself from society, either geographically or socially;
2. Adherents who become increasingly dependent on the movement for their view on reality;
3. Important decisions in the lives of the adherents are made by others;
4. Making sharp distinctions between us and them, divine and satanic, good and evil, etc. that are not open for discussion;
5. Leaders who claim divine authority for their deeds and for their orders to their followers;
6. Leaders and movements who are unequivocally focused on achieving a certain goal.

No on 1 (they actively participate in gay parades and women's rights), yes on 2 and 3, I'm neutral about 4, yes on 5 and 6. Four out of six.

They have some pretty interesting pet theories. For one, they believe that Noah brought DNA from all the animals onto the Ark. Also, we could clone suicide bombers, so they couldn't achieve 'paradise', and then be punished for their crimes.

Just how dangerous are they, though? Not very. No kidnappings, no insertion of key figures in government, no pedophilia, no violence (that I'm aware of), no coercion, no stocking of ammo. All in all, they seem to be a more benign bunch. Extra-terrestrial flower children, if you will.

It's as silly as most I've researched, but, in the words of Douglas Adams: 'Mostly harmless'.

Till the next post, then.

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SEPARATED AT BIRTH?

Tell me these two entities don't bear an uncanny resemblance to each other.

That settles it - I'm now a Calimarian, due to a discovery of the Apocolocyntosis (divi Calamari) written on ancient recipe papyrus, sealed in an old clay wok found off the coast of Taiwan.

Written in the ancient tongue of Leng, it describes how Cthulhu and the Flying Spaghetti Monster both arose from the same leftovers of some vast cosmic buffet.

You don't believe me? Go ahead - Cthuugle it.

For the nonce, here's a (late) carol, that the APA hasn't heard about yet, else they might protest it:

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

Till the next post, then.

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SOME SPRING CLEANING

Some of you may have noticed, that links are disappearing off both the blogroll and the 'friends of mine' columns.
Presently, I am trying to streamline this blog. It loads a little more slowly than I'd like.
The reason some folks have vanished off the Blogroll/Friends columns, is that they're already blogrolled via the Atheist Blogroll (herein referred to as the AB), and it makes little sense (to me at least), to have them 'rolled' twice or more times (yes, we're still friends: just trying to be economical). I am unclear as to whether or not Google will index them once or twice (logically, it should only be once).
As per Mojoey (who began the project some time ago), I used this yardstick: if you haven't updated your blog at least in the last 3 months, I take it off the independent Blogroll. If you're already on the AB, it comes off (I've made an exception for The Friendly Atheist, as he contacted me via email).
For instance, I have noticed that the Martian Anthropologist (aka the Town of Autumn) isn't on the AB, and he updates regularly, so it stays on. Etc, etc, et al. Why Richard Carrier isn't on the AB, I have no idea. The same goes for Bay of Fundie, and Fundie-watch.

I realize that the AB is a work-in-progress, so I am in no way slighting any omissions: it's a big blogosphere, and growing exponentially daily.

Anyways, those folks are still counted among my friends, there's no shady undertones for it, it's pretty much cut-'n-dried. I'm just trying to make it easier for my readers, be-dee, be-dee, be-dee, that's all, folks.

Normal programming is hereby resumed. Please carry on.

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DIMITRI AND THE MACHINE ELVES

What a great title for a short story, no? Rife with potential, I can just take that title, and run an imaginative gauntlet that perhaps even I could not predict where it ended, until the finish.

This, however, is a real life scenario, I kid thee not.

Dimitri is short for dimethyltryptamine, which the answers.com entry lists as: "Dimethyltryptamine, also known as Dimitri, and N,N-dimethyltryptamine, not to be confused with 5-MeO-DMT, is a psychedelic tryptamine, similar in structure to the neurotransmitter serotonin. DMT is created in small amounts by the human body during normal metabolism^[1] by the enzyme Tryptamine-N-methyltransferase. Pure DMT at room temperature is a light pink, orange, or yellow waxy or crystalline solid. DMT was first chemically synthesized in 1931. It also occurs naturally in many species of plants. DMT-containing plants are used in several South American shamanic practices. It is one of the main active constituents of snuffs like yopo and of the drink ayahuasca."

(snip)
"Hallucinogenic properties

DMT is a powerful psychoactive substance. If DMT is smoked, injected, or orally ingested with an MAOI, it can produce powerful entheogenic experiences including true hallucinations (perceived extensions of reality). A trip sitter is often employed to assist the drug user in staying physically and mentally healthy, and, in the case of smoked DMT, to catch the pipe when the user loses awareness of it."

And the purpose of this psychedelic? To see Machine Elves, which the Wiki entry describes as:

"Machine Elves (also known as fractal elves and self transforming machine elves) is a term coined by the writer and philosopher Terence McKenna to describe the entities that he claims one becomes aware of after having taken tryptamine based psychedelic drugs, especially DMT. According to McKenna, their constant dance creates the reality as we perceive it. By following their dance, one can stay in contact with the Logos, a subconscious world of spiritual and other information. The description is similar to the Hindu Dance of Shiva.

Many people have claimed to have encountered such entities, and have described them as abstract beings existing in the universe created from human and animal mental space. The term "DMT Space" has also been used.

There are numerous references of such encounters that could be found in many cultures ranging from shamanic traditions of Native Americans to Indigenous Australians, to African tribes, to the modern day "Urban Shamanism" like Santeria and Vodoun and the "new breed." This is something that Timothy Leary used to describe the rising generation of urban shamans, who would, he claimed, augment the spiritual awareness of the modern world.

This concept may be related to a tendency for the brain to imagine living entities during certain altered states. The best example of this is the extremely common feeling of a living presence during sleep paralysis (which has been theorized as the origin of the succubus, as well as a common theme in many alien abduction stories). Another example would be the widespread experience of a "Salvia Goddess" encountered by users of Salvia Divinorum. However, Terence McKenna and Rick Strassman have both asserted the sense of reality of the experience is distinct from ordinary hallucinatory experiences, leading both researchers to speculate that perhaps the physics of many worlds is involved."

I am much reminded of Castaneda, who in one of his books, ingests Jimsonweed (written in the pre-'drugs are bad' era) in order to commune with some wild entity. If memory serves, he said that 'Datura is the one plant only two animals will eat: pigs and men."

Of course, there's an online comic for this particular venue, via goats.com. Here is a particular strip that I enjoyed.

Clicking on the prior link will take you to this particular strip, where our intrepid youngsters eventually confront the Big Kahuna (aka YHVH, or any other name you'd prefer). It's good, clean, honest,...surreal fun. Well, at least the last adjective fits. So enjoy.

Till the next post, then.

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A BRIEF FORAY INTO THE ORIGINAL INTENT ARGUMENT

Philadelphia Inquirer - 01/01/2007 - Muslim in Congress? Framers of Constitution would approve.

My thanks to Dark Christianity for this link.

"It is interesting to consider what the founders of our Constitution might have said about the election of Keith Ellison to Congress, the first Muslim to hold such a position.

"Ellison, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, was elected in November to fill the vacant seat for Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District in the House of Representatives.

"One might imagine that talk-show radio host Dennis Prager and outspoken Rep. Virgil Goode (R., Va.), who have been waxing hysterical about the prospect of Muslims in high office, might have the framers of our Constitution on their side. Or one might imagine that the framers never considered that possibility, never spoke one way or the other about Muslim officeholders.

"The truth is more interesting. It turns out that our constitutional founders explicitly considered the possibility of Muslim officeholders - and explicitly welcomed it.

"Some early opponents of the Constitution attacked it for Article VI, which prohibits religious tests for national office, precisely on the ground that it made room for Muslims to become lawmakers. Defenders of the Constitution, however, argued that this was a good thing, not something to be feared.

"The issue came up most directly in the North Carolina ratifying convention of 1788. One speaker asked whether the absence of religious tests might allow "Pagans, Deists, and Mahometans [to] come among us." To which James Iredell, a fervent supporter of the Constitution and later a Supreme Court justice, replied: "How is it possible to exclude any set of men" from office, "without taking away that principle of religious freedom which we ourselves so warmly contend for?"

"Elsewhere, a newspaper article complained that the Constitution could lead to "Mahometans, who ridicule the doctrine of the Trinity" becoming our lawmakers - along with "Quakers, who... make the blacks saucy," and Jews, who might order Americans to rebuild Jerusalem. (One anti-constitutional pamphleteer raised the specter of the pope becoming president.)

"The Constitution's defenders, including a number of Christian ministers, responded to such attacks by stressing how important it is that religion not derive its strength from temporal authority, as well as how dangerous it is for politics to call in the aid of religion. James Madison insisted that any law favoring one religious group over others "degrades from the equal rank of Citizens all those whose opinions in Religion do not bend to those of the Legislative authority."

So the next time you hear that wearisome refrain: "This country was founded as a Christian nation," take this out of your notes, and belt them with it.

And that, dear readers, is my nickel's worth. Spend it as you please.

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