Lay Theism

As interesting as the book Atheists: A Groundbreaking Study of America’s Nonbelievers is, I think I take issue with its groundbreakingness. 

It suffers from what appears to be very common when studying atheists – the study considers only absolute non-believers (°Faith=zero).  This seems to compromise their study in a number of ways relating to sample size and reasonable cross-section of the population (bias).  I give them credit for trying, but I wonder if it’s possible to do even better… via the Internet.   Their study was entire on paper, mailed to atheist organizations.  Now that fact alone seems to seriously narrow the sample.  My lack of belief is at a place where I would be perfectly happy and enjoy myself in a room full of atheists, but the likelihood of me joining a club that meets face-to-face to chat about is pretty much nil.  (By the way, why do the ffrf and other organizations have to come off so weird? Where are the mainstream non-believers?)

So, the question that floats through my head is, How many people kinda like me are out there?  I wouldn’t presume to be a silent majority, but I think the numbers are probably much higher than estimated even in the US. 

Life without Faith points out a more encouraging result from the UK Times Online.  Has anyone seen a really strong survey or methodology for finding out the true faith makeup of the US population?  Every study I have seen is seriously flawed in some way.

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This is just to absurd to leave alone.  What is wrong with this picture painted by the Wall Street Journal?  That may be a “subscriber only” link, but here’s a pretty good synopsis:

…Pastor Jason Burrick grabbed his cellphone and dialed 911… Half an hour later, 71-year-old Karolyn Caskey, a church member for nearly 50 years who had taught Sunday school and regularly donated 10% of her pension, was led out by a state trooper and a county sheriff’s officer… The pastor, Mr. Burrick, told congregants the three were guilty of gossip, slander and idolatry and should be shunned, [Ed. emphasis added] according to several former church members. [...]

Shortly after the church hired Mr. Burrick in 2005 to help revive the congregation, which had dwindled to 12 members, Mrs. Caskey asked him to appoint a board of deacons to help govern the church, a tradition outlined in the church’s charter. Mr. Burrick said the congregation was too small to warrant deacons. Mrs. Caskey pressed the issue at the church’s quarterly business meetings and began complaining that Mr. Burrick was not following the church’s bylaws. [...] 

In April 2006, Mrs. Caskey received a stern letter from Mr. Burrick. “This church will not tolerate this spirit of cancer and discord that you would like to spread,” it said. Mrs. Caskey… continued to insist that the pastor follow the church’s constitution. In August, she received a letter from Mr. Burrick that said her failure to repent [Ed.] had led to her removal. It also said he would not write her a transfer letter enabling her to join another church. [Oh no!]

Mr. Burrick repeatedly declined to comment on Mrs. Caskey’s case, calling it a “private ecclesiastical matter.” He did say that while the church does not “blacklist” anyone, a strict reading of the Bible requires pastors to punish disobedient members. “

OK, seriously???  A strict reading of the Bible?  Who is he kidding?  A strict reading of the Bible condones slavery, says the world was created in six days (and the “heavens” too!), that the best Jesus could do was to cure individual sick people (not entire diseases, or all birth defects, or mental illness, etc.), and that we all decend from Noah and company.

I really don’t have anything more to add to this.  It’s exactly this type of thing that drove me nuts when I was a Christian, and now that I am not, just puzzles and amazes me how far away so many people are from reality.  That’s all I have the energy for today…

Hey, I know, go watch this: The Atheist Delusion.

Atheism, Religion bible, insanity

Wouldn’t you know it, a few days after I ponder my Beliefometer, the Wall Street Journal publishes a commentary by Arthur C. Brooks that points out a common polling instrument called a Feeling Thermometer.

As we are dragged through another election season, it is worth critically reviewing these stereotypes. Do the data support the claim that conservatives are haters, while liberals are tolerant of others? A handy way to answer this question is with what political analysts call “feeling thermometers,” in which people are asked on a survey to rate others on a scale of 0-100. A zero is complete hatred, while 100 means adoration. In general, when presented with people or groups about which they have neutral feelings, respondents give temperatures of about 70. Forty is a cold temperature, and 20 is absolutely freezing.

Pretty interesting, but I’m not sure that’s entirely true. If the mean response for neutral feelings is 70, what does that mean for these public figures?

Giuliani is Highest Ranked U.S. Politician

I know it’s not quite the same thing, but the way they totally ripped off my scaling is uncanny. Furthermore, what if I am neither liberal nor conservative… what then polling people?

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I thought I would try something here…

A Belief-o-meter!  Let me know if you think I have it close.  I’m afraid I may have the labels all wrong.  And where do Televangelists go?  What about that Catholic girl you knew in high school that smoked weed and screwed everything in sight, but confessed weekly?

So, basically, Atheist = Absolute Zero and the real nutballs that would kill or die strictly for their religious dogma (vs. say dying for freedom or liberty) would be, for example, Islamic Jihadists = 100.  Then you have all the zombies in between… the folks that go through life never really questioning the odd traditions that they were brought up with.  The Sunday/Wednesday Christians (very popular with the Southern Baptists), the Cussin’ Christians (it’s OK to say ‘Fuck’… WHAT!?  It’s just a word.  It’s not like I said goddammit), the don’t-want-to-go-to-hell Easter Only Christians, and all the rest.

Degrees of Belief

Comments?  Suggestions?

Or, maybe this was just a weird idea and I should scrap the whole thing.

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I think people are much more moderate than we would be led to believe by the media and other typical sources of information.  As pointed out frequently by Atheist Revolution, it’s unsettling that we seem to have made a hard shift towards theocracy in the U.S lately particularly on the “right”.  But even on the “left” there seems to be more than just a nod towards religion, as if neglecting that support would spell doom.  I used to call myself a Republican (and a Baptist), but now I find that these types of labels are not only misleading, but are woefully indequate in describing my values and beliefs. Just because I was “born that way” doesn’t mean that it’s the way things really are.

Atheists are frequently characterized as having ZERO belief in a ”higher” power… by definition. I guess if I had to rate my degree of belief on a scale from 0 to 100 (0 = atheist, 100 = completely devout), I am currently around a 1.  I reserve that last tick of uncertainty for the general wonder of the universe and the mechanism that brought it into existence (wow, huh?).  What I reject completely is the notion of an active, personal deity that observes, responds, directs or cares about us mammals.  So, does that make me more of an agnostic?  That just seems to be a cop out… but am I “allowed” to be an atheist even though I can’t explain the origin of the universe?  There is quite a bit to explore on this topic, and it may be that this blog is more for me than the rest of the world, but maybe it will be my catharsis.

As I sit writing this, listening to Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major shuffle in after Sara Bareilles “Love Song” on iTunes, enjoying my iced tea, thinking about where we are in human history, it makes me a little melancholy.  Of the six billion of us wandering the planet now, the majority of us spend time paying homage to myths and superstition, and yet there are so many worthy pursuits outside of organized religion.  Use your money to feed the hungry, not build garish mega-churches.  Use your energy to do something for the people you love that makes them happy and builds stronger relationships.  Use your time enriching your mind and body, not learning ancient, contradictory, bizarre stories about early man and his paranoias and primitive explanations of the world. 

Get outside yourself and learn about the people that are around you, not just in your backyard or your place of worship…  we have more in common than you think, and it’s not your “God”.  Please don’t spend time trying to convince me that you know “the way”.  I am not one to try to change anyone’s mind, but if you find that your mind is changing, then I’m glad you paused for a minute to a least consider the possibilities.

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