Lay Theism

Idiots. One more reason why I am so frustrated with the south… even though I have lived all my life here and love the food and (many of) the people, this is just ignorant and sad.

Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
By DYLAN LOVAN
Associated Press

6:10 a.m. Thursday, October 7, 2010
A Southern Baptist leader who is calling for Christians to avoid yoga and its spiritual attachments is getting plenty of pushback from enthusiasts who defend the ancient practice. Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler says the stretching and meditative discipline derived from Eastern religions is not a Christian pathway to God.

“I’m really surprised by the depth of the commitment to yoga found on the part of many who identify as Christians,” Mohler said.

Easy solution? Quit identifying as a Christian.

Yoga fans say their numbers have been growing in the U.S. A 2008 study by the Yoga Journal put the number at 15.8 million, or nearly 7 percent of adults. About 6.7 percent of American adults are Southern Baptists, according to a 2007 survey by the Pew Research Center Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Mohler said many people have written him to say they’re simply doing exercises and forgoing yoga’s eastern mysticism and meditation.

“My response to that would be simple and straightforward: You’re just not doing yoga,” Mohler said.

Find this article at:
http://www.ajc.com/news/southern-baptist-leader-on-665865.html

Religion

So, I was on a flight to Atlanta earlier this year and met a girl named Nell from Milwaukee.  She was fantastic.  We talked for just the last 20 minutes of the flight, but I think she was in love with me…  Hang on, let me back up.

It was one of those crazy things… doesn’t happen to me.  She was very pretty and put together — red coat, simple medium-length hair that highlighted her face, and taller than average.  I usually don’t talk to people on planes, regardless of how attractive they are.  It’s time I use to decompress, listen to music/podcasts, and read usually. BUT, she was listening to the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe.  Flying into the Bible belt, you usually don’t see that.  In fact, some folks would be discretely covering up their screen.  She had it sitting in her lap tilted towards me as if she hoped I would see it.  She alternated between her iPhone and reading “Out Stealing Horses” by Per Petterson. Earlier, I swear as if it was the most subtle flirt ever, she was listening to “This Charming Man” by The Smiths.  Those were the only two things I noticed on her screen the entire flight.  My ego would not let me presume that it was anything to do with me until it sank in the next day. I didn’t imagine it. There was something there… clearly I am an idiot.

As the plane started it’s final approach and she removed her headphones, I removed mine and remarked, “Great podcast.” She said, “Oh…? Yeah. It is.  Do you listen to it?”, or something similar.  So, we started talking and she was on her way to England to get her remaining stuff from when she had lived there a year or so ago.  She had trained in Europe as a pastry chef after quitting corporate America. I was SO infatuated and intrigued.  She was cute, and that was totally hot.  She was flying an unconventional route from Philadelphia through Atlanta, was spending the night at the Country Inn and Suites, and was out again first thing in the morning (uh, single girl traveling alone… why would you tell me that??).  During our interaction, we had a couple of those moments where it’s really nothing (how could it be anything?), but nevertheless, there is a spark or a look that keeps making you want to talk, or glance, or think of something clever to say so the person doesn’t leave and so you can get to know them.

Well, this made no sense whatsoever for us.  Our lives were worlds apart, my ride was already at the airport, and she was out of town forever at the crack of dawn. Before we both left the airport, I saw her three more times… coincidence?  I spoke to her once more as I was leaving the baggage carousels because she looked a little lost (or was she?) so I directed her to the shuttles that should get her to the hotel.  Why didn’t I ask her for her e-mail address, or her Facebook, or her phone number??  Because that would be absurd.  How fucking complicated! Who has time for a long distance affair of the heart?  I can hardly imagine anything worse. Secret phone calls? “Hey, who’s that girl from Milwaukee on your Facebook?” I don’t even have time to keep up with this damn blog!

Well, Nell, if you ever run across this, just know, I really, REALLY liked you and wished I had bailed on my ride and we had jumped in a cab to your hotel.  I’m sure it would have been a wonderful mess. At least, that’s how it played out for me…

Love, Off Topic action, adventure, excitement, intrigue, romance, travel

Kudos to Kirsten Waerstad of Boston, MA.

This is a piece of her review of Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe:

The release of a Greg Epstein’s book, Good Without God, is a welcome resource for anyone who wishes to have more than just a superficial idea of what it means to be a humanist. In his discussion, Epstein reaches out to a wide range of people: nonbelievers, nonreligious, atheists, agnostics, anyone who do does not feel that their morality is derived from a belief in a god. Even the progressively religious can be humanist, or at least friendly allies, since the basic framework for being a humanist is to seek the best in yourself and others, and to believe in your own ability to make a positive difference in the world.

Well done.

Agnostic, Atheism, Religion book

I like reading Campaign for Liberty:

The U.S. Constitution is at the heart of what the Campaign for Liberty stands for, since the very least we can demand of our government is fidelity to its own governing document.  Claims that our Constitution was meant to be a “living document” that judges may interpret as they please are fraudulent, incompatible with republican government, and without foundation in the constitutional text or the thinking of the Framers.  Thomas Jefferson spoke of binding our rulers down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution, and we are proud to follow in his distinguished lineage.

With our Founding Fathers, we also believe in a noninterventionist foreign policy.  Inspired by the old Robert Taft wing of the Republican Party, we are convinced that the American people cannot remain free and prosperous with 700 military bases around the world, troops in 130 countries, and a steady diet of war propaganda.  Our military overstretch is undermining our national defense and bankrupting our country.

We believe that the free market, reviled by people who do not understand it, is the most just and humane economic system and the greatest engine of prosperity the world has ever known.

I’m not thrilled with what appears to be alignment and re-definition around the Republican Party, but the Republicans can only benefit from the attempt.

Also worth checking out:
The Evangelical Atheist: Why Theism Matters by Walter Scott Hudson

Also, it had been a month since my last post.  I need to do better.

Atheism, Politics, Religion belief, conservative, democrat, libertarian, Philosophy, republican

Don’t believe in God?  You are not alone.

American Humanist Association

This cool sticker showed up in the mail the other day.  Thanks AHA!

I can’t quite bring myself to send you money, but don’t feel bad.  I am very selective about my monetary support.  I give to causes that directly benefit disabled or disadvantaged people.  I was giving for a while to People For the American Way, which I’m sure is how you got my address. But for now, I have to focus on people rather than causes. Regarding humanism, separation of church and state, and higher thinking in general, I have chosen to use my right of free speech to get the word out, so that will have to do for now.

Best of luck… and cheers!

Agnostic, Atheism belief, humanism, liberal