Anyway, the other thing that has kept me busy is thinking of the holidays that are fast approaching. While I like getting together with friends and family and celebrating, I don’t like the religious nature of it all (of course). One thing that really frustrates me is the card selection.

So I decided to try my hand at designing some irreverent cards! I dug through my favorite winter pictures that I’ve taken over the years, then came up with some messages for nontheists (with the help of my most awesome husband Butch, of course), and uploaded them to Zazzle.

I would like to do a few more, but these are a good start, I think. If you have ideas you’d like to see created, feel free to comment or Email Me.

~ Begin Shameless Promotion Here~

Just Be Good For Goodness Sake! Three cards with original photography by © ZeNeece and 3 slightly different messages.

The Cardinals Agree Card

Retain Your Reason This Season! Card

Snow Angel Jesus Card

See inside messages and matching stamps as well as postcards:

Message in card and on back of postcard: These Cardinals Agree! Just Be Good For Goodness Sake! Enjoy The Season No Matter What You Celebrate	Message in card and on back of postcard: Tis The Season To Retain Your Reason! Just Be Good For Goodness Sake! Enjoy The Season No Matter What You Celebrate	Message in card and on back of postcard: Lighten Up! Just Be Good For Goodness Sake! Enjoy The Season No Matter What You Celebrate
The Cardinals Agree Stamp	Retain Your Reason This Season! Stamp	Snow Angel Jesus Stamp
The Cardinals Agree Postcard	Retain Your Reason This Season! Postcard	Snow Angel Jesus Postcard

~
Sir Lee Tees will customize designs for you, or create something entirely new. Just email them at sirleetees@gmail.com. See more irreverent designs at SirLeeTees.com or their Zazzle Store.

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Pharyngula wrote about this the other night and noted that the giveaway is now 100,000 books at 100 universities, that Darwin’s text will remain intact, and the 50 page foreword will be rewritten to be more fair to atheists. (Does that mean it will be 50 blank pages?)

Here’s what I would love to see happen:

• Atheists, heathens, skeptics and science lovers go to the universities where these books are being given out, kindly receive the free book and walk away.
• (The next bit is optional) Then meet the other local atheists, walk back to the people giving the books away en masse, and quietly and politely rip out the intro, throw it in the trash and smile.
• (The next bit is also optional) Then get into a friendly debate with the Comfort/Cameron folks, always staying pleasant and friendly, but defeat them with logic, reason and science facts.

This would serve several purposes:

• It would keep the sullied copies of Darwin’s Origin of Species out of the hands of young people who are just learning to think a bit more critically and may not understand that the foreword is complete lies and bullshit
• It would make a statement
• It would show that Atheists CAN unite for a common cause, for one short afternoon, to do a good deed
• If the atheists are polite, friendly and well-spoken, it will show people that we are good, friendly people, not monsters.
• It will really upset Comfort and Cameron, which is great fun.

Here’s what you can do:

• Contact your local atheist/brights/freethinkers/skeptical/science/physics/logic/critical thinker, etc. group and talk to them about getting a group together to meet, receive a book, and perhaps make a statement with it en masse once you all have a copy.
• Help us find out what schools the books will be handed out at so we know where to go. I am not sure how to find this out.
• Go to your university on November 19 and at least get your copy of the book.

I think if possible (and yes, I know I’m publishing this to my blog), we would best be served if we kept this a bit quiet, at least for now. But spread the word, tell all your evolution-loving, blasphemous, hell-bound heathen friends and family about it.

We can disseminate information through here for now, so let us know if you have any ideas, suggestions and updates about the event, as well as if anyone can find out at which schools the books will be given out.

EDIT: Here is the pdf of Comfort’s 50 page foreword. I think this is the original one. When his revised version comes out, let me know so I can link it here!

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So Angie would like us to come up with creative stump-the-fundie questions to add to her list.

You can see the first 10 questions to get you started on her blog post: Questions for christians.In her list are 2 videos you simply must watch. The first one is gay dolphin sex. I mean, come on, you really don’t want to pass that up, do you? The second one is a music video that is just awesome. I hate country AND western music, but this was so good I watched the whole thing. Highly recommended.

Here is a quick list of her questions so far (but go to her post to see more detail)

1. If homosexuality is a sin, are gay dolphins sinning when they have gay sex in a public aquarium? (really, go watch the video. I’ll wait. The kids watching are priceless, as is the dad recording)
2. Will there be jello molds with marshmallows in them in heaven? Explain.
3. Which is a bigger sin? (compare Noah’s naked drunkenness to Lot’s naked drunkenness plus sex with his daughters) Note: Noah and Lot were the best and holiest men in their communities and both got dead drunk and were naked in front of their kids. Lot had sex with his daughters too. Great role models, eh?
4. What Would Jesus Do? (go watch the video. It will crack you up. I’ll wait for you.)
5. If god is better than we are, how come we can think up unicorns but he can’t make them?
6. Same with mermaids.
7. Did Jesus have acne as a teenager? Please explain.
8. Why is the Brick Testament the best version of the bible?
9. Why is christian music so painfully square?
10. Is it better to be right or popular? (Angie throws in this one because Christian teens especially are repeatedly told they are being persecuted, that it’s hard to be christian in this “secular world”, etc. Get them to agree being popular is less important, and then present them with the facts about christian persecution with this handy pie chart!)

Some people have commented so far with suggestions:

• Should god be put on trial for crimes against humanity?
• List 5 flaws of christianity, 5 contradictions in the bible and 5 similarities between christianity and another religion other than judaism or islam.

This is my (Neece’s) addition, which is really a couple questions:

• Why did Jesus only perform either simple miracles only based on anecdotal evidence or self indulgent miracles? Why didn’t he cure all blindness for humanity? Why didn’t he make it so that all children under age 5 didn’t die or something? Cursing a fig tree, turning water into wine at a wedding and walking on water are pretty lame “tricks” that benefited no one. Shouldn’t the son of god have been more “godly”? Shouldn’t he have also been literate and written down exactly what he wanted future generations to know about him instead of relying on writers who never met him?

Angie added a couple more:

• What does god have against pillows? Ezekiel 13:18-21
• Why do YOU think there are rainbows? (please say Noah, please say Noah!)

I have to say, some of these are thoughtful and provocative. There are a few I don’t understand and am not sure if they would further a debate or not. But if we could all have a solid list of great questions to really make christians think, that would be awesome! So send in your ideas. Please leave comments on the original post. I’d love you to leave the same comment here for us at HDC as well. I’ll keep you posted on the list’s progress!

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Sometimes I know I can be a bit vague about where I stand on issues, mainly because I don’t want to offend anyone. I like to be happy and make others happy. But I think at a certain point, honesty really is more important than a bit of bruised ego. So let’s stop pussyfooting around and I’ll lay my cards on the table. I am not trying to offend anyone. I’m just being honest.

It was noticed that I don’t ever capitalize god. Why should I when there is no such thing? I capitalize Jesus when I feel we’re talking about a person, even though I don’t believe Jesus existed. I capitalize Rome because it’s a place. But I don’t capitalize god because it’s a concept, not a reality. There is no god, hence no need to make it a pronoun. When referring to yahweh or jehovah, also not real… no reason to make them pronouns either.

The Invisible Pink Unicorn, on the other hand, is completely real, bless her holy hooves. LOL… sorry.. trying to lighten the mood.

In that vein, Michael Mock in the comments referred to god as G-d.  I find the whole g-d thing irritating because it is done out of deference for the christian god, even fear. That’s why it bothers me. Because it’s silly. Your god can spell, after all. So whether you stick that “o” in there or not means nothing. It’s simply a sign of fear for a god who seems cruel and arbitrary if something like writing out the word god, all three letters, is bad.

There was also a good discussion about indoctrination. I agreed with Steve that people adopt the detergent/ political party/ religion and eating habits of their parents and community.

Religion by its nature is done through indoctrination. And here I’ll say it. I think religion is inherently evil. I think indoctrination of any sort, whether for religious reasons or for simple manipulation is also evil. It assumes that the person being indoctrinated has no free will and gets no say in what they are forced to learn to believe. It’s evil.
I think that picking a detergent is based on parents and society too, but that’s not indoctrination as much as intellectual laziness if you never try anything but what your mother used. Same with what you eat. If as an adult you only ever eat the same meals that your parents cooked for you when you were little, that’s lazy. Try new things, experiment. Especially if she made you eat liver and onions because she thought liver was good for you. You don’t like it but you still eat it because you never bothered to think about it. That’s crazy. That’s not indoctrination though.

And in my view, indoctrination leads to faith. Just to make that clear. Faith is belief in god or the teachings of a religion. It needs no proof or evidence. I feel that if you have faith in a god, then you have been indoctrinated into the religion of that god. Plain and simple.

Sometimes people will go against their indoctrination. Look at me. I was indoctrinated into the christian religion. I gave it all up and am now a happy atheist. It’s more common to stay in lockstep with your family and your community than to wander outside the limits of the lies you were told.

Michael Mock keeps talking about the difference between christianity and other religions, as well as different brands of christianity. Perhaps he could make it clear where he’s coming from. What are you talking about, specifically? I think we’re all pretty clear that every church has its own brand of christianity, or islam or whatever. There are methodist churches, protestant, catholic, pentacostal, etc. Do we need to be specific every time we refer to christianity? I don’t think so.

When I speak of religion, I speak against it as a whole. Sure, there are small little churches that actually help the community. But those small little churches that do good are run by a thoughtful and kind person who would have been good even without religion. But all in all, the evil of religion is pervasive. It crushes the human spirit and turns people into mindless sheep.

In the case of the fathers and priests and pastors, it turns them into wolves in sheep’s clothing in most circumstances. They act like fathers and role models, all while never letting their “children” grow up and be full human beings. No one has to be responsible. No one has to think for themselves. It’s abhorrent to the natural human endeavor to advance and grow. Not to mention the politics, corruption and abuse that has always been associated with the catholic church, especially.

Perhaps you find my statements unwarranted and you see them as harsh and disrespectful assumptions, but I make them with a clear mind. I am not going to cull the news and history books to validate every single word I write. Read the news for yourself. Read history for yourself. See the evils of the different brands of religion throughout history and even today.

Of course you might interpret it all differently. That’s only natural. But I can not and will not sugar coat reality just to make people feel better on this blog. I think that is intellectually dishonest and completely unhealthy.

When you wrap yourself in faith and fairy tales and refuse to listen to reason, or look at science, then yes, you are intellectually lazy and gullible. There’s no nice way to say that. I don’t believe in being politically correct because all it does is make us weaker and more sensitive. Just look at how uptight and sensitive people are about every little supposed slight or utterance. It’s disgusting. I won’t play that stupid game on my blog or in my life.

Sure, sometimes I’ll be nice and not say anything at easter dinner to offend my hosts. But that’s out of respect for their hospitality, not respect for the insane lies spouting forth from the host’s mother.

If I get something wrong and someone corrects me, I apologize and make amends. If I make an assumption about you based on your actions, well, mistakes happen. Again, I will apologize. I don’t always have to be right. I never proclaimed to be perfect.

Steve brought up a great idea about why religion originally came about in the first place. He suggested that it’s to explain “why”, to explain the world when we only had questions and fears with no answers. (I added the second bit because I agree.) So religion isn’t wired into the species, asking “why” is in our very nature. Steve further notes that gods are formed in the image of the people and their culture. Again, I agree, because that is what seems to make sense to a people at the time. It answers the most questions.

Ok, I think that wraps up my small mention in the comment war. I hope it makes it clear where I stand with religion. Your comments and thoughts are most welcome, as always. Please, though, try not to attack each other personally. Use good argument techniques and avoid the dreaded ad hominems if you can help it.

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Here is the premise of the Secret, as well as other systems that use the principle of the law of attraction. You can call it whatever you like, positive affirmations, the power of positive thinking, Bernie Siegal’s Love, Medicine and Miracles, Deepak Chopra, and on and on.

Put on your thigh high wader boots, and cover your ears, the bullshit meter is about to sound off loud and long:

Thoughts have an energy that attracts like energy (sometimes borrowed from Quantum Mechanics, minus any evidence). You must control this energy by practicing four things:

1. Know what you want.
2. Ask the universe for it.
3. Feel and behave as if the object of your desire is already with you, or is on its way to you.
4. Be open to receiving it.

Of course, if you think negative thoughts, the universe will manifest those negative thoughts in your life as well. So you must think positively at all times so that the universe will manifest all of your desires.

Before the Secret was around, there were plenty of other similar methods of thinking – positive affirmations and the like. As I’ve mentioned before, even though I was an agnostic in my late 20′s and early 30′s, I was very spiritual. I believed this bullshit 150%. I’d read books, learned from “gurus”, had a few college teachers, doctors and nurses suggest these techniques, and even had success with it. I taught others how to manifest their dreams, too. In a way it was the core belief of my spirituality.

When I fully embraced the fact that there is no god about 9 years ago, and acknowledged that there is no evidence of a benevelent creator or universal force that watches out for me, I still didn’t quite give up the positive affirmations. They had seemed to work in big ways in my life. But they started really messing with my head, too. And this is where I realized that they can be quite dangerous.

If you believe you have control over events and objects in your life based solely on your thoughts, you feel you are much more in control than what reality supports. While I believe we all must be responsible for our actions, thinking like this goes grievously too far.

Examples:

I developed this fear that my thoughts controlled my husband’s success or failure at driving to and from work. If I had a worry based on the weather conditions that he might have an accident, I would panic and had to tell him to drive carefully, and I had to think only positive thoughts while he was on the road. This became an obsession in which I had to tell him to drive carefully before leaving or he would crash. It didn’t have anything to do with his driving skill, the safety of our well-maintained car, or anything else. It was all down to my thoughts. The problem is, the more I tried to avoid thinking about accidents the more they filled my mind. If he did have an accident it would have been my fault entirely. It wouldn’t have anything to do with the stupid deer that stand in the road, the patch of black ice, or the idiot that stopped dead at a green light because he was texting his girlfriend.

This then led to other obsessive thoughts that seemed to be incredibly important for our happiness and safety. Innocent random thoughts became terribly important. Mild concerns harbored doom if they weren’t countered with positive thoughts. A mild and common worry about leaving the coffee pot on would lead to thinking of the house burning down, a brief worry that would turn into a horrid panic. I had just sealed my fate by having that flash in my mind. It doesn’t help that my mind is graphic and vivid in technicolored detail for such things. That only led me to believe I actually had power over such events.

Sure, I do have some power. I can remind my husband to check the brakes or replace the tires on the car. I can make sure I don’t leave appliances on that could overheat if left alone for a long time. But I do those things anyway, just like the rest of us. And sure, mistakes happen, which can lead to accidents and misfortunes.

But the idea that your thoughts alone are so powerful as to change physics, to affect physical objects and the will of other people is crazy. You use your thoughts to make decisions on what to say or what action to take. Nothing more. I’m happily surprised I didn’t start wearing a tinfoil hat to keep those pesky negative thoughts inside my skull.

A lot of people use this belief system to try to gain wealth and money. Of course I did it too. This is where it seemed that I had the most success. But like everyone else, I would cherry pick the results of all the thousands of times I controlled my thoughts and forced myself to repeat positive affirmations over and over to just those few that were amazingly, positively successful. That’s anecdotal evidence, my friends. It isn’t scientific. It isn’t reality.

Of course I felt I had full power over our finances, just by my thoughts. When I write that and read it, I see how insane it is. Our financial successes and setbacks had nothing to do with the economy, the job market, my husband working 2 jobs at one point, the housing market or anything else? No, it was all due to my thoughts. Yes, that’s crazy, I know.

Once I realized how far I’d gone with crazy thinking, I forced myself to do a test. For a week, I didn’t tell my husband to drive carefully when he left for work. If I had worries and negative thoughts, I tried to rationally remind myself that they were simply that: irrational worries. I didn’t force myself to repeat positive affirmations. And you know what? He didn’t get in an accident. I tried different mind experiments after that, every one unscientifically confirming that my thoughts were staying in my head and simply causing stress and worry. Nothing more.

Here’s another angle. If you get cancer, it’s your fault for being afraid of cancer and worrying about it. If you are a woman and you get mugged and raped, you were afraid of being attacked and you attracted it to you. Again, your fault. That’s the way that screwed up belief system works. Blame the victim because it strengthens the flawed and unproven system as “effective”.

But it’s completely unscientific and downright cruel to tell a cancer victim, a child with leukemia, or a rape victim that they did this to themselves just through negative thinking when there is absolutely no evidence to such bogus claims.

I used my personal examples to explain this insidious system of false belief, hoping you could learn from my errors. Even an intelligent nonbeliever can fall into the trap of the law of attraction. In fact, the reason I am writing this is because I hear people say “what you think about is what you attract to yourself” or some variation thereof, even within the atheist community.

It leads me to understand that not all atheists are critical thinkers or skeptics. But in this case, it’s a good idea to examine the evidence (NONE) for our thoughts controlling objects both near and far, physics, and the actions of others. Seems silly when you think about it. Your thoughts are in your head. So don’t fall into the same trap that I got stuck in. Think for yourself. You’ll be glad you did.

~

I have written some follow-up posts to this one:

• The Secret Divides
• The Secret Divides Part 2

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Basically, once a week for 10 weeks, people in the study would write down up to 5 things they were grateful for. It could be as simple as “waking up this morning”. By the end of the study, they were working out an hour and a half more per week than a group that wrote about life’s hassles, like “stupid people driving”.

Ironically, I’ve had trouble being motivated to exercise and keep a food journal since Thanksgiving, so I thought I’d give this a shot. Last night I wrote down 5 things I’m grateful for. It was pretty easy.

But that got me thinking. It smacks of “counting your blessings”, doesn’t it? I just wondered, if I’m not grateful to someone, how does that work?

Gratitude: noun – the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.
Origin: 1400–50; late ME < ML grātitūdin- (s. of grātitūdō) thankfulness, equiv. to grāt(us) pleasing + -i- -i- + -tūdin- -tude

Ok, so I guess I can be grateful, and it doesn’t have to be to anyone in particular. I guess I was thinking it was more like the christian idea of counting your blessings and thanking god. Blech!

Being free of god, I wasn’t sure about how gratitude worked. I guess it’s just an acknowledgment of what is good in your life.

Anyway, I thought I’d share the study with you. Aren’t you lucky, you get my thoughts that go with it as an added bonus.

Have a great day! I’m grateful for you!

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The offer is for pet care services for “good” christians. Apparently over half of America’s population has worried over what will happen to their beloved pets when the rapture comes. Jesus hates animals, so of course, they’ll be staying down here with the smart atheists.

So why not offer a pet care service to “good” christians? I wonder if an ad like this would get pulled on eBay? Or my local classifieds paper! I could try that. It’s got bible quotes in it and good wholesome stuff, so I’d have a great target audience.

What do you think? Worth a shot? Here’s the craigslist listing.

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