Thorsday Tonic - GU Universe Episode 1

Sit back and enjoy a little inspiration on a Thorsday morning.

GU Universe:  The Structure of the Universe.

(Note:  if repetitive, unnecessary video game "music" gives you a headache, this might not be for you. But it is an excellent and clear description of the universe with a backdrop of gorgeous Hubble photography)

Barmy Bible Study - Noah's Ark, The First Genocide

Today in Barmy Bible Study, let's focus on Genesis.  The first book of the Old Testament is full of fantastic stories which are, according to fundamentalists, literally true and which demonstrate the power and might of the all-loving god of the Christians and Jews.

Our text tonight is the Noah's Ark story, helpfully condensed by this online Sunday school resource:

Noah and all the Animals
by Len
A story that will capture the children's attention and hearts! For additional ideas to techniques to enhance telling a story, click here
Materials: Miniature plastic animals Faces of Mr. and Mrs. NoahDuration: Approximately 10 minutes			Topics: Animals, Noah, Listening Obedience, Protection Target Audience: Ages 4-6

Once there was an old man who had a veeeery looong beard. He was the only nice person in the whole neighborhood. He worshipped and obeyed God all the time. Then one day, God spoke to him. "Noah, you know what? I'm tired of all your neighbors being so selfish and mean. They don't even know how to share or take care of other people who are poor. They just think about themselves all the time. I tell you what. I would like you to have a new neighborhood, and this is what I am going to do. I will take you to a new place in an ark, because I like you. I will make it rain for forty days and forty nights. There will be a great flood, but you and your family and all the animals will be safe." Noah was surprised and asked, "What's an ark?" God replied, "It's like a boat, but very big. You will have to make it. (As you read the next line, make long steps from one side of the room to the other) It should be wide, and this long, (Then jump and stretch your arm to the ceiling) and this tall. You also have to make it out of very special wood. And you have to do this right away!"  Noah squinted and looked at the sky. "Oh, oh!", he said. "I better get going! Mrs. Noah! Mrs. Noah! We need to have food, blankets and hay for the animals. God said it is going to rain for a long, long, long time. There will be a great flood, so hurry!" "But how will we live through a great flood?" Mrs. Noah asked. Noah said, It's ok. I'm going to build an ark so our family and all the animals will be safe in it. So hurry and make all the preparations." Mrs. Noah asked, "What is an ark?" "You'll know what it is when it's done," Noah replied. And so Noah built his ark. It was so long, and so wide and so tall. It had a window and a big huge door. All of his neighbors laughed at him. "What's that silly thing Noah is making?" they would ask. "It looks enormous, and like a boat, but there are no oceans or rivers in sight. No water anywhere." And they kept on laughing. Noah finally finished the ark and as soon as he did, the clouds started to cover the sun. He heard God's voice again, "Noah, it's time to go!" So Noah gathered up the animals, two dogs, two cats, two lions, and two rats. He gathered two tigers, two bears, two of every animal in sight. Some of them just went right into the ark, but Noah had to trick others. After everyone was inside, God closed the door. Inside the boat, Noah's family could see how the sky was getting darker and darker. It became scary and quiet. Then, Noah heard it. A drop, then a second drop, then a third, then another and another, and they came faster and faster, and bigger and louder. After a few minutes, it became a huge storm. The dry land started to get soaked in water. It rained and rained without stopping. After two days of rain, the ark started to float and still the rain kept pouring down. Soon the ark was in the middle of a large ocean. It rained more and more without stopping, for forty days and forty nights. Just like God said it would. Then suddenly, it stopped! The sun began to shine, so Noah sent out a raven to find dry land, but it came back to the ark. He waited a few more days and sent out a dove. It came back with a leaf in it's beak. Then he sent the dove out again. He waited for many days but the dove never came back. "Wow, the storm must really be over!" Noah cried. "I think it's safe to come out now." "Finally," shouted one of Noah's sons, "The animals are starting to stink up the place." "Alright then, let's open the door and go out." Noah and his family and all the animals marched out from the ark to dry land. There was no one else around. Then Noah realized, “so this is the new neighborhood God was talking about.” He had a lot of work to do. "We better get started," said Mrs. Noah. "Yes, but first things first," Noah said, "We need to give God an offering to show him how thankful we are for saving us from the flood." So Noah gave God an offering, and God was very, very pleased with him.

THE END

This charming tale remains a perennial children's favorite. After all, what child wouldn't enjoy a story about animals all piled happily in a boat together, "two by two"?  Christians uncritically accept this story of the "nice" man and his ark and all the animals as an example of their god's loving protection.

Study questions for Noah's Ark:

1. Why did God tell Noah to build an ark?

2. What did God plan to do?  Why?

3. How does the Bible tell us Noah felt when he heard about God's plans for the rest of the people on earth?

About.com provides a helpful synopsis of the story beginning with this line which gets straight to the heart of the matter:

"God saw how great wickedness had become and decided to wipe mankind from the face of the earth." (emphasis mine)

Bible literalists believe that the Noah story is an account of a mass extinction of humanity by their god. The casual way that this global genocide is mentioned in the statement above (and in the Bible story itself) is an example of the way that Christian belief can warp normal human empathy and deaden human awareness of how cruel and immoral mass murder actually is, not to mention the gross injustice of global genocide committed by a violent god angry with a few "sinners".  Christianists will tell you that the Noah story is about their god's merciful and protective nature.  The immorality of the story and of the god character's behavior in it seems to be totally lost on them.

God decided to "wipe" humanity from the face of the earth because of the "great wickedness" he saw.  Even if every adult on the planet was a wicked "sinner", little children and babies did not take part in that "great wickedness", yet the god in the story wiped out all of humanity including innocents.  This is the justice of the all-loving, omniscient and omnipotent Biblical god:  it does not use its omnipotence to change humanity to behave as it demands, thus solving the problem without bloodshed. No, instead it creates a species which is inherently prone to behavior which angers the god, and then the god punishes its "beloved" creatures mercilessly.

Another notable thing about the Noah story is that marked and chilling casual disregard of the writers, main characters (and later of those retelling the story - see Sunday school version above) toward the fate of the rest of humanity.  Not once does Noah (or his family members) express any dismay over the horrible fate about to befall their neighbors. This sociopathy is considered righteous and good in the perverted and upside-down "morality" of Bible-believing Christians.

Thankfully, the Noah's story is, of course,  just a myth.  Flood stories abound in the mythologies of countless ancient peoples and the Bible version of it is neither unique nor special in any way.  The only thing that makes the Bible version so well known is that it is the version believed by the dominant cultural group in the western world. Modern geological and archeological research has proven beyond doubt that the Biblical account of the entire world covered in flood waters is false. Nevertheless, young earth creationists persist in peddling pseudo-science called "flood geology" where - in direct opposition to the proper scientific method - religionists posing as scientists look for and interpret "evidence" to fit the Bible narrative. Any evidence that does not fit into the narrative is denied or attributed to scientific (or even Satanic) trickery.

The Noah's Ark story serves two purposes for fundamentalists.  First, it establishes the Christian perspective on genocide, wanton cruelty and gross injustice - turning every normal, socially adaptive and moral human feeling on its head by teaching believers - usually starting in early childhood - that violence and murder are acceptable and righteous in the name of their god.  Second, it forms a narrative for the Christianist attacks on science and education, which is a necessary prerequisite for an authoritarian theocratic society to become established.

Class review:  The Noah's Ark story is summed up quite well by a commenter on the FTB Pharyngula:

"The classic story of glorifying death is the Big Boat event.
They tell that to children because it is so cute. It has a Big Boat and animals and stuff.
It’s a story about the invention of genocide. A Sky Monster kills all humans but 8 and destroys the world. This was supposed to teach people a lesson. It also didn’t work. The Sky Monster had a plan B though, which involved sending himself down to be killed. That didn’t work either. Plan C is to show up someday and kill everyone again.
The Sky Monster’s kludgy fixes usually end up with a lot of dead people."

Raven,  on Pharyngula

Class dismissed.

First Evolution, Next Global Climate Change!

Recap of the February conference of American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Clips of Republican Rick Santorum highlighting the scary anti-science, anti-earth ideology of Republican party hardliners.

Short, excellent interview with Chris Mooney, science journalist, who places the blame on religion and libertarian economic ideology (which often go hand in hand due to the unholy alliance between business and the religious right dating back to the Reagan era).

Chilling.

Cure For Cancer?

Exciting news in the world of cancer research!

On April 10, the Ottawa Citizen reported that researchers at McGill University in Montreal are developing a blood test for breast cancer that may soon render mammograms obsolete.

"Scientists have worked for years on such blood tests without much success. But the McGill team — including scientists specializing in nanotechnology, chemistry and oncology — have made improvements to the existing technology while discovering a biomarker "signature" for a common subtype of breast cancer — that which is estrogen receptor-positive."

The preliminary testing showed great promise, but the early trial group was very small. Further research and larger studies need to be conducted - and soon - to determine if this test is as good as researchers hope it is. Luckily, Canadian researchers are working in an atmosphere conducive to looking for ways to do better than the current expensive technology.

Currently, mammogram technology is the only imperfect diagnostic tool that women and their doctors have to work with in the effort to detect breast cancer early. Mammography is painful, often inaccurate, and results in far too many false positives - which then result in too many harmful interventions - and, even worse, too many false negatives.

It will be a great day for women when a simple blood test can definitely provide early diagnosis.

Encouragingly, even in the USA, where mammography is big business, research is ongoing to provide better ways to fight breast cancer. At the University of Pennsylvania, there have been promising results in a breast cancer vaccine trial.

On April 8, the UK newspaper, The Telegraph, reported even more exciting news in the general field of cancer research. This story is about what could potentially become the groundwork for an eventual cure for many types of cancer. Scientists have identified a molecule - called MUC1 - which is found on the surface of cancer cells and researchers at Tel Aviv University, backed by Vaxil Biotherapeutics have developed a prototype "vaccine" which uses a small part of the MUC1 molecule to excite a patient's immune system, in much the same way that vaccines for other illnesses (like measles or polio) do.

"The therapy, which targets a molecule found in 90 per cent of all cancers, could provide a universal injection that allows patients' immune systems to fight off common cancers including breast and prostate cancer."

The science information manager at Cancer Research UK, Dr Kat Arney, cautions: "These are very early results that are yet to be fully published, so there's a lot more work to be done to prove that this particular vaccine is safe and effective in cancer patients.", but she added that research into the MUC1 molecule is ongoing in several places around the world because it has shown such promise. Currently, trials will be done using the "vaccine" as a treatment for patients already battling cancer, rather than as a traditional vaccine to prevent cancer.

All that, just this week in cancer research!

Post Script: Sadly, within a few short years,  we won't be seeing research of this calibre coming out of Tennessee, Oklahoma, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas or any of the other states currently considering legislation to allow the teaching of religious creationism in science classes and/or undermining evolutionary theory.  All of these promising treatments, like most modern medical treatments, are derived from our understanding of evolutionary biology.

If the religious right succeeds in undermining education in this country to the degree that they have declared they hope to, then all future world-changing scientific research will occur in other countries going forward.  I guess the Republican party is A-OK with forcing the USA to stand on the sidelines gaping in ignorance as the rest of the world advances far ahead of us in every important aspect of human scientific, medical and technological endeavor. Good work, Republicans.

Tennessee Insanity

Oh, Tennessee!  

Today, Tennessee's governor, Bill Haslam (R - of course) had a choice:  he could sign or veto the recently passed bill HB368/SB893 - which would encourage teachers to teach creationism in Tennessee classrooms and to teach children the outright lie that there is scientific controversy over established scientific theories such as evolutionary theory or climate change theory. 

Governor Haslam had done his homework.  His remarks indicate that he clearly understands that the suggestion that there is any scientific debate is false, and that the only "controversy" is religious and political.  Like cowards before him, the Governor chose to allow the law to pass without his signature. In short, he has hedged his bets: he cannot be accused of having signed a bill which will surely cut the promising future of Tennesse's growing reputation as a leader in STEM subjects off at the knees,  but he cannot be accused either of not having kowtowed to the religious right because he has allowed the bill to pass by standing aside and refusing to veto the odious piece of legislation.

Tennessee has the dubious distinction of being the state where the Scopes "Monkey" trial was held back in 1925.  At that time, teacher John Scopes was prosecuted for teaching evolution in a Tennessee school in defiance of a law banning scientific teaching which conflicted with Biblical creationism.  Scopes was found guilty and convicted, but the Tennessee Supreme Court later overturned the conviction.

Gradually, the overwhelming evidence for evolutionary theory convinced a majority of Americans that to prevent schoolchildren from learning this science was tantamount to returning them to the dark ages, and soon educational guidelines routinely included evolutionary theory in science curricula. Ever since that time,  religious proponents of creationism - sworn enemies of the scientific method and especially of evolutionary biology - have been scheming to undermine science and to bring religion roaring back into American public schools.

Tennessee is not the first state to introduce legislation since the 2010 elections which will allow religiously motivated "teaching" of the lie that there is scientific controversy over subjects like global climate change or evolutionary theory.  There is no scientific controversy on these subjects:  the science is solid and there is broad consensus among scientists all around the world that both are well-established, solidly proven scientific theories.  The "controversy" is strictly between religious/political opportunism and the truth.  Religious/political ideologues refuse to accept proven science, not because it is untrue, but because it threatens their own foundational belief systems.

How has Tennessee and states like it come to this sorry pass?  The easy answer is that the rise of the religious right has brought with it incredible pressure on the separation of church and state. But the deeper answer is that moderately religious Americans have enabled the far right to gain this much power.  Religious moderates, hiding behind their "no true Christian" justifications - linking hands with extremists to protect their own religious privilege - have enabled religious extremism to make these frightening inroads into education.

Tennessee had been slowly building a justifiably strong reputation for leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM disciplines) at secondary and post-secondary schools across the state.  University of Tennessee was ranked highly in STEM disciplines in recent years, thanks to the tireless efforts of science and mathematics teachers and professors.  With this law, the state legislature will undermine all of that hard work, and within a very few years, Tennessee will slide back into the educational backwater where its religiously-backed leadership clearly wants the state - and more importantly, its people - to be.

For the second time today, I want to link to Tombstone da Deadman.  This time, here is his wonderful rap from last summer: "Anti-Science".

Also:

Santorum Exits Republican Primary Ring

The bland white face of misogynist Christian fascism

CNN and other news sources are reporting that Rick Santorum has pulled out of the Republican primary struggle.

For Mitt Romney, this is a multi-faceted win.  First, it means that Santorum's backers have seen the writing on the wall and told the bland white face of religious fascism to stand down (for now), while they all close their eyes, hold their noses and try to support Romney.

Second, it means that all the money currently being poured into primary races to tear Romney down will now go into general election funds to tear President Obama and other Democrats down.

Third, it means that Romney no longer will be forced to defend against opponents within the party, but can now put his considerable ability and well-oiled political machine to work in the campaign to defeat President Obama in November.

Look for a hard swerve toward the center from Mitt Romney within days if not hours.

It is vital for Progressives to keep the focus on the extreme positions that Romney was willing to espouse or at least support in order to curry favor with the extreme right wing of his party. He will talk out of the other side of his mouth now to lull independent voters, women and progressives into a false sense of security.

Tuesday Tonic - Purpose!

Tombstone da Deadman 

Sit back and take in some inspiration on a Tuesday morning.

Easter "Joy"

Even when I was a practicing Catholic, I never quite wanted to "celebrate" the Christian remake of Easter. I was happy to celebrate spring, rebirth, flowers blooming, days getting longer, the Easter bunny and coloring eggs to symbolize fertility and new life - in short, all the aspects of the ancient festival of Eastre that most people enjoy celebrating at this time of the year. But the human sacrifice myth that Christianity grafted on to Easter has always repulsed me.

I think one of the most puzzling and disturbing things about theism is that belief seems to alter the human mind so that otherwise rational, good and decent people are able to accept a doctrine of "salvation through human sacrifice" without apparent discomfort.  In fact, Christians not only embrace this doctrine as the truth, but they consider it to be a beautiful proof of the love of the Biblical god.  Without any apparent irony, most Christians regard the story of the torture and execution of the son-god, Jesus, as the very zenith of joyful good news.

Oh happy day -?!

In any other context, human beings who think bloody human sacrifice is acceptable, let alone good, would be considered sociopathic. An entire culture of them would be considered monstrous. Yet, human sacrifice to gods - bloodshed for religion - is accepted as a normal part of human culture even to this day in some parts of the world. Only in a religious context is such depravity considered not only acceptable but laudatory.

The concept of redemptive blood sacrifice disturbs me on many levels.  It disturbs me that people are told that humanity is in need of redemption - that we are sinful, "filthy rags" condemned by our very nature to an eternity of torture in hell unless we seek "salvation"from a deity - when it is the deity which they also believe created our human nature in the first place. More important is the chilling reality that people accept this vile, self-loathing doctrine. I wonder at the twisted psychology of a faith that teaches little children that they are sinful, hell-bound creatures, and then goes on to tell them that their only path to salvation must be through a bloody human sacrifice that allegedly occurred 2000 years ago.

It disturbs me that the deity that millions of people worship is believed to require a blood sacrifice to expiate the sinfulness of its own creation at all. It seems incredible that an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving god - whose alleged desire is to welcome humanity into its presence - would deliberately create humankind with a curious, independent and impulsively immature nature and then subject the first humans to a life or death test which requires incuriousness, unquestioning obedience and experienced maturity.

It disturbs me that millions of people worship a god that would condemn all humanity for all eternity because of the inevitable failure of the two prototype humans to pass that impossible test because of the limitations of the very human nature with which that god endowed them.  It could make sense if people acknowledged that the god is a viciously manipulative tyrant which only fear kept them worshiping, but instead Christians insist that the mythical monster is a "loving" god.

It disturbs me that the cruel, capricious, psychopathic behavior which is the nature of the Biblical god - it is evident throughout holy scripture that God is all that and worse - must be called just, holy and glorious by its worshipers. Believers never seem to wonder why their omniscient and omnipotent god would require total, abject obedience in the first place nor why it could not - or would not - think of a more humane way for its followers to avoid eternal hellfire for the "sin" of being what they were created to be. It never seems to occur to believers that the deity they truly believe in is actually awful, even evil.

Christians refer to the Passion and Resurrection stories as the most "joyful" part of scripture.  I understand that they think it is the most important part - indeed it is the very foundation of the Christian faith - but I do not understand how people can remain so uncritical of this "salvation".  I find myself wondering how people can suspend normal human horror at such violent cruelty in this one celebrated instance,  calling it necessary and good. Their insistence that a god that can do anything somehow needed someone to die a violent, painful death to satisfy its thirst for vengeance and that this capriciously cruel demand is the greatest love humankind will ever know strikes me as very sad.

Human beings fear death more than anything else. Al Stefanelli writes that through most of history, the horror of dying spawned many versions of the Savior story.  Probably human beings then, as now, felt an awful impotence in the face of their inevitable demise and that sense of impotence may explain the continued acceptance of a doctrine of human failure leading to misplaced faith in irrational belief.

But, while fear and a sense of impotence may explain the willingness of believers to accept a savior myth, I feel that it is early religious indoctrination and psychological manipulation which leads people to sublimate their normal, healthy human aversion to wanton cruelty and to accept the meanest of human impulses - in the guise of Godly judgement - with hardly a murmur of protest.  Cruelty is called kindness, evil is called good and contempt is called love. Such is the bizarrely twisted Christian moral compass.

I suspect that the early Christian conquerers co-opted the pagan Eastre celebrations of springtime fertility not simply to 'win over' pagans to Christianity (they generally achieved this through intimidation and persecution anyway), but to make Christianity more palatable to the masses by entwining the terrifying and immoral doctrine with the more hopeful, joyful celebrations that most psychologically healthy human beings naturally prefer. By fusing the repugnant with the refreshing, Christianity keeps its adherents off-balance and confused about what ought to be the clear difference between goodness and evil.

I do not believe that the Biblical god - or any gods - exist, but I do think that the idea of such a god - and the repulsive religious doctrines built around it - ought to be resisted by all morally healthy people with every ounce of vigor that they can muster.

Replica of torture/execution device is the universally beloved symbol for the religion of "love".

Isn't That Just Ducky!

I am an early riser.  I am up with the sun, up with the sky, up with the tides.

I love to walk near the sea. I love it so much that I bark to go out as soon as the sun is up!

I love the sun. I love the sky! I love the sea!

Isn't that just Ducky!

Equal Pay, Schmequal Pay

I am up to my neck in company and cooking this weekend -  yes, that's it!  That is a great excuse for not posting! - but I had to just slip this one in here.  Daniel Finke at Camels With Hammers on FTB posted about the latest shot across the bow of the ship of equal rights. That leaky old vessel is looking worse for wear lately.

This time, it is the Wisconsin legislature, headed by the deservedly embattled Scott Walker, which has rolled back the calendar on yet another milestone in the history of women's rights.  The Wisconsin house, voting along (Republican) party lines, voted to repeal the 2009 law which tried to address unfair, unequal pay practices in the state.  Huffpost article here.

Looks like, with a possible recall looming over his head, Walker is determined to do as much damage as he possibly can to the state of Wisconsin before June.  Naturally, he also seems keen to polish his credentials with the GOP - perhaps he is planning on a federal run if the people of Wisconsin throw him out of the Governor's office - by firing off as many destructive missiles at women as he possibly can, too.

The Republican War on Women:  coming soon to a state near you.