Pat Robertson is proof god is imaginary, a real god would strike him down.

Many christian bloggers seem to be either disassociating themselves from Pat Robertson's remarks, or at least trying to find the "truth" in them by applying various "contexts".  Here are my thoughts.

The actual truth is, accidents happen, the are just accidents, flukes. The poor people of Haiti felt this in a particularly acute way because they are impoverished and do not have the same level of building codes and infrastructure a more developed country would have under the same circumstances. This is not god, vengeance, or anything, its just a terrible tragedy and we need to step up and help them. God, in fact, is imaginary. False hope to many for certain, but false none the less. Stuff happens. Pat Robertson is just added proof that there actually is no god, and he is behaving as a delusional person would be expected to behave, and the evangelical christian community is quietly in agreement with him because they share his delusion.

Given all the terrible things Pat Robertson has said for no purpose other than to keep himself in the news and controversial, you would think this extremely vengeful god would ultimately strike him down with some ironic disease like losing his voice or all ability to do anything but listen and observe.  But, again, since god is imaginary, that wont happen, and even if it did, it would only be yet another fluke.

The best way to support the people of Haiti for most of us is going to be ensuring that support remains consistent well beyond the media hype that is going on now.  When the country is relegated to the bottom of page 12 on CNN, that is when the real "heros" will appear, and support for them will be the most important.  I thought it was kind of sad to see Sanjay Gupta taking care of a minor cut on a 15 month old baby in Haiti as front page news on CNN.com today.  Seemed a bit opportunistic to say the least, the ultimate "photo op".  I wonder what he does "off camera".

In the mean time, whoever Pat Robertson's sound guy is...please, turn off his mike.

context and inspiration for this post:
http://www.dennyburk.com/what-is-pat-robertson-talking-about/comment-page-1/#comment-54803

Einstein

Modern Evangelicals have enjoyed erroneously quoting Albert Einstein as making all kinds of pro religious statements, but in reality, Einstein was anything but religious from their point of view. He seemed to make generous efforts to be kind and politic but was in the context of a time when atheism was largely shunned by society and the public espousing of which could negatively effect one's career in any field including science.

Recently a letter has surfaced which seems to put the debate to rest. Einstein unmistakeably denies the existence of the Judeo-Christian personal god, and goes on to characterize belief in such a thing as childish.

[Link]

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." is a statement often attributed to Einstein.

To anyone who actually studied science as an amateur or professional and understands the definition of "lame" and "blind", the preceeding statement is absurd. No scientific theory has ever been strengthened by any religious belief or tenet. No theory or postulation begins in any religion. Science can, on the contrary, be made lame and blind by religion, and has been on many occasions throughout history. Religion has gone to great lengths to pull funding for science that contradicts it, or block the study of it as heresy, and has punished many great scientists with torture and execution.

On the same token, religion is actually damaged by science. The more people study and find out about their world, the more ridiculous belief in god appears. This is directly demonstrated by the fact that the more educated a society is, the less religion plays a role. It is a direct relationship. Educated people are generally not religious, or at least relegate religion to a small, dusty corner of their lives regarding it as largely allegory at best, and all out illusory fabrication as the norm. Religion is quite literally, blindness.

While it is entirely possible Einstein did utter those words, it is illogical and inconsistent with his life of science and numerous contrary statements, so its likely he made it under some kind of duress, was misquoted, or didn't make it at all.

Of course there is the famous "student vs university teacher" story often misquoted by Einstein, again based on a simple logical fallacy that Evangelicals clinged to until it was proven a hoax.
[link]

One great statement I'll finish with here was one by zomgitscriss on youtube.
[link]
in that video she made an interesting observation. "If we have a sinful nature as a result of our rebellion against god" (and that supposedly explains why 1 billion people live without clean water today, "then in order for us to have rebelled against god we must have had a sinful nature to rebel in the first place, which means god created us that way." I paraphrase: "So if god really does exist, he is one sick ******." The particularly intense example is babies born with harlequin disease who are born, live a few weeks in unimaginable misery and then die. How exactly is that justified by "free will" ?

"We are designed by nature, which is flawed and unfair. Which is why we are flawed and unfair."

She is wise beyond her years and I really appreciate her insights. Thanks Zomgitscriss!

My friend is off to find a portal to the fourth dimension in the Andes.

So, my friend just stopped by and is now on his way to South America to find a portal to the fourth dimension to beseech the "White Brotherhood" of spirit beings to not unleash mother nature's menstral lava on us ignorant self centered earthlings in 2012.

Once he enters the fourth dimension, he plans on keeping in touch via telepathy, so that was nice.

I'm actually pretty sad about this. Another victim of religion / spirituality who is merely taking it to its logical conclusion. Once you start down the rabbit hole of "accepting that there is more to life than what you can see, hear, taste, touch, or scientifically prove exists", anything goes really. Billions of people believe more strongly in an imaginary place we all go to when we die than in people who live in other countries, and would see those other REAL people die before they let them insult their imaginary hope in pretend lands and beings.

Once you remove science and reason from the picture, you cant really question anything. There is no accountability, no standard by which to judge what is real and what is imagined. In church I could tell you that God told me that I should jump fully clothed into a strangers swimming pool, and you couldn't really dispute that as the Bible doesnt really address that. You could try, but without using science and reason, it would be pretty difficult without invoking a lot of mumbo jumbo yourself.

Mmmm...mumbo jumbo sounds like a delicious hot dog at this moment.

Anyway, I hope my friend discovers his sanity while he is there. Seriously. Given my past conversations with him there is less likelyhood he will find that than the portal to the fourth dimension, but I certainly am deeply saddened by his life decision to throw away a promising career as a biochemist to head into oblivion.

If anyone can offer advice as to how to address or help these kinds of people in a world totally obsessed with ignorance, spirituality and imaginary gods and monsters, please comment.

NYT: Atheists Coming Out of the Closet

Here is a great post from the New York Times about atheists coming out of the closet.