For Good Reason

Hey! Did you guys know that D.J. Grothe and the JREF have started a new podcast called For Good Reason?

They have already released their first episode, and I dare you to listen to it. It's awesome! The first podcast features Jamy Ian Swiss and James Randi.

Also, you'll hear me on there for a few seconds every week.

Debate night!

Last night, my friends and I (which consisted of nearly the entire St. Louis ring of skeptical bloggers!) had a small debate night at my apartment in St. Louis. 9 People attended, and 2 groups of people debated 2 topics.

The first was a debate between Pastor Keith and War_On_Error. Their topic was "Does God Lie?" The debate dissolved into a group discussion before it finished, mostly because P. Keith and War more or less agreed! That's okay though, because instead of talking about whether or not god lies, we talked about the real point of the debate. The real point of showing that god lies (or deceives, if you are bothered by the word lie) is that people can be mistaken about what god wants. Out discussion was on whether or not it might be better (from a standpoint of convincing some people that they don't have a "special knowledge" trump card) to have a conversation about how hard Biblical interpretation is. If we can convince people that Biblical interpretation is hard, then maybe we can convince them – for example – that someone doesn't have absolute proof by mandate from their god that they should vote down civil rights for homosexuals.

Next, Saint_Gasoline and Inquiring Infidel debated the Kalam Cosmological argument, with Inquiring Infidel pretending to be William Lane Craig. While they were debating, I kept thinking that since lots of people don't know what "M-theory" and "string theory" mean in any detail, that Saint Gasoline, with all of his appeals to physics, would sound like, "blah blah blah blah" to Inquiring Infidel-Craig's more macro approach. I did think it was kind of amusing that Infidel-Craig brought up Hilbert's Hotel, calling such a notion absurd, when god is basically equally absurd, at least in the, "god is timeless, eternal, and ultra-powerful" sense. We speculated that a timeless being could not have thoughts, because thoughts entailed a time structure. Alas.

For the March debate night, Andrea_The_Nerd and I are debating gay marriage. The second debate is still up for grabs.

The debate night for April will be couples debate! Andrea and War will debate debating ("debaters are great!" vs. "debaters are wankers!") while Flimsy and I will be debating marriage ("Marriage is awesome!" vs "Marriage is for suckers!")

Also, the best part of debate night is Debate Kitteh! She decided to hang out on the lectern for the entire first debate, playfully batting at people's notes. 

Once of these days, I swear, we'll move to more public debates.

What if atheists left America?

This video is an interesting premise - what if all atheists left America, like some Christians want?

Dragon's Den ownage.

Here is an entertaining video in which the guys of Dragon's Den completely smash to smithereens all hope that this snake-oil salesman had of hawking his bullshit. Way to go!

A nail in the anti-vax coffin? Maybe...

I have two links of importance today regarding the anti-vaccination hubbub.

The first is a Discover Magazine blog entry on the full retraction of the Lancet Vaccine research article - the article that got the anti-vax movement really started.

The second is news that Andrew Wakefield, the primary author of the study, has been found guilty of medical misconduct and will likely lose his license. There is a long list of evil this man has done in the name of his own agenda, and it is good to see justice served.

This is probably not the final nail in the coffin of the anti-vax debate. I wish it were, for the world would be much safer if everybody got their vaccines.

Meeting my peeps!

One of the things I did in Buffalo, NY was meet Malimar, one of my very regular commenters!

See? Here's the proof. 


It's so much fun to put faces to the people I communicate with. Plus, Malimar has the most entertaining combination babyface-insanity-mutton-chops-luxuriant-flowing-hair ever. He's nice! He even smells nice, ha. 


My apologies for the Worst Picture Ever in the history of my blog – I didn't take my camera with me, so this picture is from my Blackberry. 

CFI report

So today is the end of my second day at CFI. My brian is a little burned out at the moment, primarily due to lack of sleep (it's odd sleeping in a house by yourself when you're accustomed to sleeping in a shotgun apartment with 2 cats, 1 dog, and – most importantly – 1 Flimsyman.

My first day at CFI, I literally spent 8 hours talking with Joe Nickell on topics ranging from how unskeptical some atheists can be to how awesome it is when one comes across a rare bottle of "clairvoyant medicine" at an antique shop. We yammered at length about the ethics of investigation, and why skeptics need to avoid being armchair-ivory-towerists and actually get out into the world and participate actively in skepticism. Joe further convinced me that investigation should occur in the real world as much as possible.

Another thing we talked about at length is his Skeptiseum, and awesome, yet somehow sort of unknown – skeptical museum of the paranormal. The Skeptiseum features exhibits on alternative medicine, cryptozoology/mythical creatures, ghosts and spirits, miracles, pseudoscience, psychic phenomena, superstition, UFO's and aliens. In person, the Skeptiseum is a quirky collection of strange and mysterious items mixed in with a sizable collection of books in Joe's personal library. It's one of those things tucked away that I think needs more exposure.

My second day at CFI (today) was spent researching the holy grail relic the Sacro Catino. The Sacro Catino is a famous object preserved in Genoa, Italy, that has a spurious history. People at one time apparently believed it was carved of a large emerald, though most modern scholars believe it is merely glass. I'll assuredly write more about it later, but at the moment we're still trying to piece together a decent historical account of the thing.

Off to New York

The secret is out:

I am traveling to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI, the guys who produce Skeptical Inquiry Magazine) for an internship!

Today!

Now, I am fully aware that this is a Skeptic's dream internship. I'll be hanging out with Joe Nickell and lots of other cool people.The goal is to learn how to do pseudoscience, paranormal, and fringe science research and investigations.

16 months ago when I started this blog, I had NO idea where it might take me. To CSI is one of those places. There are probably about 200 people I should thank for giving me the awesome opportunity to be more than just an armchair skeptic, so I'll just say thanks to everyone - you know who you are. 

Fear not, for I shall be blogging about my experiences at CSI. I'll also be bringing along my camera in the event that I come across some skeptical eyecandy. There are more interesting things in the works for the future, so keep checking back.

How cool is this!?

My lovely friend Inquiring Infidel posted this gem on Facebook: the 100 best (free!) science documentaries online. They've got everything from Super Size Me (about the guy who eats nothing but McDonald's for 30 days) to a documentary about coffee. You just need to check it out, and that's all I can say.

LifeSaver's Musk

Is someone out there in bloggyland willing to find and/or mail some musk candy (either Lifesaver's musk or musk sticks) to me in St. Louis?

You know, this:

 or this:

Never before have I tasted something so... unique and delicious. I got to try some Lifesavers Musk while at TAM, courtesy of the Australian Skeptics. Now, I miss it! I want it! Please? Anyone? Send me the musk?

I'll mail you something in return... umm... like... something!

Flimsy and I...

Flimsy and I are engaged.

He's taking my last name :)

So engagements mean weddings. As a couple of heathens, what do we do?

We considered:

1. going to the courthouse and just getting some lame papers.
2. Getting married under the osage orange tree in the middle of this park we go to at night all the time.
3. Having a big hugeass party and inviting everyone.

Too bad we're not famous enough to have Dan Barker officiate.

Oh and... he's taking my last name. 

Trust me, I’m a doctor.

Tomorrow is the last day if my internship. Today, my fieldwork instructor handed me a passing grade for my fieldwork.

As I was walking up to the second floor to make copies of my paperwork, I realized something.

Right then, at that moment, I became a holder of a doctoral degree in occupational therapy. I became a doctor.

Dr. Ziztur.

Okay, so Ziztur is not my real name, but you get the idea.

I could be like all of those silly creationists out there and flaunt my credentials. I think it is especially entertaining when they show off their doctoral degrees twice, or include their bachelor's degree, like this:

Dr. Ziztur, B.A., OTD.

Tomorrow, my grade will be recorded and it will be officially official. The funny thing is that this is not exactly like I imagined it. It did not happen all at once. I had a graduation ceremony in May, when all of my coursework was completed. It was all fanfare and grandiose but a symbol of something not yet conferred – that would not be conferred for another seven months.

I unofficially became a doctor when my fieldwork instructor signed off that I had passed my internship. I have completed all of my work, and all of my study required of me to attach that title to my name. I will never, ever stop learning, but I will officially be a doctor when the grade is recorded tomorrow. It happened in small steps, that's the way life works. It's not like when you finally get handed the keys to your new car, or you finally get married, or when you finally graduate high school.

Becoming a doctor was walking down the halls at the medical center to make a copy of your paperwork. Only, I think I walked a little taller.

Harriet Hall teams up with Oprah, whaa!?!

Last night, Michael Shermer tweeted this message via his @michaelshermer account:

"Just got fantastic news! Dr. Harriet Hall, our very own SkepDoc columnist for Skeptic, just got hired by O (Oprah) magazine as a columnist!"

Harriet Hall is one of my heroes. She blogs at Science Based medicine and has a column in Skeptic magazine. She typical blogs skeptically about topics such as hoodia, colds, food, medicine, acupuncture, homeopathy etc. Oprah is a peddler of the wooest of woo, hosting a television show credulously about the same topics (among others) and giving a voice to people such as Jenny McCarthy, Mrs. Anti-vax Queen.

I'm skeptical. I respect Mr. Shermer, but I dare not fall into the trap of trusting people merely because I respect them. I want verification that this impossible alliance has occurred. Then, I'll know that hell has actually frozen over. Is this a prank - A rumor - A twisted, sick joke - A skeptical gift? Someone please tell me! I need evidence!

Allow me to express my disbelief: whaaa?? errrr? huh? speofggtuu? Brain go eh?

Thanks.

D.J. Grothe becomes president of the JREF!

The James Randi Educational Foundation has announced that my good friend D.J. Grothe has become the new president of the foundation!

In a press release, the JREF announced today that current president Phil Plait will be leaving to pursue an opportunity in television, and so the JREF has elected D.J. based on his fantastic career promoting skepticism and scientific understanding. I am confident that D.J. will build upon the greatness of the JREF to make it ever more amazing.

Don't worry St. Louis skeptics - D.J. is not leaving us behind. You can have him Mr. Randi, but you're going to have to share.

Proof...

...That I occasionally hang out with people you want to hang out with:

(PZ Myers, me, D.J. Grothe)

(Rebecca Watson, me)

I also took this great pic of PZ, during a late night party in a hotel room:

I also have to share this picture of fellow blogger Saint Gasoline.

Skepticon and loyalty

Sorry that my posts died out for a few days – the truth is that I have been busy both working my a$$ off at my internship (in five weeks I will finish, and then I will be Doctor Ziztur). In addition to working my a$$ off, Flimsy and I have been scouring the St. Louis area for a house to buy, which will hopefully be large enough that we can use it as some kind of bizarre commune.

This weekend Saint Gasoline, The Alien, Flimsy and I went to Skepticon II, a skeptic/atheist conference held in Springfield, Mo. We had an absolute blast hanging out with Richard Carrier, PZ Myers, Rebecca Watson, D.J. Grothe, Dan Barker, and a bunch of other skeptics (including all the other St. Louis bloggers).

The four of us ended up partying late into the night with PZ, D.J., Richard, Rebecca, and a bunch of other awesome folks. In a semi-intoxicated (by skepticism, the late hours and some rum) state, I managed to snap some portraits in the dimly-lit motel room. As far as portraits go, they aren't amazing – but I think they are pretty good given the poor lighting.

I think my friend The Alien did the coolest thing of all – she used to think atheists were evil jackasses who did nothing more than undermine and condemn everyone around them. She was kind of afraid of atheists because once upon a time, someone who could best be described as an "atheist communist conspiracy theorist" was the only atheist she knew, and he treated her as though she were somehow less than human… for years. So what does she do? She goes to a conference where everyone is an atheist and ends up in a hotel room with famous authors and public figures of the movement – and she loved it! I don't know many people who are willing to open themselves up like that. People should be more like her.

About 2 years ago, Alien and I lived together, and we lived with someone who can best be described as a "communist conspiracy theorist atheist who was hell bent on destroying any and all belief, even to the detriment of other people." The Alien was mentally tortured by this individual, who would frequently direct words like, "stupid", "wrong", and "inhuman" at her. She and the communist conspiracy theorist atheist (CCTA) both paid rent to the owner of the house. The torment got so bad that CCTA and his girlfriend violated her personal property, going into her room to steal and throw away object if spiritual importance to her. CCTA may have been an atheist but he certainly was no skeptic. He was more of a contrarian or a denialist – 9/11 was an inside job, there was no lone gunman, the Masons are out to get us, the Jews are out to get us, the election was rigged, aluminum will kill you, vaccines cause autism, Big Pharma wants to keep you sick, GE crops are evil, etc.

Despite all of the seething hatred directed at her The Alien tried desperately to understand CCTA: "I made many, many attempts to understand his points of view. He made no attempt, and instead riled against any thoughts I had of my own." After finally finding the means to move out, she "wanted nothing to do with atheists." CCTA was the only atheist she knew, and he had tainted her perspective on atheists and atheism: "If he was what atheism was, I wanted no part of that. In fact, anyone who would dare question my beliefs who claimed to be an atheist, would have gotten screamed out of my subdivision. "

When I came out as an atheist, The Alien was heartbroken: "I was more than appalled. I felt betrayed by the person who knew me the most. She, becoming atheist, was like her telling me she was going to become exactly like [CCTA]. It put the largest wedge in our friendship than has ever been there before. I wasn't sure I could stand to be around her, as if she had been contaminated with this disease that turned people into...well, [CCTA].

She and I had a tough relationship for the next year or so. I tried to explain that not all atheists were like CCTA, but he had so contaminated her view of atheism that it was hard for her to believe. Her reaction was very much like people who have been told by the church that atheists are evil and immoral – when you meet a moral one, you believe that the immorality is hiding just underneath a thin veneer. But then things changed when The Alien invited me along to help her with a house painting job:

"I needed someone to work with me on a house and [Ziztur] was available to help. Somewhere during the first few days, she said she had something interesting to have me listen to. Okay, no problem - this happens quite frequently. I like interesting stuff and she knows what I would find interesting. Somewhere in those next few days… she had me listen to this podcast. It was Point of Inquiry. I had no idea what Point of Inquiry was, but the podcast was definitely interesting."

We ended up listening to POI for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for several weeks. Later on, I introduced her to Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. At some point, I let the Alien know that POI and the other podcasts were all produced by atheists. She decided that though she had no desire to meet any of the people in the podcasts, they were cool and interesting.

Slowly, I began to introduce her to other people in my circle of godless friends. First, it was some people I was dating:

"I've never been so scared to enter a house, ever… I was adamant on not getting too deep in conversation with them lest they start questioning my beliefs and attacking them upon finding out I wasn't an atheist like them. While I ended up conversing with them, it did not go too deeply… At least they didn't mentally torture me with their conversation. Okay, some atheists are okay."

Skip ahead to a few months ago. The Alien uses me as her personal lending library, and at one point I convinced her to read a skeptical book. We started with Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer, and she eventually moved on to read books by Richard Dawkins, Mary Roach, Darrel Ray, and others. She worked up the nerve to attend atheist book clubs with me. She took my mp3 player (loaded with POI, SGU, and Quackcast) to Europe to feed her ears during long train rides.

"By this time, I'm starting to figure out that the intellectual conversation may just overpower my now deep fear of atheists. I took some tentative steps, checking out - gasp- other blogs than [Ziztur's] and the POI website."

Surprisingly, The Alien was off work last weekend. She had heard about Skepticon II from Skepchick.org, and dropped me a line, asking if she could come along. A few hours later, she was sitting in the car with me, Flimsy, and Saint Gasoline. She describes how she felt on the way to the con:

"Imagine a deep nervousness that keeps on being pushed down by the want for intellectual conversations sure to happen. Imagine being nervous at meeting people you've been listening to not long, but just long enough to feel like you're meeting someone famous. Imagine still being deeply nervous and still quite a bit fearful of the people who were SURE to ask you about your religious beliefs and question you when you still haven't worked out your stand on everything-in-the-known-world-much-less-yourself (see future posts on this) completely yet. You've probably gotten the picture."

"Imagine then fitting in better at this convention than fitting in ANYWHERE else ever in your life, even with groups of friends known for years. "

The Alien has a message:

"I must say it clearly to CCTA and the other demeaning atheists out there who use mental torture to wear down others. You, sir, do/did NOT help your cause in the slightest. Your strategy did NOT work and scared away someone who COULD have been someone on your side. Now before you think "wait, but it did", technically.... you're still wrong. It would have probably always come to [skepticism] (just by nature of my friend deciding for herself), and what you did was stop someone from becoming [a skeptic] for years longer than they probably would have. You did a disservice to your cause and I do not believe anyone should respect what you say given the way you go about proving your points…YOU are a DISGRACE TO ATHEISTS and ATHEISM and THEY DO NOT NEED YOU as an advocate."

The Alien is also one of those few skeptics out there who is not exactly an atheist – but she is a skeptic, a freethinker, a best friend, and she is beyond loyal, even going so far as to get in the car and go somewhere where she is in enemy territory – and instead of finding hostility, she found friends.

We fail at protesting.

The other day, Westboro Baptist Church (the God Hates Fags folks) were in my glorious town of St. Louis, to protest a memorial service for a soldier held at a high school, a Jewish all-male high school, and the local JCC.

We planned a counter-protest with several other groups, but among my friends hardly anyone got to actually protest.

Reason: Though Westboro posted the times in which they were protesting, they actually held their little half-hour protests about 45 minutes early. We think it is so they could hopefully beat the rush of people arriving to counter them.

In any event, I noticed something peculiar. Whenever Westboro was in the local news about these specific three protests (which occurred all in the same day, within a few hours of each other) the only protest mentioned by the media was the protest related to the soldier. There was an eerie silence concerning the other locations, as if the soldier's memorial service took up so much time that they felt it was not worth the airtime to mention the other locations. We could chalk this up to "protesting dead soldiers sells, protesting Jewish high school does not" but I really feel like people should care about both issues equally.

At the very least, my friend The Alien made up about 30 signs, went to the protest and simply threw them out in the grass for random people to pick up and use. She chose lots of cool quotes like, "One pair of hands working accomplishes more than a thousand hands praying". I was very proud.

Church attendance and the economy

Back in January, radio broadcasters on my local Christian radio station were repeatedly saying that the recession had a silver lining – since church attendance went up during the great depression, people would most assuredly turn to their god during this recession. The folks on Bott Radio were so convinced that I nearly became convinced myself. I even blogged about it in this post.

Despite these predictions, worshipers have not flocked to churches during the Great Recession. According to this article, many churches are struggling to stay afloat, while nonbelief is on the rise.

The article reads:

Organized religion was already in trouble before the fall of 2008. Denominations were stagnating or shrinking, and congregations across faith groups were fretting about their finances.

The Great Recession made things worse.

It's further drained the financial resources of many congregations, seminaries and religious day schools. Some congregations have disappeared and schools have been closed. In areas hit hardest by the recession, worshippers have moved away to find jobs, leaving those who remain to minister to communities struggling with rising home foreclosures, unemployment and uncertainty.

Instead of turning to religion and thus causing a rise in tithing and other donations to churches, church members and finances are dwindling, including enrollment in Christian schools:

The Association for Christian Schools International, which represents about 3,800 private schools, says enrollment is down nationally by nearly 5 percent. About 200 Christian schools closed or merged in the last academic year, 50 more than the year before.

At least 80 members of the Association of Theological Schools, which represents graduate schools in North America, have seen their endowments drop by 20 percent or more.

Meanwhile, nonbelief is on the rise. Public opinion polls consistently show that people who identify as having "no religion" are growing – we're nearly at 15% of the population now. So, why is it that people have not turned to religion during economic struggles as predicted? Your guess is as good as mine.

Liberal, MO: Atheist Utopia

I live in St. Louis, MO, and have for my entire life (and so have my parents, grandparents, great grandparents and great-great grandparents. It's hard to be more native St. Lou than I am). The people here are crazy and so St. Louisans can often be heard saying, "I am not from Missouri, I am from St. Louis", but we do have the best state slogan. Missouri's official slogan is one with which every atheist/skeptic can relate; we're "The Show-Me State". 

Amusingly enough, Missouri is home to the only town in the country founded specifically for the purpose of creating a freethinking atheist utopia.

That town is Liberal, Missouri. 

Believe it or not, Liberal, Missouri (which is in the southwest corner of the state and is .8 miles square with a census of about 800 people) was started as an atheist, "freethinker" utopia in 1880 by George Walser, an anti-religionist, agnostic lawyer. The goal was for atheists to come and live in a churchless and saloonless town where people could raise their children without religion. Walser wanted a place where freethinkers could live to their standards of decency and morality in a quiet, unmolested way, away from missionaries the barrage of religion. Christians were not allowed, and Liberal was advertised as " the only town of its size in the United States without a priest, preacher, church, saloon, God, Jesus, hell or devil."

Shortly after the city was funded, a Christian by the name of H. H. Waggonerbought a parcel of land to be an "addition" to Liberal for the express purpose of "live[ing] unmolested and watch with contempt the doings of their infidel neighbors" and "inducing immigration of Christians who would be strong enough to out number the Liberals and defeat the enterprise." What's an infidel city to do when Christians try to defeat a freethinking city? Why, build a big barbed-wire fence around it, obviously. Apparently the whole town, including the "infidel women" got involved to build the fence. 

From the December 1, 1938 edition of the Sikeston (Missouri) Herald:

"The founder of this unique community experiment, George H. Walser, was born in Indiana in 1834. He went to Barton county immediately after the war, where he was soon recognized as one of the best lawyers in southwest Missouri. He was elected prosecuting attorney there, and became a member of the 25th assembly. With an eye for future developments he purchased 2,000 acres (8 km²) of land and selected the site of Liberal as the home of an experiment in intellectual community living. He was an agnostic and placed himself in open opposition to organized religion. "With one foot upon the neck of priestcraft and the other upon the rock of truth," he declared, "we have thrown our banner to the breeze and challenge the world to produce a better cause for the devotion of man than that of a grand, noble and perfect humanity." In harmony with the purpose for organizing the town a number of unusual institutions designed to promote the ideal community were tried during the 1880's and 1890's. The first of these was a Sunday Morning Instruction School, where children were taught from "Youth Liberal Guide" and from various works on physics, chemistry, and other sciences. In another class organized for older young people elementary experiments in the physical sciences were performed under the supervision of teachers whose avowed function was to encourage and direct free intelligent discussion. In the Mental Liberty Hall lectures were given each Sunday evening, and scientists, philosophers, socialists, atheists, Protestant ministers and Catholic priests were invited to speak—respectable decorum being the only limitation placed upon any speaker. Large enthusiastic crowds gathered each week in the interest of mental liberty. The Liberal Normal School and Business Institute was another institution organized by Walser to promote liberal education free from the bias of Christian theology. This school was well advertised and soon had a large enrollment. According to a tract published in 1885, the Liberal Normal School and Business Institute was "located in the liberal town, taught by liberal teachers and courted only the patronage of liberal patrons." Out of this organization developed Free Thought University, which opened in 1886 with a staff of seven teachers.

There were actually people at the train stations warning Christians that they were not welcome – so Christians barraged the town on mission to convert the heathens:

As news spread about Liberal, Christians came to convert the town. Walser tried to keep them out by posting his followers at the Liberal train station to tell passengers that if they were Christians they were not welcome, according to an 1896 article in The Kansas City Star. They came anyway. Some Christians quietly bought homes and began holding religious services. Walser would interrupt them and even put a stop to it after he proved to a court that the services were being held on properties he still partly owned. The Christians then bought land next to Liberal and moved more than a dozen houses there from Liberal. The last building had a sign attached that said: "And the Lord said: Get thee out of Sodom." Walser then built a barbed wire fence to keep them out of Liberal. (Kansas City Star on Saturday, December 22, 2001)

According to a transcription of a book on the history of Liberal, a pastor described as a "great controversialist" wrote a pamphlet and an op-ed to the St. Louis Post Dispatch (1885):

The boast about the sobriety of the town is false. But few of the infidels are total abstainers. Liquor can be obtained at three different places in this town of 300 inhabitants. More drunken infidels can be seen in a year in Liberal than drunken Christians among one hundred times as many church members during the same time. Swearing is the common form of speech in Liberal, and nearly every inhabitant, old and young, swears habitually. Girls and boys swear on the streets, playground, and at home. Fully half of the females will swear, and a large number swear habitually.... Lack of reverence for parents and of obedience to them is the rule. There are more grass widows, grass widowers and people living together, who have former companions living, than in any other town of ten times the population.... A good portion of the few books that are read are of the class that decency keeps under lock and key.... These infidels...can spend for dances and shows ten times as much as they spend on their liberalism. These dances are corrupting the youth of the surrounding country with infidelity and immorality. There is no lack of loose women at these dances. Since Liberal was started there has not been an average of one birth per year of infidel parents. Feticide is universal. The physicians of the place say that a large portion of their practice has been trying to save females from consequences of feticide. In no town is slander more prevalent, or the charges more vile. If one were to accept what the inhabitants say of each other, he would conclude that there is a hell, including all Liberal, and that its inhabitants are the devils.

Apparently shortly after writing his pamphlet, the pastor was arrested for embezzlement, though he claims he was arrested for libel against Liberal. Also apparently, the saloons did not move in until the churches moved in. Liberal soon dissolved into a regular old town.

This writer from Apologetics Press wrote a piece on Liberal, MO, claiming that the town fell as an atheist utopia because atheists cannot be trusted and that towns can't survive without God:

"It took only a few short years for Liberal's unattractiveness and inconsistency to be exposed. People cannot exclude God from the equation, and expect to remain a "sober, trustworthy" town. Godlessness equals unruliness, which in turn makes a repugnant, immoral people. The town of Liberal was a failure.

How about the fact that Christians were constantly barraging them from all sides? That makes a town pretty damn unattractive. Essentially, Liberal was doomed to failure due to the constant barrage of Christians trying to destroy the town or at least look on as if Liberal was some kind of godless freak show. The authoritarianism probably didn't help either, and one can expect that if you attempt to erect a town based on an unpopular philosophical worldview in a country whose inhabitants believe you are one of the root causes of all social ills, your town is pretty much doomed before you break ground.
 

Of course, the founder eventually converted to spiritualism and then Christianity before he died. Figures.

Liberal, MO - your absolutely astounding history will be well-remembered in the heart of this Show-Me State native. xoxoxoxo

Stuff [group] Likes

I cannot believe I have never seen this website before: Stuff Christian Culture Likes. It's a spin-off of Stuff White People Like and Stuff Christians Like.

Also, there's Stuff Atheists Like!

One of these days, the "Stuff [group] Likes" blogs will be cliche and outdated... It hasn't happened yet though. I suppose I could mark things *I* like with the tag "Stuff Ziztur Likes"...

Eternal Earthbound-Pets

Petter linked me to this website the other day: the purpose of which is for atheists to take care of your pets after the rapture. The homepage says:

You've committed your life to Jesus. You know you're saved.  But when the Rapture comes what's to become of your loving pets who are left behind?   Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind.

We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each
Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you've received your reward.  Our network of animal activists are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus.

We are currently active in 20 states and growing.  Our representatives have been screened to ensure that they are atheists, animal lovers, are moral / ethical with no criminal background, have the ability and desire to  rescue your pet and the means to retrieve them and ensure their care for your pet's natural life. 

We currently cover the following states:
Maine,New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana ... and growing.

Our service is plain and simple; our fee structure is reasonable.
For $110.00 we will guarantee that should the Rapture occur within ten (10) years of receipt of payment, one pet per residence will be saved.  Each additional pet at your residence will be saved for an additional $15.00 fee.   A small price to pay for your peace of mind and the health and safety of your four legged friends.

Unfortunately at this time we are not equipped to accommodate all species and must  limit our services to dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and small caged mammals.

 I emailed them - who better to be the representative for Missouri than me?

More on being happy atheists

I’ve argued in this, this and this post that studies reporting greater health (especially mental health) among strongly religious people using a control group of nonbelievers were weakened by the fact that nonbelievers may be too heterogeneous a group to make an adequate comparison to strongly religious populations. I pointed out the need to study nonbelievers as a group on a larger scale in order to determine if there were any meaningful differences between different subtypes of nonbelievers.

As such, I was pleasantly surprised when the newest issue (August/September 2009) of Free Inquiry magazine arrived in my mailbox. Hiding in the pages of the magazine is an article reporting on the results of a study which did exactly that.

First, researchers conducted a pilot study with 333 members of the Center For Inquiry/Michigan branch e-mail and group newsletter and 325 individuals who were members of two local churches in the same community. The survey was designed to test for characteristics distinguishing religious and nonreligious individuals. Some of their initial findings were:

-CFI/Michigan members were predominantly male, more highly educated, more likely to be never married or cohabitating, and had fewer children living at home.
-95% of the church group reported being absolutely certain that god existed, and members were divided between these three categories: “religious”, “spiritual” and “theistic”.
-In the CFI group, 48% described themselves as atheist, and the remainder was distributed among agnostics, humanists, spirituals, and others.
-Within both groups, reported life-satisfaction was within the average range for both groups, but church members reported themselves as having a greater degree of social support relative to CFI members.

The survey included a measure of personality, and on this the believer and nonbeliever group differed the greatest on one of the five major personality traits – that of “openness to experience”.  The church sample reported a greater degree of “agreeableness” (a quality of being amiable or nonconfrontational)

After this pilot study, researchers recruited an additional 5,831 nonreligious individuals to survey. Obviously, there are some weaknesses to this survey method. It is difficult to do random population samples of individuals who are a minority in the population, so researchers used “snowball sampling” by emailing active members of CFI and asking them to recruit other nonreligious individuals for survey. As such, the members of the survey were likely to be active members of secular communities. They were also more likely to report higher positive traits due to social desirability bias, though the same weaknesses can be found for surveys of religious individuals.

Some of their findings were:

-Forty one percent of respondents had a master’s degree or higher and 31% earned $100,000+ per year. The sample was 74% male, 53% married, and the mean age was 48.
-Respondents were raised in a variety of childhood backgrounds. Fifteen percent of respondents reported being raised in a household in which religion was mildly or not at all emphasized, and 35% reported being raised in a household with strong or very strong religious emphasis.
-Individuals with higher household religious emphasis were more likely to have poorer relationships with families.
-self-labeled atheists and humanists reported that they were more emotionally invested in their philosophical views than agnostics or spirituals.

Regarding mental health, nonbelievers most confident in their nonbelief tended to be the most emotionally healthy, especially relative to people with uncertainty or doubt. Life satisfaction was lower among people who labeled themselves “spiritual” as opposed to agnostic, atheist or humanist. Thus, the common assumption that greater religious belief leads to greater mental health may be overly simplistic as it appears that confidence in either belief or nonbelief is associated with greater emotional adjustment and mental health.

I think the most important part is not that these studies are giving those of us involved or associated with the “nonbeliever” community any new or surprising information about ourselves, but that they provide quantitative evidence against commonly-held stereotype that nonbelievers are less psychologically healthy than believers. We can, in fact, be happy without faith, religion, or purpose and meaning handed down to us.

Oooooh Technology!

Okay so, are any of my other readers obsessed with technology?

I just got this Blackberry Curve, and after one day I am not sure how I lived without it. It does everything!

So. Here's your opportunity to brag about your technology! Do it, you know you wanna.

I'll start. My blackberry is so cool There is this Google app that lets you search Google with your voice! This is mostly useless but totally fun.

My other favorite piece of tech is my digital SLR camera - Sony Alpha 300. I think the best part about it is that you can stick old Minolta lenses on it. These lenses are made so well and have such nice glass.

New chemical Element

According to ScienceDaily, scientists have discovered a new chemical element. It's the heaviest element on the periodic table and is going to be the 112th element!

I have to wonder though - what are we going to do with this element? Where is it found in the universe? It obviously isn't a man-made element - we produced or discovered it rather than creating it.

I wish I knew more about chemistry.

Friendly Atheist Eating Atheists

Back in the infancy of this blog, Flimsy, our friend Saint Gasoline and I published this post of us heathen atheists eating babies... for real.

Technically, we were eating fetus, but that's just splitting hairs.

The other day, the three of us met Hemant Mehta, also known as The Friendly Atheist.

Since he had featured our baby-eating antics on his blog, we thought it fitting to grab a little photo op.

The baby-eating atheists have now become friendly atheist eating atheists. This is proof positive that atheists will eat anything, even their own kind.

(click for a full-sized pic)

He tasted like blasphemy.

Quackcast is awesome. See for yourself.

I was listening to The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe the other day when they interviewed the guy who runs Quackcast - an irregular podcast about all things quacky and woo. I highly recommend it if you're into podcasting. The guy has done podcasts on supplements, homeopathy, acupuncture, the placebo effect, intercessory prayer, Chiropractic, neurpathy quackery, naturopathy, magnets, how to read journal articles critically, etc. So, click the link above, load some podcasts onto the media player of your choice, and have a right good listen.

New contributor: Petter

Hi there, Zizturians!

I’m Petter, the newest member of the little contributor squad here at Ziztur.com. I’ve actually already had a few featured posts, but I’ve now been invited as a full contributor—unleashed, in other words, on you all. As such (and also because Ziztur asked me to write an introductory post), it may be a good idea to give you a brief idea of who I am.

In brief, then, I’m a half-Finnish Swede who lives in Vancouver, Canada. (Sadly, I speak no Finnish whatsoever, unless I get credit for counting to three.) I’m a professional computer geek, though my résumé says software developer; I hold a B.Sc. (honours in computer science, minor in math) from the little-known Bishop’s University in Québec, and an M.Sc. in computer science from the University of British Columbia. I’m a pretty voracious reader, and read a great deal of both fiction and non-fiction; most relevant to this blog, I’m a great fan of writers like Richard Dawkins, Carl Zimmer, and John Gribbin; I am fascinated by evolutionary biology and various areas of physics. I may blog on such topics from time to time, though I harbour no illusion that I am more than a reasonably well-read layman. I also enjoy musing out loud on subjects like religion, skepticism, epistemology (and why most writing on epistemology irks me), ethics, and critical thinking (or lack thereof) in our culture and society.

I first came across Ziztur through a mention somewhere on the internet of her critical review of Ray Comfort’s You can lead an atheist to water… on Amazon.com: Specifically, an outcry over the fact that it was deleted and censored away. I found the recovered copy; I followed the trail to this site; I left a few thought-provoking comments; and pretty soon we discovered that we share a great many views on a great many things.

Well—that’s who I am. If you are very curious about my thoughts, my personal blog is here. I expect, however, that my contributions here will have a certain overlap with it (if nothing else, I have some musings over there that I wouldn’t mind airing in front of a wider audience, to provoke thoughts or attract feedback). Beyond that, I won’t make any promises on how much or on what topics I’ll be posting here, as such intentions have a tendency to change. So just beware!

Jephthah: Nonstampcollector

I love Nonstampcollector!

A personal Thank You to Ray Comfort

This past week, Ray Comfort sent Flimsy and me a $25 gift certificate to Red Lobster, no strings attached. He also sent over a copy of The Atheist Bible and a signed copy of "You can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think: Answers to Questions From Angry Skeptics - yeah, so now we've got two copies of this book.

Obviously, a thank you is in order - not only has Ray given me a wonderful springboard for blog posts, but he has now fed Flimsy and I - and you know how much atheists love food.

Ray and I completely disagree with each other theologically, and I am against a lot of the things he stands for. We've obviously come to completely different conclusions about the nature of morality and how the universe operates.  At the same time, It is clear that Ray sincerely believes what he preaches. He sincerely believes that his god is real, that we have souls, and does not want to see said souls spend an eternity in maximal punishment.

I'll echo something similar to something Penn Jilette said - if I sincerely believed that a meteorite were going to crush your house with you inside of it, I would do everything in my power to get you out of your house. I would not care if you believed a meteor were coming. I would not walk away because I felt it would disrespect your beliefs to drag you kicking and screaming out of your house. To leave you in your house and not bother to pull you out would make me a terrible person.

In a way, Ray and I are doing the same thing - we've come to a conclusion about the world, and we're acting on it because we sincerely care about those around us. Obviously, I have many reasons for thinking that my conclusion actually reflects the nature of reality.  My methodology is much better, but that's beside the point.

So, Ray Comfort - thank you. You care about us more than your god does.

NSFW: Plastic Jesus is a tit man.

Sam's right. Jesus was a tit man...

(click for a bigger version...)

Sometimes, the only appropriate thing to do is blaspheme.


Does this make up for the fact that my site was down (server maintenance) for several hours yesterday?  I hope so.

Eros: candle shadows

For you new readers, whenever I have a post with "Eros" in the beginning of the title, that means I am about to talk about Sex.

S.E.X.

I hope you don't mind. If you do, (I.E., if you happen to be our parents, or just don't like hearing about sexcapades) feel free to skip this post.

Flimsy and were in the bathtub. In the dark, a single candle cast shadows on the wall. Water steamed up from the tub as we chatted. While we chatted, I ran my hands up and down his chest, or leaned over and deftly sucked his cock.

This is loads of fun for me, as he typically cannot concentrate on whatever he was saying, so his end of the conversation dissolves into squeaks or moans. Like so, "So anyway, I was thinking that we need to start going toaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......................"

I got out of the tub, dried off, and handed him the towel. He stood and began to dry off, still erect.

Bending over and placing my hands on the edge of the tub, I continued sucking.

During a pause he said, "Wow, that's really hot."

"What?" I said, looking up.

He motioned to the wall. "our shadows."

I turned, and saw that my body was sharply silhouetted on the wall. I grinned and continued.

Amused, we finished drying and I grabbed the candle, taking it to the bedroom.

There, on the wall, was my shadow again. I stood on the bed and danced a slow, sexy dance, moving my hips. He approached, but stood closer to the candle - as such, his cock looked about as big as my head.

We played around with this for about ten minutes, me commenting on his massive size, he pretending to force his giant shadow-cock down my throat, me pretending to jack his shadow off using both hands.

We were quite amused with ourselves.