I've been moving

I'll get back to serious blogging in a few more days. I've had a big move to a new house, one that is ours, not rented! Yipee!! It's been difficult for a lot of reasons, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Evolution

Evolution doesn't get taught where I live. I remember the day that we talked about evolution in my sophomore biology class, it was the same day that one of my classmates accidentally said "orgasm" instead of "organism" while reading aloud. If it hadn't been for my colleague's mistake, I probably wouldn't remember discussing evolution at all. Actually, using the word discuss is being generous. My teacher probably spent 20 seconds on the subject and the information that was given to us, was given with a wink because we know how it really happened, right? God did it! I didn't get a dose of evolution in college, either, not even in the more advanced life science classes that I took like zoology and botany.

Religion robbed me of learning about a major concept in science and in life. If I had been taught about evolution in high school, I think it is entirely possible that I would have given up religion much sooner than I did. I'm sure that this is exactly the reason so much pressure is put on teachers and college instructors. Evolution is a step toward giving religion up, knowledge IS power. If religion can keep its hooks in a person through to adulthood, it's more likely that the person will continue to blindly follow its outdated dogma.

Needless to say, everything that I have learned about evolution so far, I have taught to myself. This hasn't been much of a problem for me, but for the kids who have come through the educational system after me, this is an issue. These kids have to compete in an increasingly global world, where the rest of the world is being taught evolution. The children who have come after me also have to compete with kids from different areas of the U.S., where evolution is taught. Not only is competition a problem, but some of these kids are becoming doctors, nurses and medical technicians. I certainly want to be treated by a doctor who not only understands evolution but believes it happens.

Sadly, I do not see things changing here any time soon. As a parent with children in school, I've found that the people who are supposed to be teaching evolution won't fight to teach it because they are afraid of losing their jobs and the rest of the teachers who should be teaching evolution, won't because they are creationists! I wish I had an answer for the big picture, a way to get evolution into schools, but I don't. The best that I can do is to educate myself and then to educate my children and to speak up even though I am in the minority on the subject.

Religion keeps us in the dark ages while the rest of the world marches right on past us. Very sad, indeed.

At The Risk of Tooting My Own Horn...

Atheist women are ahead of their time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXaYWottYtY

I Am The Missing Link

Growing up, there was little choice and certainly no discussion as to whether anyone believed in god, they just did. Every school meeting, football, basketball or baseball game was prayed over, and as a teenager my social life was full of church-centered activities. I went to church camp in the Summer, I attended year-round youth group classes, there were Christmas parties and bonfires and puppet ministries to keep me busy and "doing god's will". My first two years in college were spent much the same way, except by then I didn't need anyone to tell me to go to church, I sought it out by myself. My children, however, have a spiritual life that is vastly different than mine was.

My daughter is 5 and cannot possibly have any idea about what she believes yet, so I'm only speaking for my oldest offspring. He is 15 and he's an atheist. He arrived at this conclusion on his own. I did my best to present evidence to him instead of theology either for or against god. I explained that friends and family had one view of how the world works, but there were people all over the world who had different views. I was honest with him about what my thoughts were on the subject but told him that he had to come to his own conclusions. I feel like I gave him answers but did not try to deliberately sway him one way or another.

He was the first one of us to use the word atheist, in fact he used it a full year before I did. I had a bad case of the "I don't believe that anymore, but I still believe whatever." I've found it very difficult and scary to give up all of the dogma that had been pounded into my brain since childhood, at first it felt a little like going outside without any pants on. My son, has never had this problem. He had the luxury of accepting or rejecting religion on its face. My son says that he is an atheist in the same matter-of-fact way he says that he has blue eyes. Even more importantly, he has never worried about spending eternity in hell or lain awake at night worried that the rapture was going to happen while he was asleep, leaving him alone in the world. I'm proud of these things. I'm happy that he has come to his own conclusions and that he is comfortable with the choice that he has made.

I'm the missing link because I'm the one who came through religion but didn't impose it upon my children. As my daughter grows up and is presented with the evidence for god, she may decide to believe. The important thing is that she will be given the choice based on facts, not superstition. Given this, I certainly think the odds are that she won't be a theist, but I'll let you know in ten years.

Defenders of Marriage

I had plans to write about my journey to atheism, but something is in the air and my allergies are going bonkers!! So, instead of my testimony, here's a great song about same-sex marriage. Click the title of this post and presto! You will be directed to the aforementioned song.

Atheist Blogroll Heeeeeeeeere I Come!

Thoughts Rule The World has been added to The Atheist Blogroll. You can see the blogroll in my sidebar. The Atheist blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts for more information.

Christmas and A Few Other Things

I've been seeing and reading quite a few comments on tv and in the news about the agnostic/atheist billboards and bus signs around the country and how Christians and Christmas are being attacked by the evil godless ones. Personally, I think that most religious people are convinced that they're 100% right so, they're too busy being offended and self-righteous to understand what's really going on, but I'm going to try and explain it a little from my perspective.

Atheists are not jealous of Christmas. Contrary to what many Christians believe, atheists aren't sitting around this time of year pining for a holiday of their own. It's not as if Christmas comes with an overtly religious message anymore, at least not unless that's what a family or individual wants it to be. You can create their own Christ-o-palooza if that floats your boat. However, it is frustrating at times when religion is pushed onto us and into our lives, but for the most part, it's not too difficult to ignore the Christian side of what really is a mostly secular holiday. In fact, there's little change in the way that I celebrate during this time of year as compared to how I celebrated when I believed all of the hocus-pocus religious stuff. There aren't any nativity scenes around, but there is still a ton of food, shopping, presents, Santa, lights and family to celebrate with. My favorite part is knowing that starting at the end of December, the daylight's gonna be around a little longer every day and that means we're on our way toward Spring. It could be said that I celebrate the old fashioned way or even the original way. So, Christians, get over yourselves, you're not as important as you think you are.

In response to the billboard/bus sign uproar, the reasons that there are atheist/agnostic billboards around the country are pretty simple. First, it's a rally against religion being thrown in our faces. Some of us, and I'm in this camp, feel downright oppressed by religion. It's assumed by most of the people where I live that I'm a Christian. For example, I've been confronted about my unwillingness to "praise god" for the weather in the check out line at my local Wal-Mart. Yeah, you heard me right...check out line...Wal-Mart. Not too long ago when I helped an older lady who was having a difficult time, her comment to me was something like, "You can sure see the light of Christ in your face, thank you," as if only Christians can be kind. There hasn't been a school year go by wherein I haven't had to weigh the consequences to my kids for saying something about a school motto that mentions god, or a billboard in the classroom that has something about god on it. It's agonizing...Do I risk making my child a target or do I stick up for my right to separation of church and state?(Non-belief does make them a target, but that's for another post.) The other reason that atheist/agnostic billboards and bus signs are popping up is that it's about damn time non-believers are treated with respect and dignity in this country. Our friends and families need a wake up call; if they want respect they have to give it in return and our elected leaders need to know that they represent us too. We are moral, ethical, and hard-working; we deserve to stand up and be counted.

Also, if we non-believers have to put up with commercials on television that sell churches and god then the believers in this country can just deal with our billboards and bus signs. I don't want to hear any whinging about how Christians and Christianity are being attacked, either. Wah! You guys are the big-believers in this country and you're the ones who are yelling the loudest and crying about how you're being attacked and prevented from practicing your religion when the truth is that the rest of us are just trying to keep you out of our politics, laws and educational systems. Since you're putting yourselves there, you have no one to blame but yourselves for catching most of the blowback on this front.

I do realize that my last few comments can easily be seen as confrontational. On the other hand, subtly and attempts at mutual respect haven't moved us very far along towards coexisting so I'm going to try overt honesty and reality for a change. My in-laws could be in for an interesting Christmas this year.

Kirk Cameron, you need to read this article.

Recently, Kirk and his old buddy Ray Comfort visited the campus of UCLA where Mr. Cameron states evolution leads to adaptation, but not speciation. Here's the link to the video from UCLA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EjEqrmUBMA

Here's a link to a nice little article about an observable case of speciation in the Solomon Islands: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090714104000.htm Sorry, Kirk. You lost the banana argument and this one as well. Better luck next time, cupcake.