New Dawkins Book (and Other Thoughts).

Richard Dawkins's new book entitled, 'The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution' is being officially released today in the United States. I definitely plan to pick up a copy in case I run into one of the 40% of U.S. citizens Dawkins mentions who don't accept the fact of evolution (education time). It's also just a fascinating subject in general, and I am looking forward to the coverage of artifical selection relating to the domestication and breeding of our canine friends. Book review coming later!

I understand that evolution is out of the perview of atheism, but many who reject evolution do so because of conflicting ideas from their religion. That doesn't stop progressive theists from accepting evolution as they would accept the law of gravitation or atomic theory. And really, there doesn't need to be a conflict between theism and evolution. A liberal theist could just assume their 'god' started it all but that evolution was allowed to happen on its own. Not a logical argument for god, but it allows the theist the luxury to avoid the faith-arguments but still accept obvious scientific fact. There is a choice to be made here though, as most religions offer a creation myth that is expected to be taken seriously...because it's not like ministers, pastors and priests the world over are saying 'this part of the Bible is ok to reject but you must accept this part or burn in eternal hellfire forever'. Although, progressive-theism must do exactly that, reject large chunks of their holy books or be mired in medieval fundamentalism.

Incidentally, I am going to give Borders my business until the more conveniently-located Barnes and Noble has an atheist section where you'd find some of Dawkins's other books (such as 'The God Delusion'). We're too numerous as a minority group to be forced to buy our books alongside bibles, and atheism is most certainly not a 'religion' even though the term does deal with the rejection of theism. With the popularity of these books, and considering that they're probably going to get a lot more popular in the coming years, atheism deserves its own section in any bookstore. Hell at one time I could barely find any atheist books in stores and yet the religion section was huge. It's probably why I stopped going to bookstores altogether (though it's high-comedy to place the odd Bible in the science-fiction section). ;)

It's not like fundies are going to rush to buy books from the new-atheists, but the people they're trying to convince are quickly getting much better educated at taking down Bronze-age superstition, and the popularity of these books is telling. Fewer people are buying the whole religion thing, and more of them are actively resisting these crazy ideas.

With the Intertubes, good ideas spread fast and bad ideas are knocked down from every angle, not the least of which is Snopes helping to kill email chains with silly, repeated rumors and myths. I am surprised anyone could stay a Fundy very long if they feel compelled to talk about it at a young age because they'd be beleaguered by those willing to show them how they're wrong....in email, on blogs, YouTube, etc. The days of religious claims going unchallenged for years are over forever....even if parents try to shelter their kids in private-schools, the Internet is going to pounce all over silly beliefs and it doesn't generally have a delicate touch.

Usually I read new Kindle books on my iPhone with a wonderful little (free) app called, and you may have guessed, 'Kindle for iPhone'.

That's right, it's a port of the Kindle software you've read about for the Amazon Kindle, only Kindle for iPhone lets you read Kindle books with a backlight, which the real Kindle doesn't have (and sorely needs as an option you can toggle). You can read any Kindle book with 'Kindle for iPhone' so it's easy to buy new books with the 1-click feature at Amazon.com, just as you would with Kindle. I love it.

The variety of books on Kindle blows away any other e-reader, and being able to sneak into bed with the girlfriend and not wake her up while reading 'Infidel' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali or 'Stolen Innocence' by Elissa Wall was fantastic. Both of these books are escape-from-fundamentalist religion stories of sorts and are highly-recommended.

'Infidel' depicts the oppression of being an Ethioian Muslim and the horrific rituals and practices associated with that before Ayaan makes her escape, but not before she suffers the horrors of female castration and other indignities.

Wall's 'Stolen Innocence' delves into her experiences as a female in the Mormon Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS), where girls are 'placed' with their grooms at 14 (or younger) and whole communities live under the control of their 'prophet'. Wall was married off young, against her will to a boy she didn't even like...it's amazing people still live like this, and uplifting that some escape before lasting damage is done.

Whether you opt for hardback or a new Kindle book, there's a lot of resources to become educated enough to take on Fundies or apologists of any religion.

Evolution has nothing to do with atheism, but it seems fundies everywhere are attacking evolution as if somehow that leaves their crazy Creation-myth as the 'only' alternative. No doubt, Richard Dawkins's latest book will further arm your logical minds to combat some of the anti-evolution propaganda you'll encounter at some point, especially if you're an outspoken atheist.

The Out Campaign: A is for atheist.

I've decided to come out of the closet. No, I'm not gay, but some of my best friends are. ;)

Instead, I'm posting on my blog as an atheist, with 'atheist' in the title even though it's visible to prospective clients or employers. Shows to go ya how hated a minority we are when gay people are out without (much) incident, but atheists are still heavily closeted. I am all for equal-rights too and I am glad to see social-progress, but it sucks being in what is likely the world's most- hated minority group.

It's kind of a big deal, because I always have the fear that clients/employers will run screaming from the hills when they discover my atheism, though I'd taken great pains to hide it in the recent past.

The 'Out Campaign' was started by Richard Dawkins as a way to get atheists to come out and be seen, especially by other atheists who might come out as well. This could trigger an avalanche of awareness and acceptance similar to the gay movement. As more atheists leave their hiding places more people will realize that we're everywhere, and that's hard to ignore.

Atheists comprise a huge minority, and the fastest growing one in America. 16% in the U.S. alone are atheists or non-religious which is a staggering 49 million Americans. This outnumbers other minority groups like Catholics, Jews, even black people (not all of you are from Africa, I know). ;) We're your brother, sister, father, mother, friend, doctor, teacher and your video game artists specializing-in but not-limited to characters, specifically modeling and texturing.

Atheists have been so closeted and disorganized that we haven't been able to flex our political might to get merely equal treatment. In the vacuum of oppression, some have stepped in to try and foist religion into government and into our rights, and yes, even the rights of other believers. A better-organized group of un-closeted non-believers would be more effective at resisting religous tyranny, if nothing else, at the grass-roots level, because conversations do change minds (that's how I became an atheist in the first place). But, the first step is coming out. To that end, I urge fellow non-believers to check out Richard Dawkins's Out Campaign.

We're here. We're atheists. Get used to it.


-dB-