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03/29/2008 Next meeting not posted. Slacker I am. Didn't post last months meeting, just getting to tomorrow's. Meetings published on the Meetup site, not sure if useful to publish here. http://atheists.meetup.com/453/calendar/7536027/ Neal 01/16/2008 Next meeting posted. The Rational Response debate is posted under atheist videos if anyone wants a sneak preview. Another excellent debate on nightline also posted. Neal 01/09/2008 Back from vacation. Removed the rant and replaced it with one of our members thoughts on atheism Atheism means Freedom Free from ancient mythologies Free from fearful superstitions and curses Free from the shackles of repetitious rituals No more antiquated books of fables No sky fairy looking down upon me No wrath of a jealous god watching me Harshly judging me ready to condemn me ready to torture me ready to cast me into the eternal lake of fire I am free from fear Free from the fear of a supernatural world occupied by devils and demons Free from the blindness of faith I hold the power and control This is my destiny my decisions my choice my life Free to think to question to inquire to discover Free to be real Most importantly I am free to be ME! Enjoy the New Year. Neal 10/18/2007 Hello once again, Next meeting posted. Blog site is useable, will start posting as time allows. Also added a page on Global warming, Have the facts before the next meeting. Neal 9/07/2007 Hi all, Next meeting is posted. This is the address of another Mid Michigan Atheists and Humanists site set up by one of our members.(Disregard, doesn't work. Different address, will post). You can sign up for group emails on the yahoo site, the meetup.com site, or both. Neal 08/15/2007 Next meeting posted. 08/12/2007 Back in the saddle again... My apologies for not keeping the site updated, busy guy once in a while. This week will be updating. New content and links will be added. Changing servers in the next couple of weeks. Blogs and podcasts will be added after the switch. Anyone wishing to have their thoughts published, please email me. Neal 05/30/2007 Next meeting posted. Back from Virginia, will be updating the site over the next week, any suggestions you have, send them in. 05/19/2007 Next meeting posted. 04/28/2007 Next meeting posted. 03/23/2007 Next meeting posted. 02/11/2007 Next meeting posted. New letters from our religious friends. 01/10/2007 As you can tell, the site is being updated. Next meeting posted in events. Check out John Bice's blog for updates on his new book.  12/08/2006 Solstice celebration posted Behind in updating the site, hopefully this weekend. 10/13/2006 Meeting time again. Posted in events. New letters from the local yokels. 09/14/2006 Hi all, Next meeting posted, see you all there. 08/21/2006 Next meeting posted. 07/27/2006 Updates, Group photo located on the Photos page Essay page ready for your input Media page deleted Neal 07/20/2006 Updates, Next meeting posted in events. Essay page for those who would like to express their thoughts. Neal |
Welcome! For those who know that the separation of church and state is constitutional, that science is not faith, that reason does prevail in moral debate - you’ve found friends. Places to explore. |
Sam Harris Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply an admission of the obvious. In fact, "atheism" is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a "non-astrologer" or a "non-alchemist." We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs. An atheist is simply a person who believes that the 260 million Americans (87 percent of the population) claiming to "never doubt the existence of God" should be obliged to present evidence for his existence -- and, indeed, for his benevolence, given the relentless destruction of innocent human beings we witness in the world each day. An atheist is a person who believes that the murder of a single little girl -- once in a million years -- casts doubt upon the idea of a benevolent God. -- Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation pp 51-2 To speak plainly and truthfully about the state of our world -- to say, for instance, that the Bible and the Koran both contain mountains of life-destroying gibberish -- is antithetical to tolerance as moderates currently conceive it. But we can no longer afford the luxury of such political correctness. We must finally recognize the price we are paying to maintain the iconography of our ignorance. -- Sam Harris, The End of Faith, excerpted in The Truthdig Interview (April 3, 2006) It is safe to say that almost every person living in New Orleans at the moment Hurricane Katrina struck shared your belief in an omnipotent, omniscient, and compassionate God. But what was God doing while Katrina laid waste to their city? Surely He heard the prayers of those elderly men and women who fled the rising waters for the safety of their attics, only to be slowly drowned there. These were people of faith. These were good men and women who had prayed throughout their lives. Do you have the courage to admit the obvious? These people died talking to an imaginary friend. -- Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation p 53 But the greatest problem with [Pascal's] wager -- and it is a problem that infects religious thinking generally -- is its suggestion that a rational person can knowingly will himself to believe a proposition for which he has no evidence. A person can profess any creed he likes, of course, but to really believe something, he must also believe that the belief under consideration is true. To believe that there is a God, for instance, is to believe that you are not just fooling rself; it is to believe that you stand in some relation to God's existence such that, if He didn't exist, you wouldn't believe in him. How does Pascal's wager fit into this scheme? It doesn't. -- Sam Harris, "The Empty Wager" in On Faith [About] 120 million of us place the big bang 2,500 years after the Babylonians and Sumerians learned to brew beer. If our polls are to be trusted, nearly 230 million Americans believe that a book showing neither unity of style nor internal consistency was authored by an omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent deity. -- Sam Harris, The End of Faith, excerpted in The Truthdig Interview (April 3, 2006) Some ... sexist evil probably predates religion and can be ascribed to our biology, but there is no question that religion promulgates and renders sacrosanct attitudes toward women that would be unseemly in a brachiating ape. -- Sam Harris, "God's Hostages" in On Faith Advance warning of Katrina's path was wrested from mute Nature by meteorological calculations and satellite imagery. God told no one of His plans. Had the residents of New Orleans been content to rely on the beneficence of God, they wouldn't have known that a killer hurricane was bearing down upon them until they felt the first gusts of wind on their faces. And yet, as will come as no surprise to you, a poll conducted by The Washington Post found that 80 percent of Katrina's survivors claim that the event only strengthened their faith in God. -- Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation p 53 While I heard many silly retorts to atheism at this conference, here is a list of those most in need of deflation by freethinkers: 1. Even though I’m an atheist, my friends are atheists, and we all get along fine without pretending to know that one of our books was written by the Creator of the universe, other people really do need religion. It is, therefore, wrong to criticize their faith. 2. People are not really motivated by religion. Religion is used as a rationale for other aims; political, economic, and social. Consequently, the specific content of religious doctrines is beside the point. 3. It is useless to argue against the veracity of religious doctrines, because religious people are not actually making claims about reality. Their claims are metaphorical or otherwise without real content. Hence, there is no conflict between religion and science. 4. Religion will always be with us. The idea that we might rid ourselves of it to any significant degree is quixotic, bordering on delusional. Dawkins and other strident opponents of religious faith are just wasting their time. -- Sam Harris, "Beyond the Believers" in Free Inquiry (February-March, 2007) page 21 |
