hypocaffeinemia

Clearly thinking of the Children

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Here’s the quote from the douchebag State Senator representing Colorado Springs:

“This stems from sexual promiscuity for the most part and I just can’t go there. We do things continually to remove the consequences of poor behavior, unacceptable behavior, quite frankly. I’m not convinced that part of the role of government should be to protect individuals from the negative consequences of their actions.

. . .

What I’m hoping is that yes, that person may have AIDS, have it seriously as a baby and when they grow up, but the mother will begin to feel guilt as a result of that. The family will see the negative consequences of that promiscuity and it may make a number of people over the coming years … begin to realize that there are negative consequences and maybe they should adjust their behavior.

He is against opt-out HIV testing of pregnant women. For those not in the know, with detection and proper treatment mother-to-infant transmission can be brought down to less than 1%. He hopes that more kids will grow up with AIDS to set an example to others about the negative effects of promiscuity.

My thought: if he wants to set an example to society regarding AIDS and promiscuity, he should volunteer himself. Perhaps the people of Colorado can vote on that.

So the Twin Cities Creation “Science” Association (quotes added for effect) hosts an annual “science” fair for home-schooled children. Their website has a list of possible project ideas which makes for comedy gold:

3. Make a computer model of the Flood currents.

This is just an awesome request to make to a 7th grader. First, assume a global flood happened. Then, assume you have a PhD in fluid dynamics. Finally, assume you have accurate flood data to model it.

8. How much voltage or current can a human take before he is killed? Could do experiments on a plant.

What? Why would you want to know how much current (not voltage) it takes to kill a human? This is quite an odd desire. Second, if you’re going to test it out don’t lame out of it by testing your hypothesis on a plant. At least try a mammal like a puppy or a monkey if you want to live out your sadistic fantasies.

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I’m hoping this will end well.

Last weekend at work, some coworkers were discussing various viewpoints of Christianity. This is a subject I tread lightly on– My hospital is religiously affiliated and I’m not fond of burning bridges.

Somewhere in the conversation, Calvinism got brought up. Now, even when I was Christian, I held Calvinism in low esteem. Its central tenets are downright loony, in my not so humble opinion, so I had to argue against it vociferously. In the interest of full disclosure, I let slip that I was an atheist. Now mind you, I wasn’t arguing against Christianity in general, just the Calvinist take on it. Anyways, my coworker was rather dumbstruck by this, and has now set out on a course to (I guess) convert me.

To date, she has provided me with a copy of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, pointing out that “Lewis was an atheist, too”. It left me thoroughly unimpressed and the critique I wrote back to her probably won’t sit well. I was honest in my distaste for Lewis’s views on universal morality and his false trilemma, so I’m wondering where this will go next.

If past history is any indication, I will likely be crossed with Antony Flew, Lee Strobel, and others of their ilk in the coming weeks.

As long as it stays friendly, I’m game.

From The Chronicle’s article on the runway crash of Continental #1404 yesterday:

“We’re a God-based family, and we really feel there was a divine hand in all of this.”

Inevitably, it seems, after any disaster, survivors praise the god of their choosing for blessing them with survival. I’ve always found such a concept absurd — if you attribute your unscathedness as god’s will you have you attribute the fact that 8 are still admitted in the hospital (one in serious condition, mind you) as also part of god’s will.

In fact, if you believe your particular god to be an omnimax sort of god, as most people do, you have to believe that not only was the crash god’s will, but it was for ultimately good purposes.

I just can’t wrap my mind around such a position.

Today marks the Winter Solstice — the period of the shortest day and longest night of the year. This milestone, of course, is produced by the Earth’s 23.44° axial tilt, the reason for the seasons.

Historically, this period has long association with celebrations. If you look at this period with an anthropological mind, you’d see a nice evolution from the Roman Brumalia, Saturnalia, and Sol Invictus (unconquered sun) to the Germanic Yule to the modern celebration of Christmas. Even Hanukkah is not immune for this traditional mosh up of festivities — while it is considered a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, due to its proximity to Christmas and all the festivities associated with it in the western world, it is often celebrated in much the same way with similar enthusiasm.

No matter what your creed, there’s plenty to celebrate this time of year.

I’m still cleaning the house. This time, I found a candy cane attached to a card given to my son at his school. Here’s what the card says: 

The Meaning of The Candy Cane

Many years ago a candy maker wanted to make a candy that would symbolize the true meaning of Christmas – Jesus. 

The hard candy was shaped like a “J” to represent that Jesus is our rock of all ages. The candy was made of white to stand for the pureness of Jesus. The red represents the blood that Jesus shed to save us from our sins. 

So the next time you see a candy cane take a minute to remember the real meaning of Christmas.

I don’t particularly want to dive into the theological considerations of letting kids lick and suck the purity and blood of Christ. Instead, I just want to point out that it’s blatantly false. Snopes does a decent job of covering this myth here, but I think I can rebut the story even quicker. They’re called candy canes because….they’re shaped like canes, people! We don’t call them “candy J’s”.

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I would venture to say a good one out of every four cars in Houston has this monochrome manger-silhouetted magnet affixed to its derriere which states, “Keep Christ in Christmas”.

That’s all well and good, but it is about as likely as keeping Thor in Thursday. The holiday has evolved over time– while at one point it may have been Christ-centered it didn’t even start that way. Lest we forget, The winter celebration has many decidedly non-Christian roots: Yule, Brumalia, Winter Solstice, and everything related.

I wonder how many Christmas traditions (not anything new on the so-called “War on Christmas”) have anything to do with the religious aspect at all? Not many.

That’s why this atheist Celebrates Christmas: It’s not about Christ any more than Thursday is about Thor. See also: Tyr (Tuesday), Odin (Wednesday), and Frige (Friday).

Also: If anyone knows where I can buy or make a “Keep Thor in Thursday” magnet, let me know!