Monday, February 14, 2011

A response to the open letter from Rabbi Adam Jacobs

This is a response to the letter in the link below:
Open Letter from Rabbi Jacobs to Atheists

1. Am I wrong, or did the rabbi spend the first half of his letter telling us how there are no true atheists, then starts the second half by saying that he's spent a sizable portion of his life as an atheist??? WTF? Having been so studied in the fields of belief and atheism, surely the author knows that an insignificant number of people would define atheism as he has. That can't have escaped his attention. Every atheist that I know of understands that a-theism means lack of BELIEF in god. This is still not clear to the rabbi after all that study? Jeez.
2. Appeals to authorities dismissed. What do I care if Antony Flew wishes to now call himself some kind of deist. Has absolutely no bearing on whether or not a god exists. Same could be said for Dawkins and Hawking...they don't know either.
3. I'm going to assume that you live in the US, and as such, you must either be pretending or seriously, seriously obtuse not to recognize the powerful influence that religion and those who claim to know/speak for/love/be on a mission for god have on social and political matters affecting ALL citizens.
4. Hitler, Stalin, etc. This AGAIN!!?? Are we pretending that those loathsome individuals were responsible for the deaths of millions of people? Are we going to pretend that the vast majority of those doing the actual killing were believers of one stripe or another? Puh-leeze.
5. 'The faith to which I ascribe has brought substantial light and unique meaning to the world.' Like what? Fear of hell? Body issues and being ashamed to be human? What has the faith to which you ascribe brought to the world that could not have been done through reasoned discourse, education, freedom of thought/action, etc.? My answer: nothing. On the contrary, I'd argue that we are worse off rather than having been bettered by faith.
6. "...you ask us to accept that it's the result of undetectable organizational forces..." NO! What most atheists reject is the supposition that there is some ultimate Truth out there that you and people like you have discovered. Instead of saying, 'I don't know, let's work together to grow, learn, and discover things about the universe', you say 'I have the Truth, and not only is it true for me, it is true for EVERYONE.' That certainty, that unmovable position, that FAITH that you have, is the single biggest objection that most atheists would probably have against the idea of faith. I think that the religious need to learn those three powerful words...'I don't know!'.

Friday, February 04, 2011

Happy Birthday Kia!

Well, my lovely lady turned 38, so we decided to mark the day with a photoshoot for her! We headed out to the park after a quick trip to the 'Boutique' to pick up a few accessories. She did a great job, and looked absolutely beautiful! Bravo, Mrs. Bonaparte! Here are a few results: