No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Dinner with Mojoey

2011-11-29T07:41:00.001-08:00

I am in Anaheim for a two day advanced training on the software my school district uses for managing students. After a few previous attempts to get together I finally enjoyed a dinner and a few beers with Joe (Mojoey).

In case you don't know who Joe is let me tell you about him as he is a quite fascinating person.

Joe once worked in the aerospace industry manufacturing parts for the B2 bomber without even knowing what he was making them for.
Joe co-developed Pointalist which was popular software for Mac OS in the early 1990's before he and his partner sold it to Adobe.
He is a professional photographer but photography is not his profession.
He is an avid disc golfer.
Joe is currently an IT manager in the aerospace industry.
Joe writes several blogs; My Blind Eye, Rattling the Chains, Deep Thoughts and The Atheist Blogroll.

Although, I don't know how he would find the time I think he does other fascinating stuff that he didn't get around to telling me. Of course I am not sure how since we talked, ate and drank for over 3 hours. It may have been because of my habit of running off at the mouth and disrupting the flow of conversation.

Despite so-so food at Haven Gastropub in Orange, Ca the company was exceptional and I look forward to meeting up with Joe again.

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No

War on Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

Annual Thanksgiving Post:

I am a Traditional Pilgrimist. I can trace my family's roots back to early colonial days. As a Thanksgiving Pilgrimist or TP'er I always celebrate Thanksgiving by having a traditional turkey, traditional stuffing, traditional cranberry sauce and traditional pumpkin pie. I watch the traditional Macy's parade and the traditional Lions and Packers football game.

However, the last few years I have seen a constant assault on Thanksgiving. First, we have people having pasta or sushi and not turkey. Now we have people calling Thanksgiving, Turkey Day, Gobble Day or Gobble Gobble Day. Then there is the advertising, "Gobble up Savings", "Don't be a Turkey and Pay Too Much". And of course there is the Black Friday sales and if that were not enough we now have Pre-Thanksgiving or Pre-Turkey Day sales.

When will it end?!

As a TP'er I demand that we take Thanksgiving back. Show your support for a traditional Thanksgiving and become a TP'er by leaving a comment of support.

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

God Did It

2011-10-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

Image by stevendepolo via Flickr

Last night I was at a going away party for a long time coworker. Near the end of the party I was sitting with a group of coworkers while one of them was explaining how they just bought a house.

First, she told us how she had been driving around this particular neighborhood for about two months looking for homes for sale and foreclosures. She finally found a foreclosure she loved and although it was in need of some repair she asked her Realtor to make an offer. Her Realtor said it wasn't for sale and couldn't make an offer.

So, she went back to driving around the neighborhood. A few weeks later a For Sale sign was posted and she again contacted her Realtor. This time they made and offer which was rejected. When the made a second offer they were told it was sold.

So, again she went about looking until her Realtor called and said the sale fell through and they want you to make an offer but it has to be cash. She said she can't do cash so they made a regular offer. After about a month of back and forth they finally agreed on a price and that the bank would pay for necessary repairs. So, she bought the house and moved in a few weeks ago.

So, why am I telling you this and what does have to do with religion? Well, all through her story she kept saying how complicated and confusing the process was and that god must have been watching out for her. She said it was a miracle she got the house and that god must have made sure.

I will be the first to admit that buying a house can be a complicated and at times confusing process but I don't think even god could help her through the process of buying a house even if god existed. As complicated a process as it is it is still a process of men and laws.

The reason she got the house it turns out is that the company that had the foreclosure, Wachovia, had just been purchased by the company that was providing her loan, Wells Fargo. Additionally, the person handling the foreclosure and the person handling the loan ended up in the same office.

But, what I really think made the difference was her persistence in looking in the same area.

So god did it? I don't think so.

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Happy Labor Day

2011-09-05T11:46:00.001-07:00

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FFRF Harassing School Districts?

2011-08-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

Demanding that public schools stop engaging in sponsored prayer at school events is not harassing, it is simply just a demand. Harassing would be to demand they stop every day in every way until they stop.

However, The New American thinks a simple demand equal harassment. But, this is not surprising coming from them since they are not what you would call a mainstream media source. Their coverage of topics always fall very far to the right.

Here is how they started their article:

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) continues its attack on the constitutionally guaranteed right of free speech and religious expression as it targets school districts in Mississippi and Kentucky that have held to their long-time traditions of public prayer.

They apparently misunderstand the phrase, "constitutionally guaranteed right of free speech and religious expression". Luckily, we have some some who does understand the phrase.

“Prayer over the loudspeakers at football games is a constitutional no-no,” quipped FFRF spokeswoman Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The Supreme Court has spoken on this issue…. We’ve given them the law, and the law is incontrovertible. What they’re doing is illegal.”

Fortunately, I believe the school board reaffirmed their policy of no prayer.

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An Interesting Quote

2011-08-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

I picked up this quote off of Facebook:

“And verily, thou shalt pick and choose which of my laws thou shalt keep and force upon others; for only that which makes thee comfortable or feel a smugness in thy heart shall guide you.” - Doucheronomy 8:17

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Book Censorship Increasing in Public Schools

2011-08-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

The American Library Association says the number of reported challenges in the past 30 years has hovered between about 400 or 500, but there are many bans they never learn about. While parents have traditionally launched the lion’s share of challenges, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, an attorney with the association, says she has noticed “an uptick in organized efforts” to remove books from public and school libraries.

The library association reports that this year alone, U.S. schools have banned more than 20 books and faced more than 50 other challenges, with many more expected this fall as school starts.

A review of the books banned by various schools in the past six months illustrates that eliminating this “objectionable material” actually deprives students of the chance to think and form their own opinions about difficult questions.

List of books banned:

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Citizens for National Security sue Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida DoE

2011-08-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

The nonprofit group claims Florida's governor "purged" the state school board, to undermine public schools and "facilitate the religious indoctrination of children," then pushed through a law that will give a two-member board the power to select school textbooks, with the intent to unleash "unscientific creationist beliefs of fundamentalist religious leaders, who seek to promote their erroneous beliefs on the children of Florida".

The group says Florida SB 2120 takes the power of textbook review and approval out of the hands of large groups with public representation, and puts it into the hands of a 2-member board which cannot possibly be expected to review fairly the thousands of textbooks used in Florida school within 4 months, as required by the bill.

The group claims SB 2120 violates the Florida Constitution's guarantee of a high quality education, and also violated the Constitutions single-subject rule on legislation. It claims that SB 2120 "furthers the governor's goal of politicizing our public schools and potential brainwashing of children in order to share the governor's and his political cronies' support and endorsement of religion, by keeping the overview of textbooks in our public schools a secret, and by facilitating the inclusion of textbooks which advance religion."

Read more here.

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This Won't End Well

2011-08-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

The Cedar Falls, IA Board of Education recently decided to invest more than $60,000 into a Cedar Falls church to house part of the district's preschool program. This act has caught the attention of the Freedom from Religion Foundation and on Friday the FFRF sent a letter and email to Deon Senchina, the board president, detailing their concern with the decision.

"This is exactly the kind of entanglement that the founders of our country did not want to have," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, the foundation's co-president. "... This deal is at taxpayers' expense and it is unacceptable in our opinion."

The project which is to pay for ADA upgrades and code improvements to the church, which is next door, has already received district funds for asbestos removal.

The foundation believes the contract violates the Iowa Constitution which states that no person should be "compelled to attend any place of worship, pay tithes, taxes or other rates for building or repairing places of worship."

Superintendent David Stoakes who disagrees says, "To my knowledge there is no basis in fact for what the letter is alleging. Separation has to do with programming, not the facility. We are not going to be propagating any religion in our preschool program."

Apparently, the superintendent has done this in past at districts he previously worked. He also notes that it is common for districts to pay to upgrade property they use like city owned buildings.

Gaylor said the issue goes beyond just the taxpayer dollars, though. She is also concerned that the students will be exposed to religious paraphernalia which will get "mixed up in their minds."

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Things That Make You Go Hmmm...

2011-06-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

“There was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as The Dark Ages.”
Ruth Hurmence Green (1915 – 1981)

So would this make us in The Dim Ages or The Only Slightly Dark Ages?

Hmmm?

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I Think I Slept Through The Rapture

2011-05-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

Image by rossaroni via Flickr

I was really tired yesterday. I did not get up until late and I took a nap in the afternoon. So, as a result I think I missed, The Rapture of 2011. Is everyone still here? Who's gone. What did I miss?

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Holy Underwear Batman!

2011-05-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

When you absolutely, positively need to be as close to Jesus as possible.

BTW IF you are wearing the Virgin Mary thong and you go home with someone what are you really trying to say?

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Should We Be Cheering?

2011-05-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Osama bin Laden's death is good for the war on terror. However, is cheering bin Laden's death like winning the World Cup a good thing? I do not think so.

Forget for a minute that any death should never be celebrated as a good thing. Instead think about how you felt when you saw Muslims cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon. I know I was outraged that people were cheering the deaths of human beings. If you were outraged then think about how Muslims will view our cheering. I think you will find that cheering is not appropriate and could actually cause more harm than bin Laden's death alone.

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What Does It Mean?

2011-04-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

I saw the following on a license plate frame today:

Jesus Saves

Moses Invests

Any idea what it means?

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Atheists at SLO Farmer's Market

2011-04-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

The Atheist Meetup group I belong to, Atheists United - San Luis Obispo, had our first booth at the San Luis Obispo Farmer's Market. We were joined by the Cal Poly Brights. Unfortunately, I had a prior engagement but the feedback was good. I am looking forward to the next one.

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I'm Two Today!

2011-04-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

That is No 2 Religion is two years old today.

I wonder if I will be entering the terrible two's?

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Group Uses Science to Debunk Religious Charlatans in India

2011-04-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

Recorded back in 2007 for the BBC and narrated by Jonathan Pryce, this video is again making the rounds this weekend and, like religion, has nevertheless stood up well to the tests of time.

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Political Quote of the Day

2011-04-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder if we wouldn’t be better off picking legislatures like we pick juries. Here in Texas we could pick 181 people at random, put them through an orientation that taught them that everything any lobbyist ever said was a lie, and set them to fixing our problems. They couldn’t do any worse.

~ Glenn W. Smith from Firedoglake

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From The Crazy As A Loon File

2011-03-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

I found this gem in my Google Alerts today.

The Fall of the Evolution Theory
Posted on28 March 2011.
There has been an article that says “Herman Cummings Challenges the World”. If so, then consider this my ” Indigenous Galactic Network Challenge” (“Local Group” of galaxies). I hereby give advance notice to all living entities that the monopoly of the evolution theory in our culture is coming to an end. Be advised that the arrival of the second to last phase of the era of modern mankind is at hand. It is well past the time for all that (think they) believe the Bible, to accept the whole truth, whether it be of Creation, salvation, or final disposition.

If you dare the full article can be found over at iNEWP.com

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Did God Have a Wife?

2011-03-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Asherah Image via Wikipedia

Time Magazine reported on The NewsFeed that God may have had a wife. However, I think all they end proving is that man (jealous men that is) created the bible and God.

Some scholars say early versions of the Bible featured Asherah, a powerful fertility goddess who may have been God's wife.

Research by Francesca Stavrakopoulou, a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter, unearthed clues to her identity, but good luck finding mention of her in the Bible. If Stavrakopoulou is right, heavy-handed male editors of the text all but removed her from the sacred book.

What remains of God's purported other half are clues in ancient texts, amulets and figurines unearthed primarily in an ancient Canaanite coastal city, now in modern-day Syria.

Inscriptions on pottery found in the Sinai desert also show Yahweh and Asherah were worshipped as a pair, and a passage in the Book of Kings mentions the goddess as being housed in the temple of Yahweh.

J. Edward Wright, president of The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and The Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, backs Stavrakopoulou's findings, saying several Hebrew inscriptions mention “Yahweh and his Asherah." He adds Asherah was not entirely edited out of the Bible by its male editors.

"Traces of her remain, and based on those traces... we can reconstruct her role in the religions of the Southern Levant," he told Discovery News.

Asherah, he says, was an important deity in the Ancient Near East, known for her might and nurturing qualities. She was also known by several other names, including Astarte and Istar. But in English translations Ashereh was translated as "sacred tree."

"This seems to be in part driven by a modern desire, clearly inspired by the Biblical narratives, to hide Asherah behind a veil once again," Wright says.

Aaron Brody, director of the Bade Museum and an associate professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion, says the ancient Israelites were polytheists, with only a “small majority” worshipping God alone. He says it was the exiling of an elite community within Judea and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C that lead to a more "universal vision of strict monotheism." (via Discovery News)

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From the "Things that make you go Hmmm" File

2011-03-22T20:01:00.000-07:00

Christian Pole Dancing - Huh!

Women in the Houston area are pole dancing once a month ... for Jesus. Yes, the dance moves once reserved for strip clubs are being embraced by devout, church-going women.

In the quaint turn-of-the-century community called Old Town Spring, where Victorian style shops line the streets, one business stands out -- pole fitness for Jesus. There's no preaching, just teaching.

Set to Christian music, church-going women spin and slither around poles. But the instructor and the students say it's not about sex.

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Calif. GOP to Block Citizens Right to Vote

2011-02-23T19:38:00.000-08:00

Two-thirds of Republicans in the California Legislature announced Wednesday that they were forming a new group and pledged not only never to vote to raise taxes but also to block efforts to place a tax-hike measure before voters.

By republicans vowing to block measures from voters they are taking away the will of the people. Put the tax measures up for a vote and if the people pass the measure then that is what the people want. If they don't pass it then ....

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Wipe Out Teachers Unions, Wipe Out Kids Futures

2011-02-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

Image by mrbula via Flickr

Only five states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal; South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and Virginia.

The states respective (but not respected) ACT/SAT rankings are: 50th, 49th, 48th, 47th, and 44th. Wisconsin is ranked 2nd in the country. See a pattern here?

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Watch Out California, The Union Busters Are Coming

2011-02-22T22:20:00.000-08:00

Assemblyman Alan Mansoor

Despite being a mostly democratic state that is relatively pro-union, I still figured it would just be a matter of time before a California politician proposed an anti-union bill.

From Michael Mishak at PolitiCal

California Republicans are finding inspiration in the Midwest.

Assemblyman Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) introduced a bill Tuesday that would eliminate the right of public employees to collectively bargain for pension benefits. The measure is partly a response to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, whose controversial bill to eliminate collective bargaining for most public employee unions has prompted massive protests and a walkout by Democratic lawmakers. The Indiana state Senate also has passed a bill that would limit the power of teachers’ unions.

“I stand in solidarity with the courageous legislators in the Midwest who are taking brave steps to do the right thing for all of their citizens, not just public employee union campaign contributors,” Mansoor said in a statement.

Opposition to Mansoor’s bill will likely be swift in deep-blue California. The state has a Democratic-majority Legislature, and Gov. Jerry Brown has already said he would not pursue Wisconsin-type measures to challenge public employees. Republicans, however, are demanding pension reform as part of the state's ongoing budget talks.

Like labor organizations elsewhere this week, the state’s largest public employee unions have planned a candlelight vigil on the Capitol steps Tuesday evening in support of Wisconsin workers.

(Bold added by me)

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Why Wait Until You Are Sued?

2011-02-22T19:29:00.000-08:00

Image via Wikipedia

What is it with school districts and putting up the Ten Commandments? Do they really think that no one is going to notice? Do they think everyone who sees them is OK with it and won't say anything? I just don't get it.

Officials in Giles County Public Schools, acting on a school board vote, removed controversial displays of the Ten Commandments this morning from various buildings, said Amanda Tickle, board clerk and executive secretary in the school system.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation threatened Jan. 20 to sue in federal court to get the religious writings taken down.

I am glad they are removing but they never should have been there to begin with. Why did they way to get sued?

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Dinner with Mojoey

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