5 random things I’ve been thinking about

1. Toilet seat sheets.  If you’re too grossed out to sit on the toilet, is a sheet really going to make it better?

The show I’m working on, these two women who were otherwise not like high maintenance said they would never use a toilet that wasn’t their own without a toilet sheet.  What?  Seriously?  Was I raised by weirdos because they never said don’t put your butt on the toilet?

2. Ableism and online dating.  Particularly in the mental health department, but also in general.

Now I appreciate that online dating attracts a somewhat skewed group that has the semi-anonymity of the internet to make unusual demands, but I have seen so so many guys profiles where they say they don’t want to date “anyone who’s ever been on anti-depressants” or “I don’t want to date anyone who has had any health problems”.  These are not necessarily guys who, in my opinion, have girls knocking down their door and they’re just trying to filter out some people by being picky.  And I realize we’ve all got things where we aren’t able to have a nuanced viewpoint, but here are guys lumping in people with asthma with people with cancer, or people with well-treated depression with untreated schizophrenics.  I get how taking on a significant other with terminal cancer or an untreated illness might be difficult, but are we going to scratch out every one with a health quirk?

At first I thought, oh it’s just this one guy who had a bad experience, but I’ve seen it so many times I just don’t know what to think.  Is it really that awful to date someone who at some point in their life was depressed or has some other chronic illness that’s well under control?

3. Also related to online dating, why do guys who are super Christian message me advertising their good Christian morals when I state that I am an atheist?  I mean, I know why, they don’t read, but I mean really.

4. Equating religion with race.  There’s a super long thread over at Pharyngula where people are accusing PZ of being a Nazi for posting a picture that a cartoonist drew of Muhammed because there are people in Europe who are racist against Muslim immigrants.  I’m just not sure “racist” is the right word.  “Religionist” maybe?  Anyway, critiquing a religion isn’t a violent act, no matter how crudely done, and I don’t understand how blasphemy is racist.

5. How difficult or impossible it is for the religious to understand that there is value and meaning to life regardless of whether there is an afterlife.

Useful Links:

Dirty Toilets

PZ

Sully on Tragic Atheism

The most horrifying thing ever:

(((:~{> Muhammad approves this message

5 random things I’ve been thinking about
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OCFA Conference 2010; Where I met PZ

I’ll give you all the links up front, and all the pictures at the end.

All the pictures are here.

9:20 Phil Zuckerman
10:00 Edward Tabash
10:40 Brian Dunning
11:20 William Lobdell
Lunch 12-1 with ‘Tabletalk’ table discussions
1:00 Michael Shermer
1:45 PZ Myers
2:30 Dan Barker
3:15 Stephanie Campbell
4:00 John Shook
4:45 Joe Nickell
5:30-7:15 Dinner

—–

The conference was in Costa Mesa, and I’m in Glendale, feel free to map it, suffice to say it takes about an hour fifteen to do that drive.  I decided I wasn’t going to kill myself and try to get there at 9 since I didn’t really know any of the morning speakers and I didn’t want to get up at 6AM on a Saturday.  So I got there around 10:45 and got through the whole check in thing to catch the second half of Brian Dunning’s talk.  He was talking about the Virgin of Guadalupe and I confess my interest was not sparked by the topic.  Which is just as well as it gave me time to get my bearings.

The conference was held in a community center adjacent to a local public library.  It was a smallish venue, and everything was contained within one large room.  This was a little awkward because the vendors and speakers were in the same room, so if you wanted to go look at stuff you had to do it either as quietly and unobtrusively as possible or in short bursts between speakers.

After Dunning was finished, I met up with a guy I met on Meetup.com who had said he was also going and sat up front with him.  So the first talk I sat through entirely was William Lobdell.  Lobdell is a very dynamic speaker, and I really preferred the speakers who focused on sort of broader strokes and the whys and what we can do about it, not just simple facts.  And I am always drawn to stories of how people lost their faith.

Then, it was lunch time, and I walked across the street to Quizno’s because I’m a picky eater and I doubted they were serving a sandwich I would eat.  There was a very strange homeless guy who sort of followed me and I bought him a sandwich.  Don’t tell my mother, she gets freaked out by those things.  Ran into an interesting guy, I want to say from Riverside, who was also at the conference and eating at Quizno’s.  Apparently Riverside has the biggest Atheist community like ever.

I took my sandwich back across the street and there was a seat open next to meetup guy who was sitting with PZ, but first I wanted to say hello to my twin.  There was a guy there wearing the same shirt as me, and interestingly enough he and the guy he was sitting with, lime green Alaskan, would end up being the people I sat with at dinner.  Anyway I said hello and they graciously offered me a seat but I wanted to go sit with PZ.

So I sat with PZ during lunch, which was really half over by the time I got back with my sandwich.  But it was an interesting group.  Talked about why we call evolution a theory and why changing the name to something like “law” is letting the terrorists win.  Here’s where my former math major instincts made me probably a bit too ferocious about the fact laws involve math equations and there’s no mathematical way of predicting evolution.

Post lunch and it’s Michael Shermer, the aforementioned Jonathan Pryce doppelganger with the arrogant swagger, and I can’t for the life of me remember what he talked about except that it pissed some people off.  If anyone was there and remembers, tell me?

Then it was PZ and he went out of his normal field and talked about astronomy and William Herschel.  And posed the simple answer to the days topic “Can science and religion coexist?  Yes.”  And made many many jokes about stepping all over Dan Barker’s time.  And then he talked about neanderthals and people having sex.  What I like about PZ when he speaks is that he seems like he’s going to be a stuffy non-offensive professor, but he’s someone who’s genuinely at ease with both himself and the realities of human nature.  In other words, he likes to talk about sex with neanderthals.

Dan Barker spoke and, again, his was a story of de-conversion so I found it pretty interesting.  His book has been recommended to my by Amazon but it didn’t strike me as interesting til I saw he talk.  He spoke mostly towards lawsuits, particularly the one against the National Day of Prayer.  As someone who finds the intricacies of constitutional law interesting (nerd!) I thought this was interesting.

I did not find Stephanie Campbell that interesting, not because she’s a bad speaker, but because her talk was so focused on the facts of the case of Texas Education and not about anything broader reaching.  The entire thing ended with a Vote for your School Board plea that I guess was somewhat universal, but it felt very much like a lecture.  And this is a topic, education and the south, that I find generally interesting, but I guess it was just that it was all about Texas and not about why it was happening, or the players involved, or how it impacted people.  Just the facts, ma’am.  I was also sad that there was only one woman speaker.  Where are all the ladies at?  Clearly I need a book deal so I can be invited to conferences to be snarky about religion.

John Shook surprised me and was, I thought, the most interesting and compelling speaker of the entire event.  He was so interesting that I briefly entertained the idea of sitting with him at the speakers dinner instead of PZ.  He’s a philosopher and is of the opinion that philosophy, not science, is the natural opposition to religion.  And he used a term “a-theology” as that which is most directly opposed to theology.  He recognized that the more insidious religious ideas are those that are constantly moving the goal posts, because they accept science and then turn it into religion.  Anyway, if they end up selling DVDs of this or it ends up on youtube, I’ll link to it.

The day ended with Joe Nickell who talked about the Shroud of Turin.  PZ had just talked about it, so I was up to date on the facts.  He’s an interesting guy.  After he spoke, I talked to him when we walked over to dinner and he’s one of those guys who is determinedly open minded.  In a way where you worry that they’re too open  minded, but he’s dedicated enough to the scientific method that he seems all right.  But he doesn’t judge things as a whole, only specific incidents.  Like if a woman is possessed, he would go and look at her specifically rather than looking at possessions as a whole.  He doesn’t consider himself a debunker, but rather an investigator of supernatural claims.  It’s a fine distinction, and I’m guessing it wins him points with the people he’s investigating, but I found it interesting that he is so committed to not being dismissive of people’s bizarre claims.

And then was dinner, which I’ve already talked about, and after dinner I went home because it was a long drive and I didn’t want to spend another 50 bucks to stay for the rest of the program and not get home til one in the morning.

Phil Zuckerman asks the tough questions of other speakers
Brian Dunning on The Virgin of Guadalupe
William Lobdell on becoming atheist
This guy was super friendly
Michael Shermer
Very Angry at Michael Shermer
Alex Uzdavines introduces PZ
PZ doing something interesting with his hand
Dan Barker seems like the most impossibly nice fellow
Stephanie Campbell wishes to mess with Texas
As a survivor of Southern Public Education, I ask Stephanie a question
John Shook being very compelling
Joe Nickell knows how to say JAHYsus
Joe Nickell's reproduction of the Shroud of Turin was scary as fuck
The shot of the whole table at dinner
Me and PZ and Lime Green Alaskan and my twin and in the distance you can see Phil and Cute Blonde in Glasses
Didn't stay for this, but does it look a little Last Supper to you too?
OCFA Conference 2010; Where I met PZ

My Dinner Date with PZ Myers

I have no camera, but I do have an iMac.  Apologies for any legibility issues, it says, “Notice: No Squid!  This is Bullshit!  PZ Myers.”

That’s the Gideon Bible what I stole and kept because it was green.  I stole it because that’s generally my MO in hotels, but I didn’t throw it away because it was green and I didn’t have a Bible to desecrate reference.  I got it signed because I had the brilliant idea at midnight when talking to a friend who was super jealous he couldn’t go.

I’ll probably do a separate post about the whole conference thing, but the dinner was really neat.  Firstly, there was someone else wearing the Squid vs. Noah shirt, and there was a very cool and interesting guy from Anchorage/Irvine/England who was wearing lime green.  I have forgotten his name.  There was also Phil Zuckerman and a cute blonde guy in glasses, who were sitting a bit down the table but occasionally joined in.

But dinner was really cool because it was basically just hanging out with some really interesting smart people who enjoyed snark.  And I learned new things about PZ.  We hit a broad range of topics but I’ll give the highlights.

We talked about his experiments with zebrafish.  Apparently fish in captivity are really dumb, and fish in the wild are really clever.  I’m not sure how much to talk about because apparently some jerkface stole something about the zebrafish experiments from PZ’s blog and published it so I don’t want to spoil anything.  Suffice to say we spent a long time talking about zebrafish and it was pretty interesting.

We talked about Neanderthals.  I asked how do we decide that Neanderthals are a different species from us since we could interbreed, to which PZ gave the witty reply that they are all dead, that’s how.  I’m fond of Neanderthals because they had red hair.

We talked about the Uncanny Valley and the creepy proportions of the Shroud of Turin.  And how the fingers look like they’re made of rubber.  Funny Alaskan said they were tentacles, and I made a jab about Onanism with tentacles for fingers and PZ drifted into a reverie for a moment or two.

I got to be directly catty about the comments in favor of the genital nicking on the part of pediatrics.  I feel often that my comments are fairly ignored over there, which isn’t that big of a deal, comments seem mostly about hearing yourself talk anyway, but it was nice to feel heard on the issue.

I found out PZ’s opinion on Andrew Sullivan (nuanced), Episcopalians (relatively OK with), men hijacking any thread about women to make it all about them and their issues (aware of), Dr. Who (for), Macs (for), Linux (against!), PZed (against!), Australians (arrogant bastards insist on saying PZed), and steak (medium).

I also got to see the cover of his upcoming book which apparently needs to be written.  I give the cover a B+.  It has tentacles, an elephant and a great deal of purple, but it doesn’t have PZ and there’s something weird about the color scheme in general.  I suggested he get a quote from Trophy Wife TM and if that happens I’m just going to go ahead and claim credit right now.

I never quite figured out what he was vaguely irritated with Michael Shermer for.  Michael Shermer, by the way, looks eerily like Jonathan Pryce and has a weird arrogant swagger to him that is both compelling and a bit unsettling.  He was super nice when I talked to him and I got his newest book, so nothing personal there, just an observation.

I also saw PZ at lunch where he said he knew what his grandmother’s face looked like when she orgasmed, made fun of Utah and Mormons, and laughed heartily at my True Stories About Atheism.  I made my mother’s friend cry when I told her I was an atheist.  Hysterically she asked, “Don’t you want to get married and have a family?!”  I told my ex-Catholic mother when she was taking me to college that I was atheist and she said, “I’m so disappointed you don’t believe you’re going to Hell.  Wait, that came out wrong.”

There was lots more and I don’t remember it right now, but if I think of it, I promise I’ll add it.  It was totally worth the money.  And not just for PZ but for the other interesting people who also wanted to have dinner with PZ.  It was all very snarky and civilized.

I forgot to ask him if he’ll do a bit appearance in Bible Con, my script making fun of Christians and atheists, if it actually gets made.

EDIT: The rest of the story: http://ashleyfmiller.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/ocfa-conference-2010-where-i-met-pz/

My Dinner Date with PZ Myers

I get e-mail; How not to talk to an atheist

This is an email I got from someone I was debating on a facebook thread. We were talking about how the Catholic church needed to stop being so secretive and punish the molesters and let local governments prosecute the crimes and he said why shouldn’t they punish the homofags and adulterers and I said the church could do whatever it wanted to its own members but that in America that behavior wasn’t illegal because the church didn’t dictate morality.  And it devolved from there.

I think evangelicals or born-agains or Christianists or Crispies or whatever you want to call them don’t really understand people who have actually thought about their beliefs rather than accepted them on blind faith.  They say things that they think are meaningful but have no meaning for someone who doesn’t have any belief whatsoever.  This is a service to them, so they understand how they come across.  I doubt they care how they come across, but maybe they do.  First, the letter in its entirety, then, with comments.

Dear Ashley,
Sorry, I thought it more appropriate now to respond with a message.

BTW, I’m an XXXX graduate. I was a XXX Fraternity and have that mark of shame branded on my ankle, though I do love many of the friends I made in the fraternity.

The judgments of the Old Testament are nothing in comparison to what the Holy Spirit has revealed will happen when Christ comes to judge the world in the book of Revelation. According to Revelation, people will beg to be stoned to escape God’s wrath. Christ also makes many references to this as well in the gospels.

So the question that this whole discussion leads to is one of belief or unbelief. Was Jesus Christ a fraud and liar? If he was a fraud then I’m a fool and I’m wasting my life. If he was who he claimed to be then I’d encourage you to read the gospels, and see how often he calls people to repentance.

Also, Christ did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. The Old Testament laws you mention are only understood rightly in the context of the gospel of Christ’s resurrection. The law is there to make us aware of our sin. We are all guilty. But in Christ we are washed and made clean. Your soul and mine are tainted, and we deserve the wrath of God. But God is merciful and gracious, and has sent given us a means to be spared our just punishment. Scripture reveals that God is holy, and there is not one of us that does good (Psalm 14). The sacrifices of the Old Testament point to the sacrifice of Christ. All of the blood of goats and lambs cannot save any man’s soul, but they are markers which point to Christ, as prophesied in Isaiah. The laws of the Old Testament are harsh judgments, but again, nothing in comparison to what Scripture reveals the wrath of God is like.

We may think that the God I believe in is not like that. Again, the Old Testament is full of the history of Israel’s idolatry, worshiping false gods. Things haven’t changed much. They just take on a different form in our postmodern world.

Morality will never bring peace to this world. Notice how the more laws we make, the bloodier we become.
Feminism has its victory and we slaughter babies in their mothers womb and men more and more see women as objects of sexual pleasure.

There is no true peace outside of Jesus Christ. As a fellow artist, you may some day find that art will leave you hungry, and empty, always wanting to do more. We think that the next success will lead to our satisfaction, but it is an empty well.

I write this not to be right. I don’t care about winning arguments, and frankly, I’m pretty bad at it as you could tell.
I don’t care about conservatism and political movements. But I do care that people know the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and pray that they will come to know the incredible and lasting joy of the Lord.

All of the world’s experiments of unity through diversity are failures…just look at a college campus. But there is true unity in Christ, since he makes his own all brothers and sisters in him. In Christ we are all made equal in what Christ does for us, not in what we do.

Blessings,
XXX

———–

And with thoughts.

Sorry, I thought it more appropriate now to respond AKA proselytize with a message.

BTW, I’m an XXXX graduate. I was a XXX Fraternity and have that mark of shame branded on my ankle, though I do love many of the friends I made in the fraternity.

K, much as I hate Greek life and think tattoos are tacky, mark of shame?  Really?  I’m already so creeped out I don’t want to read the rest.

The judgments of the Old Testament are nothing in comparison to what the Holy Spirit has revealed will happen when Christ comes to judge the world in the book of Revelation. According to Revelation, people will beg to be stoned to escape God’s wrath. Christ also makes many references to this as well in the gospels.

Read: Blah blah blah End Times blah blah.  Yeah, I read the Left Behind novels… started, and then it got too stupid.  Here’s the thing, who wants anything to do with the dickhead God who did all of those things in the OT and is going to do all those things in the future?  He may be ineffable, but a dick move is a dick move.  Trying to scare me into worshipping God isn’t going to work.

So the question that this whole discussion leads to is one of belief or unbelief. Was Jesus Christ a fraud and liar? Or did he even exist?  Did other people make up myths around a real guy?  Let’s not assume he’s the bad guy here.  If he was a fraud then I’m a fool and I’m wasting my life. True. If he was who he claimed to be or who other people later claimed him to be  then I’d encourage you to read the gospels, and see how often he calls people to repentance. I’ve read the book, I have yet to be enlightened as to why I’m supposed to believe it.  And that was an if phrase, meaning you’ve gotta prove your side before I have to do anything.

Also, Christ did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. The Old Testament laws you mention are only understood rightly in the context of the gospel of Christ’s resurrection. The law is there to make us aware of our sin. We are all guilty. But in Christ we are washed and made clean. Your soul and mine are tainted, and we deserve the wrath of God. But God is merciful and gracious, and has sent given us a means to be spared our just punishment. Scripture reveals that God is holy, and there is not one of us that does good (Psalm 14). The sacrifices of the Old Testament point to the sacrifice of Christ. All of the blood of goats and lambs cannot save any man’s soul, but they are markers which point to Christ, as prophesied in Isaiah. The laws of the Old Testament are harsh judgments, but again, nothing in comparison to what Scripture reveals the wrath of God is like.

Creepy.  And underlines my point that God is a dick.  I like the christians who think God is love and hippies and stuff.

We may think that the God I believe in is not like that. Yes!  Like those hippies!  If a god commits evil acts what makes him not the devil?  Again, the Old Testament is full of the history of Israel’s idolatry, worshiping false gods. Things haven’t changed much. They just take on a different form in our postmodern world.

Yeah, difference between worshipping a false god and not worshipping.  And, had there not been so much to make me tune out already, I’d have tuned out here.  This guy seems to think Paganism and atheism/agnosticism/skepticism are the same thing.  Which is straight up uneducated.

Morality will never bring peace to this world. Notice how the more laws we make, the bloodier we become.

The hell does this even mean?  I’m seriously.

Feminism has its victory and we slaughter babies in their mothers womb and men more and more see women as objects of sexual pleasure.

Let us dismiss for a moment my stance on abortions and sex, but let’s talk feminism.  You’re really going to talk to a woman and say that men are better than women and then expect her to listen to anything you say?  You’ve got to ease into those things, lure them into religion with cookies and songs, then spring the whole “Women should be submissive and worship men” thing after they’re already in.  And religions, even Christian ones, don’t all agree on the abortion thing, there’s the whole “breath” thing or the whole 40 or 90 days thing.

There is no true peace outside of Jesus Christ. As a fellow artist, you may some day find that art will leave you hungry, and empty, always wanting to do more. We think that the next success will lead to our satisfaction, but it is an empty well.

Condescending.  Oh so condescending.  Why is it so difficult for the Jesus lovers to accept that some people can have fulfilling lives that are about living their life not trying to please some guy who’s not very good at explaining what he wants or why in an attempt to make the theoretical after life better?

I write this not to be right. Well, thank God he knows he’s wrong.  I don’t care about winning arguments, then why are you arguing? and frankly, I’m pretty bad at it as you could tell. Well, there’s a moment of bright shining honesty.

I don’t care about conservatism and political movements. Except the ones I’ve mentioned in this letter like feminism and abortion policy.  But I do care that people know the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and pray that they will come to know the incredible and lasting joy of the Lord. Vomit.

All of the world’s experiments of unity through diversity are failures…just look at a college campus. Again, what does that mean?  And what does it have to do with anything?  And… just what?  But there is true unity in Christ, hence the complete lack of sectarianism.  I forgot that all Christians were exactly the same and had exactly the same beliefs.  since he makes his own all brothers and sisters in him. In Christ we are all made equal in what Christ does for us, not in what we do.

Blessings,
This reminds me of a vice principal i had in public school who always said “Have a blessed day.”  This really got my goat for two reasons.  A) the whole George Carline stop telling me to have a nice day and B) The unnecessary religiosity of the statement.

In other news, I’m now an ordained minister with the First Church of Atheism, meaning I can officiate weddings and stuff.

I get e-mail; How not to talk to an atheist

Excerpt from Prop 8 Trial today

Plaintiffs will call Dr William Tam who is a supporter of Prop 8. David Boies will examine.

Boies: The Netherlands legalized polygamy?
Tam: It shows the moral decay of a liberal country, in their views of sex
B: You say here that the Netherlands legalized polygamy and incest after legalizing same sex marriage?
T: Yes
B: Who told you that?
T: The internet
B: The internet?
T: Yes

B: Somewhere out in the internet, it says the Netherlands legalized polygamy and incest? Did you ever find something that said it was true?
T: Yes
B: So somewhere on the internet it says polygamy and incest were legalized after same sex marriage?
T: Maybe not incest
B: Wait, it says incest here
T: Not in this document
B: But it says that right here
T: No, it says that if a country is so liberal then there will be moral and social decay.
B: Sweden accepted same sex unions in 1994, traditional marriage is no longer valid.
T: Yes
B: But those are civil unions not marriage, and you support civil unions.
T: Well, I said I support domestic partnerships.
B: Two minutes ago you said you support civil unions.
T: Well, I don’t know the difference
B: What is the difference?
T: Seems closer to marriage, Domestic Partnership does.
B: Because of the name?
T: Well, yes.
B: But Domestic Partnerships are the same as marriage except for the name?
T: Yes
B: They are exactly the same as the marriage except for the word?
T: Yes
B: So you believe pedophilia and incest will happen?
T: If this is a civil right, why won’t these other groups ask for marriage for incest or pedophilia?
B: Right now, can people of any age or relationship become domestic partners? A man and a ten year old girl? A man and his sister?
T: No
B: Domestic partnerships are limited to people of a certain age and relationships?
T: Yes, that’s why I support it
B: So having domestic partnerships doesn’t mean incest and pedophilia?
T: Ah, I see your logic now.

(laughter)
B: Yes, do you see what I mean?
T Yes I do
B: But do you think if the name changes to marriage, then we will have all this incest and pedophilia? Just because we change the name from domestic partnership to marriage?
T: No, but children will fantasize who they will marry, about marrying a man or a woman. You may say I am a paranoid Chinese parent. However, if domestic partner is defined as it is now, then we can explain to children, yes: same sex partners want a life commitment and we have domestic partnerships for them. But if you mix up marriages for different kind of sexes, I have parents coming to me asking what shall I tell my children.
Boies: Are you finished?
T: Yes
B: You agree that just because you allow Gays and Lesbians to marry, you don’t have incest, right?
T: Yes
B: Or polygamy?
T: Yes
B: Is it also true that you recognize it is important to Gays and Lesbians that they be able to marry?
T: Yes
B: Just as your children benefit from you and your wife being married, as will children of same sex couples?
T (pause) No.
B: No?
T: No
B: You don’t think children want their parents to be married?
T: Not sure what you are trying to get at
B: This: children of same sex couples want their parents to be married because the word means something.
T: Um
B: But you recognize it’s important? And important to those children, right?
T: I guess so.

Excerpt from Prop 8 Trial today

Lost Weekend

I had a weekend that was no good for writing. I’ve set myself a deadline of end of Thanksgiving holiday for a rewrite of Bible Con and a Polished first draft of Dyke for a Day. I had time to work on it this weekend because all of my editing projects are floating in nebulous waiting for other people to do things. But I didn’t work because my shoulder is messed up. This didn’t make it impossible to write, but it was really uncomfortable to sit in front of my computer or look down. It’s still killing me. Maybe I should start dictating.

Instead, I just watched a lot of Christopher Hitchens. I try to imagine the God/No God debate from the other point of view and find I just cannot. Cannot imagine it. I suppose I am like Hitchens, I never lost my faith, I just realized I didn’t have it. I was eight, I found all my teeth that I’d lost in my mom’s room (why she kept them, I don’t know). And there it was, proof that there was no tooth fairy. And that meant no Easter Bunny, no Santa Claus, and no Jesus.

I am going back to Columbia, SC this weekend. Doing the red-eye Wednesday night/Thursday morning. I’m seriously considering trying to raise money and film my feature in SC. I think it could be done for a modest budget, and I think the idea of a Native Daughter shooting in SC is something that could raise some money. I have a lot of connections there, including with the university. I hold secret hopes that somehow I could tie it into the university and get a lot of young people involved with the production. There aren’t a lot of opportunities in film in South Carolina.

Maybe I’ll get some writing done on the plane. We’re going to not put odds on this.

I started watching Jeeves and Wooster. I highly recommend it.

Lost Weekend

First Day As Story Assistant; Argument with Apparently Illiterate Religious Types

I just had to sign a confidentiality agreement which says I can’t reveal the nature and details of my employment.  Does that mean I can’t tell people what I do?  Like, if I was an editor on Toddlers and Tiaras, would I have to be like, “I work on a show in some capacity, that’s all I can say.”

Weird.

I am working on a show, I won’t tell you what it is, but it is a show I absolutely adore.  So far my duty seems to be to go through the last season to find high drama/conflict clips to put together for montages in a reunion type thing.

I had a religious argument with a bunch of people who seem to lack… well, brains.  A friend of mine posts these relationship questions on her facebook page, I often respond because almost all of her friends are extremely religious southern African Americans, and I like to be a different POV.  If anyone can tell me what CN is saying, I’d love to know.  I think he’s saying that the Devil wrote the constitution…

Two major questions I have:

1. Why is having faith an acceptable reason to not look critically at your belief system?

2. Why is it OK to demand atheists be well versed in the Bible when they disagree with a theist, but not OK to demand that theists read secular philosophy to argue with an atheist?

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The discussion

SJ: According to the Biblical tale, woman was made from man for man. Where does this fit in our postmodern society? Is there room for submission? What is the role of the woman to the man?

CN: 2 submit and be his help mate… As in da man is da provider and protector who is supposed 2 love his wife like Christ love da church…

AFM: I think it fits in the same trash bin as things like stoning children for disobeying their parents, not wearing clothes of mixed fiber, and the belief that homosexuality is wrong. Just because a belief is old doesn’t mean it’s worth anything. The role of woman to man is the same of man to woman, mutual respect and interdependence.

BJ: All sin is wrong whether it be murder or homosexuality it’s wrong. As far as mixing of clothing it was to show distinction between God’s chosen nation and the other surrounding nations he didn’t want them mixing with other nations and engaging in their customs or worshipping theirs gods. As far as the stoning of children or anyone we ought to thank God for sending his son to remove the ordinances that were against us (Colossians 2:14). Blame Eve for the role of a woman but submission to your husband isn’t forced like it was in the days of Mr from the color purple or Ike Turner. Submission is a form of respect for your partner by allowing them to operate in their divine roles…it’s called compromise with each other and obedience to God’s word but if you are not obedient to God’s word how can you expect to compromise?

AFM:”if you are not obedient to God’s word how can you expect to compromise?” Um, by talking and discussing things and coming to reasonable conclusions. I don’t need an invisible dude threatening me to choose to do something moral. That’s just silly. As for homosexuality, how can you put that in the same boat as murder? Murder takes away someone’s life. Homosexuality doesn’t take anything away from anybody.

SeJ: Oh my goodness! I’m so glad I know where I stand…whew!

CN: Well da best way 2 put it all at da end is either U gon follow his word or U not… God gave us free will.. He gives us an option… He allows us 2 make da decision 2 love him or not… Its not complicated, but people make it dat way and try 2 use everything in their own way and outta context… God gave us dominion over da earth, which yes Eve was manipulated out of, but things didn’t change until Adam ate da forbidden fruit, because God made him da head and gave him da specific direction 2 not eat of it… It was his job 2 tell his wife not 2 and even in her disobediance he should have not eaten of it…But dats da free will.. Now thru his son which is still God(Jesus Christ) he gave us 2 new laws dats still prevelant 2 da 10 commandments, but is more in line with Grace and Mercy… Which is 2 love God and love ur neighbor as U love urself and so on and so on… Its deep but U just have 2 seek dat wisdom and knowledge and he will answer..

AFM: Genesis also has two creation stories, one of which presents men and women as being created at the same time, so the bible itself isn’t in agreement on whether women are created from men or not. The first account says male and female [God] created them (Genesis 1:27), which has been assumed by critical scholars to imply simultaneous creation, whereas the second account states that God created Eve from Adam’s rib because Adam was lonely (Genesis 2:18 ff.).

CN: U also have 2 take in consideration dat God didn’t literally write da bible tho he has all power 2 change any word in it… He had man 2 write wat was going on so therefore it may not be wrote in exactly da order we prefer.. Just as da fall of satan and da other angels.. Its not known if dat fall was during man or b4. Dats just one of those great mysteries dat won’t be discovered till dat great day of judgement… But with dat said it still doesnt mean take a part from da bible and try 2 justify da wrong. He gave us rules 2 live by 2 be prosperous and 2 C Heaven. Why, because he knew man would manipulate da world. Have u heard freedom of speech, but U can’t say a man made bad word… Right 2 bare guns, but u catch pistol cases 24/7 cuz in order 2 obtain a gun u gotta have dis and u gotta have dat. Da constitution and everything is deceived by da devil… All I can say is if u wanna find out then study as U would anything else, but in dis particular subject, belief and faith is needed.

AFM: I can’t actually read anything you’ve written Courtney, but I have read the bible and you’re right, you need a certain amount of disregarding reality and faith in the nonsensical to understand it. I really recommend Bart D. Ehrman for some really interesting and accessible biblical scholarship which examines all the inconsistencies as well as the overarching messages contained within the different books of the Bible. It’s useful I think for both the faithed and unfaithed to really understand what it is they’re professing to believe in or not, as the case may be.

BJ: The Bible is plain and simple either you serve God or not but you are going to serve. If you are not serving God then who do you serve (1 John 3:7-8)? People should really study his word before babbling off their erroneous philosophies. When I said sin is wrong, that was Bible but maybe in attempt to convey the seriousness of sin and God’s take on it maybe I should have said there’s no difference in homosexuality and liars or homosexuality and stealing…would that be more appeasing? For those who no me “the invisible guy” know that I’m really not the appeasing type so I’m taking one for the team.

BJ: The Bible isn’t in chronological order…Chronological Bibles are for sale invest in one and it will really open your understanding

AFM: @Bethel That’s nice and all, but I still don’t get how a thinking person could actually believe that someone loving another person is a bad thing. I don’t really care about God, I care about people. Your irrational hatred of homosexuals makes it clear that you put your own belief over actually taking care of the people around you, physically and emotionally. Whether it’s chronological or not, the books don’t agree with each other. They tell the same stories differently, and they don’t agree on what it all means. I’ve read the bible, I’ve read the scholarship, I know what I’m talking about, but it’s not clear that you do.

BJ: @ Ashley I’ve studied the whole Bible in its entirety I didn’t just read it I studied it. Inordinate affection of any kind is sin because it goes against the nature which God intended but since you and I aren’t on the same team this whole conversation is pointless because I love God with my whole heart and with his love I love his people but like you said you Don’t care about God just his creations which befuddles me because isn’t the creator greater than his creation? The Bible does say if this gospel be hid it is hid to those that are lost.

AFM: I have studied it, I was raised in a church, went to Sunday school, went to bible camp, went to university with a major theological school. In all these places I spent a lot of time with the bible and learned that I cared a lot more about reality than fiction. I took the time to understand what I’m talking about, why don’t you study Darwin, Hume, Bentham, Paine, and Epicurus before deriding anyone who has chosen not to believe? Or is your faith of such weak stuff that it’s all you have, anything else might break it?

BJ: My faith in God is just that strong that I chose him over any man’s vain philosophies. You don’t know me you don’t know the journey I took to become a believer of Christ so don’t make assumptions because you don’t know what i’ve studied. I know Darwin, Hume, Paine, Bentham or Epicurus can save anyone from hell’s fire. Like I said you and I are not on the same team we do not serve the same God so our conversation is pointless and starting to become a circular argument. I can tell you right now that there is nothing that you or anyone else can say in this entire world that can shake my faith in God.

AFM: Obviously I don’t know you, and you clearly don’t know me.  Everyone has individual journeys, all I’m asking is that before you dismiss my point of view offhand you allow for the fact that I did come to it from a place of learning and study, not from a place of shallow rejection.  And if you were truly trying to understand other people rather than lump them into some category of Damned, you’d be willing to look at their perspective rather than making assumptions.  Nothing I recommended for your reading would make you stop believing, it would merely allow for you to understand that there are other perspectives in life that allow people to make good, moral and just decisions, regardless of whether they’re religious or not.  But again, you show a preference for being overly protective of your faith rather than understanding of the humans that share this world with you.  If it’s that important to you to hate on gay people, fine, just don’t expect anyone to think you’re a very good person.

BJ: Don’t try to make me out to be something I’m not because I harbor no hate towards gays or anyone else I don’t care what people do with the free will that God gave them. I’m just flabbergasted that you feel that you are the only one who comes from a learned perspective and that you are the only person who have looked into different philosophies. Don‘t make ignorant assumptions of someone else’s intellect because you assume they are not as keen on a subject as you people don’t like intellectual arrogance.

AFM: You’re the one who said I needed to read the bible as though I was coming from a place of ignorance. Don’t make accusations you don’t like hearing thrown back at you, someone might accuse you of being a hypocrite.

BJ: I said study it because anybody can read it

AFM: Do you see how that’s the exact same thing you’re saying I shouldn’t do? How is it OK for you to assume that I haven’t studied the bible but not OK for me to ask you to study other points of view? You are a hypocrite and a not particularly astute one, enjoy your ignorance and misplaced vitriol.

BJ: When I said study I was talking to everyone that’s why I said people should study not Ashley and if that makes me a hypocrite Ok I’m a hypocrite….YOU HEAR THAT FACEBOOK WORLD BETHEL JOHNSON IS A DUMB HYPOCRITE.

AFM: Yeah, I’m pretty much OK with that.

First Day As Story Assistant; Argument with Apparently Illiterate Religious Types