From time to time, I run across non-believers who pine after faith, or greatly admire it, or think it to be soft, fuzzy, and warm. Arthur Shapiro is a might fine example of that species: I came across a review of his in the Creation/Evolution Journal that begins thusly:

I suppose I should confess up front that some of my best friends are Christians. I can’t share their beliefs, but at times I find myself envying them for having a philosophy that seems to bring them so much comfort. Life is harder, as some wag put it, with no invisible means of support.

And then he descends into preemptive whining about the atheists (“true-believer atheists,” he calls ’em) who will write him “nasty letters” for being “soft on Christianity,” which then degenerates into burbling about Vaclav Havel, “the decline of traditional religion,” and the “hole in the social fabric” it has supposedly left “that science cannot hope to fill.” I had to stop reading* at the point where he decided “theistic science” is not a silly idea. No, seriously:

The editor and contributors to The Creation Hypothesis appreciate the problem. Their solution  is to inform science with religion. Their  very  ambitious  project  is  to  create  an  alternate  paradigm  of theistic science to compete  with  the  standard  way  of  doing  science,  which  ignores (and  from  their  perspective,  thereby  negates)  God.  This  is  not  a silly  idea. Whether  it is doable  is unclear, but apparently  the attempt  is to be made.

Whoa, Nellie. Let’s slow that roll before we wreck. Yes, the decline of religion is changing the social fabric. No, science can’t do all the jobs religion used to do. However. Comma. It does not follow that shoveling religion back into science is the way to go! Let’s give things like secular humanism a try first, okay, buddy?

Seeing atheists pine after faith like this just makes me sad. And it’s not like Mr. Shapiro is the only one – I occasionally catch atheists bemoaning the loss of faith even today. So let’s just talk about this.

You think life is hard without God? Criminy. What about how hard it was with him? Remember trying to please that imaginary bastard, especially when your hormones got going but you thought he’d be mad every time you fiddled with your naughty bits? Or when your pal who was in control of every aspect of your life let some jackass run over your pet? What about when he let your friends and relations die horribly of cancer and suchlike? How hard was it when you cried out to your deity and got no answer? How hard was it to try to sort through all the conflicting stuff about your heavenly BFF? Or when you finally got round to reading that book he supposedly had creative control over, and found out he was a genocidal jerk? What about all those times your conscience screamed one thing while people claimed your HBFF wanted something completely different?

Oh, sure, life was so much easier then.

And religion made civilization so very peaceful and happy, which is why the dudes writing the American Constitution had to severely limit his influence on government. I mean, otherwise, we’d all be too blissed out, right?

Look, I was religious once, too. And I mean, I believed, with every fiber within me. I loved God with every molecule of my being. And it was hard in all the worst ways. All the comfort it brought was false, and it was far overshadowed by the dilemmas: why would a loving God let our sweet and gentle pastor suffer from terminal cancer? Will God warn me I’ve fucked up before he damns me to Hell? Why would an omnipotent God choose to heal a parishioner’s radio while letting millions of children die of starvation? Are you there, God? Why aren’t you answering….?

Even though it didn’t take me long to leave church Christianity, it took ages for me to get rid of magical thinking and a lingering sense that religion, some religion, any religion, was a must. I wasted a lot of time chasing after shit that didn’t exist. I left myself open for a lot of manipulation and exploitation by people who knew the magic words, and I’m just lucky that my bullshit detector, faulty as it was, still worked well enough to keep me away from most cults and money-grubbing televangelists, psychics, and astrologers.

Do I miss religion? Fuck, no.

Magic? Nope.

Mystery? Not the supernatural kind, not a bit.

It took becoming an atheist before I could rid myself of my fear of death. Religion never offered me real comfort on that front. I spent too much time fearing hell to be comforted by heaven.

Reading epic meaning into coinky-dinks was fun and exciting at times, but nothing of lasting value ever came of it. Just the sense that if bad things happened to me, I was a bad person, no matter how good I’d tried to be. And at times, it really seemed like the gods had it out for my ass. It’s so much more comforting to know that the random bad shit that happens doesn’t happen because a god wanted it to.

This whole universe is now my sandbox, and I can spend the rest of my life exploring it, finding out true things about it, without worrying that I’m about to get zapped by an irritated god for stumbling across something forbidden. This has been far more fun and rewarding than studying religion ever was.

And that, combined with the fact that this life is it, and we’re all we’ve got, has made me a far better person.

There are problems in my life religion sometimes tries to offer me cures for, but I’ll take real medicine over magic water and sugar pills, thanks. I don’t care if it’s bitter, or sometimes unpleasant. I don’t care that there are things we don’t yet have a real cure for. I’d rather face the truth and learn to live with it than descend into a black hole of faith and woo, no matter how warm and fluffy they try to make it seem.

People like Mr. Shapiro may long for superficially comforting lies, and wish to be able to believe them, but that’s a damn fool thing to do. Just because science hasn’t got all the answers doesn’t mean we should bring back the lies. There are other places we can turn than religious faith. Don’t listen to it when it swears we can’t survive without it. It’s saying that because it can’t survive without us.

We can find our comfort elsewhere. We don’t need to envy the faithful. Let them envy us instead.

*Before you yell: I did go back and read the whole thing. It was terrible. Wait til I show you Mr. Shapiro’s epic failed prediction!

The post No, I Don’t Envy the Faithful appeared first on En Tequila Es Verdad.

I

God’s Exhaustive Instructions for Sacrificial Barbecues

(Leviticus 1-4)

God has a disturbing fixation on burning animals.

I mean, if you took all the animal sacrifice stuff out of Leviticus, you’d have just a couple chapters left. Most of it’s hyper-focused on killing animals for God, especially in these opening chapters. One rather begins to get the impression that he created humans and tempted them into sinning just so he’d have everyone bringing him barbecue all the time. That’s so very… uplifting?

The first thirteen verses of Leviticus 1 deal with the proper sacrificing of bulls, sheep, and goats. There’s lots of splashing blood about. The LORD does love him his bloodbaths. But it’s mostly stuff we heard one thousand times in Exodus, when God went on and on about it. We’ll just skim past that bit. (Lev. 1:1-13)

Things get really graphic when God gets to the birds.

Whereas bulls and sheep and goats get the knife, birds are to be slaughtered with your bare hands. You don’t just wring their necks, either: you’re supposed to twist their little heads right off. Imagine how much livelier church would be if your pastor decided to start obeying more of Leviticus than just a few random verses about gays and witches, threw off his poly/cotton blend shirt, and grabbed a few pigeons off the front lawn. I’ll bet the children would find it ever so morally uplifting to watch Pastor Bob tearing the heads off live birds on a Sunday morning. (Lev. 1:14)

Then, following the strict instructions God has laid down, he’s supposed to wring all their blood out against the altar. We haven’t got altars in many modern churches, but I’m sure the pulpit will do. (Lev. 1:15)

So there’s Pastor Bob, holding a freshly-killed headless birdie with its blood dripping down the pulpit. As per the LORD’s instructions, he next tears out its crop and feathers, and throws those against the east side of the pulpit. Once he’s done that, he grips both of its wings and, with a mighty tug, rips the bird wide open (being careful not to tear it completely apart – no need to get barbaric!). Then he sets the whole thing on fire, and the LORD is pleased. (Lev. 1:16-17)

That’ll certainly bring new energy into the church service.

Now, God is pretty much a meat man, but he’ll also accept really premium flour. But if you bake the LORD a cake out of it, just remember that he hates leaven. If you feel you must include leaven and honey, leave those on the side. Don’t forget, now. He won’t merely send his improperly-prepared meal back to the kitchen: he’ll smite you for botching his order. (Lev. 2:1-12)

Don’t forget the salt. God isn’t in to those low-sodium diets. He wants salt on everything. (Lev. 2:13)

After all this talk of flour, God’s ready to go back to animals again. He’d just like to make it perfectly clear he wants sacrifices with no blemishes whatsoever. If God were at the grocery store, he’d be that obnoxious dude who handles every single vegetable in the produce department, trying to find the perfect ones. He’d be that bloke at the butcher’s block who insists on having the butcher hand-cut about two dozen steaks before finally, reluctantly, accepting one. (Lev. 3:1)

For most sacrifices, only males will do, but for the peace offering, you can sacrifice a female if that’s what you’ve got on hand. Just so long as she hasn’t got any icky blemishes. No matter what you’re sacrificing, just remember to splash its blood liberally around the altar. And make sure you don’t keep any of its fat or blood for yourself. All the fat belongs to God. Every single bit. You’re not supposed to eat any fat or blood, ever. So sorry if you’re a fan of blood puddings. God doesn’t think you should have them. (Lev. 3:6-17)

If you sin, the only way to make up for it is by killing an animal and splashing its blood round the altar. God can’t forgive you unless you kill and burn an innocent critter for your fuck-ups. (Lev. 4:1-35)

There you go, then. Four chapters of killing animals and hating on leaven

in a nutshell. Now, don’t you feel ever so much more holy?

Copyright © 2016 by Dana Hunter. All rights reserved.

Really Terrible Bible Stories vol. 3: Leviticus coming soon!

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The post Really Terrible Bible Stories vol. 3: Leviticus Excerpt: God’s Exhaustive Instructions for Sacrificial Barbecues appeared first on En Tequila Es Verdad.

NECSS is so sorry they offended the fucking asshole who says something awful every 2.2 seconds, and hopes we can all just get along.

Well, we can’t.

Let me explain to the not-so-fine folks on the NECSS board why Richard Dawkins is such a divisive figure, and why giving him his talk back and asking him to be on a panel to discuss the issues “causing conflict both within the skeptical community and within society as a whole” is basically spitting in the faces of those of us who are trying very, very hard to end the abuses that are causing those conflicts.

Here is a brief history of Richard Dawkins being awful, pulled from my own archives, and therefore in no way comprehensive, because the man is a firehose of terrible statements and I have better things to do than spend 100% of my time trying to catalogue all his fuckery.He kicked off the opening of the Deep Rifts™ with a sneering attack on Rebecca Watson for mildly asking guys to please not corner women on elevators. Then he refused to understand why women might be a tad upset about his cavilier dismissal of our concerns.

He has a distressing habit of erasing women when he discusses abortion. (Alas, I didn’t get around to writing up his abhorrent views on fetuses with Down Syndrome, but any discussion of his views on abortion is incomplete without mentioning them.)

He decided that classifying some child sexual abuse as “mild pedophilia” was a reasonable thing to do. I mean, if Dawk wasn’t much bothered by being diddled as a child, it can’t be that big a deal.

He thinks that women who drink and get raped brought it on themselves. As if that wasn’t despicable enough, he’s also decided that only women with “clear and convincing memories” of their assault can report a rape – so those of us who get raped after being knocked out by drugs or physical force are shit out of luck, no matter what other evidence we have.

And then he tried to silence rape victims to protect a celebrity in the skeptic community.

He attacked a black Muslim kid for building a clock and taking it to school, even going so far as to descend into conspiracy theories worthy of Alex Jones.

He’s impervious to criticism because he’s convinced himself we’re only in it for the money and fame. (My perpetually depleted bank account can attest to the fact that there is no fame and fortune to be found in criticizing one of the most popular men in the atheist movement.)

And then there was the episode that got him briefly disinvited from the 2016 NECSS conference, wherein he retweeted a video equating feminism with radical Islam (complete with a rape “joke”), and, upon discovering that the video targeted a flesh-and-blood woman who’d been horribly harassed, decided she deserved it.

And all of that is just a tiny sampling of the endless amounts of awful that spew from Richard Dawkins’ Twitter feed on a daily basis, aside from the days when he’s recuperating from a stroke. Then he just uses audio interviews to shit all over the people who’ve already suffered due to his above-noted words siccing hordes of harassers on them. Poor dear, he’s so stressed by the fact we get upset at him for being a sexist, racist, bigoted asshole.

This is the man you’re so very sorry for briefly subjecting to consequences for his actions.

Let me tell you something, NECSS organizers and board people.

I’m sick of this shit. I am completely tired of women, minorities, and people concerned with social justice being an afterthought in this movement. I’m sick of us getting trodden underfoot in the rush to kiss the asses of the Great White Menfolk. I’m tired of watching people and orgs take a tiny step forward, and then stampede back to the status quo.

We on the social justice side of the Deep Rifts™ will change the face of atheism. We will make a secular community where women, people of color, queer folk, trans folk, disabled folk, and other underrepresented folk find safe harbor. We will defeat the harassers, the old-school sexists, the gentlemen racists, the trolls, the harassers, the assholes, the greedy, and the other assorted jackasses that make movement atheism such a terrible place right now. We will resolve this shit, and we will make a better world.

And we will remember who stood with us, who failed us, and who opposed us.

And the question orgs such as yours need to ask: what do you want to be remembered for? Helping achieve equality and justice, or being the jerks we had to overcome to get there?

Consider carefully.

And no, there is no “room for a range of reasonable opinions on these issues.” There is no discussion to be had with people like Dawkins, who regularly shit all over women and minorities within the movement whilst proclaiming themselves our hero. We’ve tried. We have tried so hard, and so long, to reason with them, and we are done. We are moving on. You can move with us, or we can leave you behind.

As for those of you in the community who had a brief moment of hope when NECSS temporarily decided to do the right thing: they offered a refund to Dawkins’ fans for the disappointment, and now they owe you one. They didn’t bother to offer it, as they should have done. That’s another way they’ve shown that we aren’t shit to them.

If you donated to NECSS or purchased a ticket as a thank you for standing up for the women, minorities, and allies in the secular community who have been harmed by Richard Dawkins, it’s time to ask for your money back. Here’s a handy contact form.

They need to give your your money back. And then they need to give up all pretense of decency, because pretending these are just reconcilable differences is shitting on everyone who isn’t wealthy, white, and generally (though not always) male in this movement. There is a rift for a fucking excellent reason. If they can’t be bothered to figure out why, they need to stay the hell on the other side of it.

It’s okay. We can build a better movement without them.

The post Dear NECSS: You Have Seriously Fucked Up appeared first on En Tequila Es Verdad.

One of the hardest things about learning empathy is realizing we need to change. We may see nothing wrong with something we’re doing, and we know we’re good people, but all of a sudden, there’s someone (or many someones) in our face, asking us to stop using some words because they hurt. And that can be hard.

For one thing, we may not see what the problem is. Why shouldn’t we use certain common terms?

Then there’s a knee-jerk, “It’s my vocabulary, and there’s nothing wrong with it!”

There may be the temptation to downplay the whole thing. People are soooo oversensitive, amirite?

But if I’ve learned anything by hanging around the social justice crowd, it’s to shut up and listen when someone from a marginalized group tells me I’m doing something that’s hurting them. Even if I’m part of that marginalized group, I need to listen to perspectives other than my own. I’m not the center of the goddamned universe. My viewpoint is not the only valid one.

So I swallow the resentment and knee-jerk responses, and hear them out. And in many cases, I realize they have a very excellent point, and now I need to do the hard work of changing some things.

Ableist language is one of those. Anyone who’s been reading this blog for years will know I was very fond of the words “stupid” and “batshit crazy.” You may also be aware that I’ve largely excised those words from my public discourse. Even though I’m actually certifiable and don’t mind calling myself crazy, I’m very, very careful with how I use that term and its relatives now. And I’ve stopped using anything derogatory relating to someone’s intellectual ability. I’m still working on stamping those terms out of my casual conversation, because they were with me for so long they slip out on automatic. But someday soon, I’ll be out of the habit of using ableist language completely.

Why?

Because there’s an excellent case for not using those words. I’m persuaded they do more harm than good. And I’ve actually quite enjoyed having to reach for alternatives. It forces me to be more creative.

I’d like to see the secular social justice crowd, the progressive atheosphere, and other assorted circles I run in excise those words as well. Allow me present two excellent cases for why you should put ableist words on a restricted list, and reach for other ways to express yourself.

Almost Diamonds: Enough “Crazy”

If you’re among the people telling the world that Sarah Palin or Donald Trump or Ben Carson is “crazy” for saying what they do, why do you need to stop? Really, it comes down to many of the same reasons people need to stop calling religion a mental illness. It’s wrong. You don’t have the qualifications to diagnose someone, and that’s not how diagnosis works anyway. And it stigmatizes people with mental illness.

 So let’s go through how this works in this case. Yes, calling these things “crazy” is wrong. Sarah Palin isn’t crazy. No, her words don’t make any sense if you want speech to map cleanly to the real world, but that isn’t what her people are listening for. The fact that what she says is one layer removed from reality isn’t a bug. It’s a feature.

The same is true for Trump. He isn’t saying anything real, but he’s telling his audience what they want to hear. It’s working too, because he’s still the front-runner in a race that was thought to belong to someone else. Anyone else. But there he stays. Carson? He was in second place when his “crazy” words were being reported regularly.

Beyond that, this is a strategy for the GOP. It has been for ages. This isn’t a bunch of people who’ve wandered away from reality at the behest of a neurological malfunction. These are people doing what has been proven over the last twenty-five years to work with their voting base.

In the case of religion and politicians, using ableist language causes splash damage while excusing behavior that is absolutely under someone’s control, and is also quite rational, no matter how weird it looks from the outside.

But that’s politics. Here’s something rather more personal:

Alyssa and Ania Splain You a Thing: Quickie Rant: Hey Actually, That’s Ableist

The same cannot be said for the effort people put in to remove ableist vocabulary from their language. Sure some of the big ones like R*t*rd that many of us have known since childhood was a slur, but st*pid, Id*ot, Cr*t*n, M*r*n, l*me, Cr*zy, for those I haven’t seen as much effort, even from people who claim to care. It’s disheartening.

Every day I scroll through my newsfeed and I’m bombarded by these words from people who are my friends, who claim to care about me and people like me.

Do you really think we don’t notice?

Many of us are just too exhausted to have the same argument again and again. When many of us struggle to survive in a world that in some cases is actively trying to kill us, often through neglect (think flashing lights, they are fucking everywhere!!), it can feel like too much to tell yet another person: “Hey actually that’s ableist.”

These words hurt. I’ve had friends with intellectual disabilities who’ve had “stupid” aimed at them so much it’s left scars, and they’ve made a good case for not lobbing it at assholes due to the splash damage, so I’m trying to get better about not using it and similar words. Thankfully, English is a rich language full of words to use on asshats without hurting good people. There are whole word lists dedicated to helping you find alternatives: just google “non-ableist insults,” and a whole internet of possibilities is right there in front of you.

Ultimately, it’s up to you whether you want to do the work of removing ableist language from your vocabulary. Remembering there are real people, people you care about, who suffer another bit of chipping damage every time you use an ableist insult can help you decide to stop. And I hope you do. There are plenty of things we can say that won’t hurt people who are already treated like shit by most of the rest of society.

We can do better.

Please help keep the verdad flowing!

The post Good Reasons for Removing Abelist Language from Our Vocabulary appeared first on En Tequila Es Verdad.

If you are part of a major atheist organization or conference, you should be asking yourself a serious question right about now: Do we want to associate our good name with a man who thinks the height of hilarity is promoting racist and sexist videos, and who is now willingly hanging with the MRAs, GamerGaters, white supremacists, and other dregs of Twitter? Do we really want to extend that big a fuck you to women and minorities?

Because honestly, at this point, willingly coupling yourself with Dawkins is basically saying you give not a shit about women, people of color, or reason itself.

But don’t take my word for it. Take Dawkins’s own tweets for it. You can find them, along with other of his assorted nonsense, in the links I have collected. And this is the mere scrape of a fingernail across the surface.

I know it’s hard to accept. It took me a long time to accept the fact that the man I admired, whom I’d braved crowds for and hung on to the every word of, is actually a tremendous jerk. I didn’t want to think that my hero was harmful. But he is. And the sooner the movement accepts that, the stronger we can make it by leaving him and his dawkbros on the sidelines.

Really, though, it’s okay if you don’t want to do that. We’re making our own secular movement right over here. I’m just saying that if you want to stay relevant, you will peruse the information herein, and decide accordingly.

For those who think this is a free speech issue:

Salon: Stop pouting, Richard Dawkins: Sharing a rape “joke” targeting an activist is a “de-platforming” offense.

Dawkins, a provocative scientist, author and thinker who at one time people actually took seriously, has over the past few years evolved into a round the clock bigot. And hey, business is generally good — being a fan of Dawkins makes other bigots feel like they’re sophisticated and not, you know, bigots. Dawkins himself sets the tone, humble bragging, “Sorry if I go a bit over the top in my passion for truth” while he snarks on “good Muslim” women, shrugs off “mild pedophilia” and yells at clouds.

Earlier this week, Dawkins fancifully linked to a YouTube video called “Feminists Love Islamists.” In the two minute cartoon clip, a redhead in glasses and a grating voice does a piano duet with a Middle Eastern male. Imagine Mark Russell, but somehow worse. In it — and if you decide to watch it just remember you’ll never get those two minutes of your life back — the two whine-sing of how disempowered they are, and then it ends with the man asking, “So do you mind if I rape you now?” The woman replies, “Don’t be silly; it’s not rape when a Muslim does it!” This is what Richard Dawkins apparently finds entertaining.

Making the matter even more offensive, if possible, is that as writer Lindy West and others have noted, the cartoon female is modeled after a real woman who was targeted for doxxing, rape threats, and death threats after speaking up at a 2013 Men’s Rights group event in Toronto.

NeuroLogica Blog: NECSS and Richard Dawkins

There have been many other points expressed that I do not think are fair. The issue here, for example, is not free speech. Dawkins is completely free to express himself and he has a massive audience and plenty of outlets. Far be it for our humble conference to have any effect on his free speech. That is simply framing the issue in the wrong way.

As an analogy, creationists often complain that firing professors who teach creationism is a violation of their free speech, while the real issue is about academic quality control. In our case, the issue is about our right to craft our own conference the way we wish.

People have a right to speech, but they don’t have a right to access a private venue for their speech. In fact, whom we invite or uninvite to our conference is the primary mechanism of our free speech. This was ultimately about the character of NECSS and the statement we wish to make (or not make) to our community. Obviously where one sets the threshold for not inviting, or uninviting, a guest is subjective and there is room for reasonable disagreement here.

For those who think it was just a video, and it can’t be that bad:

Cheap Signals: Dawkins insults feminists, complains when feminists feel insulted 

He apparently believes that because #NotAllFeminists, because he stated in the original tweet that feminists who love Islamists are the “pernicious minority” of feminists, those feminists in the “vast majority” should not be offended by a video which equates feminism with Islamism.

And let’s mince no words—that is absolutely what it does.

It was made by “Sargon of Akkad,” who I’d never heard of before. Rebecca Watson, however, describes him as a “longtime harasser of me and other women” and Zoë Quinn described Dawkins’s tweet as “promoting a guy who built a career of a stalking and harassing my family.”

Here’s a link to the video, but if it you don’t want to watch it I don’t blame you in the slightest. I didn’t want to watch it either, but did so that I could provide this transcript… [Content warning: Rape, racism]

For those who want to believe it’s no big deal, or just one little mistake, or this isn’t part of a larger pattern:

Almost Diamonds: Dawkins Goes Denialist: An Open Letter to the CFI Board 

My main concern is with the governance issues that Dawkins raised by embracing denialism of harassment.

Denialism is a strong word, but it’s justified here. You can watch the process through his tweets and retweets. He started from the idea that there were people who would lie as though the idea were new.

[snip]

The threats are right there, exactly where Dawkins was told they are. Dawkins is substituting his intuitions and other people’s insinuations for the facts instead of checking them. This is denialism.

More than that, it is denialism that is now present on the CFI website.

I might mention that, before receiving any word from NECSS, I had already deleted the tweet to which they objected. I did it purely because I was told that the video referenced a real woman, who had been threatened on earlier occasions because of YouTube videos in which she appeared to her disadvantage. I have no knowledge of the authenticity of the alleged death and rape threats.

This information has, in fact, been given to Dawkins. He is simply not engaging with it in favor of the narrative that the threats are false and being used to deflect criticism. He’s doing this in CFI’s name.

Sinmantyx: The Most Prominent Member of GamerGate

Beliefs: Richard Dawkins is an anti-feminist, but in the CHS mould. He claims to be a feminist himself, yet spends an inordinate amount of time mocking feminists. His spat with Rebecca Watson is infamous, he’s gone on the record as saying Chanty Binx deserves mockery and may be mentally ill, he’s retweeted CHS favorably, argued women who drink can’t be trusted with rape claims, claims feminism is poisoning science, and so on.

There’s also a tendency to endorse conspiracies. Remember Ahmed and his clock? Dawkins thought it was all a big hoax in order to get into the White House. Much like the average ‘Gator, he thinks victims make up their abuse in order to benefit from it.

And there is far, far more there.

Pharyngula: I can’t take no more

I finally unfollowed and blocked Richard Dawkins on Twitter. He retweeted this, [Content note: graphic image of a woman being murdered] and that was just the final straw.

It’s two photos, one of Matt Taylor and his inappropriate shirt (and I suspect Taylor would rather his pals would stop showing it), and the other is of a Muslim woman being executed by a roadside, which is why I’m not posting it directly here, and why you may not want to follow the link. It has a caption: One of these two pictures upsets Feminists. The other one shows the execution of a woman.

It’s a lie. It’s a patently dishonest misrepresentation of feminist views, and it uses the murder of a woman to make a phony criticism of feminists. I can’t imagine how someone could be so insensitive to the crudity of the message and so oblivious to its rank deceit to consider it a worthwhile contribution to any discussion.

If all that isn’t enough to persuade you that you should be done with Dawkins by now, you are not someone I would ever care to associate with. May the rifts between us widen until we never have to hear the horrible choir of Dawkins defenders ever again.

The post Dawkins Descends Further Into the Dregs appeared first on En Tequila Es Verdad.

So here’s a bit of news that gives me an iota of hope for organized atheism and skepticism:

The Northeast Conference on Science & Skepticism has withdrawn its invitation to Richard Dawkins to participate at NECSS 2016. We have taken this action in response to Dr. Dawkins’ approving re-tweet of a highly offensive video.

We believe strongly in freedom of speech and freedom to express unpopular, and even offensive, views. However, unnecessarily divisive, counterproductive, and even hateful speech runs contrary to our mission and the environment we wish to foster at NECSS. The sentiments expressed in the video do not represent the values of NECSS or its sponsoring organizations.

Allow me to find a collection of gifs that properly express my reaction:

And this is my expression every time I think of the Dawkins Fanboyz who must be having absolute conniptions right now:

Oh, my darlings, I am utterly delighted to see a major conference take this shit seriously and shut down no less famous a fuckwad than Dawkins.

Now, some people may think that what Dawk did wasn’t all that bad. Some may think he deserves credit for removing that horrid tweet after he realized it wasn’t going to be tolerated. Those people need to proceed over to Skepchick and lay eyeballs upon the whole series of fuckery, which began with him tweeting a video containing a rape joke from an anti-feminist harasser, and continued with him deciding the woman targeted by that video deserved harassment. He removed that tweet due to the consequences to himself, folks, not her. He hasn’t suddenly developed a great big conscience. He remains the same asshole he has been for ages now.

And I couldn’t be more delighted to see him finally being shut down by a major conference for it.

Thank you, NECSS.

The post The Winds of Change Blow Dawk Right Outta the NECSS Conference appeared first on En Tequila Es Verdad.

Dear CFI:

I hope you’re proud of yourselves.

We’ve had a long and rocky history. On the one hand, you gave us things like the Women in Secularism conferences. On the other… let’s see, there was Ron Lindsay, and Ron Lindsay again, and Ben Radford. So let’s just say you’ve been sending mixed signals on whether you really wanted women in the movement or not.

Well, now you’ve gone and removed all doubt.

This is utterly unacceptable. By choosing to put Richard Dawkins on your board of directors, you’ve chosen to wed your organization to a man who thinks nothing of tweeting rape jokes from anti-feminist shitstains, and harassing a child about making a clock because the poor kid’s a Muslim. You’ve basically told most of the women in atheism to fuck off and die. You’ve told minorities to piss off. You’re driving good people out of the movement. If you were aiming for an older, white, cis male movement with a few token white women and the occasional minority who won’t demand you address concerns specific to women and minorities at all, congratulations. You’ve got it.

What you don’t have is me, and people like me, who are not here to be tokens.

Note: local CfI affiliates are quite often doing wonderful, necessary work. I wish them success and hope the parent organization doesn’t fuck them over.

The post An Open Letter to the Center for Inquiry appeared first on En Tequila Es Verdad.

Ohai! It’s another midwinter holiday gift giving season, and you’ve probably got a reader or dozen on your list. Did they give you some titles? Fantastic! Gift giving shall be easy, and if you purchase through this link, you can get your gifties and support ye olde blog, too. No list? No problem! I’ve got you covered with a super-awesome, super-gargantuan guide to many books suitable for secular gifting.

Through the next couple of weeks, I’ll be updating our lists with additional titles. Here’s a wonderland of atheist books not previously listed in our Super-Gargantuan Guides!

Religion

In this section, you’ll find books on religion, wherein religion decidedly does not come out on top.

Among the Creationists: Dispatches from the Anti-Evolutionist Front Line by Jason Rosenhouse

Jason Rosenhouse went to creationist conferences so we don’t have to. Behind every Ken Ham is a gathering of ordinary people doing their best to understand the world within the constraints of their faith. They’re factually wrong on most things, but relatable. This is an excellent book for those who want to get inside the creationist world, and have their ideas directly contrasted with actual science. The e-book sample has a full outline, which is handy for helping you decide if this is the right book. Also see this Panda’s Thumb review.

Awkward Moments Children’s Bible Volume 1 and Volume 2 by Horus Gilgamesh (Author) and Agnes Tickheathen (Illustrator)

Despite the title, these books are definitely not for children – unless, that is, you feel comfortable letting kids read the Bible. The authors, an interfaith group including an agnostic former Catholic, juxtapose some pretty horrible verses with whimsical illustrations in a children’s book style. Material is sampled from both the Old and New Testaments. These are a fabulous way to get people to confront what’s really in their Bible. They would pair very well with copies of Really Terrible Bible Stories volumes 1 and 2. Here’s a great review from the Christian Post.

The Brick Bible by Brendan Powell Smith

This is a straight-up telling of the Bible, illustrated with LEGOs. It would make an excellent and unique gift for those with faithful, LEGO-loving Christian family members. There’s a certainly clarity that comes with using toys to illustrate these verses. Bloody battle scenes played out by children’s toys suddenly seem rather more disturbing than holy. It might start some gears turning. Also, you get things like the archangel Gabriel with a five o’clock shadow – details like these make the book a delight for the heathen as well as the holy. Oh, and the books were written and illustrated by an atheist trans woman, so you’re supporting one of our own with your purchase! Awesome review by a Catholic mom having conniptions over what’s in her own holy book here.

Daughters of Zion: A Family’s Conversion To Polygamy by Kim Taylor

So, we all know how bad child rapist Warren Jeffs’s FLDS is: child brides; physical, sexual, spiritual, and emotional abuse; rigidly-constrained lives; and little hope of escape. Well, there are sects of polygamous Mormons who combine all that with the murder and mayhem Jeffs was unable to unleash before he was captured. Kim Taylor’s book starts with a young woman sent on a holy mission to kill. It’s a rare look inside the enclave of expat Fundamentalist Mormons who settled in Mexico and allowed their prophet to incite them to unimaginable violence. Harrowing but sympathetic review here.

The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount by Gershom Gorenberg

This is a handy guide to the fundamentalist branches of the three big monotheistic religions, each of whom has mutually incompatible ideas of how the Temple Mount in Jerusalem should be used. All of them have religious beliefs that see this place as critical to their faith – as if God couldn’t work around any wrenches mortals throw into his works. Anyone interested in Middle Eastern religion, history, and conflict should appreciate this one. Useful review here.

Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion, edited by Ronald L. Numbers

An eminently useful compendium of myth versus fact. Anyone interested in the conflicts between science and religion and wants to get the history right would be delighted to have this tome. Thorough review by Jason Rosenhouse here.

God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson

A lot of Christian sects take the King James Version to be the Truly Holy Bible, practically written by God hisownself. But it was definitely a human endeavor. And Adam Nicolson shows how the sausage was made. This would make a suitably subversive gift for that true believer in your family. Excellent review here.

God vs. Darwin: The War between Evolution and Creationism in the Classroom by Mano Singham

Do you or yours need a concise history of the culture wars? Look no further than our own Mano Singham’s handy book! It explores the religious right’s war on evolution education from the origins of opposition to The Origin to the aftermath of Dover v. Kitzmiller. This would be an especially good book for someone just entering the fray, or anyone wanting to know how things got this way. Very helpful review here.

“It’s Not About the Sex” My Ass by Joanne Hanks and Steve Cuno

This one comes as something of a relief after all the harrowing FLDS tales we’ve read on this blog! Joanne Hanks tells of her time in a polygamous Mormon cult (this time the TLC) with biting humor and splendid irreverence. The subject matter is still awful. The religious figures are terrible. There’s questionable and downright illegal stuff. But Joanne escaped, and took her sense of humor with her. And she utterly demolishes this religious bullshit with unstoppable sarcasm. Review here.

Escape by Carolyn Jessop and Laura Palmer

“I was born into a radical polygamist cult,” Carolyn writes on the cover of her book. “At eighteen, I became the fourth wife of a fifty-year-old man. I had eight children in fifteen years. When our leader began to preach the apocalypse, I knew I had to get them out…” If you’ve been following our review series, you know how desperate her plight is, how awful being trapped in the FLDS with no way out is. This is a must for anyone interested in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints.

Lost Boy: The True Story of One Man’s Exile from a Polygamist Cult and His Brave Journey to Reclaim His Life by Brent W. Jeffs and Maia Szalavitz

Many books on the FLDS are written by the women who escaped, and there’s no doubt that women and girls suffer the bulk of the abuse in that sect. But in a polygamous system, surplus boys are inevitable. They have to be got rid of somehow. And not even being the prophet’s grandson will save you. Brent Jeffs, nephew of Warren Jeffs, learns this as a young child, when his uncle singles him out for repeated rapes. As a broken young man, he was eventually pushed out to become one of the FLDS’s many “Lost Boys.” His story is horrifying, but with his wife’s help, he finds the strength to put his shattered life together, and eventually takes on his uncle and the church in a court of law. Review here.

Prophet’s Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints by Sam Brower

This is really a neat look at the FLDS from the outside. Sam Brower is a private investigator who ended up fighting the FLDS leadership for nearly a decade. He helped a man and his family keep their home after being excommunicated – the saga of how the church leadership tried to harass him out of town gives you a stunning glimpse at their all-round awfulness. You see how shady and corrupt the church is, how they use threats, intimidation, and muscle to keep people both in and outside of the church in line, and how much effort it took to bring Warren Jeffs down. We get to see some of the people we’ve met through other books (Elissa Wall, Rebecca Musser, and Brent Jeffs) as they all do their part to put a stop the Jeffs’s predations. It’s an utterly fascinating read. Review here.

The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada’s Polygamous Mormon Sect by Daphne Bramham

The Canadian FLDS town of Bountiful often gets mentioned in American FLDS memoirs. Reporter Daphne Bramham delves deep into the sordid history and unveils it, showing how it connects to the American branch. She details the child brides and lost boys, and the dismal lack of education that (purposefully) keeps so many people trapped. Review here.

The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice by Rebecca Musser and M. Bridget Cook

In this book, we get to see the lives of FLDS prophets’ wives up close, and we see Warren Jeffs as he rises to power and takes over the sect. Rebecca Musser’s story is a tale of endless courage: not only does she have to escape Warren’s advances and find her way out of the cult, she eventually takes him head-on in court. Showing the spirit a lifetime in the FLDS couldn’t kill, she dresses in his least favorite color – red – for every court appearance. My full review is here.

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer

If that certain someone on your list likes a little true crime with their religious nonsense, I have just the book! This is a sordid tale about a Mormon splinter group and its murderous adherents. See my full review here.

Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence by Mark Juergensmeyer

With the rise of religious terrorism, a book on the subject can be quite helpful. And this one reminds us that 1. Religion isn’t the only cause, but it sure can make violence worse; 2. Muslims aren’t the only religious terrorists out there (plenty of Christians, Jews, Sikhs, and Buddhists in the mix); and 3. All these religious terrorists have plenty in common, despite the differences in their beliefs. An essential read for those concerned about violence in the name of God(s). Also, quite relevant to us after this most recent attack on Planned Parenthood, the book includes plenty of information on Army of God asshole Mike Bray, whose work has helped inspire so many abortion clinic murderers. Review here.

See the full guide here. Or, see all the guides here.

The post Updated for 2015: Dana’s Super-Gargantuan Guide to Religion Books Suitable for Gift-Giving appeared first on En Tequila Es Verdad.

It’s here, just in time for the midwinter holidays! I read the Book of Exodus so you don’t have to, and pulled out the juicier bits. All retellings guaranteed 110% snarky.

Really Terrible Bible Stories vol. 2: Exodus is now available worldwide at Amazon:

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The story of Exodus is often portrayed as a heroic rescue from slavery and an epic journey to freedom. What it’s really about is God’s neglect, followed by lots of malicious destruction meant to show the Egyptians and Israelites who’s LORD. Then there’s a bumbling escape, complete with thirst, starvation, and mass murders caused by the incompetent and sadistic God. The rest of Exodus is basically God being really picky about the clothes, accommodations, and sacrifices he expects from these poor escaped slaves. This book will give you the big pin you need for deflating Christian claims about the awesomeness of their God. And it’ll make you see Exodus in a light you may not have anticipated. Especially useful for redirecting tedious conversations about that wretched Exodus: Gods and Kings movie. Really Terrible Bible Stories vol. 2: Exodus is the perfect book for anyone who wants a look at the Good Book without any rose-tinted lenses in the way. Get your copy today!

Also available:

Really Terrible Bible Stories vol. I: Genesis

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The post Really Terrible Bible Stories vol. 2: Exodus NOW AVAILABLE! appeared first on En Tequila Es Verdad.

XV

God’s Extensive, Expensive Interior Décor Requirements for Homeless Refugees

(Exodus 25-27)

First half of Chapter 15 is here.

Having gotten the furniture out of the way, God starts in on curtains. He wants ten of ’em, done up in the finest linen with the most costly blue, purple, and scarlet dyes – remember, kids, those colors were hella expensive to achieve back then. He wants each curtain to have cherubim embroidered on it. And he doesn’t want a few simple drapes, no. He’s asking for enormous, heavy panels that are 28 cubits (about 42 feet) long and 4 cubits (about 6 feet) wide. Then the curtains must be joined in two sets of 5, and 50 blue loops put on the edge of each outer curtain; God’s really particular about that. Then you’ve gotta have 50 solid-gold clasps to put through the loops. (Ex. 26:1-6)

If you want to get an idea of how fun this stuff was to shlep around the desert, go to a fabric store, find the biggest bolt of upholstery fabric you can, and carry it around the store for eight hours. Then, as you lay dying, ponder the fact that you had the benefit of air conditioning, and the Sinai did not.

And that’s not all! God also wants 11 goat-hair curtains, 30×4 cubits (45×6 feet), with 100 loops and 50 brass clasps, for an outer covering for this tabernacle of his. And then, God wants another covering of fine red rams’ skins, and yet another cover of finest leather, which the King James people apparently thought came from badgers. In addition, of course, this tabernacle tent required a frame, so God asks for one made of shittim wood, with silver sockets. I’m shocked he finally remembered he asked for offerings of silver as well as gold: I thought he’d never use it. But of course, God wants the frames, bars, and rings to be overlaid with and made from solid gold. (Ex. 26:7-30)

Not satisfied with the curtains he’s already got, God requests another set. His garish color preferences once again assert themselves, as he wants this inner “vail” to be blue, purple, and scarlet linen – with cherubim, of course. And, obviously, he wants its frame to be made from gold-covered shittim, with solid gold fasteners and silver sockets. And he wants a screen made from the same colors, five gold-slathered shittim pillars, and of course solid gold hooks, but this time, he’ll accept brass sockets. Everything – furniture and hangings – should be arranged just so, including specific cardinal directions for each bit of furniture. God apparently likes a bit of the old feng shui for his desert digs. (Ex. 26:31-37)

Having minutely detailed the tabernacle and its furniture, God goes on to specify what kind of barbecue grill he wants built. It must be square, made of shittim, with horns, and everything covered with brass. He tells Moses he wants all sorts of fancy barbecue tools, including ash pans and meat forks, which are all crucial to ensuring properly burnt offerings and a tidy clean-up afterward. He wants a brass net, and of course the whole thing has to be portable, so the nomads will have to schlep this 7.5′ x 7.5′ x 4.5′ hunk of wood and metal around on poles. Happily, God decrees it can be hollow. That must’ve been a relief. (Ex. 27:1-8)

God’s curtain obsession returns in full force. He asks for the whole area to be enveloped in curtains 7.5 feet tall and 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, with a 22.5 x 7.5 foot high entrance, and a 30 foot screen. The curtains he wants done in fine linen, but plain: it’s the screen he wants embroidered in his three favorite colors. No wonder the Israelites were in the desert so long: do you have any idea how much time it takes to hand-embroider that much fabric? And carrying it had to be an unbelievable pain in the arse: just the outer cloth walls and screen come to 525 feet of fabric! Not to mention all the brass pillars with their silver bands and hooks. God also wants all the pegs for hanging utensils to be brass. That’s pretty brassy. (Ex. 27:9-19)

God then advises that everyone should tithe pure beaten olive oil to keep the enormous lamp burning. He wants the lamp placed just outside the vail, and tended from evening to morning by Aaron and his sons, forever. (Ex. 27:20-21)

It’s about at this point that one wonders why Moses didn’t discreetly clear his throat somewhere in all that soul-crushing detail and say, “I’d just like to remind the LORD that we, not you, are going to be carrying all this shi- stuff, around a desert. And, not only does it weigh a ton, it’s going to take at least half the day to strike, and another half to erect.”

But then, he probably didn’t want to see the LORD’s eye twinkle sadistically as he answered, “Exactly. Mwah-ha-ha!”

The LORD will be discussing proper priestly attire and issuing death threats next. I’m shocked he went such a long stretch without!

Really Terrible Bible Stories vol. 2: Exodus Coming Soon!

Really Terrible Bible Stories vol. I: Genesis is now available at Amazon! Worldwide, even! Pick up your copy today.

The post Really Terrible Bible Stories vol. 2: Exodus Excerpt – Chapter 15, Part Two! appeared first on En Tequila Es Verdad.