the universe (revealed)

if it can't be explained in comic form, chances are you need a new god.
i suppose the vengeful god of jack chick is a valid one too.
oh well.

Today's Hymn

I told you I would go three-for-three. I know I didn't tell you that one of these was going to be a hymn, but it's not cheating if the hymn is awesome. And this Hymn is awesome.

Here it is, Tom Waits with the beautiful "Come on Up to the House."

Peace,

The F.D.

Modern Dance

That's right, where's your god now, by jeebus?
Oh, god bless you Emo Philips.

Morality and Belief

I had the great fortune of seeing one of America's funniest comedians on Saturday night. Emo Phillips put on a great show,despite attempts from idiots who don't know how to turn off cell phones and drunken bachelorettes to ruin the evening for everyone.

Emo told a great joke (actually he told it twice as he appeared to be a little befuddled by all the distracting idiots in the crowd). "I used to pray to God everynight for a bicycle, then I realized that God doesn't work in that way. So I stole one and prayed for forgiveness." This actually ties in rather well with the topic of this post.

I was listening to Christian hate radio the other day on the way to Baraboo (the FM transmitter wasn't working all that well, and I needed something to drown out the shit that goes on in my head). But before I tell you what I heard, I'd like to describe Christian hate radio (CHR). CHR is the type of good, Christian broadcast that exists not to celebrate God, but to destroy the thousands of other established religions in the world so that their church (invariably some small minded baptist church from middle Tennessee), stands alone as the paradigm of virtue in a world run by Satan.

On this particular broadcast, I heard the good reverend say the same tried and true line rationalists, agnostics, and atheists have heard countless times. "Atheists have no morals, science has no morals, they use their Atheism -- their belief that God doesn't exist as an excuse to unleash terrible acts on the world in the name of progress." Now I'm not going to get into whether theists or atheist are more moral than the other, that's ridiculous, obviously people of faith and people that have no faith live great virtuous lives and faith has little to do with it.

We can all agree that this line of thought is not the way all theists think, and I don't want people to assume that I'm picking on believers, that is most certainly not the case, and I also want to make it clear that I don't have a bone to pick with religion. I've made it clear that I have a deep reverence for those with faith.

But what does it say of someone that will claim Atheists will partake in all kinds of evil acts because they don't believe in God, and then turn right around and tell of a God that will forgive all sins if one just prays hard enough? What if Eva Braun killed Hitler just after he repented with all his heart and soul? Would then the murderer of 6 million Jews be instantly redeemed in the eyes of the Lord because he was no longer amoral? There is something inherently wrong with the line of logic pursued by the good Reverend quoted above, just as there is something inherently wrong with saying: what's to stop atheists from killing and raping kids (a question you'll come across if you engage in internet message boards about the question of God)? Well I don't know about them, but I don't kill and rape children because I have absolutely no desire to kill or rape children. I think it's wrong, deplorable, and I have absolutely no desire to engage in that sort of action.

All these stupid lines of thought that are spewed by either side do nothing to open up honest religious dialog, it only keeps people from wanting to engage in honest discourse, and if your goal is to get people to see the majesty of God, you are doing more harm than good to your cause.

The F.D.

Been too long

Hi All, The Freakin' Deacon back with you after an extended unplanned hiatus. Ever since school has started it has become harder and harder to find time to blog it out (not to mention work), but I have some ideas in my head, and will hopefully go three-for-three in the next couple of days.

Back at it...

I'd like to start today's Sermon by pointing out what a Creationist is. According to Answers.com (yeah like I'm going to Merriam Webster's for this one, HA!), it is one with "Belief in the literal interpretation of the account of the creation of the universe and of all living things related in the Bible." I'm sure we could come up with some other definitions, but this is my blog not yours. So with that definition we can separate Creationists from many, many Abrahamic Christian Sects. Even the Catholic Church, who is often the last one to the party, recognizes evolution as the way we humans got here.

Creationism is the belief that God created the world in six days as described in the Bible. The Catholic Church does not read the Genesis account of creation literally, saying it is an allegory for the way God created the world.

So with that we can clearly see that the antithesis of Creationism is not evolution, the antithesis of creationism is abiogenesis. The idea that conditions were right on Earth at one time to harbinger very basic cellular life.

I hate to sound like Bill O'Reilly, but there truly is an attack on reason. And I'm sorry to be the one to say it, but if you don't want your kid being taught about evolution, home school them or send them to private school. Just don't send them to a school that teaches science with the expectation that you will change the curriculum to suit your world view. Science, fact, and empiricism don't work that way. Your world view (as well as your child's)will be accepted and respected, but just as there is a place for religion, faith, and prayer -- the school is the place for fact, reason, and intelligence. Dozen's (or more) of major, established religions have accepted evolution as fact. This is because it is the theory that logic clearly supports. The theory of evolution does not mean there is no God, this is something I have been saying since I started blogging. I understand you have faith, but if your faith means evolution didn't happen, then your faith doesn't stand up to everyone else's logic.