The Atheist Mama

Today, Mike left me this comment:

Nice 80’s hair style first of all. I wanted to comment on your hate towards god and your love for sexual disease. Did you know 84% of HIV in the USA comes from men to men sexual contact and needle sharing. Oh and if you don’t think homosexual men are rude, violent, and threatning, check craig’s list where you can blog under rant and rave and see the filth you stand up for. Disease disease disease is all I have to say. Maybe you should spend less time spreading hate and more time raising your kids. I bet your kids aren’t in any sports or after school activites as you probably make no time for them. Gooooood job lady. I’d call you a mother if you were.

Yes!! I can feel the love!!

I’m not even going to respond to the 80’s hairstyle comment…

“Did you know 84% of HIV in the USA comes from men to men sexual contact and needle sharing…”
– Link please.

“Oh and if you don’t think homosexual men are rude, violent, and threatning, check craig’s list where you can blog under rant and rave and see the filth you stand up for.”
– What, no straight men are rude, violent and threatening? Hey, you have 1 (maybe 2) out of 3 yourself. Are you gay? (note: sarcasm)

“I bet your kids aren’t in any sports or after school activites as you probably make no time for them. Gooooood job lady. I’d call you a mother if you were.”
– Not that it’s any of your business, but my oldest is in pre-school and they are still too young for sports. But I was THE most involved parent in my son’s pre-school last year. I was also the only atheist. Go figure…

Thanks for coming by Mike! Keep the mail coming!!

So I’ve been driving by this thing several times a year for the last 3 years and I finally pulled over and took a picture of it a few days ago. This is located in Frostburg, Maryland on I-68. According to their website, they started construction on this boat in 1976. Not a thing has been done to this structure in the past 3 years. I wonder what the holdup is. Funding low??

The Ark is being constructed to the specifications of Noah’s original Ark–450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. To give you a better idea of what that will look like–Imagine a structure one and half
football fields long and three stories high!

So today, Dennis Mahoney from The Columbus Dispatch paid me a visit. Mr. Mahoney writes for the Faith & Values section of the paper. He contacted the president of the local Humanist community here in Ohio and told her that he was “doing a story on the segement of the population (both in U.S. and worldwide) that has no religious belief” and was interested in “talk[ing] to several local folks who fall into this category and explore why they think the way they do.” She recommended me, along with several other local atheists and humanists.

He was a very nice man and asked questions about what my family’s religious beliefs were, how I came to be an atheist, and how I plan to raise my children (as far as beliefs go). We also touched on morality, politics, and people. Overall, it was a great experience and opportunity!!

So the story is due out in 2 weeks or so. I’ll post the link when I see it!

verb

1. To instruct in a body of doctrine or belief: drill, inculcate. See teach/learn.

2. To teach to accept a system of thought uncritically: brainwash, propagandize. See teach/learn.

Bachodi over at The Bach recently emailed this image to me. Apparently it’s from a Christian children’s coloring book from 1954 called Listen and Do published by Pacific Press. Starlen over at splitlevel has scanned the whole coloring book and posted it over at Flickr. Defenitely check that baby out…

A comment from sketchgirl on the 30 Days post prompted me to look around for clips of the show. I was able to find this one - with the “In God We Trust” discussion that took place. Out of the whole show, this part was quite good. Take a look if you haven’t seen it yet!

Photo taken in Alexandria, VA a few days ago.

The Guitar Tablature Archive, OLGA.net, has been shut down to “ensure that composers and songwriters will continue to have incentive to create new music for generations to come.”

Read the letter that OLGA got from from the NMPA and the MPA -
pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6

Apparently it’s copyright infringement to give access to freaking guitar tablature!! What. The. Hell? I mean, I’ve heard “Stairway to Heaven” more times then I can actually stand. But if my boys want to learn how to play the guitar when they get older, where will we find the music with shit like this going on??

Hat tip to /. and Bullemhead

And now for your entertainment…

Marilyn Manson - This is the New Shit

Did you happen to see “30 Days” last night? I didn’t know it was coming on, but I happened to see that my DVR was recording it, and the title was “Atheist/Christian.”

Episode Detail:

A freethinking mother of four finds religion (for a month, at least) in the home of an evangelical Christian family. “It’s not like you have an `unborn-again’ experience,â€? says Brenda as she tells her host family, the Shores, how she became a nonbeliever. During their month together, Brenda attends their Frisco, Texas, nondenominational mega-church as well as Bible-study sessions. No minds are changed, but understanding grows. Says host Scott Shore: “She forced us to look more at ourselves.â€?

What they left out of Scott Shore’s quote above was him saying that “if anything, she strengthened our faith.”

The atheist was a woman in her early 40s (I really thought that the fact that they used a female atheist in the show was a bonus). She was a married, stay at home mom with four children (as it mentions above). It was really nice to see the atheist in the show portrayed as a good citizen and a caring mother. I was so thrilled about that. When “Wife Swap” did their show with the Christian mom and the Infidel Guy, they really focused in on the atheists and how their parenting skills weren’t “up to par.”

The Christians were a family in Dallas, Texas. I don’t know what they did for a living or anything… It really only talked about them going to church and Bible study. They had 2 children and one on the way. The mother in the family seemed to be more understanding of the atheist woman and her beliefs. The husband seemed like a nice enough guy, but I thought he was a little condescending.

So the atheist had to go to church and bible study with the Christians and live with them for 30 days - WAY tooooo long, in my opinion. I mean, a week or two is one thing, but a month?? I would never make it.

Anyway, I think what struck me the most about the show was the fact that the Christians just could not understand how in the hell a person could live without God in their lives. He didn’t understand where their morals came from, or what their purpose for living was. It seems that some Christians see no value to their lives without God. Is that the case?

What didn’t I like about the show? It didn’t really let them get into any real detailed discussion. It just touched on a few topics. I would have really liked to see the atheist let them know what she thought and why. The Christian man was a bit intimidating to her though, so even aired the discussions, she may not have been able to put up much of an argument. He kind of blew her off a few times when she was talking.

One of the best things about this show was that it wasn’t biased towards the Christians, in my opinion. It seemed to represent “us” in a really positive light! I wonder if Morgan Spurlock is an atheist.

If you missed it and you’re interested in watching it, here are the encore times (on FX):
Aug 12 - 2:00 PM
Aug 14 - 12:00 AM
Aug 14 - 11:30 PM

Photo and episode detail from tvguide.com

Cross-posted at GifS

A few weeks ago, we decided to go to Friendly’s for lunch. Boy, was I floored when we walked through the front door and were slapped in the face with this display!!

Here is what is printed on the framed piece of paper below the poorly drawn cross:

We would like to recognize your Church. Decorate our bulletin board with pictures and information about your church, your missions statement, activities and service times. Be creative!! The information will be featured here for 2 weeks and on our marquee. See manager for details.

Your head pastor/minister will receive Friendly’s gift certificates for himself and a guest.

Emphasis on “himself” mine. Just wanted to point that little gem out.

So I just got off of the phone with the friendly Friendly’s hostess. Unfortunately the manager wasn’t available to speak to me (it is breakfast time), but I asked her if this “Church of the Week” board was open to all faiths. She told me that she “thought” so, and that it’s purpose is to drive up attendance at your congregation.

Needless to say, I haven’t been back. I’m guessing this is a franchise owner thing. Does anyone know if Friendly’s is owned by fundies?? Where do I go for the list of companys to avoid for their crazy beliefs and practices?

Cross-posted at God is for Suckers

I saw this as a headline on someone’s Myspace today. I’m not going to link to her because she’s apparently a good friend of some of my good friends (who are all Catholic, are products of Catholic schools, and of the south, by the way). So I read this and cringed.

Failing is not an option. I can do all things through Christ.

I mean, failing isn’t usually an option for me either. But I can do everything that I set my mind to. Sure, the support of my family helps, but ultimately, all I have is me. If I can’t rely on myself to succeed, what do I have? Absolutely nothing.

I find it so sad that this 28 year old woman doesn’t have enough courage, self-esteem, and confidence to go through life knowing that she can do anything - and do it all on her own. Is this how her mother raised her? Her father? Of course, she’s not alone. I can’t tell you how many Christian women I have met put their god and their husbands before themselves - every time, no matter the situation. Not only do they not matter to their church, they don’t matter to themselves either.

They say that believers are, in general, happier than non-believers. I don’t buy it. It seems to me that anyone who feels that they need Christ (or anyone else) to get through life successfully would be someone who has some serious issues.

cross-posted at God is for Suckers

Hey all! I want to thank all of you for your comments and emails showing your concern for me. I truely appreciate it.

Where have I been? Well, I’ve been traveling a lot lately. I actually just got back from Northern Virginia a few days ago, and I’ll be going back in a week. I’ll also be taking a trip up to Vermont while I’m out in Virginia. All of this with my 2 little boys. My husband has to stay here and work, so it’s been interesting. But I’m getting to see a lot of my family, and I’m doing a lot of re-connecting with some really old, really great friends. We’re having a blast!! But when September comes, life will settle back down.

I have a little to blog about in the next week or so, but then I’ll be slowing back down… But don’t stop coming by and keep my on your blogroll!! :-) Also, you can look for some of my posts on God is for Suckers too. I’ve been lucky enough to join forces with the brilliant minds of GifS.

Stay tuned…