While watching the Symphony of Science video series, I feel the same inner physical thrill I used to experience when attending prayer meetings and discussing spiritual and theological topics with friends. What these scientists say is true: What is real and knowable is fascinating, arresting, and remarkable. We need not dream up anything else.
To devote our lives to understand this universe using science and reason is a profoundly high calling.
Make sure to view the rest of these wonderful videos here.
Bonus Quote:
”Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.” – Carl Sagan
Do you agree?
"Angel of Grief" Glenwood Cemetery, Houston, TX (photo by teejayfaust)
A former coworker of mine just lost his sister to cancer after years of riding the rollercoaster of hope and fear. His love for her inspired me, and it reminded me acutely of what it was like to watch a family member die from the disease.
I have only experienced fresh grief as a Christian. My father died in 2003, and I sought comfort and peace in the hope that he was “in a better place” and free from pain, experiencing the joy and bliss he always desired in life. He was a very passionate believer, and he would always tell me we’d “be together again” when my time was up. I found this to be very soothing and helpful, because I didn’t want to let him go. I wanted more time with him, and I desperately wanted him to be healthy again. I was so fearful of being separated forever. Magical solution? Heaven. Duh.
I’ve never lost a loved one as an atheist, so I honestly can’t speak to what it feels like to say goodbye to someone knowing we will never be together again. I imagine this could be a healthy, helpful way of letting someone go, processing the loss, and moving forward. Is that so?
What matters most to me now is understanding someone’s role in my life and how that helps me be a better person. That way, they live on in me, through me. My father is part of me down to my very DNA. He’s gone, but he has a legacy that affects me and every single person I encounter. I am very fortunate to have had such a great life with him while it lasted. Isn’t that what grief should be about?
What about you?
We can all can talk a good game about how great it is not to be oppressed by the burden of hell, yada yada… but only someone who has actually experienced a loss can talk about what grief is like.
Has anyone out there experienced intense grief as both a faithful religious person and as an atheist? How did your experiences differ on a personal level? Could you share with as much transparency as possible (as you feel comfortable)? Were both healthy experiences? Was one more comforting than another? When someone says “It doesn’t matter if so-and-so has faith in Heaven if it comforts them,” do you agree or disagree?
Photo by Asterio Tecson
According to a long-term poll by the General Social Survey, those who support homosexuals and gay marriage are now in the majority of the American population for the first time!
The question they asked? “Are sexual relations between two adults of the same sex always, almost always, sometimes, or never wrong?” Only in the 2010 results did the numbers show a change from “always wrong” to “not wrong at all.”
May I just say it’s about damn time!
In a blog post detailing these findings, the comments got off to a glorious start. Here’s a response from “Barbara” who makes so many bigoted, homophobic statements I don’t even know where to start!
Chuck, you’re wrong if you think that everyone is going to come to accept your homosexuality and lifestyle as “normal”. It is not. If you really wanted to be accepted as normal, groups of you would do everything in your power to end the disgusting parades, but there is no call to end them, they are evidently loved by homosexuals. If you seriously want to act like the typical neighbor next door, aren’t you seriously embarrassed about them, or are you not allowed to speak the truth? If you think I would ever allow little children to watch them, you’re way off base. Sorry, but they show you as you are, and your “group” is not normal. The American Psychiatric Association calls depression and anxiety, which everyone has had at some time of their lives, labelled as mental illnesses. But your group has pressured them to accept as “normal” people who participate in parades naked or half-naked, men dressed as women, homosexuals acting out the sex act on a parade float in front of huge crowds, etc as “normal”, and do you really think that’s how the individual psychiatrists themselves think?
Everyone that I know does think that you should not be allowed to marry and definitely should not be allowed to adopt. Polls of Americans show that they do not agree with the states allowing homosexuals to marry, and if they’re asked if they should be allowed to adopt, they would hear a resounding NO. Just because your group is able to donate a lot of money and apply a lot of political pressure to get the laws passed that you want, does not mean that that the average American, and especially Christian Americans, agree with the law. Those laws would be undone in a minute if possible.
For those pollsters who are brave enough to go against the violent vehemence of your crowd, the polls show that your “marriages” are nothing but a sham. The vast majority of them are “open” marriages, with no intention of staying true to each other. It is not a lie that, on the average, homosexuals have extremely high numbers of partners compared to heterosexual men. I really doubt that you and your friends are willing to be truthful about this. Sorry, but this country’s interstate highways are notorious for having homosexuals in the restrooms just waiting for other random homosexual men, not caring in the least if they even see their faces, not caring in the least if they know them, they just want their sex. We all know about the homosexual baths, etc, and that’s why AIDS spread so quickly among homosexuals. The percentage of AIDS among heterosexual men in the US never approached the rate of AIDS among homosexuals. You may try and cover it up and sugar coat it, but it is a sick perversion that GOD says is an abomination. If you think we will all cave in to political correctness and ignore the truth, you’re wrong. It’s a shame that most people don’t bother researching anything, they just go along with whatever is the popular thought of the day. But I will always stand with God’s Word. In addition, being happily accepted as “normal” couples is not merely all that homosexuals want. They already have California law requiring that gay history will be covered in the student’s textbooks. They may not be able to give you the name of the first President, but they’ll have to learn the history of a group of people who want acceptance of their sin. I’m not sorry for how I feel. God’s way is always the right way. It’s sad but true, that I’m willing to go to my death for my faith in my Lord, but you’re willing to go to eternal condemnation for what pleases you sexually. Your eternal life is much more important, I’m praying you will repent.
It doesn’t make any difference in the world if my opinion is someday in the minority. I will always do my best to follow the Lord. Don’t you call it an agenda when you’re not happy enough with laws protecting your jobs, you then want laws allowing you to marry, you have laws to adopt, the next step now being taken is to teach little 3 and 4 year olds the history of the gay movement? And then what will follow, allowing kids of all ages to express their sexuality, so that the homosexuals can be with young boys? When will it end? Sorry, but I hardly see the political action groups dissolving. It’s not surprising that I’ve yet to see homosexuals saying how much they love the Lord and how the Lord has made a difference in their lives.
Sigh.
What is it with the phrase “smoking hot wife” right now in protestant Christianity? Is this a fad I’ve missed out on since I’m:
- Single?
- Atheist?
There are too many Christianese clichés to count, but this particular one catches me off-guard because it makes me picture two people rumpling the foreskin after church.
We get it folks; you want to show off how badass-naughty Christians can be. Obviously secular culture is just dirty and sinful in its sexuality and doesn’t have the firey burning love machine you have in your bed. Your smokin’ hot brides are giving you the best Jesus-blessing sex of your lives, right? Way to tease the singles though. Are you about to go home and get it on? Thanks for telling us about it. Jesus loves watching you make whoopie next to that cross on your wall.
Want to read a fabulous list of current Christian cliches even the believers hate? Check this out (and don’t miss the comments!). Here are some of my favorites:
love on, as in, “Let’s just love on these precious kids.”
Uhm… hi there.
just. This is a mild but pervasive example that peppers many prayers and is intended, I suppose, to express humility.
Christ-follower. A problematic trend in recent years is calling oneself this rather than a Christian. I understand the embarrassment the label Christian can cause when it aligns one with others who are not as smart, savvy, or theologically and politically progressive as oneself. (Yes, that was sarcasm, another language altogether).
Let us pray. “Dear Father God, we just come before you as Christ-followers. Just bless us today and just shower us with your cleansing rain and just forge us holy fire today, God. Oh Father God we just ask that your holy spirit just fills us up with your smokin’ hot love.”
Yeah, that probably happened at church yesterday.
Here’s one of the best prayers ever that uses a few of my favourite crazy Christianese phrases:
Thank you for giving me a stomach ache of joy, NASCAR. Oh, and Jesus. And this guy’s smokin’ hot wife. And Talladega Nights. Buggity boogity boogity, AMEN!
Olin Thang on 
Cortez Frisch on 
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