Just last night, a fundamentalist twitter user made the collective eyes of atheists roll by saying Atheism was a religion, dodging all responses to the contrary (why would we expect anything more?). She then dived right into a silly round of, “So why are there different kinds of flowers, huh? How did stars form? Explain that!” Oh the amusement.
When I saw this comic strip, it made me think of all the times atheists have been accused of worshiping science and using it as a religion. Clearly, some folks have their English dictionaries on layaway. Let’s clear it up, shall we?
#218 "Idol Gear"
Source: Treelobsters.com
(HT @daisiesandshit)
Randall Munroe, the creator of the well-known webcomic, xkcd, is on a relaxed publishing schedule due to a very sick family member right now. And out of that trying experience, he draws these three awesome panels:
Hell yeah, Randall.
Something Personal
When my father was fighting cancer, he (even while being a man of faith and prayer) relied on the advances of medicine and scientific research to fight the disease and keep it at bay as much as possible. Even though he wanted God to heal him, he still knew that medical care and advanced technology would be the most important weapons in the fight.
Now I look back and think, Why did we hope for miracles when we knew medicine would do all the real work? I’m honestly not sure if there are any practical reasons for prayers. When someone you love is dying, you want them to be instantly free of illness and suffering. Who wouldn’t? A miracle is a get-out-of-cancer-free card that no believer would turn down. To faithful Christians like us, we prayed for that easy-out, but we truly trusted in the doctors, the chemotherapy, and all of the other treatments used that were backed by tested science.
When praying for healing, you never know if you’ll be heard or if it will ever happen. There can be no reasonable expectation or time table; healing either happened or it didn’t, and sometimes a “miraculous healing” looked just like something explained just fine by science anyway. So when a loved one is ill or dying, you can feel free to hope for an immediate improvement, but trust in those who have tested treatments and medicines that you know can help. Even if your loved one does die, you can at least be thankful that it wasn’t your fault, your lack of faith, or anyone’s relationship with a deity that was at fault.
Science works, bitches!
Good ol’ Bible literalist John Shimkus (R-IL) is a member of the United States House of Representatives. He’s an evangelical Republican who also sits on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
This committee has jurisdiction over a large portion of legislation, such as public health, biomedical research, travel and tourism, national environmental policy, alternative energy, and conservation. That sure is a lot of power, wouldn’t you say?
So whats the problem with Shimkus being on the committee? Let’s see what he thinks about preserving the environment:
During a hearing in 2009, he dismissed the dangers of climate change and the warnings of the scientific community by quoting the Bible. He uses God’s promise to Noah (Genesis 8:21-22) [as proof.]
“I believe that’s the infallible word of God, and that’s the way it’s going to be for his creation,” Shimkus said.
Oh goody, someone who thinks the flood was literal and pretty rainbows mean climate change is a lie.
He then uses Matthew 24:31 (which has nothing at all to do with the environment) to defend a position that:
“The Earth will end only when God declares it’s time to be over. Man will not destroy this Earth. This Earth will not be destroyed by a Flood,” Shimkus asserted. “I do believe that God’s word is infallible, unchanging, perfect.”
(source)
Shouldn’t there be a requirement for learned people who actually know an industry—or at least (dare I say it) science—to lead the major committees in the House? Pretty please with intelligence on top?
Oh gee, it reminds me of this:
Meghan on 
LeetheGirl on 
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