Now that Hanukkah is over we can start in on Christmas.
Over at WashPo Susan Jacoby couldn’t resist having another laugh at the expense of the Catholic Church. But this is like sniggering at the shmendrick who drops his ice cream on the sidewalk: it’s too easy. Here’s Jacoby:
Let’s see. One in four American-born Catholics have left the church during the past 20 years. Parish schools are being closed throughout the country because many dioceses are strapped for cash after settlements with victims of priestly pedophilia. Seminaries are empty and nuns (those who are left) are in open rebellion against a male hierarchy that will not even consider ordaining women as priests. I guess it’s logical that the church needs more exorcists.
Talk about desperate. If I were the pope I’d be trying to make my church a bit more modern, a bit more humanistic and a bit more, well…serious. Exorcism is sheer buffoonery, like clown shoes. Did you ever see the pope walk out in public wearing something so silly as big, floppy clown shoes? Well, I guess you have.
Jacoby nails moderate religious belief as well:
The problem with “moderate” religion–as distinct from fundamentalists creeds that insist on the literal truth of ancient collections of fantasies–is that there is really no difference between “reasonable” and “unreasonable” supernatural beliefs. When you think about it, it is really no more absurd to believe that Satan can make us froth at the mouth than it is to believe that ashes will one day be reassembled and restored to life. Any belief for which there is no evidence apart from one’s own longings and fears is unreasonable. That is why I am an atheist.
She’s right, too. Why is belief in the recomposition of a decomposed body any less outlandish than belief in devils, demons and dybbuks? It’s all nonsense, and that’s the point. All religions are full of such beliefs, right down to the central one about God. If you think I’m being unfair (and I know a lot of people who hold on to God as a pre-teen boy holds on to his teddy bears) I’d like to know what you think the difference is.
And that’s one reason I, too, am an atheist.
I just wanted to briefly add my voice to the chorus of those who thought Laurie Goodstein’s NTY article on the revival of exorcism in the Catholic Church was silly. I mean, is this news? PZ Myers made a thorough frisking of it here, so I won’t go into it. His point is summed up thus:
In any other subject, if someone made a specific claim like that, I’d expect a good journalist to ask, “how do you know that?” and try to track down a credible source for such a claim about an individual. When the subject is the Devil, though, anything goes. You can say any ol’ crazy thing about Satan, and the reporter will dutifully write it down and publish it without ever stopping for a moment to wonder, “Hey, is my source just making shit up?”
Ooga-booga, ol’ Satan is back to haunt us in the pages of the New York Times. I would expect this kind of silliness from the Osservatore Romano or even Corriere della Sera because I’m aware that the Italian media bend over backwards to accomodate the Church, regardless of the ridiculous nonsense its mouthpieces are spewing, in wholly uncritical fashion. We’re talking about expelling demons, for chrissakes!
Here’s the kind of thing that makes me laugh:
“The ordinary work of the Devil is temptation,” he said, “and the ordinary response is a good spiritual life, observing the sacraments and praying. The Devil doesn’t normally possess someone who is leading a good spiritual life.”
That’s the last paragraph of Goodstein’s article. Straightfaced. Let’s say it loud and say it proud, “THERE IS NO DEVIL. THERE IS NO GOD. IT’S ONLY PEOPLE MAKING SHIT UP. WE ALL KNOW THIS. NOW LET’S STOP PRETENDING AND GROW THE FUCK UP.”
I feel better. Enjoy your weekend.
Lately I’ve been reading a blog called the Atheist Rabbi. I’m not exactly sure what kind of rabbinical work there is to do among atheist Jews, but whatever: he has his degree and it makes a provocative name for his blog.
I like the way he sets the tone of a recent post:
It’s been a year or two since I last attended a meeting of the local rabbinical association, but the last time I did, I walked out with a sick feeling in my stomach.
When was the last time you read such a line? The post is about Christians United for Israel, a Christian Zionist group. Most Jews I know who support Israel (meaning, who do not wish for its destruction) are ambivalent about Christian Zionists. On one hand, they are a broad support group; on the other, they are convinced Jesus is returning and Israel represents the site of Armageddon. I’m not too comfortable with the Left Behind scenario, not because I think it might actually happen, but because I don’t want that to be the reason behind any sort of political activity. Messianism is an awful idea.
The post closes on a secular, democratic note you will never hear sounded either by Israel’s most maniacal religious supporters or its most heinous “We’re all Hezbollah” detractors:
I support Israel, too. The version of Israel that I support is a secular, democratic state preserving Hebrew and Jewish culture while protecting the rights and dignity of the minorities in their midst. I care not one whit for “holy” stories, sites or borders. The only thing that is sacred to me is human life and well-being.
Accepting support from anyone who views Israel as the fulfillment of nonsensical supernatural legends is as irresponsible as it is ridiculous.
This is the view of a rabbi whose blogroll includes Richard Dawkins, Pharyngula and Greta Christina. I’ll be checking in regularly to find out what’s going on in his mind.
As a secular, atheist Jew I’m interested in more blogs like the Atheist Rabbi. What do Israeli atheists have on their minds? Are there any secular lobbies in Israel comparable to the Secular Coalition for America? I mean, if Turkey has all those atheists, what about a country in which a quarter of all its citizens claim to be nonbelievers?
Please send links.
By now I’m guessing that most of my readers also read Jesus and Mo. I want to share Mr. Apostate with you now. Mr. Apostate has a very different style than J&M, and rather reminds me of Glen Baxter and Bazooka Joe. Here’s one I liked:
Please send links to more apostate comix.
Pharyngula is always brimming with interesting things. Today PZ posted this video of creationist propaganda in action. Watch it. Squirm while you think, but I don’t believe in Ken Ham’s God! If you have any doubts why atheism just seems to have sprung up out of nowhere while you were sleeping, this video should explain what so many of us have been so nobly speaking out against.
“So here are some more sacrilegious acts you can commit. Learn something new. Teach something new. Question dogma. Challenge tradition. Laugh at the quaint myths religion offers us.” – PZ Meyers (Video removed.)
*Postscript: It’s worth mentioning that the “grandfather” and “grandmother” in Ham’s photoshopped presentation actually look quite a bit like Ham himself. So I suppose he’s a monkey-man after all.
Marc Di Martino 