Pray the ‘cane away

I watched a clip this morning of Dave Silverman, the president of American Atheists, on a Fox business show. Supposedly, they asked him on there to talk about what atheists do to prepare for disasters such as Hurricane Irene, but it quickly turned into a full-frontal assault on his atheism.

I think Silverman is pretty cool. I’d say that he can be sort of in-your-face, but he’s fairly respectful about his opinions. What others see as mocking, he simply states as fact. He says, “There isn’t an invisible man in the sky,” and they yell, “You’re mocking us!” He says, “No, I’m not mocking you, I’m just telling you that you’re delusional.” haha Love him or hate him, he doesn’t get nasty. He just states his opinion and moves on from there.

I first became familiar with Silverman when he appeared on Bill O’Reilly’s show, and Bill made his famous statement about “the tide goes in...the tide goes out...you can’t explain that.” I never tire of watching it, and you can see the pertinent part at around the 1:45 mark in that video (but the whole thing is worth a watch). That clip is notable for two reasons. First of all, Billo’s ignorance is astounding. We CAN explain the tides. It has to do with that little thing called gravity, to which we are all quite beholden. For him to use that as his proof of God’s existence made me howl with laughter.

Second, that one short clip spawned not one, but TWO Internet memes. Two...two...two memes in one! The first one was the shot of Dave Silverman reacting to Billo’s tide bullshit. His look of puzzlement became the “Are you kidding me?” face that is used often in Net cartoons. The other one was the O’Reilly tide bullshit itself, which resulted in a whole slew of “you can’t explain that” jokes. My own contribution was “Beer goes in, urine comes out. You can’t explain that.” There were dozens of them, and they were quite funny.

Anyway, back to the Silverman interview on the Fox business show. This was almost surreal to me. They get him on there because they’re curious about how atheists prepare, which is bizarre in itself. Do they think atheists are some sort of alien beings, or what? Any intelligent person preparing for such a thing will make sure that they have candles, water, canned food, and for a hurricane, they will batten down the hatches. They actually seemed to think it was strange that he wouldn’t pray about the thing. He tried to point out that such a thing does no good. He asked the shrill harpy woman if she thought God would stop the hurricane, and she actually said no. He was like, so if he’s not all-powerful, and you don’t think he can stop the hurricane, why waste the time praying instead of actually doing something? Her answer seemed to be something about how it provides comfort to people. His comeback was “So do drugs.” I couldn’t help but laugh.

I was also amazed by how they just totally went after him. The whole hurricane prep thing was thrown out the window right at the start, and they went all pit bull on why he doesn’t pray and why he’s mocking people who do and telling him that he lives in poverty because he has no spiritual life. I honestly am perplexed that they would think that Silverman somehow isn’t protecting his family enough because he’s not praying for them. The one guy brought up the example of a priest boarding up the windows on his church and praying for his parishioners. It seems to me that if the priest thought prayer really worked, he wouldn’t bother boarding up the windows, he’d just use all that time to pray really really hard. What a ludicrous argument! What do you think is going to protect the building and the parishioners more: the prayer or the boarded-up windows?

I genuinely have no problem with anyone who wants to pray; I understand that it is a great comfort to many people, and that it is a form of meditation. What I do have a problem with is people who pray without any action to back it up. If that priest had taken the route I mentioned and gathered everyone in the church without boarding up the windows and spent the time praying, we’d probably think he was putting his parishioners in harm’s way, wouldn’t we? All those stained glass windows, blown out because of hurricane-force winds, razor-sharp shards of glass flying through the air. Pretty dangerous, right? Board up the windows, actually DO something, and then go ahead and pray if that’s what you want to do.

I’ve told the story here before about once hearing a woman say “I’m glad I have God to make decisions for me so I don’t have to make them myself!” Not taking charge of your own life, not doing anything to protect yourself from natural weather phenomena, not getting treatment for your child’s leukemia because you’re counting on your god to heal them...that’s not being saintly and devout. That’s being stupid.

The Law of Ten…or Two

A while back, everyone's favorite Alaskan hilljack, Sarah Palin, had a chat with Bill O'Reilly. This was about the national day of prayer, which a judge rightly struck down as unconstitutional. The national day of prayer isn't what this entry is about...we can save that for another day, perhaps when it rolls around again next year, and we can debate it all over again.

During the course of their conversation, Sarah said that our laws were based on the ten commandments. She was roundly ridiculed for such a statement, and I was one of the ones ridiculing her. If she would bother to read even a little bit about our history (maybe she could find something about it in "all of them" newspapers that she reads), it would be obvious that she is completely mistaken. Not only were the majority of the framers of our Constitution leery of religion in their own lives, they were explicit in their wishes that religion not play any role whatsoever in our government.

However, a lot of people seem to think that Sarah was right in saying that our laws are based upon the ten commandments. Let's take a look, shall we? Let's see all the commandments and which have federal laws based upon them.

1. You shall have no other gods before me.

No laws that I know of say that this is a crime.

2. You shall not make for yourselves an idol.

Again, no laws on the books that I know of.

3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

I believe that a few towns have tried to pass profanity laws, but I don't believe they have been very successful in their endeavors at prosecution. I wonder if their statutes were explicit in what profanity was acceptable and what wasn't? Did they specifically mention words like "goddamn" or "goddamnitalltohell," or did they go with the diminutives that some religions also find offensive, like "jeez" or "golly" or "gosh?" Do Catholics find "sweet mary mother of jesus!" offensive, or does it all depend in the way one says it? Does inflection matter? A devout person can say "Jesus!" and claim that they are just exhorting their deity. Another person can stub their toe on a park bench and say "Jesus!" Who is anyone to judge who is misusing the name of God?

4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

I suppose that you could say that certain archaic laws concerning liquor stores not being open on Sunday (Yeah, I'm talking to YOU, Indiana!) are involved with this commandment, but I don't think it's reasonable to say that there are any laws stating that someone should be punished for not keeping the Sabbath holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother.

Good advice, but again, no laws. I also have to say that not every parent deserves honor. There are those who abuse their children, verbally, emotionally, physically, and sexually. I have a hard time with any religion or religious text that states that every parent deserves honor and respect.

6. You shall not murder.

Boy howdy, we've got a winner! We've got laws on the book in every goshdarn state (oops, excuse my #3) saying that this is indeed a crime. Now we're talkin'! Okay, let's keep going.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

Hm. Guess there's not really a law against that. Next!

8. You shall not steal.

YEAH! There's another one! Theft is wrong, and there's all kinds of laws against it. Grand theft auto, petty larceny, burglary...yeah, baby, we hit the jackpot here! Of course, despite the myriad laws, it all comes back to this one commandment, so you don't get multiple points for it. Drat.

9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

I suppose you could stretch this to encompass perjury, but some religions stretch this to say "thou shalt not lie." It's certainly not a good thing to maliciously lie, but if you think all lying is bad, you might want to take a lesson from Lucy. (Check out Lucy’s bridge game with her friends, from about 6:00 to 12:30. "Stop cackling, Marian, I've been waiting ten years for you to lay that egg!")

10. You shall not covet.

Darn. No laws there, either. Of course, coveting can lead to stealing, which would violate #8 and violate state and federal laws, but coveting is a thought, not an action. There are no legal prohibitions against thoughts.

So if we look at the commandments that have actually become law--actual, tangible laws on the books--we've got a whopping two out of ten. The ten commandments are batting a whopping .200! If you're in the minor leagues, .200 doesn't get you sent to the majors, and if you're in the majors, batting .200 is apt to get you sent down to the minors. It's not exactly a stellar performance.

What it all comes down to is that we are not a theocracy. There are other countries that base their laws upon religion, like Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and many others; such laws are oppressive and we find them to be in direct opposition to democracy. Why would anyone here think that it would be acceptable for us to base our laws upon religion? Why would anyone think that we already have done that? That couldn't be further from the truth, and it must always stay that way.

Some of the sentiments expressed in the ten commandments are universal truths. Animals have been shown to behave in moral ways, because such behavior leads to a strengthening of the social group and fabric. It leads to better survival within the group. A set of commandments is not essential to motivate people to do good or to behave in the best interests of society. Are laws necessary? Of course, because there will always be those who do not want to act in the interests of the greater good.

But to believe that our laws are based upon the ten commandments is demonstrably false and shows a profound lack of historical knowledge. Despite what many claim and what many seem to want, we do not base our laws upon Christianity or any Christian texts or tenets. That goes against what we stand for as a country, and is completely counter to what the framers of our Constitution intended. Are certain behaviors conducive to the smooth operation of society? Definitely. Is our legislation a result of the ten commandments? Definitely not. Note that the first four are all about God's insecurities, rather than any sort of law that would contribute to the good of the people or the survival of the community. Animals, including the human animal, figured it out on their own. Survival depends upon a society in which the majority work for the greater good. Those who choose not to do that are ostracized, marginalized, and excluded from the gene pool, resulting in a stronger society.

I have no problem with anyone who lives a good life because they feel their religion compels them to do so. I do have a problem with anyone who says that those who don't subscribe to the same religion have no morals, and I also have a problem with anyone who says that our laws are based on the ten commandments. People like Palin have a lot of learning to do when it comes to understanding our history and comprehending our Constitution. And people who think that it's perfectly okay to promote Christianity and place it in our courts, schools, and government need to think very seriously about the constitutionality of that. I would advise them to slide their tender little feet into other shoes and think about a different religion--let's say Mormonism--being mandated by our government. I'm guessing they wouldn't like that very much. But as soon as we let our government mandate, promote, or even condone any one religion, we are at risk.