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It’s Long Past Time For A NAP

Those of you in the U.S., you’ve probably heard about this  by now. But in case you haven’t, there is now a political party for unbelievers.

The National Atheist Party is forming RIGHT NOW, and is probably going to sweep like wildfire across American society.

Whether it does or not, though, we’re going to see some very serious shit come down in the near future in the U.S., and it’s time WE had some say in how things go.

We’ve left all the big decisions to the godders for the past several thousand years, and look at how THAT turned out.

We are an American political party, uniquely formed as a true, constitutional movement, reaching out to all who seek a secular government as outlined in the First Amendment to our United States Constitution. Our mission: To politically represent U.S. atheists and all who are drawn to our mandate, in a political process that has thus far marginalized and ignored one of the largest and growing segments of the U.S. population.

The National Atheist Party is a diverse, all inclusive, progressive, secular political movement and a response to the lack of representation for all free thinking people who are legal, law abiding citizens of the United States. We demand emancipation from the religious dogma that has infiltrated our government and has unfairly influenced political decisions and policy making. We are for the people, by the people, and therefore incorporate the right to use the power of the people to restore equality to our Democracy using reasonable, rational and non-violent means.

If you’ve got some extra time, lots of energy, and a desire for a very different future from the one we seem to be sliding towards, get involved.

Oh, and if you have that “we atheists don’t get involved” thing in your head …

First of all, I think that’s shit. It’s not a carefully reasoned and necessary part of atheism, it’s a remnant of all those years when godders would kill us just for speaking up, much less trying to convince others to abandon religion.

Second, this is not about converting people, it’s about demanding the political power that our segment of society deserves. We’ve been ignored, mistrusted, hated, feared and laughed at …

… but now it’s time we were RESPECTED. Given some say. Allowed to enjoy equal rights to express ourselves, be represented, and given our just portion of time at the podium when decisions are made.

This is it, kids. The next step.

Time to make a difference.

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Short Stack

I just hope that after the fundamentalist Christians defeat evolution, they go after entomology next. I’m tired of all these bugs.

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To a fundamentalist, every adventure looks like a sin.

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Christians say they can’t explain the mysteries of God. Then they say scientists have to be wrong because they can’t explain every mystery of the universe. Huh? I missed something. Continue reading “Short Stack”

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27 Secret Gays in Congress

Read this and see how it makes you feel:

The president of a gay rights group says that there are 28 members of Congress who are gay or lesbian, but only one of them feels comfortable revealing that fact.

Gay Coalition of America (GCA) president Bob Silverman told The Guardian that his group was aware of many members of Congress who weren’t ready to make their orientation known.

“Privately, we know that there are 27 other members of Congress who have same-sex attractions and relationships,” Silverman claimed. “But we don’t ‘out’ people.” Continue reading “27 Secret Gays in Congress”

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His Master’s Voice

A majority of those responding to my Thoughts? Suggestions? Complaints? post seem to be okay with (or actually prefer) multi-part posts, so I’m going to continue them. As suggested, I will also add links at the beginning and end of each piece in a series, and will also indicate in the title how many total parts there are.

In addition, though, for those who like to read all the parts together —  and if time permits — I’ll try to repost the entire multi-part piece as a single long post.

I’ve been reminded that the 5th part of The Fate of Broken People has yet to show up, and … argh. I thought I’d posted it, but I now find it’s NOT posted, and only about 90 percent finished. I promise I’ll have it soon. The stitched-together followup will work well with this one, considering the time that’s passed since the first four parts.

Also still out there somewhere has been a piece on Free Will, an answer to a challenge from FTB fellow-blogger Camels With Hammers. Ditto on the “soon” promise.

……………..

And … Steve Jobs died? Damn.

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Nerd Power

Were you a nerd?

I know I was.

From high school on, and for years afterwards, I was odd, bookish, ill-at-ease and clumsy. And I had this sometimes-embarrassingly-loud laugh — meant to be a quiet, easy chuckle, it sometimes seemed to get away from me, ballooning shrilly outward to fill an entire room, turning heads and provoking “looks.”

Ouch. I still wince to think of it.

Interestingly enough, I was not a nerd in elementary school or junior high.

And I think I’ve figured out something of why this was so. Continue reading “Nerd Power”

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Granny’s Hands & Travelin’ Dog — Part 3

Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3

Devout Christians will probably always assume that atheists are simply denying publicly what they know deep within to be true: that God exists and watches over us all in a sort-of benign Big Brother bit. They will assume that atheists really do believe, but avoid admitting it for their own selfish, sick, sinful reasons. They will always believe that it is impossible to not-believe, that our god-created human minds are not capable of it.

For me, at least, they will always be wrong. For me, eventually, all the last shreds of belief, the last suspicion that there might be a god watching me and judging me, drained away and vanished.   Continue reading “Granny’s Hands & Travelin’ Dog — Part 3”

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Thoughts? Suggestions? Complaints?

Reader Boko999 says:

I enjoy the content of your posts but find the way they are broken up extremely annoying and I think breaking them up this way diminishes their impact. I’m not sure if it’s a deal breaker for me yet.

Time always tells 🙂

I was afraid that would happen with some readers. But I was also convinced, going into this, that even more would be turned off by the sometimes-extreme length (at least by blogging standards) of some of the stuff I write.

I am trying to keep readers engaged by breaking things in interesting places, sometimes building in little cliff-hangers, and interleaving the multipart posts with shorter standalone pieces for variety.

There’s a practical human aspect for me in all this, in that writing these things often takes a considerable amount of time. Stuck as I am with the tribulations of partial employment, part of which is scrambling with freelance jobs (and recently, moving), I’m up some nights until 2 or 3 a.m., trying to complete pieces to post here. If I post these longer pieces only after they’re completed, it might be two or three days each time before I have new pieces to post.

I’ve toyed with the idea of stitching multi-part posts together, posting them as additional single narratives after the individual parts are all posted, but I’ve worried that that would be even more annoying and confusing. Suggestions?

The payoff for me in doing this is two things.

One is the opportunity to present what I hope are some new ideas in atheism. I like to think that my quirky metaphorical approach to the subject can give people new ways to think about it, and I really want to increase both the number of atheists and their comfort in thinking about the field’s diverse arguments.

The second payoff is interesting comments. Since most readers don’t comment, I welcome everything, even complaints, from the people who do.

Boko999, I really hope you’ll stay.

But I’d also love to hear from the rest of you. Any thoughts about the multi-part posts, or other aspects of my writing?

(Just FYI, those leaving compliments are welcome to gush shamelessly. There is no limit on the amount of praise I’m prepared to handle.)

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Granny’s Hands & Travelin’ Dog — Part 2

Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3

Okay, here’s the second part. This is an email I got from friends in Texas:

GRANDMA’S  HANDS  (A “must read” )

Grandma, some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the patio bench. She didn’t move, just sat with her head down staring at her hands.

When I sat down beside her she didn’t acknowledge my presence and the longer I sat I wondered if she was OK.

Finally, not really wanting to disturb her but wanting to check on her at the same time, I asked her if she was OK. She raised her head and looked at me and smiled. ‘Yes, I’m fine, thank you for asking,’ she said in a clear voice strong. Continue reading “Granny’s Hands & Travelin’ Dog — Part 2”