Hergest Ridge

How arrogant, insatiable, vain, and egocentric, to stand on a mountain top with all the world below, and have the gull to ask for more from life than this? If there is anything that the Alpha Course makes apparent, it is that human self-importance really has no limits. Centuries after its been established that our planet is not at the centre of the universe, our egos remain where we once believed earth to be.

Well that is that and this is this.

Will you tell me what you saw and I’ll tell you what you missed,

when the ocean met the sky.

You missed when time and life shook hands and said goodbye.

When the earth folded in on itself.

And said “Good luck, for your sake I hope heaven and hell

are really there, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

You wasted life, why wouldn’t you waste death?

^{Excerpt from Ocean Breaths Salty by Modest Mouse}

^{(Good News for People Who Love Bad News)}

Pray: To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

Several years back, in my hands I held a binder that belonged to a relative. The binder was covered with the phrase PUSH neatly scribbled in many sizes and styles. Had the acronym not been spelled out along side - Pray Until Something Happens -, I’d likely have forgotten the whole episode. Having recently seen the phrase again, armed with science, psychology and philosophy I dissect the phrase loved by so many Christians.

PUSH really brings out the benefits of religion, better than any other phrase I’m familiar with. First we have the psychological satisfaction and feeling of doing something about an issue, the psychological equivalent of crying¹. Second, we have a powerful message that every church loves for their members to believe - “Only God has control, and we are your best conduit to Him.” Third is the absolution from negative consequences - “Blame yourself not, for if you prayed and things went bad, such was God’s will.” As with most of religion, that’s just all too convenient, isn’t it?

Christianity often sees science as the forbidden fruit, the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden who’s fruit we humans mustn’t taste. Christianity’s advice is not to understand and counter or encourage an effect, but to leave it all up to man upstairs - to resign yourself to the natural course, to PUSH. Indeed, so far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence.²

Hypocrisy is one of the nicest labels I can apply to the practice. We all line up for the benefits of a pill that cures everything from a headache to an infection, the convenience of planes, trains and automobiles, the dentists that keep our teeth from rotting in our mouths, the blood transfusion after an accident or operation, the comfort of a phone call with mom, dad, child on another continent… yet some of us are pompous enough to walk around proclaiming PUSH?

I’ve yet to meet a Christian that chose to pray for a safe trip home in place of learning the rules of the road. You might choose to do both, but when it comes to life and death, prayer alone will seldom do, even for a fundamentalist. On the other hand, most individuals armed only with the rules of the road and logic get home just fine, and do so in exact same proportions as those that do pray ahead for a safe trip. Prayer has no effect on the external reality. Our actions are what brings by change.

PUSH is a cop out mentality. The only reason you and I can sit and discuss its values and the lack thereof is due to the many men and women whom accepted the burden of reality, as should we. If actions speak louder than words, no one really believes that prayer is a realistic solution to anything. That being the case, I urge all to stop perpetuating the myth.

 
NOTES

¹ Crying is still a scientific mystery where theories abound and research is ongoing. The psychological release and feelings associated with it are but one proposition and factor of many on offer.

² Bertrand Russel

Alicja Tysiac, a mother of three has won her abortion case. The European Court of Human rights has decided that the Polish Government violated her rights after she was refused an abortion. She’s being awarded 25,000 Euros. That’s right, a mother of three - now legally blind - is getting a stinking 25,000 Euros.

When Alicja became pregnant in February of 2000, three eye specialists warned her that carrying to term would likely have devastating effects on her eyesight, and she could in the end become blind. Alicja gave birth, and suffered a retinal haemorrhage. Her remaining sight comes with the help of thick (donated) glasses, is limited to a metre and a half, and is deteriorating.
 

 
Since the fall of communism, Poland is run by the conservative party in drag and abortion is illegal.

To give you a perspective, during the communist years when abortion was available on demand, about 180,000 abortions took place every year. Since the Catholic church weaseled itself back into power, that number is down to below 200 state sanctioned abortions per year - but don’t worry, they’re working on further reducing the number. Right now, rape, incest, threat to the mother’s life, or a damaged fetus are the only grounds for a potential legal abortion. If the church has its way, a thirteen year old girl raped by her daddy will have to cherish the life in her womb, and become a mommy. Let’s just hope its not a girl, and that daddy gets hit by a fucking train soon. Real soon.

Poland already announced that the decision reached by the Strasbourg court will not deter it from attempts to further tighten the abortion laws.

It’s estimated that 2.2% of polish women use the pill, a result of misinformation and scare tactics. Condom use is demonised. The majority of school textbooks recommended by the Ministry of Truth Ministry of Education are based on the Roman-Catholic Church’s teaching on family planning. An excerpt from M. Ombach’s “In Search of Real Love”, a recommended school reading by the Ministry of Education:

Pages 86-7: Even if contraceptives had only the effect of preventing conception and if they did not damage the babies in the initial stage of their life, and if they were not harmful to the woman’s health, even then using contraceptives cannot be treated as the right human sexual behaviour, and this is because of the moral evil that it does to the human being.

Why? Let us illustrate this with the following example. A small boy is stealing apples from the neighbour’s garden. His act was effective because he managed not to get caught. No one, however, will judge his behaviour as right and worth following. The moral evil behind contraceptives comes from the fact that they limit the sexual contact to sole pleasure, thoroughly excluding possibility of parenthood.

Page 93: When at last will people become fully aware that fertility means health! Contraceptives which kill fertility harm human beings because they destroy their health!

Women’s groups say that abortions have been pushed underground, where 60,000 to 200,000 are performed every year. The estimate is denied by Polish pro-life groups who insist Polish women do not want abortions. So, why exactly do these pro-life groups exist? Communal knitting? Orgies? Since all hangers these days are made from plastic, I’m sure there is joke somewhere in here, to do with knitting needles and the aftermath of the orgies.

Alicja’s life will only get more difficult. Soon the world will forget her name and the money will run out, but if there is any justice in this world, history will remember her. Let’s hope that her voice is echoed until the sound can be ignored no more, and Poland finally wakes up from yet another Dark Age nightmare.

 
Sources & Related Articles

1. Polish woman fights abortion case
2. Abortion ship makes waves in Poland
3. The effects of the Anti-Abortion Law
4. Polish woman wins abortion case

“Believing in God is like believing in Santa Clause. It’s the sort of thing that children do, but we can leave the cry baby phase behind and move on to maturity.”

Alister McGrath claims that Richard Dawkins’ analogy isn’t valid, for “how many people do you know who not believing in Father Christmas at the age of six do start believing in him at the age 18, or 35, or 50.”

I normally don’t make it a point of openly defeating such easy fallacies, but Alister McGrath supposedly knows something about this subject. Sadly, like all of his arguments in “An Analysis of The God Delusion”, this one shatters with but one short paragraph.

Christianity is not the only religion adults convert to (or away from for that matter). Type into YouTube “Islam Conversion” and see the same 18, 35, and 50 year olds converting to something completely different. If conversions into Christianity by adults inject any sort of validity into Christianity, then Islam is just as valid for it too receives its share of adult newcomers.

My morning walk - face buried in Breaking the Spell - led me to a used books shop, stuffy air and wooden floors mandatory. The place ain’t just a book shop, but that’s the majority of their stock. Some of the other items on offer break the enchantment I strive to create, and I’ll skip those details.

I walked into the store with one book, but came out with two - $12 less in currency. I’m now the proud new owner of a hard cover, illustrated, nicely detailed with art copy of A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne.

Thus far, my experience with Verne’s books is limited to Treasure Island, a novel read with great pleasure when I was a child. For some reason, I recall that the edition of the book I read was part one of two, and that I’m still not familiar with the second half of the story (it had not been available at the library, and I hadn’t pursued the matter further.)

I find it amazing that these books were written in the 19th century. In my mind they are always as current and relevant as Harry Potter books, but this could be a simple case of limited familiarity with the actual novels - that’ll change to a degree soon.

Adventures aside, I like some of the points made by Dennett in my current reading. He asks the atheist to imagine a new and reputable study which suggests that music in any shape or form is likely to make all, including the casual listener, more violent, intolerant, and immoral. Knowing the bad effects of music, would we still not crave and need it? Most likely - even if claims of the negative effects of music had been proven beyond doubt - few would abstain from it. The urge for music is now built in, and no logic or fact can do much to counter it.

I concede the point, and admit that it’d likely take a long time - perhaps in excess of my lifetime - to curb my own enthusiasm and exposure to music. Maybe Dennett is heading where I’m about to go with saying that I and many atheists have no desire to rid the individual of his or her religion. Simply, we ask the theist to understand the power religion holds over the mind, and that he not force others to adhere to the theist’s beliefs, especially young children. This courtesy should not only extend to fellow citizens, and need include the children of theists. Allow the young mind to make choices on merit, observation, and experience. Nurture their interests, and help them explore all possibilities. Any way you look at it, it seems to be the most admirable thing to do.