Reason's Greetings: Atheist Christmas Cards

It's nearly December, and time to start thinking about mailing out those cards. Here are some you might like to send this year. Click the images for links:

Quote of the Week

Arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise, there would be no religious people.

Gregory House MD

Brian's Shoe

This is my favourite part of the movie The Life of Brian. It shows how quickly religions can arise... and divide:

Quote of the Week

Shepherds don't look after sheep because they love them — although I do think some shepherds like their sheep too much. They look after their sheep so they can, first, fleece them and second, turn them into meat. That’s much more like the priesthood as I know it.

Christopher Hitchens

There Is No God

Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.

Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, "How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.

Penn Jillette

An excerpt from this article.

Quote of the Week

If ignorance of Nature gave birth to gods, then knowledge of Nature is calculated to destroy them.

Baron d'Holbach

An Encouraging Election Result

Democrat Pete Stark, the only openly atheist member of US Congress, was re-elected as California state representative, winning 76 % of the votes in his district. From secular.org:

Polls have shown that Americans without a god-belief are, as a group, more distrusted than any other minority in America, and that most Americans would not vote for an atheist for president even if he or she were the most qualified for the office. At the same time, however, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 2008 saw a "small but significant" increase in the number of Americans who say they are "uncomfortable when they hear politicians talk about how religious they are."

"This year, we saw an incumbent U.S. Senator not only defeated but roundly criticized after trying to paint her opponent as godless; and now we see an openly godless member of the House handily re-elected," said Herb Silverman, president of the Secular Coalition for America. "This looks to us like progress, and we praise Rep. Stark for his courage and leadership."

Freethought Books for Prisoners

Leslie Zukor runs the Freethought Books Project, which has been "donating secular & freethinking literature to inmates, mental hospitals, and others in need since 2005". This is a terrific scheme, especially given the following statistics:

US Population that is Atheist/Agnostic: 14%

US Prison Population that is Atheist/Agnostic: 0.21%

Why not send Leslie that old copy of The God Delusion you've got lying around?

Quote of the Week

Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.

Thomas Jefferson