The World Is Full Of Wonder

I’m really not a fan of poetry, but this bit by Tim Minchin is nevertheless incredible. Aside from the fact that the poetry itself is actually appealing, rather than insufferable, this develops into such a perfect expression of what’s so amazing about life that I can’t very well imagine it can be topped.

I attended my niece’s baby blessing a little under a year ago, out of [willing] obligation to my family, despite the fact that I’m an atheist and wouldn’t otherwise attend religious services. It was an LDS service, and before we got to the blessing itself, I had to sit through some woman’s “testimony” about how “sad” she is that people like me will, apparently, never experience the vast expanse of happiness and wonder in life, because of our refusal to accept God.

If only I could’ve channeled Tim Minchin just then!

But I know what I can say now. The world is full of wonder. I don’t need to add God to the mix to make it palatable.

The Evolution of Religion

Creationists sometimes suggest that evolution is just another religion (and a false one, at that). This very cool video, found on Effect Measure this morning, shows how creationist beliefs are actually the product of evolution, and challenges theists to explain that paradox:

Religion + University = FAIL

Utah newspaper The Salt Lake Tribune reports today that Chad Hardy, creator of the sorta-controversial “Men On A Mission” calendar (NSFW), has been denied his appeal for his diploma from the LDS-owned Brigham Young University:

Chad Hardy’s diploma was withheld by BYU last fall after he was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns and runs the school. Hardy was excommunicated during the month between completing his courses and graduation ceremonies. [...]

BYU requires students to be in academic and ecclesiastical good standing in order to obtain a diploma. That includes keeping the tenets of a school honor code that reflects the values of the church. Excommunication would leave a student at odds with the honor code.

In short: academically-speaking, he’s earned his diploma. The only thing holding him back is the fact that the LDS Church has decided that he’s a dirty rotten sinner.

That’s four years of his life and a not-insignificant amount of tuition money that’s just been effectively flushed down the drain. And for what?

Officially, the loss of membership was for conduct unbecoming a church member. The charges were rooted in his failure to pay tithing, a lapse in other religious obligations and, according to a senior church elder, his involvement with the 2008 “Men on a Mission” calendar.

What do any of these things have to do with academic achievement, again? It’s just another sad example of how religion will happily suppress anything that doesn’t fit its arbitrary and nonsensical dogma, no matter the cost, and one of a million reasons why a church should never own and operate a university.

I wish Chad Hardy the best of luck in receiving the academic credentials he’s rightly earned. Perhaps a reasonable institution will accept a transfer of most or all of his credits, since BYU clearly has no plans to respect academic ethics.

The Banana Argument

This is not new, but I just discovered it for the first time:

And to think, they really can’t figure out why atheists call religion “irrational”.

(By the way, it’s actually easier to open a banana from the bottom; that whole “tab on the top” thing is totally misleading. So much for “intelligent” design, I guess.)