BNFree / Bloomington-Normal Freethinkers

Something has been on my mind that affects everyone, has not been truly addressed by anyone, is assumed to be the job of someone, but should be resolved by each one.  This is the current state of our public debate and even personal debates.  It does not matter who we think is inciting it, how clearly they seem to be pushing it, or how big the problem seems to be; we can, and must, all take part in solving it.

Conversely (does linking count as advertising?) to the size of the problem, the steps to solving it can be begun in a very small way on a daily basis.  It begins with how we speak and respond to overblown rhetoric.  It also involves our attitude towards how others speak to us and about things that are important to us.  Let me give you a personal and very recent example.  Facebook, is a great place for social networking, but it can be full of pitfalls when one have a wide variety of friends and family members on it.  My paternal Grandmother is on my page and has one of her own.  She is an Evangelical Christian and I am an Atheist (et. all applicable labels) I shared a comment about resurrection that was to occur on Sat. the 3rd of April that started off sounding religious, but was really about Dr. Who.  (because I am a major geek for the Doctor)  She had a reply, but promptly removed it once she noticed the joke and the thread about it because she is not a Whovian it was not immediately apparent.  Her page posted a comment questioning whether or not Atheists could get home owners coverage for ‘acts of God’ my response was simply “Country and State Farm say yes” with a wink and a smile.  We have continued with these back and forth barbs on occasion, but we also are sure to reassert that we love each-other on a regular enough basis.  She also managed remind me at our recent family reunion just how funny she is on a totally different subject.   While we have both gone out of our way to ensure that the light manner is fairly clear, we also both make the choice not to take these things personally or as insults, because everyone has that choice. continue reading…

One of my favorites poets ever is Emily Dickenson.  I’m not sure why she was considered so ‘dark’.  She wrote beautifully of a complicated world.   She spent some time writing about the fear instilled in everyone about hell and her own fear of eternal life or, at times, her longing for it.  Maybe it was this common curiosity about living forever that drew me to her.  Much like the beauty Vincent VanGogh found in the Starry Night or Sun Flowers, she seemed to see beauty in everyday things.  The poem that shows this best and I love the most, is about the color yellow in nature.  Seriously.

Nature rarer uses yellow
Than another hue;
Saves she all of that for sunsets,–
Prodigal of blue,

Spending scarlet like a woman,
Yellow she affords
Only scantly and selectly,
Like a lover’s words. continue reading…

Let me begin by saying, I have fallen in love with Dr. Who, but things weren’t always this way. Growing up we were not really allowed all that much SciFi except when my mom would watch Star Trek. As I got older Star Trek continued to be the sum total of my SciFi experience, even though I did not follow it in any sort of regular way. By time I got to college I decided to major in Theatre. While we do have some geeks in our midst, the dynamic is really more pretentious than anything. At the same time, many of my friends would be considered in the geek category, including things like D&D, Magik, comic books, and SciFi. I just never crossed over.

While living in CA I found more of the similar comic book friends, but still resisted, then I met someone. He has a huge comic book collection, loves SciFi, but doesn’t do dressing up for things if it’s not Halloween. I started reading some graphic novels and I was off. Next it was “Good Omens” (Best. Book. Ever!) then everything else available by Gaimen and Pratchett. There was no way to know where this would lead. continue reading…

When one holds very strong opinions it is bound to happen that one of these will eventually run head first into another strongly held opinion. This happens to me most painfully when it comes to things like freedom of speech. It is something I defend strongly even when it is speech that is detestable.

Then there is the Westboro Baptist “church” picketing of schools and funerals.  This makes it very difficult indeed.  While I feel that freedom of speech is one of our most important rights to exercise and makes us stronger and freer, I’m not unfeeling enough to not have a gut reaction to such monstrous behavior.

What can the answer be?  Speak louder!  Impressed does not cover how I felt about those who prevented a protest of a funeral in Louisiana.   Then there was the Dio Funeral.  He had both a private and public funeral from his gracious family.  The link is to a rather long article, but there are also photos and videos for those interested.  It may be worth the scroll to find out how gnomes, Thor and Muslim hell were evoked by one person.  Schools kids have also shown they are more than able to speak back to these fools. continue reading…

This is my attempt to understand then distill and describe how the American legal system can be compared to the scientific method.  While this may seem like an obvious notion (it certainly did to me) there is actually an entire field of legal study devoted to comparative law.  Who knew? (clearly this Ernest Bruncken guy did, bet he feels Important.)

If you were brave enough to read the entire entry, while not being responsible for blogging about it, either you love the subject or deserve a medal.  This is a big subject, but the title of the book from which the excerpt comes says a great deal “Science Of Legal Method“, by Ernest Bruncken.

Now for my brief observations.  (It’s in outline formish, I promise) continue reading…

Well this is embarrassing.  I ended my last post with a promise to discuss living without religion vs. living without science.  It turns out it is a very short conversation.  We can not currently live outside of either.

Ta-Da.  Promise kept.

I’m guessing (nay hoping!) that you fine readers came here expecting a bit more so I’ll use the rest of this blog post to explain my reasons for the religious side of this conclusion. Please correct me if I’m wrong about the idea that those reading this already accept that we do not live outside of science’s reach.  That’s fair enough, isn’t it?

First is the most obvious evidence that we live inside religion’s sphere of influence – labels: Atheist, Free-thinker, Agnostic, Skeptic, and many more indicate that religion still influences our lives.  It’s been said many times, (Often by Sam Harris or those re-iterating his position) “No one wastes their time being an opponent of astrology”.  I would argue a bit with this sentence, but I am the skeptical (read: often contrary) type, so we will just accept this generalization for the sake of keeping this blog’s length under control.  Please feel free to expound in the comments about this point.

But, what about religious types of thinking?  Reading Discover magazine increased my interest of the idea that science can occasionally behave in the same way as religion. Cosmology, a very difficult field full of theory where solid evidence is not currently available, can lead down this path. continue reading…

This first blog will serve primarily as an introduction to who I am, up to a point, why I embrace particular labels, and a few other opening statements to help get us off on the right foot. (Or left, it is entirely up to you).

There are many labels that I accept willingly and enthusiastically:  Mom, Wife, Feminist, Atheist, Cook, Friend, Skeptic, Liberal, Civil rights defender, Girl, Sister, plus many others; and the order changes constantly.  The reason the list is important is because no single name can speak for all of who I (or you) happen to be at any given moment.  While labels are often considered a bane, I find them useful.  These titles remind me that it is not what others say of me, but how I choose to define myself that matters.

For the purpose of this blog I will begin by assuming that the reason that brought (and hopefully kept) you here is the skeptic or atheist part.  The task now is for me to clearly define why these labels are important enough to read about them. continue reading…