Cold-hearted orb that rules the night removes the color from our sight

Red is gray and yellow, white.
But we decide which is right and which is an illusion.

NASA - Strange Moonlight

Yes that was a Moody Blues lyric :) I found it appropriate.

Shark that walks on fins is discovered - Yahoo! News

Fish do walk.

There is now even a walking shark. I see a new car emblem--a shark with feet :)

Shark that walks on fins is discovered - Yahoo! News

Went to church today

No I haven't reconverted :)
I went to First Unitarian church, where I was going to for a while about a year ago. At one point I'd even talked to the minister about joining, but ended up deciding not to do it right away. Since then I've checked out a Buddhism circle, biking on Sunday mornings, and a few weeks ago I checked out another Unitarian Universalist church here in town.

Going back was a good experience for me. I recognized quite a few faces and met some people I did not already know from before. We had a good discussion about ethics in the adult Sunday School (they don't call it Sunday School though--here it's called the Sunday Morning Adult Round Table or SMART for short). The Celebration of Life (what they call their Sunday morning service) message was that we can find spiritual nourishment and fulfillment no matter what our specific beliefs or situation in life. Not the words they used, but that is what I got out of it anyway.

I am considering the possibility of joining this time, now that I've tried some other things and other Unitarian churches for a while. I find that now I am a lot more secure now about my atheism, and I'm not worried about being around and discussing it with people who think that I'm wrong. As long as there is respect on both sides, and I'm not expected to submit to a creed (they have no official creed). So now may be the right time to join. . .

Dear God

I've never heard of XTC, but I was listening to my Sirius radio on the New Wave station on the way to work today and heard this song. Wow! Both the lyrics and the music (I'd post an mp3 if I wasn't worried about copyright). It's an awesome song!

EDIT:Actually I found the video on YouTube! Dear God Video

Dear god,
Hope you got the letter,
And I pray you can make it better down here.
I dont mean a big reduction in the price of beer,
But all the people that you made in your image,
See them starving on their feet,
cause they dont get enough to eat

From god,
I cant believe in you.

Dear god,
Sorry to disturb you,
But I feel that I should be heard loud and clear.
We all need a big reduction in amount of tears,
And all the people that you made in your image,
See them fighting in the street,
cause they cant make opinions meet,
About god,
I cant believe in you.

Did you make disease, and the diamond blue?
Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the devil too!

Dear god,
Dont know if you noticed,
But your name is on a lot of quotes in this book.
Us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look,
And all the people that you made in your image,
Still believing that junk is true.
Well I know it aint and so do you,
Dear god,
I cant believe in,
I dont believe in,

I wont believe in heaven and hell.
No saints, no sinners,
No devil as well.
No pearly gates, no thorny crown.
Youre always letting us humans down.
The wars you bring, the babes you drown.
Those lost at sea and never found,
And its the same the whole world round.
The hurt I see helps to compound,
That the father, son and holy ghost,
Is just somebodys unholy hoax,
And if youre up there youll perceive,
That my hearts here upon my sleeve.
If theres one thing I dont believe in...

Its you,
Dear god.

This is cute :)

The Daily Religious Joke from Beliefnet:

The Pious Man and the Atheist

MSNBC - Daily Comics

Hehehe I thought this was cute:

MSNBC - Daily Comics

The Hope-Filled Infidel

I have a new blog discussing the hope of the Infidel.

If you are interested, check it out at http://thehopefilledinfidel.blogspot.com

The Healing Power of Holy Water?

heheheh I got this in my email today, thought it was pretty funny.

DailyJoke: "The Healing Power of Holy Water?"

Fact Sheet: Safe Substitutes at Home: Non-toxic Household Products

Speaking of environmental cleaning, this is an info-packed page:
Fact Sheet: Safe Substitutes at Home: Non-toxic Household Products

Sweet Mary, Mother of God?

Another Mary sighting, this time in a chocolate dripping. What will it be next, chocolate Marys in the Easter basket along with the Bunny?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/17/chocolate.mary.ap/index.html

Daylight Atheism � Better than the Bible

About the new leader of the American Episcopal Church. Good points about a liberal brand of Christianity.

Although the Bible contains many verses calling for basic kindness and charity, it is silent on, and often actively opposed to, the philosophical principles of justice and equality needed to build a truly good society and not just a society that contains a few good people. Believers who nevertheless support these principles are better than the Bible. They are more just than the Old Testament. Their morality is superior to the teachings of Jesus. They are better people than God.

Check it out here:
Daylight Atheism: Better than the Bible

Daylight Atheism: Better than the Bible

Daylight Atheism � Better than the Bible

AOL News - Disowning Conservative Politics Is Costly for Pastor

Wow. If only all evangelical pastors were like this. Well, actually the pastor I grew up with tended to keep out of politicising from the pulpit--there are probably more like this than we tend to think. But that's just how I was raised. Hearing of a pastor giving political speach from the pulpit was a shock to me once when I was exploring other churches. I only know that I've been hearing about it a lot lately. Anyway, here is the link:
AOL News - Disowning Conservative Politics Is Costly for Pastor

YouTube - Kissing Hank's Ass

LOL Someone finally made a movie of Kissing Hank's Ass. Just brings the old story to life :)

YouTube - Kissing Hank's Ass

Environmental cleaning

I have observed that a lot of cleaning products, especially those for the bathroom and kitchen, are very poisonous and expensive. Lately I have been experimenting with natural homemade cleaning products. Doing research I have found the following links about natural cleaning products and I've included a few of them below for anyone who is interested.

• About.Com: Natural Cleaning Products You Have In Your Home
• New American Dream -- Contains info on safer, natural, cleaning products and other aspects of environmentally sustainable living.
• WorldWatch Institute: Cleaning Products
  

Evangelist arrested on federal charges | Local News | PensacolaNewsJournal.com

I knew Dr. Dino was nuts, but this is just too much :)

Evangelist arrested on federal charges Local News PensacolaNewsJournal.com

Proof that God exists:

LOL If only. I never even got a dial tone. ;) I got this one in my e-mail from BeliefNet

If God Had Voice Mail:
Thank you for calling heaven. I am sorry, all of our angels and saints are busy helping other sinners right now. However, your prayer is important to us and we will answer it in the order it was received. Please stay on the line.
If you would like to speak to:
God, press 1. Jesus, press 2. The Holy Spirit, press 3.If you would like to hear King David sing a Psalm while you are holding, press 4.To find a loved one who has been assigned to Heaven, press 5, then enter his or her social security number followed by the pound sign. (If you get a negative response, please hang up and try area code 666.)
For reservations in heaven, please enter J-O-H-N 3:16
For answers to nagging questions about dinosaurs, the age of the earth, life on other planets, and where Noah's Ark is, please wait until you arrive.If you are calling after hours and need emergency assistance, please contact your local pastor.

Environmentalism, Part 2

In my last post I stated that my interest in protecting the environment was watered by my interest in evolution. What I mean is that the claims of environmentalists make little sense to me until I got two things into my head:

1. That humans are not a special creation, above and separate from everything else of earth. We are as natural and dependent on the earth for survival as any other creature.
2. That God is not going to come back and destroy the earth anytime soon. So we can't treat the Earth and our resources as something disposable, something that will be destroyed soon anyway.

The first claim comes directly from an understanding that humans evolved from other forms of life just like every animal on this planet. The second follows from a naturalistic long term view of life on earth.

I have more thoughts on this for a later post . . .

Environmentalism

I was interested in environmentalism as a kid. When I was a young teenager I watched 'Captain Planet and the Planeteers' almost religiously. It was on at 7:00 am every Saturday morning, and I'd be up to watch it. I learned some cool stuff from watching that show that I encountered later, one example being 'cruelty free' products--a way that makers of personal care products can display that their products were either not tested on animals or tested in a way that would not cause harm to the animals.

Also as a result of things I was taught about environmentalism in school, I suggested to my parents that maybe it would be a good idea to have a government program that built a recycling program into the city waste disposal. Citizens would need to sort their recyclables into different bins before setting them out. The issue my folks brought up was how to pay for it and manage it--and as I had really no idea that was the end of that discussion. (I had the suspicion that raising taxes would not be an option.) So that idea was shot right down.

For a while I lost my interest in saving the environment. For one thing, I quit watching Captain Planet after watching an episode of Northern Exposure where I found out that the character Geia, the 'Spirit of the Earth' in the show, was revered as the goddess of the Earth in some pagan religion (at least Geia was referred to as a goddess in that show). It seems silly to me now, but as a very serious Christian girl at the time, I was devastated that the show used a pagan goddess as a main character. In fact, I wondered if I could trust anything from the show.

Another thing that blunted my environmental interests was that I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh with my father. As a homeschooled girl, this was pretty much my political education in highschool. Anyway I remember that anytime Rush mentioned the word 'environmentalist' on his show, it was always proceeded by the word 'wacko'. As in, people who chain themselves to trees to keep them from being cut down, and who care more about saving the kangaroo rat than they care about the livelihoods of farmers. It has taken me a long time to get the phrase 'wacko environmentalist' out of my head.

I did not regain my interest in environmentalism until my personal values went though a complete overhaul. I would not claim that this is the same for everyone--as some Christians are avid environmentalists--but in my case what sparked my interest in environmentalism once again had a lot to do with my doubting of Christianity. More specifically, it was sparked when, partly as an act of rebellion I sneakingly brought home _Cosmos_ by Carl Sagan (sneakingly because at that time I was still afraid of my parent's disapproval. From a comment I heard Dad make after we watched the movie 'Contact' at my sis's house it was clear he did not think much of Sagan.) I would read it in my room with my door closed, and hide it whenever someone opened the door. The most memorable thing about this experience was that it was the first time I'd read a comment about evolution being a grand and wonderful thing. The idea that the theory of evolution was anything good was a complete novelty to me, and the idea fascinated me. I also found a small book called a _River out of Eden_ by Richard Dawkins. This started up a great fascination with evolution in me, and I wanted to know more.

My beginning understanding of evolution watered the seeds of environmentalism in me that had lain dormant for a long time.

This story is getting to be quite long, longer than I'd intended, so I will continue it in my next post.

WP: Detainee abuse charges feared - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

I don't usually talk about politics and stuff on this blog, but I find this to be, well, disturbing.

WP: Detainee abuse charges feared - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com