Sam Harris vs Ezra Klein on the Waking Up Podcast: “Identity and Honesty”

Photo courtesy www.samharris.org

After Sam Harris and Ezra Klein had a public dispute regarding disagreements over the treatment of Charles Murray and The Bell Curve, Harris polled his followers and more than 75 percent wanted to hear the two sit down and talk about the issues at hand.

Harris began by saying the point of even having Murray on his podcast to begin with was that he wanted to explore why Murray was confronted with physical violence when he spoke at Middlebury College last year. He wanted to address the questions of free speech and shunning. Harris declared that Vox’s criticisms of him felt like a piece of political propaganda. He admitted that he was “pissed” and that he felt he had been treated unfairly by the critique.

Harris was especially critical of Vox’s use of terms such as “pseudoscience” and “racialists,” which he felt stopped just short of calling him a “racist” or even a “Nazi,” though Vox never used those terms. Harris has characterized Vox’s actions as slanderous, defamatory, dishonest and in bad faith. The two agreed that the initial offer to debate was extended by Harris, who then rescinded the offer, but then decided, after his poll, he should go forward.

The fact that these two even had this difficult conversation is admirable on both ends. It ran for a little over 2 hours and nobody got punched, but it was rough and there remained underlying disagreements on both ends.

Harris’s main points centered around the fairness of the criticisms made by Vox considering that the outcome of their piece is that it landed on Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch page right alongside folks like the Austin bomber.

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/03/29/hatewatch-headlines-3292018

Harris admitted he was quick to attribute bad faith to Klein because he feels “battle-scarred” by so many others misrepresenting him and trying to smear him with dishonesty by selectively clipping out this and that to suit their narrative. Harris said his fuse was too short and he regretted that.

Harris said that Vox should have at least been charitable enough to discount the notion that Harris is a racist. Klein specifically stated during the podcast, that no, he did not believe Harris is racist. Klein said he was not trying to slander Harris but that Harris was trafficking in harmful topics.

HARMFUL TOPICS

A divergence between Harris and Klein is the issue of harmful topics. Harris does not want to be restricted by intellectual taboos or topics that we just shouldn’t talk about.

Klein pointed out that Murray has been used by white supremacists to champion their ideology and that Murray continues to influence policymaking today. He also said that Harris should not have resuscitated a topic that was 25 years old. Harris countered that scientific data might be politically inconvenient, but shouldn’t we still be able look at it?

At no time did Harris say he supports Murray’s policy or even the idea that IQs are related to superiority or inferiority of any human. Harris does not believe that any race is inferior to another nor would he ever advocate for any further oppression of anyone. He pointed out that he and Klein share the same goals of improving racial inequality.

SO WHAT ARE WE ARGUING ABOUT HERE?

Klein says Harris doesn’t put this type of data into a broader context of the American experience. Harris, on the other hand, sees the data as just that—data that should not or cannot be ignored, even if it’s the best data set we have at this point in history. What can we learn from it? How do we apply it to human flourishing and racial equality to the benefit of all?

Klein answered that this type of data is harmful in that it can be misused to justify racial inequality and oppression and therefore should not be re-embraced. He chastised Harris for couching the discussion with Murray as political bravery.

But that dispute will not be resolved today.

BIAS

Klein gave a pretty scathing assessment of Harris as not being aware of his own blind spots which was probably hard for Harris to hear without steam coming out of his ears. Here are a few of his criticisms:

  1. Harris lacks empathy for the other side of this argument. He dismisses opposition as SJWs (Social Justice Warriors) when he should listen to their ideas.
  2. Harris doesn’t have enough African Americans on his podcasts.
  3. Harris doesn’t understand Murray as deeply as Klein does. Klein says he is a close reader of Murray’s work, has spoken with him and has reviewed his books. To Harris’s credit, Klein compliments Harris for asking Murray, “Why do you even do this?”
  4. Harris is quick to see bias in others but is not self-reflective. When asked by Harris to explain that bias to him, Klein says Harris is overly sensitive to identity politics and that Harris believes it contaminates everything.
  5. Harris sees threats to his own tribe and identity and overreacts. Harris is threatened by harm to his career but not to anyone who may be harmed by topics he addresses. Harris sees how Murray has been shunned and fears the same.

DEMONIZATION

Harris criticized Klein for contributing to the toxic environment in which people are demonized for discussing certain taboo topics. This might take the form of online mobs or it might take the form of being targeted by the SPLC, tactics which he finds dysfunctional, immoral and unethical.

Harris says in the midst of a moral panic, humans will see bigotry where it doesn’t exist. If you are determined to find bigotry and you go looking for it everywhere, you will certainly find it. To Harris, this is ethically and politically deranged.

In the end, why are we inflicting reputational harm when we could and should be assuming goodwill? Harris says we must be able to speak about science in a dispassionate way and stop sliming or smearing people for even speaking.

Vox has now published a transcript of the conversation which you may find here:

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2018/4/9/17210248/sam-harris-ezra-klein-charles-murray-transcript-podcast

Atheists Are the Reason We Can’t Have Nice Things

In the course of one day, I read three articles bashing atheism and accusing atheists of all manner of bad acts or bad non-acts (failing to do something that someone thinks they should do). I have synthesized them here. Enjoy!

The three articles I reference are the following:

The Anti-Christian Movement by E.M. Cadwaladr

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/04/the_antichristian_movement.html

Visiting the American Atheists National Convention By Daniel King, King Ministries

http://kingministries.blogspot.com/2018/04/visiting-american-atheists-national.html

Too Many Atheists Are Veering Dangerously Toward the Alt-Right: And atheists can’t afford to be quiet about it by Chris Stedman, VICE.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3k7jx8/too-many-atheists-are-veering-dangerously-toward-the-alt-right?utm_source=vicetwitterus

ATHEISTS ARE DANCING WITH THE DEVIL

Source: Public comments, American Thinker, The Anti-Christian Movement.

When the source of their hatred is diabolical–logic and goodness are merely weapons to abuse.

It is almost as if Satan and his entire Evil Army have been alerted that the end of his reign on earth is all but over and he has reasoned his Feast of Fire is about to be terminated. If your eyes can not picture this or you fail to see the pieces of his diabolical puzzle coming together you need to wake up before being swept away in the torrent of tyranny by those who despise the Truth and any of us who proclaim it with Christian holiness.

The damned are damned by themselves, not by God.

The many antichrists are simply followers of Satan, whether they realize it or not.

Atheists don’t believe in the reality of either God or Satan, a very dangerous place to be.

No one is going to take away your right to burn in hell for all eternity…in fact none of us can take that away from you. To accept or reject belief in Jesus is a choice given to all by God himself and none of us can take that away from any individual

Best to let Christ prove it himself when he comes again to separate the wheat from the chaff for all eternity…..

Anyone who denies that Jesus is the son of God is an antiChrist against Christ. Their are more antiChriss in the world than Christians. This is why God says only a remnant of His creations will be saved at the end time.

Lucifer in his evil is doing a terrific job of fooling Gods creations into believing “Surely you will not die” for doing what God has told you not to do.

Lucifer is not trying to get non-righteous people to rebel against God our Father. Lucifer already has them. Lucifer is spending his time trying to get we who believe in God our Father to rebel against God our Father and become non-righteous.

Lucifer is in a struggle against God trying to take all of Gods righteous creations from Him.

What you don’t know of the beginning you will come to regret in the end.

Well…we at least know that atheists do NOT believe that God (Christ) exists. Hence, they are both antichrist (1 John 2:18) and serve only to take his place “instead of” Christ.

Servants of Lucifer have no tolerance for the righteous. They are helping Lucifer in his war with God our Creator.

It is OBVIOUS from everything going on in this nuthouse of a world, that NOBODY believes in any kind of God except the goddamn Devil.

ATHEISTS LOVE ISLAM, PRAISE FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

Source: The Anti-Christian Movement by E.M. Cadwaladr

But without batting an eye, many of today’s atheists manage to believe that Islam, an objectively more intolerant, more misogynistic, and far more bloodthirsty system of beliefs than Christianity – is somehow forgivable, or even a net social boon.

Source: Public comments, American Thinker, The Anti-Christian Movement.

From their perspective Christianity is the very foundation of our civilization and has to be annihilated and Islam is a tool in the destruction process so it has to be protected.

It is that simple. They don’t care about contradictions, even ridiculous and pathetic ones, like feminists fighting the white patriarchy while tolerating and even praising Muslims that practice FGM. After all they are all victims.

If men and women are not worshiping Christ in the Atheists and leftists are not going to stop Islam, considering that for decades they considered Islam just some other religion and have continuously picked on the “so-called” weaker target of Christianity because Christianity has that clause called turn the other cheek. A clause, (I should remind the atheist readers), that Islam does not have. Just last week in Pakistan there were forced conversions of Hindus. Islam’s power is growing, in large part due to atheism in the West. It’s almost as if Western atheism and Islam are conjoined twins of the attempted destruction of Christianity.

Islam is tolerated or even encouraged by these so-called “atheists” because their true program is to use Islam as a weapon against the best aspects of western civilization among which is Christianity.

So very simply, either you are going to follow God’s Law as defined in the Christian Bible and worship Christ, or you will bend the knee to Mohammed and follow Sharia Law.

The modern atheist “scientific” movement is absolutely enthusiastic towards Islam, and condescending towards Judaism.

ATHEISTS HAVE AN ANTI-MUSLIM BIAS

Source: VICE

(Sam) Harris has in the past called for profiling “Muslims, or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim.” (When I challenged him on this, he suggested I “wear a t-shirt stating ‘There is no God and I am Gay’ in Islamic countries and report back on [my] experiences.”)

Outspoken atheist Bill Maher rightly came under fire last summer for using racist language on air. He has also argued that “most Muslim people in the world do condone violence,” told “transgendered” [ sic] people to be quiet, and gave alt-right darling Milo Yiannopoulos a sympathetic interview on his HBO show.

ATHEISTS DENY FACTS, PUSH FALSE NARRATIVE OF EVOLUTION

Source: Public comments, American Thinker, The Anti-Christian Movement.

The interpretation that evolution is the only possible explanation for such placement of fossils is a fallacy.

And, when correctly tested, radiological dating supports the Bible.

Talk, talk, talk. Polonium halos in granite show that the earth is not old.

False. You assume that they had a common ancestor. You did not evolve at all.

The idea that both apes and men had a common ancestor is an assumption made by those who refuse to accept God’s authority. It is NOT true. They have a common designer.

I’ll go into gravity now. If someone believes it doesn’t exist does that change the natural law of things? Is it not an invisible force? yet people believe it exists because they feel it all around them. Our creator is also an invisible force and if you have faith you will feel his presence all around you as well.

Atheists do not believe in God, especially in a creator God, but the majority of atheists do believe in evolution. One has withstood thousands of years of challenge, the other was invented by a man that noticed different size beaks. One is the belief in an intelligent creator, the other is the belief that rocks were hit by lightning. The belief in one is held by billions of people, the other is not allowed to be questioned by our government.

God would make the speed of light change, if He wanted to do so!

This God’s universe, He alone can and does make the rules. And, God cannot be deceitful. God always has a purpose for what He does. Do not forget, that there was never any big bang. That big bang is a mythological invention to increase the supposed age when the evos realized that there was no proof for their fairytale, and that no amount of time would allow it to work.

ATHEISTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA, AN ILLEGITIMATE PRESIDENT, MUSLIM, COMMIE, HOMO

Source: Public comments, American Thinker, The Anti-Christian Movement.

Is Obama a communist or just a muslim? He never attends Church but he likes to go to mosques. He hates Christians.

How did he ever get elected President?

in order to amass his unearned loot makes him a jack -commie while at the same time His proclivities with respect to his homosexuality would be a deal breaker in muzzie land . A true bastard, even to his own prescribed worldview, that one

Obama liked to visit the homo Chicago Bath Club.

Why did the manager kick him out of that disgusting club?

Obama was born in a nice British Mombasa Hospital. His Mombasa Birth Certificate looks authentic. It was signed by the two African doctors who attended his birth. Barry was not qualified to run for dog catcher.

ATHEISTS ARE CULTURAL MARXISTS AND HAVE BECOME A POLITICAL ENTITY

Source: The Anti-Christian Movement by E.M. Cadwaladr

What atheism has become can be more accurately described as “the anti-Christian movement.”  It is a movement that assumes that Christianity isn’t merely naïve and false, but a major cause of social ills, something worth the effort to actively ferret out and purge from our society.  This anti-Christian crusade has been both supported by, and a natural outgrowth of, the much larger program of cultural Marxism.

Uninterested in hard materialism, today’s atheists believe in an emotional narrative invented and reinvented at the whim of politically motivated human beings.  Today’s atheism is not a philosophical position, but a political one.

Christianity, like Western civilization, is squeezed into the usual Marxist mold as just another instrument of oppression.

The anti-Christian movement of today, like all other Marxist or neo-Marxist splinter groups, draws its strength from a simple, if unstated, promise: All the world’s aggrieved can acquire social acceptance and the unholy grail of victim status by denouncing someone else as an oppressor and working for his destruction.

In truth, the new atheism isn’t about helping the “oppressed” – any more than it is about the non-belief in God or the exclusive belief in the world we can grasp with our senses.  It is about being a vocal part of the identity group of avid Christian-haters.  A political entity.

ATHEISTS SEEK OUT VICTIMHOOD STATUS, ESPECIALLY THE WHITE MALES

Source: The Anti-Christian Movement by E.M. Cadwaladr

What Dawkins is saying, perhaps without even fully understanding the meme that he himself has swallowed, is that if you’ve been raised in a Christian household, you’re a victim.  By telling you this, Richard Dawkins makes himself a kind of revolutionary hero.  If gold medals were awarded for virtue-signaling, The God Delusion would have won the prize for 2006.

Renounce your faith and you’ll have instant standing as a victim; keep it, and you will be counted as one of the few groups liberals are encouraged to hate – and potentially persecute as well.

While I’m not an advocate of affirmative action, it is telling that practically all new atheists are white, and most of them are men.  This is probably no coincidence.  If you are black, Latino, female, or any foreigner with solid non-white credentials, you have ready-made victim status that will charm the neo-Marxist heart.  You don’t need atheism to get your ration of liberal street cred.  If you happen to be a white man, though, you have to make up something to earn your right to exist.  Not all white men looking for a victim group to hide in are willing to emasculate themselves as anything from beta males to “transwomen,” so anti-Christian militancy has been, for some, the painless alternative.

ATHEISTS ARE ALL LIBERAL DEMOCRATS AND LEFTIES AND TRUMP HATERS

Courtesy Daniel King, King Ministries

Most of the atheist crowd sounded like liberal Democrats. Many of them were gob smacked by Trump’s election and it seems they are still depressed over a year later.

Source: Public comments, American Thinker, The Anti-Christian Movement.

Why are so many Democrat atheists illiterate?

They take drugs and go to anti-trump riots.

They should stop being Democrats, fall on their knees this Easter. and pray to the LORD.

Maybe Darwin evolution bums were telling us that we came from Monkeys that look like Obama and Hillary.

Why do sooooooo many Obama/Moochie Democrats look like monkeys.

Why do soooooooooo many decent, honest women vote for Democrat monkeys or baboons?

ATHEISTS ARE MISOGYNISTS AND RACISTS

Source, VICE

But there’s a toxic side to internet atheism. For years, women and people of color have repeatedly voiced how atheist websites, organizations, and public figures ignore their concerns and tolerate—or even actively contribute to—an environment that makes them feel unsafe and unwelcome, particularly online.

Last year Sam Harris hosted Charles Murray—who has famously argued that black people are genetically predisposed to lower IQs than whites—on his immensely popular podcast, calling Murray a victim of “a politically correct moral panic.”

Lawrence Krauss, a popular skeptic who now faces numerous sexual harassment allegations, has criticized the #MeToo movement.

Richard Dawkins, perhaps the most famous atheist in the world, has mocked women for speaking out about experiences of sexual harassment, shared a video ridiculing feminists, and railed against “SJWs” (short for “social justice warriors,” a derisive term for social justice activists).

Twitter comment on article from Vice:

A distressing amount of old guard skeptics and atheists really need a boot out of the movement. The amount of sexism, racism, and general right wing terribleness is appalling. We can’t be relevant as a bunch of straight crotchety white guys

ATHEISTS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE ALT-RIGHT

Courtesy VICE:

Richard Spencer, the white supremacist and movement figurehead who coined the term ” alt-right,” discussed his atheism last year in an interview with atheist blogger David McAfee.

When he posted the interview on his own website, Spencer retitled it “The Alt Right and Secular Humanism,” leaving no doubt that he sees atheism and humanism as linked to his cause.

Yet I don’t know of any prominent atheist, humanist, or secular organizations that took the opportunity to condemn Spencer.

One of the biggest reasons   for this (the author left online atheism)was my growing concern over its failure to adequately address some of its darker currents—such as overt sexism, racism, and anti-Muslim bias.

Like the alt-right, American atheists—a growing segment of the US—are more likely to be male, white, and younger than the general population.

By neglecting to address its darker currents, online atheism has perhaps unknowingly planted the seeds for the alt-right’s harvest.

While championing liberal views on some issues, many of atheism’s most prominent advocates—the majority of whom are, like me, cisgender white men—have expressed troubling sentiments that align with views held by the alt-right and faced little to no consequences.

As more and more nonreligious young white men seek out community, resources, and a sense of identity and purpose online, any overlap between online atheism and the alt-right should move atheists to speak out. Spencer’s views are not shared by the majority of atheists in America, but if we want to keep it that way, atheists cannot stay silent.

If there truly is no god that will fix humanity’s problems, atheist leaders and organizations that won’t take a strong stand against white supremacists don’t inspire much faith in our ability to do so ourselves.

Until atheists and humanists confront this Something head on, we will continue to struggle with people like Spencer who embody an atheism that got rid of the gods but put white men in their place.

ATHEISTS ARE OUT TO TAKE DOWN WESTERN VALUES AND CIVILIZATION

Source: Public comments, American Thinker, The Anti-Christian Movement.

Atheists may hate the Judeo Christian philosophy but they love the freedoms within, and cannot state one comparable replacement.

Many self-proclaimed atheists are theologically illiterate. They know little and care less about the actual history and teachings of Christianity in the West.

The attacks on America – the USA, avowedly Christian in its cultural foundations – are meant to weaken and eventually destroy the one nation that is strong enough to resist the horror desired by the one-worlders.

The “hate and eliminate” is the newest feature of atheism. And its violence is growing with the approval of many. The hate and eliminate is a propaganda war from forces outside the USA to take America down without firing a single bullet. Once the morals are completely removed from a society it withers from within.

Humanism is based on Judeo-Christian principles but there is no absolute moral authority to back it up, as God provides to those who believe in Him. We see the crumbling of society around us when the relationship between a man and a woman is reviled and the family is viewed as an archaic institution. Take away God and Family and Western Civilization is doomed.

ATHEISTS ARE ALL MIXED UP WITH ‘THE GAYS’

Source: Public comments, American Thinker, The Anti-Christian Movement.

Homosexuality is the real cause of all the rage against Christianity. They know inside they are going to burn in hell for all of eternity, and want to kill the Christians for reminding them of it.

Source: Daniel King, King Ministries

The atheists also celebrate homosexuality which is weird because if evolution is true as atheists believe then the gene for homosexuality should disappear within a few generations.

ATHEISM IS A RELIGION ATTEMPTING TO CONVERT OTHERS

Source: Daniel King, King Ministries

Atheists often claim they are not a religion, but after being with them for two days, I have to say that they look and act an awful lot like a church. They had preachers (speakers), an offering, and a class on how to convert other people to their way of thinking. Atheism is a belief system that has all the elements of any other religion: dogma, heresy, discrimination, bias, etc. Atheists don’t want an absence of religion in the public square, they want only their religion in the public square. They want to silence all of their competitors.

I met lots of internet atheists at the conference like AronRa (@Aron_Ra) who has 29 million views on his channel. YouTube and Podcasts are the probably the two biggest tools atheists are using right now to convert people to atheism. It would be wise for the church to develop better videos so that they can compete effectively in this space.

Anthony Magnabosco (@magnabosco) taught a class how to convert a Christian to atheism in 15 minutes. He calls his method Street Epistemology (@StEpistemology) which is a conversational tool that helps people reflect on the reliability of the methods used to arrive at their deeply held beliefs. He recommends that instead of arguing and mocking Christians (what Richard Dawkins recommends) the atheist should engage in conversations with people. I found this interesting because in my witnessing classes, I tell believers they should engage in conversations with people instead of yelling at them through a bullhorn. Magnabosco recommends getting past “what” someone believes, and “why” they believe it, to the “how” do they know it. He advocates for asking epistemological questions about “How do you know what you know?” He uses the Socratic method to get to how people believe what they believe. He showed several videos that demonstrated the effectiveness of this solution. He says, “Don’t give any evidence. Instead ask people what evidence they would accept to change their belief.” He keeps asking questions until he gets the person to honestly answer the question, “Is faith your epistemology or is reason and evidence your epistemology?” If their belief system is based on faith, he might go on to ask, “Is faith a reliable way of proving something is true if anyone can use it to prove anything? If anyone can use faith to prove anything is true, why would anyone want to use that method?” For Christians interested in exploring Christian epistemology, I would recommend reading Cornelius Van Til who wrote extensively on the subject.

When an atheist conference has a workshop on how to proselytize I think it stops being a community and starts being a religion.

Source, Public Comments, American Thinker, The Anti-Christian Movement

Atheism is a religion itself, so the government should not be able to establish it.

Actually, atheism as a religion requires that one go where the Devil takes him……

Anti-belief is itself a form of belief. Atheism is the mirror image of religious belief. It is a perfectly respectable position, but it should not be confused with actual knowledge.

ATHEISTS ENDORSE MURDER

Source: Daniel King, King Ministries

Jim Helton’s (@TSFJim) thirteen-year-old daughter gave a speech. She screamed through most of it. She is mad because Christians try to take away her right to get an abortion. The atheists at the conference believe that teaching children about hell is child abuse. But I think that teaching your daughter that it is OK to murder your granddaughter who is still in the womb is the worst kind of evil there is.

ATHEISTS DO SERVICE WORK TO LOOK AND FEEL SUPERIOR

Source: Daniel King, King Ministries

The atheist convention spent a lot of time patting themselves on the back for giving away 30,000 meals at a cost of $7,500. They did it because they are SO caring and generous. But their generosity is nothing compared to most churches. My small ministry gave away 270,000 meals in the past year so their generosity is not that impressive. They also sent six hundred bags of food to Puerto Rico, but that pales in comparison to what some churches sent down there after the hurricane. If atheists are going to compete with Christians in the area of giving, they are going to have to seriously step up their game.

The organizers were impressed with the fact that 850 people attended the conference. But I have attended a dozen church conferences in the past year that have more people than that. In some ways, I think the church has little to worry about from such a small, insignificant organization, but in other ways, I am very concerned because their goal is nothing short of transforming our entire nation from one with Christian foundations to a completely secular nation where the religious would be forced to keep their beliefs confined to the inside of their homes.

ATHEISTS WANT TO HAVE FREEDOM TO SIN AND ARE SEX MANIACS

Source: Daniel King, King Ministries

The reason most people are atheists is because they want to have the freedom to sin. At the atheist conference I saw people promoting abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, premarital sex, and polyamory. The most common theme at the conference was, “There is no god” but the second most common theme was, “I want to have sex unhindered by religious morality.”

ATHEISTS ARE UNSCIENTIFIC ABOUT GENDER

Source: Daniel King, King Ministries

Atheists pride themselves for being scientific, but they also celebrate Gavin Grimm, a girl who thinks she is a boy. It is an absolute, irrefutable scientific fact that a female with XX chromosomes cannot become a male with XY chromosomes, yet the great scientific minds at this atheist conference see no problem with allowing this girl with a beard to lie to herself and about herself.

ATHEISTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

Source: Daniel King, King Ministries

American Atheists are mad about the recent school shootings, but their founder Madalyn Murray O’Hair is the one responsible for taking prayer out of schools. When an objective moral standard is removed from education and prayer to Almighty God is forbidden in the classroom, then lawless behavior is the inevitable result. Who is responsible for school shootings? I think the American Atheists are.

ATHEISTS HAVE POTTY MOUTHS

Source: Daniel King, King Ministries

Mary Johnson (@_MaryJohnson) is a former nun who worked closely with Mother Teresa. She left the church because having sex and romantic relationships was more important to her than her vows to God. She had a potty mouth and said “What the F*@!” several dozen times, mostly just because, as a non-believer, she can.

David Silverman (@MrAtheistPants) is a charismatic and abrasive non-believing Jew who is the current president of American Atheists.

Silverman …  shouted, “American Atheists is a 501c3 organization and we are not supposed to politic, but F**K Donald Trump.”

His goal is to turn the American Atheists into “a caring community that is pro-heart, pro-brain, and anti-a**hole.” In fact, his favorite word to refer to believers is the word “a**hole.”

We care and we show it by attacking religious a**holes. All religions are wrong. All gods are false. Astrology is bullshit. And for Christ’s sake, there is no such thing as ghosts. People who believe these things are victims of lies. It is clearly a good and ethical thing to help free these people from that which is clearly wrong. Religion deserves to die.  A**holes have bad intentions and I don’t care about them.”

Silverman finished his speech by telling everyone, “Enjoy the rest of this God-dammed convention.” To that, I say, “Yes, he’s right, it is a God-dammed convention.”

Atheism leads to Collapse into Immorality & Lawlessness: Letter to Editor, New Zealand

American Atheists Convention: Hugh Laurie, Seth Andrews, Mandisa Thomas and more

Photo: Me with Mandisa Thomas of Black Nonbelievers.

Hugh Laurie (best known for his role as Dr. House on TV) volunteered his time to do a keynote Q&A with David Silverman this afternoon and helped the Convention just by being a big name on the slate. (Registration was around 850 this year.) The room was packed, including an overflow room, and he and Silverman sipped on martinis as they chatted.

Laurie announced, “I stand before you a proud atheist,” but reminded us that he comes from a godless country. In fact, he said, about 70% of Brits under the age of 30 now identify as non-believers, so the label “atheist” is nearly irrelevant.

Laurie grew up in a home with parents who were “vaguely observant,” attending church maybe 2 times per year. He described his childhood environment as largely agnostic, with a reverence for science. His father was a physician and he was sent to a secular boarding school.

Laurie said he is less argumentative and combative than he used to be, and only gets excited when he sees religion infringing on public policy or the rights of others. (Less significant, it riles him when NFL players run up to the camera and give all their thanks to God.) His personal belief is that atheists need to check bias and prejudice, making sure not to come off as overly confident or arrogant.

Also today, we got to participate in a recording of the podcast “The Thinking Atheist,” hosted by Seth Andrews. Andrews typically begins each episode with a dialogue followed by fielding questions from phone callers.

Andrews discussed his fundamentalist upbringing, including being sent to private Christian schooling. His first job was in Christian radio, a position he held for 10 years.

His format is nicely organized, not just a “shoot-the-breeze” kind of a show. Andrews is witty and serious all at once, and at just the right times.

In response to a question about how to start a podcast, Andrews said there is way too much focus on negativity on the Internet right now. He recommended content that promotes solutions and visions, not tearing other ideas down. Agreed!

http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/

We also heard from Mandisa Thomas, founder of Black Nonbelievers. Thomas is an activist and high-energy speaker. She has been volunteering and speaking for many years, while holding down a full-time job and raising 3 kids. The good news is she is moving into full-time activism and has opened a Patreon account at www.patreon.com.mandisalateefah.

Thomas discussed the meaning of community, how to support it, and how to recognize that at times it is going through growing pains, but in the end, it pulls back together and gets it done.

There were other speakers and events today—too many to attend for me, but a great day and more tomorrow, including a major service project during which 30,000 meals will be packaged for the Oklahoma City Food Bank.

Also today and requiring a longer post:

Mohammed Alkhadra: “Islamophobe”: American Atheists Convention 2018

 

 

Mohammed Alkhadra: “Islamophobe”: American Atheists Convention 2018

Photo: Me with Mohammed Alkhadra enjoying a windy day, appreciating our rights to think and speak freely.

Mohammed Alkhadra is a 25-year-old Jordanian Ex-Muslim atheist and the founder of the Jordanian Atheist Community, a group focused on raising awareness for atheism in Jordan as well as helping Jordanian atheists.

With the assistance of American and British nonprofit organizations and coordinated by American Atheists, Mohammed moved to the United States after leaving Jordan due to his atheism and renunciation of Islam. After giving a speech in the United Kingdom about Islam, Mohammed faced arrest and even death at the hands of the government and Islamic extremists, prompting him to move to the United States. 

Mohammed is currently working to organize the Council of Ex-Muslims of Jordan to more publicly advocate for the rights of ex-Muslims in his home country. 

Today at the American Atheists Convention in Oklahoma City we heard from Mohammed Alkhadra. The title of his talk was “Islamophobe,” and you might be surprised as to why.

Alkhadra was born in the US, but was raised in Jordan and had adopted its belief system. He remembers seeing the Twin Towers go down in 2001. By my math, he would have been about 9 years old. He remembers the happiness he felt seeing the towers fall, because by that point he had “enough hate inside him” that seeing the death of infidels, Jews and pagans of all kinds made him glad.

In 2011, some of his classmates were sent to Syria to perform “jihad” and even when one of his friends came back in a wheelchair, he was again happy and even jealous that he was not allowed yet to go.

Mentally, he was ready to join the struggle for  Sharia law to rule above all manmade laws. He was all in—he was ready to throw homosexuals off of buildings, to discipline women, and to enslave those that were defeated.

Then a strange thing happened… while on the internet, Alkhadra ran across a video of Richard Dawkins explaining evolution. He experienced a profound moment of doubt and questioning and a sense of wanting to know more.

Through the use of the internet, Alkhadra and 26 other Jordanian atheists formed a secret group using fake identities. That was 5 years ago and today the group numbers in the hundreds. Through contact with other like-minded people, Alkhadra grew to no longer see women at chattel, to no longer be a homophobe, and to value free speech above all else. And yet, he was still living in an environment where non-belief made him a criminal, where he could be jailed for 3 years for blasphemy, and where renouncing Islam could result in the death penalty. In fact, he said it is estimated that 82% of Jordanians still believe apostates should be put to death.

Alkhadra believes the internet is to Islam what the printing press was to Christianity. The access to and dissemination of information is revolutionary.

Free speech is dear, according to Alkhadra. We must not fall prey to the idea that we cannot offend the sensibilities of others or we are threatening intellectual discourse, even if it includes speech which some countries now recognize as hate speech.

For this reason, today Alkhadra says call me an “Islamophobe,” call me a “bigot,” if you must. That is better than what he was called in Jordan–an infidel, an animal, a pig, a Zionist devil worshipper—who must fear machetes, bullets or being put to death for a Facebook post. Here, he joked, the worst thing that will happen to him is being called a “Nazi” on a webpage.

For Alkhadra, playing nice is not enough when a person is taught that strapping on a bomb and committing jihad is easy if this life does not matter. Lighting candles or changing your profile picture into a flag is just not cutting it. We must draw a line, we must stand up and say that this religion is incompatible with this part of the world. For Alkhadra, identity politics is doing damage by blocking criticism and debate. Only the truth matters, and for Alkhadra, if this means he is labeled an Islamophobe or a bigot, he will take it, because he stands for truth.

Alkhadra says atheists and freethinkers trapped in “the fascist ideology that is Islam” are thirsty to feel part of a bigger movement. To this end, he has teamed up with Armin Navabi (founder of Atheist Republic) to introduce #AtheistDay which will be celebrated on March 23, 2019. A simple green circle will be used as the symbol to stand in solidarity with ex-Muslims and to denounce the shaming and murder of fellow atheists. He requests that you check out http://www.atheistrepublic.com/atheist-day and send suggestions as to how we may connect with and support those still trapped in Islamic states.

“Our existence; our rights shall not be denied anymore. It’s time for us to go public. We are the Council of Ex-Muslims of Jordan.”

http://ex-muslimofjo.com/

Highlights from the American Atheists Convention So Far

The annual convention opened March 29, 2018 and runs through April 1, 2018.

Yesterday, I was introduced to Yvette D’entremont, who goes by the moniker SciBabe. She gave a workshop on fact-checking and lawsuit prevention as she writes about dubious medical claims, naturopathy and pseudoscience. Since I don’t want to get sued either, I’ll not go in to too much detail, but look for her on Twitter at Yvette @TheSciBabe.

Suffice it to say, she has tackled some subjects that not only have questionable value, but may actually cause physical harm to a person, finding such ingredients as cyanide and lead in substances or products claiming to improve health and/or longevity. Scary to say the least.

Next, we popped into a workshop on Street Epistemology (SE) led by Anthony Magnabosco. It was packed and included a one-on-one with a random partner that proved to be fun but challenging. Magnabosco also gave a more formal address on the main stage which was very well received. He explained to an interested crowd that SE is useful among family members and friends, as well as with total strangers. It is not a form of evangelism as some critics have claimed.

Talk Heathen, hosted by Eric Murphy and Jamie, a podcast based out of Austin, did a live show and brought on a couple of more experienced podcasters: Cecil from Cognitive Dissonance and Noah Lugeons from The Scathing Atheist. While they giggled and entertained a lot, they touched upon the rather serious topic that podcasts are now reaching people throughout the world in places where it might be the only atheist content they were able to hear.

More later!

Essay Contest for US Junior & Senior High Schoolers on Church-State Separation

Presented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Deadline: April 15th

First Place: $1,500                        Second Place: $1,000                      Third Place: $500

This Contest Is Open To All High School Juniors And Seniors In The United States.

Topic

While ever-present, the threats to church-state separation have evolved over the years. In addition to the many cases of prayer in public schools and religious displays on government property, we now face new dangers, including:

  • Discrimination against the LGBTQ community, women and religious minorities in the name of religion
  • Attempts to change the tax code so politicians can pressure nonprofits — including houses of worship — for endorsements
  • And efforts to ban people from entering the country because of their religion

What do you think has been the greatest threat to church-state separation in the past year? (Your answer can be, but doesn’t have to be, one of the issues mentioned above.)

What have you or others in your community done to oppose this threat? What are some of the barriers that prevent work on this issue? And what more can be done?

2018_EssayPoster_FINAL.jpg

Criteria

  • 750-1,200 Words
  • Adherence to guidelines and carefully proofread
  • Articulate, creative, and tightly focused response that demonstrates a genuine grappling with the topic
  • Observation of rules for Standard English usage (grammar, punctuation, and mechanics) in writing
  • Well-researched with convincing arguments supported by specific examples

http://www.austudents.org/essaycontest/

Call to Prayer: Oklahomans Will Pray for One Hour for Schools

Image courtesy Facebook.

As Oklahoma teachers prepare to strike, Oklahomans are encourages to circle up and prayer for one hour on March 25, 2018 from 3 to 4 pm.

Courtesy Facebook:

PRAYER REQUEST: This Sunday, March 25, from 3-4pm, we invite you to “Circle Our Schools” in prayer. Join the Church all across the Tulsa area in an hour of dedicated prayer for students, teachers, staff and families as we ask for wisdom for our state legislators and educational leaders who are facing Oklahoma’s biggest question. We invite you to participate by going to the school parking lot nearest you, the school you serve with or the school your children go to and praying. If you are not able to go to a school property, consider a time of dedicated prayer where it works best for you. Let’s unite in prayer asking God for clear solutions for our educational system.

No matter what side of the fence you stand on regarding the potential teacher walkout on April 2, as the Church, we can all agree on the intrinsic value of our children, those who teach them at our schools and our state leaders. We encourage you to share this post leading up to Sunday’s prayer hour to help us fully “Circle Our Schools” in love and prayer.

 

Stop Mocking the “Antifa Giraffe Professor”: Here’s Why

NOTE: Mike and I are having an ongoing conversation on Letter.wiki regarding Neofascist Ideologies, Antifa and more. You may follow our conversation here: https://letter.wiki/conversation/59

—————————————–

Ok, so here’s the deal. Almost a year ago I began writing about Antifa and trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I don’t believe in violence and I do believe that reason and civil discourse are superior to screaming and skirmishes in the street. In fact, my observation of the situation was that it was drawing more attention to the folks that Antifa was protesting and was doing more harm than good. It just didn’t seem to be productive or effective.

About that same time, I saw that Professor Mike Isaacson was to appear on “Tucker Carlson” to explain Antifa. I was most anxious to hear what he had to say as I was really trying to understand this movement as more than a crazy mob.

Well, the interview didn’t go well. It was a total hit job. When asked if he was denying another’s right to speech rights, Isaacson said no, that was not the case—it was a mischaracterization. When asked if he personally believed in committing violence, Isaacson denied that as well. He didn’t say shut down free speech, he said opposing the ideas of problematic speech through peaceful community organizing. Carlson kept up with the “so what you’re saying is” tactic that left Isaacson looking ridiculous, even when Isaacson attempted to redirect the conversation to the topic of NONVIOLENT CIVIL DISCOURSE.

The Isaacson situation went into full-on attack mode and mockery post-interview when Far Left Watch started going through all the tweets Isaacson had ever made and pulled up one, taken out of context, which was then used to claim “Antifa Professor Calls For Killing Police” | The Daily Caller or, per Gateway Pundit, Isaacson “argued that Antifa terrorists have a right to beat people they disagree with.”

There were other problematic tweets, but by the time Isaacson clarified that he was (obviously clumsily) critiquing policing as an institution, it was too late. Death threats rolled in. They were graphic and scary to read.

Then, there was the Professor Giraffe meme that was created, as well as the Professor Pez Dispenser Meme. And if that wasn’t enough, the New York Post dug up his profile on a “kink” website, where mutually consenting adults match their interests for whatever… I don’t care. That has nothing to do with his ideas. His sex life is his business (and apparently the Post’s business.)

Ok, now that we’ve gotten all the dirt out of the way, here’s the deal. Isaacson has a publication called “You Can’t Punch Every Nazi” which he presents at workshops and guess what? It’s excellent. It addresses ways to “disabuse” those espousing fascist ideologies with actual WORDS, not PUNCHES. It also clarifies the terminology used, since many rational folks are pretty tired of the implication they are a Nazi, a Neo-Nazi, or a Nazi sympathizer if they are not in agreement with Antifa’s methods.

(Note: I found it very comparable to Street Epistemology, a dialogue technique used to “disabuse” people adhering to religious ideologies, supernatural beliefs, superstitions, etc. SE is based on the work of philosophy professor Dr. Peter Boghossian. I’ll link to an explanation of that methodology below.)

So, while we were all busy attacking, threatening and mocking Isaacson as a person, turns out we completely missed the fact that he actually has some really great ideas on how to deal with the problem of fascist ideologues through rational civil discourse. 

Isaacson begins with the hypothetical: what if someone you know or care about is dabbling in fascist ideology? “Regardless of how you feel about all of this, you don’t want to see this person go down a path that almost inevitably leads to prison, early death, and a lifetime of increasing social isolation. You care about the people around you, and you don’t want to see them harmed.” 

Huh? You mean Isaacson doesn’t just believe you punch it out of the person? Just knock some sense into them and they’ll be fine? No, he uses WORDS. In fact, he uses these kinds of words.Ask them open-ended questions to interrogate the origins of their beliefs. Examples of such questions might include:

  • Why do you think that’s true?

 

  • Why is that important to you?

 

  • How did you come to believe that?”

 

Sound familiar? That’s discourse. That’s called Socratic questioning.

Isaacson believes often times a person will embrace fascist ideologies due to a sense of injustice. He recommends looking into common life changes or trauma. For example, a person may start to wonder about fascism due to loss of job, loss of home, loss of business, isolation and loneliness. Understanding this might lead to a more productive conversation.

Most enlightening to me was the similarity between fascist ideologies and closely held religious beliefs, which we already know can lead to all sorts of violence and havoc.

“Fascist ideologies function in much the same way religions or self-help programs might. These ideologies give their adherents a general explanation for the injustice of the world and provide a ready self-improvement program for the individual to rise above it. For this reason, some scholars who have studied fascist ideologies refer to them as political religions.  For this reason, adherents to fascist ideologies flock to them for the same diverse reasons one might join a church.”

This is a language I can begin to understand. He goes into detail about the underlying belief systems. The parallels between closely held religious beliefs and fascist ideologies are incredible. One example:

“Radical Traditionalism: Some racists are so interested in having a religious justification for their bigotry that they decide to appeal to all of them. Radical traditionalists analyze Vedic, Nordic and sometimes Christian texts as containing hidden information to reveal universal truths. They believe that traditional lifeways are an accumulation of ancient wisdom that has been abandoned since the Enlightenment. Consciously anti-rational, they rebuke science in favor of a mythology of benevolent kingdoms, secret evils, and adversarial races.”

So, beyond the one-on-one methodology, Isaacson recently agreed to discuss his ideas on a vlog called “Millennial Woes,” AKA Colin Robertson. Robertson is a Scot and describes himself as an alt-right neoreactionary inspired by the works of  Theodore Dalrymple. He is apparently quite popular on YouTube and has a large following. He has 20K followers on Twitter alone. His YouTube channel has almost 50K subscribers. The interview with Isaacson has been viewed more than 30K times generating 1000-plus comments.

In a blog post about his goals, Isaacson wrote: “His (Woes) followers however are not so committed. It takes a certain level of commitment to put your face in front of a camera and go for broke on YouTube with nazi race theory. It takes a minimum commitment to watch such a troll while browsing on the internet. If Millennial Woes admits the error of his ways, he is disgraced. If his followers do, it was an unfortunate phase. Ultimately, my goal is not to argue with Millennial Woes at all, but rather to speak to the insecurity of his followers.”

http://www.vulgareconomics.com/2017/12/why-i-went-on-nazis-podcast-approaches.html

Interesting to me is that in today’s hostile speech climate, centrists are not allowed to talk to these folks like Millennial Woes because then they are condemned as Alt-Right themselves or, at the very least, Nazi sympathizers. But that’s exactly what we need to do is reason our way through this ideology and debate it. (Is it true?)

“You Can’t Punch Every Nazi” goes into much more detail, of course. I hope you will take a look. It is a work in progress and Isaacson welcomes input, but I do believe he has the beginnings of an epistemology that deserves attention. Perhaps we can help.

Full pdf version of “You Can’t Punch Every Nazi”:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx5aakHAtxFJcFZBSjZkYlJpX0k/view

Street Epistemology: A Primer on Beliefs and Finding Truth

As we denounce those accused of bad acts, may we still love their work?

Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, a film by Roman Polanski.

I wrote about the Lawrence Krauss allegations early on, and many people condemned him to the point that they were throwing away his books and never buying another.

How far do we take this outrage? Can’t we separate the person from the work, and still value the work?

Truth be told, I am going to watch “Rosemary’s Baby” every time it comes on TV, especially if it’s dark outside.

And I am going to read Dr. Seuss to every child I encounter, even though early in his career, he made ends meet by drawing racist ads and cartoons.


Today happens to be World Poetry Day:

“To see a world in a grain of sand,

And a heaven in a wild flower.

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

An eternity in an hour.”

William Blake, Augeries of Innocence

Sounds like William Blake was a bit of an ass to his infertile wife. At a time of tremendous strain in his marriage, in part due to his wife’s apparent inability to bear children, he directly advocated bringing a second wife into the house.


 “April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.”
 
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
 
And pray to God to have mercy upon us
And pray that I may forget
These matters that with myself I too much discuss
Too much explain
Because I do not hope to turn again
Let these words answer
For what is done, not to be done again
May the judgement not be too heavy upon us
T.S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday
Turns out Eliot is suspected to have been a big ol’ anti-semite.
——————-
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
 
William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming
 
So, it seems Yeats was an Irish Nationalist fascinated with the authoritarian, anti-democratic, nationalist movements of Europe.
———–
 Don’t let the outrage cheat you out of the beauty of art and science.

Street Epistemology: A Primer on Beliefs and Finding Truth

The term “Street Epistemology” (SE) refers to a conversational technique introduced by Dr. Peter  Boghossian, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Portland State University. The technique was described in Boghossian’s 2013 book titled A Manual for Creating Atheists.

Per Amazon, “A Manual for Creating Atheists offers the first-ever guide not for talking people into faith–but for talking them out of it. Peter Boghossian draws on the tools he has developed and used for more than twenty years as a philosopher and educator to teach how to engage the faithful in conversations that will help them value reason and rationality, cast doubt on their religious beliefs, mistrust their faith, abandon superstition and irrationality, and ultimately embrace reason.”

Jerry Coyne, Ph.D, author of Why Evolution is True, has this to say about the book and its methodology: “Up to now, most atheists have simply criticized religion in various ways, but the point is to dispel it.  In A Manual for Creating Atheists, Peter Boghossian fills that gap, telling the reader how to become a ‘street epistemologist’ with the skills to attack religion at its weakest point: its reliance on faith rather than evidence. This book is essential for nonbelievers who want to do more than just carp about religion, but want to weaken its odious grasp on the world.”

From the SE website: The goal of street epistemology is to guide people into engaging their critical thinking skills and applying them to their own beliefs about the world. Street Epistemology is about teaching the most fundamental features of critical thought. It’s about helping people recognize the value of skepticism and the scientific method. It’s about illuminating the distinction between beliefs about the universe and the objective truth of the universe.

SE works best in one-on-one conversations where both participants can apply their full attention to what the other is trying to say. Although direct, real-world encounters are most efficient, people are also experimenting actively with other mediums such as video-chat and online text forums with some success.”

According to Boghossian, Street Epistemology “has no leaders, popes, chieftains, or dictators. It’s simply a method to help others live lives free of delusion.”

And although there is no official organizer of SE, Anthony Magnabosco is a pioneer in the movement and has an extensive YouTube channel documenting his encounters with total strangers during which he questions them about various beliefs—not just religious beliefs, but superstitions, karma, the supernatural, and other forms of what I call magical thinking.

Here are a couple of good samples of what a typical encounter looks like for Magnabosco:

The SE website https://streetepistemology.com/   offers all kinds of instructional material for those interested. For example, see the 40-page “Complete Street Epistemology Guide: How to Talk About Beliefs.” http://www.streetepistemology.com/resources

There are also SE groups on Facebook that exchange ideas and questions for each other.

Recently, SE was covered in a YouTube video made by the Bible Answer Man Network and published on Jan 26, 2018. Bible Answer Man opines that “blind atheistic materialism” makes it difficult for “atheist evangelists” to see that evidence of faith does exist, because “design presupposes a designer.” All you have to do is look at a feather and you will know this.

Sadly, the Bible Answer Man also assumes that Street Epistemologists are attempting to make Christians look foolish, but this is far from the case. In fact, SEs try very hard not to provoke defensiveness or the conversation is likely spoiled.

Max Mullen is a Street Epistemologist in training who became “inspired during the 2016 election season because I noticed how little people cared about truth—posting fake articles, biased information… they just didn’t care enough about the truth of the information. I want to motivate people to care about whether their beliefs are true. I have no interest in telling people they’re wrong. It’s not a disagreement. To me it’s more about teaching truth as a value.”

According to Mullen, “Religious beliefs are often seen as unquestionable sacred ideas and people who question those sacred ideas are often stigmatized in our society. But there is common ground among SEs and religious people because I believe they both care about what is true. It’s an opportunity to open up your mind to further inquiry. Religious belief fills a gap in our psychology but it does so in a way that stifles inquiry.”

Mullen concludes, “SE makes the assumption that there is an objective reality and the only way to know reality is through reason and evidence. Accept that you’re going to be stigmatized. It’s like being a deprogrammer except you’re not focusing on fringe cults…  you have a broader goal of focusing on ideologies in general, religious and otherwise, and all forms of indoctrination.”


Anthony Magnabosco will be teaching a workshop at the upcoming American Atheist Convention in Oklahoma City.

American Atheist Convention Coming to OKC; Conference Details & Speaker Line-up