Alabama Atheist billboard controvery

Huntsville Alabama has a new billboard that reads:

You KNOW they're all SCAMS. Southeast Regional Atheist Meet. January 29-30. atheists.org/huntsville.

Here's a photo of the billboard. Here's what you will find if you follow the link to American Atheists:

Is All Religion a SCAM?

SCAM: 1. A ploy by a shyster to raise money. 2., A fraudulent business scheme. To scam means to victimize: deprive of by deceit; "He swindled me out of my inheritance"; "She defrauded the customers who trusted her"; "the cashier gypped me when he gave me too little change" 3. A confidence trick, confidence game, or con for short (also known as a scam) is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. The confidence trickster, con man, scam artist or con artist often works with an accomplice called the shill, who tries to encourage the mark by pretending to believe the trickster. Let's examine some truth: Truth 1) All religions make money and power from their flock. Truth 2) All religions* promise life after death, AND they promise that members of the flock will benefit in that afterlife from their association with the church/synagogue/mosque. Whether it's an amorphous "closeness to God", or eternity in Heaven, or 72 virgins, they make lots of promises about an afterlife that doesn't exist. They appeal to wishful thinking, egos, and love of life to insent the parishioners to follow and give. Let's face it: religion tells a good story. All you need to do is follow the preacher and good things will happen. You will never really die, and due to your involvement in (insert religion here) you will benefit for eternity. Yes, it pleases the invisible man-in-the-sky that you follow your preacher -- just ask your preacher and he will tell you. Sometimes, religions ask for money directly, and sometimes it's more indirect, but there is always money involved, and there is always a promise that will never be kept. Money and power in exchange for something that will never be recieved, and you can't even ask for a refund! This is a SCAM. Billions of adherents, many of whom are preachers themselves, all victims of this Great Scam. Some know it's a scam, yet defend religion because they like the lies. They like the fraud. They like the false sense of security. Unfortunately, no matter how much you like a lie, it doesn't make it truth. It DOES make religion a great scam if victims are willing to defend it, even in the face of truth. SO -- if you know it's a scam: * Why do you give it money? Why to you follow? Do you like being scammed? * Why do you allow your loved ones to follow? Why not raise their awareness so they can keep their money and their dignity?Because they like being scammed? * Why are you silent? Because the scam-artist preachers want you to be? American Atheists doesn't think religion deserves respect for lying or scamming people. Religion is a major conduit of wealth and power in this country, and this all comes at the expense of well-meaning intelligent victims of the greatest con-job ever. We urge you to get off your knees, keep you money, and regain your dignity. If you can read this (if you are human), you are the top of the food-chain. There are no beings on Earth greater than humans. Yes -- eventually, you will die, and wishing it weren't true won't change that, but at least you can live a full and meaningful life here and now, instead of wasting it following a god you know is a myth, and a religion you know is a scam. * Some secular philosophies, including Secular Judaism, Secular Islam, and Secular Buddhism, call themselves religions. We respectfully disagree with their definitions and do not allege they are scams, as they do not promise an afterlife or promote any deity.
Hmmm. I would put this billboard at about a "6" on my tolerance of religion scale. And I would put the website text at about a "5." [More . . . ]

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The end of the American Dream

Here's how the German magazine/website Spiegel sees the decline of America:

The Tea Party, that group of white, older voters who claim that they want their country back, is angry. Fox News host Glenn Beck, a recovering alcoholic who likens Obama to Adolf Hitler, is angry. Beck doesn't quite know what he wants to be -- maybe a politician, maybe president, maybe a preacher -- and he doesn't know what he wants to do, either, or least he hasn't come up with any specific ideas or plans. But he is full of hatred. And so is Dinesh D'Souza. Indeed, the United States of 2010 is a hate-filled country . . . This is the climate in the country leading up to the Congressional elections on Nov. 2. It isn't shaped by logic or an interest in rational debate. The United States of 2010 is a country that has become paralyzed and inhibited by allowing itself to be distracted by things that are, in reality, not a threat: homosexuality, Mexicans, Democratic Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, health care reform and Obama. Large segments of the country are not even talking about the issues that are serious and complex, like debt, unemployment and serious educational deficits. Is it because this is all too threatening?
Beware of the graphics accompanying the article. These statistics on the United States economy are not for the faint of heart.

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Dangerous Intersection Interviewed on KDHX

A big thanks to Ed Bishop of St. Louis radio station KDHX for inviting Dangerous Intersection onto his show, Reality Now. Ed, a journalism professor at Webster University in St. Louis, created his show after attending the 2005 National Conference for Media Reform sponsored by Free Press. Ed's show focuses on media issues, and on January 3, 2011 Mark Tiedemann and I joined him for his half-hour show. We discussed the origins of Dangerous Intersection, citizen journalism, religion and political labels, among other things. If you'd like to hear the January 3rd show, it is available at the KDHX site, but only for a couple of weeks. Note for aspiring citizen journalists: the next Free Press National Conference for Media Reform will be held April 8 - 10 in Boston, Massachusetts

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7 billion reasons to consider 7 billion

In the three minutes it takes to view this excellent National Geographic video on the rapidly increasing numbers of people, earth's population will increase by 170 people. That explosive growth has real life ramifications that will affect our quality of life: I applaud the willingness of National Geographic to discuss this critically important issue. Many people and organizations shy away from the topic of the earth's carrying capacity. Another organization dedicated to making sure that we don't shy away from the topic is Global Population Speak Out (GPSO). Here is GPSO mission statement:

The Population Institute, based in Washington DC, is seeking prominent scientists, scholars, and other concerned citizens to participate in this international program of action. The mission is to raise awareness in the global community about the current size and growth of the human population on Earth -- and to highlight the challenges this size and growth present as we attempt to achieve planet-scale ecological sustainability.

I am proud to say that I am Pledger #36.

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Big wasted money

I know I've quite recently written about the immense amount of money the United States is pouring into Afghanistan, but this terrible waste of money simply must stop. It occurred to me that the huge amount of money we are spending to fight poor people in Afghanistan needs to be described in terms that make it more understandable to the average American. Imagine that the federal government made a big announcement tomorrow that it would start funding large-scale improvements for each of America's largest 100 cities. In accordance with this new program to build bridges, hire teachers, convert buildings to high energy efficiency and retrain workers (in addition to other things), the federal government would pay each of America's biggest 100 cities $20 million. Imagine this celebration! The citizens of each of these cities would be treated to ribbon-cutting ceremonies complete with large replicas of checks, each of which contains the number $20 million. The mayors of these cities would tell their citizens about all the great things they will be able to do with $20 million. Now imagine that while this celebration is going on, a 10-year-old child walks up to a reporter on the street, tugs at his sleeve, and tells him that something is wrong. The cameras keep rolling as the surprised reporter asks the child what could possibly be wrong with each of America's 100 biggest cities getting a grant of $20 million. The child pulls out a calculator and explains that $20 million times 100 equals only $2 billion. The reporter asked the child what could possibly be wrong with this. The child explains:

$2 billion is what America spends in Afghanistan each and every week. In order to spend a big amount of money on America's 100 biggest cities, an amount equal to the amount we waste in Afghanistan each year, we would need to pay each of America's biggest 100 cities $20 million every week for a year.
The reporter blurts out, "Think of the huge number of teachers and police officers we could hire for that kind of money. $20 million times 50 weeks means that each of American's biggest cities would get $1 Billion. Think of the crumbling bridges we could fix with that. Think of the improve schools, the improved health care and the collective relief we would feel knowing that our hard-earned tax dollars are being used wisely. At that point, the child would again tug at the reporters sleeve and remind him, "We are not spending tax dollars in Afghanistan. It is all borrowed money we are blowing over there. In fact, 42 cents of every dollar spent by the federal government in 2010 is borrowed money. " At that point, the reporter might look at the camera and say something like, "That's it from here tonight. I'm speechless."

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