Sin Son of Creationist

I lost count of the number of times that Jeffrey Dahmer and his father Lionel say 'accountable' during the MSNBC interview below (top).

Unemotional Jeffrey Dahmer and his repressed father are interviewed. Dahmer says, "My relatives had no knowledge of what I was doing."

Dahmer avoids explaining his killing young men and boys (during blackouts) by answering a question concerning any abuse (violent arguments in the home) that Dahmer might have suffered by stating, "I wonder about those things, but as far as I'm concerned they are all excuses. . . they didn't know I was doing it, so they are not accountable for what I did." (Not knowing about someone's actions does not equate to total lack of responsibility.)

He describes becoming accountable for his behaviors after his father sent him creation "science" material that convinced Jeffrey that he was accountable to God. "Evolution cheapens "life" because we die."

Lies in Genesis can usually be relied upon for more stupidity than the juxtaposition of dinosaurs and dinohoms. Here's their contribution to 'discussion', a quotation that they probably fondly imagine says it all:

‘If a person doesn’t think there is a God to be accountable to, then—then what’s the point of trying to modify your behaviour to keep it within acceptable ranges? That’s how I thought anyway. I always believed the theory of evolution as truth, that we all just came from the slime. When we, when we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing…’ Jeffrey Dahmer, in an interview with Stone Phillips, Dateline NBC, Nov. 29, 1994.

What rot! Death makes life all the more precious because death is permanent. His parents 'disciplined him' and he felt accountable to them, but sought control of his own life once he had left home. Once free of observation, he set about his cannibalistic spree. Father, Lionel, whom Jeffrey has verbally exhonerated of accountability, says that he "feels guilty".



How very nauseating, Jeffrey and his father say that they came back to God after the events and Jeffrey's imprisonment.

The religionist fundamentalists will no doubt interpret this interview as a sign that only religious belief can confer a sense of moral . . . accountability.

Let's take a look at the likeliest mechanisms at play when Jeffrey repeatedly "woke up" beside the dead bodies of boys and young men he had killed. Most serial killers come from severely abusive childhoods, typically suffering physical/sexual/emotional abuse in the home or extended family. This man was not merely a conscience-deficient sociopath, he lost time during which he was dissociated and not in executive control of his actions.

Why? Young children cope with repeated traumas by repressing conscious memory of the events, but the experiences dramatically affect their psychological development. Ultimately, traumatized elements of the dissociative personality system emerge to reenact the sexual/physical activities that generated those aspects of the personality. The chief personality may not be consciously aware of the activities that culminate the sequence initiated under the influence of uncontrollable urges.



Considering the fact that Jeffrey Dahmer's pattern fits the typical profile, it struck me that he was evasively providing a well rehearsed account of his Godfound accountability. What a fecolith that is! It's was so convenient to claim to obey God once he'd been imprisoned.



Contrary to what creationists on Creation 'Science' Evangelism may want to believe, the fact is that a boy from a family in which his "disciplinary" parents 'lost religion' around Dahmer's crimes, suggests that they were religious while Dahmer was growing up. And look at the result!

"Here's what makes that really funny: Dahmer's father is a creationist who has lectured widely on creationism and raised him as a creationist. Oops." Ed Brayton (emphasis mine)

Exposure to religion during his childhood (whether or not Jeffrey ever accepted the fact of biological evolution or was merely lying about this too) did not leave Jeffrey acting accountably. Religion failed. Creationism after the fact is merely pandering to the interviewer, and probably to prison authorities, and probably to God so that he can avoid Eternal Damnation. Dahmer was beaten to death in prison on November 28, 1994.

Elsewhere Jeffrey Dahmer: "Darwin made me do it." : Dumbest Anti-Evolution Screed Ever? : Evolution Cheapens Life, Christianity Teaches Accountability, Says Dahmer :

Theidiotic comments: That Darwin made serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer do it : Can America Survive Evolutionary Humanism? :

Google videos on Dahmer : YouTube videos on Dahmer :

audiovisual, biological evolution, creationism, darwinism, DID, religion, videos, Jeffrey Dahmer,

Beware of Dogma

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is the nation’s largest association of atheists and agnostics, is unveiling what is believed to be one of the first nontheistic billboards erected in Madison, Wis.

”We think it is time for the rest of us to use the mass media to counter the ubiquity of religious messages on roadsides everywhere!”

The Foundation will be erecting another billboard to greet attendees of its 30th national convention, meeting on Oct. 12-13 in Madison. A smaller billboard on East Johnson Street by Fordem Avenue (passed by nearly everyone coming in from the airport) will carry the “Beware of Dogma” message on one side, while the other side will sport the stained-glass motif and the words “Imagine No Religion.”

My guess is that religious fundamentalists, who believe in free speech so long as this includes only their message and freedom of religion so long as people believe in supernatural nonsense, will deface some FFRF billboards.

Join the Freedom From Religion Foundation
or
visit Freedom From Religion Foundation website

The value of religion?

I posted this elsewhere and then decided to stick it here too:

If I ever want a good belly laugh, then reading Christian fantasies is a safe bet.

If I ever wanted to get angry and frustrated, then reading Christian fantasies would be a safe bet.

If I'm ever looking for examples of stupidity, lies, or fallacies of logic, then reading Christian fantasies is a safe bet.

Who says religion is not good for anything?!

Christian fantasies? you ask: anything that Christians argue to support their silly mythologies or to attempt to discredit atheism.

atheismChristianityfallacies of logicmythologyreligion

To Athe or Not to Athe?

Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist, who Sold His Soul on eBay, posted Atheist Alliance International Convention 2007 (Recap). (Thanks for the recap, Hemant.)

Hemant reports that Sam Harris spoke out against use of the term 'atheist', which seems an odd thing to do at an 'Atheist Alliance'.

Without having heard Harris' talk, I can only respond to the snippets that Hemant provided:

. . . why are we defining ourselves by something that should simply be the case? Victory for our side would not result in a world where everyone called themselves an atheist; rather, atheism would just be an obvious afterthought.

Just as we don't call ourselves aZeusists or aThorists? (Athorist–I like that!) I think that Harris appears to be missing the point that even though atheists, like theists, come in all shapes and sizes and personal belief systems, we vocal atheists are united by rejection of the politico-cultural phenomenon of imposed theistic claptrap.

The label also carried liabilities, he said: people don’t like “atheists”

Many of those people don't like anyone! However, their dislike of our principles is precisely why I think that political atheists, who are more chagrined by the malice, intolerance, and sanctioned stupidity of theism than they are worried about the nonexistence of something nonexistent per se, ought to stand up and defiantly declare themselves 'atheists'.

Yes, the term 'atheistm' upsets theists because the term itself conjures up images of refusal to accept their dogmatic pronouncements, and that is the point. If you back down to a bully in the hope that he will like you for it, you must forever sacrifice your principles. Thinking along the lines of Greta Christina' interesting Good Cop Bad Cop post, any insistence of being called atheists would be similar to gay activists' adopting for themselves the labels that their detractors used. This tactic removed the verbal weapon from the mouths of bigots by eliminating any insulting power that the words might otherwise have had. It worked for them, and as Greta says of employing various styles of activism, it could work for us.

Instead, he argued, we should be saying that we advocate intellectual honesty, reason, and evidence. Who wants to be an enemy of “reason”? This terminology will be much easier to spread than “atheism.”

Actually, I think that we should be advocating intellectual honesty, reason, and evidence, and not merely claiming to do so. (This is probably what Harris and Hemant meant.) However, thinking individuals have been advocating these things and many theists not only do not listen, but they attack all of these virtues wherever they might threaten the stranglehold that religion has on reality. And they do this within the smug assurance that comes from following the dictates of hitherto uncriticized religious institutions.

I think that there are important motivations for the recent increase in vocal atheism–the political causes for objection as so pressing as to distress many theists, the rational reasons are more insidious and even intelligent theists have been conned. Those without sufficient education in critical thinking, sociology, criminology, psychology, medicine, moral philosophy, cosmology, evolutionary biology, or science have been duped by religionist claims that run counter to facts and logic.

Religious belief, rather than mere lack of education, is the core problem that underlies the disinformation that vies for attention in the minds of the credulous. It is only by casting the underlying motivation-to-ignorance into doubt that minds can be directed back toward rationality. I think that atheists need to be clear that they are speaking for intellectual honesty, reason, evidence, logic, morality, and community.

and they have stock responses ready when we use the word to describe ourselves: “Stalin was an atheist,” for example.

Of course they have stock responses, and their utter lack of originality makes our task much easier. We can regurgiquote right back at 'em. It's boring, but we need to point out ad nauseam that such arguments are fallacious and irrelevant to the phenomenon at hand. The New Atheism bears absolutely no resemblance to the motivations of an anti-capitalist, paranoid megalomaniac, and to conjure up any comparison to Stalin is typical of the fallacious way in which theists parrot the emotional illogic of prejudiced religionists.

Granted, we can respond to those claims, but Harris said it was as if religious people had “drawn a chalk outline of a dead man and we just sit in it.”

Let's reverse that image and draw a chalk outline of a nonexistent God that has robbed some humans of the intellectual capacities with which biological evolution has endowed them.

atheismfallacies of logicGodlogicmoralityphilosophypoliticsreligionsciencesociologypsychologySam Harris

Acid Drops or Sugar Coated?

Much time and energy is devoted to discussion of whether or not science and atheism ought to be tactically linked and whether confrontational or placatory atheistic tactics are more likely to be successful.

Carnival of the Godless #76 linked to this post on Greta Christina's blog: Good Cop, Bad Cop: Atheist Activism.

Greta compares the current rise of vocal atheism to the queer activist movement of the '80s and '90s and argues convincingly that different styles of atheist activism are both individually appropriate and, more important, complementary.

But when it comes to the basic question of "sympathetic compromiser versus passionate idealist" tactics, I think we'd all be better off if we stopped spending our time and energy squabbling with each other, and left each other the hell alone to do what we're good at and what we're inspired to do.

From : Style Complementarity in Atheist Activism .

Articles : Thanks for the Facts. Now sell them .

Blogs : How Not to Defend Evolution, Part 1 and Part 2 . Why Pairing Science and Atheism is High-Brow, and responses, Jason Rosenhouse: Young on Dewey on Being High-Brow, Larry Moran: Jake Young Wants Atheist Scientists to Keep a Low Profile, PZ Myers: Taking exception to Jake . Peaceful Coexistence? .

atheismpoliticspsychologyreligionRichard DawkinsChristopher Hitchens

Guff im Himmel

Theists must resort to fallacious ad hominem attacks on atheists because, when it comes to evidence or philosophy*, theism has no evidential or logical leg to stand on. Contrary to a popular theist crow**, the burden of proof lies with those making religious claims. Atheists merely say, 'I don't believe that rot!'

Christianity, to pick on just one of the Big Three Abrahamic religions, has failed in almost 2,000 years to come up with any evidence beyond circular claims of being 'revealed religion' for any of its Guff im Himmel nonsense. Islam has failed for a shorter time, and Judaism for even longer.

In response to this piece of Godpuffery, 'My first thought was, “ How do you get passionate about nothing ? ” If no God exists, what is there to get passionate about ?'

I found two excellent responses Freethinker Sunday Sermonette: can Believing survive Seeing? and a shorter response in We “passionate” atheists in which PZ Myers exhibits his typical mixture of humor and good sense:

And oh, yeah, I'm passionate about atheism, but atheism isn't about nothing: it's about valuing reason over superstition, about conquering unfounded fears, about facing the real world without crutches and lies to hold you up. I'm sure someone is going to sit there and dissect the letters of the word and tell me that atheism means only an absence of belief in gods, but screw that — it's about a whole philosophy of thought that is built on materialism and naturalism. It is an idea with substance.

Mr Terry, however, finds his passion in an imaginary, nonsensical being with less immanence in our world than a grain of sand or a falling leaf, a delusion of no substance that can have less physical impact on his life than the secretions of even just one of his gut bacteria … at least that bacterium actually exists.

And he dares to rebuke us for believing in nothing? We believe in every thing.

* theology is merely special-interest philosopy
** the verb, not the bird

Also : Pharyngula: We "amoral" atheists : Pharyngula: We "naive" atheists : The Atheist Experience: Why do atheists speak out? This is why.

atheismChristianityfallacies of logicphilosophyreligiontheology

Luce-ifer's Apprentices?

Ron Luce, who was recently exposed in Christiane Amanpour's God's Christian Warriors is a showman who is making a small fortune marketing ever-popular conflict to credulous teens, so this incident put me in mind of Luce's BattleCry moneymaker.

As originally posted on Friendly Atheist:

"The home of a local outspoken atheist was vandalized overnight Friday, police said -- with eggs tossed at the house and cars, and crosses and religious words scrawled in chalk on the driveway.

A church bulletin also was stuck on the front door.

The incident comes days after Rob Sherman's daughter, Dawn, led a successful effort to have the song "God Bless America" yanked from Buffalo Grove High School's homecoming celebration. Dawn Sherman is a freshman on the student council.

The vandalism likely was the retaliatory work of youngsters, police Sgt. Mike Millett said -- since it came on the heels of the school incident and because one of the chalked words, "Jesus," was misspelled."

. . . Daily Herald 9/23/2007

One wonders just how thick even an American teenager must be to misspell a simple word like 'Jesus' as 'Jessus'. Of course, the actions may not be those of a teen but of a dyslexic, overpatriotic, adult Jesus-freak. Religious fundamentalists, after all, repeatedly demonstrate that ignorance is not confined to preschoolers.

On Atheist revolution:

"The police are convinced that angry teens are the culprits rather than some local Christian terrorist organization. Their evidence? The vandalism closely followed the incident at Sherman's daughter's school, and "Jesus" was misspelled. They may have a point about the proximity of the vandalism to the school incident, but the misspelling sounds like they are assuming Christian adults must have some modicum of intelligence. I'm not sure this is a safe assumption.

Had racist slurs and symbols been used to deface the home of an African American student, I wonder if the police would have the same response that this was simply an innocent prank by teens. Well, maybe in Jena they would."

atheismbigotryChristianityeducationreligionChristiane AmanpourGod's WarriorsRon Luce

Taking the Mickey

Linked on Nut Watch
Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
How to think like a fundy
Hundreds of Proofs of God’s Existence
Sex in Christ (sensitives beware)

1 2 3 Religious Comics
celestialvacations.com

Lend No Credence

Here's something that all atheist bloggers could do – Avoid authorizing stupidity!

Don't lend any credence to blogs and websites that advocate intolerant malevolence or terminal stupidity. Better to provide a Google link to moralistic intolerance, or creationist or intelligent designer stupidity than to link to a bigotted or creationist site.

Here are some other alternatives:
ȸ Anti-Discovery Institute (for sense, consult Americans United),
ȸ Center for Pseudoscience and ControlFreakism,
ȸ Deception re Genesis (for sense, consult No Answers in Genesis),
ȸ Evolution News and Biased Views (for sense, Talk Origins, there are so many good websites that a Google search may be best Evolution research)
ȸ Founding Fathers (for sense, consult The Christian Nation Myth or Founding Documents),
ȸ Religious Right (for sense, consult Religious Right Research),
ȸ Wedge Strategy, (for sense, consult Discovery Institute's "Wedge Project" Circulates Online)

A-borborygmi

Mojoey at Deep Thoughts is managing an enormous atheist blogroll (more than 350 websites). If you wish to submit your atheist blog, click on the image below and send him an email. His website is also worth visiting.

Gray Matters
Adeistic
Avidity
Eine Kleine Nattermusing
eMusings
eVolition
Galaria
Godspell Follies
MetaThoughts
Mimble Wimble
Naturalism
Neologisms
palimpsest
Sechuam
Sintheist
Tabula Flexuosa
Weltschauung

Godborygmi

Adapted from the Greek for bowel rumblings, Godborygmi will include comments on religious gurglings, flatus, and scat.