Before the Court is a proposed Settlement Agreement [so that] the parties can operate as they peacefully move on with their lives and educate students of the Medina Valley Independent School District. …

What This Case Has Not Been About

The right to pray. Any American can pray, silently or verbally, seven days a week, twenty four hours a day, in private as Jesus taught [1] or in large public events as Mohammed instructed.[2]

The Real Issue

Does the United States Constitution allow a government entity elected by the majority to use its power to tax and its agents and employees to support and promote a particular religious viewpoint not held by a minority?

The answer, of course, is no.  The judge when on to write:

For those who choose to enlighten themselves on why separation of church and state has been an issue of great debate and importance in American history, Appendix II follows Appendix I.

But it gets better, as the judge then added a very personal statement, set off from the rest of the ruling.

During the course of this litigation, many have played a part:

To the United States Marshal Service and local police who have provided heightened security: Thank you.

To those Christians who have venomously and vomitously cursed the Court family and threatened bodily harm and assassination: In His name, I forgive you.

To those who have prayed for my death: Your prayers will someday be answered, as inevitably trumps probability.

To those in the executive and legislative branches of government who have demagogued this case for their own political goals: You should be ashamed of yourselves.

To the lawyers who have advocated professionally and respectfully for their clients’ respective positions: Bless you.

That just about says it all.  Thank you, Judge Biery.

When: 2PM TODAY

RSVP at: http://www.meetup.com/Pittsburgh-Secular-Freethinkers/events/51193802/

Welcome to Ladies Meetup Part Two! :)

We had such a great time at our first ladies meetup, we’re going to do it monthly.  Also, one of our members suggested we try a different restaurant each month–a great idea!  This location has metered parking in the lot under the Squirrel Hill library and on-street parking for many blocks around.  I have probably been here about 6 times since they opened earlier this year, they have a delicious assortment of tasty menu items: drinks, desserts, and hot pots if you want a full meal.  My favorites are the snow ice, fresh squeezed fruit juices, and a new kind of tapioca tea.  The owner is a lovely lady from Taiwan who is excited to host us!

Read more about Cool Ice Taipei.

See you there!

Sunday, February 12 at 2:00 PM

Details: http://www.meetup.com/Pittsburgh-Secular-Freethinkers/events/51193802/

When: 2/17/2012

RSVP at: http://www.meetup.com/Steel-City-Skeptics/events/44953382/

We will be meeting at the Double Wide Grill, 2339 E. Carson Street, inside, in the large back room.  There is no specific topic.  It is just an open discussion among fellow freethinkers about science, religion, skepticism, beer, life and leisure.  Teetotalers and those who imbibe are equally welcomed.

We start gathering at 7pm, but latecomers are more than welcome. About half the attendees register through Meetup and half through Facebook, so don’t be surprised to see more than sign up here.  Hope to see you on Friday night!

Friday, February 17 at 7:00 PM

Details: http://www.meetup.com/Steel-City-Skeptics/events/44953382/

This morning, Rep. Mark B. Cohen of Philadelphia commented on a PhillyNow post from January 28, in which we reported that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution declaring 2012 the “Year of the Bible.”

He wrote, “The significant outcry against this nonbinding resolution has convinced Rep. Greg Vitali and myself to introduce a motion for reconsideration on February 8, 2012. The motion for reconsideration will come up for a vote sometime the week of February 13, 2012, or soon thereafter. Please contact your state representative and other state representatives and ask for support of the Cohen-Vitali motion for reconsideration.”

In addition, he went onto urge readers to sign his online petition against the resolution.

While Cohen initially voted for the bill, he provides some insight into how it got crammed through House without discussion:

[Cohen] describes the resolution on his Facebook page as “buried with a whole bunch of other resolutions at a time when legislators were focused on getting on the ballot and running for re-election. Had there been a debate there would have been some no votes,  including mine. But I have no doubt whatsoever that it would have passed overwhelmingly on its own with a debate. Numerous other votes have established that each of the Republicans is highly unlikely to vote against this legislation, and the Democratic opposition to it, at best, would be about one third of the Democratic caucus.”

Later on, in that same Facebook thread, he wrote that he’d be creating a petition against this resolution. As of this morning, Cohen wrote, 10,014 Americans, “largely from PA,” have signed his petition to repeal the resolution. The repeal of the non-binding resolution could be on tap for next week. In the meantime, here’s some more of your tax money being used to not fix the economy.

Cohen tells us he will be holding a press conference on Monday at noon regarding the resolution and his effort to undo it.

Let’s keep this in the news and keep pressure on your local Representatives to overturn this illegal and unethical resolution.  The government has no business telling which text is, or is not, the “word of God” or which book should be considered “holy”.  Let the churches, mosques,synagogues, and temples take care of religion.  Government, as a body, has to remain neutral on all matters of religion.

When: 7PM TODAY

RSVP at: http://www.meetup.com/Pittsburgh-Secular-Freethinkers/events/51189682/

Our social meetup this month will be in conjunction with CFI and Steel City Skeptics–a coalition event sponsored by CFI to celebrate Darwin Day.  RSVP here or at Steel City Skeptics.

In honor of Darwin Day 2012, the Center for Inquiry will be showing a brand new documentary called “No Dinosaurs in Heaven”. Not only is it a fascinating film, but it will be followed by a LIVE Q & A via Skype with the award-making filmmaker Greta Schiller, currently living in Europe. Suggested donation of $5 for adults and $2 for students.  Parking at the Science Center is $3 if you say you are with the group.

Watch the trailer.

“No Dinosaurs in Heaven weaves together two strands: an examination of the problem posed by creationists who earn science education degrees only to advocate anti-scientific beliefs in the classroom; and a visually stunning raft trip down the Grand Canyon, led by Dr. Eugenie Scott, that debunks creationist explanations for its formation.”

The film’s premiere at the NY Academy of Sciences in November 2011 was featured in USA Today.

Hope we’ll see you there!

Thursday, February 9 at 7:00 PM

Details: http://www.meetup.com/Pittsburgh-Secular-Freethinkers/events/51189682/

When: 2/12/2012

RSVP at: http://www.meetup.com/Pittsburgh-Secular-Freethinkers/events/51193802/

Welcome to Ladies Meetup Part Two! :)

We had such a great time at our first ladies meetup, we’re going to do it monthly.  Also, one of our members suggested we try a different restaurant each month–a great idea!  This location has metered parking in the lot under the Squirrel Hill library and on-street parking for many blocks around.  I have probably been here about 6 times since they opened earlier this year, they have a delicious assortment of tasty menu items: drinks, desserts, and hot pots if you want a full meal.  My favorites are the snow ice, fresh squeezed fruit juices, and a new kind of tapioca tea.  The owner is a lovely lady from Taiwan who is excited to host us!

Read more about Cool Ice Taipei.

See you there!

Sunday, February 12 at 2:00 PM

Details: http://www.meetup.com/Pittsburgh-Secular-Freethinkers/events/51193802/

When: 12PM TODAY

RSVP at: http://www.meetup.com/Steel-City-Skeptics/events/50641952/

I know it is Super Bowl Sunday, but we will try our old haunt, the Double Wide Grill, one more time.   Good conversation and good food.  We might try mixing it up with new locations in the Spring. Come with suggestions, if you have any.

Sunday, February 5 at 12:00 PM

Details: http://www.meetup.com/Steel-City-Skeptics/events/50641952/

Rick Saccone is the principle architect of the recent unconstitutional resolution passed in the Pennsylvania Legislature entitled 2012 – The Year of the Bible. So it was with great interest that I listened to the hour long debate between Saccone and Dan Barker where he attempted to justify this resolution. The hour-long debate can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgPBxWAvhto.

As I listened to Saccone’s convoluted (and false) reasoning, and Dan’s patient explanation of some of the finer points of Constitutional law and the difference between private free speech and government speech, I kept waiting for Dan to point out what I think is the most compelling argument, the wording of the resolution itself. Doing so would have pointed out the total disingenuousness of Saccone’s rationale. But I guess it would have been rude to point out that he was flat out lying, and anybody who has ever met Dan knows just how polite and gentle he is.

But I’m neither polite nor gentle, so I am going to point out the lie in his rationale. Saccone claims that the resolution is merely an acknowledgment of the importance of the Bible in our country’s history. I might be able to buy that argument if the resolution said something like: “Whereas the Bible has had a significant impact on all of Western civilization and has thus had a significant influence on the founding and culture of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States of America”. But it doesn’t. The resolution is a blatantly obvious Christian document, making unproven theological claims that are part of the Christian religion, using language unique to Christianity, and even making the statement that the U. S. was founded on the Bible, which is demonstrably false. So that being the case, Saccone is either lying, or is incredibly ignorant and ill-informed.

So which is it? Well, let’s consider his background. From his website:

“When America went to war with Iraq, Rick volunteered for an assignment to the U.S. Army as a civilian. He served in Baghdad and in the hotspot of Mosul as a Senior Counterintelligence Agent responsible for identifying, capturing and interrogating insurgents.”

What is the most basic skill set needed in this kind of work? First of all, believable dishonesty. The whole idea of counterintelligence is to ingratiate yourself into people’s confidence for the purpose of destroying them. Lying to them. Constantly acting under false pretenses. Secondly, a lack of ethics is essential, especially when using torture to interrogate prisoners. So it would seem to me that when he makes provably untrue claims about the purpose of this resolution that, considering his background, he is being dishonest rather than misguided.

The next question is: what could be the possible motivation for this resolution other than a devout belief in his religion? Could there be an underlying motivation that made it so important to thumb his nose at the Constitution after taking a vow to defend it? What could possibly be so urgent?

Before his stint as a private contractor, he had a career in counterintelligence in the Air Force. Now it should be noted that it unequivocably proven that there is a very large and pervasive cabal of Christian Dominionists throughout the milirtary, but especially in the Air Force; a cabal so pervasive that new cadets at the Air Force Academy have been told that if they want to have any kind of career in the Air Force, it was necessary to be an Evangelical Christian. (This has been well documented – in fact it was so blatant that it led to a forced change of leadership at the Academy.) So it is highly likely that Saccone was exposed to (if not a participant in) this subversive network that subscribes to the notion that the government of the United States needs to be taken over by devout Christians in order to use our nation’s power to forcibly impose Christianity on the rest of the world.

But fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), the Constitution stands in the way of such a religious take-over of the government. So it is therefore necessary to subvert it, to effectively overthrow it. This can be done by chipping away at it bit by bit, something that the Dominionists have been working at for years. One way to do that is to fabricate a body of “evidence” that contradicts the abundant and generally accepted evidence of the intent of the Founders and the written words of the Constitution. (David Barton of Texas is one of the better known practitioners of this.) Creating this resolution is just such an example, as well.

First, you create a document that states what you would like people to believe and accept as fact, and then, once you stealthily sneak it through the legislative body and get it passed, it now has the imprimatur of the government. This is a tactic used very effectively by masters of manipulating public opinion. Once you have fabricated this “evidence” you can then point to it and say “See – this (lie) is enshrined in the public record so it must be true”. Sort of like a crooked cop who plants drugs on someone to arrest them for being a drug dealer. And of course, getting it passed is not really difficult – in this day of extreme religiosity, what politician with any thoughts of being re-elected would dare vote against a resolution favoring the bible?

So I ask you, how else would you explain someone who swears an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution (several times when you consider his military service in addition to his oath of office in the legislature) and then turns around and thumbs his nose at the Constitution?

And that brings me to my conclusion; consider: Saccone appears to be quite cunning and devious and devoid of any ethical integrity. On top of that, he appears to have an extremely zealous delusion about his sadistic imaginary friend in the sky, along with the arrogant sense that he has a divine obligation to promote this delusion by any means available regardless of any ethical considerations. Combine these and you have a perfect storm, so to speak. This deadly combination makes him a truly dangerous man, just like the 9/11 hijackers.

Unfortunately, I live in the 39thDistrict. The fact that he is my Representative is both frightening and embarrassing. Equally upsetting is the fear that, after having said my piece, I will become a living example of how the constitution isn’t valued by our lawmakers: if something untoward happens to me in the near future, friends, you’ll be able to guess why.

If this doesn’t crack you up, quick, rush yourself to the morgue ’cause you’re dead.

h/t to RDF for this link.

On February 2nd, Sam Harris posted a short but excellent piece at his blog entitled, The Fireplace Delusion.   In it, he used a simple but compelling analogy to elucidate the enormous difficulty we face when we attempt to convince another to surrender his entrenched (and illogical) beliefs in favor of an obviously more enlightened and rational understanding of ourselves and the world in which we live.  Here’s his opening words:

“It seems to me that many nonbelievers have forgotten—or never knew—what it is like to suffer an unhappy collision with scientific rationality.  We are open to good evidence and sound argument as a matter of principle, and are generally willing to follow wherever they may lead.  Certain of us have made careers out of bemoaning the failure of religious people to adopt this same attitude.

However, I recently stumbled upon an example of secular intransigence that may give readers a sense of how religious people feel when their beliefs are criticized.  It’s not a perfect analogy, as you will see, but the rigorous research I’ve conducted at dinner parties suggests that it is worth thinking about.  We can call the phenomenon “the fireplace delusion.”

On a cold night, most people consider a well-tended fire to be one of the more wholesome pleasures that humanity has produced.  A fire, burning safely within the confines of a fireplace or a woodstove, is a visible and tangible source of comfort to us.  We love everything about it: the warmth, the beauty of its flames, and—unless one is allergic to smoke—the smell that it imparts to the surrounding air.

I am sorry to say that if you feel this way about a wood fire, you are not only wrong but dangerously misguided.  I mean to seriously convince you of this—so you can consider it in part a public service announcement—but please keep in mind that I am drawing an analogy.  I want you to be sensitive to how you feel, and to notice the resistance you begin to muster as you consider what I have to say.”

The rest can be read by clicking the photo or the link above.

h/t Fred M, HEMD
(High Exalted Mystic Deacon@WVCSR.org)