Carnival of the Godless

Welcome to the Carnival of the Godless, a blog carnival for atheistic and skeptical thought. I was more than a little surprised at the wide range of submissions to the carnival. Part of me expected to find a plethora of dry essays centered on the topic of how religion is incompatible with reason, and instead found a variety of secular view... and yes, a few spam submissions, which I've omitted.

I'd like to start you out with a little poem, an entry which took me somewhat by surprise considering some of my preconceived notions about the type of submissions that I'd be receiving. The poem is titled "What Does This Say" and is by Bryan Perkins. It asks pertinent questions about what our religions say about who we are as a species and as individuals. The poem can be found on the blog ___. Why Not?

When I was a child, and a member of a church, I remember very clearly getting my first Bible. I knew back then, with the kind of faith "knowledge" that came from my protestant upbringing, that my little book was something too holy and too far above me to understand. Like many Christians, I never cracked open the book, but instead relied on my minister and the church to tell me what it said, what it meant, and what to believe.

When I got older and actually started reading the thing, it was pretty obvious that there was a lot to doubt about what I'd been taught in my younger days...

Religion Looks Manmade (June 15, 2010 by Chris Hallquist) on The Incredible Hallo examines the book of Genesis as a reflection of inter-tribal hatred and prejudice. In the various Genesis stories, sin of one family member spawns societies worthy of scorn.

Andrew Bernardin writes Biblical Quicky: Christ the Metaphor from his blog 360 Degree Skeptic, questioning the Christian tendency to cite the Bible as a book of literal truths, while dismissing the passages inconsistent with their own thought (or common knowledge) as metaphor.

Glory Scott sent in a link to a post referencing picks for top 10 Biblical Study sites. I found that ironic since most of us have probably spent more time with scripture than the average Christian (as is evidenced by posts like the ones previously cited). I decline to include that, since it doesn't really meet the criteria of the Carnival of the Godless. But it does serve as kind a of an interesting segue to the next submission...

Confronting Religiously Motivated Idiocy, from The Atheist Revolution.

"What do you call it when someone believes all sorts of nonsense without any evidence whatsoever and then goes so far as to demand that others adopt their beliefs? Faith? Ignorance? Idiocy? How you label it probably is not nearly as important as what, if anything, you decide to do about it." [read more...]

So what methods do work best? Education? Ignoring the offenders? Mockery?

Or perhaps a combination...

Reason is always a part of this... and the source of disbelief, or at least skeptisism. Arizona Atheist submits William Craig Lane's Arguments for God Refuted, an in depth look, not only at refuting arguments for the existence of a god, but at how we understand the concepts of "premise" and "logic" as we proceed in such arguments, clearing up the fallacies not only in the conclusions of the godly, but in the very foundations of how the arguments are generated and presented.

I also received a submission for a book review on the book Religious Literacy,What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't, By Stephen Prothero. The post itself is not exactly what I'd call godless, and shows a great deal of support for what the author states "Religion is part of most people’s lives, especially since, as Mr. Prothero notes, even people who don’t identify themselves as belonging to any particular religion still claim to believe in God, or heaven, or angels. So, if we’re going to be religious, let’s take it seriously, the way our ancestors did. Let’s know what we’re talking about."

I don't know how seriously our ancestors took religion in this context. After all, we have all sorts of strangeness in religion coming out of early American history, melding with gnostic woo from the very beginning, and generating "Christian" religions that most Christians are the very first to condemn or disavow.

So instead of lingering on that, let's take a look at what Early America actually did look like in terms of faith and foundation with Stephanie Zvan's post, The Christain Colonies, from Quiche Morraine

As we draw this carnival to a close, it seems appropriate to wind down with Some Say, “God is in Control”: We Ask, “In Control of What?". Obviously, not this blog. Nor The END TIMES Hoax and the Hijacking of Our Liberty, where the question is originally posted.