Why Public Prayer is a Bad Idea
| May 16, 2013 | Posted by jason under Atheism, Christianity, Parenting, Religion |
A couple of weeks ago at my daughter’s preschool program, one of the teachers, a middle-aged black woman, opened the event with a long prayer in Jesus’ name. The preschool is run by Itawamba Community College, a state school, so the prayer was against the law, a clear violation of the establishment clause of the Constitution, but I don’t want to focus on the legalities of such prayer here. As I listened to her prayer, a long-winded and slovenly begging sort of prayer, I felt something I’d never felt before in those circumstances, and it caught me quite by surprise. I felt embarrassed. I was… more
New Column
| April 29, 2013 | Posted by jason under Christianity, Politics, Religion |
Faith and Inquiry Shouldn’t Be Contradictory more
Shave Better and Cheaper
| April 20, 2013 | Posted by jason under The good life |
The little things matter. Part of living the good life is paying attention to the little things, taking those mundane and seemingly trivial tasks and making them exceptional and more enjoyable, deriving from them the maximum amount of pleasure. After all, life is far too short, far too complex and difficult to allow one second of goodness to pass you by. One of those mundane tasks is shaving. I used to look at shaving as a joyless task that took time away from things I’d rather be doing. I’d mindlessly drag a razor across my face and get it done as fast as possible. That… more
Jason’s TKE Potato Salad
| April 19, 2013 | Posted by jason under Food, Recipes |
I’m committing a terrible sin by posting this recipe for potato salad for the general public. Southerners didn’t invent potato salad, but surely we’ve perfected it, raised it to the level of high art. That’s why this article is a sin. This recipe has no business getting out to the wider public. It is a North Mississippi thing, and by all rights, it should stay here, our own little secret available only to those who visit us. Interlopers have no business making this potato salad. The food gods are marking this one down. And lest I step on anyone’s toes, I want to add… more
On Faith and Academic Freedom
| April 15, 2013 | Posted by jason under Christianity, Education, Religion |
Deandre Poole, a professor at Florida Atlantic University employed an activity from a textbook in his course about cultural studies. The activity asked students to write the word Jesus on a piece of paper and then stand on the paper. Assuming that most students would balk at such a request, Dr. Poole would then have an entry to discuss the power of symbols. One might think that such is rather benign, a fairly run-of-the-mill critical thinking assignment that might have sparked interesting classroom discussion. Perhaps students walked out of the classroom that day with a deeper understanding and awareness about the power of symbolic representations… more
Atheist Rights
| April 11, 2013 | Posted by jason under Atheism, Christianity, Religion |
The recent attacks on Sam Harris have given me pause. I recommend you follow the links and catch up if you haven’t been following this flap. Nathan Lean’s hit piece may be read here, and Glenn Greenwald’s uncrupulous misrepresentation may be read here. Sam Harris’ response may be read here. But the essence is just this: Harris has been misquoted and misrepresented in a deliberate attempt at defamation, for no other reason than speaking the truth with clarity and precision. What strikes me about the attacks is that they are unscrupulous and dishonest, but it was this post by Lean that made it clear to… more
Trials and Tribulations with Linux
| April 4, 2013 | Posted by jason under Computers |
UPDATE: The rankings have been reworked. Sabayon’s x-server crashed again, and I couldn’t recover it. I gave Suse another try, and it has been rock-solid for a week now. I’m the guy that people call when their computers go on the fritz. I’ve been working with PC hardware for twelve years, I build all of my own PCs (currently there are four of them humming away in my house), and I’ve yet to encounter a problem that I couldn’t solve, one way or another. Going back to my first build back in the year 2000, I’ve drifted toward Linux as my operating system of choice,… more
New Column
| March 31, 2013 | Posted by jason under Announcement, Philosophy, Politics, Science, Writing |
Nostalgia aside, these are the best times ever Read more: Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal more
No Such Thing as Sin
| March 25, 2013 | Posted by jason under Atheism, Christianity |
Sin is a concept, not about what is truly moral, or ethical, but what is pleasing or displeasing to Jehovah. It can be difficult to know what, exactly, offends Jehovah since his own Old Testament behavior contradicts his commandments. Sin, then, is not about failing to follow his example, but failing to follow his commandments. Jehovah is the ultimate do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do character in all of literature. Thou shalt not kill, he says, then goes and drowns the entire world. Etc. Let us follow the sin “logic”: God knows everything that was and ever will be. He is also all-powerful and can do anything he wants (which… more
You Are Not “Blessed”; You Are Lucky
| March 6, 2013 | Posted by jason under Atheism, Christianity, Religion, Science |
Probably no other Christian meme annoys me more than “I am so blessed.” Whenever I hear it or read it, it disgusts me, for one very simple reason: It displays with mind-boggling, ridiculously ironic clarity the privilege many Christians feel is rightfully theirs. “I am so blessed” is the very opposite of humility. “I am so blessed” is a calloused boast. It is a selfish declaration that Christians are better than everyone else. They don’t and won’t admit that, of course. In fact, to demonstrate just how warped their thinking can be, when I’ve asked my Christian friends why they say it, they insist that… more
The Out Campaign
