Life on Mars...?

No, this isn't about a period cop drama, or a David Bowie song...it is literally about lifeforms on the planet Mars. Within the last fews days it has come to light that we (when I say we I of course mean scientists) have discovered that the atmosphere of the Red Planet has much higher amounts of methane than we thought. The noxious gas seems to be localised to certain areas and must be constantly replenished because it would soon be destroyed by the Sun's rays.

Now, as far as we know there are only two possible ways for methane to be excreted into the Martian air...geological activity and bacteria-like lifeforms. Either is possible. But I certainly hope that it is proof of life beyond our wee planet. Anyone who doesn't believe in Extraterrestrial life is either arrogant or stupid....probably both. They are often religious too so that certainly fits in with the 'arrogant or stupid'. The theists who deny the existence of life outside of Earth's confines do it because they believe that humans and the planet we live on were uniquely created by god(s), and are alone in the whole of existence. Denying the mathematical impossibility of this.

But then, this skewed view of the Universe is hardly new. For precisely the same reasons people use to think that the Sun orbited the Earth, and that the Earth was the central point of all Existence. When Galileo and a few other learned men challenged this view the Catholic Church persecuted them. Several were burned at the stake, Galileo himself got off relatively lightly; he was put under house arrest for the rest of his life.

There's a quote I've always liked by Camille Flammarion; "Men have had the vanity to pretend that the whole creation was made for them, while in reality the whole creation does not suspect their existence."

Sectarianism & the Old Firm

The Old Firm, the symbol some of the things I detest most in the world; football, religion and sectarianism violence. Religion and Sport; two things that should never be mixed. The Neanderthals who think that wearing a different colour of scarf is an excuse to smash somebodies skull in are the same type of morons who believe that following one set of men-in-frocks on how to pray to god opposed to another set is an equally valid excuse.

To be honest though, I think for the most part the violence that leaks out of Glasgow isn't about football, it's not even about religion. It's about men who have tiny cocks and superiority complexes trying to assert themselves as the Alpha Male.

Anyway, the reason for this blog is I heard recently that Celtic fans are trying to ban Rangers fans from singing the Hokey Cokey, that age old song we all remember from childhood. They say it's a corruption of the phrase Hocus Pocus which supposedly was a derogatory term for Catholic Mass. They claim it's a hate crime...and I'd imagine that would mean it would fall under the new Incitement to Commit Religious Hatred law.

From this day forward I'll be singing it every time I walk past a Catholic Church.

Jehovah Conversion

Right, so the other week a Jehovah's Witness attempted to convert me for the second time in my life...perhaps 'convert' is too strong a word, he handed me a piece of paper attempting to link the current financial crises to some passages in the bible.

Anyone who works with me will already know the guy, but I won't say more than that on who he is personally. The thing that gets to me is it isn't just a harmless leaflet handing out practice he's involved with. He attempts to befriend you first. It took him about two months of talking to me, to start with it was simple "hellos" then it moved onto mutual exchanges of our interests, what books we were reading etcetera, then eventually he gave me the wretched A4 handful of lies. This really pissed me off...firstly, attempting to force your beliefs onto another human being is so ABHORRENTLY WRONG that it's not even worth talking about. But more importantly in this situation, if you are going to ignore the fact that faith (or lack of) is an incredibly personal thing then at least be honest about it. Don't pretend to be my friend you cunt.

The first time a Jehovah tried to convert me he was the more traditional and cliché 'door to door' type. This one also started off with friendly conversation before moving onto matters of religion just in a much smaller time scale. When I told him I was an atheist he said the was very sorry about that and that I would be going to Hell. That's right, going to HELL. Which I found incredibly offensive. Why is it in today's Daily-Mail-reader world that to call someone a 'fucking cunt' is offensive but telling someone their going to Hell is only expressing your religious beliefs? One is nothing but words....sounds formed by the moments of you tongue and larynx whilst air passes over them , it doesn't mean anything (you're not actually calling someone a vagina having intercourse) whilst the other is the expression of the belief or hope that some will spend all of eternity enduring suffering, pain, fear and darkness.

Which really is worse?

Xmas

I live and grew up the Highlands of Scotland....one of the last bastions of hardcore Christianity on this island. In Inverness, my nearest town there are almost more Churches than folks. As an atheist growing up in this location can leave you quite bitter.

I don't celebrate Xmas. And when I tell people this that always ask "Why?". As if it needs explaining. I do anyway, "Because I'm not a Christian."

Now, some of the more intelligent people will retort with "But Xmas isn't a Christian holiday originally...it's a Pagan one." To Which i'll answer "I'm not a pagan either."

Some people call be a humbug or equivalent which i find quite offensive. You wouldn't call a Muslim or Jew this because they don't celebrate this nonsense. But then it is perfectly acceptable to offend non-theist whilst theists now have protection under British Law against being offended.

Once when I told someone that if/when i have kids I will not go through the pointless Christian/Capitalist tradition of giving them presents on the 25th of December she was literally disgusted with me. "How could you do that to them?!? How could you deprive them like that?"

Yes, not spoiling my kids with gifts for no reason, not turning them into faceless consumers WILL deprive them. It will deprive them of the farce that is Xmas.

Scott.

Carrot & Stick

One of Theists main claim is that organised religion is vital in maintaining our society's moral code. But this is done by predominately using the stick opposed to the carrot. It seems that it's not so much "be good and go to Heaven" as "be good OR go to Hell". Or at least, that is what they preach to non-believers.

Is this the way we are meant to raise our kids? If you don't behave and do what the Bible says you will burn for all eternity! Isn't being good for the sake of being good more worthy than doing it out of hope or fear of some celestial reward or punishment?

Atheists are not ignorant to the fact that the lack of belief may also lead to the lack of a moral code, that is why Humanism was created. We don't need an overriding theology to go with it.

Scott.

Me Vs Daily Record Christians

Last week I sent an email to the letters page of the Daily Record. Scotland's 'top' newspaper. In reality it is only slightly better than the Scottish Sun and thus, its readership just slightly higher up the evolutionary scale... Somewhere between the pond scum that read the Star and the fully developed primates with opposable thumbs that read papers such as the Times and Guardian...

...anyway, this email I sent was to point out that the 'Pray' section in the letters page was out of date. That the number of non-Christians in Scotland had surely risen to the level where this was unrepresentative of the populace. I didn't actually believe this...I just enjoy pissing off over-zealous bible thumpers.

I got several replies. Some people were VERY angry. One dude from Glasgow called me a "PC Whiner" - to which I sent a reply stating that one of the worst forms of political correctness I knew of was the trend in this country to be unable to even think about criticising someone's 'faith' (read 'superstitious beliefs') if they were Christians, Muslims or Jews...but if they were Wicca, Pagan or anything else you are free to call them all the names under the sun...but then that is exactly the kind of hypocrisy I've come to expect from a Christian nation. Your religion is only worth something if it is based on millennia or more of pain, suffering, greed and murder.

This reply was not printed of course. In fact none of the numerous replies I sent standing up for myself were...it seems the editor(s) of the Record's Letters Page are happy for atheists to voice their opinions, but do not wish them to back them up, or defend them.

Scott.