Joys of the Big Apple (Posted by guest blogger Jason Torpy)
The Big Apple? Yes. I’m new. I call it the Big Apple. I have recently moved to NYC, and I’ve been asked to write up a blog for this great organization, the New York City Atheists. I thought that a newcomer’s perspective would be a nice introduction, ya know, since I’m a newcomer.
It so happens, like many of you, that I’m extremely happy to be atheist. My world view enriches my life in ways that would not be as accessible if I had a supernatural or mystical perspective. That having been said, I would like to write about these Joys in this weekly guest blog. I hope that the enjoyment I find will create some joys for you as well.
Today I’m enjoying the new city. I moved into Chelsea, and I have access to interesting people and events that I have never had before. I’m originally from Ohio, and in my travels, I’ve lived around LA, Texas, Ohio, Boston, and Virginia as well as Germany. A friend told me, “If you ain’t livin’ in NYC, you ain’t livin’.” I came with high expectations.
As my first event in the city, I met with American Atheists and NYC Atheists to protest Read the rest of this entry »
These girls to the left were viciously murdered in a supposed “honor killing” by their father in Texas this year. I’ve put their faces up here again so that people will not forget about them, or about this heinous and wholly unacceptable practice. In less than four months of writing this blog, I’ve posted about other so-called “honor killings.” In penning about another recent one in Saudi Arabia, I made the obvious prediction that this would just continue to happen. Well, it took less than a month for another incident to make the news.
This time, 17-year-old Rand Abdel-Qader’s life was brutally snuffed by her own father, and this episode has a particularly disturbing twist. The young girl had apparently developed what has been described as an innocent friendship with a 22-year-old British soldier. He was working at a relief station in Basra, distributing provisions to displaced Iraqi families. She was volunteering at the aid station. Her father was informed by someone that his daughter had become friendly with the soldier (the two had reportedly never gotten together apart from being in each other’s company at the relief station). But when the father learned of the friendship, his daughter
was stamped upon, suffocated and stabbed by her father, then given an unceremonious burial to emphasize her disgrace. Police released her father without charge two hours after his arrest.
“Not much can be done when we have an honor killing case,” said Sergeant Ali Jabbar of Basra police. “You are in a Muslim society and women should live under religious laws. The father has very good contacts inside the Basra government and it wasn’t hard for him to be released and what he did to be forgotten.
It gets worse, if you can believe that. Apparently, in the midst of the attack, the girl’s mother Read the rest of this entry »
In order to provide some fresh perspective here, I’ve decided to spruce up the NYCA blog with the contributions of one or two “guest bloggers.” First up will be Jason Torpy, President of the Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers (MAAF). Jason will be providing a weekly post each Friday: The Joys of Atheism. We hope you show your potential enthusiasm, appreciation, adoration, or indignation with some comments!
Can anyone say “ridiculous”? How can humans in the age of Modernity still continue to support this type of behavior? I guess if stoning adulterous wives, “honor” killing daughters, and suicide bombings are acceptable, tossing a newborn from a rooftop to be caught on a sheet is comparatively benign. In this case, leave it to the Hindus and Muslims…
Americans, a group of five of them at least, convened at a Washington gas station recently to pray. For lower gas prices of all things. Of course this reminds me of a less presumptuous version of Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue’s call for a prayer for rain during the southeast’s drought last year. Somehow or other this ad hoc gathering, which included a former Miss Washington DC beauty queen, seems slightly less desperate but equally pointless.
Didn’t these folks stop to think for a minute that maybe God was busy trying to make sure the Yankees win another game, or that the weather remain clement as graduation season descends upon us? Or maybe gas prices are up (and increasing) because God has just been too swamped trying to ensure that American forces triumph in Iraq and Afghanistan over those Allah-loving ne’er-do-wells. Didn’t these pump-prayers consider that the Almighty might just have his hands full with weightier issues? Maybe The Master of the Universe has been trying to restore order in Myanmar where over 15,000 have reportedly lost their lives due to a recent merciless cyclone. Not to mention all the vicious tornadoes that have devastated parts of God’s beloved Bible Belt of late. I’d bet there were even a few babies born blind or with some crippling affliction that probably slipped through the cracks of beneficence even as this post was penned.
Any time someone wants to say Hitler was an atheist, refer them to this photo and the words below it.
“… Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life.” Sounds like it came straight out of the Religious Right’s own playbook. Christians shaking hands with Nazis. I guess with all that blood on their collective hands, it makes almost perfect sense.
After 13 years of service, Ellen Johnson will no longer be the president of American Atheists. The official word, posted at the NoGodBlog (AA’s internet voice penned by Dave Silverman), does not give any reason for her departure but rather makes it seem like a somewhat amicable split. Johnson will apparently remain on AA’s board of directors. The magazine will continue to publish and be distributed, and the organization will ostensibly function as smoothly, even in this trying transitional period.
Apparently AA can use some volunteers to help out. If you live in or around Cranford, NJ, please consider offering a bit of your time to help the small staff keep the ship of American Atheists afloat. Here’s a phone number from their site (908-276-7300), or try the link above to the blog.
Stepping in to temporarily fill her shoes is Frank Zindler, author of several books and publisher of American Atheists Press. Zindler has long been at the forefront of the atheist cause.
Urgent action is in order to stop another anti-science bill in Louisiana. Below is a message from Barbara Forrest, who sums it up for all of us who care. Please do what you can…
Friends, fellow educators, and concerned citizens,
First, please accept my thanks to those of you who helped in the effort to stop SB 561, especially those who went to the Capitol to testify. Second, action is needed IMMEDIATELY to ask members of the House Education Committee to kill HB 1168, which is the House twin of SB 561. As far as I know, no newspapers have carried the story of its being filed on Monday, April 21. The bill could be heard in the House Education Committee as early as this week of April 28, so immediate action is crucial.
As you may know, SB 561 was amended to SB 733, the “Louisiana Science Education Act,” in which form it is less pernicious but still bad because it contains code language that creationists can exploit. However, the creationists were unhappy with the amendments, so Read the rest of this entry »
Irish parents, Jehova’s Witnesses, of unborn twins have refused the medical advice of their physicians in favor of their religious faith. However, in a display of fairness and sound judgement, a high court in Ireland has recently ruled that medical treatment must be administered. The twins were determined to be severely anemic and delivery will be induced shortly in order to try to treat the 32-week-old unborn pair.
The mother declined to take a prescribed blood medication herself, called Anti-D, and as a result she developed antibodies against her unborn twins’ Rhesus-positive blood. Tests proved these antibodies were destroying the red blood cells of the babies. The parents, who are unnamed, both understood fully the risks involved in their decision not to accept the suggested protocol of their doctors. In a statement, the mother claimed:
“I am of sound mind, born and raised in Ireland and I understand the laws of this land as does my husband. We love our children with all our hearts”.
… But not enough to let them have a blood transfusion and save their lives. And not enough to Read the rest of this entry »
Joys of the Big Apple (Posted by guest blogger Jason Torpy)
