Role Models: Scientists

Since I graduated college I have taken a much greater interest in the general field of science. I was always interested in it and enjoyed it, however, I never really did anything with that interest.

There are a number of individuals that have really sparked my interest in science.

Carl Sagan

Probably the face of science. His television series the Cosmos is absolutely wonderful and really puts things in perspective. Sagan was the spokesman for science until his death in 1996. He was able to explain things in a wonderfully simple and elegant manner.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Might be the next Sagan. He is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. He is well know for taking the blunt end of hate mail for revoking Pluto's planet status. He just makes science fun and is a great story teller and speaker.

Bill Nye

Everybody remembers the science Guy. He had the wicked awesome show Bill Nye the Science guy. This show made learning the basics about science fun. He had a mini-series called the Eyes of Nye, which was quite good for a bit older audience.

These men have really inspired me to become more science literate and to really enjoy it. They strive for truth and understanding as do I.

Direction

This holiday season Krista and I had to do quite a bit of traveling and I noticed something interesting.

Women are good at directions and men are good at direction.


Of course this is painting with a very broad brush and there are exceptions.

Krista always knows where to turn, how to get around specific areas, and is just good at following directions.  I, on the other hand, can not remember where anything is located.  I can't remember how to get to and from somewhere until I burn it into my burn by doing it a hundred times.  I almost always know where north, south, east, and west are.

This is actually a good thing for Krista and I.  We always seem to complement each other.  I drive with my general sense of direction and Krista makes sure we are on the right track.  She is a great navigator.

The Unbeliever

I was asked two questions a few days ago.

1. What do you call yourself?
2. Why do you not believe?

Lets take the first question to start.

I try not to label my lack of a religion or god(s). The labels that are put on "atheists" can be put on any person of faith. They do not follow all the other gods that man has created. If you are a Christian, then you do not believe in the Hindu gods and vis versa. So in the words of Stephen Roberts:

I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

However, I do consider myself a skeptic and secularist.

Now lets take the second.

This question is a bit more complicated than the previous. I want to tackle this question in three parts (1) why I don't consider the bible a credible source, (2) why I don't follow an organized religion, and (3) why I do not believe in god.

Part 1: Why I do not consider the bible a credible source for anything.

If you believe a person can live in a whale, people can be born of virgins, a person can rise from the dead, talking snakes, and all the other fantastic stories then you need to grow up. Now if your retort is "those are just stories to learn from and to guide us", well that is a somewhat reasonable explanation. However, how do you choose what stories are fiction and which are non-fiction?

The bible is a man made collection of fairy tales and contradictions. The old testament describes a vengeful and jealous god and the new testament was not written until centuries about Christ. How can we expect these stories to be accurate when a simple story can't pass through a small classroom of students without being changed drastically. If there is a god(s) I hope for the lot of us that it is not the god from any religious book on earth.

Part 2: Why I don't follow any organized religions.

I hear this quite often "the church does good things like charity work and it creates a community of people".

What are the motives of the individuals doing the charity work? They (most likely) do it because they are told it is a good thing to do and not because it is just a good thing to do. Check out this video from Penn Jillette explaining why only atheists can be moral.

I am not saying that some of the charity work that churches do is not good, because most of it probably is. So, if the church was not there those people would not do the good things that they are currently doing with the church? This seems odd and to lead to the fact that they are only doing good deeds for some other purpose.

On the second point about communities; I think churches separate communities and people. It creates niche groups of people inside of communities. Instead of a town as one unit you have the Protestants and the Catholics or the Jews and the Muslims.

Dogma and power are also evils of organized religion. Only male authorities, traditions (drinking the blood of Christ), chosen peoples (Jehovah witnesses and Jews), the Vatican, and countless other dogmas. I want no part of that world. If I believed in god(s) I would worship in the privacy of my home. I do not need the pope telling me condoms are bad and I can not eat meat on Fridays for seven weeks.

On a bit of a side note I am not a sheep, so I don't need a shepherd.

Part 3: Why I do not believe in god(s).

How do I choose which god(s) to believe in? There are a countless list of gods plus all the other deities, saints, and/or demi-gods. So how do you pick one from a list like this one.

Evidence. I do not see any evidence for any gods. All because we cannot explain something does not mean a god did it. The lack of an explanation for something does not make it supernatural. I can not explain how magicians do some of their tricks but I know they are not actually magical.

I don't believe just 'cos ideas are tenacious it means they are worthy. - Tim Minchin

The gods use to make it rain, the sky use to be home of the gods, gods use to care about who people slept with or that you don't work on particular days, and gods use to create universes.

Religion has been evolving since it was invented by man to explain what they did not understand.

Today's religion will be the future's mythology. Both believed at one time by many; but proved wrong by the clever. - Steven Crocker

Conclusion

Hopefully I have answered the questions in an acceptable and coherent manner. My writing skills are not up to snuff for this type of writing, however, to improve one must step outside their comfort zone.

I plan on writing another entry about why I AM a non-believer, which should be much shorter and more interesting.

Have a nice day.