tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90458653506690645152024-03-21T02:26:57.978-07:00Ad AbsurdumThe blog of Bjorn and Jeannette, a freethinking couple in Saint Paul, MNBjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.comBlogger256125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-56078379255313708902020-01-30T02:07:00.000-08:002020-01-30T02:07:16.061-08:00Inside or Outside of the Disney World BubbleWe just returned from a fifth family trip to Disney World. Three of those trips were spent at Disney World Resort value hotels and two were off property. Often times people will refer to staying on property as being in the "Disney World Bubble," especially if you are flying in and not renting a car.<br />
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If you are wondering which you should choose, there are pros and cons to each.<br />
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In the Bubble Pros:<br />
No one does real world escapism better than Disney and the best way to forget that the rest of the world exists is to stay onsite. You get benefits like transportation from the airport to your resort. Your MagicBand is your room key. You can self check in, usually. There are transportation options to get to any park you want, though most value resorts are limited to bus service. This is the best way to live and breathe Disney while forgetting that anything else exists. I mean, your bus will pass a gas station and a large under construction McDonalds, but you land at your destination park ready to be immersed into the experience right away.<br />
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In the Bubble Cons:<br />
If you want better transportation options, like boats, monorail, Skyliner gondolas, etc., you will pay a premium. That is also the case for lodging which is within walking distance of a park. For example, during a slower part of the year, Value resorts can be around $100/night and Deluxe resorts can be as cheap as about $350/night or even less, or around $700/night for the most expensive properties.<br />
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If you don't pony up for a nicer place, you will be waiting for a bus, which should be running pretty frequently, at least every 20 minutes or so, but may be running late, will usually be crowded, and you may be standing on the way. At the parks on the way back, you may be waiting in a very long line to take a bus back to your Value property, since they have a ton of rooms and are very popular. You may be waiting a while for multiple buses to take you back.<br />
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So, if you are in the Bubble, you do lose some freedom to go where you want to go when you want to go, which also means that when you need to eat you are paying Disney to survive. Even Value properties have a pretty good selection now of grocery items, think large bottles of soda, large bags of chips, cookies, bananas, milk, bread, peanut butter, things you have have in your room without too much trouble to make snacks, and the prices are only about double what you would pay at a gas station.<br />
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Out of the Bubble Pros:<br />
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Freedom to go where you want when you want is the biggest pro, outside of cost savings. On the trips where I had a car and we were not staying on property, I could visit the Character Warehouses in Orlando outlet malls to get discounted Walt Disney World merch. Is it as cheap as shopdisney.com, NO!, but you do get it right away, get the pleasure of standing in a long line just like in Disney World, and there are things you can't get online as well. Waffle House was another big pro to staying offsite. Also, Target for in room groceries meant we could get our familiar favorites.<br />
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Now, you can always take an Uber/Lyft to where ever you want as well, but that can be pricey since things in Orlando, while not super far apart, adds up. For example, a Lyft from an All-Stars Value resort to Hollywood Studios was $11 before tip, and that's just within Disney World. There is also nothing that says you can't rent a car and stay on property, but you will pay $15/night for parking at a Value resort.<br />
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It is less expensive and there are a lot of options. Disney World has a lot of options, from camping to motel style rooms to animal resort experiences to getting as fancy as you'd like, but if your budget doesn't support even $100/night, or you are booking last minute and there just isn't availability or prices are insane, like $1,700/night for Art of Animation, which is a Value resort, you will need to look at the many options just outside of Disney World. With certain partner hotels, you can even get benefits, like the ability to book FastPass+ selections up to 60 days in advance. That same week Art of Animation was $1,700/night, I was able to book a stay at a property which is a timeshare property and did that once before as well.<br />
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Timeshare properties usually have a lot of available rooms, since they may not have sold all of the contracts available, people stay at other properties within the network or just don't vacation and instead pay annual dues and waste their investment. What this means, is that a property management company has a lot of costs covered to maintain the property, including a lot of staff and a lot of empty rooms. Our stay was $55/night, and a $20/night resort fee, but since it was a timeshare owner type property, things like housekeeping was only done on request, but we did have a large one bedroom condo with pull out bed in the living room as well as a full kitchen and in room laundry. There can be timeshare sales pitches at check in, but you can just say, "no thanks."<br />
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Out of the Bubble Cons:<br />
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Parking can suck. Currently it is $25/day, but if you park hop, you only pay that once, even if you switch parks. Parking can suck if you want to do some after park hours resort hopping, as things like the monorail don't run after an hour after park close. If your car as at the Ticket and Transportation Center, but you wanted to go to Trader Sam's, but changed your mind and the monorail stopped, you may be shuffling all the way from the Polynesian across one of the largest parking lots in the world, since the helpful trams will also have stopped. If you were onsite, you may still have trouble getting between resorts late in the evening too, but you would know you need to take an Uber/Lyft.<br />
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It is decidedly less magical. I mean, the food scene is getting a lot better around Orlando, but much of it is still chains. Many chain restaurants started in Florida and you will see them everywhere, as well as bad places catering to broke tourists. Say what you want about how expensive Disney food is, but it is often creative and of good quality. Epcot festivals are a way to get unique smaller dishes for $5-$8 and sometimes that can be enough for a meal.<br />
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That doesn't even touch doing something like using a dining plan, which would be its own magic. If you have paid for your tickets, your dining plan and resort deposit in advance, there is magic in not having financial transactions for food as you wander around parks and resorts. each time you open your wallet to pay for something, a little magic flies away.<br />
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You also miss out on Disney theming at a resort if you stay off property. To save money, or sanity, people will often have resort only days, where they don't visit a park at all. This can be used to go swimming at the pool or just relax your tired feet or get away from the crowds that drive you up a wall. You can even pony up for character dining at a resort on property instead of visiting a park, so you still get photos you may want, but you'll never get that off property.<br />
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Conclusion<br />
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Should you stay on property or off? I think it can depend on the type of vacation you are looking for, how much freedom do you want to have with travel, if you want to do things like visit Cocoa Beach or Kennedy Space Center on your trip, or, gasp, that OTHER park, you can usually do more for less money out of the bubble.<br />
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Our last trip was 11 days and it only made sense to have a trip that long by staying off property, even if there weren't crazy rates at Disney World properties. Staying offsite means we can stay longer, which was more important than the magic feeling of being in the bubble. I'd say if you want a short trip, like 3 or 4 days, a Disney resort can be a good option for concentrated dopamine hits of happy magic juice, or heck, stay longer if you have the money, but if you have a limited budget and you want to spend a less hectic time at parks, because you will be back to each a couple of times, it may make a lot of sense to pay to rent a car on top of the offsite hotel. I mean, off site hotels often do have shuttles, but usually only have one pick up time in the morning and will have limited return trips in the afternoon and evening, so be aware of that if that is your plan.<br />
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<br />Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-54820160722279218552019-12-19T06:51:00.002-08:002019-12-19T06:51:41.401-08:00Walt Disney World 101 Quick TipsHere are my Quick Tips for Walt Disney World:<div>
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Planning</div>
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What Disney Wants You To Do:</div>
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Keeping in mind what Disney as a company wants guests to do can help to understand why things are the way they are.</div>
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Disney wants you to go to Walt Disney World and have an amazing experience and make memories that last a lifetime. To accomplish this, they have extraordinary options which are designed to ensure Disney shapes your experience and no one else. Disney wants you to spend a long time at Disney World and only Disney World while you visit. You can buy tickets which will be valid for up to 10 days and the longer you stay, the less expensive each day is. The longer you stay at one of their resorts, the less expensive each day is. They do not want you to have a car on site. If you keep some of these things in mind, you will understand why it may be frustrating if you plan a shorter trip, for example, or if you don't intend to spend all of your time in the Disney Bubble.</div>
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Flights</div>
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The sweet spot for booking flights at the cheapest price is six weeks from departure if flying in the US. I use flights.google.com to review flights and narrow down dates. Flying in the middle of the week will usually be less expensive than the ends. Make sure to account for carry on luggage when searching, since Spirit and Frontier will usually be less expensive, but not necessarily when you add up bag fees. If you stay at a Disney resort and you check a bag, depending on your airline, you may be able to use the bag delivery service, which whisks your bags right from the airport to your resort so you can get to the parks as quickly as possible. Keep in mind that it may take 8 hours for your luggage to arrive in your room if you do this, since your bags don't go on the same bus as you do, but is picked up on a truck and delivered in groups. If your bags are needed, Luggage Services may have them waiting near the main entrance to your resort.</div>
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Hotels</div>
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You can use Hotwire to book a Disney World Resort at a Hot Rate, if available. The trick is to filter your search. Narrow the location to just Bay Lake and choose Airport Transportation as an amenity.</div>
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A quick note about Disney Resorts: They are all amazing properties with all amazing staff. There are three main categories of resorts, value, moderate and deluxe. There are also deluxe villas which are mainly Disney Vacation Club resorts, available as a timeshare option. I have only stayed at the value resorts, which has been amazing, but the more expensive resorts will be less crowded, maintenance items, like worn paint and carpet are replaced faster and usually the on site restaurants and bars have fancier food.</div>
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Disney will usually offer hotel discounts on their site as well, usually about 10 to 20 percent off or offer things like free meals. Slower times of the year when this happens are at the end of the summer and into September, the first half of December, January and February until Spring Break happens and the end of May.</div>
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There are a ton of offsite hotel and resort options in the Orlando area. Some offer transportation to Disney World and some do not, so check if it is important to you. By staying onsite and using Disney Transportation, you can usually nap in the afternoon and go back to a park for the evening. That becomes more challenging if you stay offsite.</div>
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Tickets</div>
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The cheapest options for Disney tickets limit you to only visit one park per day. For example, as of December 2019, a single day one park ticket is as cheap as $109, but if you want to visit more than one park, add $60 for a single day ticket. For a 10 day ticket, it can be as cheap as $47 per day and you can add park hopper for $80. Basically, it is very inexpensive to add additional days if you are staying longer than 4 days. Pricing is variable as well, based on date. Your 10 day ticket may be $470 or $690, depending on the time of year. You also don't have to visit on consecutive days. Disney knows how intense visiting parks is. It is a sensory overload. Resorts are much quieter and relaxing, so they know people should take breaks by having resort days.</div>
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Annual passes are also an option if you may plan multiple visits in a year, say two or more four day visits. I have liked this option, because I like shorter trips. I only visited once before without my parents, and it was stressful trying to cram in four parks in two days, but did so to try to get the most out of the expensive tickets I had bought. I have visited 22 days in the last year and there is still plenty I haven't done yet, so you may not experience everything you'd like to either.</div>
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MyDisneyExperience and MagicBands</div>
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If you stay at a Disney Resort, one of the benefits you get are MagicBands. These will serve as park tickets, your room key and, with a PIN, allow you to purchase things in the parks. You can even upgrade to a fancier design ahead of time. MyDisneyExperience is the website and app you will use to book your dining reservations and FassPass+ selections. Dining can be booked up to 180 days in advance if you stay at a resort and FastPass+ selections can be made up to 60 days in advance.</div>
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If all of that planning is stressing you out, then don't worry about it. FastPass+ isn't required, but you may be waiting an hour or two to ride one ride, so keep that in mind. Once you have MyDisneyExperience on your phone, you can also see wait times for rides before you go. While it will be different when you visit, you can get a sense of how busy your planned rides are.</div>
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FastPass+ selections do change all the time, since people modify at will, so always keep an eye, even the day of, on a ride you want, since you may luck out and get a FastPass+.</div>
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Dining reservations can be similar. Like rides, there are very popular restaurants. Usually the most popular options are for character experiences, but the food options are all great at Disney World.</div>
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What to Wear</div>
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Florida has a lot of rain, like all the time. It is mostly warm, but some times of the year is pretty cold in the morning and roasting in the afternoon, then cold again. You may need to dress in layers, plan a few outfits for different parts of the day and have a raincoat or poncho handy. Rains are super quick most of the time, like minutes long and other times, huge downpours, but Disney is not in control of the weather. Also, wear sunscreen.</div>
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One thing I didn't realize before this year, is how coordinated families get with shirts. Disney even sells custom family shirts for your trip. You'll see lots of custom shirts with funny sayings and you may feel left out, so plan ahead to coordinate or show off your own favorite characters.</div>
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At the Parks</div>
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Getting into the parks is pretty quick. All have security with metal detectors and bag checks. Turnstiles are all fast, since you just need your MagicBand and fingerprint.</div>
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You may be overwhelmed when entering a park, since there are so many people, especially at Magic Kingdom. There are areas off to the side with benches and quiet corners if you need a moment.</div>
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Water is available everywhere. Every quick service restaurant will give you a cup of ice water on request. Keep hydrated.</div>
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Take breaks when you need to. If you are traveling with a family, take your time if you need to. Often times, people get stressed because their kid is tired, but they have a FastPass+ selection which is expiring soon and their kid just wants to sleep for a bit. Disney is extraordinarily accommodating and if you go later, it usually isn't a problem. Since so many people visit Disney World, they have seen everything and want you to be happy.</div>
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Don't be afraid to change your plans. Maybe you need to cancel a dining reservation because someone isn't feeling well. Please speak to a Guest Relations person and they will take care of you rather than forcing someone into a plan you may have made months ago.</div>
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You can't and won't see everything. There are special shows which only happen during certain times. There are characters which only appear during certain times and in certain places. You can plan some of this, but it is fun to randomly run into Snow White. There is also so much to see which have nothing to do with rides. If you have a really young child, there are characters to meet all over, ducks walking around which aren't even named Donald, quiet corners can be found around to relax, get splashed with water if needed or just sit and color.</div>
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Dining</div>
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You can bring food and drinks to the parks, even small coolers. There are dining plans available, but keep in mind you may be better off if you don't eat three times a day while you are at Disney World. You will probably be pumped with adrenaline, which may impact your appetite. Expect to pay about 70 percent more for your meals than you would at home, so not quiet double, but close. The food I've had has all been very good and have had no complaints.</div>
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Buying Stuff</div>
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There are huge stores in Disney World and the selection of merchandise is constantly changing a overwhelming. Ship it home if you want to load up, or plan ahead to have space in luggage. You can even use the MyDisneyExperience app to locate merchandise you may see someone wearing. Disney even has two Character Warehouse stores in Orlando at outlet malls if you are looking for a deal.</div>
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There are some really cool things you can only get at the Disney Parks, think exclusive designs from luxury brands. If you may be tempted by such things, budget with that in mind.</div>
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TLDR</div>
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Relax</div>
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Be open to changing plans</div>
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You don't need to buy everything</div>
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Take breaks as you need</div>
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Stay hydrated</div>
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Set your expectations</div>
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Have fun</div>
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Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-46807043861494982292017-03-01T14:09:00.001-08:002017-03-02T04:30:14.408-08:00Nintendo Switch and the State of Video Game Journalism*snap*<br />
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The Nintendo Switch is released in a few days. Review embargo for the Switch hardware has passed, so outlets have been busy publishing. Reviews are pretty similar across the board. The device looks very nice. It feels very sturdy, except for the flimsy kick stand in the back. If you hold a Joy Con, one of the included controllers, behind your back, it will loose signal with the console. Online functionality is not available yet, so cannot review that. And Zelda is a great game, but there are no other great games coming out until Mario around the holidays, so you'd be safe waiting.<br />
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I am pretty passionate about gaming and own all of the consoles. I grew up with NES and even bought Ultra Pong at a neighbor's garage sale. There are few systems I haven't owned or at least played once. I'm also smack dab in my mid thirties. Thinking about my experience and perspective, and those of the reviewers, I wondered what people who were not like me thought of the Switch and I couldn't find many reviews from outside of my narrow perspective.<br />
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Granted, I am not a professional game critic. I do not have to play games quickly in order to write reviews. I don't have to take notes while gaming, or record YouTube videos. I also don't get review copies of games and have to buy anything I am interested in playing, so there are several differences between myself and those in video game journalism. However, I am familiar with the ways journalists critique games and I do get the sense that a reviewer is speaking directly to my demographic. Things like resolution, frame rate, field of view, draw distance, all of these things can make me more or less excited for playing a game, but ultimately, don't have as much impact on how much I enjoy playing a game.<br />
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When I grew up, as many kids did, we didn't get every new game that came out, and there are way more game releases now than when it was just the NES. Maybe I'd get one or two new games a year. Something people may not remember, is that Super Mario Bros. 3 was $60, just like today. I read Nintendo Power and Game Pro. I also had a subscription to Game Informer due to my membership at Funcoland. I read each magazine cover to cover, but spent far less time reading about the new releases simply because I knew they weren't options for me. I'd take the newspaper price list from Funcoland home every month and underline the games I wanted, far more than I could ever get, but I still remember looking through old issues of Game Pro for games which had dropped in price that I could now pick up and have fun with.<br />
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Back then, at least with my rose tinted glasses of the future, reviewing a game was much more about how the game played, what was in it, what was it about and if it was fun. Not that games today aren't reviewed in a similar way, but as technology has advanced, there are more and more ways to criticize an experience. When it was NES, story wasn't a big element, or graphics, or audio. Sure, Game Pro did break each of these sections out eventually, in an effort to distinguish one game from another to tell you which one was, "best," but looking back on those games, the differences really weren't that striking.<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOcE8WdQOSeqFczVxGatGKg">Lamarr Wilson</a>, a YouTuber known for unboxing everything from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UspxdfvLmho">amiibo</a> to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S31grJrrWY">Oreo's</a>, but generally not providing reviews, posted a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R41RHIFJFXw&t=1s">video</a> a few days ago asking, "What makes something the best?" Because he opens a lot of gadgets, toys, electronics, etc., people want him to tell them what phone to buy, which is odd for him. His response has been, buy the phone that's right for you. If you have a bunch of money to spend, you can go out and buy the top of the line phone which fits your needs, but there are plenty of people who don't have the money to make that an option, so their choices are limited. Some people, he noted, would even get mad at someone for not buying the best phone. I think this same kind of consumer elitism can bleed over into video games and helps make the community stay small and isolated.<br />
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Being an avid video game enthusiast is expensive. First, because PC gaming is far superior, and you have to buy the latest video card each year in order to play the latest games at Ultra quality settings, in 4K and running at 60 frames per second, someone can easily spend $500+ annually just in hardware to have the best experience. However, that's not all. Due to console exclusive titles, you need to purchase the latest console from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. All video game manufactures have begun to cut their hardware life cycles in half, from about 8 years, to more like 3 or 4, by selling hardware with advanced performance. So, to play the best games at the best quality, you have to upgrade to an Xbox One S, PS4 Pro, or New 3DS XL, or pay the penalty of inadequacy.<br />
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From my perspective, the hardware advances over the last few generations have done little to make a game more compelling, the stories stronger, or the game play anymore fun. However, I can appreciate the jaw dropping experience of pausing a game like Witcher 3 in 4K and seeing detail from a very far away town and marveling in the technology which allowed this experience to happen. But, I can also flip on Super Mario Bros. 3 and have a great time with that game too.<br />
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I don't mean to say that reviews from people who are passionate about games aren't valuable, but I feel like there is a temptation for reviewers to speak too broadly and to answer that question, "Is this the best?" Too often "The best," is out of reach for a lot of people for a lot of different reasons, cost only being one of them. It would be like an audiophile encouraging everyone to buy $10,000 speakers without qualifying who they may be good for.<br />
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So, when I take my limited experience and my reflections back when I was younger, I wonder who is out there writing game reviews for younger gamers? I would imagine the market is bigger for people who don't spend $500+ in computer hardware annually than who do. Or, who is writing reviews for all of the people who owned the Wii? That console sold 100 million copies. That kind of number would be huge today, however, so many of those people who played the Wii are considered by gamers as filthy casual gamers, not real serious gamers.<br />
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This kind of elitism, which I don't think is intentionally exclusionary, does impact games and development. Games are expensive to make and expensive to promote. If you don't make a game which appeals to game journalists, it can be difficult to get pre orders and early sales to justify your existence. But, game journalists aren't typical consumers. There are few people out there who devote the time needed to play games, the money needed to buy hardware necessary to play games, and I don't think journalists take that into perspective enough. The internet has made that worse, since reviewers can get immediate feedback, maybe from people who are also like themselves, that it creates a sort of bubble.<br />
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Let me know if you are not a dude in their thirties, who doesn't own every console, but who is interested in games, what reviewers do you like?Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-79512102244684945732011-10-05T08:05:00.000-07:002011-10-05T08:26:00.664-07:00A Gene Roddenberry Humanist<div style="background-color: transparent;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxDvD9d1Ym2Bdel-g66SIpcApWgs8fy8tlAnIwiRi0JQSY61Ogu4i_TYM5qUDwR26wmU7WtwM33RhcOrvWRFN8mICPx2xmUXMS9WtPU6-YF8VnRZoVWmJNI2wi20pUDyVzqXpDAKLB8tT/s1600/star_trek_badge_logo__59716.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxDvD9d1Ym2Bdel-g66SIpcApWgs8fy8tlAnIwiRi0JQSY61Ogu4i_TYM5qUDwR26wmU7WtwM33RhcOrvWRFN8mICPx2xmUXMS9WtPU6-YF8VnRZoVWmJNI2wi20pUDyVzqXpDAKLB8tT/s200/star_trek_badge_logo__59716.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span id="internal-source-marker_0.07889936259016395" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On an unseasonably warm September evening in a basement auditorium at the </span><a href="http://www.umn.org/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">University of Minnesota</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Scott Lohman, president of the </span><a href="http://humanistsofmn.org/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Humanists of Minnesota</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> spoke before a diverse audience of people invited by </span><a href="http://www.cashumn.org/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Campus Atheists, Skeptics and Humanists</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on Star Trek, science fiction and how the genre can provide a platform for a Humanist message.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mr. Lohman began his presentation with a story about how he started to think as a Humanist. It began as a child watching Star Trek and he refers to himself as a “Gene Roddenberry Humanist.” Next, he included what every Humanist must include in a presentation, a slide called, “What is Humanism?” He cited the following, which is from </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.americanhumanist.org/Who_We_Are/About_Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_III">Humanist Manifesto III</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<ul><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Knowledge of the world is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational analysis.</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change.</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience.</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Life’s fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of humane ideals.</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships.</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Working to benefit society maximizes individual happiness.</span></li>
</ul><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next, Mr. Lohman explored science fiction as a genre and why it can be useful for exploring big ideas, complex concepts and attitude changing situations. He stated that science fiction is a literature of ideas which dares to ask, “What if?” In Star Trek, for example, writers found out how to talk about complex controversial social issues, simply by placing characters in a different planet and painting their faces blue. As a genre, science fiction is known for taking ideas and running with them. Through this exploration, writers have the freedom to get an audience to think of big things, such as, “What makes us human?”, “What gives life meaning?” and “Does it pay to be ethical?”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Star Trek started in 1966 and was unique on television for a number of reasons. First, in science fiction, it had been common to change the cast of characters in each episode, such as in the Twilight Zone. This would allow writers to convince the audience to identify with characters and that clearly worked. After 78 episodes aired, Star Trek continues on through syndication, even today.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mr. Lohman then walked the audience through the history of Star Trek by providing examples of episodes which feature Humanist themes. In the first season of the Original Series Star Trek explored what makes us human in “</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek/what-are-little-girls-made-of-24892/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What Are Little Girls Made Of?</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,” and should we live in a controlled or open society in, “</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek/the-return-of-the-archons-24906/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Return of the Archons</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” The writers explored the concept of computer generated war in, “</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek/a-taste-of-armageddon-24908/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Taste of Armageddon</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,” including this quote from Captain Kirk, “All right. It's instinctive. The instinct can be fought. We're human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands, but we can stop it. We can admit that we're killers, but we are not going to kill today. That's all it takes - knowing that we won't kill today.”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mr. Lohman continued the exploration of Star Trek and its bold themes featured through its history, from the Original Series in the 60’s to the Animated Series, the Next Generation, Deep Sapce 9, Voyager and Enterprise. A complete episode guide for Humanists will be provided at the end of this article.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Star Trek and Humanism should serve as an inspiration for budding authors out there and even activists who want to bring a Humanist message to a larger audience. Science Fiction, as a literary genre, can be cleverly subversive and disruptive to common conceptions. Mr. Lohman provided an entertaining, through message. The leadership of the Campus Atheists, Skeptics and Humanists organized a successful event. I know I heard Activities Director, Jeff Mondloch, greeting people before the meeting, even straining to remember names, which was great! (A tip to organizers, name tags can be dorky, but help new people become familiar.)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Humanist Episode Guide (Courtesy of Scott Lohman)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Original Series</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 1</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek/what-are-little-girls-made-of-24892/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What Are Little Girls Made Of?</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What makes us human?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek/the-return-of-the-archons-24906/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Return of the Archons</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - Should we live in a controlled or open society?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek/a-taste-of-armageddon-24908/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Taste of Armageddon</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if we had computer generated war with real causalities?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 2</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek/who-mourns-for-adonais-24916/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who Mourns for Adonais</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">?” - What if an alien thought he was the Greek god Apollo?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek/the-apple-24919/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Apple</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if you lived your life with no responsibilities?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek/a-private-little-war-24931/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Private Little War</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - Is it moral to interfere with other cultures’ wars, as we did in Vietnam?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek/a-piece-of-the-action-24929/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Piece of the Action</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if a culture had been contaminated by a book about gangsters in Chicago?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 3</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek/let-that-be-your-last-battlefield-24953/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let This Be Your Last Battlefield</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if two races hated each other because one had a half white, half black face and the other had a half black, half white face?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Animated Series</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 2</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-the-animated-series/how-sharper-than-a-serpents-tooth-50612/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if an alien visited ancient Earth to become known as a Mayan god?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-the-animated-series/bem-50609/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bem</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if an individual creature could split itself into multiple entities?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Next Generation</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 1</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-the-next-generation/encounter-at-farpoint-1-18988/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Encounter at Farpoint</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if an omnipotent being accused humanity of barbarism?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-the-next-generation/11001001-19002/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">11001001</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if a society became too dependent on technology and only understood the world in binary?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 2</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-the-next-generation/the-measure-of-a-man-19022/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Measure of a Man</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What makes us human?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 3</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-the-next-generation/the-high-ground-19046/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The High Ground</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - Is it interference to assist the wounded in a conflict?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-the-next-generation/who-watches-the-watchers-19038/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who Watches the Watchers?</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if a primitive culture was being monitored by an advanced culture and became exposed to advanced technology?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 4</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-the-next-generation/devils-due-19073/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Devil’s Due</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if an advanced species terrorized another species, posing as a god? Is advanced technology indistinguishable from magic?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 6</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-the-next-generation/the-chase-19132/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Chase</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if an advanced humanoid species populated planets all around the galaxy?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deep Space 9</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 1</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-deep-space-nine/duet-20832/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Duet</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - Can an individual make a difference in a war?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-deep-space-nine/in-the-hands-of-the-prophets-20833/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the Hands of the Prophets</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - How should religion and politics interact?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 3</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-deep-space-nine/past-tense-1-20872/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Past Tense</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if San Francisco segregated the poor into compounds to prevent social upheaval?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 4</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-deep-space-nine/rejoined-20893/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rejoined</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - Do we love a person’s personality or their body?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 5</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-deep-space-nine/trials-and-tribble-ations-20919/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trials and Tribble-ations</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if a television show wanted to pay homage to its history by bringing back themes from a previous episode?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Voyager</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 2</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-voyager/death-wish-10673/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Death Wish</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - How long is forever? What if a being who couldn’t die wanted to?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 3</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-voyager/distant-origin-10704/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Distant Origin</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if dinosaurs left Earth and evolved in another part of the galaxy?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 4</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-voyager/mortal-coil-10719/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mortal Coil</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if someone could die and be recreated? How would that person match their experience with what they have been told of the afterlife?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 5</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-voyager/equinox-1-10759/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Equinox</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - Does it pay to be moral?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 7</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-voyager/equinox-1-10759/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Workforce</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if the crew were brainwashed to believe they work in a factory instead of on a ship?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enterprise</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 2</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-enterprise/cogenitor-231090/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Congenator</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What if a species had three genders?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Season 3</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/star-trek-enterprise/similitude-274641/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Similitude</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” - What makes us unique?</span></div>Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-10945586810136040462011-08-01T07:50:00.000-07:002011-08-01T08:14:46.134-07:00Grassroots Anything - Lessons learned from running an atheist organizationI was president of Minnesota Atheists for only a few months. Since then, I have been happily observing other freethought groups and listening to presentations on how to make a group more effective, including developing campaigns, communication and diversity. I thought it would be helpful to detail where I fell short with Minnesota Atheists on these fronts and also what appeared to work (though the evidence is mostly subjective, since we weren't great at paying attention to metrics).<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Campaigns</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ohioskeptic.com/grassrootsskeptics/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqq8I1uawqQjeDtew7OS2e0pTIc-Z1J8FvIo9oXNN9fPjREqjXAl8x5TUTx-Cdf9XvI_Mv-8DVb8-D4vsnl6KEzWnGX0RbCSRb-wJ8HaLZtd5bdrHknIS8bDS9cHwzOF7mZHXovqyr4Tbo/s1600/grassroots.PNG" /></a></div><br />
Desiree Schell, Maria Walters, Trevor Zimmerman and K.O. Myers created a <a href="http://ohioskeptic.com/grassrootsskeptics/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Activism_Campaign_Manual_2011-07-14.pdf">Campaign Manual for Grassroots Skeptical Activism</a>, though the lessons learned in this manual are useful for any grassroots activity, even at a small scale. The framework can be modified, depending on what you are planning on doing, for example, any activity should have stated goals, a primary and secondary objective, tactics and a post activity evaluation.<br />
<br />
When I was running Minnesota Atheists, the main goal I had was to double dues-paying membership in a year. Looking back on that, that was really a primary objective. A goal should be something large, for example, making it more socially acceptable to identify as "atheist" in Minnesota. That is, after all, one of the mission statements of Minnesota Atheists and a campaign could be built around that, including a full scale campaign with tactics as varied as contacting media and politicians, targeting sympathetic organizations in outreach and writing letters to politicians. One way to measure the success of this campaign would be an increase in membership.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Communication</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvQ5bcauGn94ifXCQeFUuBQvnXW5ocP1VKByCHGABsMut5erVZckacDXoj_-CGIbwjwlbtTgvCfohxFq-Mt46nTnoq083FHxxhD6OZvm5qBYxJO1XAI9Wl0AoM187yFW4mG5Zt6NbSH-3M/s1600/270px-Communication_emisor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvQ5bcauGn94ifXCQeFUuBQvnXW5ocP1VKByCHGABsMut5erVZckacDXoj_-CGIbwjwlbtTgvCfohxFq-Mt46nTnoq083FHxxhD6OZvm5qBYxJO1XAI9Wl0AoM187yFW4mG5Zt6NbSH-3M/s1600/270px-Communication_emisor.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Like any organization today, a diverse range of communication is used to inform members of what is going on. When I was with Minnesota Atheists, I advocated for expanding our communication to members through Facebook and using our email list to send out newsletters. The benefit of using these sources, is the ability to assess effectiveness. When I redesigned the website of Minnesota Atheists, I wanted to be able to analyze as many metrics as possible. I wanted to know where our visitors were coming from, what they were looking at, how long were they spending on our site and how many unique visitors we received. I also wanted to be able to compare this data moth over month, or year over year. By using more online resources, we were able to see if our outreach was expanding or shrinking. By using an email marketing service, we were also able to determine, with some accuracy, if our newsletter was actually being opened. Sure, you may be sending an email out to 1,500 people, but if only 20 open it, you may need to spend some time to determine why that is.<br />
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While metrics gathered from electronic media are helpful, another piece of communication, getting feedback from members, former members, and just interested parties, was important. Since I had only been involved with the organization for a couple of years, I wanted to really reach out to as many people as possible, to find out what they thought, so I emailed out a survey. One limitation of a survey, especially with a group like Minnesota Atheists, with a diverse range of membership, including some people who do not use email, or use it very little, is that you may not hear their feedback. Looking back, I think it would have been helpful to gather these responses by calling members. Through the survey, I was able to gather some information from some people, only about 120 responses in 1,500 requests, but these responses from people have been echoed by others in the freethought community, including the charge that Minnesota Atheists is too liberal-leaning of an organization, doesn't have enough family friendly events and doesn't meet at times or places which are convenient to me. These responses helped push the expansion of Meetup events even further than we had ever before. One other interesting response from the survey, is that many people joined Minnesota Atheists because they want to meet a community of like-minded people. Many people were becoming first-time members simply because the group exists, is easy to find online and easy to join. It wasn't really because of anything specific we had done, or were currently doing. It was as simple as being there.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Diversity</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPk7G0ahzDtvnyPymhTSnf9PMiJnCowsiHyGXQFO8bbUGYcgaK8AxYkPWlY_MraHDcA8ufF09UaVsfYp2pKqKbzNom0_esPSee7qHCbMft4E-B6-1ygQDvjm9fE4BMd37-PvQnD90Y2dkx/s1600/Monochrome-Atheism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPk7G0ahzDtvnyPymhTSnf9PMiJnCowsiHyGXQFO8bbUGYcgaK8AxYkPWlY_MraHDcA8ufF09UaVsfYp2pKqKbzNom0_esPSee7qHCbMft4E-B6-1ygQDvjm9fE4BMd37-PvQnD90Y2dkx/s320/Monochrome-Atheism.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
At Minnesota Atheists, there has always been a push to have half men and half women on the board. While this increased diversity on the board, it also felt forced, for example, only women candidates would be sought after if a woman left the board. More women have become involved with Minnesota Atheists, even though the board make up is much different now, with mostly men, which may mean that the make up of the board doesn't impact attendance at events nearly as much as the events themselves.<br />
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When I first joined Minnesota Atheists, I felt really out of place because of my age. Most people meeting at a library on a Sunday afternoon had gray hair and were men. Though I haven't been to a Minnesota Atheists event in a while, before I left, there were younger people becoming involved as well as more women. This was more due to our social events than anything else, I think. We expanded to include book clubs, pub nights, small group discussions, family events and even a debate class. It took getting women and younger people to run small activities during a month to get people like them to be more active. This diversity was organic and didn't involve a pink-themed newsletter to attract women. What I found challenging, was in making people feel comfortable running their own event. When I approached people to run a book club, if they were interested, or some other event, some people felt afraid to do so because they feared the board. Some people felt like every event must be scrutinized and vetted by the board in order to happen and felt pressure to conform to some unwritten standard which all activities should meet. Once people got over that fear, things went a lot better. Since we charged people for membership, many people who are involved with the organization are not necessarily members, which also became a challenge in finding people to run events. When I was with the board, we were never really able to settle the argument surrounding volunteers working off their membership by running events, if they wanted to. I think this would have been helpful in finding more parents of young children to get involved in running family-friendly events.<br />
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With Minnesota Atheists, I felt like we were completely neutral toward women and people of different cultural, religious and racial backgrounds, but we were not. It's a problem I think a lot of groups have, where they pretend like race and cultural identification don't matter, so activities like a presentation of privilege never come up. That is one thing I regret not working on, is in having a more diverse selection of speakers on different topics, including people from different cultural and/or racial backgrounds. While our monthly meetings were considered public outreach events, we rarely had non-atheists attend, so it wasn't really an outreach tool to non-atheists. Realizing this, would allow us to discuss more challenging issues, which may or may not have anything specifically to do with atheism, but would be more rewarding to the people participating and allow the group to welcome more people who may be atheist, but who may not identify as atheist first.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Conclusion</span><br />
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Organizing atheists is just as challenging as organizing any other group of people. People are challenging. The feedback you will get will often be from a minority of really passionate people in your group and sometimes just the loudest complainers. Most feedback about how well or poor you are doing as an organization, you will NEVER hear and much of what you decide to do will be based on either your vision for the organization or instinct, but the more information can be measured, the more feedback can be gathered, the more successful your group will be in reaching its goals. You do have goals for your group, right?Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-79221252011374958382011-07-19T15:21:00.000-07:002011-07-19T15:36:16.416-07:00How JREF Can Become More DiverseAt <a href="http://www.amazingmeeting.com">The Amazing Meeting 9</a>, a panel focused on diversity was moderated by <a href="http://www.amazingmeeting.com/speakers#schell">Desiree Schell</a> and included panelists blogger <a href="http://www.amazingmeeting.com/speakers#christina">Greta Christina</a>, Executive Director of the <a href="http://www.randi.org">James Randi Educational Foundation</a> <a href="http://www.amazingmeeting.com/speakers#grothe">D. J. Grothe</a>, activist <a href="http://www.amazingmeeting.com/speakers#goddard">Debbie Goddard</a>, comedian and journalist <a href="http://www.amazingmeeting.com/speakers#bey">Jamila Bey</a> and blogger <a href="http://www.amazingmeeting.com/speakers#mehta">Hemant Mehta</a>. During the panel, the suggestion was raised on how to increase diversity at TAM through having a diversity of topics open for discussion, including diving into the “soft sciences” and discussing issues such as the drug war, poverty, the right for homosexuals to marry, etc. D. J. Grothe spoke with a word of caution against doing such a thing, for a number of reasons. Since I think that spreading critical thinking to the public at large is important, I thought I would present some options for JREF.<br />
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First, I will be focusing on JREF solely. In my opinion, local organizations are able to judge what to do, but JREF can be a great motivator for the direction local groups may go. Second, I have not been a member of JREF for even a year. I don’t have an understanding of the history of the organization, so my assumptions may not be correct. Third, when I speak of diversity, I will use the same categories included in the panel, which are a diversity of sex, sexual orientation, race, income, age and ideas. Lastly, with regard to opinions panelists gave at TAM, I am going on memory and notes I wrote. I will also be referring to comments made by people on Twitter, which shouldn’t be taken as representative of any particular group, but are what I gathered as feedback.<br />
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Whenever someone suggests an organization should or should not do something, I like to examine the mission statement of the organization. A mission statement is part of the organization’s legal documentation and not just some tag line. Every action that an organization takes should further the mission in some way. If an organization engages in actions which are not in line with the mission, donors could sue the organization to have funds returned. The <a href="http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/about-the-foundation.html">mission statement of the James Randi Educational Foundation is</a>: <br />
“Our mission is to promote critical thinking by reaching out to the public and media with reliable information about paranormal and supernatural ideas so widespread in our society today.”<br />
Based on this mission, it appears that having a presentation on the drug war and/or other social issues would be outside of the scope of the JREF, since the focus is only on “paranormal and supernatural ideas.”<br />
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I think it would also be important to examine if the JREF has had topics on issues which may be outside of its mission, as defined. What this may mean, is that the mission statement may need to be changed and/or an event like TAM is considered to be different than an action specifically created by JREF, which would allow for more flexibility in topics. During TAM 9, most presentations can be directly tied to the mission of JREF. There are a few exceptions, however, such as <a href="http://www.amazingmeeting.com/speakers#krauss">Lawrence Krauss’</a> presentation on Richard Feynmann and <a href="http://www.amazingmeeting.com/speakers#faircloth">Sean Faircloth’s</a> presentation on Theocrats.<br />
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These two presentations and the theme of TAM 9 show where there is room to do what the diversity advocates on the panel are hungering to do. The concern raised, is that by limiting the focus of JREF to just the paranormal and supernatural, you are excluding others from participating. The scientific method and critical thinking are important pieces used to analyze claims regarding the supernatural and paranormal. People who value this method to prevent harm caused by people making false claims will usually have an appreciation for science and discovery in general and would trust analysis of other topics using the scientific method and critical thinking. For example, analyzing the claims made by proponents of drug control policy in the United States to evaluate whether that policy was effective in meeting its goals or not.<br />
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Here is where some concern was raised by D. J. Grothe in the discussion. D. J. argued that he goal is to make TAM welcoming to everyone, including having a diversity of beliefs represented. The challenge to that, is that you must increase the diversity of topics discussed at TAM in order to attract a diverse audience. Otherwise you will attract a group of people who are interested in Bigfoot, UFO’s, science and philosophy. D. J.’s partial challenge to that, is that the topics at TAM haven’t changed greatly. The focus is still on skepticism, debunking the paranormal and supernatural claims, yet this year saw growing diversity in attendance, with 40 percent of attendees identifying as women. It will be important to determine why that diversity is increasing and if the selection of topics has much to do with why people are choosing to come to TAM or if there are other reasons why someone is choosing to attend.<br />
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While listening to the panel, a few themes from commenters were noted. One comment raised by <a href="http://www.amazingmeeting.com/speakers#myers">PZ Myers</a>, is that D. J. Grothe is attempting to play the role as gatekeeper for allowed skeptical discussion. I would say that is a fair claim and is likely one of D. J.’s responsibilities as executive director of JREF. If D. J. allowed for a presentation on the drug war and the presentation was overly political, JREF may be blamed for it and may also be accused of promoting a political position. However, we can see that Sean Faircloth’s presentation, while not advocating for, or against any political candidate, could be seen as being overly political by some who may not view the separation of church and state as important as others do in the skeptical community.<br />
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Another commenter mentioned the concern that JREF, by focusing on social issues, could easily become a defender of the Democratic Party. I think the commenter raised this question, since, while someone can evaluate the testable claims made by legislators who created the laws which form drug control policy, it becomes easy to write the next half of the presentation, for example, Congressman Smith, while promoting legislation X, advocated that it would do Y. Since it did not do Y, legislation X is a failure, so I propose legislation Z.<br />
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Will increasing the diversity of topics at TAM increase attendance? Maybe. It would take surveys to determine why people are attending in the first place. Can JREF increase the diversity of topics at TAM without appearing to become too political? I think they can, but it is a careful process. Is it important to advocate for skepticism and critical thinking in a more broad sense than what JREF may focus on and reach out to all people. Yes. This is why I think that outreach at the local level by independent groups may lead to greater diversity at TAM.<br />
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While there were many presentations at TAM regarding the paranormal and supernatural, many were also focused on diverse topics, such as organizing, being an effective communicator, space exploration, how are minds work, including how we can be fooled and how to deal with mental illness. I see these type of events useful for inspiring an application of critical thinking across a broad range of topics since they are designed, in some way, to make you a better skeptic and a better promoter of skepticism. In this way, you become an advocate for critical thinking in other organizations you may be involved with, whether that is at work, your school, a local skeptics organization or an organization which advocates for social change. Skeptics can be seen as soldiers fighting a battle against woo using the tools of critical thinking, effective, audience specific communication and the scientific method.<br />
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Because JREF is silent on issues like the drug war, rights for homosexuals and poverty it is easy to claim that JREF is acting cowardly by avoiding these issues, or even worse, being complicit in discrimination by not acting. Though, the same criticism could be held of other organizations which don’t view themselves as advocates for broad social change. Should JREF become a leading organization, inspiring local organizations to use skepticism to tackle difficult social issues we all deal with, in an effort to increase the diversity D. J. Grothe wishes to obtain? Would or should JREF’s mission change to accommodate this change? Are there members of JREF who would rather not have presentations on “soft science” social issues and appreciate the effort to maintain political neutrality? Are there also members who will feel ignored if his or her issue isn’t discussed? These are tough questions which need answers. The leadership and membership of JREF should address them through considerate research and analysis. The diversity panel is a good start, but it is obvious that JREF will need to determine how to meet the goal of increasing diversity.<br />
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In my opinion, which should be taken with a large grain of salt, since I have not been active in the skeptic community for long, is that local groups will be the largest sources of outreach and can affect the diversity shown at JREF. Similar to the papers presentations given on the last day of TAM, a handful of local organizations can give presentations on outreach efforts they have conducted and/or be given an opportunity to give a presentation which is important to their members. If local organizations increase diversity and those local members become active with JREF, the leadership of JREF may have an incentive to expand its mission beyond its more narrow focus to include issues of importance to a wider audience.<br />
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I look forward to more discussion on this issue. I don't envy D. J.'s job of steering the focus of JREF to maintain the balance of allowing for thoughtful discussion on complex social issues with less clear methods for testing claims and avoiding criticism for being a left leaning organization without consideration for "other points of view," but I feel diversity won't increase if we don't take the time to determine how to get more people involved. It may be a complex task, but we're clever people, right? We can do this.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-59693323319227116382011-06-28T07:17:00.000-07:002011-06-28T13:43:29.076-07:00Campus Group Doing the Small Things WellMy first "atheist" activity was a debate which was co-sponsored by Campus Atheists and Secular Humanists, now Campus Atheists Skeptics and Humanists at the University of Minnesota. Since then, I have tried to go to events when they are interesting and financially supported the group on occasion, because CASH has some great resources available to them that other local atheist groups do not. For example, predictable meeting spaces, easy access to market ideas, a large population of people who may be primed to find an identity and/or make the world a better place, volunteers who can meet more frequently and opportunities for funding and grants which don't exist for non-student groups.<br />
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While CASH has tons of benefits available to them, the leadership has gotten off track at times. It can be easy to take all of these benefits for granted, especially getting funding from student service fees which eclipse funding other atheist student groups receive around the country. It can also be easy to fall into the temptation to "phone it in" despite working hard to organize a few larger events during the year, weekly events can be daunting and it is easy to throw another game night or pizza party, week after week, simply because of apathy. Some people are great at being accountable and others need more motivation. This should be a lesson to other student groups: non-students are watching!<br />
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Student group leadership changes each year, which I think is a great thing, even though you can be throwing the dice and having to live with whoever was convinced to devote a ton of time to the cause for the next semester or year. Since I've been following CASH, I have seen some great leaders graduate and move on, some not so great leaders thankfully moving on to things they are better suited for. Over this last year, I have seen a better focus on making CASH a great organization, rather than just a group of friends who like to hang out and use student service fees to buy pizza.<br />
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Here are the things CASH has done well over the last year:<br />
1. Had regular communication. When CASH wasn't as great, one sign was a lack of communication. Their website or Facebook pages were rarely updated and when they were, it was often the day of the event, or the day before. For someone who isn't on campus, or for people who like to go to interesting events, it's really important to know these things ahead of time. It also shows you care about the events you're planning.<br />
2. Had a variety of events. While I hate on things like South Park night, or game night and prefer discussion and speakers, if you only have one type of event, you'll alienate people who like the other events.<br />
3. Supported the diversity of opinion among atheists. Atheists aren't some unified front with total agreement on every issue, particularly about what role should atheists have in making the world a better place and how to accomplish those goals. If we can't even speak with each other about things we don't agree on, how are we ever to convince non-atheists to support causes we value?<br />
4. Learning lessons at conferences. The Secular Student Alliance holds a number of leadership conferences each year. While some students can use this as an excuse to goof off and skip speakers, CASH's leadership, at least some, got a lot of value from the speakers and talking with other student leaders.<br />
5. Bridging the summer gap. I received an email from Jeff Mondloch at the end of June. That has never, ever happened before and was great to see. In the newsletter, he let people who live in town, or take classes over the summer, that CASH is already planning for next year (awesome) and put out a notice about am interesting non-CASH, but atheist-related event people might like to keep them interested.<br />
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From a non-student, but avid supporter of a student group, I'd like to let volunteers of student groups know that communication matters, reaching out to the local, non-campus atheist community can be a great way to get funding, if you need it, meet interesting people with different experiences. Also, know that what you do matters. If you're heart isn't in it, or your priorities are different, work as hard as you are able to, even though you may not be getting paid, because what you do matters. If you can't find that good balance, work hard at grooming someone who can help you or replace what you are doing. If you dread going to another meeting to plan the next event and you try hard to come up with excuses, think about passing the torch. Also, don't be afraid to ask community leaders for help. While non-students can be busy, they may be motivated to support your cause and ease some of your burden.<br />
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I know I usually write about things as a rant, but I'm happy to report that CASH is doing well and I look forward to the next year.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-11494209339214711422011-05-29T20:26:00.000-07:002011-05-29T20:26:47.827-07:00Skeptics Find Comfort in a "Cocoon of Doubt"My father graduated Luther Seminary with a Master in Divinity this past weekend. Jeannette and I attended the commencement ceremony with a sermon provided by Rev. Craig Koester. Rather than providing a sermon full of optimism about making the world a better place through promoting peace and equality, self empowerment and freedom of all people, he seemed to be making one last ditch effort to convince graduating seminary students that they didn't waste their time and that convincing other people that the Resurrection of Jesus really happened matters.<br />
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He even went so far as to bring up doubt in the scripture he quoted:<br />
<blockquote>Matthew 28:16-20<br />
"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.""</blockquote><br />
See? Even Jesus' disciples doubted Jesus was Jesus, even though they saw him. So, that means that God needs "faithful doubters."<br />
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Also during the sermon, he touched on the problems Christianity faces, namely Catholics, Pentecostals and Evangelicals and their scandals. "You also might overhear at the coffee shop as people crowd around their laptops and iPods, people questioning whether organized religion really matters." Skeptics find comfort in their doubt, never having to be certain about anything, he continued. Going so far as to describe skeptics as living in a "Cocoon of doubt."<br />
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Skepticism is not a negative position. It's also not a position taken for comfort. Rev. Koester mentioned that doubt is the default human reaction. It's only natural to doubt, though somehow skepticism is something to attack. I would argue that if doubt is the natural position people start with, then it takes very little convincing for most people. For example, if we take the passage from Matthew, all Jesus had to do to convince the disciples was to say God gave him all authority, the equivalent of "because I said so."<br />
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More and more people are identifying with no religion. Rev. Koester wants to blame Catholics and skeptics, rather than trying to face the reality that arcane ritual and an insistence on a resurrection are not sustainable in a modern world. That doesn't mean that the world is becoming skeptical, atheistic, or even less religious, but it does mean that Lutheranism has to compete with non-denominational Christianity, generalized spirituality and other non-traditional religions. Christians even feel more free to throw away pieces of dogma they no longer find useful, such as the threat of Hell, literal interpretations of the Bible, condemnation of homosexuals, or even the divinity of Jesus and the concept of three gods in one.<br />
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Skepticism is not nihilism. It's also not easy to simply doubt. Skeptics have no problem accepting evidence and taking a position on whether something is true or not, though skeptics are free to change his or her mind, based on new evidence. These seminary students may be presented with new evidence, but will have enormous pressure to continue to believe something they may not trust. There are few jobs available to pastors who have lost their faith, which is a shame.<br />
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Rev. Koester would have been wiser to inspire graduates to inspire congregations to make the world a better place through promotion of peace and promoting social and economic equality rather than making a last ditch effort to keep students from realizing how messy the business of organized religion is and loosing their faith. It makes me think of a graduating class of physics students being reminded that gravity is real and though you may doubt gravity is real, you just need to remember that I said it was so, and that is good enough.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-10793898780142082192011-01-23T18:33:00.000-08:002011-01-23T18:33:46.092-08:00Atheist smart Car: An Aftermath<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC-wFNy_C-4Xbc3Ck5eZMPbeS6ETRJroqDFpkvFmK8EQMwLsHDdHHlEACEtg5C0GEUFK9Y2atDhttzqSXpZzYj0JbvbZNnKKFoNJXNZEw4XKqP6uSBEv5XXMffixhX-lNk2cf7gmMA1W_a/s1600/P5280607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="150" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC-wFNy_C-4Xbc3Ck5eZMPbeS6ETRJroqDFpkvFmK8EQMwLsHDdHHlEACEtg5C0GEUFK9Y2atDhttzqSXpZzYj0JbvbZNnKKFoNJXNZEw4XKqP6uSBEv5XXMffixhX-lNk2cf7gmMA1W_a/s200/P5280607.JPG" /></a></div><br />
In October 2009, I bought a used smart car because I've always thought they were neat. I also got a good deal on a trade in and the cost of the car was well below its Kelly Blue Book value. Also in October, I stepped down as president of Minnesota Atheists after only serving for 8 months. I did so for a number of different reasons and I still think it was the best decision for myself and for the organization.<br />
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In the spring, I decided to commission Dan Norte of Dark Dan's Window Tinting in Owatonna to cut and apply Out Campaign decals on the smart car. Since I had a Ford Focus, I've had decals on my cars. The first time I had a Pac Man decal on my hood to cover a paint chip from road debris. I figured it was cheaper than repainting and the decal would protect the metal. What I found out, was that cars with nerdy decals get a lot of attention and that was cool. It was so cool, I did it again with a new car.<br />
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August Berkshire, long-time organizer of Minnesota Atheists, owns the vanity plate, "Atheist," for the state of Minnesota. When deciding how I wanted to participate in breaking down stereotypes of atheists, I thought something similar to a license plate would be a good, non-invasive option.<br />
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Over the last 10 or so months, my car has been blazoned with giant red "A's," the website for the Out Campaign, a plug for Camp Quest of Minnesota, and a slogan, "Don't Believe in God? You are not alone." The result? A handful of conversations at gas stations and parking lots and a few thumbs up on the highway. I'm sure most of the people I work with have no doubt how I view the God issue, but no one has brought it up. My goal for having the decals was to gain awareness, just as the Out Campaign is supposed to do. I think to some degree, that happened.<br />
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So, is it dangerous to have atheist decals stuck all over your car? For me, it wasn't. Though, I'm a sample of one. It you feel compelled to wear your atheism on your sleeve, seek out your local sign maker, get a decal cut, and slap it on! Of course, anytime you wear your religious views on your sleeve, you risk being "that guy." How would you feel if someone felt so compelled to put giant Ichthys fish on their car? Even if to some people I was, "That Guy," I still think it has been a positive experience. The smart car will likely be retired in the next week for a new car.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-70462135323683032072011-01-20T04:37:00.000-08:002011-01-20T05:30:19.379-08:00Flu Vaccinations: A Short Lesson on Critical Thinking.A friend recently asked me to critically review the following <a href="http://gaia-health.com/articles301/000345-no-value-any-influenza-vaccine.shtml">article on the influenza vaccine</a>. Rather than spam my original <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">facebook</span> post I thought I would write my review here.<br /><br />When you read an article like this it is always important to look at who is promoting or publishing the article. This is true of all scientific studies, but something I am more assiduous with in regards to vaccine literature. The study itself was done by <a href="http://www.cochrane.org/">The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Cochrane</span> Collaboration</a>, which I don't know much about but seems pretty legit. It is basically a non-profit organization that reviews health care. I didn't do that much research on it so of course I could be wrong, but the reports produced by them seem to be evidence based with no particular bias.<br /><br />However, it all depends on how the study is interpreted. You can always slant a review to meet your needs. In this case, the <a href="http://gaia-health.com/">website </a>featuring this article is far from unbiased. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Gaia</span> Health is very anti-pharmaceutical company and it looks like they don't care for mainstream medicine at all. The comments alone made it pretty evident that the people who <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">regularly</span> read this site would likely belong to the Wakefield fan club. So right of the bat I was alert for anti-vaccine sentiments.<br /><br />The article isn't so much about the harm the influenza vaccine can cause, which is usually the case of people with this mindset, but with the ineffectiveness. If you are a healthy adult it may seem like the flu vaccine doesn't really have an effect at all, which this particular study proves. I don't doubt that. Healthy adults may not personally benefit from the influenza vaccine. So why bother?<br /><br />We bother because it isn't the healthy people we should be concerned with. This article does little to report on the unhealthy people. Normally I would refer to the herd immunity defense, but surprisingly the article actually addresses that. It claims when given <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">parenterally</span> the vaccine does little to prevent viral infection and doesn't do much to prevent complications.<br /><br />I believe the outcome to a degree. Do what you will with that information. However I always resort to third party resources. I am a huge fan of the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/">Center for Disease Control</a>. They bring up an important point. They state that the more non-specific the outcome being measured the lower the estimates of vaccine effectiveness. Also not addressed are the different population in which the vaccine is effect as it can widely vary.<br /><br />With all vaccines it is important to weigh the risks vs benefits. This article did little to address the harmful side effects of the flu vaccine. If it turns out the vaccine itself was risky to the general population (there are always those that are more prone to adverse effects) and there were no real proven benefits I would say don't vaccinate. If the risks are small what is the harm of getting the shot either way. If it works it works, if it doesn't at least you tried. For me the jury is out, simply because based on this article alone there simply is not enough information. If you can take away any lesson from this, it should be to never resort to one source and to research your sources before you draw conclusions.milhousesgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18354746003879228019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-54159650090038228342010-10-02T15:07:00.000-07:002010-10-02T15:08:13.445-07:00Asher Brown and Why I Refuse to Ridicule<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" id="internal-source-marker_0.15195437512109788">This past month the world lost another child to suicide. Asher Brown, a 13 year old student, shot himself with a pistol in his home in Texas. He was bullied relentlessly for his religion and being gay. Asher wasn’t the first to end his hell. He followed in the footsteps of Seth Walsh and Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I once knew a girl who everyone teased for being too “churchy”. She carried a bible, went to church every other night and quoted verses during class. The torment she received was cruel and relentless. I learned that she started cutting. When that didn’t work she resorted to drinking and drugs. The last I heard she was homeless. I don’t even know if she is still alive.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When I was 13 I was the ugly girl. I had bad hair and bad skin. I was cornered and had things thrown at me and I couldn’t walk with my head up. At 14 I was considering suicide. I consider my experience as getting of easy.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why does bullying happen? Because one person feels superior to another, and feels justified in putting the other down. In my case my classmates felt justified in making me feel worthless because I didn’t look like them. In Brown, Walsh and Walker-Hoover’s case their classmates apparently disagreed with homosexuality. Since they believed it to be wrong, they tormented them. Maybe they hoped to literally scare them straight. Maybe they just felt it was what god wanted them to do.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Brown was also ridiculed for his religion, as with the girl I knew, and probably didn’t do enough to help. People felt their beliefs were so absurd the only reasonable action was to poke fun at their beliefs. Obviously if it were pointed out to them that that their lifestyle was ridiculous they could change to be just like everyone else.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I look at these tormentors and I used to attribute it to the immaturity of adolescence. I thought it would go away in my adult life. However, more and more, in what I used to consider my own community, I hear the same argument. Religious people believe in silly and irrational things so they deserve to be ridiculed. When I hear this argument I think of the people I mentioned above and become physically ill. What people did to them was a disgrace to humanity. No human being should ever treat another in that way. Why should I turn around and do the same to people whose beliefs I disagree with?</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I could probably predict the counter arguments. These are just kids. But those kids were bullied because their religion taught them to hate gays. Some beliefs are dangerous and they need to stop. I wouldn’t disagree with these statements. I disagree with the method of solving the problems.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve come under fire for disagreeing with ridicule. I’ve been told I can’t tell other people how to be an atheist (an extremely hypocritical statement). I’ve been criticized for not understanding the other side. I’ve been told I’m isolating my allies. Are these people really my allies though? I’ve begun to believe I’m striving for an entirely different goal. The argument for ridicule is to force these people to face their “crazy and dangerous beliefs”. I just want people to be ethical human beings.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’m not out to make atheists. When I started questioning my beliefs and ultimately lost my belief I became extremely depressed. I felt I had nothing to live for, but at the same time was terrified of death. I started drinking on the sly more than I should have been and could have easily self destructed had I not found a passion(which I will discuss later). Unfortunately I didn’t have a welcoming community. All around me I found myself witnessing the same behaviour I experienced as a teenager, the same behavior that almost led me to end my life. You can’t predict how someone will react to your ridicule. I know many adults who still take harsh words to heart and can’t deal with reality. I’ve had to many people in my life commit suicide due to outside influence. Granted they were already emotionally unstable, but that doesn’t change the outcome. Not everyone is going to react the same way. Some people may have their beliefs ridiculed and become lose their religion and gain freedom. Others may not be able to cope. I can’t risk having blood on my hands.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I want to make it abundantly clear that my choice to not ridicule doesn’t mean that I’m not as aggressive or brave as the “new atheists”. It takes a lot of courage to be a lone voice in a crowd. It took a lot out of me to fight for a cause, only to have people turn their backs on me for daring to disagree and challenge them. I am 100% open about my atheism and hide nothing. I also want to make it clear that I don’t “pussyfoot” or let religious people walk all over me. If I see injustices I fight to end them. My tools(grassroots organizations and community action) may be different than blogs and snarky comments, but I am still on the front lines.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I mentioned before that I have a passion that has helped get me through. That passion is Camp Quest of Minnesota. Not only do I have the privilege to work with some dedicated adults and amazing children, but the outcome helps me validate my life. I feel less guilty about the things I could have done in my past and focus on the things these kids will do. We teach kids to respect those that differ in beliefs than them and to be good people. So far, the kids are getting it better than most adults I know. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I want to end by saying that I don’t expect anyone to change their mind. I only want to share my story and perspective so people will know I’m more than a bleeding heart who can’t stand up for herself. It is up to us atheists to make up our own ethical system as we don’t have a book to tell us how to act (though that is open for debate). Ridicule does not play a part in mine.</span>milhousesgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18354746003879228019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-64100484198084756762010-07-06T22:17:00.000-07:002010-07-06T22:22:44.398-07:00Christians are:The Friendly Atheist asked a question, <a href="http://friendlyatheist.com/2010/07/06/if-christians-would-listen-what-would-you-say-to-them/">"If Christians would listen, what would you say to them?"</a> In the comments, I noticed there were a number of statements about Christians. From reading all the comments, it looks like many of them are directed at fundamentalist Christians and others are more general. I plucked out the statements I noticed.<br /><br />Christians:<br /><br />are hypocritical.<br />think atheists aren't human.<br />try to convert people.<br />only talk about Christianity.<br />need a spiritual being to cling to.<br />believe everyone needs his/her specific beliefs in his/her life.<br />hold modern beliefs which aren't Christ-like.<br />think that philosophy, science, postmodernism, movies, etc. are out to get them.<br />tell others how to live their lives.<br />are judgmental.<br />have insider/outsider thinking.<br />are narrow-minded.<br />follow the golden-rule over empathy.<br />reject reality.<br />believe that God created the heavens and Earth in 6 days.<br />think they are horrible and unworthy.<br />have been brainwashed into believing something that makes them intolerant and hateful.<br />are trapped in a religion that takes advantage of good intentions.<br />limit their understanding of the whole wide universe to the Bible.<br />manipulate family members to isolate and reject atheists.<br />think that moral behavior is impossible without belief in God.<br />don't think before they speak.<br />have been told what to think by their Church.<br />don't realize its hurtful to be judged.<br />force people around them to obey parts of their behavioral code that comes solely from the Bible.<br />think that atheists are ignorant, angry or abused.<br />condemn others.<br />do good things to build a magical castle in the sky for when they die.<br />believe in a magical place of fire where some people go when they die.<br />don't practice tolerance.<br />think shellfish are ok, but homosexuals are not.<br />are arrogant.<br />believe they can behave in whatever manner they want.<br />think atheists haven't been introduced to religion.<br />think atheists are mad at God or at believers in God.<br />have not read the Bible.<br />don't use evidence based in reality.<br />have not researched science.<br />fear atheists.<br />come to beliefs through reflection of what they believe about the world.<br />think they are right.<br />believe that they are going to an imaginary Nice Room and atheists go to an imaginary Naughty Room.<br />use evangelism to score more members for their cult.<br />live their life in the service of their master, real or imaginary.<br />think asking questions and searching for answers is a bad thing.<br />are being spoon fed.<br />hate people that are different.<br />are in an abusive relationship with god.<br />play the victim.<br />force personal beliefs on others.<br />are raised to be judgmental.<br />act as though Jews and Muslims are so different even though all three religions worship the same deity.<br />indoctrinate their children.<br />take the Bible seriously, but disregard other holy texts.<br />don't condemn religious actions that are extreme, illegal, or in violation of the separation of church and state.<br />actions and inactions are contributing to many of the major ills the world currently faces.<br />think that the Bible is the inerrant word of God.<br />push an ideology on people based on undemonstratable propositions.<br />do not have a scientific mindset.<br />hold nonsensical beliefs.<br />promotes ignorance and stifles a child's natural curiosity about the world around them.<br />use words, actions and votes to express disrespect for another's sexual orientation.<br />constantly attempt to convert atheists.<br />are on the wrong side of big issues like slavery, segregation, discrimination against blacks, discrimination against women, discrimination against gays.<br />made war, tortured others, fueled the Inquisition, destroyed cultures with missionary work.<br />close their eyes to progress and scientific evidence.<br />wreck families and ruin lives.<br />are unwilling to change their opinion on whether god exists or not.<br />don't read the Bible critically.<br />don't try to see where other people are coming from.<br />use the Bible to justify already present hate an d bigotry.<br />afraid of logic.<br />know that the truth will prove them wrong.<br />have a church whose negative judgmental behavior is responsible for a lot of pain and mental problems in young teenagers.<br />demonstrate bigotry and homophobic behaviors.<br />choose to act based on morality handed down from an authority and/or to avoid punishment or receive a reward.<br />think the Bible is the absolute truth.<br />know that the atheist argument is more rational but choose to believe because its what they want to do.<br />actively try to conform the rest of the country's beliefs and laws to theirs just so they can feel safe.<br />hold onto beliefs which are verifiably false.<br />think they hold a monopoly on feelings of awe or compassion or happiness.<br />would run riot in the streets without a belief in a god.<br />think that atheists are immoral.<br />don't apply empathy to their worldview.<br />actively work to keep gays second-class citizens.<br />can't see the beauty of the world for what it is.<br />have not read the Bible with an open mind.<br />assert they have the moral high ground.<br />support other Christians who are impolite or bigoted by not asking them to stop.<br />judge people based on actions and don't value people alone.<br />are blind to the simple truth that Jesus loved hanging out with "outsiders."<br />expect atheists to do more volunteer work than anyone else or else atheists are amoral and selfish.<br />believe that the Bible would condemn a Christ-like individual because they did not profess a belief in Jesus.<br />think that their religion is true because it is how they were raised.<br />believe that since atheists don't believe in God then they believe in Satan.<br />believe that humans are God's most prized creations.<br />get defensive when you ask them why they think what they think.<br />don't think they would believe in another deity if they had been born in another part of the world.<br />won't listen to atheists.<br />can't have a discussion with atheists without trying to convert them.<br />think life is meaningless without a belief in God.<br />think Christians are oppressed in America.<br />are offended that atheists exist and question Christian views.<br />think that atheists are ignorant.<br />think that God favors some of the human race over others.<br />attend political rallies which are the very intersection of bigotry, hatred and willful ignorance.<br />have pastors who are human, hateful, spiteful and manipulative humans who use their power to spread agendas of intolerance and bigotry.<br />should worship their God in private.<br />only believe because they want to believe.<br />think that they are nothing without God.<br />think that atheists deserve eternal torment for not believing in God.<br />think their religion is the one true religion.<br />spew vitriol and hate.<br />think that atheists want to take away their beliefs.<br />believe in a middle-ages God.<br />worship a big mean man in the sky to avoid being responsible for his or her own actions.<br />try to create laws which mirror rules in the Bible.<br />think everyone should be subject to the rules of God, whether you believe in God or not.<br />insist on forcing others to listen to their prayers in public.<br />who run for public office are the ones who hate other groups and make Christians look like lunatics.<br />struggle with difficult things in the Bible.<br />don't follow the teachings of Christ.<br />don't allow themselves to doubt.<br />are subjected to group think.<br />think similar things, express similar views, ask similar questions, give similar answers in one congregation and everything is different in another.<br />treat everyone like they too believe in God.<br />treat non Christians like they live a wild, party lifestyle.<br />think they have the upper hand regarding morality.<br />have not studied other religions.<br />hold beliefs which cannot be proven objectively.<br />can't see people beyond his or her religious identity.<br />think they are guarded by a supernatural protector.<br />are not perfect. No one is.<br />deny medical care to children.<br />violate Jesus' instructions every time they pray in public.<br />worship idols if they attend a church which has an American flag in it.<br />abuse children by threatening them with hell.<br />think atheists hate Christians.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-77743476649560950952010-06-27T19:55:00.000-07:002010-06-28T05:20:52.779-07:00Free Speech and the Bible HumpersThis weekend saw hundreds of thousands of people coming out in support of GLBT rights by attending Twin Cities Pride in Minneapolis. Non-heterosexual lifestyles are seen as offensive to certain people. There are different reasons for this. Some express that non-heterosexual lifestyles are "against Nature," others will cite religious scripture for justification of the opinion that any other form of sexuality other than heterosexuality is immoral and will result in those individuals facing an eternity in torment in the afterlife.<br /><br />Twin Cities Pride rents out a large public park in downtown Minneapolis for two days at some considerable cost. To absorb this cost, they solicit donations, sell sponsorships, and sell tent space to vendors and organizations. Because Twin Cities Pride rents the whole park, they establish certain rules within the park which vendors must follow. Vendors are allowed to hand out materials, but only at the location they have rented and the organization is allowed to choose who is allowed to pay for a table and who can not.<br /><br />Why is this an issue? Brian Johnson, a Christian known for protesting Pride festivals was allowed by the Minneapolis Park Board to preach and hand out Bibles at the festival in Loring Park. Twin Cities Pride attempted to prevent him from doing so by issuing an injunction against the decision by the Park Board, <a href="http://minnesotaindependent.com/60762/judge-anti-gay-group-allowed-to-hand-out-bibles-at-lgbt-pride">which was rejected</a>. The judge's reason? What Brian Johnson was attempting to do is exercise his right to free speech, so long as he isn't disruptive. I agree with the decision. If a protester can be refused free speech at this event, what about a gay rights supporter at a Christian festival?<br /><br />Brian Johnson wasn't the only protester we saw this year. <a href="http://thedowngrade2007.blogspot.com/">John Chisham</a> was there as well. We have seen him over the past few years at the Duluth GLBTQAI Festival. He carries a large sign with Bible quotes and preaches at will about sin. He has assistants who will stand and read from the Bible and always includes someone who video tapes his interactions with attendees at the festivals. What would you see from one of these videos? Gay rights supporters shouting, telling him HE is going to Hell, yelling other vile things and even spitting on him. This kind of video encourages Christians to give to his cause. The people who support gay rights are clearly a violent group who are anti-Christian and need to be preached to.<br /><br />I should mention that I held up a "Hug an Atheist" sign next to his sign at GLBTQAI Duluth last year. What was interesting, is how upset people were getting over him just being there. Some people responded to my sign with great enthusiasm, simply because of his presence. Still others in the audience ignored both of us. Ultimately, both of us should have been ignored and eventually, we were. This is the lesson that the people at GLBTQAI Duluth have learned. Don't give him an audience. Don't yell at him and get upset.<br /><br />Minneapolis wasn't used to seeing John. A crowd formed around him, of about 50 to 60 people in the afternoon on Saturday. People stood in front of him and listened to him preach while shouting back. Others held up a sign which read "Bible Humper." He had an assistant with a video camera and the audience was providing all the footage he would need. Someone shoved him, was detained and released without a ticket. If he had been ignored, he wouldn't have <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/97237759.html">received the press</a> he was seeking.<br />EDIT: I forgot to mention that I also saw someone holding up a copy of Christoper Hitchens' "God is Not Great" while he shouted at John, as if "God is Not Great," is some sort of anti-Bible scripture.<br /><br />This brings up the point of having so many religious groups at Twin Cities Pride. "Standing on the Side of Love" is a campaign from the Unitarian Universalists to "harness love's power to stop oppression." Since the annual meeting of the Unitarian Universalists was only blocks away, their shirts and signs flooded the event. At some of the stages, religious benedictions were offered from religious leaders and spiritual hymns were sung. These people support gay rights and equality, but I don't think it is because of their religion. I don't support equality because I'm an atheist. I don't think someone should have to justify equality with a religious or non religious belief. I think it's great that other organizations support equality, but I do wish that we could do it together. <br /><br />I had the feeling last year that the religious and political groups were trying to gain converts at gays were their market. I wouldn't wear a "Would Jesus Discriminate?" sticker because I was wearing an atheist shirt and I was irritated at the notion of using Jesus as a modern day pawn to sway people to support equality. I was less irritated this year, because I'm pleased that there are more people supporting equality and it bothers me less that people are able to find support from a familiar religious framework. I rationalized this by assuming that it would be easier for someone who is already experiencing a difficult time with a life choice to find support which is familiar than trying to tear down religious beliefs. I would rather that more Christians supported equality than inequality and discrimination. Equality as an ethic is more important to me than views on theology.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-60762890321909357102010-05-24T07:13:00.000-07:002010-05-24T08:48:54.629-07:00Challenging Assumptions and Seeking the DifferentOver the last month, I've been reflecting on how I've felt about being part of the atheist community. I've expressed my frustration with Minnesota Atheists because of the use of ridicule in articles in their newsletter which artificially create an isolationist community which is enforced by an undercurrent of anti-religious sentiment. My hope for the community is to move beyond that. I am tired of atheists pulling quotes out of the Bible to show Christians how ridiculous their scripture is. I know the intention is to wake Christians up, to get them to realize how foolish their beliefs are and to get them to leave their faith, but maybe that isn't even the intention. Maybe it is out of frustration, or a sense that because since leaving religion, an atheist will usually feel more free and atheists want that same feeling for others. Others may want to convince religious people to become atheists because they see harm in participating in a religion which accepts magical thinking and if anything is possible through Christ Jesus, Christians won't worry about planning for the future, educating their children, seeking treatment from doctors, etc. I think I have held all of these intentions at one time or another.<br /><br />I am frustrated because I hold the assumption that most Americans believe that this country was founded as a Christian Nation. When I've spoken with Christians who hold this view, their assumption is that atheists want to remove religion from the public square, which is offensive to them because they see that act as limiting their freedom of expression, even if that freedom of expression is forced on others. I'm frustrated because I would like more people to realize that the separation of church and state is good for both sides, but the way the issue is framed, is that it is used for atheists to suppress Christians.<br /><br />I am also frustrated when I read stories about parents who, for religious or cultural reasons, refuse to treat a child's diabetes or other easily treatable ailment. An organization like Children's Healthcare is a Legal Duty should not be unnecessary. I've frustrated over this situation as well, because on one hand, child neglect appears to be rare in this country, although one death is too many, and on another is the desire to allow for religious expression and practice. Can a 14 year old child refuse medical care because they would rather receive herbal treatment for cancer because this is what his religion tells him to do? An 18 year old? Should our society force medical care on others and is that even practical? Wouldn't people just keep their children in hiding and do they already? Do people support religious exemptions for vaccines also support federal funding for Christian Science prayer rooms? I think my frustration comes from my perspective. I don't think that a Christian would listen to me if I tried to convince him or her that seeing a physician is better than prayer, if that Christian were refusing medical treatment, simply because I am an atheist. I would think that the better approach would be to have people from the Christian community respond. I might be too optimistic about this effort because it would be easy for an adherent to dismiss anyone who doesn't think the same way they do.<br /><br />I attended at event sponsored by the Saint Paul Interfaith Network which focused on designing successful dialogue between people who have very different opinions. During the presentation, which was made by Bob Stains of the <a href="http://www.publicconversations.org/">Public Conversations Network</a>. One of the things which stuck out, was a presentation on how a community becomes fractured and the kind of behavior people on each side exhibit. In this presentation, a slide went up with the kinds of behavior and language people on split sides of an issue use, which resonated with me more, because I felt like this showcased my frustration with the unwillingness of atheists to have meaningful dialogue with religious people. We = good, right, wise, virtuous, victims, similar, has the facts, are straightforward. They = bad, wrong, foolish, evil, persecutors, are all alike, use emotion, are sneaky.<br /><br />I know my opinions will change, but my assumption now, is that trying to foster reasoned dialogue, especially among people who disagree, is a better means of gaining support for issues like the separation of church and state and how to protect an individuals freedom of expression without violating any one elses freedoms.<br /><br />Even within the atheist community, there are sides which are become isolated and splinter. I think this is true in many communities, but I assumed that atheists would be better at being able to use reasoned dialogue amongst each other, even in cases where there is disagreement. If I criticize the actions of atheists, people have an assumption that I am not an atheist. If I write about my experience in the atheist community, it is written off as being too isolated of a community and not representative of the whole. If I express frustration with people who obviously want to make atheists a more respected group of people in the community but are acting in a way which is counter to their goals, whether they state their goals or not, I am seen as a censor. The assumption people make, is that I don't want atheists to speak up when a religious person does something harmful, or when the leadership of a religious organization supports a discriminatory policy because I don't think its useful to make a list of excuses Christians give for the "horrible behavior of their God," or attempting to engage in theodicy arguments.<br /><br />There are plenty of atheists who are anti-religion who have reasons to disagree with my opinions. My frusturation comes from people who want to build a community of atheists who are seen as positive contributors to society and fail to see the consequences of events like a Debaptism, a $6.66 spaghetti dinner, a presentation which made the case that religious thinking has led scientists astray and public presentations about atheism which make the case that it is foolish to believe in a God. I'm frusturated because the people who run the organization seem ignorant to these consequences. "I should be able to express myself without worrying about who I'm going to offend," is a sentiment I've heard if I raise concern over the use to ridicule in particular. I have little concern whether someone is offended or not, but I am concerned if someone is offended by an offence because he or she isn't willing to understand what he or she did to cause offence in the first place. I also don't like it when people act how they would like to act, then are surprised when someone thinks what they did was wrong. Then there is a shaming of the shaming, or the apperant censoring of the censoree. No one is free from criticism and not all people who don't have a beleif in a god are the same. Don't pretend that you can't possibly understand why someone would find your action offensive and react by isolating yourself. Have a greater understanding of your motives for acting. If the reaction to your actions was unintentional, try to find out why. Should I censor myself around people who are religious? I wouldn't call it censorship, but I try to consider what outcome I would like to see before I act. When I haven't done this, things haven't ended well.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-88942068156002121882010-05-08T18:26:00.000-07:002010-05-08T22:20:03.243-07:00My atheist journeyHaving been frustrated with the organized atheist community, I thought I would write about my short experience to show why I have the opinions I do.<br /><br />I came out as an atheist on accident. If I hadn't done so, I likely wouldn't have gotten involved with organized atheism. I had read "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins and "The End of Faith" by Sam Harris, but didn't feel like I needed to find a community of people who thought the same way i did. My family is religious, but it wasn't a big deal to answer my mom's question of, "Did you find a church to go to?" with, "No."<br /><br />Because I did come out and my mother didn't take it too well (She didn't speak to me for six months, of course, I also blamed her and other liberal religious people for 9/11 because of what I read in Sam Harris' book), I started searching for a group of atheists. Jeannette was going to the U of MN at the time and there was a campus group of atheists. I ended up watching a debate with Dr. Robert Price about the resurrection of Jesus and saw a former teacher from high school there. He was one of the most respected teachers and I felt that if he was an atheist and showed up to other events, I just might find an atheist community.<br /><br />Over the next few months, he and I would bump into each other at meetings and lectures. I had started to go to Minnesota Atheist events, caring less about what the topic was about, then about meeting people. The problem, was that this community only met once a month and people didn't talk to each other much. If this former high school teacher hadn't also been showing up, I probably would have given up on going to meetings because I didn't feel like I fit in yet.<br /><br />One of the reasons why I was looking for a community, was because I wanted to hear from other atheists how they dealt with family issues. I was planning on getting married in a year and a half and would have to manage tense situations with family members who wanted me to get married in a church. I did get help from people in Minnesota Atheists and the Humanists of Minnesota with where to hold the wedding and had a recommendation of who could officiate. But I still felt like I was on the own with dealing with my family. Events I went to focused on whether God existed or about why Christianity was so wrong, especially the Bible. While the presentations had interesting speakers, I didn't feel like I was part of a community by going to these type of meetings.<br /><br />What events did I like the most? I remember meeting Lori Lipman Brown who was a lobbyist in Washington working for the Secular Coalition of America. Her presentations were inspiring. She got me to see a value in forming a community of atheists to fight for the rights of the nonreligious as more of a civil rights issue. I was raised in a religious family and didn't have to face discrimination through school, but I heard about people who did and felt like this was a worthy cause to get behind. I also liked going to the Day of Reason because I felt like it was an effective way to present a positive message about the separation of church and state. What I really wished, was that religious leaders would join the Day of Reason, but could understand why they might not feel welcomed.<br /><br />Over the next few years, I was involved in the leadership of Minnesota Atheists. I wanted to give back to the community because I wanted to fix some of the things I didn't like about my experience, mostly making new members feel welcomed and to encourage more family friendly events. I wanted to try to get people who were like myself involved in the atheist community in order to support efforts of other groups like the SCA and to encourage others to support the separation of church and state. I didn't have to try to attract people who were in a similar situation as myself, people who were searching for a community, because MN Atheists is easy enough to find, I wanted to reach out to people who didn't have a need for an organization and encourage them to join and support the issues which were important to me.<br /><br />The problem I found, is that for people to join an organization, they have to be more or less self motivated. A group like MN Atheists is great for people who feel harmed by religion. The positive outreach efforts, like highway cleaning and supporting gay rights by appearing at GLBT festivals is enough to get some people curious, but I saw people get turned off by the focus on religion. Over time, it started turning me off as well.<br /><br />I think it is easier to form a group of people around the harm of religion then around some sort of secular ethical club. The humanists get close to this idea, but there are vocal opponents to the label of atheist among the humanists which makes that community unwelcoming at times. This is where my frustration is coming from. I think it is possible to have a community of non religious people who are concerned about societal issues, humanitarian efforts, local community support, volunteerism, doing good, etc., without the literal biblical interpretation games, the strawmen arguments atheists make amongst themselves, the anti religious rhetoric, the isolationist attitude which discourages work with religious leaders when it makes sense. It is easier to have a group form around a lack of belief then around some sort of "do good" group, which is why I'm satisfied, for now, with volunteering with different groups here and there, supporting causes which have meaning for me. I know I pissed a lot of people by criticizing the behavior of certain atheists. My criticism comes from my frustration from not being able to find a community of people who share the same values I do. It is similar to the frustration I felt after coming out as an atheist. I know there are other people who think the same way I do, but there won't be a community formed out of this frustration.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-42303606587247522372010-04-24T22:03:00.001-07:002010-04-24T22:03:56.727-07:00I Think We Need A Break<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; ">In March, I ended my leadership position in Minnesota Atheists. While I couldn't take the politics, I still wanted to be involved with the community because I met people I care about and I still wanted to make some kind of difference. I care deeply about separation of church and state, teaching science in the schools, and equal rights. The problem is, I didn't see anyone actually doing something about the problem. There are some valiant attempts made by the local atheist groups. The Day of Reason is a fantastic event and I've seen some great charitable events (which sadly more people than I'd like were against even doing). The rest of the time I've just been hearing complaining. Almost every event I go to there is someone bitching about the evils of religion. What is even more disturbing to me is the growing amount of people I've heard ridiculing religion and religious people. It is just something I can't stand by.<br /><br /><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; ">I realize that religion has done some great harm. At the present we are still things happening that I obviously have issues with. The problem with the Catholic priests is appalling. There is no reason why gay marriage should not be legal. There are serious breaches in our children's education and women's rights that I obvious don't agree with. However I don't think ridicule is the day to deal with it. I don't think I will ever be convinced otherwise. I believe to make a blanketed statement about religion is bigoted and hateful. It makes us no better than our opponents. A religious person's mind isn't going to be changed because you called them stupid. All ridicule does is satisfy egos. It fuels a circle jerk that will never end. </div><br /><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; ">I've suffered from depression and have pretty much felt like I've conquered it. However, it isn't uncommon for it to come back and lately I've been feeling familiar symptoms that I'm afraid will lead to a relapse. I know I can handle it, but I will need a positive community. Sadly I don't think I can find it in any of the local atheist groups. It isn't good for me to hear my friends and family being ridiculed for what they believe. So for the time being I think I'm going to back away. I'm still a proud atheist and I still love the friends that I've met in Minnesota Atheists, even though we hold such differing views. Though I feel pretty much alone in my views, I hope my friends don't turn their backs away from me because of some disagreements. One of my best friends in the world is a Libertarian that loves guns and <span class="misspell" suggestions="Plain,Pal in,Pal-in,Paling,Paolina" style="background-color: yellow; ">Palin</span>. We are polar opposites but I love her to death. I can only hope to have the same relationship with my <span class="misspell" suggestions="MAN,MINA,MONA,MYNA,MN" style="background-color: yellow; ">MNA</span> friends.</div><br /><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; ">I'm not going completely away. I'll still attend a select number of events. I plan on immersing myself in some more positive projects. Currently Camp Quest is my heart and "soul". I think this is a valuable program and it has given my live meaning in a way Minnesota Atheists never has. In a year or so I plan on becoming a Humanist Celebrant. I would love to be able to be a part of <span class="misspell" suggestions="some one's,some-one's,someones,Simeon's,Simone's" style="background-color: yellow; ">someone's</span> important life events, whether it be a wedding or a funeral. Who knows where I will be in the future. I'm not breaking up with organized atheism. We are just taking a little break.</div></span>milhousesgirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18354746003879228019noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-2919346329858894412010-04-24T18:31:00.000-07:002010-04-24T19:27:33.183-07:00Atheists DestroyIn 2009, President Barack Obama spoke to Muslims in his Inaugural Address. "Your people will judge you on what you can build and not what you destroy."<br /><br />This focus on destruction is not unique to Muslims. It is a poison to any community. It is prevalent in the poison of racism which has invaded Christian groups in the form of Militias. Parts of the Tea Party also have this disease of destruction, seeking to repeal Health Care Reform, fringe elements praying for Obama to die. In my view, it's these elements which poison the communities they are a part of. In some cases, the point of the community is to destroy another.<br /><br />To me, there seems to be a growing number of atheists who want to see religion destroyed. I think these people, who may have always been around, are the ones who can make the community suffer. It is difficult to form a community around what you don't believe in and that is what atheists do. Atheists are an incredibly diverse community, however, those who participate in organizations seem to be overwhelmingly liberal politically, don't have kids, or their kids are out of the house. Most seem to have been raised with a religion and have sought out a community because it can be difficult to, in some cases, be rejected from friends and family because you don't happen to share the same views on theology.<br /><br />It's this last point, I think, which causes much of the anger among active atheists and causes problems for others which are looking for another type of community. People who have chosen intellectual honesty over friendships and normal relations with family will be pretty angry at the reason why their lives are different now. I know I was really angry at religious people and religion in general after reading Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. I blamed even moderate religious Christians for every bit of religious violence. The Twin Towers fell because of the group of peaceful Quakers who meet every week. When I saw the Freedom From Religion Foundation's ads which said "Imagine No Religion" and showed a picture of the World Trade Centers standing, I cheered. It made perfect sense to me. The terrorists were Muslim and without Islam, they wouldn't be Islamic terrorists and wouldn't have killed themselves without the promise of 72 virgins. It was a simplistic notion and I bought into it.<br /><br />I feel like my opinion of religion and religious people is different than it once was. It is bigoted to treat all religious people alike. Religious people are not stupid. Religious people can share the same ethical values I have. Religious people can understand science and are not brainwashed into belief. I might have been poisoned by the Interfaith movement, but I see a value in joining people together who have different views on theology, but share similar goals for how to make the world a better place. My former views wouldn't have supported this one bit. By working with religious people, I was allowing them to spread lies to children to brainwash the uneducated and ignorant. The side effect is that our world will not progress as long as the religious are allowed to be religious without atheists speaking up and ridiculing and shaming them into disbelief.<br /><br />One challenge with atheist groups is focusing on missions. Do you exist to form a community of people who feel alone, who need support, who feel like they need to do something to lessen the impact of religion on society? Do you exist to teach people who are religious that atheists are normal? Do you exist to make the world a better place and how do you go about doing that? I don't think that the focus on converting the religious to atheists, which some atheist evangelists want, is a realistic goal and causes problems in communities which are trying to grow. These are the people who would go door to door expressing the "good news" of atheism. These are the people who seek to destroy and are poisoning the community in the same way the violent and racist members of the Tea Party and Christian groups have done. The difference is that the numbers are much smaller but the effect is the same. The people who aren't into that, the ridicule and victim mentality, the people who weren't raised religious, the people who think that religion isn't evil, will simply leave.<br /><br />I'm on the fence. I'm going to form a community of one.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-65517940193089475252010-04-19T13:30:00.000-07:002010-04-19T14:09:15.209-07:00Two-Faced John 14 12-14<p>While driving home from work last week, I listened to Make It Plain with host Mark Thompson. Mark Thompson is religious and makes a point to say "God bless you," to every one of his callers. I don't think I've caught him missing one yet. He does offer an interesting show and it doesn't get too religious, but this one evening, a caller who wanted to talk about the health insurance crisis got him fired up. The gentleman on the phone mentioned that he had been diagnosed with leukemia but it was not serious enough that his insurance would authorize treatment. He explained that he has a strong faith in God, but that it's getting hard to have faith. Mark comforted the caller, mentioning that he would pray for him and reminded him that he needed to pray for himself.</p><p>Then he whipped out John 14:12-14.</p><blockquote><p>12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. <br /><br /> 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. <br /><br /> 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.</p></blockquote><p>I had heard this same quote mentioned before, but by a former Pentecostal minister who now speaks to atheist groups. Lee Salisbury used to be bathed in the Holy Spirit and deeply believed in the words of the previous passage but it became one of the passages which gave him the most trouble. When was the last time you heard someone rise from the dead, grow a lost limb, cure the blind, speak in tongues, feed a multitude with fish and bread, walk on water, or change water into wine? Either Jesus is lying or the Gospel is wrong, is what he concludes.</p><p>During Mark's brief interview, he claimed to have cured this caller of his cancer by the power of God. This is a dangerous line of thinking which extends into the abuse and death of children by religious parents who see modern medicine as a sin against God, because your trust should be with Him. This man was overjoyed to hear that he had been cured, even though he must have known it wasn't true.</p><p>Apologists for this particular piece of the Bible have various answers for why we don't just scrap modern medicine and train Christian healers to fix our biological problems. Answers include, "We won't know until the 144 thousand witnesses for Christ receive their anointing," "Citing Acts which mentions that converting one sinner is a greater work than all of the miracles that Jesus did, so that counts," "No one in history has been Jesusy enough to be able to perform supernatural acts. The potential is there for all humans to perform supernatural acts but we lack the faith and discipline to actually perform them." "People have risen from the dead and supernatural healing takes place in churches all over, there is proof, I swear."</p><p>This is the problem with Biblical interpretation. In one case, it can be used to give comfort to someone going through a difficult time and in another be used to harm children by refusing medical care. It is fortunate that most Christians are not Biblical Literalists, but I can imagine plenty of sermons have centered around this passage. How many people may have delayed visiting a doctor because they didn't want to test their faith in Jesus?<br /></p>Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-73934358644052819892010-04-09T08:54:00.000-07:002010-04-09T09:22:41.508-07:00Do atheists hate the sin, not the sinner?<p>Atheists who choose to argue the existence of gods with the religious will often be accused of being rude, intolerant, bigoted, close-minded and arrogant for having the nerve to say, "I don't think your god exists and here is why."</p><p>What will usually happen eventually, is that the atheist will say, "Your argument is stupid!" in a fit of frustration, or, "Your beliefs are stupid!" Here is where dialog breaks down and both sides stomp off. Where is the disconnect? Contentious dialog is difficult, even for those experienced in it, but why does dialog stop once ones ideas or beliefs are attacked?</p><p>Atheists, even the most outspoken, are usually very careful to separate the individual from ideas and beliefs. "You're a Christian and Christianity will cause you to have stupid beliefs," is technically different from, "You're a Christian and you're stupid." However, I don't think it's understood differently from the Christian perspective.</p><p>There certainly are atheists who think anyone with a belief in a deity or deities is stupid. There are others who hold this same viewpoint who will hide behind the language provided earlier in an attempt to appear fair-minded and open to dialog. My hope is that those who hold bigoted viewpoints would simply state them without trying to play games with language.</p><p>Ideas and beliefs don't need protection, people do. I think as long as people define who they are by what they believe, questioning an individual's beliefs will always be inferred as a personal attack which degrades dialog. To me, saying, "I don't think YOU'RE stupid, I think the beliefs you hold are." is similar to saying, "I don't hate you because you're gay. I hate the gay sex you have."</p><p>I don't think that religious belief should be free from criticism. I think that much progress can be made in dialog if both parties can agree that beliefs are different then who we are as individuals. From the religious side, when an atheist says, "I think Jesus rising from the dead is a stupid belief," they mean the same thing you'd say to a Scientologist, "I think that the idea of thetans is stupid."</p><p>It is difficult to resist an emotional reaction when the ideas and beliefs you hold are challenged, but that is the only way to have a reasonable dialog with someone who disagrees with you.</p>Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-40865236380694015212010-04-03T06:17:00.000-07:002010-04-03T06:27:23.846-07:00Top Ten (Free!) Things You Can Do To Help the Atheist Community<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8DmxtnHsFBJG82NzkNw5XBDpBgO9UBPw-QGJ5fhRD79hHFBLZWWiiIOpQ0tAS-K6aNZCh-yPZGWDBZO-ao3ESx4e38-pDCyXrsxQEfYAf4AF9yFAC_e020rbNTs8uW9vmlRLoWTESeBZ/s1600/man-free-sign.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8DmxtnHsFBJG82NzkNw5XBDpBgO9UBPw-QGJ5fhRD79hHFBLZWWiiIOpQ0tAS-K6aNZCh-yPZGWDBZO-ao3ESx4e38-pDCyXrsxQEfYAf4AF9yFAC_e020rbNTs8uW9vmlRLoWTESeBZ/s200/man-free-sign.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5455900136700680706" border="0" /></a><br />10. Come out of the closet.<br />No matter what label you are comfortable with, atheist, agnostic, humanist, skeptic, let the people around you know what you think. Everyone's situation will be different and for some it will take time to wait for the right moment, for example, "What church do you go to?" "I don't go to church, I'm an atheist, but you can ask me about what I think, if you'd like." The more people who let their friends and family know where they stand and what they think, the more it encourages others to do the same and it helps to foster allies for causes atheists are concerned about, such as the separation of church and state and rights for non-theists.<br /><br />9. Read the paper.<br />While it appears that newspapers are a dying media, their reach is still in the thousands on a local level. Read the Editorials and Opinion pages and submit your own response when someone makes a bigoted statement about those who don't believe in any gods. Write encouraging responses when you see religious groups supporting our issues.<br /><br />8. Treat discussions with religious friends and family as an opportunity for dialogue.<br />Talking with co-workers about religion or politics should not be a debate. It can be challenging but some of the most important conversations you will have may be with people you completely disagree with because it gives you a chance to understand where someone else is coming from. You can use this perspective to get people to support our cause if you know the things which are important to them. The ends of our goals will ultimately benefit everyone and its our job to make that case. Remember that disagreeing with someone's beliefs is different then attacking someone personally, but to many, that distinction isn't clear, so it's important to educate others about that.<br /><br />7. Become politically involved.<br />Volunteer for a campaign or simply attend caucus meetings. Atheists and other non-theists are a minority in this country but that doesn't mean that our voice should be unheard. By becoming involved you can speak up when it appears that everyone is on board with things like school vouchers, faith-based initiatives or giving preference to religion in our schools. Of course, the best you can hope for, is to run for office, be that a school board, city council, or higher roles in the state or national level.<br /><br />6. Make friends.<br />Whether you attend meetings held by a local atheist organization or you talk to people online, make an effort to establish friendships. Offer to have a few people from a group over to your house, or go out to eat, or simply hang out at a park. Organizations are useful for getting people to meet each other, but that can't be the only time atheists see each other. This is especially important for people who may be too busy to make it to a lot of meetings because they have kids.<br /><br />5. Go to events in the real world.<br />Plenty of people find comfort in the anonymity of the Internet but it is important to get outside. Look for local groups through Facebook or Meetup.com and drop in. You should have at least one thing to talk to others about. A good opening question is, "So, how long have you been an atheist." For some people, that conversation can last hours. If you don't like the message of the group or how events are run, tell the organizers. Not many groups have paid staff who run events, so don't be too critical, but letting an organizer how you feel might get an organization to change how events are run. If the group rubs you the wrong way, try another group, or consider starting your own.<br /><br />4. Volunteer for an atheist organization.<br />Volunteering for such a diverse community is challenging and rewarding. At the local level, every town has someone who feels that they are the only one in that town who thinks the way they do. The most important message organizations send is that, "You are not alone." If you only have a little time a month, consider hosting a small event for the group, like a book club or just a brunch. The more people who help out, the better! Just be sure you are aware of the mission of the organization before getting too involved.<br /><br />3. Be active outside of the atheist community.<br />If atheist spend all of their time talking with each other and only meeting people with different points of view when we attend debates about the existence of god it can become easy to get isolated and ultimately bigoted toward people with religious belief. Join a group for another interest of yours, like a hiking group, book club, movie club, etc. You can also support a charitable works project, even with a religious group, so long as you support the cause. It might seem silly, but you are acting as a representative of the atheist community when you make it known how you think. It is one more way to normalize the atheist worldview and gets more people to listen to what we have to say.<br /><br />2. Start an atheist organization.<br />Communities around the world, especially small towns, are the ones who need groups more than anywhere else. Meetup.com may not be free, but Facebook is. There are all sorts of creative ways to let others know about your events and you shouldn't be discouraged if only two people show up to your first few events. Reach out to national groups like Atheist Alliance International to find groups in your state who might be able to offer advice. If you are a student, whether in a high school or college, use the Secular Student Alliance, please! The only reason why that group exists is to help you. Running a group can be free and very worthwhile. You'll be hooked on organizing when you hear someone say, "I thought I was the only one!"<br /><br />1. Be open to answering questions.<br />Many people aren't comfortable talking about something as personal as his or her religious views; however, the most effective way to help the atheist community is by educating those around you about what you think. The hope is that your friends and family will understand that you share more in common then you thought and that the "atheist agenda" isn't about removing freedoms of expression granted to those who are religious but about protecting the rights of everyone to be free from abuse by a religious minority which seeks to impose their beliefs onto you.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-68129229052741310022010-03-31T08:10:00.000-07:002010-03-31T13:02:32.829-07:00Trust and Bias<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgps2IgIrWysezT78e4yplqxC4XAL96tNwUzHK-UFBcCH_gkcB6tufFZag4b7R041vu6lfNiPMiAadcrq34J8spj6wnfSKA44ERgWG39anao3RyqtrWa3zR0EL4wsobZAdc9SwVLhUgGIeM/s1600/trust-jesus2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 140px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgps2IgIrWysezT78e4yplqxC4XAL96tNwUzHK-UFBcCH_gkcB6tufFZag4b7R041vu6lfNiPMiAadcrq34J8spj6wnfSKA44ERgWG39anao3RyqtrWa3zR0EL4wsobZAdc9SwVLhUgGIeM/s200/trust-jesus2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454890224456086962" /></a>Whether you accept or reject evidential claims (your bias) has a lot to do with what you trust.<br /><br />Recently, at a dinner with atheists, one person commented that there has been extraordinary work in the field of autism research. A doctor has successfully cured 25 children of autism by removing mercury from from their blood through a process called chelation. Others at the table remarked that chelation is dangerous and that ethyl mercury found in Thimerosal is different then methyl mercury, which is most associated with mercury related poisoning and neurological damage, because ethyl mercury is removed from the body more easily then methyl mercury.<br /><br />His response? Chelation is not dangerous, that is something they just want you to believe. The mercury differences is just a smokescreen. Just look at a YouTube video of mercury destroying neurons! My child has spasms the day after he received a vaccine, that might have been due to the mercury in the shot. What about fluoride in the water? It's a known carcinogen, yet our government forces us to drink it.<br /><br />I had only met this person this evening, so I don't have a lot of history to go on, but from talking with him, he's a passionate person, concerned with the environment, sustainability, organic gardening and has a distrust of corporations and the government.<br /><br />Because of who and what he did not trust, this affected his acceptance of evidence, disregarding objections raised.<br /><br />A concerned Facebook group member contacted me earlier this week, recommending that I send out a correction about the Tim Pawlenty scandal over the apparent misuse of funds obtained by selling Support Our Troops plates. A staff member received $30,000 as a partial salary, the same person in charge of overseeing the Governor's Faith Based Initiaves, from the Support Out Troops funds. When the DFL brought the issue to light, it was determined that this staffer was working for veterans, on behalf of a veterans welfare group, seeking out eligible veterans who were not using services to which they were entitled.<br /><br />Did I send out the correction? No. I don't think sending out messages on Facebook qualifies my role as a journalist and besides, who would care? I also am acting with bias. I don't like Tim Pawlenty's socially conservative politics and as an atheist, I'm sensitive to, not only the misuse of government funds, but the misuse of funds which support a program which offers an unfair advantage to religious organizations, making it more difficult for quality secular organizations to operate. Because of my bias, I still see an issue with what happened. I still think that sharing staff between the Governor's office and another organization leads to too little transparency. So, I am hesitant to write it off as an innocent decision on the part of Tim Pawlenty. But, this is largely due to the fact that when I'm presented with information, I don't have as much skepticism when Al Franken is accused of wrongdoing as if Tim Pawlenty is, because I don't trust Tim Pawlenty, but should I trust Al Franken?<br /><br />It would be a difficult world to live in if trust was thrown out of the window and all claims were subject to deep analysis. But, even at that point, what do you trust, your own experiences, your senses, your memory? It it more important, then, to be aware of ones bias? But, is it that innocent, just to be aware and let your opinions be clouded? Bias can be innocent, such as preferring one local sports team over an non local sports team; however, can be more dangerous when advocating for expensive, ineffective and potentially dangerous treatment for a condition which is becoming more well understood, but until then the favorite enemy of the day will be to blame for the cause.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-58511600880123298072010-01-29T07:00:00.000-08:002010-01-29T07:01:21.080-08:00What is in a name?Atheist, humanist, secular humanist, Bright, freethinker, secularist, naturalist, these are all words I've heard people use to describe themselves. I recall the diversity of identifiers used at the Atheist Coming Out Day last year. I was reminded of this diversity when an issue came up with the newsletter for a secular organization. Should "humanism" be capitalized?<br /><br />I began doing some research to see what the organizations used, the American Humanist Association and the International Humanist and Ethical Union. The IHEU uses Humanism and encourages member organizations to do so. The AHA also encourages the use of Humanism versus humanism. One of the reasons given is that Pope Paul VI referred to himself as a humanist.<br /><br />The consensus among the people who were working on the newsletter was that atheist should be lowercase and many also thought that humanism should be treated in the same way. One of the reasons given to treat humanism in the same way as atheism was that both are not religions and religions are capitalized. However, there is a feeling that capitalizing a word adds to its respect, as determined by the author. Certain authors do not feel that religions deserve any respect over atheism or humanism, so should also be written as islam and christianity.<br /><br />The core issue is the challenge we all face. We lack branding and a unified label. While researching the humanism issue, I ran across articles touting the efforts of humanist organizations to simplify the use of humanism by removing labels like "secular" from the front and expanding the use of the "Happy Humanist" logo. This logo lets humanists from all over the world recognize each other and other organizations.<br /><br />Atheists have attempted to do the same thing by choosing a logo at an Atheist Alliance International and rallying around the red "A" of the Out Campaign from the Richard Dawkins Foundation. However, atheist groups aren't as unified as humanist groups are with branding.<br /><br />I think that the diversity of labels in our community is a strength and a weakness, but an unavoidable weakness. I have met members of Minnesota Atheists who are frustrated with others who don't use the label "atheist" and have tried to encourage others to push aside words like agnostic, non religious, Bright, even humanist in favor of the label "atheist." This has encouraged some to adopt the label of "atheist," but has also made others feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. By browbeating others into calling themselves what we would like to be called in an attempt to unify the cause we may be alienating others who would be just as enthusiastic about supporting the separation of church and state and raising awareness in the community of our issues.<br /><br />I used to be enthusiastic about encouraging people to use the word atheist to describe their worldview. I used to get really irritated when someone would be uncomfortable with the word atheist and I would want to do what I could to rid them of this fear. What I realized is that personal labels, no matter what they are, are something each of us need to come to ourselves and not be pushed into. We should not be shamed into choosing one label over an other, whether that is atheist, humanist, secular, non religious, Bright, or any other future iteration of identification we will invent to describe what we think.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-50352397989883497502009-11-11T11:40:00.000-08:002009-11-11T12:35:06.840-08:00DisUnityCOREarlier this year, Fred Edwords started a project modeled after PhilyCOR, or the Philadelphia Coalition of Reason. The initial goal of PhilyCOR is to unite different atheist, humanist, and other secular organizations in order to build a stronger local community. While this has been a lofty goal, by looking at the various Coalition of Reason sites set up during the year, along with high profile advertising campaigns, the impact has not been worth the effort spent by members of the freethought communities the Coalitions of Reason's represent. The sites are lacking in new content, feature a handful of press releases and articles from news sources surrounding the "shocking" advertising in the local community and a small amount of local events lead by only a few members of the Coalition, which leads me to believe that having an external source (UnitedCOR) sweep in, spend money on an ad and leave has little impact.<br /><br />So, what is the big deal? UnitedCOR comes in, invites a few chosen groups to join the COR, some accept, others join out of peer pressure, an ad campaign is run, and the groups are left to themselves. If only it were that simple.<br /><br />Because UnitedCOR is an organization which is independent and undemocratic, run by Fred Edwords and an unknown benefactor who are choosing to spend money to further their own cause, the groups which are members have little say in what UnitedCOR does. It is clear from press coverage which follow billboards which appear in communities which have started COR's, that the COR's are formed to support interest in Greg Epsteins's new book.<br /><br />Greg Epstein is the Humanist Chaplin at Harvard. He believes that the "New Atheism" of authors like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, has a bad image in the public, so rather then defending and supporting the rights of atheists to engage in open dialog and raise important issues regarding religion, he has instead decided to ride their coat tails with a movement he calls, the "New Humanism." "We are interested in anything that is good, without God," Epstein writes. He sees the "New Humanism" movement in stark contrast to the negativity of "New Atheism." I think this dichotomy is false. UnitedCOR carries this attitude that "New Atheism" must be stopped and replaced with "New Humanism."<br /><br />What harm is there in joining a UnitedCOR sponsored organization? The benefit is that you receive some attention due to a website and billboard. My thought is that organizations can receive just as much, if not more, coverage for doing work in the communities their serve. The harm, is that these organizations then take place in the discrimination of other organizations UnitedCOR and related local organizers seek to exclude.<br /><br />Do you mean to say that UnitedCOR, a group which seeks to, according to their mission, "to raise the visibility and sense of unity among local groups in the community of reason, to create a national dialogue on the role of nontheists in American society, and to improve the way that nontheists are perceived by average Americans," would exclude atheist groups? Yes.<br /><br />In PhilyCOR, The Rational Response Squad was excluded due to objections raised by the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia. The Rational Response Squad an been an excellent resource in engaging an audience a generation or two younger then the membership of most freethought organizations. Their exclusion is shocking to me.<br /><br />It is not surprising that a group which labels itself as an Ethical Humanist society would behave in this fashion, especially after the controversy in Chicago over a dis-invitation and later police action taken by the Ethical Humanist organization there. Our strength is in our diversity. Tolerance must extend to those with whom you disagree. I am not interested in listening to an atheist or humanist echo chamber.<br /><br />In Minnesota, Atheists for Human Rights was excluded, under the excuse that they are a national organization and national organizations are not to take part in UnitedCOR groups. August Berkshire has had a long standing grievance with Atheists for Human Rights, for various reasons and used his role as organizer of Twin Cities COR to exclude this organization.<br /><br />At its best UnitedCOR is an ineffective attempt to bring freethought groups together. At its worse, it seeks to exclude groups it chooses while promoting people it deems worthy, such as Greg Epstein.<br /><br />If you are a member of a UnitedCOR sponsored organization, pay close attention to what is being thrust onto your organization and what is being done in your name. Whether you like it or not, the actions of UnitedCOR reflect on your group.<br /><br />If you are considering joining a UnitedCOR sponsored organization, I would make sure that your organization's goals match with those of the organizer of your local COR. After all, we all strongly support rationality and careful thought. Groups have the freedom to choose for themselves but must be made well aware of the impact of their decisions.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-59417363301926976112009-11-10T11:47:00.000-08:002009-11-10T11:48:06.296-08:00An Evolution Solution (non-Wave version)A majority of Americans reject evolution. You may have read the Gallup poll from this past February which counted only 39 percent of respondents as holding a belief in evolution. However, this problem is not new. While researching this problem, I have run into many polls from other organizations which constantly place a belief in evolution in the minority. The majority opinion is that God created humans in their current form. What can be done to better educate the public?<br /><br />Are our teachers failing us? Is there is an organized opposition to the theory of evolution which is simply more compelling then the evidence which supports a gradual change over millions of years? I will admit, creatures popping into existence, fully formed, makes for a great story, but when I want to learn about how things really are, I have to rely in science and empirical evidence, even if the story isn't as fanciful. Richard Dawkins continues the fight to educate the public about evolution with his book, "The Greatest Show On Earth." Will his book work? Will the people who buy it already reject the Christian creation myth?<br /><br />I would say that it isn't a wasted effort. As I walked through a local book store, I saw the atheist books tucked in with science books, mostly about Darwin and evolution. While you can be religious and believe in evolution, I won't deny that there have been many who read about how evolution really works, not how they were taught in church and that one lie of creation unraveled the web of lies their church, family and friends had been telling them their whole life. Science has evidence, the comfort of predictability, while faith is an empty guessing game.<br /><br />What else did I see in the book store? In the religion section, few books about evolution, but more books about how to either reject evolution or how religion and evolution are compatible. I'd like to see some of those science books sneak their way into the religion section. Would that have worked for you? I know many atheists who decided that the evidence for a god was lacking after reading "The God Delusion," which was more about evolution then it was in rejecting faith.<br /><br />Last month, I attended "Atheist Coming Out Day" hosted by Campus Atheists, Skeptics and Humanists at the University of Minnesota. Here, people sat in a circle and told their coming out story. What shocked me, was how many people were so new to calling themselves "atheists," and felt comfortable going to a group meeting to tell everyone about it. Out of the 60 people who "came out," more then a few were raised in conservative Christian families, including one child of missionaries, one child of Salvation Army parents, and one who was a Bible Quiz champion. All of these people strongly rejected evolution, until college. All it took was a freshman biology course with a brief introduction to evolution to realize they had been actively deceived by the people who cared about them. For some, the process of leaving faith behind took a few years, others left more quickly.<br /><br />What is important, is that there is a community of like minded people who are there, if only to "come out" to, to share our experiences and to make it easier for the next wave of people to throw off life according to mythology and embrace reality.Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9045865350669064515.post-51129320160738554922009-11-06T08:59:00.000-08:002009-11-06T09:29:23.161-08:00An Evolution Solution<div id="wave" style="width: 400px; height: 800px"></div>Bjorn Watlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05144413933796145344noreply@blogger.com1