Why believe?

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The Guardian published a ridiculous editorial by JoEllen Murphy just before Christmas.  Murphy headed a fundraising campaign to run signs on buses reading “Why believe? Because I love you and I created you, for goodness sake – God.”  These signs are a reaction to American Humanist Association signs that say “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.”

Let’s start with the wording on her signs.

“Why believe? Because I love you and I created you, for goodness sake – God.

There isn’t much of a rational argument here.  “Because I love you” is the answer to a question like “why did you buy me flowers.”  If someone told you unicorns existed because they loved to use their horns to magically heal all disease, would you believe them?  And, god didn’t say I love you and I created you.  JoEllen Murphy says god says it.  I wonder what gives Christians the idea that they can speak for god.  Can’t he speak for himself?  Keep reading below the break…

Continue reading Why believe?

Weekly Top 5?

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Not this week.  My external hard drive with almost all of my music is very very dead.  Wish me luck in retrieving some of it.  Since you are undoubtedly as heartbroken as I am about this, here’s a video via Dr. Isis to make you feel better (Note: Look up a translation of the lyrics to really enjoy the song).  If the wonderful ridiculousness of this song does not make you laugh, please consult your psychiatrist and do not leave me nasty comments about my taste in music.

What I’ve Noticed

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I had a very nice New Year’s Eve with one of my favorite cousins and fell asleep around 11 watching Life of Brian. Next year I plan on following SublimeFemme’s NYE advice for a much more exciting time.  I’m not one for making resolutions, but Justin’s keys to happiness sound pretty good.

A great comic over at Unreasonable Faith illustrates very effectively the silliness of Biblical punishment.

Chemistry isn’t a crime, no matter what the Canadian police say.

Jessica reminds us that the best part of the holidays are the cookies.

Have you really had an English class?

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I’m looking for a new housemate right now and put up an ad on Craigslist.  I’ve been emailing back and forth with a few people and am pretty sure I’ll find someone by this weekend.  I’m trying not to discriminate based on grammar and spelling, but some of the responses I get are pretty terrible.  For example:

Your place like nice but looks to crowded for 2 more people and the room sees way to small.

I immediately remember being an English teacher in China and have to resist the urge to whip out my red pen when I read things like this.  Unfortunately, this person does not have the excuse of learning English late in life – he’s a native of the southwestern US and is actually attending university.  Unlike many people responding to the ad, however, he gets points for using both capitalization and punctuation.  Now I understand why my school makes it so hard to get out of intro English.

Missed Migraine Log

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I missed the weekly migraine log last Tuesday.  To make up for it, I promise to include some graphs with the next one. I know, I know.  This is very poor data collection.  But it was Christmas and I was traveling and busy and just forgot to keep track.  It didn’t help that I was in North Carolina where the pressure seems to be attached to a frenetic child’s yoyo.  It’s hard to keep track of migraines when you have so many!