Vast Amounts of Atheist Money

mariano, atheism, atheist, morality, morals, ethical, ethics

The same people who can't shut up about Jesus just can't seem to understand why atheists might want to advertise their viewpoint. I will give them this: the motivation is different. Atheists aren't really hoping you'll convert to atheism, we just want to let other atheists know they're not alone, and it's okay to believe or not believe as you will.

Atheists live in a world that rejects us, even demonizes us, at every turn. Speaking as a US citizen, god is on my money, in my pledge, the reason for a Federal holiday, and permeates the language and culture. Belief is the assumed default, to admit that one does not believe can generate any reaction from stupid misunderstanding (one person actually said to my nephew, "so, you're Jewish?") to outright hostility. Everyone in our culture thanks god for the great and the small, speaks of miracles and prays for us.

It can be a little lonely.

Mariano, who declares that atheism is dead (we'll categorize this under "demonize"), adds a little extra stupid to his outrage over the bus ads.

Yes, they are at it again. Having nothing better to do with vast amounts of money more atheist bus ads are being purchased.

Okay, where is the vast amount of atheist money, and how do I get some of it?

What has Mariano's panties in a bunch? The idea, as shown in the above picture, that one can be moral and ethical without god. The truly ridiculous thing about Mariano's outrage is that this is an undeniable fact. Arguing about this is like arguing whether or not water is wet. Secular societies have lower rates of violence and teen pregnancy. Atheists are better at marriage. Atheists make up the tiniest portion of the prison population. Sorry, Mariano, Jesus doesn't make you better than me.

The Very Definition of Irony

tradition, traditional, octuplets, ethics, ethical, medical, prop 8, religion, religious, conservative, christian, ivf, embryo

The bigotsphere has been running around like my dog with a bag over his head (see above) concerning the woman who underwent IVF resulting in octuplets, even though she already had 6 children and was single.

At first, it was "look at this brave warrior for life who refused selective abortions". Then, "oh wait, she's single . . . that's bad."(see the comments section in the very same post. these people will turn on you like rabid wolverines on meth.) Now that the media is questioning the ethics of implanting that many embryos into a single woman who already has 6 children, it's "how dare you deny some poor woman a medical procedure?"

First of all, this isn't really our business, now is it? I think it is unethical to implant that many embryos into anyone because of the very real medical dangers involved. Also, the only reason anyone ever implants that many embryos is because they think most of them won't take- this is reasonable in the case of an infertile woman, especially an older, infertile woman.* The woman in question here was not older, and, given that she had 6 children already, 2 of them twins, she was certainly not infertile.

In this case, IVF was not a "medical procedure" we had no business denying her. It was entirely unecessary. Clearly, all she had to do in order to get pregnant was have sex. IVF is a very necessary procedure for a lot of women: women who can't get pregnant the old fashioned way. To compare their very real need for IVF, and their tremendous suffering if they are denied it, to this other woman's . . . well, who knows, but she sure didn't need IVF . . . is offensive.

In conclusion, for people to celebrate this woman while simultaneously castigating and mocking her is, well, this time it is irony.

Enjoy.

*Doctors who practice IVF still don't implant that many embryos as a general rule, because even in the case of an infertile woman close to menopause, you're still risking high order multiples. Btw, if you are currently struggling with infertility, I wish you all the best, and I repeat: IVF is a necessary medical procedure for you.