Carnival of the Godless, No. 136 - Revolutionary Communist Edition!

Welcome to the 136th edition of Carnival of the Godless! I'm your host, Larry, militant atheist and (gasp!) revolutionary communist. Of course, atheists span the entire spectrum of political and economic beliefs and theories; we are united only in our rejection of religious bullshit, our humanistic values and our dedication to critical, rational examination of beliefs about reality. To my mind nothing could help communism and the liberation of all humanity more than critical, rational thought. We must subject all of our beliefs and preferences to the cold light of reason and the warm glow of humanism: concern for well-being of all humanity, indeed the well-being of the web of all life on Earth in which we are ineluctably embedded.

Guiding us in our exploration today will be our many and varied contributors. But first, a round of applause for our previous host Naon Tiotami of Homologous Legs. (Yay!) And not just a round but a sphere of applause for the guy who does all the dirty organizational work: J. Reed Braden, a.k.a. the Gaytheist! (Hip hip!)

Mel presents Growing Up Jewish - Sabbath Edition posted at BroadSnark. Mel describes the absurdity that results when an ordinary and useful practice (taking a day off) becomes irrationally fetishized and dogmatized.

Andrew Bernardin presents God Follows Morality posted at The Evolving Mind. Andrew discusses the relationship between God and morality and finds that morality created God, not the other way around, and argues in Unscientific Science that "spirituality" is too vague to be suitable for good scientific practice.

Arizona Atheist presents Christian Apologists Just Don't Understand Morality, Parts 1 & 2 posted at ARIZONA ATHEIST. Arizona Atheist presents "arguments against Christian apologists and their morality argument," and defends his claim as to the superiority of secular morality. (Part 2 is also available.)

Lamb presents Woman's Day Magazine Irks Me posted at Lamb Around. Lamb objects to bible verses in Women's Day magazine and offers a shocking suggestion about... lemons!

Melliferax presents Why I'm Not Agnostic posted at Melliferax. Melliferax refutes some arguments for why one should call oneself agnostic rather than atheist.

Cubik's Rube presents Why? posted at Cubik's Rube. Cubik talks about how the religious address the question of "Why?"

vjack presents Imposing Religion on Children is Abusive posted at Atheist Revolution. The title is pretty much self-explanatory.

DBB presents Raising Atheist Children in a Christian Nation - There are no Sunday Schools for Atheists posted at Disgusted Beyond Belief. DBB looks at the atheist side the child-raising question.

JesusFetusFajitaFishsticks presents Booger Eater posted at JesusFetusFajitaFishsticks. JFFF channels William S. Burroughs (or perhaps Hunter S. Thompson) in a surreal and entertaining dialog with a hypothetical religious believer.

Xauri'EL Zwaan presents The Lord is a Shepherd posted at After the Crash. Xauri'EL examines the sinister connotations of the eponymous concept.

marc presents How Many Gods? posted at desertscope. Marc challenges the premise that atheism is non-belief in "God", and explores the polytheism underlying supposed "monotheism".

Mathew Wilder presents Stand Up for Biblical Morality (TM)! posted at Protostellar Clouds. Mathew takes a satirical shot promoting morality based on the Bible.

Our next two entries, apparently from Christians, point us to new resources for Bible study on handheld devices. Many atheists are very interested in the Bible, and there is no shortage of not only professional but also very talented amateur atheist scholars of the Bible.

John Laugherton presents 25 Ways to Use the Kindle for Bible Study posted at bible college. "Why not lighten your load and use a Kindle for Bible studies? You can take notes, highlight passages, search for words and phrases and interact with scriptural text on a Kindle just as you would with a book or with your Bible."

Jasmine Smith presents 25 Essential Android Apps for Bible Study posted at Accredited Online Bible Colleges. Jasmine suggests that, "If you haven’t made Android your major mobile device, perhaps the following Bible study apps for may convince you to go that route."

DagoodS presents Women at Empty Tomb posted at Thoughts from a Sandwich. Dagood engages in a tour de force of biblical scholarship, identifying the literary technique of role-reversals pervasive in the Gospel of Mark (and incidentally blowing William Lane Craig's "argument from embarrassment" into next Tuesday). He also adds a defense of "militant" atheism contra philosopher Julian Baggini.

Romeo Vitelli presents Making a Prophet (Part 1) posted at Providentia Romeo starts a 3-part series on famous and not-so-famous prophets of history. (Part 2 is also available.)

Martin Rundkvist presents Pray and Get Rich posted at Aardvarchaeology. Martin uses "a really funny Chinese Buddha statue" as a springboard to criticize the Prosperity Gospel movement.

Ron Britton presents I Was Warned About the Catholic Church! posted at Bay of Fundie. How can you go wrong with Catholics and velociraptors!? Ron was warned, now you are too!

Tod presents Who Does Your Thinking? posted at A Blog by Tod. Tod asks, "Who Does Your Thinking?" and challenges you to examine your beliefs in many areas of life where the common wisdom prevails, including religion. (And perhaps capitalism and the myth of the "free market" as well?)

Mariana Ashley presents 100 Amazing Scientists You Should Follow on Twitter posted at AccreditedOnlineColleges.org. Yes indeed: 100 scientists, all amazing. Chemistry, biology, astronomy, neuroscience, environmental science, earth science, medicine and microbiology, and general Science, are represented here.

Jason presents 1619: Lucilio Vanini, aka Giulio Cesare posted at Executed Today. Jason describes the torture and execution of a 17th century freethinker.

That concludes this edition. Thanks for joining us, and many thanks to all of the contributors for making this the Best. Edition. Ever. of Carnival of the Godless (until the next one!).

Stay tuned for the next edition, scheduled for March 14, 2010, hosted by Melliferax, "a beekeeper, an atheist, an oxymoronically opinionated Swede, and a biology geek. Among other things."

You can submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of the godless using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

carnival of the godless, blog carnival.