The Passive Aggressive Podcast: Episode 6

This week, Marc and Glenn take a journey through the strange and facepalm-inducing world of Logical Fallacies. What they are, what they sound like, who uses them (hint: everyone), and how to recognize and avoid them. A cross-indexed list of the fallacies grappled with on this episode is included below. Other topics covered in this episode include Noah’s ark, the IRS, and a particularly sad A-Hole(s) of the Week segment. [Two items of note: (1) at one point, I mentioned the term “MMA vaccine”; clearly this should have been MMR… there is no excuse for this stupidity other than a pathetic brain fart; (2) Glenn mentioned that we had an Ask an Atheist segment; however, to save space, I had to cut it out. Worry not. It will be included in a future episode.]

Logical Fallacies List:
Straw Man
Ad Hominem
Appeal to Authority
Special Pleading
Anecdotal Evidence
Observational Selection
Appeal to Ignorance
Non-sequitur
Post hoc / Confirmation bias
Confusion of Correlation and Causation
Slippery Slope
Excluded Middle / False Dichotomy
Small Number Statistics
Weasel Words
Loaded Question
Red Herring
Proof by Verbosity
Poisoning the Well

Listen to “Episode 6: Children, Learn Your Logical Fallacies” online
Subscribe to The PAP on iTunes
E-mail your questions for Ask an Atheist or Ask a Gay to flipthefinger@me.com

Larry David on Religion

If you know what a huge Curb Your Enthusiasm fan I am, then you know how happy this clip made me.  From a NYT interview.

If I may say, this is pretty good.  Prettyyy pretty good.

(via The Beattitude)

The Passive Aggressive Podcast: Episode 5

Episode 5 is now available for your downloading and listening pleasure.  This week, Glenn and I discuss the holy trinity… Star Wars. What’s so great about the original trilogy? What’s so shitty about the prequels? And is there any chance George Lucas can save it?  Other topics include Dungeons & Dragons, mixed martial arts in a place of worship, Mark and Jenny Sanford, Tim Tebow’s mom, The A-Hole of the Week, and Ask an Atheist.

Listen to “Episode 5: Star Wars, a Dying Franchise” online
Subscribe to The PAP on iTunes
E-mail your questions for Ask an Atheist or Ask a Gay to flipthefinger@me.com

If Christianity Doesn’t Matter, Why Do You Bother With It?

Here’s an article written by ex-Pastor Bruce Gerencser, explaining what I’ve said over and over again to people who’ve accused me of “attacking Christians” or having some kind of hard-on for criticizing only Christianity as opposed to directing my criticism to all faiths equally.  He’s responding to the question: If Christianity Doesn’t Matter Why Do You Bother With It? Here’s what he says:

Good question.

On one hand Christianity doesn’t matter. The Bible doesn’t matter. Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God, the Church….it all simply doesn’t matter.

If you want to worship the Christian God….I am fine with it.  I subscribe to the “live and let live” school of thought. Each to their own. May Jesus be with you. May the force be with you. May nothing be with you. I don’t care.

However…..

I do care about the influence Christianity has on our culture and government. I do care about the damage done to society in the name of the Christian God. I do care when people are hurt, and sometimes destroyed in the name of the Christian God.

When Christians want to make our country into a theocracy….It matters.

When Christians want their religion to have preference over any and all others…..It matters.

When Christians demand that atheists and agnostics be treated as  Satan’s pawns….It matters.

When Christians attempt to teach religious dogma as scientific fact in our public schools….It matters.

When Christians attempt to force their religious moral code on everyone….It matters.

When Christians attempt to stand in the way of my pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness….It matters.

When Christians abuse and molest children in the name of their God….It matters.

When Christians wage war thousands of miles away in  the name of their God….It matters.

When Christians mentally abuse people….It matters.

When Christian expect preferential treatment because of their God….It matters.

As long as Christians continue to force themselves on others and as long as they attack and demean anyone who is not a Christian….It matters.

As long as pastors and Churches get preferential tax code treatment….It matters.

That said….

As to whom you worship and where? It doesn’t matter.

As to what sacred text you use? It doesn’t matter.

I want every Christian to have the absolute freedom to worship their God.

And….

I want that same freedom to NOT worship any God or another God….

And as long as that courtesy is not extended to me, to every human being on the earth….

It matters.

Well said, Bruce.  A tip o’ the hat to you, sir.

Jenny Sanford Apparently Thinks “Faith” is More Important than “Common Sense”

You know how religious folks tend to glorify “faith” as if it’s some kind of virtue?  Well, it’s not.  Faith is pretty useless in any context. But in some situations, a leap of faith can turn out to be a cold-hearted bitch.

Case in point… remember Governor Mark Sanford?  You remember.  He was that conservative politician from South Carolina who made several secret trips to Argentina to ca-noodle with his mistress, all the while telling his wife that he was “hiking the Appalachian trail” (is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?).  Anyway, his wife was interviewed by Barbara Walters recently, wherein she revealed that Mark Sanford had refused to vow to remain “faithful” to her, and had fought adamantly to have that part removed from his wedding vows.

She knew this, and yet decided to marry the guy anyway.

South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford recalls how she made the “leap of faith” to marry husband Gov. Mark Sanford even though the groom refused to promise to be faithful, insisting that the clause be removed from their wedding vows.

“It bothered me to some extent, but … we were very young, we were in love … I questioned it, but I got past it … along with other doubts that I had.”

Now, I don’t want anyone to misunderstand me.  I’m not condoning adultery at all, and I’m certainly not the type of guy who would blame this poor woman for what happened to her.  But to decide, on a “leap of faith,” to marry a dude who’s so ambivalent about monogamy that he’d go out of his way to avoid swearing not to sleep with anyone else shows an unbelievable level of naivety, rivaling that of persons who sincerely believe that Kim Kardashian achieved fame through her massive talents.  (Unless by “talents,” you mean “ass cheeks, a hotel room, and a home video camera”)

It kinda reminds me of the all-too-common stories of religious women who stay in unhealthy, abusive relationships because of their faith-based convictions that God will change their husbands if they pray hard enough.  Yes, it’s wrong for a husband to abuse or cheat on his wife, and the men who abuse women deserve the worst kind of punishment.  But at some point, these women need to realize that the god they’re praying to has offered women nothing but tawdry, submissive, secondary positions in society. And the sooner we give up the unfounded notion that our morals are somehow dictated by some invisible creator (with a penis, allegedly), the better it’ll be for the status of women in general.  Enough is enough.

The Passive Aggressive Podcast: Episode 4

Joining me in Episode 4 are Glenn Kolze (who, at this point, has been in more episodes than Sohail) and Johnny Rose, a PAP newbie.  This is also the first show to have a central theme, which is how we’re going to start doing things from now on, so if you like it, drop us a line.  Despite the first twenty minutes of the show being lost due to a corrupted file, I think I kinda like this format.

Listen to “Episode 4: Debating Crazy People” online
Subscribe to The PAP on iTunes
E-mail your questions for Ask an Atheist or Ask a Gay to flipthefinger@me.com

The Passive Aggressive Podcast: Episode 3

With Sohail out this week, Glenn Kolze once again joins us on the show, recorded at the Sunset IHOP. Topics this week include the iPad, Chinese Jessica Alba impersonators, racial (and girth?) profiling, the F.o.t.F. Tim Tebow ad, corporate spending, radical Islam, The A-Hole of the Week, and Ask an Atheist. And they get exponentially awesomer!

Listen to “Episode 3: Brought to You by Five Guys (maybe)” online
Subscribe to The PAP on iTunes
E-mail your questions for Ask an Atheist or Ask a Gay to flipthefinger@me.com

Jews: Still Crazy After All These Years

In an effort show that they can be every bit as wacky as those pesky Christians, it seems the Jews have offered up an alternative theory behind the Haitian earthquakes, as well as a way to prevent future natural disasters:

“Thirteen months before 9/11, on the day New York City passed homosexual domestic partnership regulations, I joined a group of Rabbis at a City Hall prayer service, pleading with G-d not to visit disaster on the city of N.Y. We have seen the underground earthquake, tsunami, Katrina, and now Haiti. All this is in sync with a two thousand year old teaching in the Talmud that the practice of homosexuality is a spiritual cause of earthquakes. Once a disaster is unleashed, innocents are also victims just like in Chernobyl.

“We plead with saner heads in Congress and the Pentagon to stop sodomization of our military and our society. Enough is enough.”

Wow.  Just, wow.  (Now I’m all verklempt.)

Umm, Jews… thanks for Matisyahu, Hebrew National beef franks, and the cast of Seinfeld and all.  But in the future, keep your unfounded, irrational, crackpot theories to yourselves.  Sound good?

The Passive Aggressive Podcast: Episode 2

Episode 2 of our humble little podcast is now available for download, and it’s an extra-long, sorry-we-were-late-in-posting-this, director’s cut edition (and we will be replacing this version with a smaller edited version later on to save disk space, so download while ye may).  Joining us for this edition is a friend and fellow atheist Glenn Kolze.  Topics covered include the Hatian earthquake (and the moronic “conspiracy theories” associated with it), American support for medical pot, America’s Ten Gayest Cities (which may surprise you), a controversial ACLU lawsuit, the Massachusetts senatorial election, Abstinence-Only Sex Ed programs, Ask an Atheist, Ask a Gay, and Marc’s Monologue (the transcript of which will be posted on blackjeezus.net as soon as I get around to it).

Listen to “Episode 2: Introducing Glenn Kolze” online
Subscribe to The PAP on iTunes
E-mail your questions for Ask an Atheist or Ask a Gay to flipthefinger@me.com

Teach the Controversy!

Couldn’t have said it better myself.  “Academic freedom” is nothing more than a buzzword used by ID proponents and their ilk, to compensate for their complete failure to make a scientific case for their religious beliefs.  If you want to make it into the science classroom, try the old-fashioned way: by being a science.

More on Intelligent Design at a later date.  For now, that is all.