God Probably Does Not Exist

God probably does not exist.  And here is some very strong supporting evidence:    Click Here to see the evidence!

You Can’t Make This Shit Up

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 120 proof Spirit . . . .

It must be really hard to start a new church.  There are a good number of goats out there (and goats are impossible to lead (kind of like cats)).  A new church needs sheep.  And let’s face it:  in any community, the number of sheep stays pretty steady.  In many, it is dropping.  Few, if any, non-believers (goats) are going to join the fold.  You might get some interdenominational transfers or converts from other religions, but your pool of sheep is limited.

Yet Another Post About Atheism and Morality

How can atheists be moral without the word of god(s) telling them what to do?  In 1724, Christian theologian Richard Bentley, wrote: “no atheists as such can be a true friend, an affectionate relation, or a loyal subject”.  Or, as a chap pseudonymously named Gideon recently commented over at You Made Me Say It:  “After all, in your Godless universe, anything goes, right?”

Fractured Hallmark Cards

On a personal note, as of 0722 EDT, on Monday, 09 March, 2009, my blog has recieved 2,998 comments (not including the 200 from various Nigerian princes and oil ministers (seriously, folks, how many princes and oil ministers does one country need?) and viagra advertisers).  Who will be 3,000?

One of my best friends sent me this:

450 Miles in a Minivan

(((Wife))) and I just returned from a 450-mile trip, in the rain, on I-80.  Round trip.  And we came back with my (((Son))), his fish (the snail (named ‘Raoul’ (no, I have no idea why)) did not survive), and all of his clothing (dirty).  I did see a few things which struck me as amusing:

Another Way to Celebrate Christmas

Many atheists have been working towards figuring out what exactly it is that we are celebrating this time of year. I told of my philosophical struggle with celebrating Christmas here. Others celbrate Yule (or Jul) from Scandinavia;  Winter Solstice celebrations (which my parent’s UU church celebrates); and PhillyChief has come up with Happy Miraculously Busted Hymen Day.  Even (vice PZ Myers) Happy Monkey. I wish to, with all humility, add my own.

I, along with perhaps a billion Christians (plus some atheists, Jews and other theists who celebrate Christmas), am actually celebrating something dear to my own heart.  We are all celebrating the ultimate proof that abstinence-only sex education does not prevent pregnancy.  And it hasn’t for about 2,000 years.

And I already get too many hits on my site about Absinthe and sex, so I refuse to mention it here.

I will be away in Florida until the 29th so feel free to browse back through almost a year of posts.  Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Happy Channukah, Sappy Solstice, and Abstienence Doesn’t Work Day!

The Answer Is No!

To whoever it was who used the search term “Does Absinthe Prevent Sexually-Transmitted Diseases?”:

The answer is NO!  Abstinence is quite effective (but only if people (including sex-crazed teenagers and young adults) can be counted to actually BE abstinent in all situations (and teaching abstinence-only instead of real sex-education tends to actually increase the likelihood of unprotected sex)).  Condoms help.  Alcohol tends to have a deleterious effect.  And, as Absinthe is an alcoholic beverage . . . . (C’mon, folks, do I have to spell it out?)

A Little Bit of Housekeeping

Yesterday’s 9/11 post  was, coincidentally, my 200th post.  I wish to hell I could always write like that.  Unfortunately, I very rarely have that much emotion, am that troubled, or that depressed.  Or maybe fortunately.  It was not what I had planned.  I had planned to discuss how the Republicans used national unity to force through their neocon agenda, demonize large chunks of the American populace, and start a voluntary war.  The response to the attack could have been positive, but conservatism has never been real positive, so I guess that was always an impossibility.

Anyway, if you look up at the bottom of my son’s watercolour painting, you will notice that “Saved by the Bill” is gone.  No responses.  Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Instead, there is now a “Contact Me” page for anyone who (for reasons I cannot fathom at this time) wants to contact me off line.  My email address is iambilly@doubt.com billytheatheist@gmail.com (it is not my regular address, merely my email for this blog). 

Today, I got hits from people searching “decomposing flesh,” “decomposing music,” and “9/11 smell of flesh.”  Who the heck searches these terms?  And, more important, why?  Of course, yesterday, I was found through searches of “Campbell’s Pepper Pot and Scotch  Broth” and “Scrapple and American Cheese.” And I still get about 10 visitors a day looking for “Absinthe.”  Strange.

Anyhoo, just thought I’d mention the changes.

Abstinence-Only Sex Education STILL Works As Well As Absinthe-Only Sex Education

Back in March, I wrote a little piece about the continued ineffectiveness of abstinence-only sex education.  It has proved to be (much to my surprise) my most visited post.  Not because of my brilliant critique (actually, just pointing out the obvious), but because an average of ten people a day arrive at my site by Googling “Absinthe.”  All I was trying to do was point out that telling kids not to have sex works about as well as getting them drunk and telling them not to have sex.  That is to say, none at all.

Anyway, I realized the continued relevance of this post in relation to McAin’t’s ap-Palin pick of Palin to be his Vice President.  Palin is anti-civil rights (no gay marriage, or even domestic partnership), pro-ignorance (allowing opt-outs for parents so their children won’t actually, you know, learn something), anti-choice (all babies must be born, regardless), and heavily favours (to the point of exclusion) abstinence-only sex education.

As has been pointed out again and again, through government studies and academic studies, abstinence-only or abstinence-until-marriage sex education does not work.  The kids still have sex, but are much more likely to be infected with a sexually-transmitted-disease or get pregnant.  Case in point (via Pharyngula):

During her run for the Governorship of Alaska, Sarah Palin was asked: 

Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?

SP: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.

 Now (via (gag) Faux News) we find out that:

The 17-year-old unwed daughter of John McCain’s new running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is five-months pregnant, Palin and her husband, Todd Palin, said Monday in a written statement.

The announcement was aimed at killing rumors that Palin’s youngest son, born in April, was actually her daughter’s.

Maybe they told her to use the aspirin method.  Good old Republican values. Where was McAin’t five months ago?

This is one of those very annoying political/personal stories.  Part of me says, “Her family has nothing to do with the campaign.”  Another part of me says, “Her support of ignorance has come home to roost and it shows that Palin makes mistakes (big deal, we all do) but is unwilling to learn from her mistakes.”  In other words, she is just like McAin’t.  Palin refuses to face reality, instead using faith to foster her own ignorance (along with her children’s ignorance). 

We already had eight years of faith based government.  Running a country with wishful thinking does not work. It didn’t work for Reagan.  It doesn’t work for W.  And it won’t work if McAin’t and ApPalin are elected.

The absinthe is starting to sound better and better

Two Hour Later Thought:  What if it had been the 17-year-old daughter of a pro-choice, pro-education, pro-reality Democratic candidate?  Do you suppose that Faux News would have treated the story as delicately?

Quick Answer

Yesterday, someone found my blog via a search engine.  The person’s search was for “can absinthe prevent std’s.”  I feel, to help promote health in America, that I should answer that one:

NO!!!

This has been a (((Billy))) The Atheist Public Health Message.