Transcript 140818-W Meeting

Skeptics
July 21, 2014
It Ain’t Necessarilly So
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Welcome
Announcements
Introductions
Presentation
Discussion
Meeting Summary
Wrap Up
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Atheist Cartoon
Atheist Quote
Mission Statement
Atheist News
I contend that we are both atheists. I just
believe in one fewer god than you do. When
you understand why you dismiss all the other
possible gods, you will understand why I
dismiss yours.
Stephen Roberts, Author
Social Support of the Southern Arizona
Atheist/Agnostic/Freethinking Community
Supporting the Tucson Atheist community by:
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Maintaining the separation of church and state
Coping with the expectations of the religious majority
Protecting our right to believe as our conscience dictates
Defending our freedom from religious oppression
Georgia town to atheists: Stop bullying
our kids
Atheist TV takes to the air
S.E. Cupp
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Woman mowed down
motorcyclist after ‘God told
her to let him drive her car’
“…if this is the way
that God wants to do it
then I guess that this is
the way we’re going to
do it.”
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AZAtheist.com Blog
Upcoming Activities
FreeThought Arizona Organization
Skeptics of Tucson
 Next meeting: September 15th
 Movie Night: August 25th
 Caffeinated Godlessness: Aug 21st
 Drinking Godlessly: August 28th
 Recovering from Religion: August 29th
 Grief Support Group: September 5th
 West Side Meeting 4-6 PM Sept 7th
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FreeThought Arizona
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On Facebook and Meetup.com
Sep 21st
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Ruth Davis- “Our First Words”
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Next Scheduled Meeting is September 8th
Subject: TBD
Name
The Hobby Lobby Decision
Morality and Atheism
Are Atheists immoral? What does immorality
mean to Atheists? Can an Atheist sin? Where do
we get our morals from? Why do you think
some religions are so interested in what their
followers eat, what shows they watch, and how
they express their sexuality?
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Christopher Hitchens
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From Darrel Ray
 “First, let’s take a hard look at “God’s teachings.” Most
Christians are quite unaware of their gods’ teachings.
They simply take what the preacher says on Sunday
morning as the truth and word of their god. If these
teachings were simple and clear, then there would not
be 38,000 different denominations and branches of
Christianity all saying different things.”
We get our morals from the society in which we
live and so does everyone else.
 “The bible was written at a time when people
thought the Earth was flat, when the
wheelbarrow was high tech. Are its teachings
applicable to the challenges we now face as a
civilization?. . .”
 Sam Harris
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“We define morality as a suite of interrelated otherregarding behaviours that cultivate and regulate complex
interactions within social groups. These behaviours relate
to well-being and harm, and norms of right and wrong
attach to many of them. Morality is an essentially social
phenomenon, arising in the interactions between and
among individual animals, and it exists as a tangle of
threads that holds together a complicated and shifting
tapestry of social relationships. Morality in this way acts
as social glue.” (from Wild Justice by Bekoff and Pierce)
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Tom Heneghan, author of the FaithWorld
column in Reuters, argues:
 Definition too narrow
 Too reductionist
 Because it doesn’t take into account the abortion
and same sex marriage controversies.
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Inserting religious derived morality is the
source of conflict
 Blue Laws: It’s immoral to buy booze or cars on
Sunday (in New Jersey—clothes, shoes, furniture,
home supplies, and appliances—food and gas are
OK though)
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Richard Dawkins answers the question
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An immoral act considered to be a
transgression against divine law.
Two Biblical concepts:
 Sin= “Transgression”,“Go beyond limits”
 Sin=“Miss the mark”
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Mortal Sin (You’re going to hell, no
communion)
 Serious Matter
 Sufficient Reflection
 Free Will
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Venial Sins
 Not required to be confessed in the confessional
 Good to do to lessen the time in purgatory, though
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Violation of the big 10=possible Mortal sin
 Getting drunk, adultery, stealing something
expensive
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Venial sins
 Impatience, ordinary anger, stealing something
cheap, getting slightly drunk
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You do something wrong but do not know it’s
wrong
 Eat meat on Ash Wednesday but forgot it was ash
Wednesday
 …but there are things that you know are wrong
even though you’ve not been told like birth
control or homosexuality (Common sense or
natural law tells you that they are wrong.)
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Committing sins against God or gods doesn’t
make one immoral.
Sins have no connection to moral and ethical
behavior
Even though…
The Barna Group* found that atheists and agnostics in America
were more likely, than theists in America, to look upon the
following behaviors as morally acceptable: illegal drug use;
excessive drinking; sexual relationships outside of marriage;
abortion; cohabitating with someone of opposite sex outside of
marriage; obscene language; gambling; pornography and obscene
sexual behavior; and engaging in homosexuality/bisexuality.[Given
the many diseases associated with homosexuality, the biblical
prohibition against homosexuality is quite arguably one of the
many examples where the Bible exhibited knowledge that was
ahead of its time.
 *Christian polling organization
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Are Atheists immoral?
What does immorality mean to Atheists?
Can an Atheist sin?
Where do we get our morals from?
Why do you think some religions are so interested in
what their followers eat, what shows they watch, and
how they express their sexuality?
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How do kids in secular households get their
moral code?
Anyone read Parenting Beyond Belief: On
Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion
by Dale McGowan?
How were you taught morality?
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An Atheist believes that a hospital should be
built instead of a church. An atheist believes
that deed must be done instead of prayer said.
An atheist strives for involvement in life and
not escape into death. He wants disease
conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated.
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
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Atheists are as moral as anyone else.
We aren’t Atheists because we want to sin
 That’s just a happy bonus
 Sleeping in on Sunday morning
 Believing in natural evolution
 Thinking for ourselves
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Christianity in a Nutshell
Skepticism