Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Learn Quantum Jumping, get money and fame from alternate universes!

What to do, what to do ... some days I get sick of reading about Michelle Bachmann, Dominionism, child-molesting priests, the New Apostolic Reform, and atheist signs by the freeways.

I know, let's do some Quantum Jumping! We can all jump into an alternate universe and find out what other versions of ourselves are doing! I don't have to write a blog, I'll just find another version of Craig A. James who has more initiative and creativity than this version of me!
Welcome to the Infinite You

Quantum Jumping is a visualization process where you use your mind to ‘jump’ into parallel dimensions, and gain creativity, knowledge, wisdom, skills and inspiration from alternate versions of yourself.

... Max Planck, said that “all matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particles of an atom to vibration which holds the atom together. ... If Quantum Theory is correct, it implies that to change your current reality, all you need to do is change the frequency of your thoughts.
Oh, wait, there's one more thing you need to do to change your reality. You need to buy the guy's DVD series for only $97 (price slashed from $397!).

I'm constantly amazed at how people can

Monday, August 29, 2011

Bachmann's Faith Would Destroy America

Remember the "no religious test" clause of the United States Constitution that guarantees everyone the right to hold government office regardless of faith? I'm beginning to wonder if it's time to repeal it. Maybe it's time to ban people who are religious extremists from holding federal office! Michelle Bachmann comes to mind...

A couple days ago while driving down the road enjoying a bright, sunny Southern California morning, I spotted a beautiful old classic 1958 Pontiac. "What a beautiful machine!" I thought. "Back in those days, you could actually tune the car yourself. No computers, hand-crank windows that always worked, and if it had seat belts, it was your choice to use them or not. Those were the days!"

It almost made me have some compassion for Michelle Bachmann's desire to turn back the clock to a simpler time.

Then I pulled in behind it to get a better look at it ... and was assaulted by a terrible stink, something I hadn't smelled in quite a while. It was unburned gasoline, partially burned motor oil, nitrous oxide, thousands of different carcinogenic hydrocarbons, and no doubt a good dose of odorless carbon monoxide. If this had been 1958 when

Friday, August 26, 2011

Google Hates Churches? Not Exactly...

Christian headlines are howling because Google Won't Give Churches Same Break it Gives Other Non-Profits. And of course Fox Noise is providing a nice, loud megaphone for this story.

The only problem is, it's a lie.

Everybody knows that Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are atheists. They're an easy target for evangelical Christian preachers and bloggers. These right-wing opinion leaders love to invoke the Underdog Meme: the idea that somehow Christians, who make up roughly 80% of America's population, are being persecuted. It's laughable on the face of it. But it's also effective. People fall for it.

So when a headline proclaims that Google Apps are free to everyone except churches, people are primed to swallow the lie ... hook, line and sinker. The preachers shout, and the bloggers

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Evangelical Scientists: Creationism is Wrong!

At last, some serious conservative scholars who are also respected evangelical Christians are coming "out of the closet" regarding Creationism. They don't believe it. According to a fascinating NPR story, they're admitting that the Genesis account of creation can't possibly be right. To believe that we all descended from Adam and Eve "would be against all the genomic evidence that we've assembled over the last twenty years."

And over at BioLogos, there's a long blog about a Christianity Today story that lays out the position

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Shhh! Keep Gov. Perry's Idiocy a Secret from the Republicans!

OK everybody, I know you're incredulous at Texas Governor Rick Perry's idiotic pronouncements. But STFU! It's a secret! If we can just keep quiet and let Perry win the Republican nomination, the 2012 election will be ours!

Seriously, people ... can we really have a leader of the free world who uses a controversial and unapproved stem-cell medical procedure, but at the same time doesn't believe in evolution or global warming? Can the President of the United States lead the world if he believes prayer is the only solution to our problems?

Maybe when pigs fly. This kind of stuff scares even moderate Republicans. But don't tell the Tea Party! The evangelical right has hijacked the Republican party, and they're totally drunk on their success. They've become blind to Perry's hypocrisy and anti-science views. They're elated! They honestly think they can drag the entire country from the twenty first century back into the dark ages.

But they're going to have a really hard time getting Perry elected. The Governor of Texas doesn't even know what's going on in his own state! He recently claimed:

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

New Teenie Fad: Become an Exorcist!

Teen girls are known for fashions and fads. The hottest new line of cosmetics, the latest boy band, unzipped bluejeans that drive the boys crazy ... you never know what's going to be next. But exorcism?
"... if the forces of darkness start getting the upper hand, who should you call? Evangelist Reverend Bob Larson of Spiritual Freedom Churches International - and his remarkable school for exorcists. 'We have found that our female, teenage exorcists are particularly effective at curing the possessed,’ says Rev Larson, whose daughter Brynne is a supernaturally talented exorcist."
Brynne and her teen girlfriends, whose ages range from fifteen to nineteen, are having the time of their young lives. They get to tie their victims clients to chairs, then shout words like "Lucifer!" and "Beelzebub!" They're taught about curse breaking and chanting. Their clients yell, vomit, and even go into convulsions! What great fun.

And they're out to save us!
"I think Harry Potter and Twilight are instigators of evil,’ Savannah says. ‘They nullify morality and just serve to hook people in with evil.
I'm sure it's all great fun! And golly, they're probably the envy of all the other girls – what could be cooler than being an exorcist?

The trouble is, what they're really doing is medical quackery. These are nothing more than

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Catholics Ban Girl Scout Membership

Pity the poor Girl Scouts of America (GSA). They've been criticized heavily for discriminating against atheists, agnostics, humanists, Muslims, Buddhists and other non-monotheistic girls. But unlike the Boy Scouts, who have stuck to their old discriminatory habits, the GSA modified its pledge to allow girls of all faiths ... as long as they have some faith (atheists are still not allowed).

But now they're getting hammered by Christian groups! Who would have expected that? Christians are banning their young girls from joining GSA, and the ringleader of this is the Roman Catholic Church itself.

The reason should be obvious: GSA has ties to Planned Parenthood, which provides resources on sex education to teens around the world. Yes, it's true. Girl Scouts of America is educating teen girls about their bodies! Can you imagine?

I should at least give the Roman Catholic Church credit for consistency. Their stance on abortion is unbending, and Planned Parenthood does provide abortions. I may vehemently disagree with the Church's moral position on abortion, but I can't blame them for enforcing it.

But other Christian groups are really going nuts. They have all sorts of crazy>

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Mortality Sucks

I'm in Northern California helping out an older family member who needed some "maintenance" in the surgery room to fix bones that were wearing out.

It also happens that my wife and I love hiking and usually walk twenty to thirty miles every week. But between arthritis and tendinitis, it's getting hard to keep up the pace. I'm hobbling around today on damaged feet, and I'm going to have to take a rest for a week or so. This reminds me that I used to bicycle a lot but no longer can because of the surgery I had twelve years ago to fix my knees (which I damaged by overenthusiastic pedaling). Add to that the fact that my wife's younger brother died earlier this summer.

In other words, I'm feeling very mortal today. I'm face to face with pain, infirmity and death. My once-youthful body that could take all sorts of abuse and keep going is now betraying me and paying me back for all of the excesses of the past.

We only get a short seven to ten decades on this planet, and if we're lucky we can live five or six of them in excellent health. Am I done with the pain-free part? Now that I'm fifty-seven, is life going to be a constant struggle? Is my body, now past its prime breeding time, just running on genetic momentum with no real evolutionary purpose? I've done my evolutionary job after all – three great kids each share half of my genes. Am I now evolutionarily irrelevant? Is it time to quietly curl up and die to make room for the next generation?

Nah. Wrong answer. Giving up isn't in my genes.

The problem with being an atheist is that

Monday, August 8, 2011

Gov. Rick Perry Fail

Remember how when you were young, there was always that one nerdy kid in the class that nobody really liked? Nobody wanted to go to his birthday party. But you and maybe one other kid felt bad for him so you went. Or maybe your mom made you go. He was so glad and thankful that somebody showed up that it was embarrassing. All you wanted was to get out of there.

Governor Rick Perry held his big prayer party (the "Response") on Saturday, and sadly, only one of his invited guests showed up. Oh sure, they had a whole bunch of evangelical Christians there, praying and singing. But Perry invited all forty-nine state governors to come pray with him, and only one showed up (Kansas Governor Sam Brownback). Just one. Just like that kid in elementary school.

Governor Perry and his supporters are trying to paint "The Response" as a big success. They had 20,000 to 30,000 evangelicals in attendance. They had people all over

Monday, August 1, 2011

Is Christianity Dying? Miley Cyrus Gets a New Tattoo

Miley Cyrus got a new tattoo ... and not just some dumb decoration. This is a pro-gay tattoo! It's actually pretty amusing, an equal-sign "=" on her middle finger. (Think, "give 'em the bird"). It might seem ambiguous except that she tweeted "All LOVE is equal!"

This might seem like just another amusing story about a young starlet, but it shows yet again why Christianity is dying a slow death in America.

Homosexuality and LGBT rights have become the Achilles tendon of conservative Christianity. The out-of-the-closet movement that started in the 1970s has worked: virtually all teens and young adults have