Killing Babies: Why Spanish Conquistadors are like Male Chimpanzees

I received a fascinating email from R.H., a professor at a university in Texas. R.H. drew a clever parallel between infanticide in animals and the history of the Spanish Conquistadors in America.

In nature there are numerous examples of infanticide carried out by "step fathers." For example, when a new male joins a chimpanzee troop he will often kill infants. While this horrifies us, it makes evolutionary sense. When a female chimpanzee enters her fertile period she will typically mate with almost all of the males in her troop. This means that the males in the troop have no idea which male fathered which baby. If a male from the troop kills an infant, it could be his own.

But when a new male joins the troop, he can be certain that he's not the father of any of the babies. If he kills the babies it causes their mothers to become fertile again, and he has a higher probability of passing his genes on. So that's exactly what he does.

You see this in humans too. Sadly, human step fathers are roughly fifty times more likely to kill a step child than the natural father of a child – remarkably parallel to the statistics you find in chimpanzees and many other species. We'd like to think we're evolved, that we've moved past our animal instincts, but it just isn't so. You see this pattern throughout nature: a new mate (male or female) is far more likely to kill the "step children" than the natural parent.

So what on Earth does this have to do with Conquistadors? I thought you'd never ask...

Professor R.H. wrote, "The Spanish destroyed many temples, idols, and customs that connected the indigenous population to their ancient religion." That's an understatement. They also killed

Temper Atheist Optimism? Not This Blogger.

My blogging colleague vjack over at Atheist Revolution is challenging us to be a little less giddy about the rising optimism of Atheists. He writes:

"Religion has been declared dead in America many times before, and it has reemerged each time. ... I do not expect to see the end of Christian privilege in my life time, nor do I expect to live to see religion truly fade into the obscurity it deserves."

He makes a good case that religion will prove its resilience once again by fighting off the rising tide of atheism.

I have to disagree. I'm still retaining my optimism. I think we are at a true tipping point, where a series of changes in society are aligning in unprecedented ways that will cause the rapid demise of Christianity as we know it in America. Like the other "tipping points" in Malcolm Gladwell's book, the result will be cascading change, an accelerating societal upheaval that will move far faster than anyone expects.

What are those changes? What new social forces will converge to make this happen?

The Internet. Never before have young people been exposed to so many ideas from so many sources. In past generations, parents largely controlled their children's access to knowledge, either

Death of Religion is a Two-Generation Process?

Back in February, I wrote a blog about the demise of Christianity in America and offered some informal arguments about how it would take two or three generations for it to really fade:

I'm reminded of what happens to immigrants and their "mother tongue" when they come to America. The grandparents who immigrated still speak their native Italian, Spanish, German, Polish, and so on. Their kids learn English pretty well, but also speak their parents' language because that's what's spoken at home. But the grandchildren, the second generation, almost never learn the family's native tongue fluently, and often not at all. By the third generation, it's gone.

This month I ran across an excellent article in Free Inquiry magazine entitled Is Loss of Faith a Two-Generation Process?, written by Tom Rees. As you can tell by the title, it validates my thesis. But more importantly, Rees' article gives a much more thorough sociological basis for the claim.

Let's illustrate with a somewhat hard-to-believe claim,

Mushy Christians: More evidence Christianity is Dying

I love this new phrase: Mushy Christians!

Most American "Millenials" – those born between 1980 and 1991 – don't pray regularly. Few read their Bibles or other religious texts, and many don't attend church on a weekly basis, according to a LifeWay Research study. ...

Sixty-five percent of Millennials called themselves a Christian in the study that was conducted on 1,200 young Americans in August 2009. But Rainer estimates that 85 percent of young people are lost.

"Many are either mushy Christians or Christians in name only," [Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources] told USA Today. "Most are just indifferent. The more precisely you try to measure their Christianity, the fewer you find committed to the faith."

Isn't that a great term? Mushy Christians! They want to be Christians, probably because of family, a sense of nostalgia or social pressure, but when it comes time to be a Christian ... they get mushy.

We're in a "second generation" effect. It's exactly like what happens to immigrant families' language. The first generation learns to speak English when they come to America, but at home they still speak their native Polish, Spanish, Russian and so forth. They have kids, the kids become truly bilingual, but English is their primary tongue. And when they have kids, they speak English in the home. The grandchildren, who never hear the old language except when they go to Grandma and Grandpa's house, never learn the family's native tongue.

I see this same effect happening to Christianity in America.

Christianity will Save America, and Other Absurd Memes

Yesterday an anonymous reader left a comment that so intrigued me I can't let it pass:

"Interesting that Christianity is in decline in America at the same time that in many other ways the nation as a whole is in decline. On the other hand, Christianity is on the rise in China, Africa and other parts of the world. The decline of religion in America, which atheists take as hopeful, is really just another foundation stone crumbling before the whole building comes down."

Do Christians really believe this?  Apparently so. Which means it's our duty to deconstruct the argument.  Anon's claim just doesn't match the facts.  But it's also a cool illustration of memetic evolution, and how an idea that gets out of its ecosphere dies a sudden death.

The Family: Replace American Democracy with Christian Theocracy

The hubbub about President Obama's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast this week got me inspired to read about the shadowy group called "The Fellowship" that sponsors the meeting ... and I was stunned to learn who they really are.

"The Fellowship" (aka "The Family") is an actual Christian shadow government in America. I usually don't believe in conspiracy theories, but this group really exists, they're huge, they're secret, and they've been around since the 1930's. And the stories about them are not exaggerations.

Their goal? To replace democracy in America with a theocracy run by Christians. No joke. That was their founding purpose, and remains a real, if now distant, goal.

That's right, some of the very Senators and Congressmen who were democratically elected, the ones you voted for to represent you, don't believe you're good enough to vote. They believe democracy can't work, and that only a Christian government can save us. According to Harper's Magazine, "Declaring God's covenant with the Jews broken, the group's core members call themselves 'the new chosen.'"

And this isn't some fringe group. Its membership includes dozens of United States Senators and House members, even some Democrats, plus uncounted other government officials. They have their fingers in big business, banking, and even have lawmakers in a number of foreign countries. And of course, conservative Christian churches are part of their organization. Its leader, Doug Coe, is a charismatic but radical evangelical who regularly meets with government leaders around the world.

To give you a sense of their philosophy, consider this:

Jesus didn't come to take sides, He came to take over.

But wait, it gets worse. These guys believe that they are chosen by God. Seriously. They believe that God personally intervened here on Earth, altered our elections, specifically to help these men (they're mostly men) to get elected to high offices so that they could do His work.

This leads to an incredibly dangerous arrogance, a belief that you are right and that God has endorsed your political position. Is it any wonder that President Obama is having trouble with the conservatives? When you're appointed by God Himself, why should you negotiate? Jesus didn't come to take sides, He came to take over. They're right, everyone else is wrong, end of argument.

This is un-American, and bordering on traitorous. Their beliefs and actions violate the very core American values enshrined in the United States Constitution, in so many ways it's hard to count. We are a representative democracy, with a guarantee that the government will make no law respecting religion, or the free exercise thereof. We believe each person's vote is equal.

True patriots support the American Constitution, and the core beliefs it represents. Unpatriotic people don't. Traitors try to overthrow it and the values it represents. That was the original goal of The Fellowship. They are traitors to America, plain and simple.

If you'd like to learn more, read the transcript of Terry Gross' interview with Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. There's also a decent, though obviously censored, article on Wikipedia.

(P.S. Happy Birthday, Mom!!)

American Home Grown Terrorists - Islamic Roots

Among atheist bloggers, I'm a misfit: I don't believe religion is the root of all war. Atheists tend to blame religion for most of the world's evils, especially war, but not me. I believe wars are really about power and money, not religion, and that religion is merely used cynically by military leaders and dictators to achieve their ends. It's a tool, not a cause.

But with the rise of a new brand of home-grown American terrorists, it's hard to see how religion, Islam in particular, can escape the blame.

These new terrorists are Americans who have taken up the radical Islamic calling, and hope to kill Americans using terrorist tactics. (I, along with the vast majority of Muslims, am very careful to distinguish between mainstream Islam and radicals, just as I don't lump all Christians in with the likes of McVeigh).

These are not desperate young men with no future who were recruited by the Taliban, nor are they well-educated middle-class Saudis fighting colonialism (i.e. the 9/11 terrorists). These new American terrorists are ordinary young men who have been seduced by religion into a life of crime and terrorism.

It's hard to see how religion can escape the blame for this new brand of home-grown terrorism. The holy texts of all three Abrahamic religions have so many conflicting, confusing, and ambiguous passages that anyone can interpret them to justify anything. Combine that with the idea that God is on your side, and it's easy to justify mass murder. Not right, but easy.

Without religion, these young men (and it's almost always men) would probably be radicals, malcontents, and other types of societal misfits, but they wouldn't be mass murders. It takes religion to turn a malcontent into a terrorist.

The Lie Called Thanksgiving, and Squanto's True Heroism

Thanksgiving? It's complete historical bulls**t.

You know the story: Pilgrims land, a bad winter, things look worse the next year, the local Indians, including the special friend Squanto, showed the Pilgrims how to plant corn and catch fish, they finally have a wonderful fall harvest, and everyone, settlers and natives alike, sits down at a table groaning under the weight of plentiful food to give thanks.

Nothing but lies.

The true tale is far more fascinating. Lies My Teacher Told Me is a fascinating book by historian James Loewen, which I highly recommend.

Tisquantum, who we know as "Squanto," was an amazing man. American schoolchildren are taught that he was a simple Indian who befriended the Pilgrims, but in fact he was nothing of the sort. Tisquantum was captured and enslaved, and taken to Europe, where he learned English and European ways.

After his first enslavement and return to America, he was captured and enslaved again, to be sold in Spain. He was rescued by some Spanish friars who took control of the slaves and tried to convert them to Christianity. After four years and at least one aborted journey, Tisquantum made his way back to America, only to discover that his entire family and village, everyone he knew, had been killed by a plague, probably smallpox.

This was the Indian who helped the Pilgrims survive the second winter – a man who was enslaved twice, forced to learn English ways, and who had just discovered everyone he loved was dead.

The American Myth called Thanksgiving paints the Pilgrims as hard working and resourceful. In reality, they landed in a virtual paradise, with the previous farmers all dead from smallpox, and their fields cleared and ready to plant, and fish aplenty, and yet they still nearly starved to death. Tisquantum, in spite of the mistreatment he'd received at the hands of the English, and in spite of the tragedy of losing his people, decided to help the Pilgrims. Historians agree that without Tisquantum's help, the Pilgrims would probably have starved to death.

And the most fascinating part is that Tisquantum may have been the only man alive who could do this. He knew how to fish, how to farm American crops, and he also spoke English well. His presence in the Plymouth area changed American history.

So why has this fascinating story of a resourceful and kind Native American been replaced by the boring story we now tell at Thanksgiving? The answer is remarkably parallel to religion itself: People believe what is most appealing, not what is true.

In the case of religion, memeplexes like the Christain religion, with its promise that the meek will inherit, and that all of this suffering on Earth is nothing compared to the wonderful rewards to come, are very appealing. The atheist will tell you that when you're dead you're dead, and so it goes. Which do you want to believe? The Heaven myth is much more appealing, so that's the meme that survives. Truth has little to do with it.

Thanksgiving is very much like that. We want to think of the founders of America, our spiritual forefathers, as being strong, capable explorers who opened up the "new world." The fact that we exterminated the Native Americans with disease, war, slavery and simple murder is an embarrassing footnote that we'd like to forget.

So when the stories are told (America's history memes), they evolve. The memes that make the Europeans look better get retold, become the memetic survivors in the "survival of the fittest" battle of stories. Conversely, the memes that make Tisquantum and his kin look like clever, resourceful people get diminished. Ultimately, we get a story in which our ancestors endured hardship but prevailed through courage, etc., etc. to found this great nation.

It's a damned shame, because the true story is one in which there were many heroes and many villians. If that story were told, instead of the myth that we call Thanksgiving, we'd all be richer, and our view of current events would be far more mature.

One small footnote: It happens that one of my ancestors was aboard the Mayflower, and became one of the very Pilgrims who Tisquantum helped. If not for Tisquantum, I wouldn't be here today.

How to Make a Terrorist Talk

Americans have for centuries been willing to sacrifice our comforts and even our lives for our principles and morals. We believe that freedom, dignity, and human rights are important enough to fight for, and even to die for.

One of the greatest embarrassments of my lifetime is that my country used torture in the name of freedom and safety for Americans. The men (and a few women) who carried this out believed that possibly saving American lives was more important than saving America itself. For what is America, if we've forgotten our principles? Being an American means being willing to take risks and make sacrifices to protect our principles. These torturers are not true American patriots – they're nothing more than cowards who have turned tail at the first sign of danger. Only they're not running from battle, they're running from what it means to be an American.

That's why I was so moved by How to Make a Terrorist Talk in Time Magazine. Normally I write about topics related to religion, irrationality, atheism and related topics, but today I was so impressed by in Time magazine I had to share it.

It turns out that not only is torture un-American, it's also ineffective. Some of the strongest, and now most respected, critics of torture are the CIA and FBI's senior interrogators, the very men who have gotten real, useful information without resorting to torture. The Time article quotes Eric Maddox:

"There is nothing intelligent about torture. If you have to inflict pain, then you've lost control of the situation, the subject and yourself."

And Maddox should know: he is the Army staff sergeant whose interrogations led to the capture of Saddam Hussein himself.

According to the Time article, and many other articles I've read, torture has not led to one documented case of preventing a terrorist attack, whereas traditional interrogation, which employs psychology, not cruelty, has resulted in many, many critical pieces of intelligence that led to the capture of terrorists. It may be that torture worked in a few cases that are still classified; maybe we'll know some day.

But at what price? The use of torture has weakened America itself. We're reviled around the world, and we've lost the very principles that make us Americans. It will take a long time to get that back.

America's Drug Policy: Just Another Religion

The arrest of President Obama's half-brother in Kenya for possession of a single joint of marijuana made national headlines. Why is this newsworthy?

Because America's drug policy and attitudes are like a religion: Incomprehensible, without any basis in science or fact, and most of all, justified by unsupportable black-and-white claims about right and wrong, morality and immorality.

How many people do you think die each year from marijuana, cocaine and heroin combined? If you're like most Americans, you probably think it's a lot – hundreds of thousands, some even think it's close to a million. The real truth? The total is well under 10,000 per year. Moreover, most of those are a direct result of the laws against drugs. If these drugs could be obtained legally, the death rate would be close to zero.

Why do I claim our drug policy is religious in nature? If we were concerned with the truth, we'd stamp out the real culprits:

• Alcohol: 20,000 deaths per year
• Tobacco: 350,000 - 400,000 deaths per year

Or, if we came to our senses and realized that prohibition is a phenomenally bad idea, we would at least have a sensible drug policy that regulated drugs according to the actual dangers. How about one more statistic:

• Marijuana: 0 deaths

That's right – although there are occasionally one or two deaths attributed to marijuana, the numbers are so far down into the statistical noise that they're meaningless.

America's irrational drug policies are rooted in America's religions. We are a raised with hard-and-fast moral rules, handed down from God, which are absolute and unchallengeable. You aren't allowed to think for yourself. So when church leaders and politicians proclaim that marijuana is sinful and evil, right alongside robbery, assault and vandalism, who questions it? Not only do Americans go along with this idiocy, they defend it vigorously. While quaffing their beers and puffing their tobacco.

What else can explain a nonsensical drug policy that has cost America trillions of dollars over the decades, and produce nothing but crime and, more importantly, a widespread disrespect for the law?

America's drug policy is nothing more than another religion. It's based on unsupportable facts, contradicts well-known and widely available scientific facts, and yet a large number of Americans still believe it.

(For a GREAT resource on the real facts, check out Truth: The Anti-Drugwar.)

Tags: drugs drug war religion America atheism atheist