BrianJarrett.com

Ben Stein is quite possibly the smartest idiot in the world. I just can’t figure this guy out. He was a Nixon speech writer and he’s obviously intelligent; I’m familiar with his credentials and have witnessed his remarkable memory at work. But the same guy who graduated at the top of his class at Yale said the 911 attacks were the result of “atheistic evil” when we know inconclusively that the people who planned and executed that attack were anything but atheists; they were devout and pious Muslims. Those attacks were a shameful example of “religious evil”, and were not atheistic in any sense of the term.

He’s either stupid or a liar and, as I said, I don’t think he’s stupid.

So the same guy who brought us the catch phrase “Bueller” and blatantly misrepresented atheism is now apparently doing the same thing with evolution and science. His film …read more »

I hear a lot from religious leaders about the power of prayer. For example, we have a National Day of Prayer. Apparently our president talks to God-and God answers him; that’s who told him to invade Iraq. When those coal miners were trapped in the Sago mine disaster in West Virginia the townspeople prayed for their safe return. Initially it seemed to be working; reports were that all but one miner had miraculously survived. Joyful praise for the holy father erupted, only to be replaced by acrimonious disdain after they learned they had been “forsaken” and all but one had died. (Even the Governer proclaimed the initial reports a “miracle”. I’ll save miracles for another post.) Hell, I even received a holy hanky that was supposed to become infused with miraculous power through prayer.

The point is there are millions of people who swear by the power of prayer. I’ve always been skeptical that there’s a personal god out there listening to our wants, needs, and desires and then granting them in a seemingly arbitrary fashion. How does God answer prayers? Who gets want they want, who doesn’t, and why? No one seems to be able to answer these questions without invoking some version of the “great cop-out”: God works in mysterious ways. That’s the easy way out, essentially saying ‘I don’t know and you shouldn’t be asking’.

So after 9/11 I did a lot of thinking …read more »

Supposedly Islam is supposed to be a religion of kindness and tolerance but all I see on the news is bigotry, hatred, fanaticism, and intolerance. It’s amazing to me that a Muslim cleric can call for the death of a person because said person converts to another religion. I’m no fan of organized religion, including Christianity, but if Muslims truly are tolerant and loving then how is it acceptable to incite murder? I’m assuming, of course, that the clerics are the representatives of …read more »