The Republicans have caused the sequester, the partial government shutdown, and the threat governmental default. This has not only cut funding to many government programs, but has also left our already struggling economy in near ruins. The Swiss have an interesting economic solution which is worth discussing.
Category Social Justice
While I’m not a pacifist, I’m also not a fan of violence. Violence is a failure to resolve our problems peacefully. It is true that if people didn’t have guns, they would find some other violent way to deal with the breakdown of peaceful discourse. However, guns do make it extremely easy.
Strictly speaking, atheism is simply a lack of belief in deities. However, being part of the greater community of reason for several years now, I have noticed something. Most active atheists tend to also be humanists… even if they don’t like that term. In this sense there are atheist values.
When politicians and the media want to have a discussion about morality or when they want to appear to have the conversation, they always turn to the “faith community.” They never think to ask an atheist and they should!
Let’s say Tom Cruise sent a “mission” of Scientologists to Uganda to help people. The group brings food, medical supplies, etc. But the poor starving people in Uganda need more than just food and medical supplies, they need hope too. So Cruise and company offer a free personality test and auditing session for everyone. He isn’t forcing Scientology on anyone, merely introducing it to starving people who are physically, emotionally, and mentally vulnerable. Scientology is helping people in need, right?
Despite the fact that I keep correcting journalists when they call Egyptian atheist activist, Alber Saber a “Coptic Christian,” most journalists don’t know who he is or what has happened to him. His story remains a fringe story banished to the rarely read religion sections of most media outlets.
Atheists are great at being armchair activists. What I mean by that is that when it comes to mounting online…