The World As I See It

After a couple of days of fun, light-hearted blog posts, it's time to get back to serious content. This world is full of crazy people with even crazier ideas and beliefs, and a skeptic has to stand apart from that and try to apply critical thinking and rationality to those ideas and beliefs.

So this is what I believe.

1. There is probably no god.

I don’t need proof of this. There is no proof otherwise, and that is all that matters. I don't need proof that there is no such thing as the Greek Pantheon (even though that would be fucking sweet!) and the Christian god is just as (un)likely to exist. Atheism is not a religion. It is not faith. It is rationality.

2. Evolution is fact.

Evolution is a widely supported scientific theory. "Theory" in scientific circles does not mean the same thing as "guess." It's as good as fact, even though we are still learning how all of the pieces fit together. But that's the key to science--always developing.

3. Morality is not a religious construct.

Why do I do good? No, it's not because I'm frightened of god's retribution and an eternity in hell. It's because of empathy and enlightened self-interest. I "do unto others..." Contrary to what many Christians believe, morality existed long before the bible brought us the ten commandments, and it will exist long after the Christian faith has faded into history.

4. Fundamentalist Christians need a good knock upside the head.

The bible is not the true word of a god. The earth is much, much older than 6,000 years. Humans were not created in the image of a god. I could go on and on. I generally have nothing against moderate Christians (ie. 90% of Christians), but Fundamentalist Christians are a loud bunch, and seemingly getting louder...

5. Politics and religion must not mix.

The Conservative Party in Canada and the Republicans in the United States both have an obvious religious agenda, and owe a lot of their success to the religious right. Whether the debate was about stem cell research, abortion, or gay marriage, religion--specifically the Christian religion--has played a huge role in decision making in the last ten years. Thankfully, the Republicans aren't in power anymore and the Conservatives have never had any power. But we must stay vigilant.

Other than keeping vigilant on religion's influence in politics, I'm not really interested in the political system, and I am also not qualified to discuss it in any detail. Most people don't let ignorance stop them from talking politics, but I'm not most people. I'm just going to say that we have some pretty good social programs here in Canada, and I don't personally feel unfairly taxed. And I almost always vote Liberal, usually because of the general philosophies of the party and not any specific platform.

6. Life does not begin at conception.

I am pro-choice. If a woman wants to have an abortion, I support that right. It's her body. And there is a big difference between a fetus and a baby.

7. Heterosexual marriage... gay marriage... it's all the same.

Everyone in Canada has the right to get married, which is great. Unfortunately, this is not true everywhere in the United States (not to mention the rest of the world). It is ridiculous to me that in this supposedly enlightened time gays and lesbians still have to fight for basic legal rights. Some religious groups have a misguided "traditional definition of marriage" and are fixated on some imaginary "traditional family." Sorry, guys, you can't have the word "marriage" back as yours alone.

8. Psychics are either lying scumbags or self-deluded morons.

James Randi has been seeking proof of supernatural ability for longer than I have been alive, and--surprise, surprise!--there is none. But that isn't stopping so-called psychics from raking in the cash, because most people have been raised to be gullible sheep in one area (religion) and are highly susceptible to the charms of supernatural shysters.

9. If "Alternative Medicine" worked, it would be just "medicine."

Alternative medicine is a huge scam. If you could make millions with an untested product just by using scientific sounding words in non-scientific ways, appealing to people's frustration with impersonal care by the under-funded and under-staffed medical industry, relying on questionable anecdotal evidence, confirmation bias, and the all-important placebo effect... but no, that's not what they are doing! Because obviously a school teacher knows more about colds than a doctor, right? And rubbing a stick of wax on your forehead will surely cure that headache, right? Yeah.

And don't even get me fucking started on homeopathy! Except to mock.

10. No intelligent person was ever abducted by an alien.

There may be other intelligent life out there somewhere in the universe. But we have seen no evidence of that life here on Earth to date. If aliens have visited Earth, they did so secretly, "Prime Directive" style. Yes, people spot UFOs all the time, but UFO does not mean alien space craft. And people that believe that they have had personal alien abduction experiences simply have serious mental problems.

And that's what I believe.