Georgia's Miscarriage Bill: Make Way For The Uterus Police

Pro-life conservatives have been using every trick in the book to chip away at Roe v. Wade since the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision.  Recently, we've seen the Personhood movement, the calls to de-fund Planned Parenthood, the GOP's attempt to re-define rape ("If no force is involved, it's not really RAPE-rape, is it?") as a way to reduce instances of federally funded abortions, and bills in Iowa and Nebraska to allow for "Justifiable Homocide" defense against abortion doctors.

GA Rep. Bobby Franklin

But something is brewing in Georgia that takes the cake.  Georgia State Rep. Bobby Franklin has introduced a bill to criminalize miscarriages and outlaw abortions completely.  Any "prenatal murder" according to the bill, including "human involvement" in a miscarriage, would be a felony and would be punishable by life in prison or death. Yes, death. The bill states that "The State of Georgia has the duty to protect all innocent life from the moment of conception until natural death. We know that life begins at conception."  Yes, that's right. All blastocysts, zygotes and embryos are fetuses, according to the bill, and destruction of any constitutes murder.  The full text of HB 1 can be found here. (Warning: your head may explode.)

The strategy of such bills, it must be noted, includes pushing for legislation that is overreaching and/or provocative such that by compromising on the "crazy" part of the bill, the not-so crazy parts get passed in some form (These parts are usually crazy too, until juxtaposed against the bill's crazier parts).

Over at Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! Go!, a reader (and MD) writes about the chilling effects of such a bill:

"Since 30-90 percent of fertilized eggs spontaneously abort, seems, according to Franklin, every woman should be required to track their menstrual cycle, and if there is a variance, they need to account for it to authorities, such that a spontaneous abortion can be investigated to determine if somehow the woman was responsible for the death of a human being."

Sure, this example is hyperbolic to some degree, and Rep. Franklin and the pro-lifers would certainly argue that this is not about punishing those who miscarry under "normal" circumstances.  But who is to decide what is "normal?" And how is a miscarriage's "legality" ascertained?

And isn't it interesting that the same core group of folks who want smaller government and less government intrusion want  to monitor your menstrual cycle?  They want the TSA to stop touching their junk, but want the menstrual police up in yours?

Ladies, get ready for the Uterus Police.

Where Is Our Fred Rogers?

In 1969, Fred Rogers appeared before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications to testify in support of  the Center For Public Broadcasting, which was facing cuts in funding.  President Nixon had proposed cutting the budget by half, in part to allocate more money for the Vietnam War. 

Four decades later, war is threatening to de-fund public broadcasting.  This time, however, it's the culture wars.  While one could argue that the de-funding is simply a matter of frugality in a time of economic uncertainty and record debt, there is no doubt that public broadcasting's perceived hostility towards conservative values is the real reason.  Droves of conservatives began asking for Big Bird's head on a platter immediately after the firing of Juan Williams for comments he made on Fox about Muslims in October of 2010. 

When the heat was on in 1969, Fred Rogers delivered a wonderful and powerful testimonial on the importance of positive, enriching, educational (and commercial-free) programming for children.  I don't know many people who did not grow up with PBS and NPR, nor do I know any who can imagine what that world would have been like.  I also don't know anyone who can watch the below video without getting a lump in their throat.  But where is our Fred Rogers now? 

Why Do Creationists Play The Hitler Card?

Sid Galloway speaking at LSU

Creationists love to play the Hitler card when critiquing the theory of evolution.  Ken Ham, of the Creation Museum, loves to bring up Hitler when discussing Darwin.  It is tirelessly trotted out in court cases deciding whether or not Creationism should be taught in school. The argument essentially is an effort to vilify the teaching of evolution by linking Darwin, and his conception of natural selection, to Nazi eugenics efforts. 

I was reading an article in LSU's Daily Reveille, published on Sunday, about Sid Galloway presenting his "Evidence — Answers Seminar" at the Chapel on the Campus.  In his seminar, Galloway, who is a zookeeper, a biology teacher, and a family counselor, suggested that evolution fuels racism, stating:

"If you read [Charles Darwin's] ‘Descent of Man,' it's obscenely racist," he said. "At the core of Hitler's belief was evolution."


The article continues:

Galloway, who believes the universe is thousands of years old, not billions, said evolution directly contradicts Christianity, because suffering would have existed in the world long before Adam and Eve bit into forbidden fruit.
"They cannot both be in harmony," he maintained. "They are incompatible."
 
The use of the Hitler card, when critiquing evolution, is not unlike the mudslinging in political campaign seasons.  It is a tactic used to distract and to sully by association.  The difference here is that whether or not Darwin's theory of evolution inspired Hitler, it does absolutely nothing to detract from the soundness of the theory. 

Imagine a seminar being given by a figure who denied the germ theory of disease.  Suppose this figure stated that Agostino Bassi's and Girolamo Fracastoro's work on this theory inspired the weaponization of tularemia, anthrax, brucellosis, and botulism toxin.  Sure, this is an ugly, destructive application of the concepts of the theory, but is anyone less likely as a result to believe that the germ theory of disease is sound? 

Is the theory of gravity any less true, or less palatable, because millions of people have put to death by hanging? 

Like the politicians that sling mud during campaign season, the Creationists who use this tactic only draw attention to their own desperation, slinging mud against the wall in hopes that something sticks. 

Rep. Mike Beard on Climate: God Wouldn't Let Us Destroy the World

Earlier this month, Rep. Mike Beard (R-MN) introduced legislation to lift the moratorium on coal-fired power plants. In his defense of the legislation, Beard began spouting what sounded like science to anyone who would listen.  Unfortunately, like many of Beard's peers, Beard's stance on the climate relies very little on science, and very much on anecdotes, denial, and theology.  This brand of climate pseudo-science removes all responsibility from mere mortals, trusting that an all-powerful God has everything under control.

Don Shelby, writing in the MinnPost:

A lot of what Beard knows he learned in church. One Congressman, talking about global warming, recently said that God wouldn't allow man to do anything to destroy the planet. Beard told me, "It is the height of hubris to think we could."  I asked him about nuclear war. He said: "How did Hiroshima and Nagasaki work out? We destroyed that, but here we are, 60 years later and they are tremendously effective and livable cities. Yes, it was pretty horrible," he said, "But, can we recover? Of course we can."

Beard believes that "God is not capricious. He's given us a creation that is dynamically stable. We are not going to run out of anything."  Full Story Here

Playboy Mansion Illness Outbreak Linked to Jenny McCarthy

The universe has a sick sense of humor.

Actress, model, author, and former Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy has been tirelessly promoting anti-vaccination rhetoric since 2007.  Jenny McCarthy's irresponsible pseudo-science has been spewed on numerous television appearances and through numerous books and articles urging parents not to vaccinate their kids. It is not hyperbolic to state that Jenny McCarthy may have indirectly led to the deaths of hundreds of children (see Jenny McCarthy Body Count).

Fast-forward to February 3rd at the Playboy Mansion, where as many as 200 people fell victim to Legionellosis at a party for Jenny McCarthy's Generation Rescue Autism Foundation. Legionellosis can take two distinct forms: Legionnaires' disease (the more severe form of the infection) and Pontiac fever. Although authorities have not pinpointed the source of the outbreak, it is believed it could have been spread by the Playboy Mansion's hot tub, or by a fog machine at the party.

The difference here is that any dummy knows that vaccines don't cause Legionellosis.  That and the fact that nobody has died from this outbreak.

Ted Haggard: Why Can't I Be Restored Like Tiger Woods and Mike Vick?

In an interview with The Christian Post, fallen megachurch pastor Ted Haggard wonders why sports figures like Tiger Woods can rehabilitate their images when he and other evangelists can't:

"The NFL's doing a better job at [restoring]. CBS is doing a better job at it. KMART is doing a better job at it,” he continues in his tirade. "Virtually every institution on earth is demonstrating that they are doing a better job at restoring people than the Church. And we're the only ones who market that we know how to do it. We are idiots. We are hypocrites."

Ted, I believe you nailed it.  Hypocrisy is precisely the problem.  Tiger Woods does not make his living telling others not to have extra-marital affairs.  Mick Vick does not earn a living pushing anti-dogfighting legislation.  However, you made a living, in part, by teaching that homosexuality is an abomination and actively lobbying against gay rights.

If there is a lesson to learn here, it's that perhaps the church should reconsider its rhetoric as it relates to LGBT issues and stop actively pushing legislation that is rooted in religious dogma.  Also, as a man of faith, Ted, you might want to become reacquainted with Matthew 7:1.

Billy Ray Cyrus: Athiest 'Adopt-a-Highway' Sign Foretold Miley's Hell Spiral

If there's one thing that's clear from Billy Ray Cyrus's highly publicized GQ interview, it's that Mr. Soulpatch takes no responsibility whatsoever for Miley's troubles. He's blaming everything from Mickey Mouse to Hollywood for his failed marriage and poor parenting.

But this nugget, from page 5 of the interview, really lays it on thick:

"Somewhere along this journey," he says, "both mine and Miley's faith has been shaken. That saddens me the most." When they first came to Hollywood for Hannah Montana, the two of them would drive down the freeway together to the studio each morning, and every day Miley would point out the sign that said

ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY
ATHEISTS UNITED

Just before moving out to Los Angeles, the whole family had been baptized together by their pastor at the People's Church in Franklin, Tennessee. "It was Tish's idea," he remembers. "She said, 'We're going to be under attack, and we have to be strong in our faith and we're all going to be baptized...'" And there, driving to work each day in the City of Angels, was this sign. "A physical sign. It could have easily said 'You will now be attacked by Satan.' 'Entering this industry, you are now on the highway to darkness...'"

Do you really see it in such clearly spiritual terms—that your family was under attack by Satan?

"I think we are right now. No doubt. There's no doubt about it."

And why is that happening?

"It's the way it is. There has always been a battle between good and evil. Always will be. You think, 'This is a chance to make family entertainment, bring families together...' and look what it's turned into."

Perhaps Mr. Cyrus could have prevented some of his problems by focusing more on being together as a family.  Perhaps doing something that allowed his family to bond while doing something positive, like, say, adopting a highway.

Iowa Grandmother Speaks in Favor of Gay Marriage

A Sequence of Lines Traced by Five Hundred Individuals

One of the most common statements from those who deny Evolution is: "How could something so complex start from something so simple?" Part of the difficulty lies in the inability for most folks to fathom millions of mutations over millions of generations.

This below video does a great job of demonstrating how, over time, something simple can evolve into something unrecognizable. The premise is simple: One person draws a straight line. The next person is asked to trace the previous line. And so on -- like a game of Telephone. Although this model doesn't actually demonstrate how evolution works, it is remarkable in its ability to distill a simple evolutionary idea into something compelling and eye-opening.

A Sequence of Lines Traced by Five Hundred Individuals from clement valla on Vimeo.

Justin Bieber's Christian Entourage

Most of us have already heard about Justin Bieber's "swagger coach." One would think that his job is made more difficult by The Bieb's spiritual entourage, which includes a "travel pastor," a "Christian tutor," and a "Christian adviser." Bieber's mother, Pattie Mallette, has employed the team to surround her son as he encounters the temptations that come with success and a life on the road.

Charisma News Online reports that Mallette has also issued a prayer request for her son:

Mallette, who is asking fans to pray for Bieber’s well being as his popularity surges, employs a "travel pastor" when they're on tour as well as a Christian tutor to help develop Justin's scripture memory and knowledge of Christian history. She also employs a Christian advisor, who along with manager Scooter Braun, an observant Jew, provides "a great moral base and model for Justin."

"I'm aware of the dangers," Mallette says. "He's my son and I'm accountable by God and by the law to protect him, which includes covering him spiritually. Justin's faith is strong but he's young and hasn't come completely into himself yet. So what I can do is pray, teach and continue surrounding him with strong Christian influences."

Lady Gaga: More Christ-Like Than The Christian Right

Over at the Washington Post's 'On Faith' blog (via Busted Halo), an interesting question has been raised. Is Lady Gaga, who has been scorned by the conservative right for her flamboyancy and gay rights activism, actually more Christian than her detractors? Whether intentional or not, the article points out, Gaga explores Christian themes of suffering and of humankind's fallen nature in her latest release, Born This Way. Couple these themes with the song's (and Gaga's) reaching out to the marginalized and maligned, and it's not so hard to make analogies.

Regardless of her spirituality (or lack thereof, as the case may be), it does underscore the fact that so many Christians on the conservative right have lost sight of what Jesus was supposed to be all about. As strange as it may be to admit it, Lady Gaga is more Christlike in her actions than the Sarah Palins and the Rick Santorums of the conservative right.

Palin Offers Her Perspective on the Situation in Egypt

"And nobody yet has, no body yet has explained to the American public what they know, and surely they know more than the rest of us know who it is who will be taking the place of Mubarak, and I'm not real enthused about what it is that that's being done on a national level and from D.C. in regards to understanding all the situation there in Egypt." — on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Feb. 4, 2011

Extreme Makeover: Scientology Edition

This new TV commercial from the Church of Scientology makes you almost forget for a second just how entirely insane the Church of Scientology is.

Answers in Genesis: Ark Park Jobs Link Removed After Church-State Criticism

Answers in Genesis, the organization behind the Creation Museum and the forthcoming Ark Encounter has had a jobs page on their Website for some time.  And until just yesterday, the site had an "Ark Encounter Jobs" link as part of that page (cached page from Feb. 2) -- right above the statement: "All job applicants need to supply a written statement of their testimony, a statement of what they believe regarding creation and a statement that they have read and can support the AiG statement of faith."

The organization's required Statement of Faith would be a problem for Ark Encounter jobs, one would think, since the citizens of Kentucky will be subsidizing the project with their tax dollars.  The statement of faith clearly requires employees to adhere to a fundamentalist Christian faith and a literal interpretation of Biblical text -- a problem for any tax-paying Kentuckians of any other (or no) faith.

Some of the highlights from AiG's statement of faith:

• The 66 books of the Bible are the written Word of God. The Bible is divinely inspired and inerrant throughout. Its assertions are factually true in all the original autographs. It is the supreme authority in everything it teaches. Its authority is not limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes but includes its assertions in such fields as history and science.
• The final guide to the interpretation of Scripture is Scripture itself.
• The account of origins presented in Genesis is a simple but factual presentation of actual events and therefore provides a reliable framework for scientific research into the question of the origin and history of life, mankind, the earth and the universe.
• The great Flood of Genesis was an actual historic event, worldwide (global) in its extent and effect.
• Those who do not believe in Christ are subject to everlasting conscious punishment, but believers enjoy eternal life with God.
• The only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman. Any forms of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, incest, fornication, adultery, pornography, etc., are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex.

AiG spokesperson Ken Ham has frequently been a source of frustration (and comedy, to be sure) to biologist P.Z. Myers, a noted atheist and highly regarded ScienceBlogs staple (Myers's corner is the popular Pharyngula blog).  Ken Ham has also spent his fair share of time writing about Myers on his blog.  But on Wednesday, Myers brought the Ark Jobs conflict of interest to his readers' attention with a post, "Great Jobs In Kentucky!" The comments section of the page contains lengthy discussion of the constitutionality of such requirements in a place of business partly made possible by tax incentives.  And although, to be fair, the Ark Park Jobs link took users to a page which stated that there currently were no jobs listed, it is notable that the link vanished almost immediately after Myers' post.

It will be interesting to see what, if any, belief system is required to work at the Ark Encounter.  And rest assured that if there are faith requirements, AiG and the Ark Encounter will find themselves in another heated debate about the separation of church and state.  And if there are no faith requirements, then AiG will have found themselves in an unprecedented compromise, when non-compromise is at the core of what they do and who they are. 

On Being Perceived as a Condescending Elitist When it Comes to Religion

I think we owe it to ourselves to lift up the hood and really take a look at what we believe, and why. It's never pretty when we are honest about belief. It's easy to hit a nerve, and it's hard to not resort to verbal aggression when nerves are struck. I know. I do it all the time.
 
I get in a lot of discussions about religion, including my lack of it, its encroachment on public policy, or its frequent role in denial of basic human rights around the world.  I am misunderstood a lot of the time. this religion stuff is complex, and i have very complex feelings about it. It's easy to be misunderstood, and i realize that goes both ways.

Although folks like Hitchens would disagree, I never in a million years would believe that religion is a poison or a cancer.  to believe that would be to deny my very existence. I firmly believe that religion has been a powerful force in the shaping of human societies. I firmly believe that without religion, I would not be here writing this right now. I know that religion, along with evolved moral codes, has allowed many societies to become more cohesive, to flourish, and to survive. yes, religion has also been a great force of suffering in history. Nothing is black and white. Everything that is good in our world can also be bad, and every shade in between.

I do not for a second believe that religiosity cannot coincide with intelligence. Some of our greatest minds have been devoutly religious. My parents are two of the wisest and most intelligent people I know. My family members, relatives, and many good friends who are religious are way more intelligent than i could dream of being. I also know many non-religious folks who are morons. Quite a few.

Religion covers a broad range of ideologies and belief systems. And certainly we cannot talk about religion without talking about evolution. After all, everything evolves, including religion. It began somewhere, just like anything else. Not only did it evolve, but it played a role in our evolution. This is true and we have the evidence to prove it. As such, I find it just as open to study and dissection as the fields of geology, biology, cosmology, psychology, anthropology, or sociology. When we do look at religion from this perspective, and looking at the vast range that religion covers, we can make the association of certain religious beliefs to knowledge. We know for a fact that religion evolved partially as a means to understand the world in which its practitioners lived. When humans could not understand weather events, the reasons behind night and day, or why people get sick, they explained them with religious beliefs. throughout history, even as we gained more understanding about life and the cosmos and stopped believing that the gods controlled lightning or that demons caused malaria, we still looked to religion to explain more complex things that elude(d) our understanding. Even today, as sore as it makes people to hear or read it, there is research that shows the associations between broad ranges of religious belief and knowledge/education. As un-PC as it may be to point out, the more primitive fundamentalist beliefs (whether Christian, Muslim, Judaism, etc.) are more often associated with the less educated. The less primitive the beliefs, the more educated the believers (or non-) are. There is data to support it. To deny the connection of these associations is to deny that practitioners of currently practiced tribal rituals to oust an illness-causing demon are doing so partly due to lack of knowledge about human illness and biology. We also have to understand that way before the Abrahamic god came on the scene, there were countless primitive religions that covered the earth. Why is it that it took so long for monotheism to take hold if we are to believe that the Abrahamic god himself created us in his own image to follow him? That is a long, crooked path (with endless forks and dead ends) away from him to only come back in the last few thousand years (mere seconds in the time-line of human history).

You can infer what you will from the above statements. Do I believe that believing in the Genesis creation story (in a literal sense) is due to stupidity? No. Do I believe that believing in the Genesis creation story shows a lack of knowledge about what we have learned about life, the earth, and the cosmos? Yes. I believe mostly, however, that people cling to literal biblical interpretations mostly because of willful ignorance. people do not want to invest in understanding the oceans of data supporting evolutionary theory and natural selection. They do not want to consider the mountains of transitional species in the fossil record. They do not want to appreciate the vast, unimaginable stretches of time involved in evolutionary change. It is difficult for people with our lifespans to envision even 1,000 generations, much less hundreds of thousands, or millions. We look at our own children as they grow and do not notice how much they have changed until we look at a photo from the recent past. the change that occurs so slightly from generation to generation over millions of years is impossible for us to fathom.

We are usually told the stories of religion at a young age. We believe them because they are as true to us at that age as is the sky being blue. As we grow older, to unlearn certain stories, or even the literalness of certain stories is like denying our very existence. We fear we will slip down the path to not knowing ourselves; admitting one thing in the Bible is not true will make the entire house of cards collapse before us. This does not have to be true. Francis Collins of the NIH, and former head of the Human Genome Project consistently speaks of the coexistence of religion and evolution.  He is at once an Evangelical Christian and a staunch proponent of evolution.   These things are not irreconcilable. 
 
I realize that the above could further cement the impression that I believe that fundamentalist Christians (or Muslims, etc.) are ignorant, and that I am evolved and more knowledgeable. I don't know why I am how I am. but I can say that I have gotten here not without an incredible amount of research, soul-searching, self-education, and a daily thirst for further understanding the mechanisms that dictate the way life works and how the cosmos behaves.

I would never say that there is not some supernatural force out there that has set it all into motion. I do not know this. There are always things that humans will not understand about the cosmos and about life. But because we cannot explain things does not mean that we must ascribe those things a supernatural origin. I don't know for sure that pixies do not live in the forest, but I have to assume that they do not until I have something that proves to me otherwise.

But the fact that I don't entertain supernatural explanations about the world does not mean that I believe that anyone who believes in demonic possession, or ghosts, is not intelligent. They're certainly entitled to believe those things. I may wonder, however, if they have really ruled out all other possibilities. I may get upset if my tax dollars go to fund ghostbusters, and I may become vocal when public school science teacher teaches my child that ghosts may be just as good an explanation for why a door closes on its own as changes in air pressure. I may even ridicule him. But that doesn't make me a condescending elitist.  However, that will not stop the ghostbusters from thinking I believe they are stupid. 

And so it goes.



This piece appeared previously on happyrobot.com.