The Man Who Lost His Religion To The Amazonian Pirahã Tribe

Everett with a Paraha tribesman

Many people don't understand what life would be like without religion. Those who do not subscribe to religion are often perceived as 'missing out,' or living an 'empty life.'

Most people cannot imagine what life without religion would be like simply because they have always had religion, or have always had religion around them. Their parents had religion, their grandparents had religion, and so on.

Daniel Everett was a Christian missionary and evangelist whose expertise in language led him on a mission trip where he lived among the Pirahã, a tribe of Amazon natives.

Everett's experience with the Pirahã eventually led to his rejection of Christianity, and religion in general.

Here is a wonderful clip of Everett speaking about the Pirahã, who, due to their isolation, never developed religious beliefs. This story of the Pirahã dovetails nicely with a recent University of Texas study which concluded that our brains are not predisposed to supernatural concepts. Theses concepts are gained through exposure.



Read more about Everett in the New Yorker and at The Age.

Mormon-Hating Bigot Bryan Fischer To Follow Romney At Values Voter Summit

Bryan Fischer, douchebag

The Values Voter Summit is coming up this weekend, when some of the most hateful, bigoted, xenophobic, and theocratic figures in American faith and politics will line up to speak to thousands in Washington, DC.

Among those speakers will be seven of the top GOP hopefuls: Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul. 

Of all the hateful figures appearing, the most bigoted one in the bunch is none other than Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association. 

He's so controversial that even the organizers of the Values Voter Summit kept him off the list of speakers. However, if you dig a little deeper into the event's schedule, one will find that Fischer is indeed speaking. 

And no, he's not buried in some breakaway session. He's speaking right after GOP front-runner Mitt Romney. 

Rachel Maddow commented earlier this week on Fischer's awkward placement on the schedule. See, Bryan Fischer has said some pretty nasty stuff about Mormons, including his belief that the First Amendment doesn't apply to them. 

Perhaps this is a subtle way for the VVS folks to undermine Mitt Romney's recent positioning as front-runner for the GOP nomination.  Herman Cain has recently tied Romney in polls, and Fischer would like nothing more than to see Cain get the nomination. (Cain is, according to Fischer, "authentically black," unlike our current president.) Or maybe this is just poor scheduling. Wait, no, that's not likely at all.

Art Pope: North Carolina's Little Koch

Jane Mayer has written a scathing profile of Art Pope in the latest New Yorker. If you're unfamiliar with Art Pope, and you care about democracy, you should spend some time with Mayer's piece, State For Sale.

Who exactly is Art Pope?

Remember when North Carolina, an Obama-voting blue state with a Democratic governor, turned back into a red state in 2010? Art Pope played a large role in that happening.

Mayer writes:

Pope’s triumph in 2010 was sweeping. According to an analysis by the Institute for Southern Studies, of the twenty-two legislative races targeted by him, his family, and their organizations, the Republicans won eighteen, placing both chambers of the General Assembly firmly under Republican majorities for the first time since 1870. North Carolina’s Democrats in Congress hung on to power, but those in the state legislature, where Pope had focussed his spending, were routed. 

The institute also found that three-quarters of the spending by independent groups in North Carolina’s 2010 state races came from accounts linked to Pope.

The Pope family foundation—of which Art Pope is the chairman and president, and one of four directors—reportedly has assets of nearly a hundred and fifty million dollars.
This wealth has enabled Pope to participate in the public arena on a scale that few individuals can match.

Art Pope is more or less North Carolina's equivalent of the Koch Brothers.

Graphic from indyweek.com

Pope has at times joined forces with [the Koch brothers], attending some of their semi-annual secret planning summits and, through the family foundation, contributing millions to many of the same causes. Pope, in addition to being on the board of Americans for Prosperity—which David Koch founded, in 2004—served on the board of its predecessor, Citizens for a Sound Economy, which Koch co-founded, in 1984. Charles Koch recently praised the Popes, along with other donors, for providing financial support for the 2012 election effort, and tax records show that Pope has given money to at least twenty-seven groups supported by the Kochs, including organizations opposing environmental regulations, tax increases, unions, and campaign-spending limits. Pope, in fact, helped fund the legal center run by James Bopp, the lawyer who made the initial filing in the Citizens United case.

Not only is he powerful and influential, Art Pope is sleazy. Mayer writes about the 2010 campaign against Chris Heagarty, a Democratic lawyer, ran for a legislative seat in Wake County:

One ad accused him of having voted “to raise taxes over a billion dollars,” even though he had not yet served in the legislature. Another ad depicted Heagarty, who has dark hair and a dark complexion, as Hispanic. (He is Caucasian.) The ad was sponsored by the North Carolina Republican Party, to which Pope had contributed in 2008. Heagarty said, “They slapped a sombrero on a photo of me, and wrote, ‘Mucho Taxo! Adios, Señor!’ ” He said, “If you put all of the Pope groups together, they and the North Carolina G.O.P. spent more to defeat me than the guy who actually won.” He fell silent, then added, “For an individual to have so much power is frightening. The government of North Carolina is for sale.”

Nina Szlosberg-Landis, a Democratic activist in Raleigh, says, “It’s part of a very deliberate national strategy of the ultra-conservative movement to change the face of democracy. And I have to hand it to them. They’re pretty successful.”

Marc Farinella, the Democratic campaign consultant, said. “Pope has used the federal tax code to create a massive campaign apparatus that is only thinly disguised as a collection of benign, civic-minded nonprofit groups.”

What does this mean for 2012?

Experts predict that, next fall, the Republicans will likely take over at least four seats currently held by Democrats in the House of Representatives, helping the Party expand its majority in Congress. Meanwhile, the Republican leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly is raising issues that are sure to galvanize the conservative vote in the 2012 Presidential race, such as a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

Pope funds climate-change denial. He funds the Tea Party. He even funnels money into defeating moderate Republicans.

Mayer, appearing on Rachel Maddow's show, stated:

New Yorker portrait of Pope

"In many ways he is the one man who is single-handedly bankrolling a kind of a conservative takeover of the state. At least that's how the Democrats see it down there. It's a state that as you said is just completely key to Barack Obama's reelection, and it's a state that is traditionally neither completely red nor blue, it's kind of a purple state, but it went blue in 2008, and basically the Republican party took one look at it and thought they've got to make sure that it doesn't go that way again in 2012. So there's been a lot of very careful and smart thinking going into the state and a ton of money." 

She went on to explain that Pope "has a vision of America that requires kind of turning back the tide of history to before the New Deal basically. And he will say it has nothing to do with his business interests, but it does include things like opposition to the minimum wage law," as well as "opposition to most taxes, and to all kinds of government services." Mayer continued, "his political vision dovetails with his self-interest, but it goes beyond that I think really with him. He's something of a kind of an ideological purist and a zealot to some extent."

According to investigations by Facing South, Pope's family foundation supplies more than 90% of the income of right-wing groups in North Carolina; in 2010, groups connected to Pope accounted for 75% of the outside election spending that helped Republicans capture the state legislature.

If you care about democracy, and especially if you care about North Carolina, read Mayer's New Yorker piece, and watch the Maddow clip below.

This man is working to take NC back to its darker days. If you are glad to have the days of Jesse Helms behind you, it's worth noting that, as Mayer states, "Even some North Carolinians associated with Jesse Helms think that Pope has gone too far."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A Reminder: Why We Don't Vote On The Rights Of Others

*figures from Public Policy Polling.

The Feynman Series: Curiosity

If you're unfamiliar with The Sagan Series, you should check it out. The series of videos pays tribute to the late great astrophysicist Carl Sagan. They're stirring, and really inspirational. Something we can all use during this time of economic uncertainty and political madness.

The folks who brought us those wonderful Sagan videos are now releasing a series of videos that pay tribute to everyone's favorite bongo-playing physicist, Richard Feynman.

The videos, like the Sagan Series, are essential viewing. First, they're beautiful to look at, using footage from various sources including many BBC nature programs, and the films Koyaanisqatsi and Microcosmos. And they are aurally pleasing as well. Feynman describes the workings of the universe with the fascination of a child, but with the mind of a wizard. It's contagious.

The below is the latest installment, 'Curiosity.' You can view the previous installments here and here. Perfect viewing for those moments when you need a bit of perspective.

Ronald Reagan: 'No Loopholes For Millionaires'

Selective memory is a funny thing.

Values Voter Summit: What Kind Of Values, Exactly?

On October 7, thousands of will gather at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC for the Value Voters Summit, an annual political conference for American social conservative activists and elected officials from across the US.

The event's Facebook page states that the Values Voter Summit is held "in the cause of family, family, and freedom." I'm not so sure that's a typo, as the VVS is hosted by the Family Research Council, the conservative Christian hate group that spends the majority of its resources advocating against LGBT rights, women's heath, sex education, embryonic stem-cell research, gambling, and pornography. All of these things, according to the Family Research Council, are a threat to family.

Or at least the FRC's definition of family, which, according to their views, must include one heterosexual man and one heterosexual woman who are married to each other, and whose values must be aligned with the Judeo-Christian worldview.

What kind of values are these folks peddling? 
Based on the statements attributed to the event's sponsors and speakers, these values are: homophobia, xenophobia, dishonesty, ignorance, denialism, Christofascism, paranoia, hysteria, oppression, discrimination, bullying, misogyny, exceptionalism, and bigotry.


The Speakers
Let's take a look at some of the event's speakers, and some examples of their values:

Tony Perkins

Tony Perkins, President, FRC Action and Family Research Council (FRC)

• Called the It Gets Better Project 'immoral' and 'disgusting.'
• Said gay teens are suicidal because they know they are 'abnormal.'
• Said gay activists are intolerant, hateful, vile, spiteful, and pawns of the Devil.
• Says homosexuality “is essentially man shaking his fist in the face of God”
• Paid $82,500 to use the mailing list of former Klan chieftain David Duke.

Representative Ann Marie Buerkle (R-N.Y.)

• Claimed that “the Obama Health and Human Services Department is planning to compile a federal health record on all U.S. citizens by 2014, and will include information on each individual’s Body Mass Index in the files.”
• Previously worked as spokesperson for militant anti-choice and anti-gay organization Operation Rescue,

Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.)

Rep Vicky Hartzler

• Was dubbed the most anti-gay candidate in America by Mother Jones.
• Supported legislation which “would have allowed for prosecutors to charge women who obtained late-term abortions with murder.”
• Compared marriage equality to pedophilia, incest, and allowing three year old children drive cars.
• Said gays “shouldn’t feel bad” that she passed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, because gays were already banned from marrying by statute.

Genevieve Wood, Vice President, Leadership for America Operations, The Heritage Foundation

• Said "Young people who are sexually confused need the facts about homosexuality. They need to know that research shows they aren't `born gay,' that there is hope for a way out of the lifestyle, and that continuing in homosexuality presents serious health risks."

Mathew Staver, Chairman, Liberty Counsel and Dean, Liberty University School of Law

• Urged public school teachers to serve as “domestic missionaries” and promote Christianity in class under the guise of instruction.
• Believes in an inmate's right to religious freedom, as long as that religion isn't something other than Christianity.



Rick Santorum

• Said that "the American Left hates Christendom. They hate Western civilization.”

Senator Rick Santorum, Republican Presidential Candidate

• Stated it is our obligation to make civil laws "comport with God's laws."
• Equated homosexuality to incest, polygamy, and man-on-dog sex.

Governor Rick Perry (R-Texas), Republican Presidential Candidate

• Compared gays to alcoholics.
• Called the BP oil spill an "act of God" that could not be prevented.
• Asked, “Would you rather live in a state like this, or in a state where a man can marry a man?”

Rep. Steve King

Representative Steve King (R-Iowa)

• Said if gays don't want to be discriminated against, they should just stay in the closet.
• Sued his home state for offering voting materials in languages other than English.
• Equated gays raising children to having them "raised in warehouses."

Governor Bob McDonnell (R-Va.)

Herman Cain

• Rolled back non-discrimination protections for gay state workers.

Herman Cain, Republican Presidential Candidate

• Said he would not appoint a Muslim in his administration.
• Said Muslims "have an objective to convert all infidels or kill them.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Republican Presidential Candidate

• Compared Muslims to Nazis.
• Asked, “What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?”

Ken Cuccinelli

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R-Va.)

• Wants to see homosexuality outlawed.

Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Republican Presidential Candidate

• Said of Melissa Etheridge's cancer: "This may be an opportunity for her now to be open to some spiritual things, now that she is suffering with that physical disease. She is a lesbian.”
• Said that we live in a time when "a judge will say to little children that you can't say the pledge of allegiance, but you must learn that homosexuality is normal and you should try it."

Bryan Fischer

Bryan Fischer, Director of Issues Analysis, American Family Association

• Said American Muslims have no First Amendment rights, should be banned from the U.S. military, and has called for a ban on the building of new mosques in the U.S.
• Stated that African American welfare recipients "rut like rabbits."
• Wrote that “gay sex is a form of domestic terrorism” and thinks gays and lesbians should be “disqualified from public office.
• Stated that the anti-Muslim manifesto of the right-wing Christian terrorist who killed dozens in Norway was “accurate.”
• Stated that Islam was "as racist as the KKK."
• Has made so many incendiary remarks, it's ridiculous.

Tom McClusky, Senior Vice President, FRC Action

• Accused Obama of “bullying” students by supporting efforts to combat anti-gay bullying, and claims that these efforts are forcing anti-gay students “in the closet.”

Derek McCoy, President, Maryland Family Alliance

• Declared solidarity with those who want to see homosexuality outlawed.

Brian Brown

Brian Brown, Executive Director, National Organization for Marriage

• Stated, “The One who designed marriage knew what He was doing. And we will never sit back passively and permit our own government to teach our own children a lie. Same-sex unions are not marriage. Same-sex marriage is not a civil right, it is a civil wrong.”

David Tyree, Former Wide Receiver, New York Giants

• Said that the Marriage Equality Act would "be the beginning of our country sliding toward...anarchy," and would trade his famous catch and the team's Super Bowl title to keep marriage between a man and a woman.

Gary Bauer

Gary Bauer, President, American Values

• Stated that President Obama, progressives, and Islamic terrorists all have the same agenda: to destroy America and its Judeo-Christian values.
• Believed that "anybody who had AIDS ought to die with it. That was God's punishment for them."
• Equated torture with a frat party.

Glenn Beck, Founder, Glenn Beck TV (yes that's how he's being billed.)

• On morbidly obese people: "Let them die."
• On Obama: A "racist" who has "exposed himself as a guy" with "a deep-seated hatred for white people."

Bishop Harry Jackson

Bishop Harry Jackson, Senior Pastor, Hope Christian Church

• Claims Martin Luther King, Jr. would oppose marriage equality.
• Says marriage equality is "a Satanic plot to destroy our seed"

Jason Mattera, Editor, Human Events

• Accused President Obama of using cocaine and called him "scrawny street agitator" and "jack-ass."

Lila Rose, President, Live Action

• Suggested that women should be forced to have their abortions carried out in the public square.

Dr. Kenyn Cureton, Vice President for Church Ministries, Family Research Council

Brent Bozell III

• Believes that those who do not support FRC's agenda are pawns of Satan.

L. Brent Bozell III, President, Media Research Center

• Believes 'Glee' and 'Degrassi High' are turning young children into gay "propaganda targets."

Mark Levin, Host, "The Mark Levin Show"

• Calls the National Organization of Women 'The National Organization of Ugly Women.'
• Told a female caller that her husband would be better off putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger than staying married to her.

Phyllis Schlafly

Phyllis Schlafly, Founder, Eagle Forum

• Says married women can't be raped by their husbands.
• Believes "the feminist movement is the most dangerous, destructive force in our society today."
• Blamed the Virginia Tech massacre on the university's English department.

The Sponsors
The event is heavily represented by the following organizations (those with asterisks are event sponsors):

The American Family Association*:

• Designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
• Claims "[p]rominent homosexual leaders and publications have voiced support for pedophilia, incest, sadomasochism, and even bestiality."
• Sent out mailers which read: "For the sake of our children and society, we must OPPOSE the spread of homosexual activity! Just as we must oppose murder, stealing, and adultery!" and "Since homosexuals cannot reproduce, the only way for them to 'breed' is to RECRUIT! And who are their targets for recruitment? Children!"

2 hate groups are sponsors

Family Research Council*

• Designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
• Claimed that children in gay households are at greater risk of sexual involvement with a parent.
• When American Airlines introduced domestic partner benefits, the AFA asked, "What are you going to develop next? A pedophilia market?"
• Stated that "the research is overwhelming that homosexuality poses a [molestation] danger to children."
• Claimed that “homosexuals are overrepresented in child sex offenses” and that “homosexuals are attracted in inordinate numbers to boys.”
• Claimed that “one of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the ‘prophets’ of a new sexual order."

National Organization for Marriage

• Founding president Maggie Gallagher wrote: “In a simple biological framework abstracted from all religion and morality, homosexuality is like infertility. It is a sexual disability preventing certain individuals from participating in the normal reproductive patterns of the human species.”
• Gallagher believes polygamy is better than same-sex marriage.
• Has deep ties to the Mormon Church, the Catholic Church hierarchy, and right-wing evangelical pastors.
• Have engaged in a "radical, nationwide plan to flout long-established campaign finance disclosure laws. This is nothing short of a strategic, coordinated plan to hide their political activities from voters and state offices charged with monitoring campaign spending. This effort has prompted several state investigations and resounding legal defeats for NOM."
• Are occasionally hilarious.

Liberty Counsel*

• Argued that hate crime laws are “actually ‘thought crimes’ laws that violate the right to freedom and of conscience.”
• Argued that it should be considered “criminally reckless for educators to teach children that homosexual conduct is a normal, safe and perfectly acceptable alternative.”

With values like these...
Good luck, Values Voters Summit. Your particular brand of 'values' is on the decline, and, in a few generations, will likely be extinct. Support for same-sex marriage has risen over the past two decades, soaring from 11 percent approval in 1988 to nearly 50 percent by 2010.

The number of young people who claim 'no religion' has increased drastically. Nearly a third of young people today say they have no religion. Any idea why that is?  Well, it's complex, but according to David Campbell (professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, and author of 'American Grace: How Religion Divides Us And Unites Us'), "We have good reason to believe that the growth of the nones...is a direct reaction to the intermingling of religion and politics in the United States."

So, at the end of the day, what we have with the Values Voters Summit, is a group of dinosaurs lamenting the fact that society is moving away from the very values which are causing people to move away.

The message I have for you, Values Voters, is evolve or become extinct. Personally, I prefer to stick with my own values, and pass them along to my children. Those values are knowledge, reason, justice, compassion, and human fulfillment. These are values which, unlike yours, never dictate that I inflict harm upon, or restrict the rights of, other human beings. These values will allow us to evolve. And they will evolve with us.