San Antonio

I am with Barbara in San Antonio. We got there early and went for one of the Riverwalk water tours;

The highlight, for me, was seeing a water snake effortlessly swimming on the top of the water.

Topics

Why do Christians feel victimized?

Many do; consider the pathetic graduation speech that Newt Gingrich gave at Liberty “University”:

All 43 American presidents – even those who doubted religion – associated themselves with the Christian faith. Today, it is still far easier for a politician from a fringe religious sect, such as Mormonism, to be a serious national candidate than it would be for an atheist or an agnostic.

Yet, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is basing his political comeback, in part, on an assertion that the real bias in America is against those who believe in religion and that “radical secularism” is oppressing them.

“This anti-religious bias must end,” Gingrich told an enthusiastic audience of graduates from the late Rev. Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Gingrich’s strategy appears to be to repackage the Right’s lament about the so-called “war on Christmas” into a year-round campaign to make Christians view themselves as victims of evil, all-powerful secularists and liberals.

Much like the “war on Christmas” alarms, Gingrich’s detection of this “anti-religious bias” across America is derived by cherry-picking small gestures aimed at minimizing discrimination against both non-Christians and non-believers and transforming that into a pattern of oppression against the Christian majority in the United States. [...]

Let’s see: tax exempt status for churches, freedom to worship as one pleases, lawmakers who are almost exclusively Jewish or Christian believers (Christians or Jews; one Muslim congressman, one non-believer who is a Unitarian (see below), one Unitarian Senator, and a couple of Buddhists in the House).

To see the complete breakdown, go here.

The new 110th Congress will, for the first time, include a Muslim, two Buddhists, more Jews than Episcopalians, and the highest-ranking Mormon in congressional history, the Religion News Service’s Jonathan Tilove reports. Roman Catholics remain the largest single faith group in Congress, accounting for 29 percent of all members of the House and Senate, followed by Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Jews and Episcopalians.

Exception:

Unitarian Congressman

Fortney “Pete” Stark Jr., an 18-term Democratic veteran of the House, made the unusual declaration after being queried by secular groups running a contest to find the highest-ranking atheist in American politics.

“When the Secular Coalition asked me to complete a survey on my religious beliefs, I indicated I am a Unitarian who does not believe in a supreme being,” Mr. Stark, 75, said in an statement emailed to The New York Sun.

Atheist groups hailed Mr. Stark yesterday as the first member of Congress to declare that he does not believe in God. “With Stark’s courageous public announcement of his nontheism, it is our hope that he will become an inspiration for others who have hidden their conclusions for too long,” the executive director of the American Humanist Association, Roy Speckhardt, said.

Mr. Stark’s declaration notwithstanding, the contest sponsored by the Secular Coalition of America hardly had politicians clamoring to embrace nonbelief. A spokeswoman for the group, Lori Lipman Brown, said 47 people entered to win $1,000 by identifying the highest-ranking politician who is an atheist. The only other politicians willing to identify themselves as nonbelievers were two school board members and one town meeting member. Aside from Mr. Stark, no state or federal official at any level agreed to be named as an atheist.

But I digressed rather badly.

So, what gives? My guess is that it is natural for many to want to believe that they are the norm; that what they believe should be the standard for everyone. Hence, having things like public prayers in schools…well, why would anyone other than a few oddballs object? When you say “well, you know, that isn’t right; not everyone believes as you do, and in fact, your religion isn’t everyone else’s and you have no right to subject everyone to it against their wishes….well…that’s persecution!

Science

I found a couple of cool science videos on youtube:

I think it was Feyman who said that anyone who isn’t shocked by quatum mechanics doesn’t understand it?

Dr. Quantum and Flatland.

About to leave for San Antonio

Where Barbara has a conference.

Workout notes: 4 mile walk to St. Edwards (ok, probably well over 4 miles; 60 minutes worth of easy walking on a hilly course). I was going to swim, but there were spectacular flashes of lightning during the early morning, so I rolled over and went back to bed.

Other items:

What is this? Well, it is called ratings for Faux News. Think of it as professional wrestling, where the “good” guy, that red-blooded God believing American Hannity takes on that evil atheist intellectual with a British accent Hitchens.

As one commenter at RichardDawkins.net
observed:

blueollie. I see your point re the wrestling match. The programme in their (viewers) eyes would be improved only by having hannity/colmes wear a blue mask and a shield and hitchens would have a red cloak and a pitch fork. I suppose the problem is when people watch this and think it IS the news.

Healthcare
Here is a nice article about what can happened to children that don’t have health insurance; here a young guy dies as the result of complications from a bad tooth!

Hat tip to the blogger of Welcome to Pottersville.

is probably appropriate viewing right now.