- Women Air Force pilots got their Rose Parade float – WASPs were, “Classified as civilians working for the Air Force as they performed the same job as (and even trained) enlisted men, unceremoniously dismissed at the end of the war, with their actions unnecessarily classified for thirty years and subsequently omitted from history textbooks.”
- To the pastor giving atheism a shot for a year: You’re doing it wrong – What do you think?
- Think gender struggles in the workplace are history? Think again – “Female representation on corporate boards has been shockingly flat for 10 years, according to the Alliance Board for Diversity’s recent report “Missing Pieces.””
- Dogs align themselves to the Earth’s magnetic field when pooping – Oh, science. From Amy.
- Cute Animal Friday! Baby caecilians may not be terribly cute, but they’re really interesting. And there’s been a new species of tapir discovered, from Michael.
Amanda,
That story about dogs is the oddest thing ever. You’d think that being so fussy about which direction they do their thing would be a disadvantage.
You realize that the sighting of new species is going to tapir off, don’t you?
What aspect of the WASPs was classified? I can remember my father telling me about the RAF equivalent, I thought it was common knowledge that women ran a lot of ferry flights across the Atlantic (and other such missions).
I think Hemant’s post is overly critical. This is an entrenched Christian who is going to live for a year completely abandoning his sacred rituals, and actively trying to be won over to atheism. Hemant speaks like he’s knows what that’s like because he’s visited a lot of churches. That’s not the same thing; Hemant was never trying to become Christian. I think the metaphor of “trying on” atheism is perfectly apt in this case and Pastor Belll even says himself that he knows he’s not actually an atheist yet.
So, Hemant writes a critical post saying he supports what Bell is doing, but he’s doing it “wrong” because he’s not really going to live as an atheist until he stops believing in God, which Bell stipulates on his own. There are times to nit-pick and this isn’t one of them.
I actually became an atheist because of an experience much like Bell’s. Fundamentalist Christianity was simply not compatible with who I am, but it was all I had ever known, and I’d been taught since preschool that if Christian abandons Christianity they will become a monster, so I was terrified of not living my faith, even in my heart I knew it was false. I started out by “living like there was no God” for 24 hour periods, and then spending the next couple days praying about it, and reading my Bible to make sense of it. It actually took me about 2 full years to become an atheist.
As I commented on FA, my own process of shedding my family’s religion was similar. When my questions and doubts became louder than my indoctrination I eventually worked up the courage to challenge god directly to show himself. Nothing happened. It was at once terrifying and an enormous relief.
I wish Bell the best.
“So, I’m making it official and embarking on a new journey. I will “try on” atheism for a year. For the next 12 months I will live as if there is no God. I will not pray, read the Bible for inspiration, refer to God as the cause of things or hope that God might intervene and change my own or someone else’s circumstances.”
In response to the quote, I am not exactly sure that this is the definition of what atheism is. Maybe those are the actions of some/possibly most atheists, but just not believing is enough in my opinion. I think a great number of atheist participate in some of those things and are not believers. Reading a scripture someone has quoted, attending a church function, etc, doesn’t make you a Christian, belief does. As for *doing it wrong* I do wonder is there a right way? If he is doing things as he reports in his blog, he is in for quite a ride.