How about a secular holiday good wish?

On this day the Christians make a big deal about as the purported birthday of Jesus, the Gadfly would like to offer a secular holiday good wish to all those on the planet.
It's too bad the Christians aren't willing to admit that Jesus' real birthday probably wasn't December 25th, and that this date was probably pulled from pagan origins. Another inconvenient truth to those delusional with faith.
Anyway, those of use secularists should look at the basic values of caring for others, goodwill towards fellow men on this planet as goals to strive for, without an imaginary supernatural being dictating such efforts.
Recent polls suggest that those who are losing their religion are the fastest growing population in the United States. It would be wonderful if those of us faithless could band together to show how secular humanism can change the world, without having to resort to magical thinking.
Good day and happy December 25th, secular Gadfly readers.

The Golden Compass - a good fantasy with a dulled needle?

The Gadfly watched the new movie The Golden Compass today. Certainly an interesting fantasy story. Part of what drove me to watch the movie in the theaters, rather than wait for the DVD release as I've supported in the past, is the clamoring of the religious community, in particular Catholics, against the film.
Any film that riles up the religious ranks is worth contributing to, in my opinion.
After watching this film, I can certainly see how the religious community would get a bit perturbed. The evil Magesterium, a thinly veiled reference to organized religion/Catholic church is the evil empire in the movie, attempting to control everyone. Those who stand against the Magesterium are standing for free will and free thought.
Doesn't that mirror what's happening today? So much of the world is bought over, indoctrinated by religious dogma that we're never even given a chance to ask, is there really a God? Is this really true?
If anything, I would argue that The Golden Compass doesn't go far enough in pointing a finger at the church.
We need more movies and books to go on such attacks. In recent years, an outpouring of great books challenging the fallacy of God have come out - The End of Faith, God is Not Great, etc. Atheists, Brights, and all who reject the supernatural are enjoying a resurgence. We have, however, stood idly by the propaganda of the religious community. Was there an outcry by atheists over The Passion of Christ, or the Chronicles of Narnia? The latter, targeted at children, seeks to lure in more unquestioning believers into Christianity while glossing over the gross falsehoods and logical inconsistencies and paradoxes in the Christian faith.
I think the religious community is waking up to the fact that nonbelievers are the fastest growing "faith" in this country. If recent statistics are to be believed, non-believers, or at least people who don't attend church on any regular basis, far outnumber the evangelical Christians who make up over 20% of the voting block in recent national elections.
It is time the non-believers, or at least the non-radical evangelical Christians, flex their mental muscles and celebrate asking questions. In a sense, this is what Pullman in his novel and the movie adaptation, The Golden Compass is asking us to do, to keep our minds free to think for ourselves. More importantly, we need to flex our muscles in the voting booth, to steer our country away from theocracy and towards a real democracy, for all Americans, including the non-believers.

Mitt - it's all about the delusion

Mitt Romney is in a bind. You see, he embraces a different delusion than the rest of us. He embraces the delusion of Mormonism. Normally, this wouldn't pose a problem to his political ambitions. But in modern day America, we have a sizeable voting block, especially in the Republican party, who want to turn America into a Theocracy based on the Christian bible.
These theocrats will only vote based on their bibles, or proxies for their biblical beliefs, such as their pastors.
This is the problem that Mitt Romney faces - trying to pry these theocrats/Christian radicals from their bibles when they enter the voting booth.
There was a time in America, the era when John F. Kennedy ran, when people left their bibles at home when they went work or voted. Now it's different. The separation of church and state is blurred. Radical Christians seek to impose their agenda and beliefs in education, scientific inquiry, government, and the home.
There's no way Mitt will get through to these people. The best we can do is to shine a light of reason to show people of all faiths, but especially radical Christians and Muslims, that they are embracing a great delusion. There is no god. Period. The day that belief enters the mainstream of our society is the day we can have a real reality based dialogue about our country, our education system, our courts, our government policies, our economy, and our politics.
In the meantime, there's a bit of fun watching the wooing of the radical Christians while they end up proping up an unelectable candidate towards the Republican presidential candidacy. Good luck Mitt.