The Mad Professah Lectures

The Pew Research Center regular conducts polls about religious identity of the American population. They asked people to put themselves into four categories: "religious and spiritual," "neither religious nor spiritual," "religious but not spiritual" and "spiritual but not religious."

In the 5 years since they last conducted the poll in 2012 the number of people who said spiritual but not religious jumped from 19% to 27% and the number who said religious and spiritual dropped from 59% to 48%.

Sadly, the group I would have identified with, Neither religious not spiritual only marginally increased from 16% to 18%.

Regardless, the fact that more Americans as "spiritual" (75%) than as religious (54%) is a pretty big deal, and is the key takeaway of today's Godless Wednesday.

If you are a fan of The Simpsons like I am you will recognize the name Sam Simon as one of the co-creators and executive producers of the long-running animated sitcom. Simon was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2012 and given 3-6 months to live. He died at the age of 59 this week but used that time to give away his millions to causes he believed in, like American Atheists.

“I’m an atheist, but there’s a thing called tithing that a lot of religions do. Ten percent was the minimum you were supposed to give to charity every year. And I always outdid that,” Sam explains.…
“People say I’m trying to buy my way into heaven, which I don’t believe in. So that can’t be true,” Sam says. He paid for those atheist billboards that make news from time to time. Like the one by the Lincoln Tunnel, in New York, that read, IT’S A MYTH, on a picture of the stars over Bethlehem.

Yet another reason to like The Simpsons! And another example that one can be godless and still do good in the world.

The ranks of the godless are growing! A recent Gallup poll indicates that up to 19% of Americans say they agree with statement "Humans developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in  the process." Sadly, 42% of Americans agree with the scientifically false statement "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time in the past 10,000 years or so." This is so disheartening for someone who is an academic and who has worked at the National Science Foundation. What are you people thinking?

Between 40% and 47% of Americans over the past 32 years have said the creationist explanation for the origin of human life best fits their personal views. These Americans tend to be highly religious, underscoring the degree to which many Americans view the world around them through the lens of their religious beliefs. Those who adopt the creationist view also tend to have lower education levels, but given the strong influence of religious beliefs, it is not clear to what degree having more education or different types of education might affect their views. 

A number of states have been embroiled in fights in recent years over the degree to which evolution and creationism should be included in their public school curricula. Residents in the South are more likely to believe in the creationist view of the origin of humans than are those living in other regions, making it clear why the fights to have creationism addressed in the public schools might be an important political issue in that region. 

Still, few scientists would agree that humans were created pretty much in their present form at one time 10,000 years ago, underscoring the ongoing discontinuity between the beliefs that many Americans hold and the general scientific consensus on this important issue.

Hat/tip to Joe Jervis

Friendly Atheist conducted a poll to find the best atheist billboard of 2012 and the one above, called "KidsWithoutGod.com" was the winner with 12.75% of the vote in a field of 18 possible.

I actually missed the vote, but several of the final 18 had appeared on MadProfessah.com in 2012. Such as #16 (Shame on Mormonism) that appeared here on October 24, 2012, #1 (God is an Imaginary Friend) that appeared here on January 25, 2012, #6 (You Know It's A Myth) which appeared here on March 7, 2012 and --my personal favorite-- #3 (You're One Of Many) which appeared here on February 8, 2012.

Check out all 18 yourself, some of them are very clever!

Ouch. This billboard from American Atheists publicizing the racist history of Mormon doctrine that Black men were barred from becoming full-fledged members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints until 1978 is starting to get attention. Not only did Mormons discriminate on the basis of race, but they do still discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

The Church still says that sexually active gay men and lesbians are not allowed to be full-fledged members. In their parlance being a full-fledged member means being able to "accept the priesthood." Of course, the even larger aspect of discrimination the Church engages in is on the basis of gender, since women are also not allowed to accept the priesthood, but since there are lots of other religions that are definitionally patriarchal (Catholicism, Islam, etc). Mormonism tends to get a pass on the fact that it does not think that women should have the same status as men.

This above image of two girders found in the wreckage of the collapse of the World Trade Center's twin towers a few days after 9/11 has become the subject of a lawsuit between those who believe it should be included in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum as an "artifact" and those who believe that a government-sponsored entity should not be supporting the reification of a religious symbol.

CNN reports:


What do you think, Gentle Readers? Is it a cross or a "girder set"? And should it be included in a museum created with our taxpayer dollars ?