To say nothing of *IF* the remarkably pompous Atheist Supremacist Spokesperson (aka pompous ASS) Richard Dawkins had access to the direct personal *knowledge* of God that psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung, the alleged "dangerously deranged psycho-sociopath" your's truly, and numerous other modern people had, and still have. . .
Without further ado, or indeed "to do", here is the comment that I just posted to the RAW Story blog post titled - Richard Dawkins: ‘Jesus would have been an atheist’ - in which Richard Dawkin's is quoted as saying:
"Somebody as intelligent as Jesus would have been an atheist if he had known what we know today."
The devout fundamentalist atheist, if not Atheist Supremacist... Richard Dawkins would be a Theist today if he had access to the direct personal *knowledge* of God that Jesus and other prophets had thousands of years ago, and many other human beings have today in the 21st century. Richard Dawkins' facile dismissal of religious experience in 'The God Delusion' etc. is "less than scientific" and looks a lot like sheer willful ignorance.
There is lots of positive evidence for the existence of God if one responsibly investigates religious experience but most scientists refuse to do so. In fact the self-described Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) point blank refused to scientifically investigate my own claimed revelatory experience of God when I challenged them to do so. Indeed they lamely and quite ludicrously claimed that they do not actually engage in the scientific investigation of religious experiences. Doh! That *might* explain why they have apparently changed their name to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI pronounced *sigh*). . . I can't help but wonder if I am responsible for that name change. Maybe I should send them another email inviting them to engage in some "skeptical inquiry" into my profound revelatory religious experience and the messages that resulted from it.
For a scientist Richard Dawkins sure likes to wallow in apparently quite willful ignorance when it comes to contemporary religious experience and other positive evidence for the existence of God, such as evidence that strongly suggests Intelligent Design in the Universe.
In a blog post title 'Real Sign Real Poll' on his Pharyngula blog fundamentalist atheist ASS* professor P. Z. Myers comments on a Chigago Tribune article titled 'God wants you to buy baseball tickets?' and subtitled 'Joliet JackHammers tickets specifically, billboard says'. Yes it would appear that the Joliet Jackhammers baseball team in Illinois has taken a cue from those religiously motivated billboard ad campaigns which have "messages from God" on the billboard and have created a billboard ad saying -
"BUY JACKHAMMERS TICKETS TODAY." - GOD
P.Z. makes a valid point about how Joliet Councilwoman Jan Hallums, and no doubt other people, consider this humorous and somewhat irreverent billboard ad campaign to be "in very poor taste".
Herewith some "fair use" of P.Z.'s words -
"I wonder if Quillman felt the same way about the serious billboard campaign that had God announcing his will and intentions? There was one that read, "Let's Meet At My House Sunday Before the Game -God." Was that in poor taste? It seems to me that many people think it's perfectly alright to put words in their imaginary deity's mouth as long as it sounds serious and respectful, no matter what it may be."
It occurs to me that the copywriter of the billboard ad may well have been familiar with that "Let's Meet At My House Sunday Before the Game -God." billboard ad and is referencing it, if not parodying it, in the Joliet Jackhammers billboard ad.
P.Z. Myers concludes his blog post in typical fundamentalist atheist style by saying -
"Since it appropriately trivializes the foolishness of claiming that a god speaks, I had to vote no. Keep it up!"
Why is it foolishness to claim that a god or indeed *The* God speaks?
Surely if God exists and, like Carl Jung, I can very honestly say that I *know* God exists, God has the capability to communicate in various ways, including (pun intended) the use of *sign language*. . . Pretty much every god imagined or *real* has the ability to speak, or otherwise communicate with human beings, as the Bible, Koran, and numerous other religious scriptures and "mythology" make abundantly clear. So there is nothing particularly foolish about claiming that a god speaks. Nope. In his typical close-minded fundamentalist atheist world-view P. Z. Myers quite evidently fervently believes that it is pure foolishness for people to believe in the mere existence of *any* god whatsoever, ergo it is foolishness to claim that any god speaks.
Since P. Z. Myers has proven himself to be something of an obnoxious asshole with his anti-religious ranting on his Pharyngula blog I have decided to "honor" him today by creating my own parody version of the Joliet Jackhammers billboard ad.
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Molson Coors Canada apparently forgot to warn consumers that Coors Light pseudo beer is a lot pissier than most people from Toronto too!
Yes, Occam's Zweihander just *had* to weigh in on the "not cool" Coors Light billboard advertising campaign that advertised Coors Light pseudo-beer as -
Here are some "truth in advertising" Coors Light billboard ad slogans that I just submitted in a comment to the National Post article about this matter -
YouTube video about The Beer Summit courtesy of Associated Press
By all accounts the meeting between Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge MA police officer Sgt. James Crowley with U.S. President Barack Obama serving as "bartender" and Vice President Joe Biden present as "bouncer" (just kidding) ;-) was successful and productive. If Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley can sit down together and work towards reconciliation in a civil and mutually respectful manner all I can say is more power to them. If this "Beer Summit" can serve as a "springboard" toward a national dialogue on race relations in the U.S.A. that would be great too. If Sgt. James Crowley can comfortably work together with Henry Louis Gates Jr. in the production of the documentary film that he wants to do on racial profiling, as I have previously suggested, without being co-opted that would be a good thing too. If these two men genuinely want to reconcile and constructively and productively work together to improve race relations in the U.S.A. then I think that the American public should allow them to do just that.
According to the National Post/Reuters report President Barack Obama said that he hoped that the "Beer Summit" would give the people involved in the dispute a chance to listen to each other, instead of "ginning up anger and hyperbole," and reflect upon the fact that they all had different points of view. Sounds fair enough to me but I think that it needs to be pointed out once again, hopefully for a final time. . . that the person most responsible for "ginning up anger and hyperbole" in this matter is Henry Louis Gates Jr., not Sgt. James Crowley and not President Barack Obama even if he did gin up *some* anger with his poorly calibrated words. One only needs to read Henry Louis Gates' self-serving "interview" in The Root entitled 'Skip Gates Speaks' to see plenty of ginning up of anger and over-the-top hyperbole that I have already pointed out in previous blog posts here.
So what did each participant in the "Beer Summit" imbibe you ask?
Well it seems that Stone Brewing Co. of Escondido, California never shipped up that complimentary case of their Arrogant Bastard Ale that I waggishly suggested that they might want to provide on the White House as it were.
National Post/Reuters reports - Bud Light for Obama, Blue Moon for Crowley and Red Stripe for Gates. Vice President Joe Biden was also at the table.
Daily Enquirer reports - The four men ate peanuts as they chatted over their favorite beers. Obama drank a Bud Light, Crowley a Blue Moon, Gates a Sam Adams Light, and Biden a non-alcoholic Buckler.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch has an article titled 'Beer Summit: Prosit' which discusses the choice of beers and concludes with this parting shot - The tripartite summit and the "brewhaha" preceding it reminded us of the time a rabbi, a priest, and a minister walked into a saloon, prompting the bartender to ask, "What is this, a joke?"
The Baltimore Sun has an article titled 'Rating the brews served at the beer summit' which apparently rates all of the beers served as second rate swill. I would have to concur. . .
Here is the comment I submitted to the article -
I would go with the Blue Moon too, and might even have two or three if it was a half-decent wheat beer which I have some reason to doubt.
Prompted by a waggish commenter elsewhere I had emailed the Stone Brewing Co. suggesting that it might want to ship a complimentary case of its Arrogant Bastard Ale to be served on the White House as it were. :-)
The Washington Post has an interesting article titled 'The Racial Politics of Beer' by one by Maureen Ogle which was apparently written two days in the future since it is dated Sunday, August 2, 2009. . .
Maureen Ogle's first paragraph says -
It was never going to be just a round of beers -- not when it was being served at the White House to a black (and part Irish) Harvard professor, a white police officer (also boasting Irish roots) and the mixed-race president of the United States.
I can't help but wonder if Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Irish roots are of the Protestant Orangemen variety which might explain a lot about what happened between the two men, seeing that Sgt. James Crowley's Irish background seems to be on the Catholic side of *that* divide. . . Oh dear am I engaging in racial profiling? ;-)
Of course, nothing says "humanity" better than fermented grain. For 10,000 years, from Mesopotamia to medieval Europe, from Asia to Africa, human beings have prayed, haggled, and waged war and peace while sipping the stuff. In Europe circa 3,000 B.C., beer-drinking played such a vital role in political and religious rituals that chieftains and warriors outfitted themselves with ornate cups and ewers, objects of precious stone and metal so symbolically powerful that they were buried with their owners.
It's well worth a full read.
Here is U.S. President Barack Obama’s statement following the "Beer Summit" courtesy of the Los Angeles Times:
"I am thankful to Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley for joining me at the White House this evening for a friendly, thoughtful conversation. Even before we sat down for the beer, I learned that the two gentlemen spent some time together listening to one another, which is a testament to them. I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart. I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode."
"It's an attempt to have some personal interaction when an issue has become so hyped and so symbolic that you loose sight of just the fact that these are people involved, including myself, all of whom are imperfect," Mr. Obama said.
Nuff' said?
Well not quite. It does occur to me that Sgt. James Crowley might have been trying to send a subtle message by choosing the Blue Moon. I expect that he hopes that the kind of incident that led to the Beer Summit only occurs once in a blue moon. . .
In 1992 I underwent a profound revelatory experience of God which revealed that the total solar eclipse "Eye of God" is a "Sign in the Heavens" that symbolizes God's divine omniscience. You may read about what Rev. Ray Drennan of the Unitarian Church of Montreal contemptuously dismissed as my "psychotic experience" here: http://revelationisnotsealed.homestead.com - This revelatory religious experience inspired me to propose an inter-religious celebration of Creation that would take place whenever a total solar eclipse took place over our planet. You may read about what Rev. Ray Drennan and other leading members of the Unitarian Church of Montreal falsely and maliciously labeled as a "cult" here: http://creationday.homestead.com - I am now an excommunicated Unitarian whose "alternative spiritual practice" includes publicly exposing and denouncing Unitarian*Universalist injustices, abuses, and hypocrisy. The Emerson Avenger blog will serve that purpose for me and hopefully others will share their concerns here. Dee Miller's term DIM Thinking is used frequently and appropriately on this blog. You may read more about what DIM Thinking is here - http://www.takecourage.org/defining.htm
