I Suppose I Should Be Offended...

...but I'm not. I just read an article about the state of religion in the U.S. Written by SFGate columnist Mark Morford, the piece summarizes the findings of a study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which polled Americans on their religious preferences. This paragraph jumped out at me (emphasis mine):

Which brings us to perhaps the most interesting stat of all, wherein 16 percent of Americans ... don't hook into any religious affiliation whatsoever, thus making them/us the fourth largest "religious" group in America — and growing fast. They are the unaffiliated, the wayward ones, not just agnostics and atheists but also the poets and the grazers and spiritualists, the mystics and the explorers and the cosmically, intellectually, divinely self-determined. (Or maybe they're all just actors and bass players and trust-funded art students. But let's try to be optimistic).

As a full time bass player and atheist, and as an occasional actor I should be looking up this Mr. Morford and challenging him to a duel to defend my honor. But I'm laughing too much to do so.

Giving Thanks Where Thanks Is Due

I've just been reading up on the somewhat thorny history of Thanksgiving Day. Despite what our kindergarten teachers led us to believe, the holiday we celebrate here in North America (yes, the Canadians celebrate their version of TD as well) has very little to do with pilgrims and native Americans. Or turkey, for that matter.

It turns out that there is, unfortunately, a strong religious odor attached to the 18th C. version of TD. It wasn't until Lincoln's time that there was national recognition of a "thanksgiving day" and it wasn't until 1941 that the day became a national holiday by law.

Rather than review the data here, I'll leave it to you to do a little research if you're at all interested. Wikipedia's entry is a pretty good starting point.

So, as in years past, I want to give thanks to the people and circumstances that have given me joy, inspiration and a better understanding of the world this past year. I will spare you the personal litany of friends and family members, all of whom make my small life worth living.

Thank you to:

Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christoper Hitchens and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I became aware of their work this year (in the order listed, if you're keeping score) and they have helped me to become articulate about the non-theistic point of view I have had for many years. They've made it clear that I am not alone in finding the concepts of god and religion to be utterly without redeeming value.

Michael Moore, creator of the film SICKO, who has raised the awareness of millions of Americans (including me) about the true nature of our national health care disaster. Again, Moore has helped me articulate what I've felt for a long time (esp as a self-employed person) and has focussed my attention on very specific ways to get involved (such as supporting H.R. 676 and candidates who openly favor a national single payer system).

Al Gore, goofy and pedantic as he can be, for his work on global warming and, in particular, the film An Inconvenient Truth. This has been a good year for raising consciousness (I use the phrase in its most secular meaning). Gore's work is another example of how someone deeply involved in an issue can galvanize millions of others to take an issue seriously. Its about time.

Modern medical technology and the thoughtful, knowledgeable and caring health care workers who have made it possible for those I love to lead longer, healthier lives. But for the grace of modern medical care go I. A special tip of the hat to the makers of buproprion.

The authors Michael Chabon, Philip Roth, Daniel Levitan, Frank McCourt, Nina Shengold, Mary Oliver, Orhan Pamuk, Annie Proulx, James Hollis and Cormac McCarthy (plus others too numerous to mention). Their work has given me many hours of reading and contemplating pleasure.

The music of Dave Holland, Kenny Werner, Charles Mingus, Bill Evans, Michael Brecker, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Victor Wooten, Edgar Meyer, Miles Davis, Ben Allison, Radiohead, Steely Dan, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Stravinsky, J.S. Bach, Yo Yo Ma, The Beatles, Megon McDonough, Peter Polzak and, again, other composers and performers too numerous to note. Their art has inspired me to feel, play and, on occasion, compose.

All of the folks who have helped and supported my PlayJazzNow business in its first full year of operation. Jeff Lane, Jim Massoth and Helena Bouchez are the most likely candidates for the business purple heart, if there was such a thing.

Best wishes to all who are reading this for a happy and safe holiday season, however you celebrate it.

Good Quotes for An Atheist

All the articles of our Christian belief are, when considered rationally, just as impossible, and mendacious and preposterous. Faith however, is completely abreast of the situation. It grips reason by the throat and strangles the beast.

- Martin Luther

What a refreshing moment of clarity! So one does have to kill rationality in oneself to be a christian! Its right there in black and white; straight from the horse's mouth, as it were.


The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.

-Thomas Jefferson

Yup, those Founding Fathers were SO fundamentalist. No wonder we live in a "christian nation". Actually, I'm surprised Jefferson's name hasn't been suppressed by the Current Occupant and those of his unholy ilk.

I don't think there's anything quite as pithy as either of these quotations in Dawkins, Harris or Hitchens, delightful as they all are. I'm glad I stumbled upon these in my quest for truth today. (I mean that quite literally, as you will see in a soon to be written post)

Christopher Hitchens in Chicago

Tonight I attended an enlightening event at the Spertus Museum of Judaica in downtown Chicago. Brilliant author, scholar and provocateur Christopher Hitchens presented a brief lecture entitled Do Jews Have an Atheist Gene?

First, I must say that Mr. Hitchens is another one of those people who makes me proud to be of Jewish heritage. The man has an amazingly agile intellect; he is intimidatingly well-read and articulate. One must pay attention in his presence and one is well rewarded for doing so. The penalty for not hanging on to every word is being left behind in the dust, wondering what just happened.

I have been reading some of Hitchens' articles from Vanity Fair and Slate online lately, having been something of a fan of his when I had a subscription to The Nation in the 1980's. He famously broke with the Left a few years ago because of his support for the war in Iraq and has publicly sparred with several former comrades, most notably Noam Chomsky and Alexander Cockburn. I've also been watching Hitch on video either giving talks, debating or being interviewed. There's a bunch of good stuff at his website as well as some excellent clips on YouTube.

So it was exciting to be in the same room with this man. I'm not given to the cult of personality, but Hitchens cuts a powerful figure in person. He is witty, charming and very funny. I'll have to break down and buy a copy of his God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. He's the only member of the so-called Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett being the other three) whose book on atheism I have not read.

Hitchens began by making the point that many Jews have not so much repudiated their faith but outgrown it. This resonates with me quite well; I have often thought that one of the problems with Judaism is that it seems so archaic. There's no room in the contemporary world for so many of the quaint yet exacting strictures demanded of practicing Jews. Keeping the Sabbath and the kosher laws spring immediately to mind here. Even before I identified myself among the non-believers I couldn't fathom most of the mumbo-jumbo that passes for devotion in Judaism. Needless to say, we certainly don't have the market cornered on absurd practices and nonsensical rituals.

So just what is it that makes Jews so prevalent among atheists? There is a tradition of skepticism that runs through Judaism; it is the only one of the major world religions that truly encourages intellectual curiosity and revels in dialog and debate. The fact that Spinoza, Freud and Einstein were all Jewish is no accident, according to Hitchens. The Diaspora encouraged Jews to become cosmopolitan, to value education, to become enlightened citizens wherever they landed. It seems that secularism might also be the result of contact with other cultures, languages, races and religions.

It is not surprising, for example, that the majority of well-known American Buddhist and Eastern philosophy teachers began their lives as Jews. I'm thinking here of Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfeld, Steven Levine, Pema Chodron and, of course, Richard Alpert (aka Ram Dass).

Now I wish that I had taken notes during Hitchens' talk and the subsequent Q&A session. I can't recall the other specific points he made on this particular subject. What sticks with me, above all, is Hitchens' fearless intellectual honesty. He is not afraid to commit to an unpopular opinion and he is able to back up his views with solid facts and convincing arguments. While I don't always agree with his conclusions I have tremendous respect for this courageous forthrightness. I aspire to that level of fierce independence and integrity.

Get OUT!

I just learned of Richard Dawkins' new effort to make atheists and atheism more visible. It is called the OUT campaign. The big red A that now adorns this blog is a symbol of my support for the concept as well as a personal statement that I identify as a non-theist.

In case you live under a rock, Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist who wrote the seminal best selling book The God Delusion. He and my other hero Sam Harris (author of The End of Faith) are in large part responsible for the increased visibility of non-theism (or rationalist thinking or the "bright" philosophy or whatever you want to call it).

This information came to me through a blog I've been frequenting lately called The Atheist Revolution, which I highly recommend. The author is a very active reader and blogs regularly about all the various political, social and personal aspects of atheism. What I'm beginning to realize is that I am far from alone in my disbelief in supernatural beings. There are substantially more agnostics, skeptics, freethinkers and atheists than I have been led to believe. Just ignorance and my part - combined with the saturation of information in the media about the unfortunate pervasiveness of religious fundamentalism of all stripes.

If you would like the lovely big red A for your site, you can grab it HERE.

Teaching or Infomercial?

This morning I sat through yet another alleged spiritual teaching at the church where I play every Sunday. I will withhold the name of the speaker because I don't wish to create any kind of negative vibe with respect to the church, its attendees or my band-mates. Suffice it to say that today's speaker is a bigwig in the New Thought movement.

Let me start by saying that some of the concepts I generally hear espoused in this "prosperity" church are benign enough. The idea that there can be positive transformation in individuals and in society based upon raising consciousness through study, developing compassion, creativity, love, forgiveness and kindness makes good sense to me. I embrace progress, ethical behavior and generally spreading the good vibe in every possible way. But some of the ideas I hear strike me as overly simplistic; some lean heavily on what I call god-dependence; and some of the talk (especially today's "word") is downright insulting.

Today I was told that "I don't know who I am" because I'm an atheist. I'm supposed to be depressed, cynical and poverty stricken because I don't believe in a supreme being who knows all and sees all. Well, sorry; I'm neither sad nor poor nor ungrateful nor unethical. I simply don't have the evidence I would need to believe that there is some "it" out there to whom I must be devoted. I could be wrong, but I feel fine taking my chances by trying my best to behave ethically and to cultivate in myself the qualities that I feel will promote the greater good for myself and others.

Our evangelist proclaimed that every child comes into the world "with god" and it is only our society and educational system that drums godliness out of our progeny. That is exactly the opposite of what I observe and believe. Children come into the world without the need for some imaginary being that requires their obeisance in order for them to lead happy and prosperous lives. The prevalence of religion in our culture, along with depression, anxiety, poverty and misery should be proof enough that "giving it up" to some supreme being is no panacea. In fact, just the opposite may well be true. When people get strong enough in themselves to know that their happiness does NOT depend on anyone or anything outside of themselves they do not need to praise jesus or allah or any other "supreme" being.

The opening line of the advertising for this speaker reads:

No need to work hard, just be spiritually smart!

Let me get this straight: I just attend your seminar, buy your books and/or CDs, follow the 21 day plan and, bingo! all will be well? Talk about magical thinking. My experience as a sentient being tells me that progress in ANY area of my life requires work, hard work. It doesn't have to be unpleasant, though the task of, say, working through one's psychological terrain can certainly put one through some interesting emotional states. For example, becoming a competent musician requires many, many hours of focused work. I can't think of a single endeavor that is worth pursuing that doesn't involve hard work no matter how "spiritually smart" one becomes. I'm not sure what that phrase is even supposed to mean, even after hearing the "teaching" this morning.

The people I've met at this church seem to be pleasant, intelligent, peace-loving, good-humored folk. They really appreciate our music and that feels really good to me. They've been treated to some great musical performances, including today's gospel choir which killed, and they seem to know when it IS really good. The minister often speaks in ways that resonate well with me, though I do have issues with "christ consciousness" as a positive state of mind. In short, I like this gig; it doesn't really pay enough to do it if I didn't enjoy the experience.

But I just don't get how otherwise seemingly intelligent people can listen to some of the stuff we heard today and not see it as pandering and, yes, demeaning. That's a strong word, I realize. There was no hard sell today, like there was from the idiot who spoke the previous week (I can't waste pixels on that dude). But it was clear to me from the start that the underlying goal of the "teaching" was to get as many congregants as possible to attend the afternoon workshop. I'm sure some good might come from the things this person has to say. She certainly has a "motivational" personality and some of that energy might rub off on attendees. There may be some good advice on how to change one's habits in her seminar. I just wish I didn't have to hear how I'm god's favorite child and how devotion to him/her/it will be my salvation. I already possess the internal wherewithal to do the WORK I need to do to keep moving in the right direction.