Overtime With Bill Maher – Atheism (video: Overtime With Bill Maher)

When asked about a visit by the leaders of a coalition of non-believing organizations to the Obama White House (see earlier post on the paranoid ravings of Bishop Council Nedd), comedian and atheist Adam Carolla launches — surprise! — into comedy schtick. Bill Maher thankfully, given the hysterical overreaction of the wingnuts and the religious reich to the atheist’s visit, redirects the conversation back to the statistical dominance of superstitionism over reason and the need for nonbelievers to come out of the closet and take a stand against what we don’t believe in and for our Constitutional right to to choose not to believe.

Sorry, cupcakes. There’s absolutely no proof of a religious gene (or even a phenotype), and any religious impulse to please an invisible deity is clearly nothing more than panic when it comes to not knowing the currently unknown. Smart people no longer see the hands of the gods in solar eclipses, because we know what causes solar eclipses. If there is, and I believe there is, an impulse to do good, take a bow, folks. You’ve evolved, because it’s just smarter to treat each other well and to make an attempt to get along with each other. And, bonus points to those who are motivated by something other than fear of the post-life consequences of not adhering to some man-made-up dogma.

It’s precious when conservative political writer Reihan Salam suggests that opposing currently accepted scientific principles (which are unceasingly fluid because science is rooted in skepticism) is a form of skepticism and not motivated by superstition once again rearing its ugly head. Skepticism is therefore a good thing when the faithful practice it on non-believers and science, but not vice versa.

Salam also advises non-believers and scientists — over 93% of whom do not believe there is an invisible guy in the sky toiling effortlessly away, simultaneously reading and evaluating the thoughts of every being in the universe, tossing curiosities like “the virgin birth” in man’s face with a hearty “trust me, I’m God,” and then sending the bad dudes and dudettes (including non-believers) packing to a post-life vacation in Hades for all eternity and without the possibility of 72 drop-dead gorgeous virgins on standby — to tolerate the intolerant.

As for the call for “humility” on the part of non-believers: Oh. Fucking. Please! Let’s all humbly tolerate the lifestyle choices of the faithful — no matter how freaky their beliefs — in the name of tolerance? I don’t think so. There’s no way we should tolerate a messiah who shows up on the side of a grilled cheese sandwich, let alone one who says withholding medical attention from your children when they’re dying or who says raping kids is cool — but only if you’re a priest. And, in fact, let’s fact-check the holy fuck out of the gods who say give all your money and grains and goats and first borns to the already rich guys through whom I’m delivering my sacred and irrefutable word … or else.

(tip: Norm Jensen, OneGoodMove)