Thinking Pains

"Cameron... is motivated by... fear..."

Everyone's favorite crackpot was recently engaged in a debate vs. reason. Kirk Cameron, childhood star of the hit Growing Pains is now trying to find salvation for himself and others as an evangelist.

The recent televised debate featured Cameron and his partner of Way of the Master (no, serioulsy) vs. a slightly more tolerable pair from the Rational Response Squad. The idea was, Way of the Master was going to prove the existance of god 100%, without the use of faith or the bible, and rely strickly on scientific methods. (no, seriously).

I watched the opening remarks before retreating to the head to relive myself orally of my most recent meal, but it went a little something like this. Way of the Master began with the tired "Creation requires a Creator" gambit, and then quickly spun out into preaching and biblical references, clearly ignoring the rules of engagment previously outlined.

The Rational Response Squad did a great job of refuting this easily refutable claim, however, they really scored a big zero on the charisma scale. This is problematic, especially when facing an opponent on a televised debate, even more so when your opponent is (arguably) a famous proffessional actor! It's remincent of the 1960 Nixon - Kennedy debate. Luckily though, the religious lunitics didn't have an argument (as always) and reason soundly won.

Even though I was pulling for him, Kirk failed in convincing me to adopt a theistic lifestyle, let alone make the leap to Christian mythology. I was fairly convinced, however, of the dangers of childhood stardom. Why can't they all just turn to meth and hookers for salvation after their careers drop off the face of the planet.

The ABC article and video can be found here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3148940&page=1

Prayer is not the Answer

Whenever we are struck with a great tragedy as a society, often, many people turn to religion for answers or salvation. The recent events at Virginia Tech are no different. Perhaps the grief from the situation is temporarily resolved and there is some benefit to the individuals doing the praying - but even if this is the case, it's an internal phenomenon.

It's relevant to revisit last years study on prayer, a review of which was published in the New York Times : Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer

The findings of the study? We'll, obviously, prayer has zero effect. Ask any compulsive gambler who thinks he can will the dice, sure it might feel like if you think hard enough you can effect some outcome, but the truth is, you can't.

Of course, "people of faith", tend to respond the same way charlatans have responded for years when the rub is exposed. They say something along the lines of, the act of observing the phenomenon interferes as if prayer is some spiritual double slit experiment.

We can do better. Instead of praying, why don't we meditate on strategies to improve our society. We're still murdering people and animals everyday with no thought whatsoever. A little introspection goes much farther that a hundred congregations full of hot "prayer".