From the comments at Chicago Boyz:

One of the core myths of atheism, at least as it is practiced on the internet, is that atheism is the pinnacle of all reason. It is not merely a possible or even a true belief, but actually a righteous belief. All other belief is an exercise in self-deception and superstition.

So the epic goes. The noble atheist rises above his petty fellows by sheer force of reason, intellectual honesty, and will for truth, and when he has achieved the lofty height of unbelief, he can look down upon the superstitious masses with a mixture of pity and contempt.

To the educated and intellectually honest Christian, the story is poppycock. The reasoning is nothing like the line of reasoning that any believer will give you. No one will ever say, “Well, I know it’s all hogwash, but it’s comforting hogwash, you know?” The tradeoff is a fantasy – but one that makes sense when you realize atheism is a religion, not a science. The attitude summed up in the quote stems not from actual close-up observation of what religion is, but from a distant self-serving perception of it ought to be. Its roots are not in reason, but in emotional need.

“Dove” — you tell it!

Good Shabbos.

Breitbart:

Three people were arrested Thursday after staging a noisy protest as a Hindu chaplain read the opening prayer at the US Senate, branding his appearance an “abomination.”US Capitol Police said the protestors, apparently Christian religious activists, were ejected from the chamber and charged with an unlawful disruption of Congress.

As Hindu chaplain Rajan Zed started to recite his prayer, one protestor was heard chanting “Lord … forgive us father for allowing a prayer which is an abomination in your sight.

“You are the one, true living God.”

This is an interesting dilemma. It is certainly problematic to say that we will have monotheistic chaplains leading the prayer in the Senate, but not ones that are otherwise. But most religious Christians and Jews believe in a religious creed that does not teach toleration of non-monotheistic religions — this speaks not of people in a pluralistic society, who are to be afforded respect, but of theologies.

I guess the answer, though, is easy. No more clergymen or clergypersons in official roles in the Capitol. If that’s where we are today, better to do without.

Interestingly enough, however, the Ron Coleman solution, as obvious as it sounds, will not be the policy any time soon. Hoary custom provides for these invocations. But how long until the Wiccans have their morning on the podium? For that matter, how about the IRS’s favorite religion, the Church of Scientology? The Aryan Brotherhood?

I’m not trying to insult Hindus, who practice the world’s third largest religion. I am saying there is no obvious dividing line, now that the pantheon is open to all comers, between religions that may demand their moment on stage. Yet this does not elevate all religions — it debases them. They stand for different things, notwithstanding fiddle-faddle about the “Golden Rule.” This is the curse of ecumenicism: If they are going to all get up there and pronounce the Golden Rule (would Scientologists?) then, for Heaven’s sake, let’s just send up Tony Robbins or Jay Leno and at least be entertained.

Maybe Congress will come around to my point of view on this, after all.

Or, how religious is “too religious” for your own offspring? It’s a topic dealt with at the Beyond Teshuva blog for Jewish newcomers to religious observance. It is an odd situation where, sometimes, parents are surprised to find their children taking those Sunday school or Talmud Torah instructors at their words.

I wrote this piece for Beyond BT, a blog focusing on newcomers to observant Judaism (or baalei teshuvah). I am not so new — it has been over 20 years — but the issues are always there.

I don’t use a lot of undefined terms besides ones everyone reading that blog would know, such as baalei teshuvah and frum (the Yiddish word related to “prim” that means, as prim’s twin “proper” would suggest, orthodox).  Tell me if I missed one.

If you don’t like very introspective, don’t click on the link.

Dawn Eden gives props, as they say, to a somewhat (for her) unusual source, on her favorite topic — chastity.

But like most sincere searchers, Dawn’s open-minded that way.