The Atheist Blogger

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Reader Ryan Latham has created an informative presentation on the origins and history of the Pledge of Allegiance, and a brief introduction to the constitutional issues it faces. I’m not an American citizen, but it is hard to be a secularist online and not know about the 1954 inclusion of the words “under God” into the Pledge to counter “godless communism” at the time.

Ryan’s presentation fills you in on the court cases involving the Pledge, and how the addition of “under God” would fare if tested by the courts today.

If people have noticed, I haven’t been posting on the blog for about a week and a half. I’ve been extremely busy with coursework deadlines and general other university related stuff that I haven’t had the time to post. Ok well I maybe had the time, but not the drive. I’ve also been preparing for my trip to Georgia (state not country) which I leave for today. Luckily, this time I get to take my laptop along since it hasn’t exploded like the last one. I have a few blog posts in the burner, including some updates to the Ray Comfort series (which admittedly isn’t “almost daily” due to my absence and Ray’s trip to NZ). I also have an interview with Darrin Rasberry, the now-agnostic who wrote the foreword to Ray’s latest book.

One thing that I have been doing with my spare time is using Twitter because it allows me to blog 140 characters at a time, which isn’t much, and therefore doesn’t take much time to do. If you aren’t using the service, I highly recommend it. If you are, please follow me! Another thing I’ve been doing whilst not posting is reading the multitude of comments that have appeared on my post about religious child abuse in the form of Deborah Drapper. The 127 (currently) comments on that post are a very interesting read, and there is a lot of debate going on, something which I am thankful I have Intense Debate installed to handle.

So now I have to go check everything is packed before leaving for Heathrow Terminal 5 (which luckily is a 15 minute drive from here). I hear the new terminal actually works now, and they don’t lose bags anymore. My flight leaves at 15:00 and according to British Airways I’ll be in sunny Georgia at around 19:10, just in time for dinner! I’ll be posting on Twitter as much as I can at the airport, since I won’t have anything better to do. No idea if I’ll be able to respond though.

For those Americans who have no sense of humour, I would advise you not read the following article, which includes several jabs at American culture that are designed to offend. I had hoped not to put a warning on this article, but it seems that some people who read this blog suffer from a severe case of national pride. You have been warned.

On 29th December 2008 I set off to visit my girlfriend in Georgia, USA. This was the first time I had been to America since starting this blog, so I thought I had better write my experiences down on it. My flight left at around midday from London Gatwick, and whilst in the air I had planned to do some work, but “The Dark Knight” was on instead so I watched that (and I really don’t regret it!).

Landing in Atlanta airport was where I first encountered things that made me think to myself “Adrian, I’ve a feeling we’re not in England anymore”. At passport control shortly after leaving the plane, we were asked to scan our fingerprints (all of them) on a special scanner. For whatever reason, the security guy at my desk was having a conversation about thumbs to his neighbouring colleague (I guess when they have to deal with fingers all day, that is all they have left to talk about). He laughingly joked (in a southern drawl):

Opposable thumbs! That’s what separates us from the apes!

I was now stuck with a dilemma. In polite conversation back home, I would have probably corrected the man on his massive error in simple biology (heck, you only have to look at an ape to realise they have opposable thumbs). However, my rational mind kicked in, and I realised that this was (a) the man who was going to let me enter the USA, and (b) a Bible bashing middle-of-the-bible-belt state, where I would probably be lynched as a heretic or something. I decided against saying anything, although I walked away from the booth with a smirk.

Tourists are often the best people to review a country, simply because they have no “national pride” for it, and they can view it objectively. To any American reading this blog who works in some high up position at an airport, take heed. As a paying customer, I do not want to wait 30 minutes for my bag to appear on the carousel, to then walk down a corridor and have it taken away from me. Sadly however, this is precisely what happened, and as I waived goodbye to my bag, the attendant told me I would be able to pick it up (again) at the exit. Proceeding through a security check (because apparently the 20 minutes I spent doing this at Gatwick wasn’t good enough) I caught an internal train to the baggage collection (the real one this time). There I met my girlfriend, and waited at the carousel for my bag. The previous statement is chronologically accurate. The baggage collection was literally by the entrance to the airport, meaning anyone could simply walk in and steal one…fantastic. If American bureaucracy is anything, it is inefficient and insecure, and that is really the best I can say about it (sorry guys).

Yes, I do realise that I’ve just spent the last 3 paragraphs complaining about airports, so I will continue with some good bits. Things I like about America:

• You go all out on billboards. American highways make Piccadilly Circus and Times Square look rubbish in comparison.
• Wal-Mart. If it weren’t for their anti-union policies I think I would shop there all the time…maybe.
• American Cheese. I have no idea why, but those artificial slices of goodness are so much tastier over there. American cheese in England is awful.
• You are gun crazy. I bought my friend Conrad a gun magazine, simply because they seem to have replaced pornography over there. It’s very odd seeing the “top shelf” filled with pictures of guns rather than…well…lady parts.

Suffice to say, my time over there was too brief, and I only got to see a few dozen churches dotted about the place. I did however see a few religion billboards and anti-evolution signs (“Are they making a monkey out of you?”) which was fun. On my last day there, I met an actual creationist (whilst wearing my “Thank God I’m and atheist” t-shirt) who admitted to liking Sarah Palin. I asked her “How can you like her? She thinks the Earth is 6,000 years old!” and she replied “Well, can you prove it isn’t?”. Yes. Yes I could, and then proceeded to tell her about radiometric dating techniques.

The flight back was uneventful, although I had 3 hours to get across London in order to attend my first lecture (I’m never doing that again). In the taxi ride back to my house, the driver was talking about how his wife got annoyed when he gawked at other women, and he turned to me and said “It’s not my fault! It’s just millions of years of Evolution!”. I knew I was home; a place which although quickly falling to pieces as a country, still has taxi drivers who know biology. I let him keep the change.

…as soon as I get rid of this horrible jetlag. Thanks for all your comments over the holidays; I have been reading all my emails! I’ll have to write up about my trip to the Bible Belt once I get some sleep.

I haven’t blogged about the upcoming US Presidential election for various reasons, mainly because I’m in no way involved with it (being English and all), and because I really don’t know enough about American politics to say anything of value. However, I have been watching perhaps more closely than most people in England, because the outcome of this election will affect me personally in the future.

It has always been my plan to emigrate to the USA once I finish my degree, and when I look forward 10 years, I really can’t see myself living anywhere else. Despite the differences in cultures (religion being the big example), I like the idea of certain freedoms being instilled into a constitution. Over here, “freedom of speech” is a very loose term, and there are certain articles that suit my sense of humour that could easily find me prosecuted under incitement to racial or religious hatred.

So the question that is important to me in this election is, “Do I want to live in Obama’s America, or McCain’s?”. Thus I started watching debates, speeches, reading up on the candidates, and tried to approach the question from an open-minded view. It is clear that John McCain had more “experience” time-wise, but Obama is so calm and collected, and I can see the obvious similarities between him and JFK, both being young revolutionary people.

Of course, slowly McCain’s campaign has deteriorated, starting of course with his vice presidential nominee, and for me ending with his complete turn-around on Obama, saying that we should “be respectful” and “not be scared” of an Obama presidency. I don’t think much of the world has any doubts about who will win this election, and Obama is clearly the right man for the job.