I'd so give your mother a big ol' bear hug if I could. I'm so happy for you, GG.
I remember hearing about that movie. It led me to adding volume 3 of the American Film Archives to my Netflix queue, because the DVD set has the movie. Actually an intensely interesting thing to watch, those DVDS -- it's all films from the early 1900s to early '30s, all of them dealing with the Big Social Issues of Day. Each DVD has a theme. I actually haven't gotten to the Godless Girl one yet, but can't wait -- mostly because it will be fun to not only see it in its entirety, but to see what other films they include dealing with Darwinism/Atheism/Bolsheviks.
Interesting! Funny, too, because on this issue, I was wondering how much of this stuff is unconscious, actually. Certainly, looking at religious folk, it gets fascinating -- think of all those liberal Christians, the UUs and all that, and other groups -- pagans being an obvious example. There's lots of religious folk who seem to firmly reject a submission to God paradigm, and tend towards various versions of Paine's God (at least in attitude towards people -- the God who wants people to grow and shine and stand on their own two feet). I wonder how much of that reflects deep-seated, unconscious tendencies. That nonrational side of our thinking is so powerful, and so interesting...
It could, of course, just be coinky-dinky. Like take that one that got sent back -- sometimes the envelopes get ripped up and opened during transit, in which case the post office will usually just return them to Netflix. Now, if something wiggy happens a third time...
The big thing, of course, is that I would contact Netflix, too, and try to get some kind of credit, under the working assumption that there's delivery problems, which means it's their problem :). No harm trying to get a few free rentals out of them...
See, part of me definitely gets your friend's, ummm, angry response. There's a visceral level where it really, really bugs me. And yet I find myself largely agreeing with Penn. But that visceral level...bam. It's quite hard for me to be polite in those situations. I think part of it is a strong feeling that my home is my haven. I shouldn't have to put up with religion being thrust in my face *there*, at least.
At least these 2 were polite, and didn't try to push at all. Now, the Jehovah's Witnesses who came by one time...
I can certainly agree with that in principle, though I might question whether there is any "spirit" that has a nature -- they may be tapping into some human universals that don't necessarily imply "spirit" or anything like that. I'd also note that we enter the realm of personal experience here, and as Paine would note, that is not a useful for proving anything.
I do think the contemplative traditions are interesting, and agree with Sam Harris that it deserves careful study (there was a recent interview I saw with him where he noted that, just as there are people with highly developed skills in math or music, there surely must be people with, say, highly developed compassion. It's definitely worth studying that to see how we can increase compassion in everyone!) I also agree with him that what is sorely needed is for that to be done outside the realm of religion, which tends to muddy the waters too much. The work that has been done is fascinating, and points to some weird and wonderful aspects of how our brains work.
Google Reader, here. It's shiny. Things like Twitter make a nice intro point for finding new blogs (like links through Global Atheist).
It's a lot like the conflict between science and faith that goes on in many heads -- the one that usually gets resolved through a kind of compartmentalization. People do the same thing with ethics. They define God as "Good," and his actions as "Good," so everything they see has to be interpreted somehow in that light. No matter how desperately they have to strain to do it, they do it, and push it all into the little God Box in their brain and mostly don't think about it.
Sigh. I use Ubuntu, so no Tweetie for me. Sounds amazing, like someone actually set up the application to be used by human beings.
I think we can take some cues from the LGBT movement. Be honest. Be kind. Be compassionate. Be quick to acknowledge even the smallest of positive responses from the other person. Mostly, be an example. A person who has been trained to see atheism as evil may start to change their opinion as they see you, an atheist, being non-evil.
Above all, be patient. It will take time. The victories, if they come, will be small at first, partial things, and maybe never much more. A "we just won't talk about it" detente is progress. Not the progress one might wish for, but it's a start.
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