Here's my latest "Letter to the editor" of the local paper:

Das Interview mit Herrn Kropmanns gab wieder reichlich Gelegenheit für einen Blick in die Leere esoterischer Lehren.

Es ist völlig klar, dass wenn der Heilpraktiker und der Patient beide im guten Glauben den falschen Stein anwenden würden – etwa durch das Vertauschen "aufgeladener" durch "nicht aufgeladene" Edelsteine – genau die gleiche Wirkung zu erzielen wäre. Eine entsprechende Versuchsordnung ließe sich ohne allzu große Schwierigkeiten aufstellen und wiederholen, bis statistische Klarheit über das "Funktionieren" der Steine vorliegen würde. Die Erfahrung zeigt jedoch, dass Esoteriker so etwas vermeiden oder sich blamieren. Wünschelrute, heilsame Steine, Astrologie – alles überprüfbar. Da is' nix.

Kropmanns sagt, "Man muss kein Esoteriker sein, um [die Heilung] als Wirkung anzuerkennen." Im Gegenteil. Man muss Esoteriker sein, um das anzuerkennen, ohne eine statistische Überprüfung des Verfahrens, um die Wirkung als Placebo auszuschließen. Auch die angebliche Ganzheitlichkeit widerspricht nicht der Überprüfbarkeit. Dem Patienten mag es besser gehen - aber nur der Esoteriker meint, es liegt auch an irgend welchen "Resonanzen" und "Schwingungen" und nicht nur an der in der Begegnung mit dem Heilpraktiker erlebten menschlichen Zuwendung.

The letter didn't get published. I am reminded of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDTuoXygZKk.

Ein Leserbrief von mir hat's nicht in das Tagblatt geschafft, erscheint aber dafür auf der Webseite des Tagblatts. Es geht um das Kinderbuch "Wo bitte, geht's zu Gott?" vom Alibri-Verlag. Seit Wochen tobt auf der Leserbriefseite des Tagblatts eine Leserbriefschlacht um Gottesbilder, Atheismus und Glauben - alles wegen dem Buch, dass kaum noch erwähnt wird.

Naja, "Propaganda" ist zu scharf. Aber meine Tochter brachte ein Flugblatt von Schulunterricht nach Hause, das sie einlädt, an der Schülerwoche der örtlichen Gemeinde teilzunehmen. Außer einem Familiengottesdienst sind auf dem Flugblatt keine Angaben über Inhalte gemacht: Ob Eltern auch dabei sind, was eigentlich bei den Veranstaltungen passiert, etc.

Das ist alles schön und gut. Einladen kann man immer. Ich möchte aber nicht wissen, wie der Teufel los wäre, wenn ein Humanistenverband ein Flugblatt an der Schule verteilen würde. Wenn ich sehe, dass manche Eltern schon beunruhigt werden, wenn Halloween oder die Mythen des klassischen Altertums im Kindi oder an der Schule behandelt werden, kann ich mir denken, dass solche Themen sehr einseitig wahrgenommen werden.

Der Dokumentarfilm Die hasserfüllten Augen des Herrn Deschner ist jetzt online: http://www.skepticker.org/2007/08/28/die-hasserfuellten-augen-des-herrn-deschner/.

Ich kann den Film bestens empfehlen. Ich kenne zwar nur Band 1 seiner Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums und sein Abermals krähte der Hahn. Das reicht allerdings, schon den Grundton seiner Arbeit zu erkennen. Die Argumente der Kirchenverteidiger, die im Film zu Wort kommen, sind allen bekannt, die schonmal mit Gläubigen über die Geschichte der Kirchen oder die Rolle der Religion in der Gesellschaft diskutiert haben. Die direkte Gegenüberstellung von Kritik und Antwort macht den Film zum wahren Genuß.

The Central Council of Former Muslims in Germany is a testiment of courage. They went public in February with the following statement, taken from their homepage. My translation:

We Renounce!

The freedom of conscious and religion is among the most fundamental human rights which are not sufficiently guaranteed in countries with Islamic legal systems. Within the Muslim religious community, apostasy is considered a deadly sin and is punished accordingly.

Unfortunately the loss of Muslim faith is a tabu even in Germany. It has hardly been noticed that there is a significant number of "ex-Muslims" (primarily among Iranian dissidents). One sign of this is that in the German media authors critical of Islam such as Salman Rushdie, Talsima Nasreen and Ibn Warraq are absurdly labelled "Muslim intellectuals." (Imagine someone would turn the tables and refer to Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell or Karlheinz Deschner as "Christian intellectuals"!)

It is no coincidence that we have chosen the slogan "Wir haben abgeschworen!" ("We renounce/abjure/forswear") similar to the one-time campaign of the women's rights movement "Wir haben abgetrieben!" ("We have had abortions"). We are also breaking a taboo. Just like back then, the right of self-determination has to be won. Just like back then, on the other side stand religious forces who presume to be speaking in the name of "eternally valid, holy truths."

There are certainly differences. While European Christianity, against the traditional values of which the women's movement had to fight, had already gone through the hard school of the Enlightenment and hence been forced to learn more civil forms of dispute, Islam remained for the most part free from interference by any "enlightening nuisance," despite the great beginnings in the 9th and 10th centuries (for example the great former-Muslim thinker Al-Razi). We want to see that this changes!

"Sapere aude! Habe Mut, dich deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen!" - "Have the courage to use your own reason!" - This old motto of the Enlightenment should be taken to heart by all - regardless of which culture they come from.

Those are courageous words in today's political-religious climate. I would like to encourage everybody, whatever your faith or lack thereof, to encourage them in their efforts to support the culture of the Enlightenment.

For those of us living in Europe, the Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the common faces of America. Here is an Australian who got fed up and decided to turn the tables on them:

http://www.thehumorarchives.com/joke/Door_to_Door_Atheists

Some of it confirms stereotypes about atheists, especially the remark by one of the missionaries, "we follow the teachings of a man named Charles Darwin." I don't think atheists "follow" and "teachings" or, if they do, wouldn't admit it. Atheists are usually self-professed "free thinkers" who seek to avoid basing beliefs on authority or tradition.

It is kind of reminiscent of the old "Kiss Hank's Ass" joke that has been circulating for a while and is now a video on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDp7pkEcJVQ

A recent New York Times article drew my attention to a new English translation of the Koran that is now apparently causing some stir among Muslims.

Laleh Bakhtiar worked for several years on a translation of the Koran until she stumbled on sura 4, verse 34 where the Arabic word daraba is used to refer to what should be done with a rebellious wife. It is usually translated as "hit" or "beat." Ms. Bakhtiar, however, "...decided it either has to have a different meaning or I can't keep translating...I couldn't believe that God would sanction harming another human being except in war." She eventually found a 19th century reference book that included, among SIX PAGES of definitions for daraba, the term "to go away." So she said to herself (real quote), "So that is what the prophet meant."

I beg to differ. That is what the translator, not the original author meant. This is a crass example of something that has been going on with Bible translations for ages. When it becomes clear that the holy text is no longer compatable with a modern, enlightened, humanist, common sense ethic, it is changed. Then people refer back to the holy book to defend that ethic as being based on the holy text! If the barbarity of the original is too obvious to change (such as the numerous references to stoning and execution in the Old Testament or hellfire in the New Testament), then it is either ignored or passed off as harmless allegory.

Another perhaps more typical example occurred a few years ago on Larry King Live. It was right after that gay kid had been murdered by homophobic bigots in Wyoming. Larry King's guests included Reverand Mohler from the Southern Baptists and several gay activists. The reverand only needed to cite the holy texts to condemn homosexuality. The gay representatives were unable to simply reject the holy text and say, "Well, that's what bronze age shepherds thought, but today we think differently about these kinds of things." Instead, they had to rhetorically dance in circles to make their modern, enlightened views conform with the Bible.

Churches, institutions and people are and always have been more important than the exact wording of the holy books that purportedly "inspire" them and their policies. They tend toward all manner of both decent and horrific behavior regardless of what "God" supposedly says. But the exact wording of the holy books is there and will continue to bear fruit and give moral support to all manner of mischief until enough people have the courage to say they simply don't believe it.

I would apply a day-to-day version of the "secular purpose" doctrine as it is applied to church-state issues in the United States. If a believer in a holy book wants to defend a particular policy, he or she is free to do so based on the holy book. But I am free to reject that opinion unless a defense of that policy can be made using arguments which are not based on the book alone. The weight of their case for me as a fellow citizen or voter will depend entirely on the non-holy reasons they bring to bear on the issue.

You can read an interview with the translator at The American Muslim. There you can also find other links to the story and the debate in the press and blogosphere.

Ich treffe immer mehr Menschen, die etwas suchen, die einer Kirche ähnlich wäre, aber ohne Glauben an übernatürliche Phenomäne. Ich kenne auch Menschen, die etwas als Ersatz für Konfirmation oder Firmung suchen, eine Übergangs- oder Aufnahmezeremonie wie die in den neuen Bundesländern noch praktizierte Jugendweihe.

Stellen wir sowas auf die Beine? Wenn Sie sich auch dafür interessieren, schreiben Sie mir bitte eine Mail. Mittlerweile, werde ich die Möglichkeiten über die Freidenker- und Humanistenorganisationen im Raum Stuttgart ausloten.

According to a recent poll, a full 25% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ will return to earth during the year 2007. That is an extraordinarily high number. There must have been something wrong with the way the question was asked. If it is a true reflection of American beliefs, it attests not only to widespread religious extremism, but to a high degree of mathematical illiteracy.

There are several blogs commenting on the insanity of it all, including this blurb by Cenk Uygur from the Huffington Post. The comments are worth reading as well.

Thanks to typo.twoday.net for drawing my attention to the poll.

I am finally publishing an essay I have been sitting on for several years, an analysis of self-proclaimed "psychic" James Van Praagh. "Psychic Follies" (pdf file) dissects one of his performances from 2002. Instead of using a handful of examples to make a point about his methods, I deconstruct his whole hour of readings to demonstrate the falsehood and shamefulness of all these "psychics." Sylvia Browne and all the rest of them operate with the same dishonest tecniques. These people deceive. They do not help and they are not merely entertainers. They are shallow liars and should be denounced as such.