It'll still be "whitewashed"

Though it is nice to hear that there will be a film that portrays African-Americans in a positive way this does not mean the film will automatically have any significant value as a film. It certainly doesn't mean the film won't "whitewash" other aspects of its theme(s), characters, or plot. In point of fact without ever having seen The War Room (I have seen the trailer) I already know that it will be whitewashing its main theme. According to Jonathan Merritt's review:
"The fifth feature film produced by successful Christian moviemakers Alex and Stephen Kendrick tells a story about the power of prayer."
Since the overwhelming majority of well designed scientific studies have all reached the conclusion that prayer does not work, the idea that there is such a thing as "the power of prayer" is complete bullshit. The few studies that found any merit are flawed and still don't show it as having any more significance than a placebo. Basically, it is all about emotional appeal and willful ignorance. It is dishonest propagandistic tripe. It is also interesting to note that the short trailer that is available at Internet Movie Database is chock full of militant language and imagery. That's a rather disturbing take on morals/values. If you have family and/or marital problems go to "war". So much for the notion that Christianity is innately loving and peaceful.

Prayer can be entertaining

Kevin Drum's review of a recent Life Way survey was pretty amusing. I agree that the survey result for which his piece is named, "5 Percent of Religious Americans Routinely Try to Fool God", is both interesting and revealing. I would, however, go further than Drum and point out that praying for "Success in something you knew wouldn't please God" can be interpreting in a number of different ways. None of them are flattering to the individual theists or to religion as a whole. It does imply that some theists may not believe as deeply as they themselves think they do. It also seems to imply that God is a rather demanding grumpy asshole. It is possible that they intuitively realized just how unlikely it is for the average person to live up to many of the ludicrous and dehumanizing constrictions religion often places on its adherents. There are a number of other survey results that can be interpreted in different ways, Similarly none of those interpretations bode any better for the faithful. I also really liked what I would deem the "lazy bastard approach." 20% of the respondents prayed for "Success in something you put almost no effort in." Yup, religion does a great job shoring up peoples ethics.

Drive Thru Prayer

I couldn't make this up. As much as I ridicule religion I could not have come up with such wonderful examples of how idiotic it truly is if my life depended on it. I have no doubt that many theists will find this little HuffPo tid-bit, "Drive Thru Prayer Offers A Church Of Convenience", inspiring. It will never dawn on them what it says about religious beliefs being innately foolish. Some may pick up on the comparison to fast food, like HuffPo did, but few will go beyond the superficial critique of "commercializing" faith. That religion is materialistic despite claims to the contrary is easy enough to demonstrate. The bigger problem revolves around the futility of prayer itself. After all, a perfect being like God would automatically know what everyone is thinking and feeling. Prayer is useless even if you assume that God exists. Designating places of worship is silly enough as it is but at least there is some sense of community and a chance for social interaction. A drive thru would strip away even the few conditional positives that can be claimed by religion and prayer.

Grim Momentary Fantasy

I would never actually wish such a thing to happen but I still can't resist briefly daydreaming about putting assholes like Bryan Fisher in the middle of shooting range and then challenging them to pray away the bullets.

"Bryan Fischer: God Did Not Protect Connecticut Shooting Victims Because Prayer Banned In Schools"
Shit like this really pisses me off. I find it hard to believe it is a coincidence that the overwhelming majority of psychos who go on killing sprees are NOT atheists. Religion not only does not prevent violence and/or murder, it is frequently used to justify, condone, or encourage it.

Not All Experiments are Equal

One of the bloggers at Patheos, Cross Examined's Bob Seidensticker, has decided to join an "experiment" being promoted by a Christian group who were inspired to start this venture by a philosophy paper. It is interesting to note that the primary organizer, Justin Brierley, erroneously attributes the paper. He states that it was authored by someone named Mortimer. It was not. "Praying to stop being an atheist" was by T.J. Mawson and was published in the International Journal of Religious Philosophy in 2010. It is utter crap. The "experiment" is a pretty good reflection of the incredibly high level of nonsense contained in Mawson's paper. It is far from being scientific. They are both riddled with assumptions and contradictions. For the sake of brevity I will stick with one each of the most blatant examples.

I'll start with the fact that the whole project relies almost entirely on a very large assumption: prayer works. The overwhelming majority of studies that have looked into whether prayer has an effect or not have reach the same negative conclusion. Prayer does not work. Not only does it not work there is no reason to believe that it can work. The only "evidence" advocates can come up with is anecdotal. Until a body of evidence emerges to support the claim that prayer works there is no basis from which Mawson or Brierley can draw any substantial conclusions.

Even setting aside such a fundamental flaw as the assumption that prayer workers there is another glaring defect in the project. It is an innate contradiction. It is not even remotely possible to run as an experiment. Mawson does make a few feeble attempts at getting around this but fails completely. The simple truth is that by definition an atheist cannot "pray." So there can be no misunderstanding, it should be pointed out what the actual definition of prayer is. According to the Penguin English Dictionary a prayer is, "a personal request, confession, or expression of praise or thanksgiving, addressed to God or a god." Think about it for a minute and then ask how is it possible to pray to entity you have no belief in. To further get a sense of just how ridiculous of a premise this is replace God with any other figure you do not have a belief in. It would end up sounding something like, "Of great Wizard of Oz please make me believe in the Wizard of Oz." Prayer cannot work even theoretically unless you already have a belief in its efficacy which would then require a belief in God. By definition anyone who genuinely prays cannot by definition also be an atheist. This is not an example of the "True Scotsman" fallacy since it is the established definitions that make it a contradiction. It is rather an example of trying to claim something along the lines of a square simultaneously being a circle. The conditions rather than the interpretation make it impossible to be reconciled.

So what's the point? I have no idea. At least, not when it comes to those atheists who have chosen to participate. It sounds like some are hoping to get a few Christians to finally concede that prayer doesn't work or to get them to stop pestering us about our supposed lack of understanding. I wouldn't hold my breath on either. Those who insist of prayer efficacy will find a way to blame us for their own failed notions. They always do. As for Brierley and his group, I have a sneaking suspicion that this is more about PR than any possible results. It would not surprise me if a few of the "atheist" participants are not in fact atheists. I have no reason to doubt Seidensticker but he can be duped and already gave a few hints that he has already been suckered. He makes a reference to Leah Libresco in his initial post on his joining the project that I find a bit foolish. She was not an atheist. Reading her early blog posts should make that point pretty well.

I will be following his updates on this project. I fail to see how it can be anything but  waste of time but I suppose it could be amusing if nothing else.

Religious Athletes

Prayerful Players: The Top 10 Religious Athletes

Who gives a shit? Really? They're athletes. They're job is to play the sport and win. I don't see what their personal views on religion has to do with how they play and I don't care. When I watch a game it's to see the game. I also find it both idiotic and belittling to say some play or maneuver is "miraculous." I may take issue with how much they get paid or how much attention professional athletes get but I have no problem acknowledging the hard work they put in and the skill they attain.

I also have no problem with individual athlete's who want to pray or thank mythical figures. If it makes them happy, why not. But the media does not have to get all excited over it. It should be a surprise that so many athletes are religious. The majority of people are religious. So, why is this newsworthy?

I have a response

At this point I have heard a variety of responses to Rick Perry's day of prayer. Most of the critiques I agree with completely. It was a disgusting display of ignorance and contempt for both our constitution and our system of governance. Had he acted as a private citizen it would have been perfectly fine. He didn't. He used his office to organize and conduct the event. If you've followed the story you no doubt have heard this and more.

There is one criticism I have not come across, one from the perspective of scripture. I, of course, think the Bible is utter garbage but Perry and his prayer warriors claim otherwise. The Response, the group that helped organize the rally, does list in its FAQ what they believe. They list the following:

1. We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
2. We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3. We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
4. We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
5. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
6. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost;  they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation. 
7. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice what #1 states? Well, this is my response:

"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Matthew 6:5-6

Did they overlook this little tid-bit or is scripture only "infallible" when it says what they want to hear?