https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-no-exorcists-needed/article_51151124-19b5-11e9-b5a2-3b7dd3d43d2f.html
 
An article in the paper on Jan. 13 relates that the Catholic Church needs to train more exorcists to meet national and local demands for exorcisms. Church leaders explain the need by claiming that more people are turning to expulsion of evil spirits because they have become “Godless.”

Speaking as a “Godless” atheist, I believe in no supernatural beings. No gods, no demons, and consequently no need for exorcisms. Father Bryan Babick, quoted in the article, got it partially right when he said, “Not everyone who thinks they are possessed is.” I would replace “Not everyone” with “No one.”

I may not be a trained exorcist, but I have a four-word solution to combat demonic possession that is more effective than anything an exorcist has in his arsenal: “Stop believing in demons.”

It is far more productive to develop a personal relationship with reality. Instead of thanking God for accomplishments and blaming Satanic forces for failures, we should take personal responsibility for our actions.
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The late comedian Flip Wilson created a character, Geraldine, who always excused her bad behavior with “The Devil made me do it.” Flip got it right — attributing bad behavior to the Devil is just something to joke about. And we’d live in a happier and more peaceful world if we’d all embrace Flip Wilson’s devilish humor.
 

https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-real-science/article_76ec48ac-02d3-11e9-92ca-3f3ba1629260.html
 
I was pleasantly surprised to see in the Dec. 13 Post and Courier an informative and beautifully written science op-ed by Lucianne Walkowicz, an astronomer at the Library of Congress. She described the realities of space, dispelling common myths about gravity and black holes.I hope science articles like this will become a regular feature. Eliminating pseudoscience, including but not limited to the daily horoscope, would save space.

I worry about readers who believe that zodiac signs foretell future events. Astronomy is a science, but astrology is not. It has the same predictive power as fortune cookies. After a nice meal at a Chinese restaurant the other day, my wife and I exchanged fortune cookies. Hers seemed better suited to me and mine to her. Switching daily advice for Aquarius and Virgo would provide equally effective results. The paper recently published some fine articles and letters about problems and potential solutions regarding South Carolina’s education system. Please be part of the solution, not the problem, by educating your readers to distinguish real science from pseudoscience and mythology.
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Then again, perhaps I’m a skeptic because I was born a Gemini.

https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-symbol-of-freedom/article_600fc896-dd32-11e8-975c-13be80e3aefe.html  
​     
The “Again” in President Donald Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again,” obviously doesn’t refer to 1886. That’s the year the Statue of Liberty commemorated lasting friendship between the people of France and the United States. Today, under President Trump, our lasting friendship with France and other NATO allies has been replaced by distrust, animosity and disinterest in protecting human rights.The Statue of Liberty, a symbol of freedom and democracy, once inspired immigrants to seek a better life in America. Some of my relatives told me how they shed tears of joy as they passed through Ellis Island and saw the welcoming words on the statue: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Today, many would-be immigrants on our southern border are shedding tears of sorrow because yearning to be free is becoming an impossible dream. President Trump has called them rapists and terrorists, and prioritizes building a massive wall to keep them out. We might as well change Lady Liberty’s welcoming invitation to “Keep out your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”Though there may be no easy answers about immigration, I wish Americans would show more empathy for the plight of people fleeing desperate conditions in their own countries. It is through pure chance of birth that many of us, myself included, are not fleeing to other countries to escape danger or find jobs to feed our families. After all, what would you do in that situation?
 

https://secularhumanism.org/2018/09/letters-6/
In “Infinity: Just One Damn Thing after Another” (FI, June/July 2018), Kenneth Nahigian unnecessarily complicates the concept. He brings in a version of Zeno’s Paradox, that an arrow goes halfway to its target an infinite number of times, so can never reach its target. Zeno was a philosopher, not a mathematician, living in an era before the concept of a limit (the basis of calculus) was discovered independently by Newton and Leibniz. They showed that infinite sums can converge to a limit. In Zeno’s case, we can begin with one half, then add half of that (one fourth) and keep adding halves. This infinite series has the limit 1, which is the Zeno target. 

​Placing Blame
https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-placing-blame/article_27949718-c733-11e8-95e6-c34a5d8dbe98.html
A Sept. 30 letter, “Bad theology,” takes issue with another letter for claiming God controls everything, including the weather, so there is nothing humans can do about it. The letter writer accepts overwhelming scientific evidence that human behavior is at least partly responsible for detrimental climate change, and that there are actions we can take to lessen future damage. I agree. However, the writer is also practicing bad theology when he claims science is a gift from the creator. That reminds me of people who survive delicate surgical operations and immediately give credit to God, rather than to the skilled doctors who perform the procedure.

​Here’s where you can watch a debate I had on September 9 with Bill Clute, Director of Reasonable Faith in Greenville, South Carolina on whether the Christian God exists. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aeid5N8oWA&feature=youtu.be

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The Mathematicians Have Made a Covenant With the Devil
https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/articles/9775
Review by Ed Buckner
 
An Atheist Stranger in a Strange Religious Land: Selected Writings from the Bible Belt
 
Can anyone write an objective, reasonable review of an essentially autobiographical book about someone he knows well and admires? Perhaps not, but An Atheist Stranger in a Strange Religious Land: Selected Writings from the Bible Belt makes it seem easy. Dr. Herb Silverman takes great pride in giving appealing talks, always laced with well-polished jokes and anecdotes, with crucial matters of timing developed and carried out with care. His wife, Sharon Fratepietro, gets credit for coaching and editing with a fine sense of what works. A superficial listener to one of his talks, like a superficial reader of this book, might incorrectly conclude that the entertainment is the point, because the entertainment is well crafted and successful. (I don’t know what the equivalent of “timing” is in written anecdotes, but Silverman assuredly does.)
 
As much fun as Stranger is to read, fun is ultimately not really the point: the point is a description, and by implication a prescription, of how a man (or in this case, more precisely, a couple) should live. Atheism, or at least a lack of theism, is certainly part of this, because Silverman’s humanism has always emphatically been of the secular sort. But justice, compassion, decency, respect, and perspective (including, of course, a sense of humor and the ability to avoid taking oneself too seriously) matter more. Silverman, more than any other atheist or humanist leader in the nation today (and that includes many of my favorite people on Earth), has shaped modern humanism and atheism in the direction of being cooperative as well as competitive. The Secular Coalition for America was developed by many people, but Silverman was the founder. His dogged, cheerful persistence made that happen when others—including me—were not sure it ever would. (Chapter 6 of Stranger, though way too modest in presentation, provides more detail.)

https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-be-more-civil/article_5625ce76-795e-11e8-b78e-c78b2731a992.htm
A June 24 story described an impressive unity rally at Marion Square calling for stricter gun laws and activism. The rally was inspired by the horrendous murders at Emanuel AME Church in 2015. One notable exception to this call for unity came from the keynote speaker, the Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant. He said of Christians who look the other way in the face of injustice, “You are just an apostolic atheist.” In other words, Rev. Bryant warned that apathetic Christians are as bad as atheists.

​ It’s sad to hear such talk from a Christian leader at a unity rally. We are not and never will be a united city and country as long as people denigrate atheists or any other minority while claiming their particular religion is superior. A significant number of atheists and humanists have always worked for civil rights and social justice, and they continue to be an integral part of this community. When I first heard about the shootings at the AME church, I was reminded of another racist shooting that moved a nation to action.

During the Freedom Summer of 1964, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were murdered in Mississippi for attempting to register African Americans to vote. Goodman and Schwerner were both atheists whose humanist principles inspired them to seek equal justice for all people. The month after their deaths, public outrage helped gain passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

As we determine how to improve conditions in our state, let’s all try to be more civil toward people with thoughtful, opposing views.
 
 
 

 
 
https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-scouts-and-mormons/article_3e9e1e7a-5de3-11e8-ac21-f777e097b6f9.html
 
In columnist Noah Feldman’s May 15 op-ed, “Mormons’ breakup with Boy Scouts is disappointing,” he expressed sorrow that the long-happy marriage between the organizations ended in divorce. He praised the Boy Scouts for deciding to admit gays and allow girls to participate in activities in the renamed “Scouts BSA.” Mormons decided to disaffiliate. But to their credit, Mormons have evolved culturally in the direction of tolerance. Black men finally became eligible for the priesthood in 1978 after church leaders received a “revelation” on the issue. And on Dec. 6, 2013, the church renounced its doctrine that brown skin is a punishment from God.
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Regardless, Mormons and Scouts still share an unstated bigotry against atheists. Scouts and leaders must agree that “no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God.” Many open atheists have been refused Scout membership, though those who pretend to believe are admitted. Even though our military allows atheists to serve openly and nobly, adult atheists with an honorable military discharge are not deemed morally fit to serve as Scout leaders. I hope that Scouts BSA will eventually evolve to be as tolerant as the Girl Scouts, who treat lesbian and atheist girls as equals. Who among you is willing to say that the Girl Scouts are not as morally straight as the Boy Scouts?
 

https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-misconceptions/article_635c837a-1728-11e8-a684-dfcf8559c47f.html
 
I would like to thank those six Upstate Republican House members who recently introduced a bizarre bill opposing gay marriage, while recognizing that the state is “prohibited from favoring or endorsing religion over non-religion.” The bill refers to secular humanism and atheism as a “religion” that is privileged and discriminates against Christians who oppose gay marriage. This gives me an opportunity to clear up misconceptions about secular humanism and atheism.

I belong to several humanist and atheist organizations, and not one person in these communities thinks they are part of a religion. If atheism is a religion, then baldness is a hair color and not collecting stamps is a hobby. Religions and non-religions are free to promote their principles privately and endorse public policy that does not privilege religion over non-religion. Secular humanists generally support marriage equality not because of any religious motivation, but because we think it is a human right. For the same reason, several decades ago secular humanists supported marriage between blacks and whites when religious conservatives in South Carolina were giving biblical arguments for why the mixing of races was against God’s will.

Some conservative Christians today are claiming religious discrimination because public schools teach evidence-based evolution, which these Christians refer to as “the religion of secular humanism.” You may call evidence-based science a religion, but that does not make it so.

Finally, I give credit to Chris Sevier, a co-writer of this bill called the “Marriage and Constitution Restoration Act,” for his perhaps unintended insight into what makes a successful marriage. Sevier once filed a lawsuit to recognize his marriage to a computer, claiming that such a union is no more unnatural than gay marriage.

Here’s my marital advice to Sevier and all others: Marriages, whether gay or straight, are happier when spouses spend more time with each other than with their laptops.