God Is Imaginary is a site that offers 50 simple proofs that the Christian God is not real. The articles are good and should give any Christian plenty to think about, but I'm not sure how I feel about their use of the word "proof." I think that many varieties of Christian faith today have been winnowed down over the years so that they're almost impossible to disprove.

Early on in the Christian myth God is someone who can walk, talk and wrestle with a human. Then he withdrew to Heaven, that place up in the sky. The story has Jesus going to Heaven by way of the clouds and promising to return by the same path. We've taken rockets beyond the clouds and the atmosphere and we don't see a gold-plated kingdom floating up there. We see only the vacuum of space. But now God and Heaven have moved to "another dimension" or "outside of space and time."

Another example of this can be found in prayer. The stories say that humans used to talk directly to God and he talked back. Then he only communicated through prophets. Early in the Christian era (and among some denominations today) it was thought that any believer could do miracles and expect answers to prayers. But today, most liberal Christians admit that they don't expect prayers to be answered as the Bible promises. Or, if they refuse to admit that, then they're quick to excuse God for not giving them what they ask for. Some go so far as to downplay prayers that ask for something in favor of seeing prayer as an act that conveys a spiritual benefit to the person praying. Early Christians and modern fundamentalists would see this as a very weak and non-Biblical view of prayer.

So, in my opinion, today's Christians can choose to divorce themselves from historical Christianity or they can divorce themselves from reality.

Prayer is something that can be tested. The Bible promises that prayers will be answered.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
- Mark 11:24

You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
- John 14:14

Yet study after study has shown that prayer has no supernatural effect. When you pray for something, it's no more likely to happen than if you didn't pray. Many Christians, aware of this fact, are careful to not pray for anything unless there's a decent chance that it will happen anyway. When it does, they rejoice in the power of prayer. When it doesn't, well, that was just God's will.

This video makes the case that prayer is just another superstition:

But what about liberal Christians who admit that the passages I quoted above are not inerrant or at the very least don't mean what they seem to mean? Perhaps they value intercessory prayer for the calming effect it has on all involved and the social connections that it creates. Knowing that others are thinking about you and praying for you can have a real subconscious effect on a person. Studies on the efficacy of prayer have to control for these factors by making sure that patients don't know whether they're being prayed for or not. Why would we want to spoil the effect by pointing out that prayer actually has no supernatural effect? Preventing stories like this one is one reason. And I think we can get all the social and psychological benefits of prayer using completely rational methods.

If you're a believer, then what convinces you that God is not imaginary? Is your belief subject to falsification? If so, what evidence would prove to you that God is not real? If not, then can you claim that your beliefs are any more rational than Islam, FSM or Scientology?

Ben Stein: "science leads you to killing people" - Boing Boing

Stein: When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers [biologist P.Z. Myers], talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed ... that was horrifying beyond words, and that's where science - in my opinion, this is just an opinion - that's where science leads you.

Crouch: That's right.

Stein: ...Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.

Crouch: Good word, good word.

I honestly don't know how you can take someone seriously when they say ridiculous crap like that. I'm sorry, but whenever people start comparing or equating things to the Nazis, I tune out because they are an idiot. The fact that someone can say loving God and science are mutually exclusive really boggles my mind. Saying science is evil and wrong isn't really helping in the case to try and get the scientific community to take Intelligent Design seriously. Neither is lying and misrepresenting yourself in a documentary where you are trying to do the same. Keep up the great work, Ben.

Ric and the Agadonis and I went to an event at the university where Expelled was supposedly going to be screened, only to find out that it was Ben Stein in person talking about the movie. It ended up being an interesting event, but we were all disappointed that we would have to shell out another $10 to see the movie. Oh well.

The documentary is about how people in the scientific world of academia who even mention or consider the idea of intelligent design as an explanation for the origin of life are basically being blacklisted. Ben Stein interviews several people who have experienced unfair treatment. He goes on to interview experts in the field of ID and also experts in the field of evolution. He then explores the arguments of both sides.

Overall, I thought the movie was thought-provoking. I didn't care for the old footage (there are several clips of old movies) at all and worry that the movie's exploration of the Darwinian extremes (Hitler, communism) will come across as fanatical. I think that's probably why the movie is receiving poor marks from the critics.

Oh yeah, did I mention there's a scene of Ben Stein on our campus, walking in front of the 50 foot Jesus? That whole scene was like one big advertisement for our school.

I think Ben Stein's intentions were better revealed to us at the event we went to at the university, and Expelled actually meanders more than I would like. Personally, I didn't think the movie needed to be about Intelligent Design vs. Darwinism. A film is far too short a forum for discussing such big topics, although I admit that Stein addressed more than I thought he would. If he, like he did at the university event, had focused solely on the idea of people being Expelled because of their own academic inquiry, I think it would resonate more with audiences and make a bigger impact as well.

Even so, it was interesting and sometimes amusing, and a good conversation starter, to say the least.

Save your monies for a cheap theater or rental! I think the fact that this movie got built up so much by a lot of people is why I was disappointed. That and false advertising. I have a big problem with movies being promoted by footage that doesn't actually get shown, which was the case for several scenes (between us and the Hutchinses, we counted at least three).

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is about a guy who gets dumped. He goes to Hawaii to a resort she mentioned a few times to forget his troubles, but it turns out she's there with her new boyfriend. In between sharing his miseries with the staff around the resort, he befriends and starts dating a hostess and learns to move on.

I think the movie had very few laugh-out-loud moments, although there were some. A lot of the jokes were predictable or not very much of an impact. I also didn't care for the movie's end because the main character made a very dumb move that I think was unnecessary and kind of ruined the ending for me because I didn't find him empathetic anymore.

Overall, it was a nice little movie with several imperfections (although one bonus was that Kenneth from 30 Rock was in it), and I'll probably never watch it again.

Thank goodness for books on tape. Without browsing the small selection at my local library, I never even would have known that this book exists. I always thought there were legends or short stories, but didn't even know that Howard Pyle actually put together an entire book. The great thing about experiencing this book in audio format is that the book is filled with songs sung by all of the characters. I would seriously love to learn those songs for myself. Perhaps I'll take that on some day.

This is basically a collection of the best stories about Robin Hood and his men. It explains how Robin Hood became an outlaw, how he met fun people like Little John and Friar Tuck, and tells the best adventures that all of them undergo. Particularly rewarding are the stories where someone outwits the Sheriff of Nottingham.

I can't tell you how much I loved this book. It will definitely be required reading for my kids. Speaking of which, I need to start the hunt for a pretty hardcover version of the book.

I loved the songs, I loved the adventures, and I loved the language. It gives such a wonderful picture of manliness, loyalty, integrity, and fun that I looked forward to listening to it every day.

Oh yeah. Any movie or tv show that shows Robin Hood as a serious man (aka Kevin Costner version) is missing the point of Robin Hood. The book is called "merry" right in the title, and that's a very accurate description. The tone is always light, save for when someone dies. Speaking of which, if you read this and don't want to be sad, then listen to the author when he warns you not to read the epilogue. Also interesting to me was the fact that Maid Marion gets mentioned but actually never appears in the book.

This is my favorite book I've read this year.

Spread the word! | RSSDay.org

What is the takeaway message? Only a very small percentage of the Internet population is aware of the RSS format and its benefits, and that number is growing slowly over time.

By creating the RSS Awareness Day and celebrating it every year we should be able to get the general public exposed to this format, hopefully increasing the usage of RSS feeds and related applications among Internet users.

I honestly think the web would be a better place if more people were aware of and used RSS. People always are asking me how I read all the blogs and news sites that I do, and that is the answer. Sadly only a small percentage of web users have taken advantage of the format. I highly recommend that if you haven't to give Google Reader a try. If you're not sure how it all works, there are lots of tutorials out there. I wrote one nearly 5 (!) years ago. Just replace the reader I mentioned with one of the popular feed readers currently available. Viva RSS!