My opinion on kneeling for the anthem

My opinion is that the message they are sending by kneeling for the flag and the anthem is that the reality of our country is not living up to the ideals represented by those symbols. That's not disrespecting the flag or the anthem, it's admonishing the country to honor the flag and the anthem by being what this country is supposed to be (equality for all), instead of just taking the easy way out and standing for the anthem and feeling patriotic because you do that, but not living it in your daily life.

If you're a religious person, think of it like this. In a lot of churches, the worship leader asks everybody to stand before the music begins. What's happening here is like if one member of the church decided not to stand because he was fed up with the way people in the church act all pious on Sunday morning, and then go out into their daily lives and treat other people like crap. By doing so, he's not disrespecting the worship songs, he's trying to remind people that it's more respectful to what they represent if you actually live it out in your daily life instead of just standing for the abstract representation of what you're supposed to be doing, and acting like that's enough.

Long List of Responses to Joe Arpaio Pardon

Here's a bunch of statements, articles, and op-eds which progressively reveal what a thoroughly disgusting person Donald Trump chose to pardon. I've organized them in order of shortest to longest word count, so you can attenuate your reading according to your current attention span (or, perhaps, how long you feel able to stifle the rising bile in your throat at the thought that such a terrible, monstrous person will avoid any consequences of his actions). This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list, because if I tried to do that, I probably be here all weekend.

A massive list of Bible verses about fearing God

In an email debate with a Christian, I made the point that God, especially in the Old Testament, seems to have a great affinity to receive worship. The Christian replied, "Yes, but worship based in love, not fear." So, I began to assemble a list of verses which indicate that God has a great affinity for being worshipped out of fear. What's notable about this list is that I didn't consult any concordance or do a search of the word "fear." Instead, I simply started with one single fear that I recalled from memory (I believe it was Ecclesiastes 12:13), and I followed the cross-reference sidebar on BibleHub. If there was more than one verse about fearing God in a sidebar, I would open them all up in new tabs. The entire list that you see below comes purely from that chain, of following all the related verses that started with just the one verse. So, for all I know, there could easily be even more than this.

Now, I think it's important to address one likely objection. Lest you say that all the translators of every major English version of the Bible just messed up the translation (of every single one of these verses), and the word which is translated as "fear" actually means something like "respect" or "awe," I would argue that the context doesn't support that at all. Look at Deuteronomy 28:15-68. After a mere fourteen verses of God telling the Israelites how he will bless them if they follow him, he spends a whopping fifty-four verses telling them all the horrible ways he will curse them if they don't. That is, in the most literal sense, instilling fear. And it's not just a symbolic gesture, either. God does this over and over again throughout the Old Testament, so often that I don't even feel like I need to cite a specific passage. It's a persistent trope of the Old Testament that the people of Israel turn away from God and start worshiping idols, so God causes them to be conquered by some enemy, and that makes them eventually turn back to the true God. It's not because of love, it's because of fear. (And understand, I'm not saying that no one in the Old Testament ever worships God out of love. What I am saying is that the idea that God does not want worship based on fear is completely contradictory to pervasive themes of the Old Testament.)

And in case that argument based on general trends is not enough, I've put a few specific verses in bold which I think more distinctly indicate that the fear which is being talked about in those verses is not simply a poetic synonym for respect or awe. Out of all of them, I think Isaiah 8:13 is the most clear on this; it directly parallels "fear" and "dread," not "fear" and "awe" or anything like that.

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Genesis 22:12 - He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

Genesis 42:18 - Now Joseph said to them on the third day, "Do this and live, for I fear God:

Exodus 14:31 - When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.

Exodus 18:21 - "Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.

Exodus 20:20 - Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin."

Deuteronomy 4:10 - "Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, 'Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.'

Deuteronomy 6:2 - so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

Deuteronomy 6:13- "You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.

Deuteronomy 6:24 - "So the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today.

Deuteronomy 10:12 - "Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

Deuteronomy 10:20 - "You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name.

Deuteronomy 13:4 - "You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

Deuteronomy 14:23 - "You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

Deuteronomy 17:19 - "It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes,

Deuteronomy 28:58 - "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the LORD your God,

Deuteronomy 31:12-13 - "Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law. Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess."

Joshua 4:24 - that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may fear the LORD your God forever."

1 Samuel 12:18 - So Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.

1 Samuel 12:24 - "Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.

2 Samuel 6:9 - So David was afraid of the LORD that day; and he said, "How can the ark of the LORD come to me?"

1 Kings 8:43 - hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, to fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name.

1 Chronicles 16:25 - For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He also is to be feared above all gods.

Nehemiah 5:9 - Again I said, "The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?

Nehemiah 5:15 - But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants domineered the people. But I did not do so because of the fear of God.

Job 1:1 - There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.

Job 4:6 - "Is not your fear of God your confidence, And the integrity of your ways your hope?

Job 28:28 - "And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.'"

Job 31:23 - "For calamity from God is a terror to me, And because of His majesty I can do nothing.

Psalm 2:5 - Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying,

Psalm 2:11 - Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.

Psalm 22:23 - You who fear the LORD, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.

Psalm 33:8 - Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

Psalm 33:18 - Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness,

Psalm 34:11 - Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Psalm 47:2 - For the LORD Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth.

Psalm 61:5 - For You have heard my vows, O God; You have given me the inheritance of those who fear Your name.

Psalm 66:16 - Come and hear, all who fear God, And I will tell of what He has done for my soul.

Psalm 67:7 - God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.

Psalm 76:7 - You, even You, are to be feared; And who may stand in Your presence when once You are angry?

Psalm 76:11 - Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them; Let all who are around Him bring gifts to Him who is to be feared.

Psalm 86:11 - Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.

Psalm 89:7 - A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him?

Psalm 90:11 - Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?

Psalm 96:4 - For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.

Psalm 96:9 - Worship the LORD in holy attire; Tremble before Him, all the earth.

Psalm 99:1 - The LORD reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake!

Psalm 102:15 - So the nations will fear the name of the LORD And all the kings of the earth Your glory.

Psalm 103:11 - For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.

Psalm 111:10 - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.

Psalm 112:1 - Praise the LORD! How blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who greatly delights in His commandments.

Psalm 115:11 - You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.

Psalm 115:13 - He will bless those who fear the LORD, The small together with the great.

Psalm 119:120 - My flesh trembles for fear of You, And I am afraid of Your judgments.

Psalm 128:1 - How blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways.

Psalm 147:11 - The LORD favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness.

Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 2:5 - Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 3:7 - Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

Proverbs 8:13 - "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.

Proverbs 9:10 - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 10:27 - The fear of the LORD prolongs life, But the years of the wicked will be shortened.

Proverbs 14:26-27 - In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death.

Proverbs 15:33 - The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility.

Proverbs 16:6 - By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, And by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil.

Proverbs 19:23 - The fear of the LORD leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.

Proverbs 22:4 - The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches, honor and life.

Proverbs 31:30 - Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.

Ecclesiastes 3:14 - I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him.

Ecclesiastes 5:7 - For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God.

Ecclesiastes 7:18 - It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.

Ecclesiastes 8:12-13 - Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly. But it will not be well for the evil man and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 - The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.

Isaiah 8:13 - "It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread.

Isaiah 11:3 - And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

Isaiah 33:6 - And He will be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; The fear of the LORD is his treasure.

Isaiah 59:19 - So they will fear the name of the LORD from the west And His glory from the rising of the sun, For He will come like a rushing stream Which the wind of the LORD drives.

Isaiah 66:2 - "For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being," declares the LORD. "But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.

Jeremiah 5:22 - 'Do you not fear Me?' declares the LORD. 'Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.

Jeremiah 32:39 - and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them.

Malachi 4:2 - "But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.

Healthcare as a human right is not slavery

The following is a response I wrote on Facebook to this video, or more specifically just the first 13 seconds of it, because that's as far as I could get before I lost my ability to take him seriously...

Yes, I would absolutely and intensely argue that Rand Paul's "healthcare as human right = slavery" argument is not only wrong, it is pure grade-A bullshit. I know some libertarians, and they as individuals don't seem like selfish bastards utterly devoid of empathy or basic human decency, but boy, the standard libertarian arguments sure make them sound like they are.

Nobody I've ever heard who wants to treat healthcare as a basic human right says that doctors shouldn't be paid. Nobody says that doctors should be forced to work for free. Education is treated in America as a basic right that everyone has access to, and yet we don't force teachers to work for free, we don't come to their homes and conscript them. No one's saying that doctors should be enslaved, they're just saying that there should be a model in place where the payment for these services need not always come from the victim of the medical issue, because that person will not always have the ability to pay, but they should still have the ability to receive treatment (because healthcare is a basic human right). 

That might mean that the government regulates how much hospitals or pharmaceutical companies can charge for goods and services; it might be that people in the medical industry can't make as much PROFIT, but it doesn't (in any model I've ever heard of) mean that physicians would be forced to work for free. So when Rand Paul says "that means you believe in slavery," what I hear him saying is, "if I'm not making six figures a year, then I might as well be out on a plantation getting whipped if I don't work hard enough." That's why I say that their arguments make them sound like they lack empathy or basic human decency. The idea of universal healthcare and slavery are not even remotely similar.

Aren't both 2016 presidential candidates immoral?

Well, to an extent, yes. But there are definitely varying degrees of immorality. Like, take their Politifact ratings, for example. Hillary Clinton has 6 "Pants on Fire" ratings (which accounts for 2% of her statements that have been rated on that website). Having earned that rating six times probably does indicate that she's occasionally willing to say stuff that she knows is not true, if she thinks she won't get caught. I'm proud to say that Bernie Sanders, the candidate I voted for, has zero Pants on Fire ratings.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, has forty-nine Pants on Fire statements (17% of all the statements that have been rated). He actually has more Pants on Fire statements than "True" and "Mostly True" combined. There was even someone who went through and did an analysis of some of his speeches, and calculated that he tells a lie (or makes a false statement) an average of every three-and-a-half minutes.

So, in a simplistic sense, you could say that Hillary Clinton is a liar, and Donald Trump is a liar, but that doesn't make them equally dishonest. Also, as I mentioned in a much more heated discussion yesterday, Donald Trump has said that his strategy for dealing with terrorists will be to "take out" their families. Most people consider an attack against non-combatants to be a heinous and despicable war-crime; Donald Trump makes it a campaign promise. That's how far removed from basic human decency he is.

There's a famous quote from Isaac Asimov referring to the fact that the earth is an "oblate spheroid," not a perfect sphere. He said, "when people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together."

I feel like it's kinda the same deal with Hillary's and Trump's immorality. If you say Hillary is an honest and moral person, I think you'd be wrong. If you say Trump is an honest and moral person, I think you'd be wrong. But if you think that Hillary is just as immoral as Trump, then I think your view is wronger than both of them put together.

Faith vs. evidence, abstracted

This was a Facebook post I wrote as a response to this article and this reddit discussion.

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I read AronRa's article, and I agree with the criticism that he cherry-picked only those meanings of faith which fit the point he was trying to make, and shame on him for doing that. As someone who actively opposes creationists so much, he should be making a much more deliberate effort to avoid justified accusations of quote-mining.

But, personally, I think there might be a little too much focus from both sides on what a specific word means. At the end of the day, I think what it really comes down to is that any belief or position you hold falls into one of two sets: "beliefs based on evidence" (call that Set X) and "beliefs not based on evidence" (call that Set Y). People like AronRa use the word "faith" to describe Set Y, and people like you take offense at that; you call it drivel and claim that it undermines his entire argument. But to me, you and he are both getting too hung up on a simple word choice. What's more important is whether a belief falls into Set Y, not what word we use to describe Set Y.

What I think might be more effective is this: 
1) Which set does your belief (about God, in this case) fall into? 
2) If it's Set X, what is the evidence it's based on?
3) If it's Set Y, why do you think that's a good way to believe true things?

In that way, I think there can be a productive discussion about the issues AronRa raised, without ever needing to worry about what the word "faith" really means.

The “What Would It Take" Challenge Discussion Format

This is a concept I’m experimenting with, where people pose me questions like, “what would it take to convince you…” or “what it would take to change your mind about…” and I attempt to lay out as clearly as possible what data or evidence would be required (or what else I would need to be convinced of) for my belief to change. I want to believe true things, but I recognize that the human mind has a tendency to stubbornly hold on to its current beliefs, so I’m trying out this format as a way to sort of make myself accountable to the claim that my beliefs can be changed, if a sufficient standard of evidence is met.

Of course, this isn’t just unilateral; the idea is that after I answer one such challenge question, I then turn around and ask the person who gave me that question a challenge of my own. The long-term potential is for people to be endlessly tossing these challenge questions back and forth, as long as both parties are willing to put the time in. In doing so, they should each gradually get a much clearer sense of the premises that inform the other person’s beliefs, and what standards of evidence it would take to convince them.

Eventually, after some “playtesting” of this concept, I’ll probably want to draw up a full-scale rulebook, but for now, I’m just gonna state a couple crucial ground rules. The main one is that answers can’t be vague or abstract. “I dunno, I’ll know it when I see it” is exactly the opposite of what this challenge is all about. The answers should be as precise and objective as possible. I’m not saying that will be easy; I have trouble with it too, and I’m the one who came up with this. It takes practice, but I think it’s a goal worth aiming for. You should feel free to probe the challenger for greater specificity or clarity to their challenge before providing your answer, so that it can be as clear as possible.

Answers should also move the discussion forward. The purpose of this is to foster a different sort of environment for people to have discussions about subjects they disagree on, so an answer that doesn’t provide any way to move ahead with the discussion wouldn’t serve that purpose. For instance, let’s say your challenge was, “what would it take to convince you that leprechauns exist,” and your answer was “If I was sitting at my computer, minding my own business, and a leprechaun appeared out of thin air and handed me a pot of gold.” That answer follows the first rule, because it is very specific and objective, but it shuts down the discussion, because all you can do at that point is just go on with your life and wait to see if that ever happens. That’s not the intention for this challenge.

Now, one thing that is acceptable is saying that nothing will convince you or make you change your mind, provided that you can clearly articulate why. If you do, this still follows the spirit of that second rule, because it allows the discussion to move forward. If you say “nothing will convince me that leprechauns exist because I don’t believe that any mythical creatures exist at all,” then that opens the door for you to be asked, “what would it take to change your mind that mythical creatures could possibly exist?” The discussion can progress forward from there.

There may come a point when you’re not able to give an explanation for why nothing will change your mind. If you do get to that point, that seems like a really good opportunity to consider whether you have underlying foundations for your beliefs that are just based on assumptions or unfounded presuppositions. If you value believing things that are true, that would be a good opportunity to get rid of those unsupported foundations and reanalyze your worldview from there. On the other hand, if you’re perfectly happy to believe things based on assumptions, and refuse to change your beliefs no matter what evidence is presented, then this challenge is probably not for you.

I’m also gonna test out doing these challenges in a more spontaneous fashion through voice discussion, but in terms of answering through the written word, my current feeling is that responses should be between 500 and 1000 words. That makes it long enough that you can’t just give a lazy answer devoid of detail, but short enough that you’re not just drowning your discussion partner in a whole overlong dissertation that they’d never have time to respond to.