Why Atheists are Angry.

This blog gives many reasons at why Atheists are so mad at religions. Most people don't even thing about it enough or critically enough so see these many flaws. I know I didn't prior to my change. It is long but good.

http://barrierbreaker.hubpages.com/hub/70-Reasons-Why-Im-So-Angry-An-Anti-Theists-Reaction-to-Christianity

The Plasticity of Memory

I recently read an article entitled, "The Forgetting Pill Erases Painful Memories Forever". The article covered some fascinating concepts that are being investigated in memory. A few of the main points that it covers include:

• Memories are retained by physical connections, or wiring, between neurons in the brain. "For a memory to exist, these scattered cells must become more sensitive to the activity of the others, so that if one cell fires, the rest of the circuit lights up as well." These connections require gene activation and protein synthesis which can include creating new receptors, alter existing receptors and increasing the amount of neurotransmitters.
• Memories consist of two main components, emotion and the actual physical occurrence. Often times extremely traumatic experiences which caused negative emotions such as anger, fear, sorrow or anxiety can be reactivate these emotions when the memory is revisited. 
• Memories are getting rewritten constantly.  Memories are retained by connections patterns between neurons and neurons are made of proteins. Proteins are constantly breaking down and being rebuilt in our body and every time a memory is activated it gets rewritten according to the current emotional state and present knowledge of that person. This concept has been used to treat PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) patients by having them revisit the memory while on mood enhancing drugs which has been effective. 
• Memories may be able to be erased someday. Activation of a memory causes the reorganization or re-synthesis of proteins which rewrite that memory. If protein synthesis was blocked temporarily in that cluster of cells were the memory was retained then when the memory was activated the protein structure that would normally be rebuild to retain that memory would no be rebuilt and the memory would not longer exist. This idea is currently only a hypothesis that has been shown to work on rats. When injecting a protein synthesis inhibiting drug into the brains of rats it was shown that the rats no longer remembered that loud music was related to an electrical shock, something that they had know prior to the injection. 

With memories being constantly rewritten every time they are revisited can they be trusted? If we really can erase memories someday what memories, if any would you erase? Science is cool. 

Logical Fallacies Run Rampant!

Kimber and I have been learning so many new things over the past year and one thing that has really helped us sift through arguments and critically evaluate information is identifying logical fallacies. Logical fallacies are points used in an attempt to support or refute an argument that are illogical. Logical fallacies go undetected all over the place and without being able to recognize them it is easy to take false information or unsupported information as truth. Here is a good visual that covers some of them. I would consider them vital to critical thinking.

Click image to go to link with enlarged picture.

Some other good sources for lists of fallacies: 

Wickipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies

Skeptics Guide to Universe Info - https://www.theskepticsguide.org/resources/logical-fallacies

Dawkins on The BOM

Dawkins sums up the unbelievability of Mormonism so well. Brandon gives an unfortunate and typical believer's refutation that holds no water and is completely illogical. He says "That is not true!". It's saddening how confident he is in his "knowledge" of the church. Dawkins knows more about the history of the church than most members.

Fast forward to 9:50 for the discussion on Mormonism.

Religion actually causes you to have a smaller brain.

This is an interesting study.

Here is a link to a review of the article by Scientific American. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/religious-experiences-shrink-part-of-brain/

Alternative Medicine: How much trust does it deserve?

Alternative medicine is a topic that many people are very passionate about because it has this connotation that it is the more natural or pure way of treating the body, bringing it back into balance. Some people feel that there is almost a spiritual nature to it. On the contrary, "evidence based medicine", or "western medicine", is sometimes seen in a very suspect way because of the huge amount of money that is involved and the synthetic nature of many of the pharmacological treatments. While alternative medical treatments have helped many people it can receive more trust than it deserves putting people at great risk of rejecting life saving and quality of life improving treatments. For this reason I would like to point out a few things about these two types of medicine.

Alternative medicine isn't shown to work while evidence based medicine is. 

By definition Alternative medicine is any practice that is put forward as having the healing effects of medicine but is not based on evidence gathered using the scientific method. This definition of alternative medicine doesn't necessarily mean that it never works, it just means that it hasn't been proven to work using the scientific method under reasonable experimental conditions. It also points out the fact that there are some alternative medications that are used which have been scientifically proven not to work, which is a problem.

Evidence based medicine on the other hand is medicine that has been proven to work using the scientific method. These studies have been peer reviewed and the results of the study accepted with high statistical confidence within the community of the medical specialty.

More simply stated by Tim Minchin:

"Alternative medicine, by definition, has either not been proven to work, or proven not to work. Do you know what they call alternative medicine that has been proven to work? Medicine."

-Tim Minchin

Using these definitions it means that once any substance or method has been proven to work under reasonable scientific experimental conditions it automatically becomes evidence based medicine and ceases to be alternative. Ideally whenever a new treatment is shown to work with a high level of confidence it would instantly be implemented into our health care system but this is not always the case for many different reasons good and bad.

Alternative medicine is not regulated while evidence based medicine is. 

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) was initially set up in 1906 for the purpose of keeping people safe. One of their jobs is the regulation of medical drugs. In order for a drug  to claim it works as a treatment of a specific pathology it needs to have been shown to be safe and effective (benefits outweigh risks). Once approved the FDA monitors the manufacturing process of the substance, labeling and advertising. Each drug has a known toxic dose and effective dose based on studies to ensure it is safe. Even after the drug is released it is monitored to ensure there isn't any long term negative effects.

Dietary supplements, being a large bulk of alternative medicine, is not regulated because in 1994 they were mandated to be regulated as foods rather than drugs under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. Therefore they are not subject to safety and efficacy testing and they have no approval requirements. They are not allowed to state on the label that they specifically treat, diagnose or cure any illness and must include a disclaimer on the label.  A 2013 study that looked at 44 different herbal products from 12 different companies showed that:

"Most (59%) of the products tested contained DNA barcodes from plant species not listed on the labels. Product substitution occurred in 30/44 of the products tested and only 2/12 companies had products without any substitution,contamination or fillers. Some of the contaminants we found to pose serious health risks to consumers". 

"Most of the herbal products tested were of poor quality, including considerable product substitution contamination and use of fillers"

So the majority of the time when you are taking dietary supplements what is stated on the bottle isn't necessarily what is in the bottle. Often times the labeling on dietary supplement adds and labels give the notion that they cure specific problems without specifically stating that they do, which is very confusing to consumers.

Alternative medicine usually isn't based on sound scientific principles.

Most forms of medicine that fall under the realm of alternative medicine are based on unsound principles. For example:

Homeopathic Medicine, developed in 1796, is based on the principle that "like cures like", meaning that the substance that caused the disease in a healthy person will cure similar symptoms in a sick person. These remedies are prepared by repeatedly diluting a substance in alcohol or distilled water to a point where none of the original substance remains. In essence you are only receiving water and any positive affect that you are receiving is due to the placebo affect.  A current example of the damaging affects of homeopathic medication include Nosodes, which are homeopathic (diluted down to only water) vaccines that claim to protect people against disease like a normal vaccine.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is not based on any internal anatomy. It was against the law to perform autopsies in China until 1912 and because of this the Chinese had no system of anatomy comparable to western medicine.

Use of alternative medications is often supported by logical errors. 

The idea that just because it is natural it is good is incorrect. While it may appear that pharmaceutical drugs are more of a risk because they are required to list all of the known side effects, natural herbs and other substances have side effects  as well (click the link, I dare ya). These side effects are less understood because they haven't been as thoroughly tested. The consumer is less aware of these side effects because they are not required to release or obtain this information. All substances are toxic to the body at some level, even water. The problem with herbal supplements is that this toxic dose is not always known while with regulated drugs it is required knowledge.

Anecdotal studies and case studies are not adequate scientific proof. There are some very compelling documentaries out there that give the story of only a single person or a few people who benefit from a specific treatment. This is not adequate. There are many types of studies and each type provides a certain level of evidence and until an out come is statistically significant under scientific conditions it isn't proven. Case studies and anecdotal treatments are the starting point of investigation.

Just because something has been used for a long time doesn't mean it works. A common rational for supporting alternative medicine, such as eastern type medicine, is the fact that many methods have been used for thousands of years. This is not always true and could be attributed to a correlation vs causation fallacy. How many years did the native Americans perform rain dances?  The average life expectancy in China in 1960 was only 36.3 yrs while in the United States it was 69.8 yrs. Sam Harris put it well when he stated:

"But the mere endurance of a belief system or custom does not suggest that it is adaptive, much less wise. It merely suggests that it hasn't led directly to the society's collapse or killed its practitioners outright."
-Sam Harris, The Moral Landscape

DISCLAIMERS:

1. I do not consider healthy eating or a healthy life style to be alternative medicine. All people should do their best to eat healthy and stay active in an attempt to prevent problems down the road.
2. Also, I am in no way claiming that evidence based medicine is perfect or that it has all the answers. There are still a lot of unanswered questions that need to be looked at. With time and the use of the scientific method, evidence based medicine will continue to improve. 
3. Evidence based medicine is not biased towards where it obtains its treatments, specific health care systems maybe but that is different. As long as something can be shown to work under reasonable scientific experimental conditions beyond that of current treatments available, whatever the source of the information, be it China or fresh vegetables, it is then considered evidence based. 
4. Testing any hypothesis, takes time and money and I do agree that pharmaceutical companies have a lot of money which allows them to actually test their products.  Numbers probably have been fudged by dishonest companies on rare instances but I personally trust this process of medicine being shown to work over the alternative. 
5. The burden of proof is on these alternative medicines to do high level studies that show with high confidence that their treatments repeatedly work. Until then they will remain under the umbrella of Alternative Medicines. 

A few words from Michael Specter on the matter:

Factors in my decision to leave the LDS church

This is a list of concerns that I came across that played a major part in my decision to leave the church and continue to play a part in my not coming back to the church or having any faith in the message. As far as I know all of these things are true but I am open to eliminating items if I am informed otherwise. Most members of the church are simply not aware of the these facts or are at least not aware of the significant historical backing to these claims (I know I wasn't). I have heard it stated that people who stay in the church handle this information in three ways; (1) Reject it as false information, (2) Shelf it as not to be understood at this present time because we can't understand the things of god or (3) Completely avoid seeing it or thinking about it at all. I believe that we were given a mind to use it and that it is a good thing, not a stumbling block. I invite all those who are currently in the church to investigate these claims so that they can have a better understanding of the history behind the message that they so boldly proclaim. 

Polygamy

1. Joseph Smith had 32 wives (or more). 
2. Joseph Smith married a 14yr girl.
3. Joseph Smith married other men's wives while they were away on missions (polyandry). 
4. Joseph Smith was commanded to perform polygamy by an angle that threatened him with a sword. 
5. Joseph Smith had a "dirty little affiar" with one of his servants, Fanny Alger prior to him coming forth with the revelation of polygamy. 
6. Joseph Smith manipulated girls into marrying him against their will on the premise that their family's eternal salvation depended on it. 
7. Members of the church were part of the mob when Joseph Smith got tarred and feathered and the mob planned on castrating him. 
8. Joseph Smith denied that he practiced polygamy in 1844 in response to a newspaper article written by William Law in the Nauvoo Expositor. 
9. Joseph Smith had the printing press destroyed in Nauvoo due to that article which was one of the main reasons why he went to Carthage Jail, eventually leading to his death. 
10. All of the prophets of the LDS church prior to around 1890 taught that one must practice polygamy to attain the highest degree of glory and that it was an eternal principle.
11. The church claims to have stopped polygamy in 1898 even though the prophet and many members at that time continue to practice polygamy. 

Book of Mormon

1. There is no remnant of the people claiming to live in the American continent as stated in the BoM. 
2. Wars that claimed to have consisted of 2 million people and to have occured in approx 600BC in the BoM at the specific place where the plates were buried, Hill Cumorah, produced no trace of war while older battles are easily verified in other parts of the world. 
3. The DNA shows that the natives living on the American continent were from Asia and came across the Bearing Straight, not from Israelite descent. 
4. The many anachronisms in the BoM that have been shown not to exist in the American continent during the time claimed in the BoM such has horses, wheat, chariots, steel, etc...
5. The BoM was translated by Joseph Smith while he looked at a peep stone in his hat. The same peep stone that he used to unsuccessfully search for treasure. 
6. The Anton papers, which claim to be copies of characters from the original plates, are in existence today, accepted as legit by the church and still no sense can be made out of them even though the church claims that Professor Anthon verified that the characters were true Egyptian characters. The church even used the characters on a 1980's version of the BoM cover. Anthon denies that this ever occurred.  If current information couldn't decipher them then how could Anthon in the 1830's?
7. There are many testimonies from the witnesses and others that they only saw the original plates with their spiritual eyes and hefted them in a box. 
8. Joseph Smith was well read in the Bible to a point that it has been stated that he was able to reference almost any verse as well as he was well read on the current literature during his day. 
9. View of the Hebrews, other books from Joseph Smith's day and stories and experiences from his family and his own life draw very shocking parallels to the BoM. 
10. BH Roberts, who was a GA in the 1920's, looked into the BoM to refute claims by critics due to a request to do so by the Apostles and concluded that Joseph Smith was likely the author.

First Vision

1. Joseph Smith's story about details of the first vision evolved over time from one personage appearing to him to two personages and the purpose of him going to pray also changes from receiving a remission of his sins to seeking which church was right.
2. Prior to 1835 Joseph Smith believed in the trinitarian type God such that God was a spirit and Jesus Christ had a physical body, this being supported by his earliest 1832 account of the first vision stating that only 1 personage appeared to him. This further confirmed by the the 5th Lecture of Faith written in 1835 which states this specifically. The original edition of the BoM also states that the father and the son are the same but many of these passages were altered after 1835 to reflect his change in doctrine. 
3. The newspaper "Messenger and Advocate" covered the history of the church in 1834 and never even mentioned the first vision. 
4. Joseph Smith never told the body of the church of his vision until 22yrs later. 
5. Many other people claimed to have visions around the same time as Joseph Smith and some of these parallel Joseph Smith's description very closely.

Temple

1. The entire temple ceremony directly and almost exactly parallels the Masonic ritual and Joseph Smith was a very active Grand Master Mason. 
2. Current Masons have said that there is no possible connection between the Temple of Solomon and the Masonic rituals according to the authorities of the Masonic faith. 
3. The temple endowment has changed dramatically even though it was supposed to come from God and was never to change at all no matter what. 

Priesthood

1. The stories of John the Baptist, Peter, James & John restoring the priesthood to Joseph Smith were embellished over time similar to the First Vision story. 
2. Joseph Smith didn't even mention the priesthood or authority in 1830 when the church was organized even though it supposedly happened in 1829. 
3. The priesthood wasn't mentioned in the 1833 Book of Commandments (today it has become D&C) 4 years after is supposedly occurred.
4. There is no account of the specifics of Peter, James and John coming to restore the Melchizdek Priesthood in history.

Other

1. The Book of Abraham came from some papyri with some mummies that the church and Joseph Smith bought in 1835. Joseph Smith claimed to translate them. These scrolls still exist today and scholars have used the Rosetta Stone to decipher Egyptian and none of the translations are anything similar to what Joseph Smith claimed they were. Much of the Mormon doctrine is based on the Book of Abraham. This all can be verified by looking at the scrolls in existence still and the notes that Joseph Smith used to "translate" the document. 
2. Joseph Smith obtained some metallic plates known as the Kinderhook Plates and partially translated them but they were later found out in 1980 to be a complete hoax.
3. It is estimated that the church profits (after expenses) 4-6 billion dollars a year and a very limited amount goes to charity or those in need. In fact, a few years back the the church posted the amount of money that they spend on charity and someone figured out that the the church only donates about $5 per member per year. They do not release their financial statements and recently constructed a $5 billion luxury mall next to Temple Square. 
4. The church has specifically instructed it's educators to only teach things that are faith promoting, stating that all things that are true are not necessarily useful.

 These findings, and many others that I will not include, go against everything that I had been taught in church prior my exit. They are serious issues that I feel people should be aware of if they are going to base the way they act and the way they see others on it. I refuse to represent or be a part of a message that just isn't true. From this new perspective I have also been able to see the damage that it can do to children to teach them to view the world in black and white. There are a lot of things to still be figured out in the world and figuring these things out will require intense critical thinking and the humility to change our ideologies when we learn they are wrong, which I feel is very absent in religion as a whole. Truth can be tested and tested and will remain true. The mormon church does not hold up to investigation plain and simple. Truthfulness aside, I do not want to raise my children reading and basing their morality on a book filled with grusome violence, and flagrant racism and sexism.