For my entire life as a JW, I was taught that humans are currently only capable of using about 10% of the brain. Sometimes the stated figure was much less (1% or even smaller fractions). This ‘fact’ was repeated from the podium and by my parents for many years. The reasoning and motive behind this teaching was that sin and imperfection has deteriorated our thinking ability since the time of Adam and Eve. Therefore, in the “new system”, our brains would eventually be restored to full capacity. I recall all kinds of wild speculation about what this would mean, and what special “powers” or senses we may obtain as a result.

“Some neuroscientists estimate that during an average life span, a person uses only 1/100 of 1 percent (.0001) of his potential brain capacity. You might well ask, ‘Why do we have a brain with so much capacity that we hardly test a fraction of it in a normal lifetime?’” — Is There A Creator Who Cares About You? p.62

The problem, of course, is that this teaching is complete and utter bullshit. This myth seems to stem partially from early neurological research in the 1800’s and 1900’s, which suggested that only about 10% of our neurons are firing at any given moment. New Age and paranormal movements have also jumped on this bandwagon, suggesting the other 90% of mystery brain power is linked to psychic ability. Likewise, the Watchtower and other Christian faiths have jumped on it in order to give credence to the whole concept of sin and imperfection.

We now know that 100% of our brain functionality is utilized, and that the mythical concept of Sin is not at all based in observable reality.

“After all, if you removed 90 percent of your brain, you’d basically be left with the thinking power of a sheep.” — Eric Chudler, Ph.D., University of Washington

Well, there you have it. Sheep… 10%… you see where I’m going with this?

Check out the related articles in Snopes or Scientific American for additional reading.

Creationists around the blogosphere have been excitedly talking about Ben Stein’s new atheist smear-fest entitled Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. The mocumentary is a fundamentalist’s wet dream, attempting to connect Darwinism, the scientific establishment, and atheism to all of the evil things that have happened in modern history. Unfortunately for Ben and supporters of ‘Intelligent’ Design, it fails miserably. The end result is a mental masturbation of misinformation, dramatic editing tricks, and a sleazy exploitation of the Holocaust.

Arthur Caplan, Ph.D., director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, has this to say in his review:

“There is not a shred of intelligence on display in this just released “documentary” purporting to be a careful examination of the fight over teaching creationism and evolution in America … To lay blame for the Holocaust upon Charles Darwin is to engage in a form of Holocaust denial that should forever make Ben Stein the subject of scorn, not because of his nudnik concern that evolution somehow undermines morality, but because in this contemptible movie he is willing to subvert the key reason why the Holocaust took place — racism — to serve his own ideological end. Expelled indeed.”

As of today, Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a measly 11% rating. Here is a quick summary of the reviews:

“The prospect of a pro-Intelligent Design documentary sounded so batsh** crazy,it had to be awesome, watching intellectuals spin a story about how they’re persecuted for their beliefs. Not to say I didn’t give it a fair chance, but they made it really easy.” — Fred Topel, Can Magazine

“The movie itself is an example of design by faith and emotion rather than intelligence, defined as rationality grounded in proof.” — Nell Minow, Chicago Sun-Times

“One of the sleaziest documentaries to arrive in a very long time, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a conspiracy-theory rant masquerading as investigative inquiry.” — Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

“Stein claims to denounce the tyranny of dogma, then browbeats us with his own.” — Rafer Guzman, Newsday

“Surely the film’s greatest offense is the utter shamelessness with which it exploits the Holocaust.” — Ken Fox, TV Guide’s Movie Guide

“No intelligence allowed, indeed, as Ben Stein misguidedly crusades against what he perceives as the science community’s slavish devotion to natural selection.” — Drew Toal, Time Out New York

“A cynical attempt to sucker Christian conservatives into thinking they’re losing the ‘intelligent design’ debate because of academic ‘prejudice.’” — Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

“For a film about American freedom of expression and the necessity for open dialogue, it’s hard to imagine Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed being more one-sided, narrow-minded, and intellectually dishonest.” — Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

“The film shows that Intelligent Design should be on the table for discussion. But if you’re looking for ammo to argue your Darwinist friends under the table, look elsewhere.” — Mark Moring, Christianity Today

I also found it amusing that the first Plot Keyword listed for the film in IMDB is “Fake Evidence”. If the “No Intelligence Allowed” subtitle is referring to the targeted viewer demographic of this film, then it succeeds beautifully.

A recently de-converted Christian posted on the Richard Dawkins forum, asking how atheists deal with the fear of death after they have left religion behind. Here was my reply:

I am also a recently de-converted Christian. Only I was a Jehovah’s Witness. For my entire life I believed that the majority of faithful mankind would live forever in a paradise-like earth, restored to it’s original glory as before the sin of Adam and Eve. In contrast to mainstream Christians, the thought of going to heaven seems undesirable to most JW’s. We are taught that in it’s original perfect sinless state, the human body has the ability to regenerate itself indefinitely and be free of all sickness and disease. The fear of losing this hope of everlasting life is exactly what drives JW’s to stay a JW no matter what happens.

Of course the desire to live forever hasn’t really left me, but I haven’t had a panic attack about it yet. Who wouldn’t want to live forever and have eternity to do all the things you want to do?

Regardless, I am quite calm about the thought of death. It doesn’t bother me much anymore. For me, I just think of all the rest of humankind who has had their little bit of time on earth and then passed on. No one else “lives forever”, or goes to an imaginary heaven, never has, never will. No matter how many deluded silly people shout “repent, or die!”, they are still just deluded silly people. Everyone wants to think they are more important than this, that they will somehow go on forever. There is no sense in wishing for it, or dwelling on it, because it’s never going to happen.

Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one. - Richard Dawkins

I do not view this as a limitation, and it is not a negative thing. In fact, it’s inspiring. Since I’ve become an atheist, I no longer worry about possible destruction at the hands of invisible spirits because of any of the “sinful” things I’ve done in life. I no longer think I have to spend my entire life pleasing an invisible “eye in the sky”. I can make good, moral decisions based on reason and logic rather than fear and the hope of reward. I can value my body and my life like it’s the only one I have, and manage it properly, rather than view it as just a transitory vessel to get to the next stage. Now, I can focus on what makes me happy, and am even more motivated to do what I can to make my brief experience here a worthy one.

Throughout the Bible, the character of Satan is portrayed as the root of all lies, the father of all that is evil. He is supposedly the invisible driving force behind all wickedness and death on the Earth today. Even though Satan was himself created by a perfect God, he rebelled against his father and convinced other angels, and eventually humans, to follow his evil ways. But is Satan really all that evil? Is he really the most villainous, murderous, rebellious spirit creature that ever lived? If we compare his literal body count in the Bible to that of the supposedly perfect, loving God Yahweh (A.K.A. Jehovah), I think the answer is a resounding No.

“I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh.” — Deuteronomy 32:42

Anyone reading the Bible in it’s entirety can easily come to the conclusion that the God of the Old Testament is wrathful character, ready and eager to smite down any living thing (all of which he himself created) that disobeys him, prays to another God, or stands in the way of his chosen race, the Israelites. Oddly enough, shortly after giving the ten commandments to the Israelites, he proceeds to command them to murder, steal, kill, rape, and enslave many of the tribes and peoples they encounter in the desert. This theme is widely prevalent in Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Exodus, and so on.

“And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain.” — Deuteronomy 2:34

These are just examples. Pages upon pages of Bible passages are filled with accounts of rape, murder, and cruelty at the hands of God or his followers. In some cases, these passages reveal the literal numbers of those slain in battle. The number of people killed in the Bible directly by God, or by faithful people under his command, amounts to some 2,270,971. Note that this figure is based only on the scriptures that provide a numeric death count. The actual figure is likely somewhere in the tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of his own children. This number is likely even higher when we consider the flood of Noah. Of course, this does not include all of the innocent animals and other life that had nothing to do with any of it.

“Why should I allow that same God to tell me how to raise my kids, who had to drown His own?” — Robert G. Ingersoll

How many people was Satan recorded to have slain in the Bible? 10.

Thats right, ten. Just who is the evil one here? Satan seems like quite a calm, reasonable bloke in comparison to Yahweh, who spends most of the Bible acting like a spoiled, jealous, angry little child who didn’t get his way.

Of course, I don’t literally believe in the figure of Satan, or Yahweh for that matter. At least not anymore. Why would anyone want to worship a God that would destroy them for all eternity, just for being born? Yet, millions continue to do just that, with all sincerity.

To me, it’s obvious these things are not inspired by God. Rather, these are the kinds of things primitive men write about. Are these truly the actions of a perfect, loving creator? Why command his people to travel the desert, committing genocide after genocide, sometimes sparing only the young virgin women, to use them as sexual slaves? Why is he concerned if some deluded fool in the desert worships some other god that doesn’t even exist? Why not just kill the fool, rather than smite down his family, his children, and the entire village? Or how about just come out of the clouds and talk to the poor guy?

Fortunately, it’s nothing more than really, really bad fiction. One only has to look into the Bible for themselves to see the vast absurdity of it all.

Americans love shopping, even when it comes to the God of The Week. Every major news source this week is buzzing about the new data released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The statistics from the extensive U.S. Religious Landscape Survey suggest that 44 percent of Americans are leaving the faith of their upbringing. I find it sad that many are simply just moving from one form of delusion and superstition on to the next. However, an increasing number of citizens are now moving past blind belief and are either claiming no religious affiliation at all, or have come full circle into atheism. While the US has a long way to go before it reaches the level of secularism found in Europe and the UK, such reports of the changing landscape of faith are quite encouraging.

Above all, I was most interested in the data of my former faith, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who represent about 0.7% of the US population:

“Jehovah’s Witnesses have the lowest retention rate of any religious tradition. Only 37% of all those who say they were raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses still identify themselves as Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

This is most telling. The Watchtower Society does not publish statistics of those who become inactive or are disfellowshipped. While Witnesses may be one of the fastest growing of the Christian sects, they also have the highest drop-out rate. I was shocked to learn that 63% of all JW’s who are raised in the organization leave for good at some point in their life. I know now that there are very good reasons for the high rate of loss, but that is still a huge number by any means.

Of course, any faithful JW will tell you that this is just a sign that we are truly living in the time of the end. Yawn. Let’s get on with it already.