Jesse Bering’s mother died of cancer on a Sunday, in her own bed, at 9 o’clock at night. Bering and his siblings closed her door and went downstairs, hoping they might somehow get some sleep.

It was a long, hard night, but around 7 a.m., something happened: The wind chimes outside his mother’s window started to chime.

Bering remembers waking to the tinkle of these bells, a small but distinct sound in an otherwise silent house. And he remembers thinking that those bells carried a very specific message.

“It seemed to me … that she was somehow telling us that she had made it to the other side. You know, cleared customs in heaven,” Bering says.

The thought surprised him. Bering was a confirmed atheist. He did not believe in any kind of supernatural anything. He prided himself on being a scientist, a psychologist who believed only in the measurable material world. But, he says, he simply couldn’t help himself.

Confirmed atheist? I suppose that means self-described atheist. In any case, there is a small part of me that understands this desire. However, when my father died last year, I did not have any of these supernatural leanings. I also do not see how having such leanings is beneficial to evolution. On a personal individual level, belief may be advantageous; yet, in the grand scheme of things, I fail to see it.

There are two parts of the equation I’d like to touch upon here: The belief in god as well as the belief in the supernatural, such as ghosts. Some people state that without god, there are no morals. I disagree for the following reason. Morals are innate, they are part of our societal instincts. Members of the non-human animal kingdom have proven this time and again. There is a huge advantage to following the so-called Golden Rule- treating others as we wish to be treated. Evaluating a situation and deciding what is right (as opposed to having a cut and dry set of rules to follow) is the key to true morality. Acting out of fear or to kiss the “ass” of an invisible bully is not truly moral behavior. Whether it be a god or a dead relative watching, one being good out of fear isn’t the optimal way to be good, in my opinion.

“Whether it’s a dead ancestor or God, whatever supernatural agent it is, if you think they’re watching you, your behavior is going to be affected,” he says.

True enough, yet that doesn’t make it an evolutionary benefit. And he goes on:

In fact, Bering says that believing that supernatural beings are watching you is so basic to being human that even committed atheists regularly have moments where their minds turn in a supernatural direction, as his did in the wake of his mother’s death.

I’m not so sure about that. It may be accurate in specific cases, but not so much for every nonbeliever. The idea of someone watching every single thing you do, from masturbation to hanging out with friends, is – quite frankly – creepy. I wouldn’t find it comforting in the slightest. If I’m in a bad situation, I try to think of the best reasonable way to get out of it rather than finding comfort in the possibility that someone or something is watching over me.

Every animal, including humans, has a moral center and that is what is advantageous to evolution. There is an innate desire to live in a society where people treat one another as they would like to be treated. It just makes good sense.

• What’s the point? (0)
• The Miracles of Nature (5)
• The Friendly Atheist is under attack! Oh noes! (2)

Of course there is the obvious reason for taking birth control pills and that is birth control. However, that’s only small potatoes for some women. I’ve been on said pills since I was eighteen. I began taking them due to very heavy periods and a severe lack of regulation. I have tried almost every type on the market but have never had a lapse in taking something. I’m a big fan of the four periods every year, personally. Mainly because they can be pretty bad. (And bad just doesn’t meaning cramps, but also headaches, backaches, and other pains.)

Perhaps I should apologize for the TMI. I only say this to point out that these pills are, first and foremost, medicine. Many women have major struggles with their bodies. Birth control pills can have a seriously positive effect that no one ever brings up when it becomes a heated political debate. It’s a neglected topic because it is easy to discard it when an opponent to birth control is trying to make a point. It reminds me of the abortion debate when conservatives refuse to admit that there are, in fact, many cases where the woman’s health is at risk. One could easily assume that the fault goes to someone because they are male (and don’t understand) but there are women who do it as well. I cannot comprehend a woman arguing against other women, but I see it all the time.

I just think it’s important to point out that, besides the obvious benefit of birth control, there is a plethora of reasons a woman would take these pills such as lower cancer risk, less painful periods, PMS and Endometriosis relief, etc.

• Thoughts & Choices (4)
• Abandoned Alternative Medicine Research (0)
• A woman’s last name (5)

Anita Ikonen from Vision From Feeling did short spontaneous interviews with those who were willing to participate at TAM8. She may be a woo, but I happen to like her; she’s really sweet. I do find it strange that Anita asserts she is a skeptic about everything except her claim to be able to attain a “feeling” regarding the health information of any given person. Unfortunately, I missed the demonstration but heard that it did not make her claim appear substantial.

In any case, you can check me (and Eric) out at about 2:12. I am not a great interviewee (yet!) and had a minor brain fart whilst trying to enunciate the shortened version of my Coming Out Godless story. (However, I think I look better than I had imagined I would look prior to seeing it. So that’s a plus, I suppose.)

Forgive me for placing them out of order, but here is Part I:

• What’s Your Story? Tell it. (2)
• The Skeptic Movement surely could use more People of Color (2)
• The OUT Campaign (4)

And Islam gets even nuttier.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said today that music is “not compatible” with the values of the Islamic republic, and should not be practised or taught in the country.

In some of the most extreme comments by a senior regime figure since the 1979 revolution, Khamenei said: “Although music is halal, promoting and teaching it is not compatible with the highest values of the sacred regime of the Islamic Republic.”

…

Unlike other clerics in Iran, whose religious rulings are practised by their own followers, Khamenei’s views are interpreted as administrative orders for the whole country, which must be obeyed by the government. Last month Khamenei issued a controversial fatwa in which he likened his leadership to that of the Prophet Muhammad and obliged all Iranians to obey his orders.

Khamenei has rarely expressed his views on music publicly, but he is believed have played a key role in the crackdown on Iran’s music scene following the revolution. When Khamenei was president, he banned western-style music, forcing many stars to go into exile.

Ha, the term “Western-style music” refers to something very different to those in America than those on the other side of the globe. In any case, I shouldn’t be very shocked by this horrible repression but if there are Christians in America who outlaw dancing, it’s not a far leap for Muslims to outlaw music.

Read the entire story.

• Western morality is not the ‘Jewish Way’ (11)
• Water pipes banned for Gaza Women by Hamas (0)
• To be a liberal… (0)

While considering the current state of affairs in the middle east, I do support Israel to a point. But, above everything else, I support peace.

You may or not be aware, but I had my Bat Mitzvah in Israel (I never actually learned Hebrew). However meaningless of a ceremony it is for women, as far as the tradition is concerned, it was still a lovely time. Besides, I didn’t make my friends sit through a boring ceremony later on, only a casual party. I know how to give the people what they want. But I digress.

While this chart is a bit old, it surely shows a lot of money that America gives to Israel. I’ve always tried to understand why Christian conservatives support Israel. I pondered that perhaps it’s due to them wanting the Jews to all go live in Israel so America can become the “Christian country” they so long for. (No room for atheists, eh?) Haven’t we learned that every country reigned by religious rule is riddled with war? I’d love to see a day when no countries operate with religion as part of its laws.

• Western morality is not the ‘Jewish Way’ (11)
• Water pipes banned for Gaza Women by Hamas (0)
• Palestinian family evicted from their home of 70 years by Israeli settlers (3)

Prop 8 is overturned. Activists and progressives who are concerned with equality and justice just exhaled the biggest rainbow-colored breath. I have written about this divisive and ugly proposition and the following protest (one of the many).

So how cool is this news on this blogger’s 48th birthday: Proposition 8, the horrible and neurotic (Who cares who marries whom?) law prohibiting Gay marriage was overturned today, Wednesday, August 4th, 2010.

In other words, by “Memorandum Order of Judge Vaughn Walker Declaring California’s Proposition 8 Unconstitutional.”

…

What’s massively cool is that Judge Walker is himself Gay. Opponents will certainly look at that fact as an issue in his ruling, but I think it’s fitting that someone who’s life would be altered by Prop 8 has the chance to rule on its constitutionality. [Read more.]

I’m sure the fact that the judge is gay will come up again. And again.

I find this to be an important issue for many reasons. It’s important for not only members of the GLBT community but also atheists as well as – simply and shortly put – caring human beings. It’s each small victory, lined up, one by one. Unfortunately, it’s still a very slow process to equality but some goals are gradually being met. Next on the docket: Getting open atheists elected for public office. Eesh, that’ll be a tough one.

Read the specifics about the Prop 8 ruling. View the rest of the Prop 8 protest photos from May 2009.

• Why the Proposition 8 Ruling Matters to Atheists (2)
• Sometimes bigotry is simply bigotry (2)
• Prop 8 Upholding Protest in Hollywood (3)

Israeli settlers took over a Palestinian home in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City today, evicting about 45 members of an extended family which has occupied the building for more than 70 years.

The settlers claimed to have documentation to prove they had purchased the building from the owners. The Palestinian tenants, who have been fighting attempts to evict them for many years, were challenging the takeover in court.

…

According to Mohammed Kirresh, 22, a member of the Palestinian family, “Jewish people and Israeli soldiers with weapons” came at 2am, when most of the family was at a wedding.

He said the family, which had rented the property since 1936, had won two previous court cases challenging eviction orders. He claimed the Israelis had broken furniture and damaged belongings. [Read more]

This reminds me of how Jews have been persecuted for many years. It’s not rational behavior, that after being treated a certain way for no reason, to treat others in the same way. Mostly, I speak from my experiences in America: Bigoted Jews, Mexicans who don’t like Puerto Ricans, homophobic blacks, and the list goes on and on. I come from the line of thinking of The Golden Rule, that it makes good sense to treat others as I’d like to be treated. Apparently, not everyone agrees. Turning years of persecution into reverse persecution only makes matters stickier. Yet people of all races, nationalities, etc. continue to do it.

• A few notes on Israel and the Middle East (1)
• Jews in New York rally against Obama (0)
• A Palestinian man is jailed for rape after consensual sex (0)

Yeah, sure. Anxiety and depression affect one emotionally and mentally but it surely doesn’t end there. I have had stomach digestion issues and minor (usually) headaches for as long as I can remember, even as far back as those days when parents assured children they didn’t get headaches.

Being that my stomach is a much more pressing issue, I went to a GI specialist over a year ago. I have undergone an endoscopy, ultrasound, and other scans only to show that there is nothing physically wrong with my stomach. No allergies (except seasonal) and no major food intolerances (that I’ve been able to notice, except large amounts of lactose). A friend of mine has very similar stomach issues and she has found out that its due to a lack of ‘communication’ between the brain’s serotonin and the stomach. Somehow Irritable Bowel Syndrome comes into play. Many will assume that its simply the anxiety that creates the digestive problems. But perhaps not being able to digest anything can make you anxious? According to my research, the actual reason for the correlation isn’t too clear.

Depression and anxiety can be very painful. I have read that somehow sufferers of anxiety and depression can be in a lot of physical pain, even if the emotional pain is minimal. As I mentioned previously, I was severely depressed in high school but somewhere in college and moving out to Los Angeles afterwards helped me to have this great outlook. It was also when I realized my atheism that was the final push to be optimistic and generally happy. I had finally inhaled the true beautiful purpose of nature.

However, my stomach issues greatly worsened. Sure, I dealt with career and family stress as just about anyone does, but it didn’t stand to reason. Why do I always feel like crap?

After speaking to my friend more, she informed me of the regimen her doctor put her on: Zoloft, peppermint tea, fiber supplements, and probiotics. The combination is supposed to work together for a period of time, teaching your body how to digest food properly. She has been lessening the Zoloft and feeling better. She’s not a skeptic, but still a smart science-minded individual. Of course, I began a bunch of internet research. Then, I asked some skeptic friends on their thoughts (mostly regarding the probiotics).

Peppermint seems to be known to minimize the contractions in the stomach but much isn’t known. There haven’t been many tests. Though, according to what I have seen so far, it seems likely. What about probiotics? I listened to the QuackCast on Probiotics, #16. And didn’t get many definitive answers. Mark left it a bit open in some areas, which left me confused but also hopeful. Hopeful that it could potentially help and hopeful that it isn’t alternative medicine.

So I asked my doctor. At first, I spoke to my doctor in LA who gave me a Prozac script, but only until I could see a local doctor. My new doctor agreed that that could likely be it: the anxiety, depression, and IBS amalgam. Especially after I informed her all the tests I took part in, she prescribed me more Prozac and gave me probiotics samples of a specific strain. She said she takes them daily. I also spoke to my aunt who is a nurse (and a skeptic) who heads the nursing department; she said that the probiotics won’t hurt you unless they are packaged incorrectly or you take more than the recommended dosage. I figured I had nothing to lose since I had the samples already so I began taking those in addition to the fiber and Prozac.

The Prozac has calmed me down greatly. If just for that, its a wonderful drug (for me, anyway). However, something seems to be working. I did get really sick prior to and during TAM, but other than that I have been feeling a lot better. Then, I ran out of probiotics and went sans for a few days. My stomach went crazy. Let’s just leave it at that. In my attempt to delineate any placebo reactions from real progress, I am simply unable to. My doctor is of the thought that whatever gets you to feel better, then what’s the difference? I’m not so sure but I ran out and got some of those same probiotics and was very careful to only buy that strain (just in case). I’m not certain if it is what has been helping but I’ll give it a little while longer before I can fully decide. Thoughts?

On a side note, I also haven’t had caffeine for months. Other than napping a lot more, I haven’t had any negative side effects. It definitely was upsetting my stomach. But what doesn’t? Oy.

EDIT: Actually, I do enjoy small amounts chocolate but no coffee or caffeinated tea.

• A woman’s last name (5)
• Stressed… to the Extreme! (8)
• Other Medical Reasons for Taking Birth Control Pills (0)