Détente

Clint Talks Horror Part 1: Top 5 Ways to Survive In a Horror Movie

2012-01-26T10:29:00.000-05:00

I've been watching horror movies since before I can remember. No, really. Before my late grandmother passed away she was fond of telling me stories about how afternoons at her house would pass by in complete silence as my sister and I sat enthralled by A Nightmare on Elm Street at age two. Apparently this was my favorite at the time and, unsurprisingly, the Nightmare series remains my favorite horror franchise today.

One of my favorite pastimes as a kid was going to the video store each week and renting every movie off the horror shelf sequentially until I had seen them all at least once. The only ones forbidden to me were the Faces of Death films because they were allegedly documentaries of actual deaths. This turned out to be untrue but I nevertheless found a way to see all of them and, again, more than once. When I was in elementary school I religiously purchased Fangoria magazine and collected every issue of R.L. Stine's immaculate Goosebumps series. By middle school I had read over twenty Stephen King novels. I've since devoured his entire collection and additionally the libraries of Anne Rice, H.P. Lovecraft, Clive Barker, Thomas Harris, and Richard Matheson.

Look, all I'm trying to say is: I've got some respectable credentials. That is why if you ever find yourself being attacked in your dreams by a man with knives for hands or are being chased by a machete wielding maniac at summer camp or find yourself in a zombie infested, post-apocolyptic world...you need to STFU and listen to these top 5 rules for survival.

1. Do not split up.

Let me dispel a common myth right now. You WILL NOT fare better if you split up. First of all there are perceptive powers in numbers. More eyes to see. More ears to hear. More minds to develop real solutions to whatever horrific plight you've found yourselves in. Secondly, should you be attacked, you're more likely to survive in a group because you are less vulnerable. Lastly, you've got to have someone to make love to when you've decided to stop the fight. Come on, folks! Stick together.

2. Do not run upstairs.

Okay, this doesn't require a physics degree. Running upstairs is basically equivalent to killing yourself. THERE IS NOWHERE TO GO. Your options when you run upstairs are:

a. hide in a closet or

b. jump out of a window.

Either way you are dead. Think about it. When running for your life you want options. You want expansive flat land. You want woods. You want crowded city markets. For the love of all possible gods, stop running up the damn stairs.

3. LISTEN to terrified people.

If someone, especially someone you love and trust, bursts into your office with hair turned gray babbling about a monster that lives in their closet trying to eat them please give them a chance to explain themselves. People who have been frightened to their core generally have a hard time explaining the situation. Do not become impatient and dismissive. Hear them out. Chances are they took some bad drugs but it's a strange world we live in and you should pay attention to their claims. This is particularly important with children. As we become adults we generally become cynical and jaded. We've decided that we do not live in a world of monsters. This resignation will easily get you killed in a horror film scenerio.

4. If your house is haunted, LEAVE.

This should be a no brainer. I'm not talking about a dripping faucet or groaning floorboards. I'm talking about when an entity drags you out of bed at night or when something is lurking upside down on the ceiling behind you in the bathroom mirror. I'm talking about when televisions suddenly turn on and off even when you unplug them and eerie voices whispering your name from the basement. GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THERE. Do not attempt to communicate with the spirits. Do not set up a video camera. Do not hire an exorcist or a priest and DO NOT pretend that it isn't there. Sometimes these things follow you wherever you go because the house isn't haunted, you are. In that unfortunate case you don't have many options. But how will you know until you leave?

5. Always maintain your vehicle.

Okay, this is a long-term, blanket strategy. Perhaps your greatest tool in surviving a horror movie scenario is having a running automobile. How many times has someone been on the edge of escape but was then brutally murdered because the car wouldn't start? Too often if you ask me. Your car is your salvation so ingrain this checklist into your brain and keep it maintained:

a. make sure your battery is fully charged.

b. make sure your starter is reliable.

c. make sure you have gas.

d. keep a spare key hidden inside the car.

e. always check the backseat and trunk if uncertain.

Well, there you have it folks. If you apply what you've learned today I'd say you've increased your chances of survival by about 75%. For more in depth survival techniques pertaining to zombies check out The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. As a disclaimer I must say that if you find yourself in a supernatural horror scenario then most bets are off. Not all monsters are unvanquishable but if you're being haunted by an eternal demon who kills you in your dreams then I'm afraid there really isn't much hope for you. Sleep tight!

Clint Wells

New Song: Hop on the World

2012-01-12T02:29:00.003-05:00

My song this week is about what an alien would say to us if it hopped on the Earth for a bit.

Hop on the World

hop on the world and you will find
it's all the same sad song
nobody here feels love enough
to feel they belong

look at the fear behind their smile
look how they wait for the gun
every heart breaks
crushed beneath the weight of love

there's something inside your heart
that will light the way back home
look up at the stars to remind you
that here, you're not alone
you're not alone

hop on world, it's paradise
but everyone closes their eyes
pulling the shades
when the light of love gets too bright

there's something inside your heart
that will light the way back home
look up at the stars to remind you
that here, you're not alone

hey! there's some kind of fire that burns inside your eyes
when you hold onto each other
pain is nothing to fear and nothing to hide behind
maybe there's nothing but stars to guide the way home tonight
but at least you've got something and
hey, when the world doesn't feel like home
you're not alone

hop on the world
hop on the world

Brief Update + New Song

2012-01-07T00:12:00.004-05:00

Hey folks. Life is busy. Just got back from a week of shows in Austin, TX with Bob Schneider. Super fun. We played the Paramount Theater on NYE and it was apparently sold out. I accidentally had so much to drink that I don't remember the end of it. Yikes! I'm told it was good. Whew.

I have a lot of essays in the works. Some thoughts about science and religion and presidents and other marginally boring topics. I also have my reading list for last year. It's pretty small. In 2010 I read over sixty books. Last year I only read about twenty. Oh well.

I'm currently reading a lot again, though. Celine, Henry Miller, science, religious criticism, Hitchens and, of course, Bukowski.

Here is my song for this week. It's about this couple in love who ran into some hard times. They killed a few folks (and even some children I think) and they're making their way down to Mexico to try and catch a break. Start over. They get pulled over by a well-meaning cop who turns out to be a fool for beauty. They kill him and drive on. In the third act the antihero is thinking about Jesus. He remembers hearing the promise that Jesus would live in the center of his heart and set him free. It seems that those promises were ultimately unhelpful.

I don't know who these people are. I guess I also don't really care.

Happy new year.

If You Knew Me You Would Run

way down south heading like a rocket
to the city of mexico
foot on the gas with the money in my pocket
blood on the ground below
we'll leave no trace of where we've been
honey, if we're lucky
there'll be someone to let us in

you listen to the static
coming over the radio
you used to be yourself
but now you're someone you don't know
oh, with one hand on the gun
if you knew me you would run

somewhere down near 35
we met a cowboy with a radar gun
he pulled us aside and asked
for the papers and he spit as he called me son
she showed her teeth and he just smiled
he fit in the trunk with the rest of our junk
and the road stretched on for miles

you listen to the static
coming over the radio
you used to be yourself
but now you're someone you don't know
oh, with one hand on the gun
the night has just begun
if you knew me you would run

I remember when I was a child
a word from the son of god
Voy a vivir en el centro de su corazón la
he said his love would set me free
i shook my head at the words of red
and thought, "come down off that tree."
and he said

you listen to the static
coming over the radio
you used to be yourself
but now you're someone you don't know
oh, with one hand on the gun
the night has just begun
if you knew me you would run

I Wish I Was a Human Being

2011-12-23T21:15:00.001-05:00

Click the link for free stream/download. Happy Christmas.

I Wish I Was a Human Being

laying low, the past above my head
shiver in the sheets I've painted red
maybe I will learn to love myself
but the happier hour belongs to someone else

kites fill the sky in a sea of green grass
to carry all our hopes on folded wings
I always thought that love was all I'd need
but I woke up from the dream and
I wish I was a human being...

love is like a whisper on the wind
saying open up your heart and let me in
but there's a moment time cannot replace
and there's a ghost inside that I can't face

President Clint

2011-12-16T20:45:00.003-05:00

I was going through some old boxes and I found a photo album that my mom made for me and gave me as a gift a few years ago. It's a bunch of pictures of me growing up and all of the pictures are of course adorable.

On the last page I found this letter that I wrote on February 22, 1991 when I was seven years old. It reads as follows:

President Clint

If I were President to help the United States of America, I would get people to stop littering and to help people I would try my best to keep off drugs(!) because they might die and I love them. So I would try to keep people off drugs and to help the world I would just help, help and help just like I've said. That's what it's like being President.

Submitted for the approval of the midnight society,

Adult Clint

Thoughts About Writing and a New Song

2011-12-16T14:30:00.005-05:00

For those of you who don't know, I'm in a songwriting group with three other writers across the country. Every week we write a song based on a particular phrase that the group leader selects. The songs are due on Thursday and if you miss two weeks in a row you're out. Since joining the group I've written twenty one songs and only missed one week despite living on the road for the last several months. I put almost all of the songs up on my soundcloud page with lyrics and a free download. Occasionally I post the songs here if I really like them.

In a lot of ways you don't decide to be a writer or an artist. There are so many things out of our control (all genetic) that end up predetermining our abilities to sing or write or play music. But this doesn't mean that you sit around and wait for art to happen. You may be born an artist but you have to decide to make art. This means putting the pen to the paper even when you don't feel inspired to. At the end of the day, this is what you do so you better be concerned with the craft of doing it.

It's interesting to force yourself to write. There's a strange balance between holding on and letting go. A lot of writers will tell you that their best work sort of just happened to them. Like it hovered near them and they caught it in a metaphysical butterfly net. Some writers are even convinced that it doesn't belong to them. Some believe it is a gift.

Of course none of that is true. It's just poetic language we use to shape a mystery. That's okay. We've done that for thousands of years. The rub is this: what do you write when you're out of things to say? It's at that moment that you work the craft. For me, that's when the material starts getting really interesting.

These last few songs have been very stream of conscious and so at first I was worried that it was a lot of nonsense. But I'm starting to see that I'm dealing a lot with nature in my work. I'm seeing a lot of anger about death. A lot of struggle with meaning and morality and consequence. I'm seeing a uniformity to pleasure and suffering. In a lot of ways it's terrifying. The lions chasing gazelles. The struggle of the wild. The lost love. The joy. The cancer that kills your friends and heroes. The freight train of death. The cycle of life that follows. The leaves changing. All of it.

It's all rather beautiful and final.

Christopher Hitchens passed away last night. I've got an entire essay about him in the works but he had this quote in his last piece for Vanity Fair (Trial of the Will) as he approached death that I really love. He was talking about how his chemotherapy treatment for esophageal cancer had inhibited his ability to speak and it was even threatening to keep him from writing. He said this:

"The chief side effect of this pain is numbness in the extremities, filling me with the not irrational fear that I shall lose the ability to write. Without that ability, I feel sure in advance, my “will to live” would be hugely attenuated. I often grandly say that writing is not just my living and my livelihood but my very life, and it’s true. Almost like the threatened loss of my voice, which is currently being alleviated by some temporary injections into my vocal folds, I feel my personality and identity dissolving as I contemplate dead hands and the loss of the transmission belts that connect me to writing and thinking."

Here is my strange song this week. I hope you enjoy it.

Like Lightning

I fell inside
drown me in the river but the
river was dry like
lightning flashing before my eyes
I fell inside
tell me that you love me
but your lips say lies
like lightning over the mountainside

it was a cold day and the world was on fire
the songbirds were singing like they did
a thousand years ago and we were never here
it was peaceful and quiet
no one signed petitions as the
gazelles fed the lions with their lion hearts positioned
cold like the wind, cold like the end

but it was too late and the moment had passed
I shed my skin just like a snake in the grass
like a kiss in the dark or even
like a blood red moon
or like a Hollywood mass in a church
there in the yard singing life is a job
and nobody's in charge but the man upstairs
the Landlord who beats his Bride
now sun and moon are both waiting on me
the end of the world on a flat screen TV
like a bird on fire catching up to the sun
hot like a knife that you buried in sand
a thousand hosannas, a thousand amens
and a thousand hands waving up in the air

Rick Perry and the Power of the Internet in the Marketplace of Ideas

2011-12-12T22:53:00.012-05:00

Rick Perry's latest campaign video has gone viral. Over the last week or so it has generated an astonishing six million views. However, I'm not so sure his marketing team anticipated the negative exposure it would generate for their campaign. The video currently has 654,114 dislikes versus 20, 549 likes. If you're at all familiar with YouTube then you already know that the like/dislike ratio is a fairly telling barometer for how that video is being received by the public. First I want to talk about the video and then I want to talk for a bit about the power of the internet in the marketplace of ideas. Here is the video if you haven't seen it. I want to briefly address his main points.

1. "I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian."

First of all, admitting that you are a Christian puts you in company with every president in American history including Barack Obama. In fact, it's pretty well established that in a country with an evangelical majority you must at least superficially subscribe to Christianity to become the president. There is no shame in this. To the contrary, a presidential hopeful would incur the shame of the pubic for stating the exact opposite. In other words, Perry's opening line is self-refuting nonsense.

2. "You don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know that there's something wrong in the country when gays can serve openly in the military..."

It really doesn't take a genius of moral philosophy to see that serving in the military should have nothing to do with sexual orientation. I've discussed the civil rights of homosexuals elsewhere but for now it should suffice to say that anyone who wants to risk his or her life defending the country they love should have equal opportunity to do so. Believing that homosexuality is evil does not make you a bigot. In my opinion this just makes you pathetically ignorant. However when you seek to strip away basic civil rights because of those beliefs, that's when you become a bigot. The fact is that homosexual bigotry has simply lost in the marketplace of ideas. It is currently being relegated into the heap of human failure alongside slavery and the subjugation of women. Rick Perry not only shows the world that he is an inhumane and evil bigot, but also that he considers this to be a pillar of his dearly held Christian beliefs. I hope my Christian friends are appalled and embarrassed by this.

3. "...or our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school."

This is a direct lie. There is no law stating that kids cannot celebrate Christmas or pray in school. When I was in high-school there were several Christian organizations that met on campus. One met every morning before class at the school flag and offered coffee and donuts to students in addition to tracts, prayer and sermons. In the lobby of my high-school Gideons passed out copies of the New Testament. During lunch a college student representing Campus Crusade had free reign over the lunch room praying with students and inviting them to weekly bible studies. It was considered an honor to be a part of the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). I also clearly remember a group of students wanting to start a group for atheism and being prohibited by the staff. These are my personal experiences and they are not very different than many in my generation across the country.

Here is the deal. The United States is a pluralistic country. This means that we recognize all

religions equally and that we do not endorse one as a national sectarian religion. That means that schools (government funded institutions) are not allowed to show favoritism to a certain religion. Students may pray in school, in fact we were always encouraged to do so. However, the teachers were never to mandate or lead their own prayers. The reasoning is self-evident.

The truth about most evangelicals is that they do not want religious freedom. They want Christian freedom. Many evangelical parents would be horrified if school sanctioned adults were handing out copies of the Koran to students before school. Many parents would scream their throats raw if their precious Christian children were being forced to pray to Allah or Odin or Ishtar. Rick Perry's message is intentionally dishonest and meant to emotionally stir what he obviously considers to be an impressionable and gullible public. Thankfully, we are proving him wrong.

4. "As president, I will end Obama's war on religion..."

I found this one most interesting. First of all Obama has repeatedly and explicitly stated that he is an evangelical Christian. You can read some of his statements where he talks about coming to Christian faith by choice later in life because he understood that Jesus died for his sins. Praying every day, he says that public service is just one of the ways he can express his Christian faith. Rick Warren, one of America's most prominent evangelicals, was the "spiritual leader" chosen by Obama to launch his inauguration with an invocational prayer. Secondly, haven't a lot of conservative pundits (34% roughly 1/3 according to a 2010 pew poll) spent countless hours and wasted energy attempting to perpetuate the rumor that Obama is a Muslim? How can he be a Muslim and be waging a war on religion? Idiots.

5. "...and I will fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage."

The founding fathers and the documents that make up the bedrock of American policy are intentionally and explicitly secular. Sure some of the founding fathers were religious (mostly Deists) but they recognized that the only way to truly be free from the religious oppression they were running from was to keep church and state separated. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment specifically prohibits the establishment of a national religion and the favor of one religion over another by the government. This is quite obviously NOT what Rick Perry wants. Rick Perry seems to think that our "religious heritage" is a specifically Christian heritage. This is clearly not true if any of you have ever truly investigated the making of America.

6. "Faith made America strong and it can make her strong again."

Okay, this is obviously pandering nonsense but he can have that. Yeah, Rick. "Faith" made America strong and "faith" can make her strong again. I'm happy to receive a lesson on faith from bloated millionaires who can't even remember their own policies for presidential debates and who preach intolerant, homophobic bigotry. Classic.

The Power of the Internet in the Marketplace of Ideas

I'm so thankful for the Enlightenment and the exponential technological boom we have been experiencing ever since. From the printing press to antibiotics to clean water systems to doubling life expectancy to central heating and air to cures for disease to space travel to velcro to birth control to iPods to bifocals to particle colliders we are currently experiencing the most exciting time to be a human being.

I'm particularly thankful today for the internet. Science works

because it must survive it's own rigid self-correcting process of peer review. Scientists don't just win Nobel Prizes for coming up with ideas. These ideas must WORK and we find out if they do or do not work because these ideas get independently tested and verified over and over before they are accepted. Science works. Maybe there is a god and maybe that god is Rick Perry's god (uh oh) and maybe that god works miracles in the natural world. MAYBE. In the meantime, science WORKS. Think about that as you're reading this blog post in a well lit, well conditioned room. Think of the thousands of songs on your iPod or those nice running shoes you just wore to the gym. Think about the glass of clean water you are drinking and the 911 speed dial on your phone in case your spouse has another epileptic seizure. Science. It works.

Now, the marketplace of ideas is not very different. However, for centuries, the marketplace has been controlled by bureaucrats who have sought to stifle the free thought of the masses. Why? Because they're evil fucks who want to control everything, that's why. These are the people who wish to control information to keep you and I towing their line. These are the people who put Galileo on trial for suggesting the now commonly accepted idea of heliocentrism. These are the people who imprisoned Socrates and fed him hemlock for asking questions. These are the people who burned atheists and "heretics" at the stake. For far too long these people controlled the marketplace of ideas to the detriment and retardation of human progress.

Not any more, folks. When someone like Rick Perry claims that children can't pray in schools or that Obama isn't a Christian or that America was founded on Christian principles we can all very easily and quickly google those claims and find them erroneous. We are no longer an easily disregarded minority in our small towns. We are a voice that must be heard. We are now unified the world over and can now strongly hold to account those who used their power to subdue us with bad and non-information.

The intellectual war is over because it just got a lot harder to be full of shit. Rick Perry's laughable campaign is over and the YouTube response to his latest video is proof. Goodbye Rick Perry. I will miss enjoying every bit of your public stupidity. And for whoever is next, we'll be waiting and hoping you aren't as evil and pathetic because if you are, you will not survive in the (finally) free marketplace of ideas. Thanks to the internet. Thanks to science. Thanks to the courage of everyone like me. And like you.

In reason,

Clint Wells

The Oddness of Belief and Ritual - Sunday

2011-12-04T12:42:00.006-05:00

I was just lying here, reading Bukoswki as my two pugs snored beside me, thinking about the Sabbath Day. I skimmed through the television early this morning and spent some time listening to all of the TV preachers. All in all there were six of them (bear in mind I only have 10 channels) and they were all grinding that same axe. Working that same machine. Telling that same lie. Capitalizing on that same fear.

One of them was talking about misery and struggle (as they all do). He was comparing misery and struggle to being lost in a desert (as they all do). He was telling his listeners to take heart when their struggles and miseries seemed too big to handle. Why? Because the bigger the desert the bigger the blessing. The bigger the hopelessness and misery the bigger the lesson God has for you when/if He chooses to be your deliverer.

The pastor, of course, shouted all of this and when he got to the end the organist, of course, played with passion and the congregation, of course, shouted, laughed and many were even sitting with tears running down their tired faces.

It's all terribly boring, isn't it. It's all terribly pitiable, isn't it?

What are the greatest fears of mankind?

1. We don't know how we got here.

2. We don't know where we are going.

3. We are going to die.

4. There may be no meaning to our suffering.

I certainly don't have any satisfying answers to the above questions and fears. Evolutionary biology has solved the answer of how human beings got here as a species and how life has evolved into the diversity we see around us but the big question of "where it all came from" remains a mystery. As far as where we are going it seems, by all reasonable accounts, that once you reach brain-death you go nowhere and simply cease to exist. Death is something no man can escape, despite our most dearly held mythologies. And other than the small meaning we define for ourselves, there seems to be no cosmic reason for any of our sufferings.

These are my default positions on life's greatest mysteries. I don't find them particularly consoling but it does give me a certain amount of satisfaction to adopt a skeptical posture because it is clearly the most intellectually honest one. Whether you are a Christian, Muslim, Mormon, Buddhist or an atheist, we all share the same fate and the same fears. This I know.

But the Christian has a firm answer to these fears. I heard it clearly on the television today. I heard it clearly in my decade of evangelical christianity. I read it clearly in the teachings of the Bible. It's quite simple and not unlike thousands of other myths across the world. Unsurprisingly there is a thread throughout each answer to our greatest fears.

1. God made you intentionally by his own will and special creation. Though you may not understand it, you were put here for a reason.

As far as marketing an idea goes this is a perfect answer because it appeals to both successful and unsuccessful people. If life is going well for you then you are able to see it as a confirmation that, of course, God is looking out for you. If you suffer in untold miseries (as most of the world does) then you are able to take comfort in the fact that, though you don't understand your present struggle, you were made with a purpose. In this sense Christianity has made a virtue out of suffering. The preacher today was emphasizing this by drawing a correlation between the size of your blessing and the size of your struggle.

2. When you die you will live with God in perfect unity and bliss as you were meant to for all of eternity.

You will finally be freed of struggle. Free of pain and misery. Free of bounced checks and unpaid bills and mundane jobs and tyrannical bosses and abusive fathers and collect callers and dismal parents and no friends and impotency and disease and fatigue and garbage and lost love and disappointment and being picked last and tears and drudgery and slavery and obesity and acne and emasculation and so on and so forth.

3. You were not meant to die.

Death is unnatural. You were made to live in perfect unity with God for all of eternity but that all changed when Eve ate the apple in the Garden of Eden therefore plunging perfect humanity into a condition of total depravity. Luckily, God sent Himself to die for that depravity so that we could all be restored into our original state which was, of course, a state that was never meant to experience or taste death. Life is temporary. It will soon be over and you will be in Paradise forever with no pain.

4. Your suffering has meaning.

When life beats you down mercilessly you can be assured that the God who created everything is intimately involved in your suffering. After all, when he took on humanity and the sins of the world he was able to taste what you taste and may therefore empathize with you wholly. In this way any and all suffering may be neatly filed under "God moves in mysterious ways." Consider Elisabeth Fritzl. At age 11 Elisabeth began suffering abuse at the hands of her father. When she was 18, Elisabeth's father lured her into his basement, drugged her and locked her in. For the next 24 years he visited her three days a week to bring her food and often raped her. Elisabeth gave birth to seven children in her captivity. One child died a few days after birth while three of the children were taken up to live seemingly normal lives while their mother remained imprisoned, tortured and raped below them. Imagine what prayers and petitions ran from this poor girl's heart. For over two decades suffering the most unfathomable misery. God certainly does move in mysterious ways. His ways are so mysterious, it seems, that it is as if he does not move at all. This is one story of countless millions easily forgotten under the auspice of the cosmic meaning of suffering. It is a particularly evil teaching.

Consider these answers, folks. Does it give you any pause that they are so wonderfully tailed to calm your greatest fears? Do these answers strike you at all as pandering to your deepest unsurities?

I do not know many things. I really don't. I do not know if there is a god or not and I certainly don't know if that god is or is not Jesus Christ. I just don't know. Here are a few things I do know, however. I know the following to be ABSOLUTE FACTS. Please consider them seriously.

1. No one knows how we got here.

2. No one knows where we are going.

3. No one escapes death.

4. No one knows if suffering has cosmic meaning.

Think for yourselves. Question authority. Be skeptical about what you've been told your whole life. It was probably untrue and based on fear.

In reason,

Clint Wells

New Song - Letting You Go

2011-12-02T13:14:00.002-05:00

Sometimes you know you're leaving before you actually go. Click the link for a stream/free download.

Letting You Go

I needed somewhere to hide
and someone to run to
oh but you were never around
the moment in time
for the lovely and blue
how our hearts were beating pound for pound
I'm putting in time filled up with thunder
held down by the spell that I've been under
but I don't have it inside me
I just want to go

a love like this, it won't last forever
you know how it comes and it goes
its like a hologram
and ive seen double of my
weight worth of trouble and I
just want you to know
that ive been letting you go

I see the look in your eye
you know when I'm gone
the fire inside has withered and died
maybe I'm not being fair
but I'm not coming on
and so love at least you know that I tried
its like a piece of my heart is going under
its like a part of my soul is left to plunder
i don't have it inside me
i just want to go

a love like this, it won't last forever
you know how it comes and it goes
its like a hologram
and ive seen double of my
weights worth of trouble and i
just want you to know
that ive been letting you go

a poem

2011-11-28T04:52:00.002-05:00

Tearlifts

how many suns have

grown and collapsed,

died and been born

again

in the time it took

your hand to

reach over to mine?

too many.

not enough.

love is a car alarm.

wake

up.

Bread of the World and Thoughts About (Not) Hymn Writing

2011-11-22T11:31:00.003-05:00

Greetings hymn nerds. Today Bruce Benedict of Cardiphonia released a new album of hymn re-writes inspired by the Lord’s Supper. Along with several other musicians around the country I was invited to give one of these texts a shot. You can stream it below and the link should allow you to purchase it as well. If you need a chord chart just shoot me a message and I’ll get it to you.

I suppose this is a good time to talk about hymn writing. I’ve been writing hymns for almost ten years. When I first met Brian and began attending Red Mountain the idea of re-writing hymns was foreign to me. As I began to familiarize myself with the work of Christopher Miner and dive in to some of the ancient hymn writers I was compelled by the force of the language of those texts. I started writing my own hymns in 2003 and from then on many of them found their home on the Red Mountain records that Brian and I produced. Over the last several years I have written over a hundred hymns. Many of them lie forgotten on my iPod. Originally this page was dedicated to releasing all of those unrecorded songs. That goal remains but it’s become less of a priority as I spend most of my time out on the road playing guitar for other artists.

Those of you who know me know that although writing hymns is dear to my heart creatively, it’s something that I’ve lost a lot of interest in. These days it seems that I only write hymns when people specifically ask me to. I think my days of pouring through ancient hymnals are, for the most part, behind me. Having said that, I still enjoy the challenge when someone has a text they’d like me to try and put music to. This seems to be happening more and more. Ironically, the last batch of hymns I wrote for the final Red Mountain record, All Things New, was my best batch. And some of these new songs, including the one above, are the best I’ve written.

I don’t know what all of this means, really. So I’ll just end by saying that there is something wonderfully mysterious about singing songs with people. I don’t care what you do or don’t believe (and I’ll appreciate the same courtesy) but I’m really proud to have contributed to projects that encourage people to sing together.

This new song intentionally doesn’t have a chorus. Instead there are just a few “sha la la’s” where a chorus should be. I don’t have the audacity to add my own words to these great texts and, well, sometimes there are no words.

Hope you are all well. Lots of hugs and kisses and pizza to you all.

Bread of the World

Clint Wells

New Song

2011-10-31T16:35:00.000-04:00

Easily Used

there aint nothing that my heart won't do
to win you over to my side
pull myself apart, I'd pull myself in two
be the shadow to your light

tell me whats wrong
with being easily used
tell me whats wrong
in my head I get so easily confused
and I don't know what's
love anymore

should we linger here, a world without end
there ain't nothing left but time
I would lie above you, dig beneath your skin
see what you were trying to hide

Too Late

2011-10-21T20:18:00.000-04:00

stream and download here

i never thought you'd go
i never thought you'd fade away
and all the words that we spoke
break like the waves

i heard that you found a home
down in new orleans
by the old creole shores
and the old creole breeze...

the night turns the day
on the mistakes that i've made
and I've learned to say I'm sorry
Oh but I've learned it too late

these days go on
like you were never here
but the cold wind still calls
come home, my dear

the night turns the day
on the mistakes that i've made
and I've learned to say I'm sorry
Oh but I've learned it too late

Someone New

2011-10-13T10:48:00.000-04:00

stream and download here

Someone New

it was evening in the summer
and all the ships were pulling in
I drank the night with wonder
as the twilight ushered in the crescent moon
You held on to me and I
held on to you
but I dreamed that you were walking
laughing loud with someone new

I have seven oceans
on the shores of this old heart
one for every promise
and the years I spent in darkness, it's true
I was dying to break through to you
when I dreamed I saw you walking
laughing loud with someone new

It didn't hurt my heart
It only hurt my head
and I lie awake in silence
and wish that I was dead
and so would you
id you had nothing left to hold on to
I dreamt I saw you walking
laughing loud with someone new

we're all made of star dust
with a sun beneath our veins
and blackest holes behind us
like a ghost behind the reigns
and she said, "dude...
sometimes forever, it don't seem true."
I dreamed I saw you walking
laughing loud with someone new

I dreamed I saw you walking
laughing loud with someone new

New Song

2011-10-06T09:23:00.001-04:00

Adam and Eve

when the lights go down
on the last golden town
will the dead walk again?
I don't know the sound
of my own father's voice
but he said...

I don't know
what all the fighting's for
but we're all born
red in tooth and claw

it was sick and it was sad
the streets were filling up like sand
it was war!
(and I've seen wars before)
but the moon was filled up
with the blood of all my friends
all my old friends...

I don't know
what all the fighting's for
but we're all born
red in tooth and claw
red in tooth and claw
red in tooth and claw
red in tooth and claw

Lucky Now - Ryan Adams cover

2011-09-27T19:37:00.000-04:00

New Pedalboard

2011-09-26T22:47:00.012-04:00

Hey folks. Thought I'd take a few minutes to talk about some new sounds I'm creating and show you the new board I've made. Lot's of cool new stuff going on. Hope you enjoy it.

First thing to mention is the new pedalboard. I got an artist endorsement with a pedalboard company in Nashville called Pro Stag e Gear. They are most famous for their Pedaltrain pedalboards. They are lightweight, sturdy, easy to route and super affordable. You can even get them with ATA style road cases and still only spend a fraction of what other people are charging for boards. This is the PT-2. Measuring roughly 12x24 this was a considerable downsize from my Showcase board (16x32). I'm not super thrilled with how I've used the space above but I'm literally about to spend the next month and a half on the road and needed this put together as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I've got some super cool new pedals I want to talk about. The first one is the Eventide Space pedal (lower right corner.) This is the newest addition to the truly incredible lineup made by Eventide. It is essentially a studio quality reverb unit but with TONS more. I replaced my Eventide Timefactor digital delay with the Space because it has all kinds of spooky, beautiful ambient patches to cover my long delay/landscape tones. It covers all of the standard reverbs (Hall, Room, Plate and Spring) as well as cool effects like delay, tremolo, reverse and modulation. Like all Eventide pedals every patch gives you an amazing amount of shape control making this pedal easily the most versatile one I've ever owned. Some of the coolest sounds are Shimmer (octave) and Bla ckhole. This guy made a pretty great video demoing his top 10 presets. It comes with 100 by the way! Rad! Also, next to the Space is an auxiliary switch made by Loop Master that I've set to toggle through my presets so that I can jump patches faster.

I've also got some brand new stuff happening in the dirt department. The Timmy pedal is a classic boutique low to mid-gain overdrive made by Paul Cohrane. It is the warmest, richest overdrive pedal I've ever owned. I formerly used both a Fulltone Full Dr ive II as well as a Maxon OD808 and this thing smokes them both, easily. In addition to volume and gain knobs you also get a bass and treble knob as well as a comp cut switch that provides a lot of tonal shaping. It's super saturated and sparkly and doesn't suck any of my clean tone out. Super badass!

Next to the Timmy is a JHS Angry Charlie Channel Dr ive distortion pedal. I've also gotten an artist endorsement with JHS pedals, a boutique pedal company based out of Missouri. The Angry Charlie is a wonderful high gain "brown sound" distortion meant to simulate El84 tones and Marshall gains like the JCM 800. I use this for all of my high gain tones and with the Timmy on in front of it I have a lot of super cool tone shaping options. I had a ProCo RAT before this and I'm never going back. Other badass JHS pedals to look for are the Mini Foot Fuzz and the Warble Univibe, both of which will be on my board soon. JHS also does some really unique mods on long revered pedals. For example, I had the folks at JHS take my Ernie Ball VPJR and replace the output/tuner out with a buffered splitter. This cleans up the long known noise issues with the pedal as well as gives you a buffered signal throughout your chain. In my opinion these dudes smoke Keeley in the modification department.

On the top right underneath the board I've mounted a Loop Master Pedalpatch so that I can have easy access for my guitar and amp. It's a super affordable way to clean up your routing.

Here you can see how the pedal patch works beneath the board as well as get a view of my JHS Little Black Buffer pedal also mounted beneath the board. In addition to the buffered splitter I've had installed into my Ernie Ball Volume pedal this bad boy buffers my original signal from my guitar all the way to my amplifier. It doesn't matter how nice your pedals or cables are. If you're running pedalboards with patch cables then you are losing tone. This little guys solves that problem.

As you can see I've tried to keep things as clean as possible beneath the board with the wiring and routing. I'm using a combination of both George L's and Lava cables. Both are solder-less and provide the freedom to wire your board any way you like rather than be constrained by positioning. I'm powering everything with the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 which Pedaltrain makes easily mountable underneath (another reason they are super badass).

A couple extra tidbits. My Empress Tremolo (analog tremolo with tap tempo), Electro Harmonix Micro Pog (polyphonic octave generator) and Zvex SHO (clean boost) are sitting on top of home made "boosters." I went to Home Depot and made several half inch boosters out of scrap wood based on the dimensions of my pedals. This is so that the pedals that sit on the back of the board are easily accessible without accidentally hitting knobs on the lower pedals. I covered them with black gaff tape and velcroed them to my board just like a pedal. Wala, a handy solution!

Okay, enough nerdy stuff for now. Questions? Ask em!

In Reason,

Clint Wells

New Song

2011-09-21T16:13:00.001-04:00

Heartbeat

say other things

I don't care if they're true

tell me that you'll carry

a piece of my heart

with you

say other things

like you would still hold my hand

and the darkness

that hangs around my head

you'd kiss away

I don't want to start again

I don't know where to begin

to find a heartbeat

pushing against my skin

I don't want a heartbeat

say other things

like you'd love the way I look

if I haven't lost the weight

you saidI should

it's a quarter to ten

I guess you should be on your way

unless, of course, you're tired

then I think you should stay...

I don't want to start again

I don't know where to begin

to find a heartbeat

pushing against my skin

If this is where our story ends

I don't want to trace the thread

to your heartbeat

pushing against my skin

I can feel your heartbeat

Me and My Lovely Gal, Isbelle

2011-09-18T01:46:00.002-04:00

Song/Poem Week 6

2011-07-29T14:06:00.003-04:00

The phrase for this week's song was "chronic" and the poem phrase was "my hair is on fire." Click the title to stream/download. Enjoy.

Birmingham, 1812

I heard it from a friend of mine sayin'
you were hangin' round
with that young cowboy new to town
it was something like a blue light
catching fire in the sun
I smiled at children passing
as I sat and loaded my gun...

I heard it on a 45
crazy Joe was at it again
god'll give you a heart and
then he'll call it mortal sin
he sat me down and said, "young man
there's only one thing to understand
there ain't a problem you can
solve without a shotgun in your hand..."

I heard it on the AM dial
they found my baby dead
one by one they pulled my
bullets from her head
the sky was a black night
and her blood cried from the ground
god knows the smile on my face
as I put that poor gal down...

these chronic voices in my head...
these chronic voices...

jesus, the mouth on that one

and then she

said to me

after a longwinded

sermonette

about the extreme

likelihood of my

eternal torture

in her

god's

hell:

"if i am a liar

then my hair

is on fire

like Vulcan

and Ishtar

and Zeus

and old Allah.

like Ares

and Isis

on the waves

of Poseidon.

Apollo, Demeter

Athena and Hera,

the blade of Deno

the broad brush strokes

of Osiris

and the production

techniques of

Ino over in

Ireland or

wherever.

them and all

the other

gods on offer

I've rejected

cos of

where I was

born...

this old farm

where

my great grandaddy

kept his

slaves!"

I was tired.

it was a rather

boring day

at the

park.

Homosexuality, Equality and Secular Humanism

2011-07-25T12:24:00.015-04:00

This weekend New York passed the Marriage Equality Act which allows gender neutral marriages for same sex/opposite sex couples as well as protects religious organizations from penalty for refusing to sanctify or recognize a marriage that contradicts their religious beliefs.

This is yet another landmark in the ongoing homosexual civil rights issue. The New York Times published several touching stories about middle aged, life long partners finally being able to have their relationship validated by the state. For the first time hundreds of American families were treated equally.

Well, not completely equally.

Because of the Defense of Marriage Act, same-sex marriages are not recognized by the federal government. What does this mean? This means that gay and lesbian spouses are being explicitly denied the roughly 1,049 federal protection laws that all heterosexual spouses enjoy. In addition DOMA says that no state is obligated to recognize a same-sex marriage. This means that whatever state rights exist to protect a same-sex marriage (this varies by state) become completely obsolete as soon as you leave the state.

1. Federal Rights.

Of the 1,049 federal laws that homosexuals are being denied the highest of these are in the categories of Federal Civilian and Military Service Benefits (275), Taxation (179), Social Security (82) and Employment Benefits (67).

There are all kinds of horrific stories that bear out the consequences of being denied these rights. Imagine that your lover of 30 years is hit by a car on a late night stroll. Without marital status you may be legally permitted from riding in the ambulance, visiting in the hospital, making decisions for your partner's medical treatment, and even honoring their funeral wishes. Why? Because you are technically a legal stranger.

You are not entitled to exemption on Inheritance or Death taxes. You are not entitled to employee benefits such as medical leave to care for a spouse or bereavement. You are not given a break on property tax in the event of your partner's death which, in most cases, means that you lose your home because you can no longer afford it.

You are not entitled to social security or VA pensions should your partner die. These are rights that even divorced heterosexual couples have, folks.

If you are the non-biological parent of a same-sex partnership and your partner dies you have no federal rights that validate or protect your relationship with your child.

Until very recently if you were a homosexual serving in the military you couldn't even list your partner as an emergency contact for fear of being discharged, let alone the VA benefits offered to every other heterosexual couple. One tragic story involves a lesbian Air Force Captain. A few weeks before deployment her partner of 14 years was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. When she told her superiors why she could not be deployed she was immediately discharged. Even when her partner died and she brought a death certificate to the appeals for her unfair discharge she was still accused of using the event to get out of her military obligations.

Every right I have listed (maybe 15 out of the 1,049) are unequivocally given to heterosexual marriages. This is clearly not equality.

2. State Rights.

There are about 300 state rights that come with marriage. Even the most progressive states like California and New York do not offer these rights fully to civil unions. For an example of how important this is consider that if you study the California Code with regard to marriage, you'll get 4,000 hits where spousal status makes a difference.

The important thing to know about State rights is that, because of DOMA, your state rights do not apply when you leave the state. This means that the couples who married this weekend in NYC are not necessarily protected by the laws of marriage in ANY OTHER STATE.

Bill and Brad have been together for 30 years. They finally got married this weekend in New York City and are taking a cross country road trip for their honeymoon. In Utah they are hit by a drunk driver and Bill is taken to the hospital in a devastating coma. Brad

, who has no federal or state rights in Utah as a legal spouse, is treated as a legal stranger and has no authority to decide on Bill's medical treatment. And so on, and so forth.

Folks, this is not equality. This isn't even CLOSE to equality. This is not an appeal for the homosexual community to have "special rights." It is an appeal for "equal rights."

Secular Humanism and the Fight for Equality

It is an irrevocable fact that the loudest resistance to homosexual equality is the religious right. They continue to use the same dishonest tactics by drawing debunked correlations between the homosexual community and the degeneration of the family. In my essay on Homosexuality and False Victimization I sad this:

"Although the American Psychological Association makes it clear that the longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental professions is that homosexuality is a normal and positive variation of human sexual orientation, some people still seem to think that it is a mental disorder. Although homosexuality can be observed in nature (lions, pigeons, giraffes, bison, elephants, gulls, bonobos, dragonflies, sheep, dolphin, just to name a few) some people still consider it a dysfunctional CHOICE. Although study after study continues to show that there is an equal level of commitment and relationship satisfaction amongst both gay and straight couples, some people still think that homosexuals are incapable of having healthy and lasting relationships. Although studies show that children raised by same-sex couples are just as mentally healthy as other children, some people still think that homosexuals are not fit parents. Although studies show no correlation between homosexuality and child molestation, some people still consider homosexuals a threat and a danger to children."

Science is simply showing the ignorant claims of the religious right to be utterly false. These prejudices are not only harmful to the homosexual, in some cases they are harmful to the family themselves.

Consider the claim that homosexuality is correlated with child molestation. This is a particularly dangerous meme because the stereotype ignores the fact that most child molesters are, in fact, heterosexual. In a recent study, over 80% of child molesters were heterosexual relatives or friends of the family.

I'm not ignoring the many religious folks who are open and accepting of the homosexuals rights to marriage. There are many fine people out there (predominantly Episcopals and Methodists) who I stand arm in arm with on this issue. However, the advancement of the LGBT movement is largely due to increasing secular values.

I recently read an article about Willow Creek Community Church, a huge, trend-setting congregation in Chicago, cutting ties with anti-gay ministries. Churches and mainstream evangelicals are beginning to disassociate with the anti-gay bigotry of Christianity's past.

Why are they doing this? Well, it certainly isn't because they think any differently about homosexuals. Church officials at Willow Creek described the move as a shift in approach rather than a change in belief.

So, they still consider the homosexuals a project. A target with which to inculcate their straightness. The truth is that they want to be culturally relevant. Cultural relevance, these days, is dictated by secular humanism. This is the SAME thing that happened during the abolition of slavery and the advent of inter-racial marriage. Just like the religious lunatics today, the religious right back then believed that God was on their side. A Virginia judge had this to say during the interracial marriage breakthroughs:

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."

The keeping of slaves is a concept a fifth grader could find as a virtue in the Bible. Slavery was abolished by the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865. However it was the religious groups like the Ku Klux Klan who began their "holy crusades" to continue treating black people like sub-human, and sub-citizen property.

Are we seeing a pattern of religious based bigotry here folks? Who are the secular humanists fighting against same-sex marriage? They do not exist.

The war is over. For every big mouthed and hate spewing bigot holding a Bible there will be someone like me to steady their spinning heads with logic, reason, science, rational thought and human compassion. We will dismantle your hatred with our wit, our evidence, our free commitment to the values and dignity of human life. We have no rule book. We have our consciences. We have no gods or cosmic authorities telling us who, what, and how to love. We have our hearts and the pervasive drive to fight the suffering of the world.

Which side will you stand on, dear reader? Will you be apologizing to the world like those who sought to inhibit the abolition of slavery and interracial marriage? Or will you stand with those of us who fight for the inherent dignity of all human beings?

In Reason,

Clint Wells

Song/Poem Week 5

2011-07-14T20:58:00.002-04:00

The song is for Isaac. Click the title for a stream/free download.

Lightning Rod

all the loneliest of days
gathered like a noose around my neck
if only I'd never learned to pray
I'd never heard you ask…

If you gather to your lips
the love of our father you taste
as he stoops to kiss your
broken neck, please
send some my way

you will be my new lightning rod
blood flow up to warm the face of god
knowing not what I'm feeling but
feeling along for the ride

all the angels long to take your turn
smile as the heavens watch you burn
throw themselves like ash upon the fire
if I turn away then Christ make me a liar

you will be my new lightning rod
blood flow up to warm the face of god
knowing not what I'm feeling but
feeling along for the ride

today I quit my job

I walk the aisles

as tomes

memoirs

novels

and science

lie on forgotten shelves

these lost things

in a giant warehouse.

Noam Chomsky falls

before me

title after

title as I fold

my aged eyes

and somewhere

the dice roll

on a plush

green landscape

like a wrecking ball

of gambled

salvation.

good luck, sir

or mam

and should you

win your

lucky day

in the sun

kindly rot

in hell.

poem

2011-07-04T13:20:00.002-04:00

for Hemingway

take my flames
you fallen matador
the bullfight
has shaken my
nightstand.

the electric eel
swims inside my
belly and shouts
laughter up my
throat.

I stood alone
by the gun rack
again today.

all fifteen barrels
(some doubled)
upright and erect
like those lost
dog days in Parisian
gutters.

remember Pound?
Celine?
Henry Miller?
Jesus Christ!

the world was on fire
and the young girls
smiled as I
sat, naked and fat
at the typewriter.

take my flames you
fallen matadors
eat my fire as I
lie down again
to endure
the lightning
gurney.

Song/Poem Week 4

2011-07-02T15:20:00.004-04:00

The theme for this week's song was "until you die." This made me think about Steve and so that's what my song is about. This song was also co-written with my friend and super talented Matthew Mayfield. Click the title for a stream and a download if you want it.

Goodbye

i will hold your hand until you die
trace the veins that lead up to your eyes
carry all the weight you've had
wrapped around your neck
kiss your head as you endure the fire

i know you're scared
i know you're tired
i know that life will soon expire
but its not fair
when its not time
to say goodbye

id make it up to you with love, old friend
i'd shoulder every hit around the bend
i'd give it all my heart
i'd stutter every start
if only i could save you from the end

i know you're scared
i know you're tired
i know that life will soon expire
but its not fair
when its not time
to say goodbye

tremors as the daylight picks me up
the mourner calls and tears, they don't come
sometimes there's a love so big
it can only break your heart
sometimes when its gone you just feel numb

god i'm scared
and i'm so tired
i don't know how to fight
its not fair
when its not time
to say goodbye

The theme for this week's poem was "all men." Enjoy:

we are ants

there are these
Amish girls on
t.v.
they're looking
for love and
they seem nice
but their parents'
decisions have
made it
very hard for
them

sometimes I am
lucky enough
to fly on
airplanes
I look down
on all men
and watch
the swimming
pools

I make silent
judgments about
their owners'
income
and general
happiness

but

I have to pull
the shade
before
darkness
overwhelms
me.

Hitch laying it down like no other...

2011-07-02T14:46:00.000-04:00

Song/Poem Week 3

2011-06-20T22:09:00.003-04:00

The theme for this week's song was "velvet hour" and for some reason this inspired me to write a dance song. It's like KISS meets Madonna meets Ke$ha's cousin plus strange, sad lyrics. I hope you like it as much as I do. Click the title for a stream/download.

Run and Hide

here inside this velvet hour
with your skin and kisses deep
climb your hair to the ivory tower
where the sweet wind will carry me

but when I ring the mission bell
the whole earth begins to speak in tongues
have I caught the daughters of hell
one by one?

oh love I can see that we have broken down
and run out of time
maybe now all that's left is just to run and hide

oh I can tell you when something comes from nothing
like a heartbeat coming
a heartbeat is pumping, yeah
cover me in ice, cover me in a fog
cover me in all the pain of every lost love

slow down and explain the situation
you're putting me on like a knife under the covers, babe
let me go let me state this proclamation
I know I'm never coming to life with you tonight this way

oh love, I can see that we have broken down
and run out of time
who am I to ever try and figure it out
I'll leave it behind
maybe now all that's left is just to run and hide

run and hide
yeah yeah yeah yeah
run and hide
yeah yeah yeah yeah

oh love I can see that we have broken down
and run out of time
who am I to ever try and figure it out
or leave it behind
I did my best to trace back the thread
to your heart
but it wouldn't unwind
maybe now all thats left is to run and hide

run and hide
yeah yeah yeah yeah
run and hide
yeah yeah yeah yeah

The theme for this week's poem was "running the blade" and here it is:

bowl of fruit

at the pool and
hot as hell
laying on my side
with a chinaski novel
as a black boy
jumps and
twirls in the air
like a grapefruit
spinning in the
golden sun
and when
he hits the water
ripples reach out
and their waves
crest on the
arms
eyes
heads
and fingernails
of other unencumbered
swimmers.

no one else
saw it and for
some reason
this made me
feel incredibly
sad and lost
like a rotten
orange
running the blade
and
spinning out
near the Andromeda.

I suppose love
is a lot
like
that,
fuckers.

Morality Part One: The Burden of Proof

2011-06-14T22:27:00.005-04:00

Does morality come from gods? Of course it doesn't. Have you read the holy books recently? Aside from being utterly repugnant and morally retarded, they're actually quite hilarious. For the sake of my largely Christian readers I'll explore the moral philosophy of the Bible and argue for why it is not a source for morality in any reasonable sense. But first, I want to spend some time talking again about the burden of proof and honest discourse.

For centuries one of the pillars of Christian apologetics has been the assertion that without Christianity there would be no source for morality. In other words, we're all brutes who need a cosmic authority to say "Thou shall not murder" in order to know that wanton murder is detrimental to society. More sophisticated theologians will talk about how non-believers are capable of morality, but unable to rationally justify morality with a natural explanation.

Here's the deal. The inability of a non-believer to justify morality doesn't even make the Christian explanation more plausible, let alone true. To claim absolute morality (which the orthodox Christian does) the burden of proof is on the Christian to substantiate their claims. In my many formal and informal debates with Christians there always comes a point when they look at me and ask me to explain morality. When I point out that it is not necessary they believe they have won some sort of philosophical victory.

Well, I happily call bullshit.

It just so happens that I have a naturalistic explanation for morality. I subscribe to an objective (note: not absolute) provisional morality. It's objective because it belongs to the species, not the individual, and it's provisional because morality evolves with our understanding of pain and well being.

This is the first (and briefest) of a three part series on morality. Next I will discuss the moral philosophy of the Bible and argue that it cannot be any viable source for morality. Lastly I will outline a reasonable, naturalistic account of human morality.

For now I hope you will thoughtfully consider the burden of proof.

In reason,

Clint Wells

Song/Poem Week 2

2011-06-12T11:22:00.003-04:00

The theme this week was "woke up dead." I think this is a modern day Romeo and Juliet song. But set in a trailer park meth lab somewhere in rural Tennessee. Oh and they're ghosts. She may have burnt him alive, but I'm pretty sure she only did it because she loved him. Click the title to listen and/or download.

Woke Up Dead Last Night

woke up dead last night
and you were on fire
as I held your burning hand
I gathered my clothes
and crawled beneath the smoke
made my way out to the mourning band

love, will you catch my eye
when I wave goodbye
when I wave goodbye

woke up dead last night
and you were by my side
but I couldn't leave this world alone
I didn't even cry
when I lit the fire
and held you down as you began to choke

love, will you catch my eye
when I wave goodbye
when I wave goodbye

woke up dead last night
and you were on fire
as I held your burning hand

The theme for the poem was "the bad news."

be affected

the red wine
the dial tone
the scale that reads
185
the bad news
the ulcer
the banal acceptance speech
the media
the sucker punch
to the gut
the sexy eyes
the fading erection
the rejection
the small
victories...

the endless
the gutters of Paris
the Henry Miller novel
you've never read
the wasted gym
membership
the wandering eye
the exile on main street
vinyl collecting dust...

the regret
the love
the fight or flight (yeah, right)
the lumps
the louse
the dizzy street
walking malaise...

the seed of jealousy
raging through
your double standard bones
the star collapse
the magnetized
genetic infidelities
the confirmation bias
the disease of the mind...

and even
the thought of
your former,
or current, lover
resting in the arms
of a bright
new
shining
armor...

be affected.

Song/Poem Week 1

2011-06-08T12:06:00.005-04:00

I'm now a part of two weekly writers groups led by Bob Schneider. One is a poetry group and one is a songwriting group. Every week we have to submit our work based around a certain theme. If you miss more than two weeks in a row you are eliminated from the group. I'll be posting my two submissions here each week.

The phrase for the song this week was "Freeze." I decided to write mine about a man so afraid of death that he chooses to be cryogenically frozen. The song is him telling his wife goodbye. Click the title for download.

There's a Heart On My Sleeve

freeze my dreams, all my dreams

freeze my dreams

cause when the mind is fading

there's nothing left to believe

freeze my dreams

baby there's a heart on my sleeve

and I don't want it to die

there's a heart on my sleeve that beats

baby, there's a heart on my sleeve

and I want to keep it alive

this heart on my sleeve that bleeds

freeze my love, all my love

freeze my love

cause when I'm saying goodbye

its you I'm thinking of

freeze my love

Baby there's a heart on my sleeve

and I don't want it to die

there's a heart on my sleeve that beats

baby, there's a heart on my sleeve

and I want to keep it alive

this heart on my sleeve that bleeds

The theme for the poem was "Big Love" and I think mine is fairly explicit.

priest

the wrinkled hands steady

the boy's head

unready as the gods

turn away, more bored

than ashamed

and another white innocence

swallows the pill of

one

great

big

love.

At Steve's Wedding (A Little Over Six Months Ago)

2011-06-07T13:21:00.001-04:00

Christians Say Interesting Things Part Two: "Pray For Me"

2011-06-02T18:37:00.005-04:00

I've been thinking about this prayer thing for years now. I've even written two essays (linked below) using reason and logic to explore the irrationality and ineffectiveness of prayer.

Over the last few months as natural disasters have ripped through the south and the midwest and as I have personally dealt with the death of one of my best friends, I've seen, more than ever it seems, appeals for people to pray for them. During a calamity all of my social networking sites are clogged with people petitioning for prayer.

I simply don't understand it. Even when I was an evangelical Christian devoted to the teaching of the Bible I found it ineffective and slightly embarrassing to ask people to pray for me. As a progressive believer (meaning a believer more or less in touch with observable reality) I had relegated prayer to some abstract form of faith exercising. In my dialogues on the below essay's I've even heard some of you say this very thing. You pray because it changes you in an abstract sense, not because it actually changes reality.

And that brings us to my point. Here are some logical questions I have in response to people using social media to ask for prayers in the wake of an approaching thunder storm:

1. Is your god capricious enough to reserve help simply because not enough people prayed for it?

2. Don't you believe that god is in control of everything? Doesn't this include the very storm on it's way to potentially destroy your life? What is the goal of prayer here? To honor your god's will or to thwart it?

3. How do you explain the fact that there are people in this world who probably pray harder and better than you and who are still susceptible to the same natural disasters as yourself?

One Christian, who is fairly well known as a musician in a successful Christian band, had this to say in response to making it through a storm that others were destroyed by:

"We were *blessed* this line arrived after sunset. Avoided a tornadic outbreak. Feels good to get a reminder of Who is in charge."

I pointed out that this was incredibly offensive to those who were devastated by the storms and, according to this logic, "unblessed" by the Big Man in charge. He responded by saying he didn't consider it offensive to be thankful not to get hit by a tornado.

Do you see the cognitive dualism here, folks? It's like missing a flight that ends up crashing and thanking god for his goodness and his blessings while hundreds of lives were lost and thousands destroyed.

This is nonsense. If you want to pray to gods or to Elvis or to your dead loved ones then by all means, I want you to have the freedom to do that. But when you start publicly petitioning for prayer and thanking your god for sparing you while thousands of others are picking up the pieces then you deserve some social criticism.

Prayer quite obviously is a complete denial of reality. It is the ostrich burying it's head in the sand. It is childish and it is time to grow up, folks. What we need in a time of crisis is human solidarity and tangible resources. We don't need to waste our time praying to an invisible being who, whether that being exists or not, isn't going to do a damn thing for us. We don't need to proliferate wish thinking as a viable method of coping with tragedy.

We must use the tools of reality to face reality. Together.

In reason,

Clint Wells

Praying for Oil to Touchdown Jesus: Counting the Hits and Ignoring the Misses

Prayer, Science and Haiti

Christians Say Interesting Things Part One: Epistemology and Reality

My Friend Steve Malone

2011-05-23T18:09:00.004-04:00

My friend Steve Malone passed away this morning.

A few months ago, right after I moved to Nashville, I got a call from Steve. I wasn't able to take it for whatever reason and I got a voice message asking me to call him back. The next day I got another call from Steve that I was unable to take. The message this time was somber, explaining that he really needed me to call him back because he had something heavy to tell me.

For better and worse, I have a pretty vivid imagination. During the fifteen seconds it took me to end the voice message and dial his number I had already fully conjured up about ten scenarios of impending doom. I won't share them here, but I will say that I'd rather all ten of them be true than what he actually did tell me...which was that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For those of you unfamiliar with this cancer, it is one of the worst because it usually metastasizes before it is discovered . Ninety-five percent of the people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer die within five years.

I didn't know much of this information as Steve was telling me the news. But as he spoke I quickly took advantage of my internet browser and sat dumbfounded and trembling as I began to compute that my friend Steve was going to die sooner than later. He sounded brave but rattled and I didn't want to add to any of his anxiety by weeping on the phone. We exchanged some loving and friendly words, agreed that we'd all fight this together and that we'd be in touch as often as possible. I hung up and went about my day in mild shock resigning myself to the wonders of science and medicine and hoping that Steve would be in that top five percent who lived more than five years.

Three days later I was standing in the shower sobbing uncontrollably, feeling very confused and lost, but mostly sad. A very heavy, cold sadness.

That weekend me and all "the boys" (Steve's endearing phrase for a tight-knit group of his closest friends) had our last hang on his porch. We all sat close and had some good wine and whiskey. The night was filled with beautiful laughter and thoughtful conversation. At the end of the night Steve began to tell us what the next few weeks of treatment would look like. "The fight is on...", he said. We all sat there very still and very quiet. Steve had grown quite tired so after a round of hugs he went up to bed. We stayed a while and did our best to clean the mess we had made. Melanie kindly assured us we could all spend the night but we respectfully declined and went to a bar to quietly talk about Steve and his cancer into the early morning.

That was the last time we were all together and the last time I saw Steve as I've always remembered him. Quiet, calm and steady. Courage isn't the absence of fear. Courage is strength and kindness in spite of fear. That's how I remember Steve that night and I'm thankful to have been with him and the boys.

Several weeks of treatment went by. There were many ups and downs with Steve's physical health. Most of it is documented here, a blog that both Steve and Melanie created to keep everyone updated. It's also filled with many beautiful poems and essays. Melanie asked me to turn one of their favorite poems into a hymn. You can find it here.

I spent most of April and May out on the road making music. There was a day in April that I happened to be in Birmingham playing for a wedding. I had flown in from Kansas City and only had a few days before I had to get back to a tour. I called to see about a visit but I was unable to get a hold of anyone. Isbelle and I went by the house anyway and were met at the door by an unusually distraught Melanie telling us that it was not a good day for a visit. Their priest had just shown up to offer them communion in their home. After some tears we hugged her goodbye and slowly made our way to back to the car, disappointed and heavy. I guess at that point I knew it was getting pretty bad.

Melanie, Steve and I exchanged poems and songs via e-mail, continuing a tradition we've had for several years now. From some of these e-mails and the blog updates I realized that Steve was in his last days. Isbelle and I planned a trip for Birmingham, again in between tours, and I wrote Melanie to see if it would be possible to visit Steve. She warmly responded that they would love to have us and that in a time when they were turning away most visitors, I was one of the few that had an open visiting policy. At this point all treatment for the cancer had been abandoned and hospice was visiting several times a week. To use Melanie's words they had made their transition from "fighting to surrendering." Since Steve was on morphine Melanie warned me that he might be a little out of it and encouraged me to bring some poetry to read or play some songs on my guitar.

We packed up in Nashville and hit the road two days ago (5/21/11) to visit Steve and Melanie. When we came in we were asked to wait downstairs while they moved Steve from the chair to the bed. Something as simple as this was now very exhausting for Steve. He was having a lot of trouble breathing at the end and, for reasons I totally empathize with, this caused him a lot of anxiety. Before I went up I asked Melanie what the best posture should be. Should I ask questions? Should I just talk? Is it okay to cry? She was very comforting and encouraging and assured me that if I cried it wouldn't upset him.

We all went up together. Although I had been thoroughly prepared, I was still shocked to see Steve. He was, of course, bald due to his brave attempts with chemo. He was extremely thin (although I'm told that he had actually gained weight since they were able to switch to a liquid diet). He was having trouble catching his breath and he seemed a bit dazed. I sat on the end of his bed and he took my hand. He asked me how Nashville was...he said it seemed like I had been busy. I told him I missed my Birmingham friends and he said that they missed me too. I did my best to nonchalantly talk about all the traveling I'd done over the last few months. We all did a lot of laughing and I could tell that Steve was really happy that we were all around him talking and sharing life. After about thirty minutes he asked for morphine. Melanie was going to give it to him and then give me a few minutes alone with Steve to say goodbye. I stood up to give Melanie room and Steve grabbed my hand tight, looked me in the eye and said he loved me. I held his hand back and assured him that I wasn't leaving, that I had a few more things I wanted to say.

Melanie gave him the morphine and as soon as everyone was out the door I lost it. I held Steve's hands and sobbed. I told him that he was one of the best friends I had ever had. I told him I loved him and that I was so sad that he wasn't well. He fought for breath and told me that he believed we live on, somehow. I smiled and told him I sure hoped so. I stood up, hugged him, told him I was so thankful I got to see him and that I hoped I'd see him again soon. I kissed his head and left the room. He passed away less than 48 hours later.

In the nearly ten years I have known Steve he has been as true and steady a friend as any I've ever had. He never flinched, not once, at who I was. He was a constant source of encouragement. He was a great keeper of space, patience and process.

There are not enough words for me to fully pay tribute to Steve Malone. For now it just feels good to say that he was my great friend. And that I will always think kind thoughts about him.

Clint Wells

Bob Schneider Tour

2011-05-04T17:50:00.004-04:00

Hey folks. Dropping a quick line to let you know that I'll be doing a run with Bob Schneider the next several weeks. Below are the dates. If any of you live in these towns and want to come to a show just let me know and I'll see about putting you on the list. Hope you're all well and thinking reasonable thoughts in those skulls that took millions of years to evolve. :)

May 5 - Knuckleheads: Kansas City, MO
May 6 - Vaudeville Mews: Des Moines, IO
May 7 - Fine Line: Minneapolis, MN
May 8 - Shank Hall: Milwaukee, WI
May 9 - Southgate House: Cincinnati, OH
May 10 - Phoenix Hill: Louisville, KY
May 11 - Blueberry Hill: St. Louis, MO
May 12 - George's Majestic Lounge: Fayetteville, AK
May 13 - Alamadone Illusions Theater: San Antonio, TX (early show)
May 13 - Cherokee Creek Music Festival: Cherokee, TX (late show)
May 14 - Cypress Saloon: Cypress, TX
May 24 - One Eyed Jack's: New Orleans, LA
May 25 - The Loft: Atlanta, GA
May 26 - Visulite Theater: Charlotte, NC
May 27 - Jewish Mother: Virginia Beach, VA
May 28 - The Hometown Holidays Festival: Rockford, MD
May 29 - Bowery Ballroom: New York, NY
May 30 - The Saint: Asbury Park, NJ
May 31 - Club Cafe: Pittsburgh, PA
June 01- Park West: Chicago, IL

Christians Say Interesting Things Part One: Epistemology and Reality

2011-04-18T19:32:00.004-04:00

I was recently followed on twitter by a preacher who runs a twenty-something ministry I won't name here. His website/blog advertises itself as "intellectual/spiritual wanderings from a reform(ing)ed, emerging, gen-X-er..."

That's all fine and good, but what I found particularly interesting was his short twitter bio which simply says:

"I preach the gospel out of an unshakable need for it to be true."

For reasons you may well imagine, this bothers me a great deal. No belief should be held to, espoused, or preached for such a meritless reason as the need you have for it to be true. Reality must be pursued beyond our petty biases and needs.

As an atheist I am often accused of turning away from god because I want to live a particular life of sin, debauchery and hedonism. The idea here is that I may know or suspect that God exists, but it wouldn't flatter my wants and needs and therefore I reject it. Atheism is what I want and therefore it is true to me.

Well, this is partially true and partially false. It's true because, as far as I've read, the god of historical Christianity is a capricious megalomaniac and it would likely be man's worst nightmare if such a god existed. While I am open to any verifiable evidence of the existence of such a god, I am happy that none yet exists. It's false because swallowing the mortality of myself and the ones I love and cherish is a bitter pill indeed. I'd like to believe that somehow I and the ones I love might survive death and that we may live together in communion for a long, long time. I'd like to believe that my body won't decay or that my prostate won't become swollen or that my mind won't weaken. I'd like to believe that the sun will not explode in five billion years destroying Earth and and every living thing on it.

In some dark moments I may even feel the need for these things to be true.

However, this changes nothing about observable reality. Simply needing something to be true does not make it so. Nor does finding current evidence unpalatable make a claim untrue.

I've heard people say, "Well, I simply cannot imagine not existing."

Really? It's actually not that hard. To people in Paris right now, you don't exist. You didn't exist for 14 billion years before you were born. There are a million thought experiments you can do to prove this point.

If you believe in Jesus or Zeus or L. Ron Hubbard or Santa Claus....I honestly don't care. But when you proselytize on the basis that you NEED it to be true...well that's when I get fired up enough to spend ten minutes writing a blog that no one reads.

Booya.

In Reason,

Clint Wells

new poem

2011-03-25T11:18:00.005-04:00

one for the ironic mustache

if ever you were unsure

about the state of

goodness in the world

as I often am and

I suppose

the world as well

look no further than

the deliberate sabotage

of oneself

for a cheap laugh

and pray to whatever

gods may exist

because

there is an answer

but most of us

don't want

hear

it.

Clint Wells Hymns

2011-03-16T15:38:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone. I've built a complete resource page for the work I've done with hymn renovation. I'm still writing quite a bit and will be updating the page frequently with new demos and any information regarding hymn projects that feature my songs. Give it a visit and spread the word to other hymn nerds. Thanks!

http://clintwellshymns.wordpress.com/

Quit Saying No to My Heart

2011-03-04T09:50:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone. I moved to Nashville last week. We got a really great place in East Nashville and have been getting settled. I've been writing a lot and wanted to share this song with the internets for a few days. I was trying to write my version of "You Are My Sunshine" which is one of the creepiest songs ever written. Here's the demo. Enjoy.

Quit Saying No to My Heart

quit saying no to my heart
quit saying no to the stars
cause you and I both know
how it hurts to be apart
so quit saying no to my heart

quit saying no to my love, dear
quit saying no and pushing to shove, dear
cause you and I both know
how long it took us to gt here
so quit saying no to my heart

quit saying no and playing the part, dear
don't stop saying hello out of your fear
cause you and I both know
how long I watched you from afar
so quit saying no to my heart

it's been about a month since you moved here
and ever since I saw you I've been blinded
it seems so simple to me
why is it hard for you to do?
to quit saying no to my heart
please don't say no to my heart

Religious Logic and Child Sacrifice

2011-02-25T00:51:00.005-05:00

This week a woman in Illinois was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for stabbing her six year old daughter to death. When the authorities showed up they found the body in a room with a butcher knife and a picture of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. The little girl had been stabbed eleven times in the neck and chest.

Eleven times.

After the mother did this she attempted suicide by slitting her wrists but a neighbor called the cops before she could bleed out. At first her story was that she murdered her daughter in self-defense. However, she later admitted that the real reason was because she feared the little girl was possessed by demons. Allegedly the only evidence for this was a case of sleep walking, an entirely common phenomenon especially in children.

I've written about this elsewhere in an essay called "Religion and Mental Illness" but I feel compelled to reiterate this point because, unfortunately, crazy people are still killing their children because of unfounded beliefs in demons, possession, spirits and gods.

What I simply do not understand is why religious people can call the story of Abraham and Issac a tale of heroic faith and yet share my disgust when a woman stabs her poor child to death. How can these people claim to get their absolute morality from a book containing a story of premeditated child sacrifice and then have any logical coherence when condemning this sort of thing in the modern world.

We both likely agree that this woman is, at best, mentally ill and unfit for society. My question to the Christian is: why do you believe this?

Evidence Against Intelligent Design Part One: The Laryngeal Nerve

2011-02-16T19:50:00.000-05:00

Common Misconceptions Part Six: Science Is Biased Against Supernaturalism

2011-02-14T16:14:00.003-05:00

In my experience theists usually begin a debate by appealing to standards of evidence we all find colloquially useful in everyday life. They will talk about the reliability of the Bible as a divine historical document, fulfilled prophecy, answered prayers, observed miracles and other claims that can actually be tested by experimental and historical sciences. However once you show them that:

a. the Bible has failed all the tests of a reliable historical document.
b. the Bible only makes self-fulfilled prophesies (i.e. "this took place to fulfill what was prophesied Matthew 21:4-5) or prophecies that correspond with normal probability laws (i.e. Jerusalem will be sacked; there will be wars, etc.).
c. several independent studies of intercessory prayer have proved prayer to be futile (see the STEP Prayer Project).
d. no miracle has been directly observed and verified by others without a natural explanation (i.e. a severed limb supernaturally regenerates).

…they then revert to pseudo-scientific arguments from incredulity. In other words, once they see that real science is no friend to their claims they begin using a bastardized version of science. They make the Cosmological Argument and they invoke the anthropic principle. Using legitimate scientific data they form unwarranted and illegitimate conclusions that life MUST have been implemented by their own god. They believe that pointing out weaknesses in evolutionary theory (something that scientists have been doing themselves for over 150 years) somehow lends more credibility to their god hypothesis. They draw unsubstantiated correlations between the theory of evolution and social darwinism (which, by the way, even if such a correlation was founded on evidence wouldn’t make it untrue). And so on, etc.

Once you show them that these arguments hold no water they revert back to what they should have started with in the first place: faith. This is usually combined with attempts to criticize atheism. This cycle happens almost every time I debate a theist. Science -> Psuedo-science -> Faith -> Denigrating atheism and “scientism.”

When science turns from amity to enmity for the theist things really start getting interesting. One of the things I hear a lot at this point is the paranoid assertion that scientists and/or science itself are biased against the supernatural.

This is wrong for two reasons. First, science itself is completely neutral on this issue. The fact is that supernatural claims lie beyond the purview of the scientific enterprise. The underlying principle of science is methodological naturalism which states that natural phenomenon can only be observed and explained by natural models. This is why science will never prove or disprove all possible gods. Science speaks to improbability, not impossibility. With a theistic god like Yahweh, Allah or Jesus all science can do is evaluate particular claims that occur in the natural world. This would include miracle claims, the effects of intercessory prayer, the historical merit of the Bible, the manifestation of a spiritual being, and so forth. While science cannot say whether or not all possible gods do or do not exist, it can say that the things one would expect to see if particular gods DID exist are simply not observed.

Secondly, if scientists have all conspired together on this anti-supernaturalism bias then why are roughly half of scientists religious? These scientists obviously believe in the realm of the supernatural but rightly understand that they must separate the supernatural, by necessity, from the scientific process because, by definition, it is a process that only works in the natural world.

Some people (I am not one of them) subscribe to philosophical naturalism which states that only the natural world exists in the universe. I am sympathetic to this philosophy. However, because I simply have no way of knowing this, I reserve judgment. In other words, I have no bias against the existence of the supernatural. Methodological naturalism is distinct from philosophical naturalism because it is simply an epistemological way of acquiring information, not a worldview pronouncement.

Common Misconceptions Part Five: The Burden of Proof and the Presumption of Atheism

2011-02-14T12:16:00.005-05:00

I often wrestle with the idea of debate. My general position is that debating someone privately tends to have little or no value. Most people approach an issue with such intense bias that the likelihood of convincing or persuading them out of their default position is not worth the time or energy spent making good arguments. However, having a debate on a public platform, formal or informal, really can have an intellectual impact on those who are watching while sitting on the fence. When it comes to big issues such as evolution, abortion, religion, or racism I have personally been affected by many avenues of dialogue. Self education, individual debates, public debates, religious literature, critical literature, scientific/philosophical literature, YouTube videos, scientific studies and experience (amongst others) have all helped shape my current worldview.

In my experience, debating theists/creationists is often futile because they simply cannot make their arguments without shadowboxing, willfully or ignorantly confusing claims and terminology, invoking emotionalism, misunderstanding basic science and philosophy, ignoring criticism, drawing unfounded correlations, name calling, unabashed arrogance, false humility, and other disingenuous tactics of argumentation.

For example, let’s consider the burden of proof and the presumption of atheism. The theistic position makes a positive claim (i.e. There IS A god). Atheism is not a positive claim (i.e. There IS NO god) but rather, a rejection of a claim (i.e. I see no good evidence to believe there is a god). Please take note that this is not a semantics issue. No serious atheist claims to KNOW that there is no god. No one is ever called upon to prove a negative. Therefore it is a non sequitur for a theist to ask an atheist to prove their rejection of a claim. The burden of proof rests on the one making a positive claim.

As a thought experiment, try disproving this positive claim: There is an invisible, anthropomorphic guitar that lives in my closet. Only I can hear him and he tells me the future but I am not allowed to disclose the information he gives me. If you don’t believe in him on faith then you will burn in hell for all of eternity. Try disproving that. It should become clear to you in a matter of seconds that not only is it impossible to disprove this, but you are under no philosophical burden TO disprove it. And so it is with any positive supernatural claim, including theism.

Consider the theory of evolution. I believe that evolutionary theory is the best explanation for the diversity of life we see around us. You may rightly ask me to prove this positive claim. If you did, I would point to things like DNA, genetics, the fossil strata, observations of evolution through sexual and environmental selection, fruit fly experiments, transitional fossils, artificial selection, etc. If you proved all of this wrong (congrats you just won a Nobel Prize) then you would STILL have to prove your alternative positive claim. If you believe that evolution is wrong because your version of God made the Universe, then disproving evolution is only half of your burden.

If we should rest under the presumption of theism then which god should we believe in? Zeus, Thor, Jesus, Allah, Poseidon, Ares, or any of the other thousands of god on offer? At some point (Immediately, in my opinion) the presumption of theism crumbles. This is because theism is a positive claim requiring proof and atheism is the default position until compelling evidence is provided.

Common Misconceptions Part One: There Are No Contradictions in the Bible
Common Misconceptions Part Two: Atheists Are Arrogant
Common Misconceptions Part Three: Atheism Is a Religion
Common Misconceptions Part Four: Evolution Caused the Holocaust

Evolution Misconceptions Part One: Evolution Is Just a Theory
Evolution Misconceptions Part Two: Evolution and the Origins of Life

Religious Coexistence and Social Pressure

2011-02-02T16:26:00.006-05:00

I’ve always been interested in and slightly amused by those awful bumper stickers that proclaim “Coexist” with different religious symbols. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m for the idea of coexisting with people of differing opinions as much as the next enlightened human. But the idea that Muslims, Jews, and Christians (let alone Wiccans and Pagans) should or can coexist is bursting with naïve irony. Having read the holy books, I find it overwhelmingly obvious that coexistence between these religious factions is not only intellectually incoherent, but applicably impossible. Each of these religious views make mutually exclusive claims about the nature of reality, metaphysics, morality, and social tolerance. Open up the Bible to Deuteronomy for example and humbly take note of all the people you are commanded to outright murder for not believing in the God of the Jews. The Koran is filled with admonishments to “kill the infidel” and gentle Jesus, meek and mild can be found in the gospels delivering the tolerant message that those who do not follow him are doomed to eternal suffering and damnation.

Coexistence quite obviously was not a priority for the writers of the holy books. That’s why people like the 9/11 attackers, the homosexual stoners, the Inquisitors, the honor killers, bride burners, abortion bombers, and social bigots have more integrity than the moderates. And in a world where these monsters have more integrity than the majority of kind folks who fill America’s pews, something is dangerously askew. Religion must fall under the bright light of critical scrutiny. It’s mutually exclusive claims must be held to standards of evidence. Meanwhile, bumper stickers flatly proclaiming coexistence rest above our farting mufflers and reach to join a hand that simply is not there.

To be clear: I am not calling for religion to be outlawed. I will stand arm in arm with anyone for the freedom to exercise belief as long as that belief is not detrimental to my own safety, the safety of those I care about or the preservation of a free society. Ironically, I have met many Christians who believe the Declaration of Independence should be redrafted to make Christianity our national religion, thus becoming an enemy of the "religious freedom" they fight for so often. The truth is that many Christians want Christian freedom, not religious freedom. They want the Ten Commandments in our schools and prayers to Christ in our court rooms but would likely riot if excerpts from the Koran were read by our school administrators and prayers to Allah ecoed in our policy rooms. It seems obvious to me that in order for us all to have religious liberty that our government should either acknowledge them all (good luck) or remain neutral.

I digress.

My point is this. I will likely spend much of my intellectual energy criticizing religion because I believe it to be more detrimental to society than helpful. I believe that a world in which beliefs are held for good reasons, and not based on tradition or authority, will be a better world; a world that values evidence, reason and logic without the fear of mutually exclusive religions waging war on one another. Part of this strategy involves applying serious social pressure on those who have long escaped the consequences of their beliefs.

I’m sure you are all familiar with the Twitterverse. As you may or may not know, my work with certain Christian music projects has given me a small but existent social profile on the internet. Coming out as an atheist caused some small, boring waves in some small, boring communities but for the most part Christian strangers still follow me on twitter and engage with me in a continuing dialogue about religion. I occasionally follow some of them as well out of mild interest or social courtesy. One of these people, Flannel_Justice, is a high school history teacher somewhere in America with hopes of attending a reformed seminary soon. We’ve corresponded briefly as he is a fan of my music and apparently some of my poetry (look ma! A fan!). A few weeks ago he posted a link to an article entitled, “I Have a Dream that the Abortion Holocaust Will End” by Kyle-Anne Shiver.

In this dismal essay, our writer starts by telling us the story of how she discovered Anne Frank and the Holocaust in the fourth grade. She somehow ties this into the story of her childhood sexual abuse and, remarkably, a paragraph later we are then treated to a brief summation of MLK (complete with a “holy smile”) and the civil rights movement. It all has something to do with injustice, pain, hope and the goodness of the world. At age fourteen she encountered Jesus and “became aware of [her] own evil, short comings, selfishness and hard heartedness.” I’m sure these were all totally healthy things to hear for a girl who was molested repeatedly by her father. She then goes on to report that from then on she would be fighting with Anne Frank and MLK and (I guess) Jesus “against the slaveries and the Holocausts and the killing fields,” but nothing had prepared her for the “holocaust of abortion.”

Now, how obtuse need one be to equate something as truly horrifying as the gas chambers of the holocaust to the abortion debate? How offensive to the Jewish people. How ignorant of the spectrum that shows us a difference between the loss of potential life and the wholesale murder of existing life. This is quite clearly ill-used propaganda. She continues by saying:

“…our own hands carry the blood of 52 million innocent human beings. Deprived of life by the same evil that took the lives of slaves and all the Anne Franks. Our doctors have become killers. Our women have become paid clients for murder. And people who actually think of themselves as good stand up in public to defend this Holocaust.”

She then, unsurprisingly, goes on to use terms like “wicked” and “evil” and draw more unsubstantiated parallels with Nazism.

I didn’t share this to get into a debate about abortion. As I’ve written before, my main issue is the dishonest argumentation. I believe the pro-life argument is a noble one and I am happy that there are skeptics on both sides. But calling those who disagree with you evil, wicked, murdering, Holocaust supporters is where I start getting super fucking annoyed. And this leads us back to Flannel_Justice and the application of social pressure.

I wrote Flannel_Justice explaining that calling strangers evil Holocaust supporters seemed presumptuous and judgmental. He responded by saying that communicating something online meaningfully is challenging (agreed), that the Enlightenment pivoted on securing the natural right to live (um…kindof…but whatever), that he only wanted to promote discussion (unlikely, but okay), and that using holocaust language may be inflammatory but its still true. STOP. The record player needle just squealed out of the grooves on the whole COEXIST party.

After this last comment I aggressively ended my social contract with Flannel_Justice and have since made it a goal to only interact with him in ways that highlight, underline, italicize and magnify my revulsion towards his thought process. Why have I done this? Because I simply refuse to engage in a "civil" discussion with a person who, without knowing anything about me, is willing to call me evil, wicked and a supporter of the Holocaust. His ilk have gotten away with it for too long. When I explained this to him his justification was that we are all terrible and evil and wicked. Well, guess what Flannel_Justice: just because you believe in something ridiculous does not give you the social currency to apply it to strangers without criticism. Replace evil with anything else and see how the logic works.

“Hi my name is Flannel_Mustard and I believe that everybody is a child rapist so I expect no social backlash when I go ahead and assume and tell you explicitly that you are a child rapist. Yipeee!”

This is clearly idiotic.

Dear Flannel_Justice, If you choose to believe that everyone is wicked and evil, fine. Enjoy your strange life. But if you, or anyone like you, wants to call me evil and wicked and invoke images of the Holocaust and imply that I’m a Nazi then you can seriously FUCK OFF.

I encourage any of my freethinker friends to start applying thoughtful social pressure in your day to day interactions with people like this. I’m sure Flannel_Justice is a decent guy. But he’s spent far too long convincing himself that a magic book knows he and everyone else is evil. And he has been desensitized by society to understand how offensive his beliefs are when expressed so explicitly. And really this is about principle. I’m more upset about the kind of person he represents than I am about him.

In sum: you are free to believe and say whatever you want. Congrats. But if you say it to me don’t be surprised when I apply serious social pressure to you.

Thank you for reading.

In Reason,

Clint Wells

count on it

2011-02-01T18:26:00.000-05:00

the bar is a beautiful place
as a couple walks in
drunk and stammering
demanding a drink on a
monday night.
the barkeep says, “no”
and the woman becomes angry.
“my father will have this place
closed down!” she says
as the rats scurry from crumb to
stupid crumb.
one of the patrons, a
regular,
stands tall and says something like,
“they have every right to deny
you service,” and unsurprisingly
this makes her even angrier.
she screams and wails
like the animal she is as her man
sits at the bar and covers his face.
ultimately she is thrown out
after a few blows and more
ridiculous theater.
her man walks out behind her
as she is dragged screaming from the bar
and all I can think is
“Christ, my tax return is going
to be nothing this year.”
the world rages on and
we are like ants in a pile
of dirt
somewhere in the hell
of forgotten
Montana.

count on it.

New poem

2011-01-31T12:57:00.000-05:00

another monday morning

over there. yes, over there beyond and between the cascading light that showers your hardwood floors to warm the feet of a thousand cold years. that is where the honeysuckle drips and the grapes rest heavy, filled with wine and strength. you lie in bed and behold the miracle and wait, as you’ve done so many times before, for the dream to fade and the stardust to fall as your eyes crackle and blink and stumble for a vision, or anything visible at all. your head aches and your heart is a burlap sack. uneven toenails claw the sheets and the invisible wounds putter like a dirty engine. over there, yes over there. thedistance seems insurmountable but somewhere in the foggy head you know it is a lie. fear is no crime. but the giving of what is beautiful over to the fear, quite simply,

is.

The Weight (live)

2011-01-27T20:19:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago my band The Greenleaves played a house show in Birmingham. I think the whole show was filmed but here is one of the tunes. You can download it here if you like. Enjoy!

I believe in you and me
and all of the stars, they agree
I can see it all happening
the bird walks the line as she sings

oh I will be there when you fall
to keep you holding on
oh I will be there when you stop
to keep you from letting go

the weight, the weight
I can carry us
the weight, the weight
I will carry us
but if you should sell
me into the arms
of the devil don't call it love

I believe in destiny
but only when its working towards me
and really, I don't want to leave
really, I don't want to leave

oh I will be there when you fall
to keep you holding on
oh I will be there when you stop
to keep you from letting go

the weight, the weight
I can carry us
the weight, the weight
I will carry us
but if you should sell
me into the arms
of the devil don't call it love

All the Beautiful Boys (dance version)

2011-01-05T16:09:00.003-05:00

I wanted to write a dance song but ended up writing a sad song about people dancing. I recorded the demo with sad acoustic guitars and pianos. Then I deleted everything but the vocals and added dub drums and synth bass. It was a lot of fun and I rather like it this way. Click the link to listen and if you want I've made it available for free download as well. Enjoy.

All the Beautiful Boys

look at all the beautiful boys
hungry for the beautiful girls
dance until they sweat
mom and daddy’s sweet little girls

look at all the beautiful boys
dashing little kings of the earth
alive under the moonlight
alive under the moon

with a matchbox hand
spike the water at the dance
look at all the beautiful boys
the world is full of beautiful boys
with their bottom lips bit
grab his keys so they can split
look at all the beautiful girls
the world is full of beautiful girls

anxious like a fork in the road
vying for a beautiful girl
the darkness in us all
hungry like the wolves that we are

shining like a bruise in the sun
burning for a cheap little
he wants to get to know her
she’s longing to ne known

through the haze around the crowd
above the silence in the sound
would you look at all the beautiful boys
The world is full of beautiful boys
and it’s exactly as it seems
so count the time between the screams
would you look at all the beautiful girls
the world is full of beautiful girls

like the lines that draw your hands
and all the grain amongst the sands
look at all the beautiful boys
the world is full of beautiful boys
like the water in the sea
and all the cells of a disease
would you look at all the beautiful girls
the world is full of beautiful girls

End Year Book Review (July - December) 2010

2010-12-27T14:15:00.058-05:00

Well folks, it's that time a year again where I humbly submit my reading list for the year with a few thoughts about why I did or did not like the books. I hope you can find some of this a useful guide in deciding what to read for yourselves next year. It's a wonder, reading. The worlds that can open up before you. Happy New Year.

Click here for my Mid Year Book (January - June) Review 2010.

Why Do Men Have Nipples by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D. (July)

I love the subtitle: 100 Questions You Would Only Ask Your Doctor After Your Third Martini. I'm fortunate to have many doctor friends who have trudged late into the night with me, drink after drink, answering all of the inane questions I could have simply found in this book. Questions like Why do farts ignite? or Why do old ladies grow beards? or Will my arms need to be surgically removed if I sleep on them for too long? and, of course, Why in the hell do men have nipples? All of these answers and hundreds more can be found in this interesting little book filled with humor and, more importantly, good science.

Rage by Stephen King (July)

After achieving success as a young writer in the seventies, Stephen King put out several old manuscripts from his college years under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. This is one of the earliest and, in my opinion, one of the best stories of King's long, wonderful career. It's a psychological thriller about a high school boy who finally snaps and hold his class hostage for a day. The most fascinating things happen in that room as he unravels the minds of his teachers and several of his classmates. This is a must read if you like psychological thrillers.

The Long Walk by Stephen King (July)

As with Rage, this was another short novella released under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. It's also a psychological thriller that takes place in a future dystopia in which a walking competition is held every year for teenage boys. Only 100 are chosen out of thousands of applicants. Once the 100 begin walking they must walk a certain speed as soldiers on tanks follow along and dish out up to three warnings for falling behind. After three warnings the walkers are shot dead on the spot. Walking the entire the state of Maine and being shot one by one, the bulk of this book is the mental deterioration of each character as they struggle to survive and be the the last one walking. This and Rage can be found in a compilation called The Bachman Books which also includes The Running Man.

Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition and Other Confusions of Our Time by Dr. Michael Shermer (July)

Shermer's books always have such a great balance of interesting topics, humor and great science. This book explores common strange beliefs like UFO's, astrology, creationism, extra sensory perception and holocaust denial. There's even a really great essay on Ayn Rand and the subculture of cult systems. Shermer's motto is cognite tute (think for yourself) and nowhere does he do a better job of espousing and encouraging healthy skepticism than in this book.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (July)

This was the first time I've had the pleasure of reading Huxley. While I much prefer the darker tone of Orwell's 1984, I found this portrayal of the future/commentary on the present to be relentlessly funny and remarkably poignant. It's always such a pleasure when the classics are truly great and not boorish relics of our sentimental past. This holds up with any fictional social criticism of the day and is far more deep felt than anything Palahniuk is writing (although I, of course, love Palahniuk).

The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share and Follow the Golden Rule by Dr. Michael Shermer (August)

This was easily one of the most interesting books I read all year. It is a naturalistic explanation for morality that explores the reasons for why we show immense capabilities for both moral and immoral actions. Shermer makes a strong case using evolutionary biology to explain what selections and pressures have molded us into social creatures who value cooperation, understand hostility and are moving towards a greater understanding of bioethics with the help of science. Any of my theistic friends who believe they have a handle on the moral argument need to read this book if, for anything, an accurate account of the naturalistic worldview.

The Box: Uncanny Stories by Richard Matheson (August)

I purchased this book in Alaska and read it during lunch one day. It's a collection of short stories from the guy who brought us I Am Legend, Hell House, and What Dreams May Come. The titular story was adapted into a Twilight Zone episode in which a mysterious box with a button is sent to a couple with a note promising a remarkable amount of money in exchange for pressing the button. The only catch is that pressing the button will cause the death of a single human being somewhere in the world. This is a great psychological story and the others are great as well.

Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor by Brad Gooch (August)

Isbelle got me this book for my birthday. It's the newest in an ever growing pile of biographies telling the story of Flannery O'Connor, my personal favorite writer and a hallmark of grotesque literature in the American south. This was easily the most interesting biography I have read of her and the credit is all due to Gooch's ability to weave fact with passion. This book also dealt more intimately with Flannery's love life and writing disciplines...two things I found very interesting.

American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis (August)

This is easily one of the most interesting books to come out in the last twenty years. I've read it five times and every time I start I simply cannot put it down. It takes a resilient stomach to read sections of this book and it's helpful to have a sense of humor, a taste for satire and a good, strong drink. Celine and Henry Miller would be proud of Ellis, their literary hell-spawn.

The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow (September)

I bought this book on my 27th birthday shortly after it was released. It explores the idea of a unified theory which would bridge the gap between special relativity and quantum theory. Hawking posits a very interesting idea he calls "M-theory" in which the unified theory of everything is a complex web of theories rather than one theory itself. This book gained a lot of publicity because in it Hawking boldly claims that we no longer need an intelligent designer to explain the existence of the universe. This doesn't mean that there is no such designer, it just means that we now have workable naturalistic models to explain the existence of our universe. Check out the chapter on how it is possible for something to come from nothing with M-theory. I remember drunkenly trying to explain this book to my friend Joseph in a pub in New York City. It's amazing how things do and don't make sense when you're looking at the bottom of a glass. I met a very nice stranger (professor at some college in Boston) when I was on tour. He gave us a place to stay and some whiskey and, in return, I gave him this book. Sometimes I regret it (it was a 1st edition!) but mostly it makes me smile.

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life by Steve Martin (September)

Holy crap this was a great book! It chronicles Martin's life from his college years and stand-up beginnings on his journey to becoming the most successful comic in history. When he released his first comedy album it shipped platinum. This means that it pre-sold over a million copies. In the fucking seventies! Martin is a great writer as well and for any of you (us) out there fighting hard to create and make a living with any form of art this was a totally inspiring story about a true living legend of comedy.

Shakey: Neil Young's Biography by Jimmy McDonough (September)

This book was a beast. Clocking in at over 700 pages long it is an arduous account of Neil Young's amazing life from childhood and high school through his first bands through the Buffalo Springfield years through the first few solo albums through Tonight's the Night and Zuma through the unreleased stuff through the Geffen Years and the Trans shit and the lawsuits and the back surgeries and the marriages and sons with cerebral palsy and the genre shifts and the comeback and the grunge and the MTV and the unplugged and the crazy Crazy Horse shit and the band members, managers, producers, lovers who all came and went and all of the colleges and tours and reunions with CSN....well you get the picture I guess. This book is really ONLY for fans....company I am happy to keep.

The Pleasures of the Damned: Poems, 1951-1993 by Charles Bukowski (September)

This was my first Bukowski. I bought it at Strand in Manhattan while standing on a trembling ladder looking for obscure poetry. I don't know quite how to put this but discovering Bukowski is such a big deal that the only thing I can compare it to is when I discovered the Beatles at age 21. I mean, this dude blew my fucking mind. This is a collection of his best poetry throughout his entire life, the only compilation like it that I know of. If you get anything by him I would start with this one. So so so so so so so so so so so friggen good. My friend was in NYC a few months later and asked me for a book recommendation for the plane ride home. I told him to go to Strand and literally buy ALL of the Bukowski he could afford and that I would explain later and that he would thank me. He did and...he did.

All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (September)

I read this on the road driving for long stretches through the American desert. I was shocked at how boring most of it is. There are some truly gripping moments in this book but they are rare and, unfortunately, not worth my recommendation. Sorry McCarthy....I'd rather re-read Faulkner all over again (yikes!) than trudge through this stuff. (I'm making a frowny face right now).

Letters From the Earth by Mark Twain (October)

This is a collection of mostly religious satirical essays. First if all, Twain's writing is brilliant. I don't think there's a single person who would disagree. But his wit is entirely something else. I never knew how hilarious he was not how passionate about the human condition and the footholds of reason and belief. This is a fun, charming collection of essays that I wish on my most hated enemies and loved ones alike.

Pulp by Charles Bukoswki (October)

I bought this book at Powell's in Chicago on a day off with Isbelle. Once again I was on a ladder somewhere looking for Celine when she found this one in a stack of New Arrivals. This is the last novel Bukowski wrote before he passed away and, without surprise, it is a novel of death and dying but NEVER with a hint of sentimentality or safety. It is as crass, humorous, honest and lovely as anything he wrote when living in the slums with all of the hours in the heart L.A. It makes me sad to think about this book but at least he was still writing great and kicking life's ass at the ripe old age of 74. This book was dedicated to "bad writing" and well, that always makes me smile.

White Shroud: Poems, 1980-1985 by Allen Ginsberg (October)

I have a pretty serious love/hate relationship with ole' Ginsberg. But I have noticed that I have a fondness for his work in the eighties. It's more tired, more worn down and less sentimental. There's more sober self-reflection and less drug-addled rambling. More sex and more love. It's a soft moment in his career and this is a great collection to commemorate that time.

KISS: Behind the Mask by David Leaf and Ken Sharp (October)

I don't know how many of you know this about me but for those of you who don't, let this be my coming out party. I am a fucking HUGE KISS fan. The first concert I ever went to was the KISS Reunion tour in 96. I was twelve years old and singing down heavily tattooed old bikers in front of me. I know every lyric, guitar solo, and album art these dudes have ever put out. So naturally, when I got this book at Powell's (this is what I was getting on that damn ladder) I was stoked to read it. It is a thorough and exciting biography with the bands history told through a narrative and then each member personally. It also has a play by play of every record they've made with band commentary and little known facts about tours and gear. Loved it.

Eating The Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman (October)

I have not read single Klosterman book that was not good. This one is no exception. It's a bit less funny than his former books of essays but the writing and subject matter are superb and Klosterman, once again, shows why he is the master of over-sentimentalizing popular culture in a way that makes you nostalgic and, somehow, not pukey. Eighty Thousand thumbs and toes up for this one.

Love Is a Dog From Hell: Poems, 1974-1977 by Charles Bukowski (October)

This collection largely deals with Bukowski's encounters with women but this is one of my favorites:

dog

a single dog
walking alone on a hot sidewalk of
summer
appears to have the power
of ten thousand gods.

why is this?

Come On In! New Poems by Charles Bukowski (October)

This is one of many posthumous collections of, presumably, poems that Bukowski thought were crap. Here is one of my favorites:

come on in!

welcome to my wormy hell.
the music grinds off-key.
fish eyes watch from the wall.
this is where the last happy shot was
fired.
the mind snaps closed
like a mind snapping
closed.
we need to discover a new will and a new
way.
we're stuck here now
listening to the laughter of the
gods.
my temples ache with the fact of
the facts.
I get up, move about, scratch
myself.
I'm a pawn.
I am a hungry prayer.
my wormy hell welcomes you.
hello. hello there. come in, come on in!
plenty of room here for us all,
sucker.
we can only blame ourselves so
come sit with me in the dark.
it's half-past
nowhere
everywhere.

The People Look Like Flowers At Last by Charles Bukowski (October)

Another collection of new poems from 2007. One of my favorites is:

the creation coffin

the ability to suffer and endure,
that's nobility, friend.
the ability to suffer and endure
for an idea, a feeling, a way,
that's art, my friend.
the ability to suffer and endure
when love fails,
that's hell, old friend.
nobility, art, hell,
let's talk about art for a while.

destiny is my crippled daughter.
look here, it's difficult,
me against them,
with them.
Kafka, let me in!
Hemingway beware!
Hegel, you're funny!
Cervantes, you mean you wrote that
novel at the age of
80?

great writers are indecent people
they live unfairly
saving the best part for paper.

good human beings save the world
so that bastards like me can keep creating art,
become immortal.
if you are reading this after I am long dead
it means I made it.

so writers of the world
it's your turn now
to misuse your wife
abuse your children
love thyself
live off the funds of others
dislike all art created before and
during your time,
and dislike or even hate humanity
singly or en masse.

bastards, even if you read this
after I am long dead
forget about me. I
probably wasn't that
good.

Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsider the Classics edited by Jim Deragotis (October)

This is probably the most depressing book I have ever read. The subtitle gives you a good hint but these essays are less "reconsiderations" of classics and more just whiny entitled and mostly unfounded criticisms. Now, I have a contrarian spirit and I fight sentimentality with the best of them. I'd rather have the painful truth than the comfortable lie. Etcetera. But this book goes after some seriously fucking indisputable records. Here is a list of records trashed in this book: Exile On Main St., Born To Run, Rumours, Led Zeppelin IV, Grievous Angel, Double Fantasy, Ram, Exodus, and Kick Out The Jams. Need I say more? Don't waste your time. Go listen to "Second Hand News" for the millionth time and love every second of it like I just did.

The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain (November)

Another really interesting collection from Mark Twain dealing with religion. This is less critical of religion itself and, more interestingly, uses the story of Adam and Eve to analyze the cooperative and hostile differences between a man and a woman. It's extremely funny and witty (of course) but also has some beautiful imagery. My favorite entry is that of the snake and Eve's Soliloquy is gorgeous.

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski (November)

This is a fairly auto-biographical novel about Bukowskis life as a child through the time he went to college. It is a brutal tale of his his father's abuse, mother's neglect and his own shaping indifference of a world in depression era Las Angeles. Bukoswki once said that all his father taught him was pain and ,in doing so, how to type. Read this book and you'll understand why that is most certainly true.

Wilco: Learning How To Die by Greg Kot (November)

This was an interesting book that catalogues Wilco (Jeff Tweedy)'s story from the Uncle Tupelo days on through the A Ghost Is Born record. It is thorough telling of all the records, tours, and stories in between and a good look at the mind of one of the most interesting American bands in years. This book got me back interested in Henry Miller novels and so the push and pull of fiction and non-fiction continues. Favorite moments in the book were the stories about the Summerteeth record and subsequent tours. Worth a read if you dig Wilco.

The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values by Sam Harris (November)

This was also one of the most interesting books of the year. As Sam explains in this TED Talk, his contention is that morals and ethics correspond with values and that values correspond with well-being and suffering. On the moral landscape the peaks represent total well being and the valley's represent total suffering. When viewed this way there begins to emerge this idea that there are right and wrong answers to particular moral questions, even if we cannot know them all. He believes that a continually developing neurological study of values at the level of the brain will help us map this moral landscape. This book is really about the next conversation. Books like Shermer's above have adequately accounted for the moral drive of a human being (and many higher mammals similar to us). These evolutionary drives are not always flattering and, even though they were selected for, are not necessarily conducive to total well being. So how can, with as much understanding of cognitive behavior as possible, start to forge our way into a new conversation about morality? I believe this book is the answer. Probably the most important book I read all year.

Religion and Science by Bertrand Russel (November)

This is a really great book on the history of the tension between science and religion. It deals with Galileo and astronomy, medicince and witchcraft and all sorts of other interesting collisions between these two great giants. Russell, of course, believes that the two are in direct confrontation (as most personal god claims are scientific claims) and that at the end of the day science is the best model for explaining our universe and that the evidence for most religious claims is still too lacking to lend provisional assent. I, of course, agree.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (December)

Dexter is one of mine and Isbelle's favorite shows. I don't know why I never thought to read the books but since she had them on her shelf I thought I'd try it out. They're pretty good and definitely worth reading if you're a fan of the show. There are some interesting differences and, even though this guy isn't Dostoevsky, I found that I really couldn't put this book down. It moved quick and was never boring or drab. Great suspense and thriller story.

The Last Night of the Earth Poems by Charles Bukowski (December)

To my knowledge this is the last collection of new poetry released before Bukowski died. It is a TREMENDOUS volume filled with amazing poems. One of my many favorites is:

be kind

we are always asked
to understand the other person's
viewpoint
no matter how
out-dated
foolish or
obnoxious.

one is asked
to view
their total error
their life-waste
with
kindliness,
especially if they are
aged.

but age is the total of
our doing.
they have aged
badly
because they have
lived
out of focus,
they have refused to see.

not their fault?

whose fault?
mine?

I am asked to hide
my viewpoint
from them
for fear of their
fear.

age is no crime

but the shame
of a deliberately
wasted
life

among so many
deliberately
wasted
lives

is.

Planet News: Poems, 1961-1967 by Allen Ginsberg (December)

This is one of the most boring collections of poems I have ever read. Wanna know why? Because all of the poems are basically like this:

sunset

As orange dusk-light falls on an old idea
I gaze thru my hand on the page
sensing outward the intercoiled weird being I am in
and seek a head of that - Seraphim
advance in lightning flash through aether storm
Messengers arrive horned bearded from Magnetic spheres
disappearing radios receive aged galaxies
Immensity wheels mirrored in every direction
Announcement swifting from Invisible to Invisible
Eternity-dragon's tail lost to the eye
Strange death, forgotten births, voices calling in the past
"I was" that greets "I am" that writes now "I will be"
Armies marching over and over the old battlefield --
What powers sit in their domed tents and decree Eternal Victory?
I sit at my desk and the scribe the endless message from myself to my
own hand

Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen (December)

Wow. I knew that Leonard Cohen was a poet. I even knew he was a good poet and had achieved success well before he was a musician. But I had no idea it was this good. this heartfelt and funny. Most of these poems he wrote while living in cave in his sixties. My favorite is:

to a young nun

This undemanding love
that our staggered births
have purchased for us -
You in your generation,
I in mine.
I am not the one
you are looking for.
You are not the one
I've stopped looking for.
How sweetly time
disposes of us
as we go arm in arm
over the Bridge of Details:
Your turn to chop.
My turn to cook.
Your turn to die for love.
My turn to resurrect.

Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (December)

This is the second installment in the Dexter series. I'm not expert on writing but I did notice that the screws seemed to be a bit tighter this go around. I'm now more interested in finishing the series than I was with book one. Great read. Cool story.

You Get So Alone At Times It Just Makes Sense by Charles Bukowski (December)

Another collection of amazing poems. Here's a short favorite that Isbelle turned me onto:

about the PEN conference

take a writer away from his typewriter
and all you have left
is
the sickness
which started him
typing
in the
beginning.

The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountains by Charles Bukowski (December)

This one blew me away:

throwing away the alarm clock

my father always said, "early to bed and
early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy
and wise."

it was lights out at 8 p.m. in our house
and we were up at dawn to the smell of
coffee, frying bacon and scrambled
eggs.

my father followed this general routine
for a lifetime and died young, broke,
and, I think, not too
wise.

taking note, I rejected his advise and it
became, for me, late to bed and late
to rise.

now, I'm not saying that I've conquered
the world but I've avoided
numberless earl traffic jams, bypassed some
common pitfalls
and have met some strange, wonderful
people

one of whom
was
myself --- someone my father
never
knew.

Slouching Towards Nirvana by Charles Bukowski (December)

Well, I won't bore you with another poem but this collection is yet another bunch of beautiful forgotten poems. This guy was a madman.

The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are by Robert Wright (December)

This was a really fascinating book that takes Shermer's ideas about the evolutionary explanations of morality and puts them under an intense microscope. There were times that I would read this book after a bit too much wine and feel myself near the proverbial edge of despair. The truths about our past very hard to consider. Realizing that my reasons for certain feelings and emotions are no longer evolutionary valid is a tough but beautiful place to be in and forces one to engage in that Greater Conversation that I am fortunate enough to have with people all over the country and from all walks of life discovering ourselves again through art, drink, quiet, and, of course, wholesome conversation. Great science. Great ideas. This book was fantastic.

Cardinals III/IV

2010-12-22T13:43:00.027-05:00

Hey everyone. I know you're all anxiously awaiting my next essay bitching about religion but I'm afraid that will have to wait. I want to be a total dork and show you pictures of the new Ryan Adams vinyl I received this week. So, please...make yourself a PB&J. Have a glass of milk and come jam with me on a virtual tour of this amazing record.

I know this looks glorious in and of itself. But what you cannot see are all of the goodies cleverly hidden in these blessed cardboard sleeves. Let's take a look.

The inside gate fold has a classic picture of the Cards in their 2006 badassedness. I love that Catherine has her iPod close. I wonder what she was listening to. Over on the left are all of the details about who played what instruments on individual songs. A lot of surprises over there.

To the left is III and below is IV. One of the coolest things about the vinyl experience with Ryan Adams is all of the interesting colors he chooses.These are beautiful deep red and blue with really interesting black swirls throughout. So. Friggen. Rad.

This record also comes with a HUGE badass poster. To the left is the twin buildings and to the right is an amazing lyric sheet with all sorts of interesting and humorous anecdotes, studio notes, lyrics, and draft track lists. Apparently an early form of the record included Easy Tiger's "Oh My God, Whatever, Etc." complete with "Don Henley synth." Wow.

Both sleeves come with this fold out which has some great pictures on one side and all of the lyrics cleanly typed on the other. This layout is really cool. Very classic looking.

Everything laid out. The record also came with two digital download cards. One contained mp3's of the record and another contained 12 really interesting and amazing demos. I mean, come on. This shit is generous. Look at that spread!

And, because I am a dork, here is the whole family. Still missing Heartbreaker, Gold and Love Is Hell (that one is impossible to get).

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Ryan Adams On Music, Etc.

2010-12-22T10:03:00.003-05:00

"I come from tough southern people who aren't bothered by mosquitoes, divorces, or occasional car wrecks. I remember my parents and grandparents sipping on cans of beer, playing horseshoes in the backyard as the summer heat turned dark. The rosebushes and pine trees, where the fences ended, roared with crickets that sounded like doors creaking in an old haunted house. I would watch from the windows in the back rooms, listening to Prince sing 'Purple Rain' as though his life depended on it. And I played my brother's old tennis racquet like a guitar, emulating that sound that could only come from that little old silver cassette player that weighed me down like an anchor. And even then I performed better alone. Most people do.

The terror that goes along with playing music for people can best be described as what it felt like for the first time you were asked to read a written report in front of the class in grade school. But maybe amplify that by the entire school, to perfect strangers, to people you only passed in the shuffle between bells, to that girl in your homeroom you wanted so desperately to kiss. For some, it's a glorious experience - those certain outgoing people who are well-adjusted and sure. For most, including myself, it's terrifying.

I refer to actually getting onstage as 'the walk'. It's that twenty seconds of disbelief that I am actually going to go out there and actually sing, and my neck becomes stiff, and my posture devloves, and my bones coagulate in some caveman fetal position in efforts to protect myself from pain. But something beautiful happens...not always...but most of the time. Something cosmic like a first kiss or fresh socks. But better."

"Once it turns on, once the music starts, and the band cracks or the guitar rings, I am g-o-n-e. I feel the cool grass when I was young, touching my hand to the dirty earth and feeling my own body relax and give way to the breeze. I feel erotic but not horny. I can see the steps of the house I grew up in, I hear the voices of my dead friends. And when I am comfortable, I feel my heart go, pure and simple, out of my body.

There are the good moments. But I cannot remember them. They are always on the edge of sheer terror, on the edge of this great cliff, waiting to fall and break into a million pieces. And it's so risky and beautiful and so ridiculous that when it is all over, it is all I can do but want to go again, like a kid on some dumb ride at the fair.

There were times when I was touring without that band that I would shiver, my body would quake as though it would not open, and the music and words would not come. Like an old rusted nozzle on a bath. This is when I know my job the best. When it will not come, and I have convulsed in front of many people I do not know to make it come, to wrestle it out of me, because singing a song sometimes is about being a good liar. And good lies are fucking hard sells. And my job is to go there, whether I want to or not. To exercise that muscle inside myself that contracts and refuses because it is tired and has had enough. But when is it enough? Who says when you have given too much of yourself? Especially when your job is to expose your inner badass. Your inner liar cheater fucker lover fuckface and try and cram all that into a little box of sweets. Rock stars are fakers and liars, but they sell the best cars, and the cars get you someplace you weren't already going, so you fucking love them anyway and wave at them when they pass your house.

I do not know how music works. I don't know where it comes from or why I am compelled to embarrass myself over and over again, but I do. I see it like a rite of passage. Maybe like lifting imaginary weights, hoping that I will become stronger and actually know something about myself eventually. I hope I will always play the guitar or the piano, and I will always sing if I can, and maybe one day I will answer this question I am living through every night I perform. One day I will walk the walk, and I will know what the fuck I am doing here. Until then, may there be enough wine for us all."

Be Affected

2010-12-22T02:10:00.002-05:00

the red wine
the dial tone
the scale that reads
185
the lost gig
the ulcer
the banal acceptance speech
the media
the sucker punch
to the gut
the sexy eyes
the fading erection
the rejection
the small
victories...

the endless
the gutters of Paris
the Henry Miller novel
you've never read
the wasted gym
membership
the wandering eye
the exile on main street
vinyl collecting dust...

the regret
the love
the fight or flight (yeah, right)
the lumps
the louse
the dizzy street walking
malaise...

the seed of jealousy
raging through
your double standard bones
the star collapse
the magnetized
genetic infidelities
the confirmation bias
the disease of the mind...

and even
the thought of
your former,
or current, lover
resting in the arms
of a bright
new
shining
armor...

be affected.

Sam Harris on Science and Arrogance

2010-11-25T11:21:00.004-05:00

This is a brief excerpt from page 124 of Sam Harris' new book, The Moral Landscape.

"[There is] a rather unlovely asymmetry in public discourse...one that is generally on display whenever scientists debate religious apologists. For instance, when a scientists speaks with appropriate circumspection about controversies in his field, or about the limits of his own understanding, his opponent will often make wildly unjustified assertions about just which religious doctrines can be inserted into the space provided. Thus, one often finds people with no scientific training speaking with apparent certainty about the theological implications of quantum mechanics, cosmology, or molecular biology.

This point merits a brief aside: while it is a standard rhetorical move in such debates to accuse scientists of being "arrogant," the level of humility in scientific discourse is, in fact, one of its most striking characteristics. In my experience, arrogance is about as common at a scientific conference as nudity. At any scientific meeting you will find presenter after presenter couching his or her remarks with caveats and apologies. When asked to comment on something that lies to either side of the very knife edge of their special expertise, even Nobel laureates will say things like, 'Well, this isn't really my area, but I would suspect that X is...' or 'I'm sure there are several people in this room who know more about this than I do, but as far as I know, X is...' The totality of scientific knowledge now doubles every few years. Given how much there is to know, all scientists live with the constant awareness that whenever they open their mouths in the presence of other scientists, they are guaranteed to be speaking to someone who knows more about a scientific topic than they do."

My thoughts on why atheism is not arrogance:

Common Misconceptions: Atheism is Arrogance

In reason,

Clint Wells

Christopher Hitchens Interview

2010-11-17T22:23:00.001-05:00

As usual, Christopher Hitchens speaks eloquently about cancer, mortality, writing and religion in this touching interview on Lateline. Enjoy!

Blind Date

2010-11-17T02:08:00.001-05:00

there is
unbearable pain
in this
world

i've either
not felt it
or endured it
all along

hello.

Yer Not That Smart, Sam Harris!

2010-11-01T23:05:00.000-05:00

Draw a Circle and Convince An Atheist! Whodathunkit??

2010-10-29T01:54:00.003-04:00

I saw this tonight and I thought it brought up several misconceptions about atheism that need to be addressed.

1. Admitting that there is a possibility of god's existence beyond our knowledge does not conflict with identifying as an atheist. Atheism is the disbelief in any gods. The atheist does not claim to know but rather rejects the claim that there is a god based on insufficient evidence.

2. Both atheists and theists are agnostic (without knowledge) concerning the god hypothesis. The theist cannot prove the claim and the atheist cannot disprove the claim. There is a world of difference between belief and knowledge. Again, we are both agnostics. (Perhaps you can now see why I rather prefer the term pearlist.)

3. You cannot appeal to what is outside of our knowledge (i.e. you don't know everything; therefore, there is a god) as a legitimate argument for god's existence. This is an appeal to ignorance and it is a logical fallacy.

4. You cannot appeal to consensus (i.e. why do all these people believe in god?) as a legitimate argument. This, too, is a logical fallacy. Even if I grant this as an argument it wouldn't take long to compile a list of reasons why people believe in gods. She also takes for granted that lots of people believe in gods other than hers.

Okay, it's 1:30 in the morning and I've got to go watch some other videos lest that old woman's face and her circles haunt my dreams.

In reason,

Clint Wells

Arizona

2010-10-24T05:32:00.000-04:00

the trees shoot
straight up
like stiletto
heels

the rocks pile
high like
mounds of ants

those great kings
who traverse
hidden corridors
carrying the Earth
on their
straddled backs

who care not
for our politic
our greed
our fear
our dread
our slump
or our seed

those ancient kings
who eat the
very Earth
that slays me.

Sometimes Galaxies Explode

2010-10-17T20:27:00.003-04:00

the woman
who loves the mean guy
this is the greatest mystery
of the cosmos
not the black holes
not the background radiation
not the quark, not the quasar

sometimes galaxies explode
sometimes the
gazelle is too slow
for the lion
and this is very cruel
but, very natural

sometimes you trace
a woman's legs
to the center of the universe
that is
unless you're a good guy
then you go to bed
mostly confused
and very alone

Smile: Your Mother Was Pro-Choice

2010-10-08T12:23:00.001-04:00

One of the interesting things about driving across America is the amount of evangelical propaganda advertised in hotel rooms and along the highways. It's definitely more dense in certain areas but even in progressive towns like Chicago and Boston you will still find a Bible in your hotel room. I find it even more interesting that despite this information and the fact that our country is inhabited by the religious majority, many religious people feel as though America is under attack by the non-believing community.

Isbelle and I were driving through middle America last week taking note of all of the tacky evangelical billboards and one stuck out to us in particular. It simply read:

Smile: Your Mother Was Pro-Life.

There are two major problems with this phrase. First of all it falsely presupposes that anyone opposed to pro-life is automatically pro-abortion. It is an incontrovertible fact that many mothers chose life without subscribing to the pro-life movement. This observation alone is enough to warrant the sign being taken down. Presuming, of course, that it's benefactor is at all concerned with intellectual integrity.

The second problem is more philosophical and I make this argument only to approach the issue from a different angle. Are we to smile because Hitler's mother was pro-life? What about Ted Bundy or Mark David Chapman? What about the child rapist who molested someone you love? What about the cruel, the vicious, the marauding and the corrupt? The second reason the argument does not work is because when you step outside of it's emotional appeal to your own individuality you can clearly see that it's application is limited to those you are either indifferent to or those you find morally palatable.

This post is not an attempt to make an argument for pro-choice. It is an appeal to those of you sincerely interested in public discourse to do away with intellectually dishonest argumentation. "Smile: Your Mother Was Pro-Life" is ultimately an enemy of the pro-life movement because it fails to rise to the level of integrity that the movement deserves. These people need to stop trying to take short cuts for two reasons:

1. People like me (we're now numbered in the millions) will call them out on it every single time.
2. They are devaluing their arguments in the marketplace of ideas.

I''m interested in good ideas. Wherever you fall on the spectrum of belief we all have to work together to make each others arguments as strong as they can be. After all, who would be satisfied to simply refute a straw man? Hopefully not you and certainly not me. Peace and kindness to you all from a van somewhere in Nevada.

In reason,

Clint Wells

Evolution Misconceptions Part Two: Evolution Cannot Explain the Origins of Life Therefore It Is Incomplete

2010-10-05T11:33:00.006-04:00

When talking to creationists and calmly explaining the process of evolution by natural selection there inevitably comes a time when I am interrupted and asked to give an evolutionary explanation for the origins of life and the universe itself. When I am unable to do this the creationist imagines they have made some sort of profound point and with a relieved expression shuts down their mind for fear of permanent contamination. But the glaring error on the part of the presumptuous victor is that evolution never claimed to explain the origins of life.

Evolution explains the diversity of life, not it's origins. Evolution is the change in inherited traits of a population of organisms through successive generations. It makes no claims about how these populations of organisms came to be, only an adequate and scientifically supported collection of facts that explain change. Though many naturalistic theories abound in the question of life origins, the most intellectually honest answer to the question is that we don't know. It doesn't mean we will always remain ignorant about this mystery, it just means that presently there is not enough evidence to grant provisional assent to a particular theory.

We'll get into the details of natural/sexual selection as well as theories to explain life's origins. We'll also explore transitional fossils and the truth behind the reliability of radiometric dating. But for the purposes of this post it is important that you understand the true claims of evolution. If you are employing the argument that because evolution does not explain the origins of life and therefore it is incomplete then stop. If you hear someone employing this argument you now know the truth and can set the record straight. Kind thoughts to you all.

In Reason,

Clint Wells

Thoughts About Atheism and Religious Knowledge

2010-09-28T16:38:00.005-04:00

Perhaps you've seen all the headlines today describing a Pew Forum which shows that atheists and agnostics know more about religion than believers. The religious community seems to be puzzled by this revelation. As the non-believing community continues to hold the title of largest American minority and as it seems this trend is in no danger of slowing, I think it's crucial to understand the reasons for this new information.

Although it's true that all human beings are born atheists (without gods) it is an unfortunate reality that by the age of five, the most fundamental years of psychological development, most Americans are either indirectly exposed to or directly indoctrinated with religion. Most religions target children for this very reason, at the age when appeals to authority are absolutely imperative for survival. But just like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, there comes a time in a person's life when they must, for themselves, weigh the evidence of certain claims.

The adult atheist in America has a lot to lose by rejecting religious claims. Family ostracism, professional discrimination, the narrowing of social community, etc. Atheists are commonly likened to dogmatic mass murderers like Hitler and Stalin as well as being accused of all base immorality. George Bush Sr. even pronounced the unbelieving community as unpatriotic sub-citizens.

While considering these remarkable sacrifices the atheist must make sure that her decision to reject religious claims is built upon the firm ground of reason. This naturally involves a studious education of the holy books as well as a sober view of how the teachings of these holy books play out in the world around us. For many these observations are so unlikely and scientifically unverifiable that the most reasonable response to the claims of religion is agnosticism. We just don't know. For others of us the claims of religion are so devastatingly irreconcilable that we simply must reject the claims out of conscience.

The Catholic church in the pre-Reformation/pre-printing press era built their empire on the ignorance of the masses. Why was this? I submit it was because they knew that, left to think for themselves, the masses would see enough of these holy books to warrant a safe amount of skepticism about their claims.

A philosopher once said that the only book you need to suggest for someone to convince them that Christianity is not true is the Bible. This is my story and the story of many of my beautiful, unbelieving friends. It doesn't mean that there are not intelligent Christians or that there aren't dumb atheists. It just means that most atheists have weighed the evidence. We know our holy books. We've sat in the pews and read the theology books and paid the tuition fees for seminary.

And as much as it may rub the religious, the evidence indicates that we've taken it a lot more seriously than the believers. That should be a sobering thought. Lots of love and kind thoughts to you all as you continue to investigate the truth in this strange, beautiful world. Wherever you fall on the spectrum of belief, we're in this thing together. I hope this finds you well.

In reason,

Clint Wells

Sea of Death

2010-09-23T09:26:00.005-04:00

shard concrete and granite
edifice
shapes a home for the eternal
sleepers
awash in the light of the yellow sun
so cruel beneath it's rays
alone to sit under the earth
untouchable tendrils six feet away

the masses lay, silent
while a boy is walking
row to row
laughing

Evolution Misconceptions Part One: Evolution Is Just A Theory

2010-09-22T10:39:00.003-04:00

I hear this all the time when having discussions about evolution. In one sense it is true that the theory of evolution is, well, a theory. Just as the theory of gravity or germ theory of disease are theories. But there needs to be an understanding about the distinction between a theory and a scientific theory.

In everyday common usage theory is colloquially defined as an informed guess, conjecture, opinion or speculation. You may have all sorts of theories about why Nike shoes make you run faster or why you hit every red light on the way to work or why your lover left you or who really killed Kurt Cobain, etc. Guesswork and contemplative speculation are how we make sense out of the everyday events of our lives. Technically this can be defined as theorizing.

But this is not a scientific theory.

A scientific theory is a well-supported body of interconnected statements that explains observations and can be used to make testable predictions. Scientific theories describe the coherent framework into which observable data fit. The "theory of evolution" is the framework that best explains observed changes of species over time and best predicts the new observations that continue to be made in evolutionary biology and related sciences.

Defined this way, evolution is safely regarded by nearly all scientists as a scientific fact. Most philosophers of science (and I think I may agree with this) claim that one can never know absolute facts. All one can do is lend provisional assent to a "scientific theory" that not only explains current data, but makes predictions and survives falsifiability.

Evolution has done all of this. The "theory of evolution" is every bit as much a fact as the theory of gravitation and the germ theory of disease. People who either ignorantly or dubiously confuse the usage of theory are undermining the rigor with which evolution has been tested and survived in the marketplace. They pretend that scientists are just guessing. Just voicing their opinions. No. All applicable general sciences support evolution with their own independent evidences and observations. Paleontology, biology, chemistry, geology, anthropology, neurology, anatomy, astronomy, physiology, etc.

Let's all work together to properly define these terms. After all, if evolution is untrue then it needs to be met on the firm ground of it's actual claims and not on the wind-blown sand of straw man arguments and misunderstood terms.

In reason,

Clint Wells

An Open Letter to Red Mountain Church

2010-09-08T16:38:00.002-04:00

Dear Red Mountain Church,

I first attended Red Mountain Church in January of 2002 when I was nineteen years old. I had converted to Christianity two years earlier and found myself, simply out of social coincidence, attending a rather large, rich Southern Baptist church in Pelham, Alabama. For two years that was my spiritual home and community. It was the beginning of my Christian education and my only tangible source for learning how to apply what I believed about the world to my young and wonderfully complicated life. Like any stage of infancy, I was dependent on the wisdom and goodness of the caretakers around me. I’ve always had a skeptic’s heart but never dreamed of needing its benefits in my Christian experience and in that believing community in particular. Such was my seventeen year old naiveté! A few years into my journey, and through pure self-education, I stumbled upon the tenets of Reformed Theology. I didn’t know what reformed theology was or even who John Calvin was for that matter. To me a tulip was simply one of a million unidentifiable flowers and held absolutely no doctrinal meaning. But as I continued reading, it became clear to me at the time that if Christianity was true then there was a crucial emphasis on God’s sovereignty and the bigness of his grace. To my great surprise (again with the naiveté), these new ideas put me at odds with my Southern Baptist church leadership. At that point, because I played music, I was heavily involved with this church. I was playing in praise bands, leading worship, leading Bible studies, helping organize mission trips, etc. I was a fairly typical, young Christian poster boy. As the leadership became more afraid of the ideas my friends and I were exploring they began to strip us of any leadership or influential roles. Ultimately we were asked to leave the church altogether.

I feel a lot and so this was devastating. I didn’t have much hope of finding another place to grow and learn or a body of people to enter into a dialogue with. My great friend, Brad Willis (an old friend of Red Mountain and, ironically, the former youth pastor at the aforementioned Baptist church), told me about Red Mountain. He said it was this humble place that met downtown in a hotel conference room. He talked about how there was so much space to sit and be quiet and how the pastor preached in his normal speaking voice and how the musicians played songs from hundreds of years ago that he’d never heard before. But he also said it was a place that was not afraid of ideas and a safe haven to rest and to process. To my great fortune I decided to go. Before long I had met Brian T. Murphy and began playing on Sundays. I had met and connected with Steve. I had joined my first of five community groups and had met so many people that I still have meaningful relationships with today. In many ways Red Mountain not only spoke to my previous disillusionment, but also undid for my heart what I thought had been bound. This is something that I continue to hold dear and think fondly of. Red Mountain has been the cultivated ground for the most important and special friendships I will likely ever have. People who have carried me in times of darkness and who have been kind enough to allow me to return the favor, however insufficiently. A lot of my core ideas about community, waiting, long-suffering with people, process and beauty I have learned while sifting through life at this church.

A few years ago I began to question the validity of Christianity. To be honest I’ve never been very good at believing things without evidence, but there seemed (and seems) to be a lot of space carved out for that sort of struggle in the teachings of Jesus. As I’ve come to more fully understand the Universe we inhabit and as I’ve learned more about human evolution and the historical progress of religion, I no longer personally find it reasonable to continue believing in Christianity, or any religion for that matter. While I don’t feel any anger or hatred for the belief systems themselves, I am still searching for a way to constructively criticize what I believe to be harmful elements of the faith. Most of my dear friends hold to some variation of Christianity and so I maintain sensitivity to that process to the best of my ability.

I have been beyond fortunate to participate in the music and know the musicians at Red Mountain. I realize the incompatibility between my current worldview and the body of work I have created at the church. I believe that the contradictions are surmountable and that with a united belief that the work has its own voice and a determination to make a way where there seems to be none, we can move forward together as I continue to make music within communities close to the people of Red Mountain.

I say all of this because I want you to see that my story is, well, a story. With arcs and with conflict. With toil and with joy. The story of Red Mountain has always been its people and I am thankful to have been wrapped up in the folding and unfolding of such a beautiful place. In light of these things and out of my respect for and admiration of this institution I have officially revoked my membership. I have revisited the five vows I took when I became a member and can conclusively say that I no longer believe in them as I once sincerely did. Red Mountain has changed a lot. In some ways it has become unrecognizable to me. In others I can see that it has evolved naturally and that perhaps some of what it has given up has made a way for it to gain other beautiful things. I take heart that my value at Red Mountain is to be counted amongst the people that I love and are loved by and not solely by my lack of doctrinal subscription or the petty babble of cowards.

Perhaps my story with you, anonymous reader, has ended. I’ve had enough bittersweet goodbyes this past year to last a lifetime. If you are still with me, I am thankful for your kindness and for your care. I hope this finds you all well.

In reason and the continuing spirit of détente,

Clint Wells

Griffin House Tour Dates

2010-09-08T15:06:00.004-04:00

Greetings everyone. Hope you're all well. Tomorrow I hit the road for two months with Griffin House. If we're coming anywhere near you let me know and I'll try and put you on the guest list. You can purchase tickets online here.

For you Birmingham peeps we're playing this Friday at Workplay Theater. It's the day after my 27th birthday so come buy me a drink.

I'll try and keep everyone updated from the road as time permits. I'm also going to do an essay series on misconceptions about the theory of evolution. Kind thoughts to you all and I hope to see you somewhere along the road.

9 Sep Smith's Olde Bar (21+) Atlanta GA
10 Sep Workplay Theatre (18+) Birmingham AL
11 Sep Visulite Theatre (16+) Charlotte NC
12 Sep The Pour House Charleston SC
15 Sep Higher Ground Burlington VT
16 Sep Iron Horse Music Hall Northampton MA
18 Sep Rams Head On Stage (21+) Annapolis MD
19 Sep World Cafe Live Philadelphia PA
22 Sep Tupelo Music Hall Londonderry NH
23 Sep Paradise Rock Club Boston MA
24 Sep Highline Ballroom New York NY
25 Sep Webster Underground Hartford CT
27 Sep The Ark Ann Arbor MI
28 Sep House of Blues Cleveland - Cambridge Room Cleveland OH
30 Sep 20th Century Theatre Cincinnati OH
1 Oct Park West Chicago IL
2 Oct Fine Line Music Cafe (18+) Minneapolis MN
3 Oct Uptown Grill LaSalle IL
5 Oct Fox Theatre Boulder Boulder CO
6 Oct Kilby Court Salt Lake City UT
9 Oct Swedish American Hall San Francisco CA
11 Oct Doug Fir (21+) Portland OR
12 Oct High Dive (21+) Seattle WA
14 Oct El Rey Theater (18+) Chico CA
16 Oct Downtown Brewing Company (21+) San Luis Obispo CA
18 Oct Troubadour W. Hollywood CA
21 Oct Saint Rocke (21+) Hermosa Beach CA
22 Oct Anthology San Diego CA
23 Oct Club Congress - Patio (21+) Tucson AZ
24 Oct Rhythm Room Phoenix AZ
26 Oct Stubb's Bar-B-Q Austin TX
27 Oct The Loft Dallas TX
29 Oct Hi-Tone Cafe Memphis TN
6 Nov Exit/In Nashville TN

The Greenleaves - The Life That You Save (Live)

2010-08-24T18:13:00.005-04:00

The Greenleaves perform at Birmingham Arts and Music Festival

The above video is from The Greenleaves Saturday performance at BAAMfest. Many thanks to our lovely friend, Carla Jean, for taking the video and saying kind things about us over at Birmingham Magazine. We played an acoustic set Friday night at Bottletree so it felt good to have the band singing these sad songs with us. We've got more videos from the documentary being made about us on the way too.

The Greenleaves - Winter Trees (mp3 demo)

2010-08-19T18:02:00.005-04:00

Here is a demo from The Greenleaves, my band that's doing the Flannery O'Connor project. Keep up with the record we're making and our live shows at our twitter and facebook pages. We're playing Saturday night at Workplay @ 4:45 for the Birmingham Music Festival. Dig it, peeps.

Winter Trees

Catch your eye in the summer heat
The summer stars shine down on the summer streets
A touch of gray and a touch of blue
Fingers trace your skin down the avenues
Where I go to lose you

Some of us are begging for something
Some of us get left in the dark
But we all want something for nothing
Like a fire without a spark...

It's hard to love someone you don't know
It's hard to love someone

Catch you alone like a thief in the night
Don't lie down love, no, put up a fight
The winter fire is in the winter trees
Wrap your heart inside the winter leaves

Altruism and Evolution

2010-08-16T13:46:00.004-04:00

In this video a dog is hit by a car on the interstate. Another dog pulls the wounded one out of harm’s way, clearly risking its own life. This is one of the most touching videos I have seen in a long, long time. Beyond its obvious emotionally gripping sentiments, this video tells us something very important about the innate morality of all animals, and particularly mammals.

Critics of evolution often espouse the straw man idea that, because natural selection favors the fittest of a given environment, this automatically means that all animals are inherently selfish and are bent, at whatever cost, towards the propagation of their own genes. With this admission, anti-evolutionists (aka ear-pluggers) conclude that this is far too grim a worldview to swallow and that it cannot account for altruism or self-sacrifice. To explain these “higher virtues” one obviously needs to appeal to a higher power, right? One needs a great standard for absolute morality that can externally impart these abstract, counter-intuitive behaviors into our selfish genes?

Wrong.

What these people fail to take into account are the evolutionary survival benefits that come from in-group/species cooperation and altruism. It is not difficult to piece together. Imagine a species that travels in a small clan or tribe. This clan or tribe would never survive if the pervading moral sentiment was “every man for himself” or “dog eat dog” (Pun, intended). Participating in a self-sacrificing, and sometimes even life threatening, manner within a community only reinforces the collective solidarity that others generally behave the same way. You are inclined to risk your life for someone in your community because you intuitively realize that you may need the same help one day to survive. This is how mammals, who generally travel in extended families and packs, have survived for literally millions of years. This is why when someone is drowning most people most of the time would attempt to rescue that person even though drowning themselves is obviously not conducive to survival and gene propagation. This is why whales often beach themselves purposefully to try and save a member of their own species. This is why harpooned sperm whales are surrounded by other whales, even though this raises their risk of being hunted as well. This is why some species of bats regurgitate blood into the weaker bats in the colony. And so on and so on and so on.

Now, let’s ask ourselves some questions. What god do dogs worship? What god do whales or bats worship? Where are they getting this external drive to be charitable and self-sacrificing to others within their species? Hell, chimpanzees and sperm whales are largely documented to help humans in times of danger, often at their own peril. Where does this come from? They don’t worship any gods that we know of, let alone the Jehovah, Jesus, and Allah we’ve all adopted as our invisible sky fathers. This is because morality is an innate, evolved mechanism that has helped them survive for millions of years.

I’ve got a full post on human morality in the works. But in the meantime thoughtfully consider this video and ask yourself what would make a lowly dog with no soul risk it’s only life to drag a wounded dog off a busy interstate. Then think of how much more so we might exemplify this behavior as human beings.

In reason,

Clint Wells

The Internet: Where Religions Come to Die

2010-08-08T23:46:00.001-04:00

Anne Rice, Christianity, and Integrity

2010-08-01T14:18:00.012-04:00

Update: Justin McRoberts, who is one of the main reasons I wrote this post, has thoughtfully and graciously responded to me. You can view his comments below. I think he has some great thoughts on this issue as well as some fair and admittedly deserved criticism. I was fortunate to have a positive and encouraging phone conversation with him tonight where we were able to have shared meaning and kind exchanges on this issue. It is an enduring testament to the beauty of relationship and connection that human beings can share, even when they converge on a topic from different spheres. The marketplace of ideas is occupied by a unique spectrum of thinkers. I am happy to share that marketplace with Justin and consider him a new but pleasant friend on the long, strange road of truth seeking. Please take the time to visit his blog which is filled not only with beautiful writing, but also important and progressive ideas. Peace and love and pizza to you all. - Clint

Perhaps you've all heard the news that Anne Rice has decided to repudiate and leave Christianity. Sparking thousands of conversations on the internet, it seems that everyone has an opinion about this woman and her personal religious preferences. The Christian moderates have surprisingly had the most to say about it. I'm going to respond to the moderates but first I want to talk a little bit about Anne Rice and why she has integrity.

Having sold over a million books worldwide, Anne Rice is one of the most widely read authors in modern history. Anyone who has ever bothered to pick up one of her books knows why. I first read her vampire chronicles when I was in high school. Since then I've devoured nearly everything she has written, including her two books on the life of Jesus and her erotic novels under the pseudonym, Anne Rampling. Her writing is simply resplendent and if you haven't done it yet, put your fucking Twilight book down and read a real vampire novel by a living legend.

At age eighteen she left her Roman Catholic upbringing and became an atheist. She remained an atheist for most of her life, reconverting to Catholicism in 1998 after a near death experience . As the above article states, after twelve years of publicly endorsing Christianity she is now leaving.

First of all, statistical data indicates that it is remarkable to have a radical conversion in mid-life. If you spend just ten minutes watching the treasure of video interviews on Anne Rice's YouTube page you can see that this woman has a profound connection to her faith, the scriptures, and Jesus Christ. She is an avid student of all forms of philosophy and theology which is evidenced by her hundreds of eloquent Amazon reviews that you can read here. In other words, this woman has likely spent more time then you or me or most people we know seriously contemplating her faith. So much for the folks who are now trying to say that she never had a sincere conversion, a pathetically insecure criticism.

Secondly, it's quite obvious that she still considers herself a follower of Christ. Here is her powerful and courageous official statement:

"I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being 'Christian' or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to 'belong' to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For 10 years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else."

"In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen."

What frustrates me the most about moderate Christians is that all of the ones that I know live a life that directly mirrors the above indictment. The moderate Christians I know consider it a badge of honor to have gay friends and think themselves half-way intellectual for espousing feminism, liberal politics or science (when it suits them, of course.) And yet they are the loudest critics to a woman who has simply had the courage to openly repudiate all of the circles that the moderates waste their energy trying to square. What futility. Anne Rice simply has more integrity than you moderates. Bottom line.

And ooooooooh how the moderates HATE this. Consider this "open letter" to Anne Rice by Justin McRoberts. Derek Webb, the infamous fringe Christian artist and burgeoning champion of the homosexual community, called it a "loving and wise" response. Read it for yourself but here are some highlights.

"Having chosen to follow His example, it seems that at least part of the redemptive sacrifice you are being challenged to make is to associate and identify yourself with this shabby batch of miscreants who are often quite bad at practicing the religion you love. It comes at the cost of your ego and likely some book sales. But that’s the nature of sacrifice; it costs you."

I can't help but cringe at the condescending tone of this sermonette. I don't think Anne Rice spent the last twelve years immersing herself in the church, the scriptures, theology, and all associated epistemologies of religion to have this guy tell her what being a believer means. I mean, it's obvious that he thinks he's figured the whole thing out. But to extrapolate that to other sojourners is wrong-headed and distasteful.

Then...THEN....he actually has the audacity to accuse her of pandering to BOOK SALES?? Anne Rice? You mean the woman who has sold over 100 million books worldwide? Yeah Justin, I'm sure she's really anxious about those book sales. Speaking of book sales, are you aware of what she spent her entire career writing about or have you had your head up Eugene Peterson's ass for the last two decades? She wrote extensively about gay vampires, witches, devils, demons and had the occasional explicit erotic novel. I'm pretty sure if she had to worry about book sales it was when she converted to Christianity after spending her career cultivating a fan base of atheists and agnostics.

"All your statement does is trade in “bigots” for “whores” when the heart of Christ is that they’re both beloved of the Father."

Um, what?

"It’s simply reasonable that if you set yourself against people who set themselves against people you are only adding to the friction."

Is that a fact? I guess setting oneself against Nazism and the Third Reich was just adding to the friction. I guess setting oneself against the segregationalists was just adding to the friction. I guess setting oneself against apartheid is just adding to the friction. FALSE. Setting yourself against injustice is precisely how you begin the process of eradicating injustice. In Anne's case she is courageously applying non-violent conversational pressure to the long held Christian tradition of bigotry. Shame on you for attempting to discredit that to justify your inconsistent belief systems.

"If part of your issue with christianity is it’s exclusivity, you aren’t helping by only including those who “get it” the way you do. True christian inclusivity means embracing the homosexual and the gay-basher in the same embrace; working for the release of the oppressed while praying and working for the redemption of their oppressor; loving the beautiful game of baseball and yet, somehow, also loving the Yankees. It means loving the Lord with all of yourself and also loving those who grossly misrepresent Him."

Anne Rice hasn't excluded anyone. She has made no statement about inclusion or exclusion. She has only made a statement about her personal social ethics. It is you, in fact, who are saying that her faith expression has to look like YOURS. Why don't Christians see this? Crazy pills. Anyone who embraces a gay-basher is no friend to the homosexual community. Do you understand that? Anyone who loves a group of people who think it is moral to execute gays is no friend to the gay community. YOU have to decide that social issue. The Bible is pretty clear that homosexuals should be stoned. It is a disgusting offense to the gay friends you have to equally LOVE someone who wants to murder them for who they are. Anne has made a step of integrity away from homosexual bigotry. You should too. Until you find the courage to do so, STOP ASKING ANNE RICE TO HELP SQUARE YOUR BULLSHIT CIRCLES.

"I think you’re a smart cookie, Anne. I think you’ll hear some thoughtful feedback and realize you stepped across a line and might have to retract your statement. You will also likely have to speak directly with Christ about the way you roughly labeled and dismissed the ones He’s drawn to himself and suffered to love. Lucky for you, lucky for all of us, He’s incredibly forgiving and eternally patient."

Wow. I'm overwhelmed by how loving this is. A smart cookie? Give me a BREAK. Nice bullying threat too with the whole, "you'll have to answer to Christ for this." Lucky for us he's eternally forgiving and patient? Huh, except for all the people he hates right? You know like the Amelikites or Pharoah or Esau, or an entire plethora of tribes and nations including women and children who were ordered to be murdered by the Israelites. I guess God ordered the stoning of homosexuals because he loves them so much?

This is nonsense. Anne Rice has made a brave step away from condoning bigotry. We'd all do well to follow her courageous lead. Think for yourselves, my friends. Think for yourselves.

In Reason,

Clint Wells

The Civil Wars - Falling

2010-07-26T15:50:00.001-04:00

Um. WHOA.

Homosexuality, Bigotry, and False Victimization

2010-07-22T12:37:00.006-04:00

Take a moment and ponder the last century of human history. It will be remarkable if you can get five minutes into it without being utterly overwhelmed by the achievements of our humble species. Seriously, just think of how far we have come in the last one hundred years. Automobiles, aviation, relativity theory, wireless transmission, vacuum tubes, antibiotics, vaccines, space flight, microchips, computers, the internet, cell phones, bone marrow harvesting, respirators, microwaves, satellites, digital cameras, birth control, ipods, films, GPS devices, etc. In the last one hundred years we have doubled the life expectancy of a human being, significantly increased the infant morality rate, set a historical precedent for free enterprise, and fundamentally eroded equality barriers for women and black people. This is truly remarkable and I am proud to be alive and thriving in such a wonderful age of technological and social advancement.

Lest we congratulate ourselves too much it’s also important to thoughtfully consider and criticize the ways that we are not only stunted, but also morally retarded. It is amazing to me that in the age of reason we still haven’t made up our minds in our social discourse about whether or not homosexuals should have equal rights. Let’s consider some facts and some opinions.

Although the American Psychological Association makes it clear that the longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental professions is that homosexuality is a normal and positive variation of human sexual orientation, some people still seem to think that it is a mental disorder. Although homosexuality can be observed in nature (lions, pigeons, giraffes, bison, elephants, gulls, bonobos, dragonflies, sheep, dolphin, just to name a few) some people still consider it a dysfunctional CHOICE. Although study after study continues to show that there is an equal level of commitment and relationship satisfaction amongst both gay and straight couples, some people still think that homosexuals are incapable of having healthy and lasting relationships. Although studies show that children raised by same-sex couples are just as mentally healthy as other children, some people still think that homosexuals are not fit parents. Although studies show no correlation between homosexuality and child molestation, some people still consider homosexuals a threat and a danger to children.

Are we seeing a pattern of bigotry here, folks? Two years ago in the California state elections Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment seeking to restrict the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples, actually PASSED effectively retarding the social progress of basic human rights to everyone that was ALREADY IN PLACE. In re Marriage Cases (passed in May 2008) held that “California legislative and initiative measures limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violate the state constitutional rights of same-sex couples and may not be used to preclude same-sex couples from marrying.” This is a travesty and a huge setback for moral progress.

Update (8/11/10) Proposition 8 has been over turned. Moral progress FOR THE WIN.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is a non profit organization that seeks to prevent the legal recognition and acceptance of same-sex marriage. Their stated mission is to, "protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it." Maggie Gallagher, the group's founder and original president, has stated that the LGBT community, and specifically gay men, are not capable of commiting to the "heteronormative" constraints of a monogamous relationship. Her bigotry is exposed when the above survey data indicates that between 40% - 60% of gay men are in romantic relationships and 18% - 28% of gay couples have lived together for over ten years.

NOM recently posted this video on youtube. It's from a marriage rally in Albany, NY on July 17, 2010. This video claims that gay marriage protestors "bullied and intimidated" the mother and her kids at a peaceful marriage rally. Watch the video and then let's talk for a minute about reality and false victimization.

1. So, let me get this straight. Protesters simply stood silently in front of this woman and her family with rainbow colored flags and signs "about their agenda." They participated in non-violent, perfectly constitutional protest. This is bullying and intimidation? Of course the cops were called. But after speaking briefly with the organizer of the pro-gay marriage protest they let them stay. Why? Because they have every fucking right to. You cannot call someone a bully for disagreeing with your bigotry. Got it?

2. Using her children in a ploy for false victimization is disgusting. Her kids have no idea why they are there and will, unfortunately, have to be TAUGHT to dehumanize homosexuals by their mother and her ilk.

3. She then asked the protesters to turn around so she could publicly expose her breasts. When some of them refused she actually believed that this made her a victim. She goes into the public square and demands that everyone else give her privacy so she can expose herself? Stellar logic.

4. She claims that their goal was to intimidate her children. This is false. The goal was to constitutionally protest a meeting that propagates bigotry and the subversion of basic human rights. It's funny because when I think about intimidation and bullying I tend to think about, oh I don't know, the bible saying that homosexuals should be stoned to death. Maybe we just have subjective differences in our definition of bullying. I wonder if Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, the eleven year old boy who hung himself last year because of anti-gay harassment, would agree that standing quietly with rainbow umbrellas rises to the same level of intimidation as what led him to his death.

5. Here is the most frustrating thing for me. This woman is at a NOM rally which is all about protecting what? Oh, that's right. Traditional marriage and family values. I'm no expert on nationality but it seems pretty clear to me that this woman has Latino heritage. Two of her children look black and her husband is literally as white as they come. This is hardly a traditional family, wouldn't you say? I mean. Go back just FIFTY YEARS and consider the implication of interracial marriage and interracial children. Just think about that for a second. By dehumanizing homosexuals this woman is putting herself at odds with the very progress of human rights and dignity that allow her the freedom to have her obviously nontraditional family.

This is not progress. We are moving backwards on this issue. We cannot allow people like this to create a culture of false victimization. This is not an isolated issue. Perry vs. Schwarzenegger, the federal court challenge to Proposition 8, implemented a block broadcast of the trial. Why? Because the publicity could potentially lead to the harassment of proponents of Proposition 8 by those who don't agree with them. Michael Hefflinger sarcastically notes:

Because, let’s face it: the straight folks who worked so hard and gave so much money to see Prop. 8 passed — and not gay and lesbian Californians — were the real victims during the campaign. It’s the straights who have suffered greatly since Prop. 8’s passage, and they are the ones who should be spared any further grief.

We can stop this madness. Bigotry will not survive in the marketplace of ideas, friends. Here's to standing together for human dignity and the freedom and pursuit of happiness for all human beings.

In reason,

Clint Wells

Galileo and Pearlism vs. Religious Stupidity and Bullying

2010-07-06T23:49:00.006-04:00

Galileo Galilei is arguably one of the most important astronomers in human history. Credited by Stephen Hawking as the "single most important person in the birth of modern science", he is remembered as the father of observable astronomy and modern physics. In a time of pervasive geocentric thought, Galileo, having developed the most advanced and far reaching telescope of his time, discovered something amazing in the starry sky. He discovered the four observable moons that orbit Jupiter.

Why is this important? Well, because the dominantly accepted theory of Aristotelian cosmology posited that all heavenly bodies revolve around the Earth. And why shouldn't they? God obviously made the universe for man (and that's "man" as in male not man as in mankind, obviously), didn't he? We are the heroes of the galaxies, the stars of our own intergalactic drama. Right?

Hardly.

What Galileo proved with physical evidence and reasoned logic was the Copernican theory that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of our solar system. Carl Sagan called this the beginning of the "Great Demotion." By the way, Copernicus was so afraid of being killed by religious zealots that he waited until he was on his deathbed to publish his ideas. Standing on the very shoulders of Galileo (and Copernicus) we now rightly understand our humble place in the vast universe. Not only is the Earth non-central to our solar system, our solar system is non-central to our galaxy (we reside in a rather unremarkable spiral arm). Even more humbling is the fact that our mediocre galaxy is one of a hundred billion more or less just like it. This doesn't disprove the god hypothesis at all. But it does make one wonder what the purpose was in creating the unfathomably immense universe for such a remarkably boring planetary system. Either way, this is important information verified by observable reality. Perhaps it is humbling to swallow. But as the beautiful Flannery O'Connor was fond of saying, "The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."

What most people do not realize about Galileo and his unquestioningly true observations is that the Catholic Inquisition actually put him on trial for heresy demanding that he cease advocating and teaching Copernican astronomy. Galileo was threatened to be thrown into a dungeon and tortured by the Church unless he RECANTED. Giordano Bruno, a fellow heliocentrist, had been burned alive for such charges in 1600. Knowing that the truth was inescapable, Galileo recanted and spent the rest of his life in house arrest.

It has been suggested to me that the Christian church is worthy of regarding as true because it has "survived scrutiny" for the last two thousand years. Given the tragic story above it is hard to take seriously anyone who believes that burning people at the stake for dissent qualifies as "surviving scrutiny." It is the most repugnant form of bullying to threaten the life of someone for their ideas and, by my lights, a great testament to the intellectual sham of religious epistemology. Oh but we shouldn't be too hard on the church should we? After all, they did apologize for mistakenly persecuting Galileo nearly FOUR HUNDRED YEARS later.

What mindless, shameful stupidity.

Another important development of Galileo was that in the absence of friction bodies fall to the ground with uniform acceleration. Below is a video of the Apollo 15, the fourth mission to land on the moon. In this video, commander David Scott demonstrates Galileo's three hundred year old prediction. See for yourself the physical evidence of observable reality. Consider for a few moments the immense track record science has of building models that are constantly verified by evidence. Science works.

Think of the world changing ingenuity that made a home in Galileo's mind. And then remember the church with plugged ears threatening this man with torture. Burning and banning his books. And sentencing him to permanent house arrest. If ever there was righteous anger, you should feel it now.

"Prayer for Messiah" by Leonard Cohen

2010-07-03T17:02:00.001-04:00

His blood on my arm is warm as a bird
his heart in my hand is heavy as lead
his eyes through my eyes shine brighter than love
O send out the raven ahead of the dove

His life in my mouth is less than a man
his death on my breast is harder than stone
his eyes through my eyes shine brighter than love
O send out the raven ahead of the dove

O send out the raven ahead of the dove
O sing from your chains where you're chained in a cave
your eyes through my eyes shine brighter than love
your blood in my ballad collapses the grave

O break from your branches a green branch of love
after the raven has died for the dove

Mid Year Book Review 2010 (January - June)

2010-06-28T19:15:00.035-04:00

Here are the books I've read so far this year and some quick thoughts about why I did or did not like them. I have no illusions of being an accomplished book critic. I just like to read and learn. I was thinking last night as I fell asleep that with a humble book collection, a human being can open a thousand doors into other worlds. This is perhaps the greatest characteristic of our species. Not only to conjure other worlds but to write them down and share them with each other. Knowledge isn't only power, it's also joy. Here's to hoping we never lose the desire to read and to learn.

"Ayn Rand Answers: The Best of Her Q&A" edited by Robert Mayhew

This was such a joy to read. Ayn Rand’s wit, humor, and moral conviction shine in all of her great works. But this particular collection of interviews really gives the reader a more candid view of her personality. Her ability to answer questions powerfully and quickly is a testament to her sharp mind and her great thoughtfulness. I was recently lambasted on a popular Christian website devoted to heretics (I won’t link that garbage here) and one of the main things this group of believers criticized me at length about was my affection for this author. Of all the things about me that are worthy of criticism, I think digging Ayn Rand may be rather low on the list.

"God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist" by Victor Stenger

This book is interesting because it makes claims that are rare in the world of non-theism. Traditionally the atheist position is not the assertion that there are no gods, but the disbelief in any gods. Both sides of the debate generally concede that God’s existence and nonexistence are equally improvable. An atheist would indeed be unjustified if she did not reserve judgment until all the evidence was in. Victor Stenger is not claiming that science disproves all possible gods, only the ones that are testable. What are testable gods? These are gods that intervene in the natural world by answering prayers, controlling weather, healing the sick, parting seas, etc. It is clear from the holy books that the three main monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) proclaim the existence of such gods. Stenger's book is a serious scientific approach to these hypotheses. As the title suggests, none of them meet any legitimate scientific criteria and therefore the book concludes that the god hypothesis fails. While I generally adopt a more skeptical posture, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the scientific ramifications of believing in God.

"Godless: How an Evangelical Pastor Became One of America’s Leading Atheists" by Dan Barker

I feel especially connected to Dan Barker not only because he was a devout evangelical Christian but also because he was a successful Christian musician, contributing to many acclaimed worship projects during his believing years. This book is a well written and impassioned account of why he could no longer be a minister and eventually why he could no longer be a Christian. Barker is humorous and easy to read while simultaneously making very cohesive and sophisticated arguments for leaving the faith. This is one of the top five books I would recommend to a person struggling with belief. Dan Barker now is the head of the Freedom From Religion Fou ndation , which is the largest atheist organization in the country. He runs FFRF with his lovely wife, Laurie Annie Gaylor who is the author of the tremendous books Women Without Superstition: No Gods, No Masters and Woe To Women: The Bible Tells Me So. I encourage my female readers to check those books out.

"Atheist Universe: the Thinking Person’s Answer to Christian Fundamentalism" by David Mills

I loved this book. David Mills is perhaps the most quirky atheist writer I have read. If you don’t believe me just check out his YouTube channel where you can behold his amazing orange afro and hear him croon old country ballads. Aside from the funny stuff, this book contained some really great arguments, the best from a scientific point of view. His most interesting argument is on the conservation of mass/energy in response to the “something cannot come from nothing” rhetoric so often espoused by cosmologist apologists. Atheist Universe was a top seller on Amazon.com for several years. Do yourself an amazing favor and read it.

"Can We Be Good Without Gods? Biology, Behavior and the Need to Believe" by Robert Buckman

I purchased this book because I was interested in what an acclaimed Christian doctor had to say about morality and belief. I was hoping that, although a believer, he would have some legitimate scientific ideas to offer this arduous topic. No such luck. This book makes the same straw man arguments about how we would all basically rape and kill each other without God and ends with a lengthy and boring presentation of the gospel. Nearly all of his appeals are to the Bible, which is ineffectively circular for a non-theist. I cannot imagine why he wrote it or, for that matter, why anyone thought this book would be at all helpful. It reminded me of last year’s snore fest, Ravi Zacharias’ The End of Reason but worse, which is frankly remarkable.

"The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture" by Darrel W. Ray

For the most part this is an objective look at how religion functions like a virus within culture. How it infects communities and families, bulwarks itself against other viruses and immunities and passes itself from generation to generation. It is very clever and well written and was really interesting to read after spending nearly ten years in evangelical Christianity. I think the virus analogy gets a little overused but for the most part this book is insightful and fair. The last few chapters deal gracefully with finding meaning in the world without religion. This book got several notable endorsements but the one I find most interesting is this one by Frank Schaeffer, author and son of renowned theologian, Francis Schaeffer:

“I am a religious person, a churchgoer. Nevertheless, this one of a kind book was a vital reminder of the fact that we need to look objectively at what religion does to us.”

So there you have it, brethren. Frank Schaeffer digs it. Now go get it!

"Irreligious: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don’t Add Up" by John Paulos

This was an enjoyable read that looks at some of the more sophisticated arguments for god’s existence and effectively dashes them to shreds. It deals humorously with several different Ontological arguments. Paulos is great because he isn't as self serious as other authors on this subject but his arguments are nevertheless airtight.

"The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason" by Victor Stenger

This is Stenger’s follow up to the aforementioned, God: The Failed Hypothesis. In this book he basically sums up the “new atheism” movement by introducing the main authors and their more notable arguments. He also spends about half of the book responding to some of the criticism for his arguments in God: The Failed Hypothesis. Stenger is a lot of fun to read and his works are filled with great science.

"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O’Connor

This is my favorite, and probably the best known, collection of short stories by the lovely Ms. O’Connor. A few years ago someone sent me an mp3 of Flannery reading the titular story at Notre Dame towards the end of her life. If you think the story itself is haunting, wait until you hear it read by a properly southern lady. Terrifying in a totally awesome way! Favorites are “The Life You Save Might Be Your Own”, “Good Country People”, and “A Late Encounter with the Enemy.”

"Everything That Rises Must Converge" by Flannery O’Connor

This was the collection of stories Flannery was working on when she passed away of lupus in 1964. It contains some of her best stories and causes quite a pain in the heart when considering the great work that could have been written had she lived longer. Favorites are “Greenleaf”, “Parker’s Back”, and “Judgment Day.”

"The Atheist’s Way: Living Well Without Gods" by Eric Maisel

This one was the greatest struggle to read. I picked it up in the Castro district of San Francisco because it got a great endorsement from David Mills, whose work I enjoyed. Maisel is a nationally known creative coach which means he spends a lot of his time helping artists realize their full artistic and creative potential. I dig that. For realsies. However, his attempts to extrapolate that over to atheism and the search for meaning without gods comes across pretty flat in this book. I don’t recommend it unless you’re interested in a lot of fuzzy words about “being your own meaning maker.” No thanks.

"Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story" by Chuck Klosterman

Me and Chuck Klosterman would be best friends. I know a lot of hipsters and post-hipsters have probably thought and/or said that exact sentence, but I think in my case it might actually be true. Why do I think this? Because Chuck Klosterman is the only other legitimately cool guy in the world who is as obsessed with the band KISS as I am. That’s right. KISS. There is a chapter in this book that explains the intricacies of falling in and out of love through the examination of all four KISS solo albums from the late seventies. I didn’t like it because it was a unique and awesomely nerdy way of unfolding ideas about love. I didn’t like it because I think Ace Frehley is pretty cool. I liked it because literally every word of it made sense in my KISS infatuated brain. If that is not badass then I quite honestly have no idea what is. Oh and the rest of the book is cool, too.

"Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris

This is the follow up to Harris’ 2004 national best seller, “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason.” I read this book for the first time last year and was quite literally blown away. Sam Harris is easily one of the clearest communicators on the subjects of faith and reason. He argues passionately but without the characteristic flare of someone like Hitchens or Dawkins. His education is well grounded in world religion and moral philosophy and he has a PHD in neuroscience. Whenever someone asks me for a few recommendations for atheist reading I always include this one because it is short and powerfully reasonable.

“The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails" edited by John W. Loftus

John W. Loftus, a former evangelical preacher, became popular after publishing his first book, “Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity.” He studied under renowned Christian apologist William Lane Craig and now runs an influential blog called Debunking Christianity. This book is a thorough collection of essays from an assortment of scientists, professors and biblical scholars aimed at criticising Christianity from multiple fronts. The most interesting essays were on the cognitive science of belief and the problem of evil from the perspective of the immeasurable suffering in the animal kingdom. There are also brilliant essays on the nature of Hitler’s religiosity, the immorality of Christianity, and the (lack of) historical evidence for Jesus and the resurrection. It is a fatal blow to Christian faith and I challenge any of my thoughtful Christian friends to read it and prove me wrong.

“Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why” by Bart Ehrman (May)

I don’t think most Christians realize that the collection of books we call the New Testament actually comes from copies of copies of copies of copies that are literally centuries removed from the originals, which were themselves written by non-eyewitnesses decades after the events of Jesus’ life took place. I don’t think most Christians realize that the earliest copies we have were transcribed by amateur scribes during a time when theological differences ruled the day. And lastly, I don’t think most people realize that there as many discrepancies between the NT manuscripts as there are words in the New Testament itself. This is arguably the most important book for any believer to read. If any of you have read it I would love to know your thoughts. This dude is a textual criticism Jedi.

"Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are" by Frans de Waal

This book was a lot of fun to read. Frans de Waal is a world renowned primatologist but he has spent a lot of his career specifically studying the bonobo. A lot of people do not know about the bonobo but they are our closet primate cousins along with chimpanzees and our more distant cousins, gorillas and orangutans. This book focuses on the bonobo and the chimpanzee as a way of understanding some aspects of human behavior. Bonobos are interesting because for a long time nobody knew they existed. Due to their close resemblance to chimpanzees they were not categorized into a different species until 1928. What makes bonobos remarkable is that many of their troops in the wild are matriarchal and not dominated by an alpha male. Bonobos are overwhelmingly more docile primates and are generally predispositioned towards sexual activity. In other words, they are the lovers. This book contained many fascinating stories of chimps and bonobos exemplifying emotions that were long thought to be solely human. Things like love, monogamy, altruism, the ability to recognize reflections and faces, and even homosexuality. Super fascinating read.

"Karl Marx" by David McLellan(May)

This was a well written biography of the ever interesting Karl Marx. It presented a clear and concise evolution of Marx’s philosophy and work. This book got me interested in a lot of what I’m reading now about Lenin, Stalin and Hitler.

"The Hellbound Heart" by Clive Barker (June)

I find it remarkable that in his very first novella Clive Barker was able to create one of the most feared and beloved monsters in the history of horror: Pinhead. The Hellbound Heart is the story of a man who has tasted all of the desires of the flesh and yet remains insatiable. Along his travels he discovers a mythology about a puzzle box that, when solved, unleashes indescribable pleasures from another world. He, of course, finds the box and solves the puzzle unlocking a gateway into a hell he could never have imagined. This book is disturbing, but in all the right ways. It is one of my favorites by far.

"Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America’s Soul" by Kenneth R. Miller (June)

This is a book written by an evangelical Christian defending the theory of evolution and taking a serious critical stance on Intelligent Design theory. The author never really betrayed his personal views of God and instead opted to fill this book with as much good science as possible. He profoundly succeeds which gives me a lot of hope for theistic evolutionists. If you’re a believer on the fence about evolution and feel anxiety about reading an atheist’s take on it, do yourself a favor and get this book immediately.

"Thomas Jefferson: Author of America" by Christopher Hitchens (June)

It is refreshing to read Christopher Hitchens write about something other than religion. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve really enjoyed his work on the subject. Most people just don’t realize what an amazing writer he is on a variety of topics, particularly history and politics. It is fitting that he should write this book as he is arguably a bigger fan of Jefferson than most Americans. Last year on tour in Charlottesville I was fortunately able to visit Monticello, Jefferson’s amazing, self-designed home and see where he spent his last days. Thomas Jefferson was a lover of books, knowledge, science, and the enlightenment. He was the principle author of the Declaration of Independence and was responsible for some of the major events of America’s history including the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. A true renaissance man, he was a horticulturist, architect, archeologist, paleontologist, musician, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia. In other words, he was a badass. Can you imagine our con temporary presidents being so accomplished?

"The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution" by Richard Dawkins (June)

This book is a great reminder that Dawkins is a superb popularizer of science as well as a scholarly evolutionary biologist and polemicist. He powerfully and clearly articulates all of the wonderful evidences for evolution from the success of artificial selection in plants and animals to the cousinship of all living creatures through DNA to the breathtaking fossil record. There are really great chapters on watching natural (specifically, sexual) selection in laboratories and thoughtful debunking of creation science and its costume, Intelligent Design theory. This book is a must read for anyone who loves evolution because it is less of a defense and more of a celebration.

Griffin House - River City Lights (live)

2010-06-27T14:43:00.002-04:00

This is a live in studio video of us performing "River City Lights" on tour last year. This song is on the new Griffin House record, The Learner, which came out last week. I was fortunate enough to sling a bunch of guitars on it. We've got a big long, juicy national tour coming up this fall. I'll post the dates soon. Enjoy!

Griffin House "River City Lights" from Palestra Creative on Vimeo.

Religion and Mental Illness

2010-06-23T12:53:00.003-04:00

This article tells us the story of Julia, a religious fanatic who stuffed Bible pages into her six week old baby’s mouth and then smothered her to death by sitting on her. The family was being intermittently monitored by health workers due to their mental instability and religious fanaticism. On a previous visit to the home social workers were disturbed by the father praying loudly and shouting to, “take the devil out of [Julia].”

These social workers actually visited the family the day of the murder remarking that the baby and mother were nowhere to be seen and that the father was intensely engaged in prayer. They believe that the baby was either dying or dead while they were visiting.

Sentencing, Mr. Justice Cooke said that Julia’s bipolar disorder meant she suffered from “grandiose delusions of special powers, religious delusions of identity, and auditory hallucinations.”

I think all of us will happily agree that this woman is profoundly mentally ill. Murdering your own baby offends the deepest senses of our moral intuition. As the comments of the article suggest, this is repulsive to people on both sides of religion. Right? Right.

My question is this: Is it even the slightest bit possible that this woman’s religious beliefs contributed to her mental instability? Will you allow room for that? After all, she wasn’t shoving Charles Dickens in her baby’s mouth. This is what concerns me, folks. I’m not saying that without religion this woman would not have been mentally ill. I’m simply asking if you believe it might have had something to do with it.

Yours in reason,

Clint Wells

Praying For Oil to Touchdown Jesus: Counting The Hits and Ignoring the Misses

2010-06-20T18:53:00.011-04:00

According to a recent article at CNN.com, Louisiana lawmakers are proposing a day of prayer to stop the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. State Senator Robert Adley had this to say:

"Thus far efforts made by mortals to try to solve the crisis have been to no avail. It is clearly time for a miracle for us."

It is a testament to our great infancy as an intelligent species that in the era of modern science, the age of reason and enlightenment, state senators and even President Obama (for crying out loud) actually consider speaking to an invisible deity a reasonable solution for this horrendous calamity. Perhaps these politicians are simply appealing to the American majority of evangelical Christians and do not, in fact, consider prayer a reasonable course of action. No matter. The fact that they have to appeal to such nonsense to secure their offices by a majority democratic vote is enough reason to be alarmed.

In my essay Prayer, Science and Haiti I made a strong case, using observed evidence, for the ineffectiveness of prayer. I won't elaborate any further on that as it is scientifically uncontested.

This is what bothers me about praying for the oil spill: While the pious are kneeling before an unverifiable god wishing for a miracle, someone is working around the clock to actually solve the problem. When they do solve the problem it will be because of the ingenuity of that person (or team of people) and it will be implemented using tools and methods derived solely from science. But what will the religious community say? They will shout to the heavens about how GOD answered their prayers! They'll talk about the futile efforts of man and how good GOD is to have heard their fledgling petitions. They will completely ignore the fact that GOD could have easily prevented the oil spill in the first place or plugged the hole with a divine horde of angels, thereby saving the lives of countless animals and protecting America from another devastating economic blow.

And here is the truly remarkable thing. What will the religious community say if the day of prayer does not have any effect on the oil spill whatsoever (as observable reality suggests)? Well, of course they will say that GOD's will is mysterious and that it is probably for the good of our national character, even though our minds are too puny to comprehend it. They might say it's the work of the devil in the eternal battle for good and evil. More likely, they will blame it on the gays, abortionists, democrats or really any demographic they do not belong to. One thing it seems they will certainly not do is reflect on whether or not it was a complete waste of time. They certainly will not wonder if GOD really exists or not.

Why should they? After all everyone has at least one story of baffling circumstantial coincidence. Maybe you were about to file bankruptcy and a relative died leaving you an inheritance. Maybe you struck out every time you were up to bat except for the one time the bases were loaded. Maybe you survived a car crash without a scratch. Maybe your relative's cancer went into remission. And so on and so forth. I've had moments like these. We all have.

But if we're really honest we've had A LOT more moments when these things did not pan out. We've prayed for LOTS of things that never happened. After all, every basketball game ends confirming the prayers of one side and ignoring the prayers of the other, right? The progressive believer may say that God does not care about sporting events. Fair enough. But what about when children die of cancer? What about when families are torn apart by substance abuse? No, the perceived answer to prayers are commonly things that would have happened naturally either way (thus compatible with laws of probability) or are results of scientific innovation (antibiotics, surgery, genetic engineering, etc.).

This is called confirmation bias or, counting the hits and ignoring the misses. Consider the incredibly ironic story of a recent lightning bolt destroying the Touchdown Jesus statue in Monroe, Ohio. Now if a lightning bolt had struck the Hustler adult store across the street from Touchdown Jesus these people would have no doubt considered that an act of GOD. A fiery judgment on fornication. But since the lighting hit Jesus square in the face they are appealing to science, blaming the sporadic nature of lightning and the metal frame that Touchdown Jesus housed under his buttery exterior. Interestingly none of them consider the lightning a judgment from Zeus, the once widely worshiped thunder god.

It may be clear to Senator Adley that we need a prayer miracle in the gulf. But it's clear to me and any reasonable person that sitting around and talking to yourself is exactly what we DO NOT need. We need real people devising real solutions to a real problem. People think I'm angry? Well, when it comes to this issue, if you're not angry then you're not paying attention.

In Reason,

Clint Wells

Common Misconceptions Part Four - Darwinian Evolution = The Holocaust (Physical Evidence and Reasoned Logic Vs. Plugging Your Ears)

2010-06-19T10:53:00.001-04:00

The Ride of a Lifetime

2010-06-16T11:57:00.001-04:00