America is a nation of diversity. At it’s worst, this diversity creates polarity and division. “Us and them” thinking sees differences in culture as weird, negative or wrong.

But many view America’s diversity as one of its biggest assets. Pluralism, when diversity is embraced and actively promoted, is a fundamental part of the American experience. Pluralism is infused in our founding documents and throughout our history.

One particular pluralist, Andrew Bowen, is campaigning for a National Day of Pluralism.

From the petition:

I believe a National Day of Pluralism, by espousing the ideals of the nation’s original motto, would help Americans remember the multifaceted reality of these United States by encouraging citizens to participate in a day of pluralistic observation. Just as Memorial Day enjoins us to honor those who have offered the ultimate sacrifice for our collective freedom and security, a National Day of Pluralism would remind us of one of the most endearing features of our nation: That we are indeed one people out of many nationalities, ethnicity, race, cultures, philosophies, and yes, even religions.

…A National Day of Pluralism would encourage citizens to meet their theological/philosophical neighbor on their own ground, learn from one another, and share in the unique qualities and ideals that make the United States a variable tapestry of many threads creating one piece of wondrous art.

Bowen, the author of the petition, is no stranger to actively embracing diversity. In 2011, for his “Project Conversion,” he spend each month of the year immersing himself in a different faith tradition, 12 in all.

His petition for a National Day of Pluralism, which seeks 500,000 signatures, has very little chance of coming to fruition. Nevertheless, it should be signed by all who have the idealistic dream of “eliminating the blight of ignorance and intolerance which currently mires our nation.”

Sign the petition here.

The Beastie Boys’ gray headed, gravelly voiced member Adam Yauch (MCA) passed away today after a battle with cancer. Yauch, a long-time buddhist, talked with Shambhala Sun back in 1995 about his spiritually and other things.

From Shambhala Sun:

Loud, clever, witty, weird and POSITIVE, the Beastie Boys are one of the world’s biggest alternative bands. Beastie Boy Adam Yauch brought Tibetan music and Buddhist philosophy to their latest album, Ill Communication. He talks to The Shambhala Sun about hip-hop, hardcore, helping people, and “gettin’ stupid.”

Amy Green: What was your first experience with Buddhism, the first thing that really caught you? Was it books you read?

Adam Yauch: I was reading a lot about Native American and other religions and checking out different things. Then I was in Kathmandu about two years ago, and I met some people who were Tibetan Studies majors living there. I was just hanging out with them; went to a couple of monasteries and Tibetan people’s houses and started getting into Tibetan culture a little bit. And I went and saw the Dalai Lama speak when he was in America for the Arizona teachings. I have studied a lot of different things; Buddhism is fairly new to me.

Jerry Granelli: Buddhism made sense to you?

Adam Yauch: It just seemed like Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, because that’s mainly what I’ve been exposed to, was a real solid organization of teachings to point someone in the right direction. Some real well thought out stuff. But I don’t know, like, every last detail about Buddhism. (laughter)

Read the rest of the interview.

Wow, wow, wow! This is a mind-blowing, goose-bump-inducing, passionate performance of “Jesus Gonna Be Here.” Tom Waits is a prophet. Tom Waits is a god. He may be possessed by the devil himself.

Well, Jesus will be here
Be here soon
he’s gonna cover us up with leaves
With a blanket from the moon
With a promise and a vow
And a lullaby for my brow
Jesus gonna be here
Be here soon

Well I’m just gonna wait here
I don’t have to shout
I have no reason and
I have no doubt
I’m gonna get myself
Unfurled from this mortal coiled up world
Because Jesus gonna be here
Be here soon

I got to keep my eyes open
So I can see my Lord
I’m gonna watch the horizon
For a brand new Ford

I can hear him rolling on down the lane
I said Hollywood be thy name
Jesus gonna be
Gonna be here soon

Well I’ve been faithful
And I’ve been so good
Except for drinking
But he new that I would
I’m gonna leave this place better
Than the way I found it was
And Jesus gonna be here
Be here soon

Atheist YouTuber DarkMatter2525 has build a large audience attacking religion with witty but hard-hitting animated shorts. His latest offering is a re-telling of the Bible book of Job. Strong language makes it NSFW.

Hat Tip Friendly Atheist

I never expected the world renowned evolutionary biologist and superstar atheist Richard Dawkins to write a book aimed at children. But, alas, The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True is slated for an October release.

The book will explain scientific question that many young people have. Questions that kids might get a vastly different answer for from their Sunday schools.

• Why do bad things happen
• Are we alone?
• What are things made of?
• What is the sun?
• Why is there night and day?
• What is an earthquake?
• What is a rainbow?
• Who were the first man and woman?
• When did everything begin?

Looks good! Though a book aimed at the younger crowd, I know many adults that would benefit a great deal from this book, including myself.

But what makes news of this book even more exiting is that it is illustrated by Dave McKean. Advanced images are hard to come by this early, but they are sure to be as fantastic as McKean’s other work.

Dawkins is always best when he writes about what he knows: evolutionary biology. When he tries to be an expert on religion he comes off as a smarmy sophomore. This book looks very promising. Hopefully he sticks to the former and leaves the latter alone.

From the back cover of The Magic of Reality.

I want to show you that the real world, as understood scientifically has magic of its own – the kind I call poetic magic: an inspiring beauty which is all the more magical because it is real and because we can understand how it works…The magic of reality is – quite simply-wonderful. Wonderful, and real. Wonderful because real.

Though not being released until fall, you can preorder The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True from Amazon.

*Update: The book photo above is for the UK version of the book. Here is the US version, which is set to be released on October 4th. By the way, I think Americans got the inferior cover. Agree?

We got our man. U.S. special forces found and killed Osama Bin Laden. Americans are rejoicing in the streets. And why shouldn’t they be? Bin Laden was a mass murderer of epic proportions, and, through his Al Qaeda network, he will continue to be an accessory and an inspiration to murder for many years to come.

I woke up this morning to radio sound clips of rejoicing in Washington, D.C. and ground zero. “Osama, Osama, hey hey hey, good bye!” they sang. The New York Post cover read: “Vengeance at last! US nails the Bastard.” New York’s Daily News front page read, “Rot in Hell!” Not the most professional headlines, but it gets the point across.

Evangelical Christian politician Mike Huckabee declared, “It is unusual to celebrate a death, but today Americans and decent people the world over cheer the news that madman, murderer and terrorist Osama Bin Laden is dead. …It has taken a long time for this monster to be brought to justice. Welcome to hell, bin Laden.” Not a very Christian thing to say, but I suppose Huck can get a free pass due to the circumstances.

Everybody is talking, tweeting, and blogging in jubilation over the news of Bin Laden’s death. It’s been 10 years in the making, and i have to agree that the world is a little better without him.

But all of the celebratory goings on leaves me a bit sick in the stomach. An unnamed blogger who will remain unlinked to suggested an alternative method of burying Bin Laden: “We should sew up the body in a pigskin suit, dump it in a vat of pig entrails, and then give all the people who lost loved ones in 9/11 an opportunity to relieve themselves on it.”

I understand the anger people felt toward Bin Laden, and I certainly understand the vindication they get from him death. It makes us feel good and it gives us a sense of accomplishment. Justice has been served.

I just hope people aren’t confusing their celebration with a victory march. This was one man, the founder of Al Qaeda. Although the spiritual head and the figurehead of the extremist movement, Bin Laden was no longer carrying out much of an active role. Things will get worse before they get better, if they get better at all.

When Al Qaeda carries out it’s next attack, the celebrations will quell. Perhaps we will focus on what is more important: remembering the loss and celebrating the lives of our loved ones, not basking in the glory of one dead terrorist.

It is an Islamic tradition to recite the opening chapter of the Qur’an upon the death of anyone, friend or foe, in remembrance:

Bismi-Llahi-r-Rahmani-r-Rahim
Al-hamdu-li-Llahi Rabbi-l-`alamin
Ar-Rahmani-r-Rahim
Maliki yawmi-d-din
Iyyaka na`budu wa ‘iyyaka nasta`in
Ihdina-s-sirata-l-mustaqima
Sirat alladhina ‘an `amta `alayhim
Ghayri-l-maghdubi `alayhim wa la-d-daallin
Amin

Church is closed today for renovations and a nice sage cleansing, or something like that. Come back next week.

But I would like to direct you over to Leo Batauba’s Zen Habits blog. You probably already read Zen Habits, but if you don’t, you should. It’s a nice, quiet, and refreshing read.

For Leo’s 38th birthday, he has compiled a list of 38 life lessons he has learned for those starting out in life, specifically his 6 kids.

There is nothing revolutionary or mind-blowing in Leo’s 38 nuggets of wisdom, but each serves as a much-welcomed reminder for anyone, really, who lives, breaths, works, eats, etc.

So have a great Saturday, and head on over to 38 Life Lessons I’ve learned in 38 Years. If you have time, poke around the rest of the blog

It’s true what they say about smiling. A simple smile, even a forced one, can change one’s mood. I tried it and the effects were instant and undeniable.

Hold up one second. I know what you’re thinking: damned new age hippie. I don’t blame you. Before writing this post I thought long and hard about whether I really wanted to go down this road. Do I really want to taint my image by writing a hippie-dippy personal anecdote?

I’m in my 33rd year of life and I just discovered the power of a forced smile. It’s possibly a life-changer for me. I feel it too important to go unshared.

I’m the type of person that has a hard time letting go of those little annoying things that people do, especially if it’s in my immediate domain (my desk, my car, my kitchen, etc.) Something as silly as placing a spatula on the side of the sink as opposed to hanging it up where it belongs can make my blood boil. Of course I don’t normally lash out at the offender because that would be silly.

The other morning, several annoyances seemed to happen in rapid succession. It was the beginning of a long day and I didn’t want to start it off by being angry, so I forced myself to smile. It’s not something I had planned on doing. There had never been a point where I said to myself: OK, the next time you get upset, try smiling. See if that works. The idea just presented itself without any expectations. I went with it.

Immediately after deciding to smile, the light in the room seemed to get a bit brighter, literally. I felt a little kick of energy that wasn’t there before. I felt pleasant; I didn’t feel angry or even slightly annoyed.

It’s important to note that the smile that kicked this off wasn’t a half-assed smile but a full, eye-squinting smile. At that moment, I was focused on the smile, and nothing else.

The feeling I got from the spontaneous smile exited me. I know that there is medical evidence that smiling releases endorphins that improve mood, but I never expected the feeling to be so profound. I went from pissed off to pleasant in seconds. It was the first time I had smiled simply for the sake of smiling.

When I got home later that day I shared my profundity with my family. My nine year old made fun of me and called me a hippie. Her loss. Since that first forced smile I have pulled that trick out on several occasions. It works unflinchingly every time.

Science suggests that the use of the specific muscles involved in smiling is part of how the brain evaluates mood. Charles Darwin was one of the first to suggest that facial expressions actually intensify our mood, as apposed to our mood dictating our facial expressions. In other words, when you smile, you’re tricking your brain into thinking that you are happy. This theory is known as the ‘feedback loop’ or ‘facial feedback hypothesis’. Fascinating!

Science aside, I feel that the intense feeling I get from smiling has a lot to do with being present in the moment. When I smile for the sake of smiling, I am only thinking about the smile. I’m concentrating on how my mouth moves, and in turn my cheeks and my eyes. For that moment I’m not thinking about the annoyances that present themselves. I’ve never studied meditation, but I suppose this is a simple form.

Granted, the overwhelming smile-effect only lasts a minute or two. You really can’t go around with a permanent smile. But it is something you can pull out at opportune times. Like now.

Did it work? I thought so. Who’s the hippie now?

Image by Alan Cleaver

“In the Beginning” is the eighth installment in the Symphony of Science music video series on YouTube. Other than featuring sound bites from the world’s foremost scientists, the videos utilize perhaps the best use of auto-tune I’ve ever heard.

This one features Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan, Tara Shears, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. I can’t get enough of it. The chorus is catchy as hell. There’s just something so awesome about listening to Richard Dawkins sing. And Stephen Hawking’s synthetic voice was made for auto-tune.

Photo courtesy of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

This post is a first. In the 2+ years of Not About Religion’s existence, Westboro Baptist Church has never been mentioned in our pages. No Fred Phelps; no “God Hates [Fags, Fag Enablers, America, Israel, Your Tears, etc]” signs. You couldn’t find it here. Seriously, we had better things to do.

Phelps and his posse seek attention. Acknowledging them on our website would simply validate that their viewpoints are somehow worthy of dialogue. So, up until now, we have chosen to transcend the discussion. If we ignore them maybe they’ll just go away?

Others in the media and blogosphere love them a good Westboro Baptist Church story. “Where are they protesting now?” “OMG, Shirley Phelps said WHAT?! That bitch!”

Reading about how “evil” they are is yesterday’s news. Years ago when first hearing about the fringe group’s hate rhetoric, I was mildly angered yet curiously entertained. Now, banality to the nth degree.

The website, God Loves Poetry, is a creative, fun, and not-completely-pointless way to respond to the non-issue of Westboro Baptist Church. If one feels it completely necessary to protest the protesters, this is a pretty good way to do it.

The idea of the website is to create “blackout poetry” from WCB’s press releases. This way, contributors are using WBC’s own words, more or less, to convey messages of acceptance and love.

Ideally, Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church should be completely ignored. But people love to protest. People love to be heard. And what better way to stick it to WBC than with cheesy Christian poetry. I seriously mean that.

Props to Tary Culp-Ressler from KTB for the tip!