The internet continues to pound that stake through the heart of religion.

Courtesy of Alternet: 

While the burgeoning atheist movement loves throwing conferences and selling books, a huge chunk--possibly most--of its resources go toward the Internet. This isn’t borne out of laziness or a hostility to wearing pants so much as a belief that the Internet is uniquely positioned as the perfect tool for sharing arguments against religion with believers who are experiencing doubts. It’s searchable, it allows back-and-forth debate, and it makes proving your arguments through links much easier. Above all else, it’s private. An online search on atheism is much easier to hide than, say, a copy of The God Delusion on your nightstand. 

In recent months, this sense that the Internet is the key for atheist outreach has started to move from “hunch” to actual, evidence-based theory. Earlier this year, Allen Downey of the Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts examined the spike in people declaring they had no religion that started in the '90s and found that while there are many factors contributing to it--dropping familial pressure, increased levels of college education--increased Internet usage was likely a huge part of it, accounting for up to 25 percent of the decline in religious belief. While cautioning that correlation does not mean causation, Downey did go on to point out that since so many other factors were controlled for, it’s a safe bet to conclude that the access to varied thought and debate the Internet provides is persuading people to drop their religions. 

But in the past few months, that hypothesis grew even stronger when a major American religion basically had to admit that Internet arguments against their faith is putting them on their heels. The Church of Latter Day Saints has quietly released a series of essays, put together by church historians, addressing some of the less savory aspects of their history, such as the practice of polygamy or the ban on black members. The church sent out a memo in September telling church leaders to direct believers who have questions about their religion’s history to these essays, which they presented as a counter to “detractors” who “spread misinformation and doubt.”

The Mormon church made the case that the websites which were causing a crisis in faith among its followers were disseminating "disinformation" but in fact the converse was true, and the websites were providing historically accurate information that the church could no longer hide from its members.

The posts made on the Church of Latter Day Saints website were really an attempt to put into context embarrassing information that the church had denied was true for decades.

Having such recent historical facts working against, kind of makes the Mormon church the low hanging fruit, however information is being shared which also challenges the very foundations of Christianity, and which has resulted in some rather startling converts to Atheism.

It is no secret how I feel about all of this, and why I think the internet may be the best thing since...well it sure beats the hell out of sliced bread.

By the way Bill Maher had some good fun with this Joseph Smith story Friday night on Real Time, and it evolved into a rather interesting, and entertaining conversation about religion in general.
You know I sometimes feel badly for Andrew Sullivan. He is so right about somethings (Like Trig's birth) and so wrong about others.

The very last Presidential debate open thread. Update!

Well we already KNOW who Fox News will declare the winner, don't we?

Okay tonight's focus is on foreign policy, a topic that should afford President Obama a considerable amount of fire power for his side of the debate. After all he is the man who ended the Iraq war and brought Osama Bin Laden to justice.

Of course Romney will undoubtedly bring up the confusion about the Benghazi attack, which if you read this LA Times article is an argument that should not hold any water:

The assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi last month appears to have been an opportunistic attack rather than a long-planned operation, and intelligence agencies have found no evidence that it was ordered by Al Qaeda, according to U.S. officials and witnesses interviewed in Libya. 

Republicans have zeroed in on possible Al Qaeda ties to the Sept. 11 attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, and have criticized the Obama administration for not saying early on that it was an act of terrorism. But after five weeks of investigation, U.S. intelligence agencies say they have found no evidence of Al Qaeda participation.

Of course this will not placate the Fox News crowd and Romney will be tailoring his message to speak directly to them tonight in order to get out his base. Facts would only confuse them anyhow.

I have also heard pundits discuss the possibility that Romney will try to turn the conversation toward the economy which, for reasons that continue to  puzzle me, he is currently polling well ahead of the President.

I anticipate a rather aggressive debate tonight, as there is a LOT on the line and I think very few punches will be pulled. However if I were giving Romney advice I would tell him that he needs to work at not coming off as a complete asshole this time.

Yeah good luck with that!

Once again I will be tweeting my impressions during the exchange, which you can follow here, and updating the comments here on IM all through the evening.

So grab your favorite beverage, pop that tub of popcorn, and let's see if tonight's debate will finally be the battle that demolishes Mitt Romney's chances of ever fulfilling Joseph Smith's White Horse Prophecy.

Update: Even though debate is still going on Poltico has an evolving transcript. 

This might explain the obvious disdain that Mitt Romney displays toward President Obama.

Though there is a lot of white washing going on right now (pun unintended), the Mormon church has long held these incredibly racist beliefs, and it took until 1978 for them to buckle under to public pressure and allow African Americans to be ordained into their priesthood, which is a right of passage for EVERY OTHER Mormon male.

Mitt Romney has been a member of this church his entire life, and for MANY years before 1978, how much of that indoctrinated racism do you think he still clings to today?

If his attitude toward the President is any indication, I would say that regardless of how much his church has evolved in order to stay relevant, HE has not yet caught up with it.