Changes

== Militant atheism ==

== Militant atheism ==

Myers is an outspoken [[atheism|atheist]] who has openly advocated the elimination of religion, likening it to illiteracy. <ref>http://www.atheistrev.com/2008/03/pz-myers-on-eliminating-religion.html</ref> His language, at times, is extremely militant and laced with many vile expletives.  In a diatribe in which he described those who believe in the Bible as "lunatics" and "bigots," Myers said:

Myers is an outspoken [[atheism|atheist]] who has openly advocated the elimination of religion, likening it to illiteracy.<ref>http://www.atheistrev.com/2008/03/pz-myers-on-eliminating-religion.html</ref>

His language is extremely militant at times, and laced with expletives.  In a diatribe in which he described those who believe in the Bible as "lunatics" and "bigots," Myers said:

{{QuoteBox|I say, screw the polite words and careful rhetoric. It's time for scientists to break out the steel-toed boots and brass knuckles, and get out there and hammer on the lunatics and idiots.<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20070420142719/http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/perspective/</ref>}}

I say, screw the polite words and careful rhetoric. It's time for scientists to break out the steel-toed boots and brass knuckles, and get out there and hammer on the lunatics and idiots. <ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20070420142719/http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/perspective/</ref>

Myers regularly rants against religion, the religious and religious institutions (e.g. churches) on his blog. Myers has called evangelical Christianity "a blight upon the earth,"<ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/03/left_or_right_religion_and_pol.php/</ref> religious people "ignorant, deluded, wicked, foolish, or oppressed victims of obsolete mythologies,"<ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/07/im_surrounded.php</ref> and considers every church to be a "parasitic institution that contributes nothing to the tax base and encourages further ignorance in the population."<ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/07/how_do_you_save_small_town_cha.php</ref>

Myers frequently rants against religion, religious people, and religious institutions (e.g. churches) on his blog. Myers has called evangelical Christianity "a blight upon the earth,"<ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/03/left_or_right_religion_and_pol.php/</ref> religious people "ignorant, deluded, wicked, foolish, or oppressed victims of obsolete mythologies,"<ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/07/im_surrounded.php</ref> and considers every church to be a "parasitic institution that contributes nothing to the tax base and encourages further ignorance in the population."<ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/07/how_do_you_save_small_town_cha.php</ref>

Unsurprisingly, Myers' radical, hateful views on religion and the religious are [[Examples_of_Bias_in_Wikipedia|whitewashed from the Wikipedia article about him]] by pro-evolution/anti-Creationism/anti-Intelligent Design editors who are his fans.

Unsurprisingly, Myers' radical, hateful views on religion and religious people are [[Examples_of_Bias_in_Wikipedia|whitewashed from the Wikipedia article about him]] by pro-evolution/anti-Creationism/anti-Intelligent Design editors who are his fans.

=== ''Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed'' ===

=== ''Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed'' ===

Myers appeared in the film ''[[Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed]]''. In the film, Myers compared religion to knitting and said it should be nothing more than "something fun that people get together and do on the weekend and really doesn't affect their life as much as it has been so far."<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHiZjOH1NmQ</ref> Up to and after the release of the film, Myers viciously attacked the film and its makers many times and also engaged in very bizarre behavior. Two of the most notable incidents involved his failed attempt to crash a showing of the film at the [[Mall of America]]<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/science/21expelledw.html</ref> and his rude crashing and disruption (including plugging himself) of a conference call held by ''Expelled'''s producers.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYAblaZmogA</ref><ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/03/i_always_aim_to_misbehave.php</ref>

Myers appeared in the film ''[[Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed]]''. In the film, Myers compared religion to knitting and said it should be nothing more than "something fun that people get together and do on the weekend and really doesn't affect their life as much as it has been so far."<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHiZjOH1NmQ</ref> Up to and after the release of the film, Myers viciously attacked the film and its makers many times and engaged in bizarre behavior. Two of the most notable incidents involved his failed attempt to gate-crash a showing of the film at the [[Mall of America]]<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/science/21expelledw.html</ref> and his crashing and disruption (including plugging himself) of a conference call held by ''Expelled'''s producers.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYAblaZmogA</ref><ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/03/i_always_aim_to_misbehave.php</ref>

=== Communion host ===

=== Communion host ===

On July 8, 2008, Myers posted an entry attacking the Christian practice of Communion.  After ridiculing Christians as "petty, hateful, and stupid," and asserting that "Nothing makes them stupider than religion," Myers requested that his readers steal consecrated Communion wafers for him, so that he could desecrate them on camera.  This rant predictably resulted in a strongly negative response from Catholics and those who support freedom of religious expression <ref>http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1459</ref>; Myers has since complained about the "hate mail" and "death threats" he has received, comparing the defense of Communion to a "witch hunt."  To date, the University of Minnesota has not taken official action against Myers for his inflammatory remarks, other than to remove the link to his blog from his faculty page.<ref>http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1460</ref> Myers quickly ducked behind the "satire and protest" defense<ref>Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, "I was only joking!" (Proverbs 26:18-19)</ref> and backed down on his threat to desecrate Communion wafers.<ref>http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/24313139.html</ref> Meanwhile, Myers posted some of the threatening emails he had received and included the email addresses where they supposedly had come from. Predictably, his readers responded with their own threatening and harassing emails even though it was not clear whether or not the email addresses (one of which was allegedly from someone at 1-800-Flowers) had been spoofed. Myers attempted to save face, claiming that the unsurprising behavior by his fans was not the intent behind his posting of the email addresses (making one wonder exactly what the intent then actually was), and weakly called for his readers to stop "dunning these people with email, threatening them back, signing them up for spam, or otherwise being a jerk." These half-hearted, meaningless pleas fell on deaf ears, of course, while Myers continued to avoid doing the easy and right thing in simply removing the email addresses from his blog.<ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/stop_it_now_please.php</ref><ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/mail_dump.php</ref>

On July 8, 2008, Myers posted an entry attacking the Christian practice of Communion.  After ridiculing Christians as "petty, hateful, and stupid," and asserting that "Nothing makes them stupider than religion," Myers requested that his readers steal consecrated Communion wafers for him, so that he could desecrate them on camera.  This rant predictably resulted in a strongly negative response from Catholics and those who support freedom of religious expression <ref>http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1459</ref>; Myers has since complained about the "hate mail" and "death threats" he has received, comparing the defense of Communion to a "witch hunt."  To date, the University of Minnesota has not taken official action against Myers for his inflammatory remarks, other than to remove the link to his blog from his faculty page.<ref>http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1460</ref> Myers quickly ducked behind the "satire and protest" defense<ref>Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, "I was only joking!" ({{Bible ref|Proverbs|26|18-19}}))</ref> and backed down on his threat to desecrate Communion wafers.<ref>http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/24313139.html</ref> Meanwhile, Myers posted some of the threatening emails he had received and included the email addresses where they supposedly had come from. Predictably, his readers responded with their own threatening and harassing emails even though it was not clear whether or not the email addresses (one of which was allegedly from someone at 1-800-Flowers) had been spoofed. Myers attempted to save face, claiming that the unsurprising behavior by his fans was not the intent behind his posting of the email addresses (making one wonder exactly what the intent then actually was), and weakly called for his readers to stop "dunning these people with email, threatening them back, signing them up for spam, or otherwise being a jerk." These half-hearted, meaningless pleas fell on deaf ears, of course, while Myers continued to avoid doing the easy and right thing in simply removing the email addresses from his blog.<ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/stop_it_now_please.php</ref><ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/mail_dump.php</ref>

==References ==

==References ==