Essay: Where was Sam Harris when the New Atheists needed him?

Sam Harris

(photo obtained from Wikimedia commons, see license agreement)

Sam Harris is one of the founders of the New Atheism movement. Dr. Harris received a Ph.D. in neuroscience from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and is also a graduate in philosophy from Stanford University.

The term New Atheism which first appeared in the November 2006 edition of Wired magazine, is frequently applied to a series of six best-selling books by five authors that appeared in the period between 2004–2008. These authors include Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Victor J. Stenger and Christopher Hitchens.^[1] The four most prominent writers of the New Atheist movement are Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett.

see also: New Atheism leadership's problem with excess weight

3 out of 5 of the founders of the New Atheism movement have had issues with being overweight as can be seen HERE and HERE and HERE

See also: Atheism and obesity and Atheism and Mental and Physical Health

Some of the medical conditions associated with obesity include: type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides, coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke, arthritis, cancer, sleep apnea, reproductive problems in women and varicose veins.^[2][3][4][5] In addition, medical science research indicates that excess weight impairs brain function.^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

Medical research indicates that excess weight impairs brain function.^{[11][12][13][14][15]}

According to the Mayo Clinic some of the symptoms associated with obesity can include:

Concerning the issue of depression, atheists do have higher rates of suicide than the general population.

Neuroscientist Sam Harris with Patrick McKenna.

(photo obtained from Wikimedia commons, see license agreement)

See also: Atheism and obesity

Dr. Harris, I certainly hoped you pleaded with the overweight New Atheists founders to lose some weight! I do know that leadership is by example and if you pleaded I hope it was quite strongly. You certainly don't want overweight New Atheist leaders serving as role models to the atheist community and encourage atheists to lead lives contrary to the recommendations of medical science.

Did you ever orchestrate a overweight New atheism founders intervention? Did you speak out publicly about the significant number of New Atheism founders who were overweight?

The reason I asks these questions is as of December 28, 2010 the pictures of the members of the American Atheists organization's board of directors showed a significant portion of its members having excess body weight. ^[17] The pictures of the American Atheists board of directors can be found HERE.

Dr. Harris there does appear to be a significant problem with obesity within the Western atheist community - especially when you compare them with the very religious. Please see Atheism and obesity for details.

Dr. Harris has said concerning the label of atheist, "It's right next to child molester as a designation."^[18]

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Atheism is a social stigma in many Western societies and obesity is as well.^[19][20][21] For example, in the United States, obese people are often stereotyped as being "lazy, lacking self-discipline and being mentally slow".^[22]

Of course, if atheist obesity could be avoided by some through simple dietary and exercise changes, this could cause a lot less heartache and disappointment to parents who not only have an atheist son or daughter, but suffer the double indignity of having son or daughter who is both obese and an atheist.

Dr. Harris is quite aware of the stigma surrounding atheism and has even advocated that atheists no longer call themselves atheists.^[23] In fact, Dr. Harris has said concerning the label of atheist, "It's right next to child molester as a designation."^[23]

see also: Atheism, pederasty and NAMBLA

Some of the well known atheist advocates of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) are:

1. The atheist and homosexual David Thorstad was a founding member of the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA).^[24]

2. Harry Hay (1912 - 2002) was an liberal advocate of statutory rape and the widely acknowledged founder and progenitor of the activist homosexual agenda in the United States. Hay joined the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) in 1934. ^[25] Harry Hay was an atheist.^[26] He was a vociferous advocate of man/boy love. ^[27][28] In 1986, Hay marched in a gay parade wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words "NAMBLA walks with me."^[29]

3. The writer Samuel R. Delaney is an atheist and a homosexual.^[30][31] Delaney said he was a supporter of NAMBLA.^[32]

John Maynard Keynes

John Maynard Keynes and pederasty

see also: John Maynard Keynes and pederasty

John Maynard Keynes was the founder of Keynesian economics. Lytton Strachey, his male bed partner, wrote that Keynes was a “A liberal and a sodomite, An atheist and a statistician.”^[33] Keynes and his friends made numerous trips to the resorts surrounding the Mediterranean. At the resorts, little boys were sold by their families to bordellos which catered to homosexuals.^[34] In his work The Cambridge Apostles, 1820-1914: Liberalism, Imagination, and Friendship in British Intellectual and Professional Life, William C. Lubenow expresses the opinion that Keynes was an agnostic.^[35]

As noted earlier, Sam Harris tells atheists don't call yourself an atheist! Well, I guess that is one way to run away from the well earned stigma of atheism that atheists have caused to fall upon themselves (please see: atheism and mass murder and atheism and deception and atheism and suicide and atheism and morality). Call yourself a former Baptist or former Anglican! If people probe further, just run away!

See also: Professor PZ Myers fails applied biology

Since World War II a majority of the most prominent and vocal defenders of the evolutionary position which employs methodological naturalism have been atheists.^[36]

A list of evolutionists who who have had problems with being overweight and/or obese can be found here:

Evolutionists who have had problems with being overweight and/or obese

Sometimes high intelligence (or former high intelligence that has been impaired by having excess weight^[37]) and having simple and effective methods to lose weight is not enough to escape the jaws of obesity. Often, it takes self-discipline as well.

See also: Are atheists smarter than the average bear? and Overcoming obesity with the aid of Christian faith

(Photo obtained from Flickr, see: license agreement)

see also: Are atheists smarter than the average bear? and Overcoming obesity with the aid of Christian faith

Perhaps, if more overweight atheists evolved a backbone and took the recommendations of medical science and exercise science more seriously, clinical trials could be run by Dr. Harris to help atheists find better ways to wrestle themselves from the clutches of obesity.

Sometimes high intelligence (or former high intelligence that has been impaired by having excess weight^[38]) and having simple and effective methods to lose weight is not enough to escape the jaws of obesity. Often, it takes self-discipline as well. This can be frustrating to many overweight atheists especially when they hear taunts such as: If your so smart Mr. Atheist, then why are you so fat?

On the other hand, besetting sins such as gluttony, sloth, homosexuality and drug addiction can certainly be more effectively conquered with the assistance of Christian faith, self-discipline and of course through diet and exercise well. Peter LaBarbera is the President of Americans for Truth which is an organization which counters the homosexual agenda. Peter LaBarbera declared concerning Christian ex-homosexuals who reported being transformed by the power of God:

Members of the Pentecostal Church of God in Lejunior, Kentucky praying for a girl in 1946.

In 1980 a study was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry and eleven men participated in a study about men overcoming homosexuality. The American Journal of Psychiatry stated that eleven homosexual men became heterosexuals "without explicit treatment and/or long-term psychotherapy" through their participation in a Pentecostal church.^[40]

On December 11, 2001, the prestigious Mayo Clinic reported:

• Prominent atheists weighed on the scales and found wanting - satire
• Professor PZ Myers fails his applied biology course
• Western atheists sumo wrestling - survival of the fattest?
• PZ Myers embarrasses himself at the Creation Museum
• Comedy and satires concerning atheism and evolution (large collection of comedy/satire concerning atheism and evolution)
• Overweight atheists comedy and satire

• Resources for leaving atheism and becoming a Christian
• Evidence for Christianity
• Psychology, obesity, religiosity and atheism
• Atheism and Mental and Physical Health
• Atheism and suicide

• Obesity Linked to Changes In Cognitive Patterns
• As Waistlines Widen, Brains Shrink
• Body-mass index and mortality among 1.46 million white adults