Wednesday, December 16, 2009
YouTube Must Change Their Rules On Flagging, ETC. Abuses
The free flow of information is paramount on a free society. This abuse is tatamount to bullying people into silence. It is wrong and it is unAmerican. Reform is needed and can be achieved in time. In the end it will effect their bottom line with people leaving YouTube for a place where their rights are respected and recognized. I hope they will wake up in time before it is to late and their is noone left to complain about it.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Uganda's Godly Government
I recently heard of some awful legislation coming out of the Parliament in the African country of Uganda. This legislation would be an awful blow to the humans rights of homosexuals in this country. And you guessed it the people behind it all are motivated by their religious faith. That faith isn’t radical Islamic Fundamentalism, it is American Christian Fundamentalism. And it was religious conservatives in the American Congress and prominent Fundamentalist preachers who were supporters of this African government.
Uganda was not always like this. Once upon a time this country was like any other country in Africa. In one way it was different, its policy on AIDS prevention was the most effective in Africa. It was based on a reasoned and science based system which says Abstain from sex, if you have sex Be monogamous, or if you insist on not being monogamous where a Condom. This simple adage was used through out Uganda and the result was that the AIDS rate was on the decline.
Then the Bush administration’s effort to help Africa’s AIDS problem began. But certain conservative Christian Republicans wanted the majority of the money that was going to Africa to be used for abstinence programs. Abstinence programs in the U.S. looked good, for the religious conservatives, but were entirely ineffectual at stopping STD’s and pregnancies. The results for Uganda was exactly the same, the AIDS rate went from a decline to a doubling in number.
All the while Christian fundamentalists were gaining more and more influence in that country. The results were that the new leader of Uganda, his wife and the government officials were born again Christians. And then the failed abstinence programs they instated did not stop the AIDS infections from spreading. So they tried something that went with their born again Christian theology and are trying pass legislation that would punish people for being or associating with Ugandan homosexuals. The leadership’s theology believed that gay people chose to be gay and could recant from being gay through the force of national law.
These new laws, if passed, would 1. Would make any gay person who has AIDS to be put to death by hanging. 2. Gay people who did not have AIDS would simply be put in prison for the rest of there life. 3. Anyone who associates with gay people and not turn them into the authorities would be punished by three years in prison.
Human rights groups brought this to the attention of the world and now all those American conservative Christians politicians and preachers who so supported the Ugandan regime are either decrying these laws or remained silent on the issue. This godly government of Uganda that these people created has become a monster. They will be held responsible for all the abuses and deaths that their biblically inspired policies toward this country have wrought. This is what happens when you try to institute governmental policies based on theology rather than on reason and basic human dignity. These same American religious conservatives preachers and politicians would want to impose this theology on American soil. I would wager we would get similar results that were to be found in Uganda. So we as atheists and human rights advocates must be on the lookout for signs of theocracy in own country. As a great patriot once said “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”
Uganda was not always like this. Once upon a time this country was like any other country in Africa. In one way it was different, its policy on AIDS prevention was the most effective in Africa. It was based on a reasoned and science based system which says Abstain from sex, if you have sex Be monogamous, or if you insist on not being monogamous where a Condom. This simple adage was used through out Uganda and the result was that the AIDS rate was on the decline.
Then the Bush administration’s effort to help Africa’s AIDS problem began. But certain conservative Christian Republicans wanted the majority of the money that was going to Africa to be used for abstinence programs. Abstinence programs in the U.S. looked good, for the religious conservatives, but were entirely ineffectual at stopping STD’s and pregnancies. The results for Uganda was exactly the same, the AIDS rate went from a decline to a doubling in number.
All the while Christian fundamentalists were gaining more and more influence in that country. The results were that the new leader of Uganda, his wife and the government officials were born again Christians. And then the failed abstinence programs they instated did not stop the AIDS infections from spreading. So they tried something that went with their born again Christian theology and are trying pass legislation that would punish people for being or associating with Ugandan homosexuals. The leadership’s theology believed that gay people chose to be gay and could recant from being gay through the force of national law.
These new laws, if passed, would 1. Would make any gay person who has AIDS to be put to death by hanging. 2. Gay people who did not have AIDS would simply be put in prison for the rest of there life. 3. Anyone who associates with gay people and not turn them into the authorities would be punished by three years in prison.
Human rights groups brought this to the attention of the world and now all those American conservative Christians politicians and preachers who so supported the Ugandan regime are either decrying these laws or remained silent on the issue. This godly government of Uganda that these people created has become a monster. They will be held responsible for all the abuses and deaths that their biblically inspired policies toward this country have wrought. This is what happens when you try to institute governmental policies based on theology rather than on reason and basic human dignity. These same American religious conservatives preachers and politicians would want to impose this theology on American soil. I would wager we would get similar results that were to be found in Uganda. So we as atheists and human rights advocates must be on the lookout for signs of theocracy in own country. As a great patriot once said “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Harm in Believing?
I am writing this in response to the editorial “No harm believing” by Henrietta Harris in the Thursday, December 3, 2009 edition of the Belleville News-Democrat.
In her letter she rightly claims that there is no scientific support for the creationism of the Bible. It is a myth and nothing more. But then she goes on and says that other parts of the Bible are supportable in science. In this she is dead wrong. Which parts are scientifically supportable? The Sun stopping in the sky, the flat Earth, the virgin birth, the sky made of metal, the talking snake and donkey, or maybe the parting of the Red Sea. These and other fanciful stories are that, stories. Stories told by an ancient, superstitious people with almost no knowledge of science.
In another paragraph she wrote the incorrect definition of scientific theory. Theory, as defined by scientists, is basically the best way to explain the evidence at hand. Evolution has been able to explain the tons of evidence better than any other theory out there. The scientists look at the evidence and draw their conclusions from that. This is how real science works.
I would write that there is harm in believing because as Richard Dawkins once said, “Belief makes you accept answers to questions that are not really answers.” What you lose by believing is your ability to think critically and that makes a person gullible.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Gay Marriage : Time Is On Your Side!
On November 4th , 2009, in the state of Maine, legal gay marriage was voted down by a narrow margin. And the opponents of gay marriage spoke about their victory and they said basically that gay marriage would not come to pass forever. That no state would ever vote for marriage equality for homosexuals and had no chance of passing if the people voted on it. And figured that it would always be the case. I’m here to tell you that they were dead wrong.
It was said that “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” The opponents of marriage equality should heed this wise maxim. For a similar boast was made about 40 years ago. During the civil rights struggle for African-American equality Governor George Wallace once famously said “Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” He felt it was natural and traditional that inequality among the races existed. It had been that way for almost a century and he thought it would last forever. But he was also wrong. Even before the sixties ended the whole edifice segregation came crashing down. It wasn’t without great struggle but in the end, it came to pass and the country survived. And a generation or two later we all look back at that time before as a shameful moment in our American history.
The same can be said now with marriage equality movement. Now we are in the great struggle moment of this movement. There have been setbacks and our enemies of equality feel confident in their victories. But the people who voted for the anti - gay marriage amendment, demographically are older people. The anti - gay marriage foundation is based upon an aging and diminishing resource. Polls have shown that people under the age of forty are 56% more likely to support equal rights for gay people including marriage. And those thirty and under polled even higher, much higher than the forty and under crowd. As the foes of gay marriage continue to die off they will be replaced by the younger people. They will come into power without the prejudices of the older generations. And because of this, gays will get their equality and after a time, future Americans will look back upon this present time with the same shame we now feel about the stuff that happened forty years ago. Homosexual equality is only a matter of time and of attrition. You must never give up, never surrender, for time is always on your side.
It was said that “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” The opponents of marriage equality should heed this wise maxim. For a similar boast was made about 40 years ago. During the civil rights struggle for African-American equality Governor George Wallace once famously said “Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” He felt it was natural and traditional that inequality among the races existed. It had been that way for almost a century and he thought it would last forever. But he was also wrong. Even before the sixties ended the whole edifice segregation came crashing down. It wasn’t without great struggle but in the end, it came to pass and the country survived. And a generation or two later we all look back at that time before as a shameful moment in our American history.
The same can be said now with marriage equality movement. Now we are in the great struggle moment of this movement. There have been setbacks and our enemies of equality feel confident in their victories. But the people who voted for the anti - gay marriage amendment, demographically are older people. The anti - gay marriage foundation is based upon an aging and diminishing resource. Polls have shown that people under the age of forty are 56% more likely to support equal rights for gay people including marriage. And those thirty and under polled even higher, much higher than the forty and under crowd. As the foes of gay marriage continue to die off they will be replaced by the younger people. They will come into power without the prejudices of the older generations. And because of this, gays will get their equality and after a time, future Americans will look back upon this present time with the same shame we now feel about the stuff that happened forty years ago. Homosexual equality is only a matter of time and of attrition. You must never give up, never surrender, for time is always on your side.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Bible Vs Koran : The Ultimate Smackdown
When it comes to the dominant religions of the world they are, for the most part, based on a holy book. Religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam claim to be peaceful as well as there version god. But the question must be asked which of these holy books has the highest number of cruel and violent passages in its pages? Can the claim of a peaceful and loving god be squared with the words from their own holy books. The statistics might surprise you.
First lets start with the holy books of the Jews and the Christians called the Bible. With quotes like Numbers 31:14-18 which says that it is okay with god to kill all the males and then rape every female virgin that survived the attack by the Israelites. Or in the Book of Hebrews 10: 28-29 which said a far crueler fate befalls people who displeases Jesus. While New Testament has no tales of mass murder there is the language of violence against the enemies of Christianity itself. And later on when the Christians get control of the levers of power they would use this violent language to justify the horrendous atrocities that Christianity was famous for. But the total number of cruel and violent acts in the total Bible is 907.
Now lets see what the Koran has to offer. Surah 5:33 says “The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom;” Or Surah 7:78 in which the loving Allah killed a bunch of people who disbelieve him with an earthquake. There are many more; but the total number of violent and cruel actions in this book is 520.
So the winner is the Bible by a large number. But the Bible has a lot more pages than the Koran and therefore a higher number of cruelties and violence would be expected. Probably a more accurate measurement would be percentages. Then the Bible’s percentage would be 2.91% and the Koran’s would be 8.34% . Against this measure the Koran wins hands down.
Whatever the outcome of this contest it shows that the gods and the followers of these religions has ordered, committed, or justified acts of unspeakable violence against their fellow human beings. And in the end has lost all moral and ethical authority.
First lets start with the holy books of the Jews and the Christians called the Bible. With quotes like Numbers 31:14-18 which says that it is okay with god to kill all the males and then rape every female virgin that survived the attack by the Israelites. Or in the Book of Hebrews 10: 28-29 which said a far crueler fate befalls people who displeases Jesus. While New Testament has no tales of mass murder there is the language of violence against the enemies of Christianity itself. And later on when the Christians get control of the levers of power they would use this violent language to justify the horrendous atrocities that Christianity was famous for. But the total number of cruel and violent acts in the total Bible is 907.
Now lets see what the Koran has to offer. Surah 5:33 says “The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom;” Or Surah 7:78 in which the loving Allah killed a bunch of people who disbelieve him with an earthquake. There are many more; but the total number of violent and cruel actions in this book is 520.
So the winner is the Bible by a large number. But the Bible has a lot more pages than the Koran and therefore a higher number of cruelties and violence would be expected. Probably a more accurate measurement would be percentages. Then the Bible’s percentage would be 2.91% and the Koran’s would be 8.34% . Against this measure the Koran wins hands down.
Whatever the outcome of this contest it shows that the gods and the followers of these religions has ordered, committed, or justified acts of unspeakable violence against their fellow human beings. And in the end has lost all moral and ethical authority.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
A Bisexual Orgy In Eden
A common refrain I hear from the anti-gay movement is that god created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. This colorful little poem is pertaining to the to the first chapters of the Old Testament in which, among other things, tells of the six day creation of the universe by the Judeo - Christian god and the creation of the first members humanity as well. Well the biblical literalists have missed something there are two creation of human stories in the Bible. Which means, if it is taken literally, that their were four humans at the beginning of the world not two. Which means that the possibility of homosexuality and bisexuality has just increased.
In Genesis Chapter 1 verse 27 it is written “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” So both a male and a female were created from the same stuff at the same time. That would make total number of humans, so far, in the world at around two people.
But then there is Genesis Chapter 2 verses 21 - 23 and this is the more traditional version of this story we all heard about. The one where man was created first and then later on, to combat Adam’s loneliness, a women called Eve was created out of Adam’s rib. Then the story goes on about life in the garden, the temptation, subsequent expulsion from the Eden paradise, and the cursing of all mankind forever. Now the total number of humans in the world is now at four. Because we do not find anywhere in this text that the Chapter One humans were destroyed we must assume that they were around when the Chapter 2 humans were created and thus this is why I now count the total human population at four, if you take the Bible as the inerrant word of god this must be the only explanation that makes any kind of sense.
Mind you the Jews of the ancient world saw this discrepancy and wanting their Bible make sense they made up a story and put it in their Midrash in an effort to try to explain away this problem. But the Midrash is not a holy book of the Christians, as far as I know.
So the problem with the Christian opposition homosexuality is that, if they believe that their holy book is without error, how do you explain that problem away without coming up some kind of ludicrous rationalization. Then if you think your holy book is inerrant then must accept the possibility that their could have been gay and lesbian sex among the first humans. Or at the least the first humans were raving bisexuals having their way with each other in every way, at every chance they got like some Edenic orgy. Sounds more like a plot to some porn movie than a holy book.
Or simply that these are mythical stories that were written by two different human beings at different times and shoved into the Old Testament without regard to any kind of rhyme or reason. So when you hear that colorful little anti-gay rhyme, you tell them that yes their was an Adam and a Eve but also their were a Steve and a Jane as well.
In Genesis Chapter 1 verse 27 it is written “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” So both a male and a female were created from the same stuff at the same time. That would make total number of humans, so far, in the world at around two people.
But then there is Genesis Chapter 2 verses 21 - 23 and this is the more traditional version of this story we all heard about. The one where man was created first and then later on, to combat Adam’s loneliness, a women called Eve was created out of Adam’s rib. Then the story goes on about life in the garden, the temptation, subsequent expulsion from the Eden paradise, and the cursing of all mankind forever. Now the total number of humans in the world is now at four. Because we do not find anywhere in this text that the Chapter One humans were destroyed we must assume that they were around when the Chapter 2 humans were created and thus this is why I now count the total human population at four, if you take the Bible as the inerrant word of god this must be the only explanation that makes any kind of sense.
Mind you the Jews of the ancient world saw this discrepancy and wanting their Bible make sense they made up a story and put it in their Midrash in an effort to try to explain away this problem. But the Midrash is not a holy book of the Christians, as far as I know.
So the problem with the Christian opposition homosexuality is that, if they believe that their holy book is without error, how do you explain that problem away without coming up some kind of ludicrous rationalization. Then if you think your holy book is inerrant then must accept the possibility that their could have been gay and lesbian sex among the first humans. Or at the least the first humans were raving bisexuals having their way with each other in every way, at every chance they got like some Edenic orgy. Sounds more like a plot to some porn movie than a holy book.
Or simply that these are mythical stories that were written by two different human beings at different times and shoved into the Old Testament without regard to any kind of rhyme or reason. So when you hear that colorful little anti-gay rhyme, you tell them that yes their was an Adam and a Eve but also their were a Steve and a Jane as well.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
What is Really Behind Ray Comfort's Latest Campaign
I recently saw Ray Comfort’s video of his plan to distribute the “Origin of Species” with a forward written by him and an I.D. creationist orgnization. This forward states the so-called “flaws” of atheistic evolution and the rest of it is a conversion message written by Ray. But I wondered what is really behind this campaign. I found out later that he is also publishing a book on the same subject around the same time this campaign is going on. Then it dawned on me the reason why he is doing all this is simply to protect his financial security.
In the first part of the promotional video Kirk Cameron, Ray’s partner in the Way of the Master ministry, cited a poll from Trinity College that stated that the number of non-believers are on the rise in this country. The poll states that the percentage of people who were non-believers in 1990 was around 8% and when the poll was taken again in 2009 that number of non-believers had almost doubled to 15%. And as they extrapolated forward they saw that, if the trend continues, by the year 2029 the percentage of non-believers would reach 25%. Good news for us non-believers, we are becoming the fastest growing segment of the population and we have a good retention rate among the younger populations.
Well, this is bad news for Ray and company. With more people becoming non-believers there would be less people giving money to these religious organizations. With less money coming in from the dwindling numbers of the faithful, it would not be profitable enough to keep these large religious corporations going. Simply put non-believers are cutting into the revenue streams of these religious groups.
Say what you will about Ray but he is one thing above all; he is a salesman. And when a salesman sees that a product he is selling is not selling as well as it used to be. It is time to repackage the old product in new wrappings. Then have a slick advertising campaign to promote it and hope no-one will notice that it is the same old stuff. And this is what is happening right now. He wants us non-believers to make a big to do about all this and start up some controversy and get him a lot free advertising for himself and his group and all the while he makes a lot of money off the pious dupes that follow him.
Well instead of playing Ray’s little game we as non-believers should find creative ways to resist this movement’s latest attempt to take peoples’ money and their minds. I have heard of some already that sound pretty good. We have less than two months before this campaign begins. So enough time to come up with even more ways to show that this ploy is a nothing more than a gimmick to prop up a dying and increasingly irrelevant system of belief. And time is on our side and it is running out for them. The difference between a living religion and a mythology is time and interest.
In the first part of the promotional video Kirk Cameron, Ray’s partner in the Way of the Master ministry, cited a poll from Trinity College that stated that the number of non-believers are on the rise in this country. The poll states that the percentage of people who were non-believers in 1990 was around 8% and when the poll was taken again in 2009 that number of non-believers had almost doubled to 15%. And as they extrapolated forward they saw that, if the trend continues, by the year 2029 the percentage of non-believers would reach 25%. Good news for us non-believers, we are becoming the fastest growing segment of the population and we have a good retention rate among the younger populations.
Well, this is bad news for Ray and company. With more people becoming non-believers there would be less people giving money to these religious organizations. With less money coming in from the dwindling numbers of the faithful, it would not be profitable enough to keep these large religious corporations going. Simply put non-believers are cutting into the revenue streams of these religious groups.
Say what you will about Ray but he is one thing above all; he is a salesman. And when a salesman sees that a product he is selling is not selling as well as it used to be. It is time to repackage the old product in new wrappings. Then have a slick advertising campaign to promote it and hope no-one will notice that it is the same old stuff. And this is what is happening right now. He wants us non-believers to make a big to do about all this and start up some controversy and get him a lot free advertising for himself and his group and all the while he makes a lot of money off the pious dupes that follow him.
Well instead of playing Ray’s little game we as non-believers should find creative ways to resist this movement’s latest attempt to take peoples’ money and their minds. I have heard of some already that sound pretty good. We have less than two months before this campaign begins. So enough time to come up with even more ways to show that this ploy is a nothing more than a gimmick to prop up a dying and increasingly irrelevant system of belief. And time is on our side and it is running out for them. The difference between a living religion and a mythology is time and interest.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Jesus Christ Vampire
I have a somewhat plausible way that Jesus could come back from the dead. I thought about the many ways he could come back from the dead and be seen by his still living disciples and his fellow followers.
At first I thought he could be a zombie. An animated corpse could be seen by everyone and only in the Gospel of Matthew was their a reference to a zombie horde coming out of their graves and marching on Jerusalem at Jesus’s crucifying. So it would be at least plausible that the same force that animated these corpses could do the same for Jesus three days later. But remember Jews do not use any kind of preservation of the body and after three days of death the stench of putrefaction would be very evident even to the dullest sense of smell. And yet there is no reference to a smelly or dull witted zombie Jesus in the New Testament. So no help their.
My second guess would be some kind of ghost. A ghost would be able to pass right through his tomb door and move about quite freely and could be seen if he wanted to. There is even a gospel where Jesus walked through a shut door at a house where his disciple were having a meeting. Other times he would just appear out of nowhere to talk to one of his followers. But also in that section where walks through a shut door he seen eating a fish and another disciple pokes his finger into one of his wounds to prove his solidity. So no help their, either.
So I am left with only one conclusion. That conclusion is that Jesus Christ was a vampire. Look, of all of the previous scenarios and their refutations, this could be the one that works. A vampire could have come to Jesus at anytime during his near death and in the process of feeding could have turned Jesus into a vampire. A vampiric Jesus could be seen and would have the strength to roll away his gravestone and could, with his vampire abilities, walk through a shut door in mist form and could eat food but derive no nutrition from it and use his innate mesmeric powers to make his disciples see what he wanted them to see. Then I could understand the symbolic blood drinking and flesh eating as coming from an immortal vampire Jesus working from behind the scenes of early Christian history reflect his new undead status secretly.
Or even a more plausible scenario is that the biblical narrative was made up by people who lived decades after the events occurred and outside of the country that the events occurred in order to make their guy more than human, and make him into a legend.
At first I thought he could be a zombie. An animated corpse could be seen by everyone and only in the Gospel of Matthew was their a reference to a zombie horde coming out of their graves and marching on Jerusalem at Jesus’s crucifying. So it would be at least plausible that the same force that animated these corpses could do the same for Jesus three days later. But remember Jews do not use any kind of preservation of the body and after three days of death the stench of putrefaction would be very evident even to the dullest sense of smell. And yet there is no reference to a smelly or dull witted zombie Jesus in the New Testament. So no help their.
My second guess would be some kind of ghost. A ghost would be able to pass right through his tomb door and move about quite freely and could be seen if he wanted to. There is even a gospel where Jesus walked through a shut door at a house where his disciple were having a meeting. Other times he would just appear out of nowhere to talk to one of his followers. But also in that section where walks through a shut door he seen eating a fish and another disciple pokes his finger into one of his wounds to prove his solidity. So no help their, either.
So I am left with only one conclusion. That conclusion is that Jesus Christ was a vampire. Look, of all of the previous scenarios and their refutations, this could be the one that works. A vampire could have come to Jesus at anytime during his near death and in the process of feeding could have turned Jesus into a vampire. A vampiric Jesus could be seen and would have the strength to roll away his gravestone and could, with his vampire abilities, walk through a shut door in mist form and could eat food but derive no nutrition from it and use his innate mesmeric powers to make his disciples see what he wanted them to see. Then I could understand the symbolic blood drinking and flesh eating as coming from an immortal vampire Jesus working from behind the scenes of early Christian history reflect his new undead status secretly.
Or even a more plausible scenario is that the biblical narrative was made up by people who lived decades after the events occurred and outside of the country that the events occurred in order to make their guy more than human, and make him into a legend.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Cowardly Theist Bullies
I saw a video that said another YouTube atheist channel was taken down because of a false-flagging campaign. We don’t know exactly who caused this channel to be shut down, but I can take a wild guess, it was the theists.
Clearly, these theists are cowards. Clearly they do not have the courage of their convictions to face any atheist head on. They resort to smarmy and underhanded tactics to silence their critics. What happened to the good old days when you theists would face down the lions and die for the faith happily. Now they are relegated to vote-botting and false-flagging to muzzle the free speech of atheists and people who make them uncomfortable about what they believe in.
Clearly the theists have underestimated us. Every time they try shut one of us down the YouTube atheist community rallies to the defense of one of their own. Because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. We are not going away and we will keep on trying to free people from that gilded cage that is religion. With one video at a time. The more theists try to stop us the more people will see what the theists really are, pompous cowardly bullies, and come and join the growing numbers of the truly free people on YouTube. Our numbers are growing so join the revolution by adding more atheist voices to the conversation. Till the time comes when it will become impossible to silence us all.
Clearly, these theists are cowards. Clearly they do not have the courage of their convictions to face any atheist head on. They resort to smarmy and underhanded tactics to silence their critics. What happened to the good old days when you theists would face down the lions and die for the faith happily. Now they are relegated to vote-botting and false-flagging to muzzle the free speech of atheists and people who make them uncomfortable about what they believe in.
Clearly the theists have underestimated us. Every time they try shut one of us down the YouTube atheist community rallies to the defense of one of their own. Because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. We are not going away and we will keep on trying to free people from that gilded cage that is religion. With one video at a time. The more theists try to stop us the more people will see what the theists really are, pompous cowardly bullies, and come and join the growing numbers of the truly free people on YouTube. Our numbers are growing so join the revolution by adding more atheist voices to the conversation. Till the time comes when it will become impossible to silence us all.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Question for Theists
I wish to ask a few questions to all the theists out there, especially the biblical literalists. Do you really the believe that the bible is the “good book”? Try to answers these questions first and then decide for yourself.
1. Can I kill young children by dashing their little heads against the rocks as it is said in Psalms Chapter 137, verse 9?
2. Can kill a young relative and then eat their flesh as it is said in Jeremiah Chapter 19, verse 9?
3. Could I marry more than one woman as long as there are virgins as Jesus said Matthew Chapter 25, verses 1-13?
4. How much can I beat my slave for doing something wrong as Jesus said Luke Chapter 12, verses 45-46?
5. Can I tell a lie when I am predicting the future as it was written Jeremiah Chapter 14, verse 14?
6. How can I prepare and serve barley cakes that are made from human dung as it was written Ezekiel Chapter 4, verse 12?
7. Is fifty shekels really enough money, in this economy, to have my daughter marry the man who raped her as it was said in Deuteronomy Chapter 22, verses 28-29?
And don’t say because Jesus came onto the scene that the Old Testament questions no longer apply. As Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 5, verse 17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am come not to destroy, but to fulfill.” So what are your answers going to be, some kind of denial or some list of pathetic theistic rationalizations. Or will you admit that this book that you hold in such esteem is nothing more than a litany of justifications for what we would call, nowadays, very immoral acts. I doubt you would, but that is your problem, not mine.
1. Can I kill young children by dashing their little heads against the rocks as it is said in Psalms Chapter 137, verse 9?
2. Can kill a young relative and then eat their flesh as it is said in Jeremiah Chapter 19, verse 9?
3. Could I marry more than one woman as long as there are virgins as Jesus said Matthew Chapter 25, verses 1-13?
4. How much can I beat my slave for doing something wrong as Jesus said Luke Chapter 12, verses 45-46?
5. Can I tell a lie when I am predicting the future as it was written Jeremiah Chapter 14, verse 14?
6. How can I prepare and serve barley cakes that are made from human dung as it was written Ezekiel Chapter 4, verse 12?
7. Is fifty shekels really enough money, in this economy, to have my daughter marry the man who raped her as it was said in Deuteronomy Chapter 22, verses 28-29?
And don’t say because Jesus came onto the scene that the Old Testament questions no longer apply. As Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 5, verse 17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am come not to destroy, but to fulfill.” So what are your answers going to be, some kind of denial or some list of pathetic theistic rationalizations. Or will you admit that this book that you hold in such esteem is nothing more than a litany of justifications for what we would call, nowadays, very immoral acts. I doubt you would, but that is your problem, not mine.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Gay Marriage Disproves God's Existence!
I have be hearing about all the calamities that would befall any state that would legalize same sex marriage. Here is an interesting twist to this debate, it might prove that god does not exist!
Among the claims being made is that any state that gave marriage equality to gay people would get some kind of divine judgment. Some great supernatural cataclysm from an angry god. I’m talking about something out of the Old Testament, something like the earth opening up, fireballs raining down from the sky, or some massive killer flood. That’s right the fear based religions are using fear to impose their vision of marriage upon people. When every other argument of theirs have been completely and utterly refuted they use their weapon of last resort FEAR!
But even here they are robbed of this weapon. Some states have had marriage equality for gay people for 5 years. I haven’t read in the newspapers or seen anything on the news about Massachusetts being wiped off the map by some mysterious disaster or for that matter any other state that followed Massachusetts’s example. So I am left with only 3 conclusions.
1. That god is okay with marriage equality for gay people.
2. That god does not care, either way, that gay people are getting married.
3. That there is no god to offend with gay marriage.
Conclusion 1 can be refuted by their own Bible which shows that this god, through his divinely dictated book, dislikes gay people immensely by calling them abominations in both Old and New Testaments. Though the Bible does not specifically condemn gay marriage, anything pro gay, I would think, would get this god upset and very wrathful.
Conclusion 2 can also be refuted by the simple fact that anything that we humans do, good or bad, according to the Bible, this god seems interested in and getting in his two cents worth by involving himself in human affairs with the aforementioned supernatural wrathfulness or some kind of reward. According to Bible, god seems put his nose in our business all the time.
I myself think it is Conclusion 3 that is the most obvious answer of the group. But that’s my opinion and I am simply following the evidence that is before me. If your god exists, and dislikes marriage equality for gay people so much, where is the divine wrath that this god’s pious followers have promised.
I have seen many natural disasters hit states where gay marriage was banned. While other states that have marriage equality are relatively untouched by a natural disasters. How do the theists explain that? We are all still waiting for the divine judgment and wrath, pertaining to marriage equality, to come, what is taking your god so long?
Among the claims being made is that any state that gave marriage equality to gay people would get some kind of divine judgment. Some great supernatural cataclysm from an angry god. I’m talking about something out of the Old Testament, something like the earth opening up, fireballs raining down from the sky, or some massive killer flood. That’s right the fear based religions are using fear to impose their vision of marriage upon people. When every other argument of theirs have been completely and utterly refuted they use their weapon of last resort FEAR!
But even here they are robbed of this weapon. Some states have had marriage equality for gay people for 5 years. I haven’t read in the newspapers or seen anything on the news about Massachusetts being wiped off the map by some mysterious disaster or for that matter any other state that followed Massachusetts’s example. So I am left with only 3 conclusions.
1. That god is okay with marriage equality for gay people.
2. That god does not care, either way, that gay people are getting married.
3. That there is no god to offend with gay marriage.
Conclusion 1 can be refuted by their own Bible which shows that this god, through his divinely dictated book, dislikes gay people immensely by calling them abominations in both Old and New Testaments. Though the Bible does not specifically condemn gay marriage, anything pro gay, I would think, would get this god upset and very wrathful.
Conclusion 2 can also be refuted by the simple fact that anything that we humans do, good or bad, according to the Bible, this god seems interested in and getting in his two cents worth by involving himself in human affairs with the aforementioned supernatural wrathfulness or some kind of reward. According to Bible, god seems put his nose in our business all the time.
I myself think it is Conclusion 3 that is the most obvious answer of the group. But that’s my opinion and I am simply following the evidence that is before me. If your god exists, and dislikes marriage equality for gay people so much, where is the divine wrath that this god’s pious followers have promised.
I have seen many natural disasters hit states where gay marriage was banned. While other states that have marriage equality are relatively untouched by a natural disasters. How do the theists explain that? We are all still waiting for the divine judgment and wrath, pertaining to marriage equality, to come, what is taking your god so long?
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
God's Government Revealed
The recent violent developments in Iran has shown us one thing. That what the Iranians call a democracy is just a facade. A veneer they put over what is the real political structure of Iran a heavy handed, authoritarian, theocratic dictatorship. The response shows a classic dictatorial response to mass dissent is a violent crackdown.
In many ways it is like the government of god's heaven. Not only you must obey all of this deity's dictates without question you, as a believer, must also love him unequivocally. If you don't he will send you to a place to be tortured for all eternity. Sound familiar to the first paragraph. The theocrats used this heavenly model in Iran and used it the same way that this god has shown in the past.
Is there something better, of course there is, it is separation of religion and state, freedom of speech and conscience. But this is a threat to authoritarian power and will try to suppress it but ultimately it will fail. It was the great abolitionist Fredrick Douglass who once said "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will." And in the end godly government whether now or in the future will be shown as the farce that it really is and revealed to be nothing more than a dictatorship and the people will want real freedom and they will find out the only way is when a person can be free is when one is freed from religion itself. Only then will one see this god and the government he inspired as nothing more as a cruel dictatorship. Free your mind!
In many ways it is like the government of god's heaven. Not only you must obey all of this deity's dictates without question you, as a believer, must also love him unequivocally. If you don't he will send you to a place to be tortured for all eternity. Sound familiar to the first paragraph. The theocrats used this heavenly model in Iran and used it the same way that this god has shown in the past.
Is there something better, of course there is, it is separation of religion and state, freedom of speech and conscience. But this is a threat to authoritarian power and will try to suppress it but ultimately it will fail. It was the great abolitionist Fredrick Douglass who once said "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will." And in the end godly government whether now or in the future will be shown as the farce that it really is and revealed to be nothing more than a dictatorship and the people will want real freedom and they will find out the only way is when a person can be free is when one is freed from religion itself. Only then will one see this god and the government he inspired as nothing more as a cruel dictatorship. Free your mind!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Atheist Morality and Asimov's Robots
It is said by our theist commentators that we atheists have no morality. That only a belief in god is the only way that a person can be moral. That laws that came from thousands of years ago should guide us in the present time. I wholeheartily disagree with that premise. I believe that morality existed long before religion got its grubby little hands on it. That morality existed in nature and it evolved as a way for social animals to survive as a group.
One example of a god free code of moral conduct was found in the classic of science fiction work called “I-ROBOT” by Isaac Asimov. Asimov, who was also president of the American Humanist Association, and an Atheist, wrote a collection of stories based on The Three Robotic Laws which are as followed : 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Each of these stories in that novel dealt with the applications of these laws in various situations. And it ended with a mystery which put forward the question was the subject of the story a robot or a moral human.
Because if you read the laws more broadly it could be an admirable moral code for humans. If you would replace the word robot with the word human you would have a moral code that does not require any god, any divine, heavenly reward or any cruel, hellish punishment. And no large authoritarian organizations to give money too or torture or kill us if we disagreed with them.
This is but one of many examples of how one can have a moral code without a superstitious belief system. How it is more humane and rational than adherence to an outdated and ancient fear based systems. Ultimately it is why we atheists are in a way morally superior to any theist. Because we do good for the sake of being good and not for a selfish afterlife reward.
One example of a god free code of moral conduct was found in the classic of science fiction work called “I-ROBOT” by Isaac Asimov. Asimov, who was also president of the American Humanist Association, and an Atheist, wrote a collection of stories based on The Three Robotic Laws which are as followed : 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Each of these stories in that novel dealt with the applications of these laws in various situations. And it ended with a mystery which put forward the question was the subject of the story a robot or a moral human.
Because if you read the laws more broadly it could be an admirable moral code for humans. If you would replace the word robot with the word human you would have a moral code that does not require any god, any divine, heavenly reward or any cruel, hellish punishment. And no large authoritarian organizations to give money too or torture or kill us if we disagreed with them.
This is but one of many examples of how one can have a moral code without a superstitious belief system. How it is more humane and rational than adherence to an outdated and ancient fear based systems. Ultimately it is why we atheists are in a way morally superior to any theist. Because we do good for the sake of being good and not for a selfish afterlife reward.
Christian Cinema Sucks
Oscar time has come and gone and I would like to make a comment on the problem with Christian cinema.
As I was watching television one night and was flipping through the channels I came across a cable Christian channel showing a film and I don’t no the title but it was set in a diner at night and the two primary characters one was an atheist, who looked like a warmed over heroin addict and a Christian that was a clean cut blond haired, blue eyed boy and looking like something that came off a Hitler youth poster. As the movie rolled on the Christian and the Atheist traded words with one another, and the usual Christian arguments were put forward. As predicted in a film made by Christians the Christian ultimately won, BIG SURPRISE THERE and we are shown that the Atheist had suffered some emotional and psychological abuse and was shown, rather heavy handily, as the cause of his atheism. As if this was the cause of disbelief in god or gods.
The overall production was second rate and the acting was as hammy as a butcher shop. Why do they make such films like this? Not to convince atheists to convert to there religion. It is probably to keep the ones already converted feeling good about there choice and prove their religion’s superiority over any other belief system or any other philosophy. That’s right its Christian propaganda.
Who is the blame for such shoddy work? One could blame the dogmatic conformist mindset among the filmmakers. A mindset that says produce the same low grade stuff over and over again and never go outside the Christian box. Produce the same tired and improbable morality tales no matter what. Nothing challenging or creative because if do that it won’t be a Christian film. Making movies that in the end looked like a bad made for TV melodrama.
And two the people that lap this stuff up. Never challenging your creative people to take risks once in awhile and wanting the same cookie cutter films over and over again to satisfy your worldviews and pious egos.
What can they do to fix this problem. First fire all the people involved in making your films and replace them with competent creative people. I mean for the price of one of those mega-churches they could fund films and get good actors and production staffs and make a film that people who are not church people would actually see. Maybe then your films wouldn’t be preaching to the choir and reach what you considered “the lost”. But you probably won’t listen to little old me anyway and continue to producing the same old crap as before.
As I was watching television one night and was flipping through the channels I came across a cable Christian channel showing a film and I don’t no the title but it was set in a diner at night and the two primary characters one was an atheist, who looked like a warmed over heroin addict and a Christian that was a clean cut blond haired, blue eyed boy and looking like something that came off a Hitler youth poster. As the movie rolled on the Christian and the Atheist traded words with one another, and the usual Christian arguments were put forward. As predicted in a film made by Christians the Christian ultimately won, BIG SURPRISE THERE and we are shown that the Atheist had suffered some emotional and psychological abuse and was shown, rather heavy handily, as the cause of his atheism. As if this was the cause of disbelief in god or gods.
The overall production was second rate and the acting was as hammy as a butcher shop. Why do they make such films like this? Not to convince atheists to convert to there religion. It is probably to keep the ones already converted feeling good about there choice and prove their religion’s superiority over any other belief system or any other philosophy. That’s right its Christian propaganda.
Who is the blame for such shoddy work? One could blame the dogmatic conformist mindset among the filmmakers. A mindset that says produce the same low grade stuff over and over again and never go outside the Christian box. Produce the same tired and improbable morality tales no matter what. Nothing challenging or creative because if do that it won’t be a Christian film. Making movies that in the end looked like a bad made for TV melodrama.
And two the people that lap this stuff up. Never challenging your creative people to take risks once in awhile and wanting the same cookie cutter films over and over again to satisfy your worldviews and pious egos.
What can they do to fix this problem. First fire all the people involved in making your films and replace them with competent creative people. I mean for the price of one of those mega-churches they could fund films and get good actors and production staffs and make a film that people who are not church people would actually see. Maybe then your films wouldn’t be preaching to the choir and reach what you considered “the lost”. But you probably won’t listen to little old me anyway and continue to producing the same old crap as before.
Pious Frauds 2 A True Horror Story
I would like to tell you a true horror story about one of the victims of these ex-gay ministries. When I had read this I was shocked at what lengths one person will go through to fit into someone else’s model of what normal people should be like, sexually.
If you read a previous post titled “Pious Frauds” you will know what these ex-gay ministries are and I will not waste time repeating myself. Suffice it to say that these places are very bad and who care only about the money you give them for their magical cure and how to use the brainwashed victims they make to deny gay people their basic civil rights as citizens of this country.
This story starts out like any other from these victims of ex-gay ministries. A gay male who is pressured either by his family, friends, or his own church inspired guilt and self-loathing to go to one of these places for “treatment”. Time passes and he exposed to the various reparative therapy regimens that he will hope will change him into a fully functioning heterosexual adult. Touch football, watching sports, shock therapy, prayer, and blaming their innocent parents for their condition, among other things. But as so many others have found out before him these treatments do not seem to be working as advertised. They tell him the reason why it is not working is because it is his fault. That he did not pray hard enough, didn’t let Jesus into his heart and that all he needs to do is give them more money and he must work even harder so god will bless him and make him straight. All the while the pressure is building up and the self-loathing has gotten worse and worse. Till finally one desperate day came and he wanted to get cured of his same sex attractions once and for all and then he did something extremely drastic. He took a very sharp object and cut open his own genitals and then poured Liquid Drano into the wound. This, he hoped, would be the cure he and everybody else wanted for him. The story ends there and I do not know what happened to him after that, but I hope his okay.
This is an extreme but telling case, most give up on trying to change their sexual orientation, while some suffer nervous breakdowns, or others simply commit suicide rather than live a life as a gay person. And the religious people say that their beliefs does no real harm to anyone. Well in this case they dead wrong. It is only accepting yourself as nature intended you to be, will anyone find true happiness.
If you read a previous post titled “Pious Frauds” you will know what these ex-gay ministries are and I will not waste time repeating myself. Suffice it to say that these places are very bad and who care only about the money you give them for their magical cure and how to use the brainwashed victims they make to deny gay people their basic civil rights as citizens of this country.
This story starts out like any other from these victims of ex-gay ministries. A gay male who is pressured either by his family, friends, or his own church inspired guilt and self-loathing to go to one of these places for “treatment”. Time passes and he exposed to the various reparative therapy regimens that he will hope will change him into a fully functioning heterosexual adult. Touch football, watching sports, shock therapy, prayer, and blaming their innocent parents for their condition, among other things. But as so many others have found out before him these treatments do not seem to be working as advertised. They tell him the reason why it is not working is because it is his fault. That he did not pray hard enough, didn’t let Jesus into his heart and that all he needs to do is give them more money and he must work even harder so god will bless him and make him straight. All the while the pressure is building up and the self-loathing has gotten worse and worse. Till finally one desperate day came and he wanted to get cured of his same sex attractions once and for all and then he did something extremely drastic. He took a very sharp object and cut open his own genitals and then poured Liquid Drano into the wound. This, he hoped, would be the cure he and everybody else wanted for him. The story ends there and I do not know what happened to him after that, but I hope his okay.
This is an extreme but telling case, most give up on trying to change their sexual orientation, while some suffer nervous breakdowns, or others simply commit suicide rather than live a life as a gay person. And the religious people say that their beliefs does no real harm to anyone. Well in this case they dead wrong. It is only accepting yourself as nature intended you to be, will anyone find true happiness.
Pious Frauds
I want to say something that was on my mind. That something is Ex-Gay Ministries. If you don’t know what they are here is a short description, they are groups of conservative theists who believe that through prayer and giving one self to Jesus Christ one will cure themselves of their same - sex desires. There are many of these ministries throughout the U.S. and around the world. Playing into fear and shame that gays and there families go through, these ministries charge huge fees with the promise to get their gay family members to become straight. None of these ministries truly have any scientific data to support any of their claims.
These ministries claim to have many successes and advertise them to desperate people and their families. Surveys have shown that they have a 12 percent success rate. But lets look at what is behind these numbers. 4 percent I have found out are celibate, walling off there sexuality completely. Another 4 percent are superficially straight in behavior, but their orientation is still gay. This group is always on guard and repressing their gayness by examining every action they take and how it might be perceived by their Christian peers, as gay or straight. The other 4 percent is what I like to call ex-gay for pay. What I mean is that they are like they previous 4 percent, but they go around and publicly declare their ex gayness while being a living advertisement for a particular ex gay ministry on television and in the print media. Of all categories of ex gays, the hardest one to break away from would be the last one, because for some this is their only source of income. And repression of ones own true orientation is never healthy for the psyche and that the repressed desire will come fourth at an inappropriate time and ruin the facade that they have so carefully constructed.
There is a book out there which goes into much more detail about this subject called “Anything but Straight”, by Wayne Besen. Also there is also a website called exgaywatch.com that can address current issues dealing with ex-gay ministries. I suggest you do your research and see what ministries are truly about.
These ministries claim to have many successes and advertise them to desperate people and their families. Surveys have shown that they have a 12 percent success rate. But lets look at what is behind these numbers. 4 percent I have found out are celibate, walling off there sexuality completely. Another 4 percent are superficially straight in behavior, but their orientation is still gay. This group is always on guard and repressing their gayness by examining every action they take and how it might be perceived by their Christian peers, as gay or straight. The other 4 percent is what I like to call ex-gay for pay. What I mean is that they are like they previous 4 percent, but they go around and publicly declare their ex gayness while being a living advertisement for a particular ex gay ministry on television and in the print media. Of all categories of ex gays, the hardest one to break away from would be the last one, because for some this is their only source of income. And repression of ones own true orientation is never healthy for the psyche and that the repressed desire will come fourth at an inappropriate time and ruin the facade that they have so carefully constructed.
There is a book out there which goes into much more detail about this subject called “Anything but Straight”, by Wayne Besen. Also there is also a website called exgaywatch.com that can address current issues dealing with ex-gay ministries. I suggest you do your research and see what ministries are truly about.
Ancient Atheism
You might think that atheism is a relatively new phenomena. But you would be wrong, disbelief in gods are as ancient as religion itself. I guess as long as there is religion there will always people who will not accept it as true.
One of these ancient atheists was called Diagoras of Melos a Greek who lived in the fifth century BCE. You would probably call him the first atheist activist. He was very outspoken about his disbelief in the Greek gods and this got him in trouble with the powers that be from time to time.
One story has it that he was shown the pictures of people who were saved from sea storms by making offerings to the gods. He simply replied “there are nowhere any pictures of those who have been drowned.” Another time he was on a ship that was in an intense storm and the superstitious crew thought that they were be punished by the gods by having a noted nonbeliever onboard. He simply asked if there were other ships in the same storm who had other Diagoras’ aboard. Another time Diagoras tossed an wooden image of the god Hercules into a fire to cook his meal and said to the crowd that saw this, that the god could perform another miracle and save itself from the fire. He also convinced many people to not to join the Eleusinian mystery cult. These actions over time led to much ire among the people of Athens and ultimately led to him leaving Athens after they publicly condemned him and put a price on his head dead or alive. He fled to Sparta and lived out the rest of his life their.
It seems that ancient or modern, people who are atheists often provoke the anger among the pious. We simply point out the absurdity of the belief. This makes people uncomfortable and want to silence us. In the ancient world it was the threat of violence; today its vote bots on YouTube. We will not be silent and no amount of threats or slimy cowardly tricks will stop us. Reason will ultimately prevail.
One of these ancient atheists was called Diagoras of Melos a Greek who lived in the fifth century BCE. You would probably call him the first atheist activist. He was very outspoken about his disbelief in the Greek gods and this got him in trouble with the powers that be from time to time.
One story has it that he was shown the pictures of people who were saved from sea storms by making offerings to the gods. He simply replied “there are nowhere any pictures of those who have been drowned.” Another time he was on a ship that was in an intense storm and the superstitious crew thought that they were be punished by the gods by having a noted nonbeliever onboard. He simply asked if there were other ships in the same storm who had other Diagoras’ aboard. Another time Diagoras tossed an wooden image of the god Hercules into a fire to cook his meal and said to the crowd that saw this, that the god could perform another miracle and save itself from the fire. He also convinced many people to not to join the Eleusinian mystery cult. These actions over time led to much ire among the people of Athens and ultimately led to him leaving Athens after they publicly condemned him and put a price on his head dead or alive. He fled to Sparta and lived out the rest of his life their.
It seems that ancient or modern, people who are atheists often provoke the anger among the pious. We simply point out the absurdity of the belief. This makes people uncomfortable and want to silence us. In the ancient world it was the threat of violence; today its vote bots on YouTube. We will not be silent and no amount of threats or slimy cowardly tricks will stop us. Reason will ultimately prevail.
Smarter Than God?
The theists claim that there god is omniscient. How could one test this claim of an all knowing deity. Since we can’t directly test this god of theirs; we must use other means. The Judeo - Christian theists teach that there god gave them a book as there god’s word on everything. This book, called the Bible, and was either written and/or inspired by there deity according to there particular belief systems. What better way to test if we humans are smarter than god.
Let us see what this Bible has to say about the world around us and the some of the basic facts that any human being knows. Let’s start at the beginning, in the Old Testament. In Genesis chapter 3 verse 1 it states that a snake talked to the first human beings. The snake is a species of lizard and that it lacks the mental capacity and the physical attributes needed for human speech. There is also a talking donkey in Numbers chapter 22, verses 28-30 which also have the same problems as the aforementioned snake. So these two biblical episodes are not in accordance with a simple observation of the natural world.
In the realm of biblically inspired astronomy, geography, physics, and mathematics is where things get a little more difficult and weird. According to Isaiah chapter 40: verse 22 the Earth is as flat as a dinner plate. When this Old Testament was written even the Greeks knew a could prove that the Earth was round and our present observations confirm this. In Isaiah chapter 13: verse 10 it is said that our Moon produces its own light. We now know that the light that comes from the Moon is actually reflected sunlight. The Sun, in Isaiah chapter 20 : verse 11, moved backwards which is not physically possible because the Earth would have to stop and would cause all the Earth’s surface material to fly off into space according to Newton’s laws of motion. In Joshua chapter 10: verse 12 the Sun actually stopped in the sky with no apparent calamity either. This also shows that the Sun was a moving object which has observed to be false for about five hundred years. In Deuteronomy chapter 28 : verse 23, and this is the weird part, the entire sky above our world is made of a metal called brass. Well even an elementary school child knows that sky is made of various gases called air. I’ve looked up their and saw no metal either. And all the rockets and probes we sent up there over the years have not banged up against any metal sky. But it is the realm of mathematics that there is an obvious failure, in 1st Kings chapter 7 : verse 23 the calculated value for pi is exactly three. Again the surrounding ancient cultures did it better; the Greeks and the Egyptians actually calculated pi to at least five or six decimal points and modern humans have calculated it in the millions.
For a book written with the aide of an omniscient being it certainly got a lot of things wrong about the natural world. This being should have known about this stuff and conveyed this basic knowledge to his followers in order to prove his omniscience. In the end this being is not as smart as us. If this being got these basic things so wrong. Why would we trust this moron to guide us in other areas of our lives?
Let us see what this Bible has to say about the world around us and the some of the basic facts that any human being knows. Let’s start at the beginning, in the Old Testament. In Genesis chapter 3 verse 1 it states that a snake talked to the first human beings. The snake is a species of lizard and that it lacks the mental capacity and the physical attributes needed for human speech. There is also a talking donkey in Numbers chapter 22, verses 28-30 which also have the same problems as the aforementioned snake. So these two biblical episodes are not in accordance with a simple observation of the natural world.
In the realm of biblically inspired astronomy, geography, physics, and mathematics is where things get a little more difficult and weird. According to Isaiah chapter 40: verse 22 the Earth is as flat as a dinner plate. When this Old Testament was written even the Greeks knew a could prove that the Earth was round and our present observations confirm this. In Isaiah chapter 13: verse 10 it is said that our Moon produces its own light. We now know that the light that comes from the Moon is actually reflected sunlight. The Sun, in Isaiah chapter 20 : verse 11, moved backwards which is not physically possible because the Earth would have to stop and would cause all the Earth’s surface material to fly off into space according to Newton’s laws of motion. In Joshua chapter 10: verse 12 the Sun actually stopped in the sky with no apparent calamity either. This also shows that the Sun was a moving object which has observed to be false for about five hundred years. In Deuteronomy chapter 28 : verse 23, and this is the weird part, the entire sky above our world is made of a metal called brass. Well even an elementary school child knows that sky is made of various gases called air. I’ve looked up their and saw no metal either. And all the rockets and probes we sent up there over the years have not banged up against any metal sky. But it is the realm of mathematics that there is an obvious failure, in 1st Kings chapter 7 : verse 23 the calculated value for pi is exactly three. Again the surrounding ancient cultures did it better; the Greeks and the Egyptians actually calculated pi to at least five or six decimal points and modern humans have calculated it in the millions.
For a book written with the aide of an omniscient being it certainly got a lot of things wrong about the natural world. This being should have known about this stuff and conveyed this basic knowledge to his followers in order to prove his omniscience. In the end this being is not as smart as us. If this being got these basic things so wrong. Why would we trust this moron to guide us in other areas of our lives?
Long Odds on the Afterlife
When all the theist arguments fail to convince the potential convert to convert they are left with only one card up the theist sleeve. This card is called fear. Specifically the fear of a hellish, torturous punishment when they die. This act of desperation on the theist front is usually enough to get the conversion they want. With vivid descriptions of this place it can scare almost anyone into belief. But the probability of this afterlife scenario seems quite low.
When confronted by this desperate ploy one should tell the theist these facts. The odds that there is an afterlife is about 50 / 50. Basically, there’s something after death or there’s is nothing after we die. Then the theist will predictably say that there is an afterlife. But then you will say the second part of these facts. There are many different afterlife scenarios from around the world and from the all the times in the past. The number could be around a million different scenarios at least, dealing with death and the afterlife. So that the odds that the theists own afterlife scenario is the right one is about one in one million. Pretty long odds to bet your afterlife on. Your are probably more likely to be struck by lightening twice.
It is clear that the threat of hell has little effect on the non-believer because we know that there is no evidence for its existence. And if there were an afterlife the odds that it would be the one thought to exist by the theist would be extremely long. The safer bet would be on the non believers’ side. At least then it would be better than living in a prison of fear that theists’ they built for themselves. Living with not measuring up to what the authorities of the belief want you to do. And then if you ask questions about your belief and if the authorities unable to get good answers, they threaten eternal damnation and tell you to just pray and obey. If you were to follow that you could never live a truly happy life and you will never escape that prison of fear.
When confronted by this desperate ploy one should tell the theist these facts. The odds that there is an afterlife is about 50 / 50. Basically, there’s something after death or there’s is nothing after we die. Then the theist will predictably say that there is an afterlife. But then you will say the second part of these facts. There are many different afterlife scenarios from around the world and from the all the times in the past. The number could be around a million different scenarios at least, dealing with death and the afterlife. So that the odds that the theists own afterlife scenario is the right one is about one in one million. Pretty long odds to bet your afterlife on. Your are probably more likely to be struck by lightening twice.
It is clear that the threat of hell has little effect on the non-believer because we know that there is no evidence for its existence. And if there were an afterlife the odds that it would be the one thought to exist by the theist would be extremely long. The safer bet would be on the non believers’ side. At least then it would be better than living in a prison of fear that theists’ they built for themselves. Living with not measuring up to what the authorities of the belief want you to do. And then if you ask questions about your belief and if the authorities unable to get good answers, they threaten eternal damnation and tell you to just pray and obey. If you were to follow that you could never live a truly happy life and you will never escape that prison of fear.
The Slavery of Religion
Nietzsche believed that religion was a form of slavery. If you look at the way religion is set up it does look like a typical plantation slave structure. In religion there is god, a church where he is served, a group of priests ministers or preachers who are supposedly to serve their god, and the people who attend the church. There are more people who attend the church than who officiate at them. Now lets look at the plantation slave structure. You have a master of the house, the manor in which he lives in, the house servants who serve the master and his family and live in the manor house, and finally the field laborers. There are more field laborers than are house servants, proportionally. Now compare the two and you will see that basically religion and slavery are the same structurally. No wonder that Jesus and Paul used so much slave imagery when they talked about men’s relationship between themselves and their god. And by the way they never seem to decry the institution itself anywhere in the bible.
The Old and New Testament are on the whole a pro slavery book. No wonder Jesus, his disciples, or Paul never spoke out against it. And even advocating aspects of slavery. Today we believe that slavery was and is an immoral system worthy of abhorrence. But the god of the Bible was okay with it. What does this say about this god and his book and his people follow it slavishly?
The Old and New Testament are on the whole a pro slavery book. No wonder Jesus, his disciples, or Paul never spoke out against it. And even advocating aspects of slavery. Today we believe that slavery was and is an immoral system worthy of abhorrence. But the god of the Bible was okay with it. What does this say about this god and his book and his people follow it slavishly?
The Purpose of Atheism
What is the purpose for being an atheist? I will tell you what our purpose should be. We are the liberators. Liberators of the mind. To free our fellow humans from the terrible bondage of belief. Like the slavery from America’s past, we find our fellow humans manacled and shackled by superstition and fear. We who are free of mind and grounded in reason must spread this freedom to our brother and sisters who are still in chains. This is our moral imperative our reason for being. If we ignore our purpose we would be as guilty as those who perpetuate the myths we are fighting against.
Our enemy is numerous and well funded. They seem to be almost unstoppable. But for all their apparent strength there is a weakness. Like the Spartans at Thermopylae, who were small in number but highly trained, facing a vast and numerically superior forces of the Persians. The Spartans saw, for all there size the Persians were poorly armed and unable to fight effectively. Assault after assault the 300 Spartans repulsed. The moral of that episode from history that we should take. That for all the size and apparent power the theist followers they are shallow in their understanding of what of what they believe. This is the weakness we as atheist should exploit, for we know our enemy and all their arguments and from that knowledge we can set the captives free.
Our enemy is numerous and well funded. They seem to be almost unstoppable. But for all their apparent strength there is a weakness. Like the Spartans at Thermopylae, who were small in number but highly trained, facing a vast and numerically superior forces of the Persians. The Spartans saw, for all there size the Persians were poorly armed and unable to fight effectively. Assault after assault the 300 Spartans repulsed. The moral of that episode from history that we should take. That for all the size and apparent power the theist followers they are shallow in their understanding of what of what they believe. This is the weakness we as atheist should exploit, for we know our enemy and all their arguments and from that knowledge we can set the captives free.
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