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.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
