Kingdom of Heathen

Counterpoint debunked

2007-01-07T16:26:00.000-05:00

Point: More people have been killed in the name of religion than any other cause.
Counterpoint: The killers would have found a reason to kill them anyways.

No. No! NO!

I hate this argument. It is logically weak in so many ways, but its apparent simplicity captures too many people.

You see, it suggests that murders in the name of religion aren't so atrocious, because they could have been for any reason. This disgusts me. The Holocaust was such a horrible thing because - among other reasons - millions of people were killed solely because of their religion. Saying "Oh, Hitler would have found another reason" detracts from the severity of the crime.

And it's just a stupid thing to say - if six million Jews had actually been six million Christians, the Third Reich would not have brutally slaughtered them all. If Israel was an Islamic nation, there would be no conflict with the Palestinians. If America was a Muslim nation, the terrorist threat would be nonexistent. If 15th Century Spain had Buddhist monarchs, the Inquisition would not have occurred.

Period.

Religion as disease: Scientology infests the minds of Britain

2007-01-07T13:50:00.000-05:00

So. Scientologists in Britain decided to become more than just a church that people know about, they want to be a church that claims an entire nation of youths. Scientologists in Britain are using anti-drug seminars in schools for children in over 500 different high schools and private schools. Probably the most influential age for children regarding matters of sexuality, music preference, amount of corporal mortification and body piercings inflicted upon themselves, drug usage, and religion. A reporter had spoken to a representative form Narconon, Lucy Skirrow, who said: “'... about 56,000* students and teachers last year and we did 38,000 the year before . . . It has an effect . . . Kids say their viewpoints actually do change.'

"Narconon promotes a number of unorthodox theories and treatments — based on Hubbard’s work — which experts say are not backed by scientific evidence. In California, where Narconon has its international headquarters, the state department of education has advised schools against using the charity."

The UK is also (seemingly) taking a leaf out of California's book by by advising prisons to ban Narconon from their prisons, probably because they plan to use addicts as recruits by creating what they call "the world's largest drug "treatment" center.

Well, thats enough news on the exploitation of children. For more information, see the link in the bar on the left side that has a heading (pink highlighted) called "What you should know about Narconon"

*2006 for those of us still adjusting

10 myths and 10 truths about atheists

2006-12-25T12:52:00.000-05:00

I'm not an eloquent person. That's the main reason I haven't posted here in... let's see... 7 months. I just find it hard to express myself in writing. So here is an LA Times article that I think expresses my views, and those of many atheists, perfectly. Here's the article.

Morality Without God

2006-12-24T12:34:00.000-05:00

People often ask me how I can be a moral person without God. This is a silly question. I tell them so. They walk away. I continue eating my mango pie.

Morals are a function of society. They have been derived from countless experiences throughout the history of a society. This is why different societies have different morals. This is so wildly obvious to anyone that has studied different cultures that I'm not going to debate it here.

Let's say Billy is just walking along one day, minding his own business, when Greg comes along and viciously stabs him to death. Billy's friends and family are distraught, they mourn his death, and then teach their children that, because of the pain they experienced from murder, they should never murder anyone. Repeat this process a few thousand times and you get a social moral. Most people in, let's say, the 'civilized' world-society as a whole don't think it's a good idea to kill each other. Why? Because it's a social moral, and because if you do society will take action and do something to get you back.

When I have given this argument to my religious friends, a few have asked why people would care about the deaths of their friends, if not because God had originally implanted the feeling in their head. This is a silly question. I tell them so. They walk away. I continue eating my mango pie.

Compassion for companions is found in almost every animal with even a pretense at a brain. Therefore it must have an evolutionary benefit so profound that many creatures simply cannot survive without it. Empathy is then not restricted to humans and their so-called holy scripture. But more to the point: appreciating the death of a loved one for what it is is clearly a survival mechanism. If Billy (magically resurrected for the purpose of this example) eats the red berries, and Billy gets sick, Billy knows not to eat the red berries. Similarly, if Billy's sister is killed by a giant porcupine Billy knows he either has to get away from it or kill it so it can't do him or his family any harm. Why does he know this? Because his sister died from it and since he empathizes with her he doesn't want a similar thing to happen to him.

Everyone living in a society is affected by social morals, but many choose to augment those morals with their own experiences. This is how social morals change. Social morals of a certain time period are often written down and eventually worshiped by others. Take the old testament for example. I don't stone people to death anymore, and people don't stone me. Why? Because social morals have changed. The reason that people can still call themselves Christian without following the exact word of the Bible and stoning people is a post for another time.

For myself, I've adopted a view of morality which seems to be shared by many in this blogosphere. I care about the good of the human race. If something I do hurts someone, it is wrong. If something I do helps someone, then it is right. If something I do both hurts and helps people, but it helps more people then it hurts, then it is right, though not so right as just helping people. If it hurts and helps the same number of people, but the people that it helps can do more to help people than can the people that it hurts, then it is right.

Killing a good person is wrong. Cheating on the SAT's is not particularly wrong, unless the knowledge you gain from studying for it can help you or someone else. You see?

Ordinarily I would put a well-written conclusion that restates my original thesis and brings a new and shocking revelation to the post here, but my time could be better spent helping my cat out of the tree it has just gotten stuck in.

Good day.

Oh yes, and Merry Christmas.

The COTG

2006-12-10T10:07:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Café Heathen! Today we'll be serving a mixed dish of cynicism, logical argument and circular debate. Ice cream flavors are Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla and the sweat, blood and tears that I've been pouring into this project for the past week (you can ask for that on the side).

On this, the 10th of December, Kingdom of Heathen and myself, Aeger, are proud to present the Carnival of the Godless.

Do enjoy.

For an appetizer, here's Ebonmuse with a delicious essay examining C.S. Lewis and his not-so-staunch defending of Christianity. Taste the crunchy goodness of knowing you're right.

Who likes Sweet and Sour stuff?

On the offensive we have Vjack, arguing against religion because of it's inbred intolerance.

I reject the notion that all human differences deserve equal respect and tolerance. For example, I have no interest in being tolerant of racism, sexism, homophobia, or other forms of irrational hatred. Thus, we should not be held to the expectation that we must be tolerant of intolerance.

Note the bitter flavoring.

Addressing the problem of the Scientist Mindset is Kirk from the Traveling Forever Blog. 'What is this mindset?' you may ask. Well, I'm not going to tell you. That's what the damn link is for.

Mojoey brings us morality without God.

Morality is a function of society, I was taught my morals by my patents, extended family, and social groups. I was taught morality by reading the bible and by my experience as a Christian. And, I refined my morality by deep thought and reflection on the nature of good and evil.

Purse your lips in citrusy expectation. A scientist using "scientific studies" to promote his own religious views? Not on Shalini's watch. From the blog Scientia Natura comes a smack-down of just such a scientist.

Christians: Learn the Bitter Taste of Defeat.

From our good friend Alfredo (it's the name of a food, so I don't have to make any allusions, hooray) over at Four Directions, we have a thesis which disproves the claim that theists can speak with God by pointing out the limits of our own senses.

Brought to us by Aaron from Symbolic Order, an argument twixt two friends of different beliefs made public in an inter-blog debate. And by Trevor from the same blog: a count down of the ten reasons that Christianity is false.
10. It is Absurd

And now we have Jeff from Minds, Meanings and Morals, who argues in support of taking religious experiences with God seriously, so as to better argue against them.

A Relish from A Published Mind.

From Rhyme and Reason, we have a transcript of a speech made by Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, at the World Religions Conference on the subject of salvation. Juicy, delicious salvation.

Fiction(?) Never Tasted So Insightful.

Volunteered by myself without his consent (it's not that he didn't want me to, I just never asked), a story by Harry from the Ragged Trousered Philosopher entitled "Talking To God..." Enjoy the 15-pagey goodness.

And from your dear Host, Kingdom of Heathen (more specifically: myself), I bring you an Ode to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Ever wondered what's really out there? Just use your noodle, you silly person.

A Mint for Your After Dinner Pleasure.

We've all seen that little purple and red tract that reads "Science Confirms the Bible." We look at it for a second, and say "Huh, I wonder if that's true," and then walk on. Well, Akusai from Action Skeptics has researched this tract, and found that not all of its claims are completely justified.

Later, at home, I looked over the card and had a long, hard laugh. I showed it to some friends and we all had a long, hard laugh. See, we're all hard-nosed, no-nonsense, science-type assholes. The great wish was that Buddy the Creationist had approached all of us in a group on a warm spring day, so we could have torn him to shreds.

I hope you enjoyed our food for thought. I'll see y'all in another year and a half.

WARNING: The writer of this post is not responsible for knowledge obtained or stomach cramps gained from reading this carnival. Repeated viewing of this page may result in swelling of the brain and/or revelations regarding the true meaning of life. And possible hemorrhaging. Have fun.

To all you who decided to wait until the last possible day to email in, I sincerely apologize. A combination of the dropout of the assistance of the other contributors, a small misunderstanding of the due date and an unusually large quantity of submissions led me to pull the due date back to the 7th. I apologize if you didn't hear about this in time and urge you to email your submissions to next weeks host, God is for Suckers.

Cotgming Soon

2006-12-09T17:04:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow or the next day will see a new post on KoH. This post will be a special post. A unique post. 'Why?' you ask? Well, I'll tell you. This next post will host other people's posts! 'What kind of post could house other people's opinions in the form of cheesy introductions and interestingly placed urls?' you ask?

It's called the Carnival of the Godless, you silly person, and it's coming to Kingdom of Heathen on December 10th.

...or maybe 11th (can you believe some people are still sending in submissions a week after the due date? I'm in a mind to just ignore them.)

Pastor Ted

2006-11-22T17:13:00.000-05:00

The Reverend Ted Haggard, previously the leader of the 30 million-strong National Association of Evangelicals was one of the strongest opponents of gay rights in the country. He preached banishment to all homosexuals and his craggy face swore at the heathen masses from millions of televisions. One might even say he ate anti-gay hate for breakfast. The Reverend recently stepped down from his NAE presidency. Why? Well, it turns out that for the past 3 years Mr. Haggard has been having sex with a gay prostitute.

I'll just give you a moment to compose yourself.

Mike Jones, the prostistute in question, called up a radio station to go public with the information because he was concerned by Haggard's hypocrisy. "It made me angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex," he said. Apparently Haggard, or "Art" as he called himself when meeting Jones, contacted his constituent every month for 3 years running. In addition to this, Jones claims Haggard used methamphetamine to heighten their sexual encounters.

Gay sex and drug use from the leading anti-gay evangelical in America? I think Jon Stewart phrased it best when he said "You know you're in trouble when you've seated the moral high ground to a drug dealing prostitute."

Here's a rather ironic and creepy film of him and his pre-resignation slogan.

Here is him denying relations or even knowledge of the existence of Mike Jones.

Here's a voice mail recording of him asking for more meth from Jones

Aaaaand here is his eventual statement of apology for his "lifelong sexual problem"

Hypocrisy is truly the most entertaining thing since sliced bread.

Praise Be To His Noodly Appendage

2006-09-30T07:48:00.000-05:00

Edit: Sorry about the delay twixt posts, I actually started this a while ago and saved it as a draft, so when I published it, it was published under the date I had originally saved it, which meant it appeared somewhere at the bottom of the page. Oh well, it's here now.

...For He is fully deserving of praise. I speak of course of his Noodlieness the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I have of late purchased His Gospel, and have also of... slightly more... recently... of late finished reading it and been truly enlightened. I first found out about the Church of the FSM back in '04 or '05, when I signed up for the FSM forum, and have been expectantly waiting for the Gospel to come out for quite some time now. And now that it has, I am not disappointed at all. It's really a much better read than the Bible.

...Stupid Bible

But seriously, the whole idea of the FSM is brilliant. I wish I had thought of it, and I greatly respect Mr. Bobby Henderson (Prophet) for bringing the idea into the public realm. Indeed, this book shows that the FSM has indeed transcended internet cult status and pulled itself into the light of public viewing. But I think at this momentous occasion the best action would be to look not to the future (because the future hasn't happened yet, and things that haven't happened are like monkeys, exciting at first, but then increasingly more annoying as time wears on... or like cows), but to the past.

Take a moment to reread that. OK.

And so it is with great pride that I have assembled this brief (HA HA HA HA) history of Pastafarianism. Consider yourself converted.

It all began with a letter to the Kansas School Board.

The Board had been seriously considering putting intelligent Design into schools as an alternate theory to Evolution. Bobby Henderson, in a brilliant stroke of genius (which he later accounted to a vision from the FSM) wrote a letter to the Board complaining. See, I could just give you a link. But this way it makes the post so much longer:

I am writing you with much concern after having read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design should be taught along with the theory of Evolution. I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them. I am concerned, however, that students will only hear one theory of Intelligent Design.

Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him.

It is for this reason that I am writing you today, to formally request that this alternative theory be taught in your schools, along with the other two theories. In fact, I will go so far as to say, if you do not agree to do this, we will be forced to proceed with legal action. I am sure you see where we are coming from. [...]

In conclusion, thank you for taking the time to hear our views and beliefs. I hope I was able to convey the importance of teaching this theory to your students. We will of course be able to train the teachers in this alternate theory. I am eagerly awaiting your response, and hope dearly that no legal action will need to be taken. I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.

Sincerely Yours,

Bobby Henderson, concerned citizen.

P.S. I have included an artistic drawing of Him creating a mountain, trees, and a midget. Remember, we are all His creatures.

And so it began...

Soon after, emails began coming in from members of the School Board, some congratulatory:

Dear Mr. Henderson, Thanks for your message. Thanks for the laugh. Your web site is fascinating. I will add your theory to a long list of alternative theories I intend to introduce when it is appropriate. [...]

I will be one of the four member minority who will be voting against the flawed science standards currently being proposed by the six member majority.

Sincerely, Sue Gamble

And some not:

From: Mrs. Kathy Martin, District 6

"It is a serious offense to mock God."

Along with the letter, Bobby Henderson also forged a website, which soon attracted a cult following. From this spawned a forum, and from there it was an easy road to the glorious status it now holds of everyone on the planet having vaguely heard of it. Take this famous conversation between President Roosevelt and his secretary of state Cordell Hull for example:

President Roosevelt: Hey, what religion are you?
Cordell Hull: I'm a Pastafarian.
President Roosevelt: Oh yes, Pastafarianism, I have vaguely heard of it

See?

One of the truly brilliant things about FSMism is it's mutual appeal to all freethinkers. I speak not only of atheists like myself, but also of anyone of any religion who recognizes the problems that religion causes. Perhaps, with time, Pastafarianism will lead the anti-religious-stupidity front, which it is already starting to do. I foresee a this mock religion being a great tool for tolerance in the world.

So I have this History assignment to write about my "Hajj to Mecca"…

2006-09-16T14:46:00.000-05:00

Dear Mom,

Hi! Guess where I'm writing from! Yeah! Saudi Arabia! Man, what a crazy two weeks this has been! It seems like just a few nights ago when you were disowning me for converting!

But seriously, Mom, this has been awesome! Now that I've gone on the Hajj, I've successfully completed one of the Five Pillars of Islam. I even got a bumper sticker! Also deep spiritual fulfillment derived from connectedness to God, but I can't put that on my car.

Ha! Ha! Anyways, you know, Muhammed was the first person to do a Hajj. We call him "The Big M" around here. Yeah, so, ever since he came back to Mecca and conquered it for Islam, Muslims have been making the pilgrimage here. Millions of people, Mom! You know how Dad always told me to become part of something? It's not the Army, Dad (wherever you are), but it's still responsible for lots and lots of wars and dead people!

You know, Mom, Muhammed was kinda like me. He was banished from his home (Mecca!) for practicing "paganism." Sound familiar? Haha! And so when he had enough followers, he went back to Mecca and took it away from the actual pagans! It's awesome!

Mom, you know how you always thought I converted because I was too stupid to understand Catholicism? Well, some of my new friends find that very offensive! This one guy, Abu-Musab, says that Catholicism is the stupid religion! How about that, Mom? Hmm?

No, Ma, I converted because the Bible's boring. There's too much begetting and not enough killing of infidels. I'm a child of the twenty-first century, Mom. I need action, and I found it in the Koran. Sure, Jesus said he would "slay" his enemies once or twice, but the Koran has that everywhere! Pages and pages condemning the infidels! "Fighting is obligatory," Mom! It's just like in those video games you caught me playing!

You and Dad always told me my life needed structure, but the Church never gave me any! But with Islam, Mom (Ha ha! It rhymes!), I've got salat. No, Mom, not a tasty vegetarian dish. It's prayer! I have to pray five times a day! Oh yes, Ma, five times: Before sunrise, at noon, before sunset, after sunset, and at dusk! That's far more structure than you and your crazy confessions and nightly prayers! Ha!

So that's why I went on the Hajj, Ma. I've proven that I'm an actual Muslim now. I have structure, and friends, and I'm closer to Allah. Who's the loser now, Principal Jenkins? That's right!

Anyways, did I mention how hot the Middle East is? It's sweltering, Ma! It's even worse than Dad's laboratory! Well, there aren't as many pointy things, so I guess it evens out. But when I got here, I was almost dying (also like Daddy's lab!) to change into my ihram! You know what that is, Mom? It's a white uniform! It's like two sheets, but even better, because its traditional! And sandals! Everybody else has to wear them, too, so there aren't any stylish kids to beat me up anymore! Ha ha ha! We're all nerds before God!

And you know what else is cool about Mecca? The Kaaba! It's this big cube-shaped building that Abraham built, in the center of the city's mosque. It's got a big black cloth on it, and my friends say that on the inside there's a room with Koranic inscriptions! They don't let people in, thought, except for the annual cleaning ceremony.

You know, when The Big M conquered Mecca, he didn't hurt anybody, because he was just cool like that. Instead, he just told people to get rid the filthy pagan idols around the Kaaba. So now, instead of worshipping idols, everybody bows down to a gigantic cube! It's awesome!

And not only is the Kaaba awesome, but the whole Hajj is awesome! When I got here, I had to walk around the Kaaba seven times, and then walk up and down a corridor seven times! It's because a long time ago, this servant woman Hagar had to walk back and forth across the desert to get water for her son. Pretty cool, right? And then, after all the walking, I had to drink water from the Zamzam well! Zamzam! Isn't that a funny name? Ha ha! Now I understand how horrible life was for adulterous maids!

So then, after all that walking, I had to walk even more to this place called Tent City. You know what that is? It's this big city of tents! Ha ha! It's in the Mina Valley, which is pretty big. We had to walk here without food of water, kinda like whenever you and Dad took me to Grandma's. Tent City's only about six miles from Mecca, though. And we prayed when we got there, instead of going down to Grandma's basement.

And later, I went to this plain called the Muzdalifah, where everybody had a vigil at sundown. You know what the vigil was for? To become closer to God! Yeah, I know, I just kept getting closer and closer to God during the whole Hajj! Closer and closer and closer! During the vigil, I think I even felt Him! It was awesome!

The most eventful part of my Hajj came on the tenth day, when we all went back to the Mina Valley. This was the part when we all threw stones at these three pillars called the jamarat, because they represented Satan. I don't know if he had real estate in them or whatever, but people seemed pretty mad at those big hunks of stone. There's also this bridge around them, called the Jamarat Bridge, where people can stand and throw the rocks. Awesome, huh?

So I was on the ground, throwing lots of pebbles and having a good time, when suddenly there's this stampede up on the bridge! I see people pushing people and running everywhere, and people falling off and all sorts of painful things! Apparently, a couple dozen people were killed! But one of my new friends told me that happens all the time (in 1994, almost three hundred people died!), so I wasn't too worried about it. After all, they'd be going to Heaven anyways! It's just too bad they didn't get to wage war on any infidels first.

Oh, and also, we had a feast that night! And for the next two days! There was food everywhere! It was awesome!

Say, Mom, if you ever become a Muslim, I'd be happy to go on a Hajj with you. Because, you know, women can't go by themselves. It's a Saudi law! Isn't that silly? Ha ha ha!

Yep, I started out alone, but then I met all sorts of interesting people. I made lots of friends, Mom! Aren't you proud? Ha ha! Although, I won't be seeing some of them for a while. Jacob lives all the way in Australia, Andy lives in London, and Abu Musab said he couldn't tell me where he lived. Isn't that awesome?

Sure, I may have felt awkward around the Arabic-speakers, but there were thousands and thousands of other people who I could talk to! I actually felt like someone! Like a person. Like a person surrounded by millions of other people in blind, unquestioned devotion to a giant cube! I felt awesome!

I'm a much better Muslim than I was two weeks ago, Mom! I've learned a lot. Like how I'm not alone in my struggle to serve God! Oh yes, the Hajj has taught me that we as people should not focus on that which divides us; nay, we should rather focus upon that which divides us…from Jews and Christians.

Awesomely,
Seth

On even more poorly-executed research

2006-09-04T18:44:00.000-05:00

The Guardian - Humans 'hardwired for religion':

The battle by scientists against "irrational" beliefs such as creationism is ultimately futile, a leading experimental psychologist said today.

The work of Bruce Hood, a professor at Bristol University, suggests that magical and supernatural beliefs are hardwired into our brains from birth, and that religions are therefore tapping into a powerful psychological force.

Right off the bat, this is obviously flawed - 'beliefs' are not instinctual. Actions are instinctual; beliefs are the result of observation and interaction. No child is born knowing that a spider is poisonous; however, the urge to avoid spiders is the result of our spider-wary ancestors not coming too close to venomous arachnids. The action is passed on, but one must learn the rationalization for oneself.

"I think it is pointless to think that we can get people to abandon their belief systems because they are operating at such a fundamental level," said Prof Hood. "No amount of rational evidence is going to be taken on board to get people to abandon those ideas."

Incidentally, there was no research cited in relation to religion. Hood's "experiments" involved only the concept of irrationality itself:

"For example, many people would be reluctant to part with a wedding ring for an identical ring because of the personal significance it holds. Conversely, many people are disgusted by an object if it has associations with 'evil'."
[…]
Another experiment involves asking subjects to cut up a photograph. When his team then measures their galvanic skin response - ie sweat production, which is what lie-detector tests monitors - there is a jump in the reading. This does not occur when a person destroys an object of less sentimental significance.

Now, Hood should have asked his subjects to cut up - or 'part with' - an item that has obvious sentimental value to someone else. Perhaps a portrait of a stranger's family. Otherwise, my reaction to this is simply that people would be unwilling to destroy family photographs because we're all inherently narcissistic. Instinctually, one's greatest desire is to preserve oneself and our genes, and avoid harming anything to which one has a personal connection. Yes, it appears complex, but that's because we are complex creatures. Our genetic qualities have more venues for expression than a chipmunk's.

He told the annual British Association Festival of Science in Norwich that the standard bearers for evolution, such as the biologist Richard Dawkins and the philosopher Daniel Dennet, had adopted a counterproductive and "simplistic" position.

"They have basically said there are two types of people in the world," he said - "those who believe in the supernatural and those who do not. But almost everyone entertains some form of irrational beliefs even if they are not religious.

Note how Hood dodges the issue of religion. He's trying to say that religion is natural, but then tries to replace the concept of religion with irrationality. He fails to establish that religion is just a result of irrationality, and one that can - and should - be avoided.

In his lectures, Prof Hood produces a rather boring-looking blue cardigan with large brown buttons and invites people in the audience to put it on, for a £10 reward. As you may expect, there is invariably a sea of raised hands. He then reveals that the notorious murderer Fred West wore the cardigan. Nearly everyone puts their hand down.

Unfortunately, it is just a stunt: the cardigan is not West's. But it illustrates the way even the most rational of people are can [sic] be irrationally made to feel uncomfortable.

Simple explanation: People want to preserve their reputation, and avoid association with people perceived as bad. Thus, their chances of passing on genes are not reduced.

Godless Aussies

2006-09-01T13:10:00.000-05:00

(via Atheist Revolution)

A recently concluded three-year study in Australia has found that less than half of Australian youths believe in a god.

According to the study, Aussies born between 1976 and 1990 are more likely to follow a secular lifestyle. Only 48% believe in a god.

Dr Singleton said that by comparison, baby boomers now had higher levels of regular churchgoers and believers in a god. Instead, those in Generation Y had more in common with their Generation X counterparts - those born between 1961 and 1975.
[…]
"One of the many predictors of whether we become religious is our parents and unless there is a massive cultural shift, the trajectory will continue," Dr Singleton said.

What's that? Parents are a factor, yet so many children are atheists? I wonder why that could be…

"This generation was taught to question their belief and come to their own conclusion about it[…]"

Oh! That's odd. Kids were encouraged to make their own decisions about religion. How unusual. I wonder why American parents don't do that.

'Bout time

2006-08-29T11:34:00.000-05:00

Warren Jeffs has been caught.

The Campaign to Free Thought

2006-08-24T18:11:00.000-05:00

This thing has been in the works for some time, but time constraints had forced me to the unfortunate state in which I procrastinate furiously.

As all KoH readers know, our goal is to illuminate the effect that religion has upon the world's most impressionable people (aside from mimes), children. As is the case with much of the atheist community, we are disturbed that parents around the world are allowed to indoctrinate their children. But I will not go into that spiel now.

Brian Flemming's War On Easter inspired me to take this a step further, to actual activism. And so, in the infinite boredom that comes with being a nerd, I devised a scheme to do that:

The Campaign to Free Thought.

What you will see at that site is a window into the many documents I wrote up as directions for a grassroots organization. This group, which would be composed entirely of concerned teenagers, would seek to help children think for themselves.

And so, now that I am as bored as I was when I wrote those documents, I've decided to get back into gear. I'd like to ask this blog's readers to take a look at what's on that experimental page and give us feedback. Suggestions? Concerns? Criticisms? Please leave them as comments. Thank you.

J. Moot

2006-08-20T17:38:00.000-05:00

Harrison County is a very Christian place. Not all of it, mind you. There are those who don't believe, or believe less. But all in all, the community heads feel they have the people behind them. That's why they were surprised when they got sued.

When I say Christian, I mean Christian. I mean crosses everywhere, "God Loves You" type stuff littering the streets, and even a leather-bound pocket copy of "New Testament: Psalms Proverbs" in the women's bathroom of the Board of Education building.

Christian.

Most notably, the public high school of Harrison County, Bridgeport High, has a picture entitled "Head of Christ" publicly displayed on the wall next to the principal's office. This is why they were sued. The two civil liberties groups Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the West Virginia American Civil Liberties Union wanted the painting taken out of the public view. The Board of Education responded with venom, saying it would fight the lawsuit. The Board said it had the community behind it, and proceeded to fundraise tens of thousands of dollars.

Then, on a dark night, as both sides were preparing to wage legal war, the painting was stolen.

...Despite the theft, the legal battle will continue.

"We're all in uncharted water here," said Harrison County School superintendent Carl Friebel, "The most logical question is 'Now that the picture's gone, is it moot?'"

Nevertheless, there is hope. Multiple civil rights groups are stepping in for godless members of the community. Even so, the crusading Christians have raised about $150,000 for the lawsuit - several thousand of which were raised by students. The fact is, this community is not unanimous, and although in the minority, there are enough rational people in that town to make a difference.

Where there is division, there is weakness.

Where there is weakness, there is hope.

Source: Newsvine

Stellar, dude

2006-08-20T11:38:00.000-05:00

So we've got a new planet to name. Nobody wants to call UB313 "Xena", because, of course, planets are named after mythical gods and goddesses; not TV characters. So, of course, we just have to fit UB313 into that pattern--mythical gods and goddesses--and the solution is simple:

Jesus.

If the Devil Existed, he Would be a Lot Like Bill O'Reilly

2006-08-16T16:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday evening I went to the video store and found a new section that I hadn't known even existed (no, not the porno section...get your mind out of the gutter!). It was the "special interest" section. Time for documentaries and foreign films. There's hope for Roanoke movie-renters yet!
So I rented out basically the whole section, including a documenary called "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism". Maybe it has something to do with the fact I watched it alone at midnight, mid-summer or maybe I'm just pissed off easily, but before I knew it I was on a crusade to get everyone I know to stop watching the Fox news network or having anything to do with anything remotely related to Murdoch's news media empire. If I walk upstairs and the T.V is on a fox news shows, my family has quickly learned that there's hell to pay.
I mean, don't get me wrong - I've always known that Fox projects conservative points of view; but this took it to a whole new level - to the point where I'd almost consider suing them for calling themselves a "fair and balanced news" show. Between the inappropriate use of the journalistic technique "some people say" and the verbal attack of Jeremy Glick, I wonder how some force of the universe doesn't stop these people, somehow. Even if you don't agree (as many people don't) with Jeremy's ideas about politics, he didn't deserve to be yelled at and told to "shut up"; and "some people say" should never be used to hide behind majority political thinking.
So I'm taking this to the one place I know how to be most influential - the internet. I'm posting myspace bulletins, I'm sending e-mails, mostly in vain.
You know, at the same time I wonder why I care so much about something that affects me so little in the long run. I'm smart enough to know not to listen to them, so why do I care if they lie to other people?
One could almost argue that if they can't figure it out on their own, they deserve to be lied to.
I guess I'm just what my mother would call a "hippie liberal activist". Ah, well. We'll all get over it.
My high school newspaper has more journalistic integrity than Fox News. You can take that to the bank, too. I can't make anyone fight it, but I sure as hell know that everyone I know is going to at least hear about it.

Links:

Watch the movie trailer on YouTube.
Watch Jeremy Glick's interview on The O'Reilly Factor.

Disgusting

2006-07-03T19:11:00.000-05:00

[Link]A large Delaware school district promoted Christianity so aggressively that a Jewish family felt it necessary to move to Wilmington, two hours away, because they feared retaliation for filing a lawsuit. The religion (if any) of a second family in the lawsuit is not known, because they're suing as Jane and John Doe; they also fear retaliation. Both families are asking relief from "state-sponsored religion."

This is in a blue state, people.

Among numerous specific examples in the complaint was what happened at plaintiff Samantha Dobrich's graduation in 2004 from the district's high school. She was the only Jewish student in her graduating class. The complaint relates that local pastor, Jerry Fike, in his invocation, followed requests for "our heavenly Father's" guidance for the graduates with:

I also pray for one specific student, that You be with her and guide her in the path that You have for her. And we ask all these things in Jesus' name.

Not only is this school-sponsored, religiously-inclusive prayer, but the pastor singled out a non-Christian student.

In addition to the ruined graduation experience, the Dobrich-Doe lawsuit alleges that:

The district's "custom and practice of school-sponsored prayer" was frequently imposed "on impressionable non-Christian students," which violated their constitutional rights.
[...]
District teachers and staff led Bible clubs at several schools. Club members got to go to the head of the lunch line.
While Bible clubs were widely available, student book clubs were rare and often canceled by the district.
[...]
One of the district's middle schools gave students the choice of attending a special Bible Club if they did not want to attend a lesson on evolution.

A middle school teacher told students there was only "one true religion" and gave them pamphlets for his surfing ministry.

Samantha Dobrich's honors English teacher frequently discussed Christianity, but no other religion.

I'm sorry, has America suddenly become Germany in the 1930s?

Classmates accused Alex Dobrich of "killing Christ" and he became fearful about wearing his yarmulke, the complaint recounts.

Now, why do you think these students believe the Jews killed this "Christ" figure? Because they've done extensive research in the matter? These Bible clubs look at primary sources? No, it's because their parents have taught them that the Jews killed Christ. This is why parents must not be allowed to indoctrinate their children.

But wait! There's more!

The Dobriches refinanced their home so that Mona and Alexander could move to Wilmington, away from a situation that had become untenable, according to the complaint; Marco stayed behind because of his job.

Ultimately, it continues, the expense of two households forced the Dobriches to sell their home. And Samantha was forced to withdraw from the joint program she attended at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. She is being treated for depression.

The lawsuit states that the Doe family wants to remain anonymous in order to avoid the retaliation experienced by the Dobrich family. Jordan and Jane Doe are also suffering from depression related to their opposition with the Indian River School District's religion policy.

[...]
The families seek to recover damages and to compel changes in the school district's policy.

That policy, however, remains elusive.

This is not some out-of-the-way hamlet in rural America. This is suburban, liberal America. And there are undoubtedly similar situations occurring throughout the rest of the country.

Apologists claim that religion is alright as long as people keep it to themselves. But that never happens. Parents will indoctrinate the moldable minds of their children, and the cycle will never end. As long as parents are permitted to brainwash their children, Dobriches and Does across the country will be oppressed.

Tolerance v. Acceptance

2006-06-19T16:21:00.000-05:00

I have a new response towards anyone who accuses you of being intolerant for disapproving of religion.

The tenet of it is that there is a distinct difference between tolerance and acceptance. I am capable of tolerating the behaviors of someone who goes to church weekly. However, I can reasonably dispute this behavior, and refrain from accepting it as valid.

Ergo, most accusations of intolerance would be inaccurate, invalid, and ergo unacceptable.

And this isn't just a petty technicality-based rebuke; the concept of intolerance has been blown way out of proportion by modern culture. Most religions/irreligions tolerate each other, as plainly demonstrated by our lack of blowing-each-other-upness.

Of course, I do think intolerance is unreasonable. There is no reason why I should not be able to live or interact with someone just because of belief difference. However, un-acceptance is perfectly reasonable. Some things are just stupid.

Anyone?

Apocalypse

2006-06-13T16:24:00.000-05:00

So near a week ago was 6-6-06. The day which many christians fortold to be the apocalypse since, you know, those are the devil's numbers and all. The whole thing got really hyped up and over played, and by 6-5-06 I was really starting to get excited. Well, nothing happened.

What have we learned from this?

Today, however, there was this big thunderstorm in my city, and this little brook that's normally about 3 inches deep started to overflow. Wrath of God? Yes, I think so.

Keep in mind: 3 inches to 6 feet

Obviously God is trying to make up for the big let down. He must have been in the holy toilet or something. Holy-wasted? perhaps.

Anyway, this is clear enough for me. God is real, this proves it beyond doubt. I mean, look at the way those ducks are freaking out:

THEY'RE FREAKING OUT, MAN

I swear, they went totally insane, just like this:

well, perhaps that was just in my head, but I still claim the right to use that disproved fact in future arguments for the truth of Christianity.

Anywho, as I'm standing there snapping away pictures this angel comes down and gives me undeniable proof of the existence of Jesus Christ. Unfourtanately, at that moment my camera stopped working so I couldn't take a picture, and the proof fell into the river. Woops.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of my apocalyptic pictures and repent. The end is nigh, repent!

In the Lion's Den

2006-06-13T14:02:00.000-05:00

On Monday, a man lowered himself into a lion cage. While lowering, he shouted to the assembled crowd that "If God exists, he will save me."

He jumped down from his rope into the "animal island" where the lions were housed and began walking up to a lioness, still screaming about God and waving his arms to and fro.

...he was killed.

What do we learn from this?

Original Story from Reuters

Video (it's not extremely gory)

Thanks to the Colbert Report for the tip off

What Would Jesus Press?

2006-06-02T16:02:00.000-05:00

Pat Robertson can bench press 2000 pounds. No joke. Well, his website says it's no joke. Apparently this 76 year old man is capable of bench pressing about 660 pounds more than anyone has ever bench pressed, ever. 'How?' you may ask. Well, what I first thought when I heard this was "Oh, he claims it is because of God." But no! The reason this ancient excuse for a human being can leg press more than anyone in their prime ever has is due to.... [drum roll].... an energy shake of his own invention.

That's right, all you have to do is register to his site, give him you email address, and you're off!

Oh, and there is also a video of him showing a young woman how he can bench press 1000 pounds on his website. The audio of this video alone sounds much like another form of excercise...

I think I will let this most recent act of insanity speak for yourself.

Thanks to NPR's 'Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me' for the tip off and the title

For your next church pancake breakfast…

2006-05-31T18:36:00.000-05:00

The Jesus Pan.

That Stubborn Southern Pride

2006-05-23T15:35:00.000-05:00

Oh, southwest Virginia! We’ve got fishing, wide open (extremely hilly) spaces, nature, and more homophobes than you can shake a stick at. We’re also one of the most God-drenched areas out there - part of the infamous Bible Belt, we advertise Christian youth groups and Bible studies on our morning announcements (I went to one of those once, but that’s for another post) in public schools.

And yet, at the same time, I can’t help myself; when I walk into a room I say “Hey, y’all!” in a drawl and I’d never say “be back soon”, it’s always “be back directly.” I come home every day with grass cuts up and down my legs, I could go on and on and on (have I already?).
Do these things make me special? No, not really. In fact, I’m probably one of the most northern southerners ever. And yet (there’s that ‘and yet’ again), whenever I visit New York or Massachusetts I find myself defending my home to the death. I’ve had some pretty intense fights, actually, over my hometown; and when I go to camp in northern Pennsylvania (French Woods), I always lay the southern twinge on a little thicker than is probably necessary.

Is southwest Virginia boring? Yes. Am I moving to the north or to Europe as soon as I graduate? Yes. Quite frankly, do I hate this place? Yes. I don’t really belong here, they don’t especially want me, either, truth be told.

In fact, this place makes me feel practically nauseous. It's hard to have real conversations with most people, no one wants to hear what a Jew-turned-atheist has to say, especially not one who hangs out with the gays (I brought my gay best guy friend to a soccer game once and was practically shunned by a group of people, one of which wrote him a letter telling him why homosexuality is the devil). So why do I pretend to be proud of it when I talk to other people? It’s most likely because I don’t want to seem worse-off than anyone else. Wherever I am is automatically awesome, or at least that’s how I would portray it. I could be in the middle of Siberia and I’d still puff my chest out for my town (or village, or shack, I have no idea what Siberians live in).

Is this childish? Or does everyone do it, to some extent?

Random bit of religious nonsense

2006-05-12T21:18:00.000-05:00

I was recently in Canada for the bat mitzvah of one of my cousins. In her Torah portion, the laws of who you could not "uncover the nakedness" of were discussed. After she read and explained the portion, the rabbi gave his speech. One of the things the rabbi said was a bit weird. He had veered off into a talk about why the Jewish laws should be followed. Now, in my experience, most religious people will try to come up with a reason for each law. This rabbi, however, seemed to realize that some laws simply had no reason. He started talking about becoming a better person by following the laws of the Torah, and concluded by saying that even if there is no reason for the laws, a person doing good deeds AND following the Torah's laws would be a better person than someone doing good deeds but not following the laws. I'm really looking for comments on this post, I have no idea what to think of it myself. It's an example of what a lot of religion is all about.

Godless Jew

2006-05-11T21:20:00.000-05:00

With much thought and consideration, I've decided to start my own personal blog about the Jewish/Atheism paradox.

I call it: Godless Jew.

I've just written the first post.

We all could stand to know a little more about Judaism & Atheism as a cohesive unit.
Perhaps I can elucidate the paradox a little...

Maybe it's a...Female Thing?

2006-05-10T21:25:00.000-05:00

...but I think the icy fingers of society have somehow found their way around my throat (please excuse the really bad use of personification).

Okay, pause for a second. I know this is a blog and I am supposed to be entertaining you with food for thought or something interesting to read, but just for today give me a break. I'm going to be the one asking you the questions. I know, totally defying conventions. You'll live. Unpause.

Why is it so easy for me to express my beliefs to complete strangers but not my closest friends? One could argue it's because complete strangers don't know me, so I don't really care what these people think of me. But then why is it that when I have to give a speech in front of the class or my French teacher puts me on the spot, I completely panic and my voice starts to shake? I obviously care, at least to some degree.

Okay, that's kind of a vague example. Let's try something more specific.

In the mornings during first period, after morning announcements, everyone stands up and says the Pledge of Allegiance. I never stand up. Ever. I don't think I've ever stood up during first period, except to turn in papers or leave. When Dr. Clarke gets mad at me and asks me why I won't say the Pledge, I simply say " 'Cause I would never want to live in 'one nation under God'. You can't make me pledge my allegiance to anything."

Meticulous? Paranoid? Maybe even a little (or a lot) stupid? Okay, I'll admit it. I do get a little out of hand sometimes. But my point is that I'm not afraid to blatantly say (or, in some cases, shout) things to people who sometimes have a very direct impact on my immediate future (i.e. teachers). Actually, I kind of enjoy it.

However, when it comes to friends, I find it almost impossible to tell them what I think; even when they are making faulty arguments and kind of messed up progressions of logic. I especially like it when I'm trying to eat lunch and one of my best friends leans over while I'm mid-chew and says:

How can you possibly be atheist? I mean, you're just a teenager. I think people
should live life more before just deciding 'Hey! There is no God.' Did you ever
stop and think you could be wrong? Do you even think about things before
declaring yourself this that and the other? God pulls through in hard times,
people live life, and they find God in hard times.

Okay, so in my mind I want to scream so many things. In my mind I tell her something along the lines of

You just completely contradicted yourself! How old are you again? Fifteen,
right? Hmm, last time I checked, you were a freaking teenager too! Why don't you
take your own advice and get some personal experience under your belt before you
make claims that seem pretty outrageous. A supreme being created the entire
world in seven days and then sent his son down to Earth? Through a virgin? And then this son somehow died and came back to life? You seem to be under the impression that just because I changed my mind about my beliefs, I have no fucking clue what I'm talking about. I've probably read more of the Bible than you have. Have you ever actually opened the pages of the damn thing and seen what kind of insane things are in there? At least I'm thinking about things, instead of blindly accepting whatever anyone tells me is true.

But I don't actually say any of those things. Not one of them, in fact. For some reason I just sit there, right in front of my entire lunch table, and let her say whatever bullshit comes to her mind about agnostic and atheist people in general as well as personally attacking me.

I can't for the life of me figure out why I do things like that. It's not like arguing with her over something like religion would endanger my friendship with her. We've been friends for two years and we've had arguments that were pretty extreme, but we've always stayed together for some reason. Just meant to be friends, I suppose.

It's probably, as much as I hate to admit it, because I am completely held back by the contraints society puts on me. In social situations, it's taboo to look someone in the eye and say "The entire basis of your religion is crazy." Yet for some reason (at least, as far as I can tell from the experience I've gathered in this small, southern town), it's totally okay to look someone in the eye and say "The entire basis of your total lack of religion is crazy."

Okay, so I probably shouldn't be blaming society for my problems; if I really wanted to, I could have said whatever I had wanted and the society police wouldn't have necessarily beaten down my door and proceeded to severly maul me.

...or would they?

Just a' kiddin'.

Anyway, I don't think it's because of any inferiority complex on my part. In fact, many if not all of my friends would tell you that I have the exact opposite problem.

Maybe it's just a simple case of l'esprit d'escalier.

But somehow I don't think so.

If anything it seems more productive to speak my piece to friends instead of strangers, because friends will welcome me back with open arms no matter what crazy things I say. Strangers most definitely won't.

And yet, even in light of this knowledge, if the whole lunch period episode happened again tomorrow I would probably do the exact same thing as I did today and I can't for the life of me figure out why.

What do you think?

By the way (P.S.?):

Hi, my name is Cynthia! I guess I'm new here. Please don't hurt me. Please, for the love of all things good in this world.

Also, I totally lifted the title of this post from that RENT song, Over the Moon. "...'cause who'd wanna leave Cyberland anyway? Walls ain't so bad..."

Cults

2006-05-06T16:50:00.001-05:00

My history teacher made a remark the other day. I'm sure it would please the general atheist population.

I don't like the word cult. We use it to describe beliefs & religions we don't like. Aren't all relgions cults in a way?

He's right of course, there aren't any particular religions which are more legitimate than any other ones. It's all relative.

Now this doesn't mean I'm renouncing Judaism or anything, don't get too excited. But it does mean I should be a little less critical of other religions. To be honest, much of the reason that I'm Jewish is because I was exposed to Judaism first. Of course now, I'm more educated about alternate faiths and have made a conscious decision. That doesn't mean I don't have prejudices though.

It's just something to think about.

Judicial reform

2006-05-02T20:24:00.000-05:00

So there's this whole controversy over swearing on Bibles in court. One side says that oaths on the Bible violate the Separation of Church and State, or some such liberal propaganda. The other side says it's just symbolic, and it doesn't violate nothin'.

Now, I'm all for symbolism. I love symbolism. In fact, I look at the entire English language as a collection of symbols. I choose any words I want to mean any thing I want - at least, when I'm at school.

But anywho, the point is, this whole debate is silly. If the Bible is symbolic of anything, it's symbolic of a drug trip. What people should be swearing on is a dictionary.

No, an encyclopedia!

Hell, how about a whole set of encyclopedias? This way, the swearing-in would take up half the trial:

"…Uh, yes, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me A Thru Annoy…Garden Thru Gun…Sardine Thru Swell…oh, fuck it, I killed him."

Oh yes, much more effective than swearing on a Bible. With a Bible, there's no incentive not to lie; it's not like God's gonna smite you if you twist a few details. But with good 'ol Britannica, you can just whack the witness periodically. You know, instill some respect of truth in him.

…You know. Abuse.

Wow, That's Funny

2006-05-01T16:38:00.000-05:00

The wheel has come full square, so to speak, and now it is Kingdom of Heathen's turn to host the "Wow, That's Funny" Carnival once more. A collection of witticisms, the carnival is a friendly competition for comedic superiority.

We've got 22 very good witticisms today, and I look forward to seeing which way the vote goes.

The winner of the last carnival, held at Hindustan Without the Hindu was Seth. But that's old news.

If everyone who reads this post would please vote for their 3 favorite quips in the comments section, it would be much appreciated. Also, the voting shall end 14 days from now, May 15th. I think that about covers it. Now, onto the carnival:

A

Warning: Use of product may result in disease or death. Offer only

valid to Jews, gays, and Mexicans.

Studies show that 98% of teenagers don’t pay attention to statistics.

Copy/paste this if you're part of the 4% that does.

1. Right, so we can see from this that earthquakes affect poor people the most, people living in 3rd world countries who are unable to afford good living conditions and whose meager building collapse under the slightest vibration

2. ...you mean like the Amish?

My dog was chasing her tail yesterday, and caught heartworm.

They say it's a sin to kill a mockingbird, but what they don't tell you

is how much oil they buy from the noisy bastards.

2: You know what I think is funny?

1: No, what?

2: Humorous jokes with an amusing punch line told in an engaging manner by a competent teller.

1: ... I hate you.

Friends don't let friends drive drunk. Well, except for Howie. Man,

Howie's cool. Did you go to his party last week? Dude! It was

awesome! I got so wasted! Also, my mom says we can't see each other

any more.

Damn, I’d kill to be in her shoes… and pants.

1. I’m sorry sweetie… It just isn’t working

2. I’ll stop sleeping with other people… I promise!

1. Other people? This is because of the drugs thing!

2. …Whoops…

I don't get discouraged when my jokes fail. I just remember, "Only 5%

of all jokes are funny. The rest are copied from Woody Allen."

Hi! Do you want a shoulder to cry on? Its only $12 an hour!

1. So I was telling one of my patients he had AIDS

2. Oh… That’s terrible. How did he take it?

1. Well at first he looked like he was about to cry. Then he put his head in his hands. Then he got up shook my hand and thanked me. And then…

2. What happened? Did he faint? What?

1. …And then the cheese rolled in!

1. So wait… If I touched a stove, and yelled “Sweet Zombie Jesus!” it would hold up in court that Jesus is, in fact, a sweet confectionary undead treat?

2 Yes unless they can prove that you were insane at the moment or currently are insane.

1. … Damn…

Is that an erect penis in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

You must be this short to ride the priest

1. Hey man, what is going on?

2. Good. I’m good, you?

1. Whah?

It’s a love-hate relationship. I love her, and she hates me.

1. BOO.

2. …you realize you’re not scary or intimidating at all?

1. Maybe not when I say BOO.

2. Oh?

1. Yes, when I’m really scary and intimidating is when I follow you home to your house one day after school and rape you viciously.

2: Check this out!

1: What is it?

2: A library book.

1: You think I'd've learned better by now...

Sex sells, but love buys.

Love is blind, lust is just near-sighted.

What the hell is up with Easter? Jesus apparently dies, and is apparently reborn, and we celebrate it with a big furry bunny that has neither died nor been reborn, and a bunch of eggs that haven't even been born in the first place.

If you want my advice, we should change the name to "Jesus Day" and, instead of chocolate bunnies, have chocolate Jesus’. And we should fill the inside with cherry-colored goo, so that when a kid bites off the head of a chocolate Jesus, the cherry brings him or her that much closer to that imaginary character that we all know and love.

Let's Say...

2006-05-01T16:37:00.000-05:00

Enil Edam, a contributor to this site, recently commented on KoH regarding my most recent post (right below this one). She wrote:

Don't be stupid Aeger.

Believing in God is not a mental disease. Regardless of whether you believe in God or not doesn't give you the right to say that you (and by extension, atheists) are the only undillusioned people in the world. [...]

I don't mean to pull a Raving Atheist here, but I think this needs to be addressed. As I was writing a wrathful response comment, I realised that this could be used as a post, so here we are.

My response below:

Let's say a man believed he could communicate with aliens. Not just that, he said that the aliens were using him as a connection link to the world, and that in our lifetimes the aliens would come down to earth and kill most of the human race, then take the remaining population back to their space-ship city in the sky.

Sound familiar? It should, because this story, or some derivation there-of is told daily by those under the belief they were abducted by aliens. Know what happens to these people? They are labeled insane and sent to an asylum.

Now let's say that a man believed he could communicate with God. Not just that, he said that this God talked with him, and told him what was right, and what was wrong, and that in our lifetimes God's son, Jesus Christ, would come down to earth and start the Rapture, which would send most of the human race to hell, then take the remaining population back to Heaven.

Sound familiar? It should, because this story, or some derivation there-of is told daily by Christians. Know what happens to these people? They are praised as respectable members of society, raise their children to believe the same bullshit they do, and are our neighbors, school teachers, friends, and co-workers.

Scary, huh.

They are delusioned. Not neccessarily idiots, but fooled none-the-less, raised from childhood to believe in God until that belief is so pounded into their skulls that they can't decide rationally anymore. However I try, I can't bring myself to feel anything more than pity for these people. My original post, though mostly in joking form, was an expression of my irritation at these people.

Religion, As Disease: that's R.A.D.

2006-04-25T21:18:00.000-05:00

So I was watching House. For those of you who don't know, House is a show on Fox about a medical genius named... well... House. He's kind of cynical, with a rational and thoughtful, and yet forlorn approach to life. Basically, we see him and his team of doctors take unsolvable cases each Tuesday night at 9 Eastern. The plot is rather repeptitive, what with ever Tuesday someone coming in sick, and then leaving healed, but House's witty quips and viewpoints keep the show flowing, if not smoothly, then without excessive halting. Oh, also, House is an atheist.

So, in today's show, the dyeing patient is a 15 year old faith healer, who somehow has the impression that he is the voice of God. Throughout the show, he blinds those around him with deep, thoughtful insights and breathtaking healings. But, eventually, House confronts him about his beliefs, and reveals step by step how he has fooled everyone into believing he has some powers, when in fact he is just a fraud. Eventually, the kid says "Yes, but I have faith in God," and walks away. How frustrating.

But the point is, just before death, House discovers the kid's illness. He apparently has a combination of Syphilis, Herpes, and a brain tumor. Only in House, right? The STD's are of a special form that attack tumors first, instead of the body, which explains how the patient he "healed" experienced a shrinking of her fatal tumor, though only temporary. The brain tumor, though, that causes delusions, and voices. Since the age of 10 (when he developed the tumor) this kid has been hearing voices he thinks are the voices of God, but they're really just a fatal disease!

Wouldn't it be so great if everyone who believes in God just admitted what they actually have is a horrible mental disease and went and got fixed? Eh? Eh? Well, I can dream.

Eaten by Maggots

2006-04-25T15:27:00.000-05:00

An interesting discussion came up in the middle of my English class about this poem we were analyzing. It's called Spring by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only under ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

So my teacher made this comment about how this is a really atheistic view of life. I told him this was a major generalization. I hold the opinion that atheists don't believe in a higher power. Does that also mean that atheists don't believe in an afterlife at all? (assuming the afterlife is not controlled by aforementioned higher power) Do atheists get absorbed into the earth and become a spiritual part of anything or do we just sit there and get "eaten by maggots?"

I don't think so.

Food for thought

2006-04-23T12:44:00.000-05:00

Whaddaya think would happen if, one of these days, the messiah returned? Jesus Christ is reincarnated? All the Christians' dreams come true? Whaddaya think they would do?

A Very Very Very Long Explanation

2006-04-13T18:11:00.000-05:00

I am a Quaker. Well, not precisely. I am a radical non-theist Quaker.

Many times a day I find myself explaining this to a variety of people, many of whom follow up my clarification with "You mean like the Quaker Oats guy?" In fact, the vast majority of people at my school are under the perplexing belief that Quakers died out. When I queried one of these people on the reasons behind his assumption, he said "Well, I thought they couldn't have sex." No no, those are Shakers, silly person. But returning to the point, I have increasingly become aware of an extreme ignorance of what is a fundamental part of my life. This lack of knowledge
becomes increasingly more annoying with each passing day, and I want to put a stop to it. Also, many-a-time in posts I wrote for this blog I find myself stating that I see no problem with being a Quaker and an Atheist, and evertime I say it I cringe, because, to someone who knows little about Quakerism, that statement makes me sound like an idiot (atheism in NOT a religion, and saying it works well with a traditional religion is... well.. stupid). So I come here to resolve this issue once and for all, prepare yourselves for a lesson in Quakerism.

Quakerism began in England in the 1700's. It was and still is officially called the Society of Friends... with individual members of the religion called Friends. George Fox is credited with it's founding, and he was intense. He used to come to people's houses to preach to them and tell them that they were going to hell for not following his religion. He once said (doing this from memory) "I am thankful to God for the stubornness he gave me to know when I am right." And he drew a lot of attention. Under the current King of England, there was no freedom of religion, and so the Quakers were forced to flee to the New World. There they played an important role in forming the Underground Railroad, and creating an area where one could worship, or not worship, freely.

The actual religious beliefs of Quakers have greatly evolved over the centuries. It began with the radical notion that God is inside everyone, that he (and later "it" as the deity became, in some practices of the religion, asexual) could be heard by anyone, and that a person did not need the assistance of a priest to hear him. This is referred to as the "Inner Light." The idea is that the light of God is within all people, even the really evil ones. Over time it developed from "God is giving us this light" to "God is the light, and he's in everyone." And today a minority of the religion, at least at my Meeting, dismiss the God part all together.

On a hunch, I looked up Quakerism in Wikipedia, and found an interesting classification of Quakerism. It says that there are two types of Quaker Meetings (a community of Quakers is called a Meeting), Programmed and Unprogrammed. Unprogrammed Meetings exist in the more liberal areas, such as Massachusetts, while the programmed ones inhabit places like the Bible belt. Programmed Meetings consist of the traditional sermon, which I find incredibly hypocritical, and unprogrammed are formed around silent worship.

Says Wikipedia:

Programmed worship arose among Friends in the United States in the 19th century in response to large numbers of converts to Quakerism during the national spiritual revivalism of the time. Worship at a Friends Church resembles a typical Protestant worship service in the United States. Typically there are readings from scripture, hymns, and a sermon from the pastor. A period of silence is also included in most Programmed Friends worship services. Most Friends in the southern and central United States worship in this way.

Since I've grown up in the so-called unprogrammed Meeting, I'll focus on that that. My Meetings are formed entirely of silent worship. Though it is referred to mostly as "expectant waiting." Basically, people are waiting for a leading - a divine message - that will solve a problem they face. I find this notion to be silly, the solution comes on its own when one enters the hour long community-enriched silence, letting each person work out their problems in peace, but religion has always functioned on such repainting of one thing for another. When someone experiences a "leading" during a meeting, he or she may stand up and break the silence to impart whatever they realized onto the rest of the community.

In my Meeting there are usually about 5 speakings - sometimes called ministries - during the hour long period. People talk about all sorts of things, a few of which really stuck in my mind. One member spoke of the silence as an entity of its own, and how we are born of it, and how we return to it upon death. We also get religion oriented messages, though surprisingly, most leadings have almost nothing to do with religion. I remember a man that stood up in the Meetings one day and recalled a phylosophy class he took in college. In one of the meetings of the class, the instructor explained a scenario: "Suppose that you are in a room," he said, "and suppose that there is a big red button, and then suppose that if you press this button, a farmer in Mongolia will die. Would you push the button?" Everyone said no. The instructor continued, "What if you were offered one thousand dollars?" Everyone still said no. "A million?" Maybe one fourth of the class stayed silent, thinking it over. Then the instructor said "What if, if you didn't push the button, 10 other farmers would die?" Mixed responses. Finally, the instructor posed the question, "And what if, if you did not ppush that big, red button, the person you love the most in the whole world would die? What if it was 10 farmers that would die if you pushed the button? One hundred? One thousand? What would you do?" And with that the person speaking at the meeting sat down, and the silence absorbed the Meeting once more.

To end the Meeting someone, usually one of the more respected members (called elders) turns to the person next to them, and shakes their hand. The handshaking will then echo around the room until everyone's hand has been shaken a few times, then the committee-appointed clerk of the Meeting will stand up and read a list of community announcements. After that my Meeting officially ends, though many people go and socialize in the main hall of the adjoining building.

Quakerism, as a decision-making community, is structured much like an anarcho-syndicalist commune. Everything is structured by committee, or syndicate, and all decisions must be made by the committee as a whole, i.e. a consensus must be reached. This reasserts the Quakerly belief in equality, that one voice cannot be drowned by others, even when it is only one person opposed to a decision while another 20 are for it.

I find that Quakerism works much better once you remove God from the equation. Quakerism as a way of life is, for me, ideal. Pacifism is a big part of the Quaker ideology, and has certainly shaped my views of the world, and that certainly has nothing to do with any deity (aside from the "we do this because God tells us to," but again that is replaced with ones own drive to be pacifist). The concept of silence also plays a large part in my life, though I'm sure Seth would disagree. Also, the feeling of belonging in such a powerful way to a community is wonderful.

Reading through the Wikipedia entry, I stumbled upon a statement that echoed precisely what I have been noticing among some people at my Meeting:

Many Quakers feel their faith does not fall into the traditional categories of Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant, but rather it is an expression of another way to experience Christianity. Although Quakers throughout most of their history, and in most parts of the world today, have considered Quakerism to be a Christian movement, there are some Friends today (principally in the unprogrammed Meetings of the United States and the United Kingdom) who consider themselves agnostic, universalist, atheist, or who do not accept any religious label.

It's a brilliant concept, isn't it? The possibility that Quakers, at least the radical Massachusetts-type breed, are evolving out of religion. I have already seen the beginnings of it, as noted in my last post, the atmosphere that is being created in my Meeting is "think, be open to knew ideas," and with that on our side the evolution can't be more than 4 or 5 lifetimes away. Perhaps one day a century or three away from now the sun will shine upon a greatly different Quakerism, a Quakerism that doesn't just tolerate atheism, but which is atheist. Now that certainly is a pretty star to aim for.

Thank you for your time.

Holydays

2006-04-12T19:53:00.000-05:00

So tomorrow I shan't be able to eat bread whilst I am in my house. My mother has the strangest idea that if your ancestors blindly obeyed a book in the past, then it's a valuable family experience. Fun, fun, fun.

Feel free to share your holiday experiences here. In fact, please do. We like traffic and comments.

At least, I do.

…I'm so alone…[sobs]

A Small Victory

2006-03-20T18:23:00.000-05:00

I feel better than I have for a very long time. Allow me to explain:

About 2 months ago, I was attending a Meeting for Business at my Quaker Meeting (yes, I see no problem with Quakerism, without the religion, as a way of life. I'm sure Seth and I will end up debating this, but there you are... in fact, I should post about that sometime). At the Meeting, the subject was the curriculum for the Junior High class (my class). The basic outline called for Bible study, and there were open to suggestions. I suggested Job, and to my great surprise everyone thought 'it was a brilliant idea.

A month later, the curriculum began. The first Sunday was... pretty interesting. We looked at a few passages, and mapped out the general plot of Job. In fact, as the resident atheist, I was asked to express my opinion several times (the Cambridge brand of Quakers are so liberal and free-thinking it would blow your mind, people like me actually have a name there: the non-theist Quakers).

Second Sunday, I was prepared. I had read through Job again, marking interesting parts, and parts that supported my argument for the obliviousness and over-all stupidity of the character God in the Bible. I also looked up the God is a Dick on Job that the Evangelical Atheist wrote a few months ago. Without that I doubt I would have made as much impact.

As it is, on the third Sunday we wrapped up Job, and did a final discussion. It was better than I could have hoped for. In those three weeks, or during the time before, nearly all of my peers had become atheists. I was shocked, and overjoyed.

Better yet, my mother, who was attending a youth organization committee, informed me of a great conversation they were having. Apparently the parents of the atheisticized teens were expressing how the kid's were starting to question the beliefs their parents had hammered into them. They were beginning to view the world differently, and their parental units couldn't have been more angry. That, for some odd reason, makes me happy.

So I come to you now to announce a small victory, and a message that I myself was until recently in desperate need of: don't give up. It may take a while, but eventually someone will see what you are trying to tell them. Especially if you go with the younger, more freethinking teens as I did. I'm overcome with joy. I shall go celebrate with pizza, as there is one right across the street.

Good night everyone, and thank you for your time.

Deus Ex Tympanum

2006-03-11T21:14:00.000-05:00

Greetings. I'm writing a short scene memior for school. Since it has a lot to do with me becoming an atheist, I figured it would be appropriate to put up here. And let me remind you that everything on this site is copyrighted.... not that any of you would do that stuff *flick of eyes back and forth*. I hope y'all enjoy, and since this is a school paper..... which will be graded..... I'd be welcome to any criticisms.

Deus Ex Tympanum

By Aethernon

For a long time I believed in the supernatural. I talked to the air and heard it whisper back. I listened as rivers gurgled my name, and gazed in wonder at human shapes forming in the predawn mist. Coincidences, as I now know them to be. My car did not unlock itself because it liked me; my mother had simply forgotten to lock it the night before. Walls don’t speak; they make noise from relieving the pressure created from holding up a house. My DVD player isn’t playing tricks on me when it doesn’t turn on; I just pushed the wrong button. There is a reasonable explanation for everything I once believed in, but I still remember the most real experience of the supernatural that I ever had. It marked in one instant the climax of my beliefs, and their demise…

I held the drum sticks in my hand, letting the rhythm flow from my mind, down through my arms, and onto the set. The beat was a simple one, 3 measures of triplets and one of the fills on page 63 of the Realistic Rock book Dun gat dun dun / gat dun gat gat / dun gat dun dun / gat – gat. Then three measures of silence, one fill, and repeat. The silence wasn’t just silence; no silence is. More happens in silence than in noise, for without noise to distract us we can hear the very rhythm of the earth. Four measures went by, then eight. Time went by. My arms became numb, for when you hit something it hits back. But the set’s resistance dwindled as it too was captured by its own magnificence.

Sometimes to vary the beat I struck the eighth notes on the ride cymbal instead of the closed high hats, but an eight note is an eighth note no matter how you play it. Over and over again I let the beat flow from me, until I and the drum set were one, and I couldn’t even remember what I was playing, and became only a listener to the melody.

I heard the rhythm: precise, faultless, every beat hit to perfection; and slowly, more hesitantly, another rhythm in the background. Sometimes I’d hit a gat, then a split second later another gat would sound, like an echo, like someone else trying to catch up to me. I was puzzled, and slowed down the tempo to see what would happen. As before, there was a second’s hesitation before the echo landed in step with me. I changed the beat: dun gat gat- ^gat / dun gat gat- ^gat / dun- ^dun dun- ^dundun / gat gat - -. I listened, heard the momentary hesitation… then

CRASH.

I jumped, swiveling around in my seat in time to see the door swing open, and my mother step out of the hallway into my attic music room. “Come on,” she said, oblivious to the severe fright she had given me, “Time for dinner.” Clutching my drum sticks for stability, I shakily got up and walked into the hallway, then down the narrow staircase to the second floor of the house my apartment is in, looking back momentarily at the darkness behind the open door. I don’t know what I thought I’d make out in the shadows, but I saw nothing.

Dinner was tacos, perhaps the best food on the face of the planet. In most cases it is a messy food, but I have figured out a technique that keeps the spicy juices in your mouth, and away from your fingers. We use turkey meat in place of beef, and in all honesty it tastes better that way. Like all good things, dinner was soon over, and after reviewing for an English quiz I had the next morning, I went straight to bed.

It was nearly 11:00 when I finally turned off the light and went deep underneath the covers. My second cat, Jazz, was curled up on the pillow next to me, purring deeply in her sleep. Fizzy, my first cat, was also sleeping, his bulky form silhouetted against the moonlight flowing in through the frosted window. While the light had been on, the outside had seemed to be in utter blackness. But now, looking out of my shadowed room through the window, I saw the unearthly moonlight wash the world in silver splendor, and I realized that darkness is only dark from a certain point of view. With that thought to ponder, I lay my head back on my pillow, its softness carrying me into the world of dream.

Dun gat gat-.

I opened my eyes.

^Gat dun gat gat-.

No, no I was not imagining it, couldn’t be. I heard the beat. Felt the rhythm coming down to me through the ceiling, from the attic room directly above me, from my drum set.

^Gat dun- ^dun dun- ^dundun / gat gat - -.

Silence. I waited, my breath stopped in my throat… Dun gat gat-.

The beat continued, cycling over and over. Four measures passed; then eight, then twelve. Jazz stopped purring, looked up at me with her reflective green eyes. I stared at her for a long moment; then turned my gaze to the drum sticks I had taken down from the drum room just 4 hours ago, my only pair.

Slowly I raised the covers and placed my feet on the scratched wooden floor. I knew I should just go back to bed, ignore the sound, force it to go away. But a part of me didn’t want it to; somewhere inside I felt wonder, awe, curiosity grow. I stood and padded to the stairs.

Fizzy was already there. Looking with wide yellow eyes up the dark stairwell, seeing something I could not. As I reached him he turned to me, and with an animal nonchalant-ness, strode away. Dun gat gat-. The beat stopped. I perceived at the edge of my hearing a shuffling of feet, a soft humming. Then a new beat began, softer this time.

It was like no music I had ever heard. Occasionally there was a light tap on a cymbal, sometimes a cymbal I did not have. Sticks played the music, flawlessly shifting into brushes, then back to sticks again. It was beautiful.

I listened, for how long I cannot say. There was sadness in the music, so heartrending that to listen to it was to go through death itself. But as I listened the music became joyful. I began to climb. It was black in the stairwell, but guided by the music I found my footing. The stairs went on and on. I climbed for nearly five minutes before finding the closed door before me.

I crossed the space, stood silently in front of the threshold. Fresh paint peelings crackled beneath my bare feet. The door, which had been open when I came down for dinner, was a pale white, nearly glowing in the semi shadow. The music began to rise. I spiraled with it, through a multitude of human and alien emotions. Finally, pure joy conquered all other feelings as the song rose toward climax. I pushed open the door.

The music stopped mid measure. Looking into the suddenly silent room, I saw two eyes looking back at me. My elation vanished with the music, replaced by fear. I ran down the stairs and reaching the bottom in a matter of seconds, fled into my room and dove beneath the covers of my bed.

Jazz looked at me quizzically before falling asleep once more. After a while I too went to sleep, listening in vain for the music that did not come, that would never come again.

I now of course know that the eyes in the darkness were the moonlight reflecting off the metal of my drum set. The echoes I heard in the afternoon were just that, caused by the poor acoustics of the room, and the stair’s unexplained lengthening can be blamed on nerves. After visiting the room again in the morning, the light of day showed nothing but that my own senses had been playing tricks on me, and I decided from that moment on I would always use logic over belief, and never accept the unexplainable again. But I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if I had let my eyes adjust until I could see in the darkness and had looked deep into the shadowed room. Would I have seen nothing but heard the music continue? Or would I have seen drums playing on their own, the high hats clapping and the drums pounding from some unseen hand? Would I have perceived a lone figure sitting atop my seat, ghostly sticks held in its ethereal hands? Or what if I had waited, just waited, until the unseen musician had finished his masterpiece, and vanished once more into the void?

There's a frog in South America

2006-03-10T16:09:00.000-05:00

Today in Social Studies we discussed the early Americans' settlement of the Northwest Territory; modern-day Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. There is a line in the Northwest Ordinance - the laws of said area - that says, "Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good governess and the happiness of mankind…"

Anywho, my teacher emphasized the knowledge point, and lauded America's founders for setting up public education. In my infinite impulsive wisdom and wit (*cough, look away*), I pointed out that some of them nevertheless publicly supported religion (at least, before the Constitution). I didn't expect her response: "Well, it's a Christian nation. Deal with it."

Now, I know she said this pessimistically (she's Jewish), so after class I said that we shouldn't have to deal with it. After all, government-supported religion is illegal. But she still maintained this pessimistic view that there is no hope.

And I found it depressing that an educator can be so bleak about this. I don't have much else to say except that this is why we have this blog - we're trying to spread optimism among America's youth.

That will be all.

Back on Track

2006-03-03T15:17:00.000-05:00

It's high time this blog got back on track and stopped being merely atheist satire.

Jewgirl to the rescue!

I've alluded to this distinction a number of times through comments and now, it's time to actually adress it.

Religion and theism are different.

Correct me if I'm wrong Seth, but much of your dislike of Judaism has to do with:

a bad Hebrew school experience (I know it happens...)
parental pressure

I remember I asked once during Hebrew High why the clergy didn't tell the kids about different theologies before their confirmation year. His answer was along the lines of: "Kids aren't mature enough nor are they open-minded enough to truly consider all the different possibilities. Most kids would immediately jump to atheism without knowing the other options." For the most part, I would have to agree. Until you've gone through a bar mitzvah and have decided to further your Jewish education, considering other theologies might not be the best idea.

As I have mentioned a number of times, I am atheist and Jewish. Just because I am Jewish doesn't make me a theist or otherwise. Even if religion may "brainwash" kids to believe in God so they can discern right from wrong, this doesn't mean that all denominations expect you to believe in God. Sure, it's much more difficult to be an Orthodox athiest than a Reform athiest as I've heard from some of my Orthodox friends, but nonetheless could still be within the realm of possibility (quite a small possibility).

My main point is: religion is self-defined and always should be. It's fine to follow the teachings of another, but only after you have struggled with the ideas and concepts yourself and have questioned. I know that some of us on this blog have said that kids don't question religion & God enough, but this is an unfair accusation. Extremists (i.e. atheists & theists) tend to be more vocal in general about their opinions whereas the people in the middle don't seem to discuss their own opinions as frequently. Assuming that these middle people don't have opinions though is positively absurd, just as assuming all athiests believe the same things is absurd. Anyone who is not constantly changing their own opinions of theism is not open-minded enough to consider alternative options.

I think I may have digressed quite a bit, but in any case, try not to exclusively associate religion & theism. It's often not entirely valid.

GOD or NOT # 9: Truth - Now with twice as much veracity.

2006-02-26T13:18:00.000-05:00

Hello, greetings, and welcome to the 9th edition of GOD or NOT. We've got quite a show for you today, featuring action, suspense, and even a few links. And now, a Short History Of The Truth:

As a wise man once said, "Where the hell are my glasses?" This wise man was worried that without his glasses, he would not be able to find the truth. Or the magazines he was hiding from his wife, whatever. The point is, the truth is out there. It has been there for centuries. In fact, it has been there since 1346 CE, when Johann Frances III (Jr.) pulled it out of the family well. Once he realized that the smelly and moldy object in his hands was not, in fact, a drowned rat, he immediately put it on his family's mantelpiece.

From that day forth, people from miles around journeyed to Johann Frances III's (Jr.) house to gaze into his mantelpiece, in search of the truth to their lives. Unfortunately, one very rude pilgrim took the truth and replaced it with a drowned rat when nobody was looking. He ran miles and miles and miles, and even a few kilometers, before Johann Frances III (Jr.) realized what had happened. Needless to say, he was very angry. Then he got the plague. Now, on to the posts.

NOT: The critics are raving about Daily truths and eternal white lies, by Francois Tremblay of Goosing the Anthithesis. Look inside for a stunning tour de force that travels to the days of early man…but then reveals the future, causes a cosmic paradox, and kills us all.

GOD: And now, BK defies all of our worldy expectations in his post The limits of rationality when encountering the living God. That's right folks, the living god. He's back for a suspenseful and visually breathtaking sequel to BK's submission to the previous GOD or NOT carnival.

NOT: Prepare to forget all you've ever been taught as you read this next entry. But don't be scared - Uberkuh will save you with Truth - the Ultimate Comfort. It's a tad long, but filled with crowd-pleasing analogies, diagnoses, and if you look hard enough, a molehill.

GOD: Have you ever felt Held by the Truth? Entranced by its tantalizing gaze? Its crazy deliciousness? Well, Tom Gilson's post is just as crazy delicious, with succulent descriptions of a Christian's search for the Truth.

NOT: Is it? Is it? Yes! It is! Critically-acclaimed blogger Ebonmuse now brings us Christian? Jewish? Who Cares?, an inspiring tale about the dangers of raising children with religion, at the expense of…yes, truth.

GOD: Now it's time for an insight into the life of Brendan McPhillips, with his post Spirituality and the Meaning of Life in Summary. This is a collection of summaries of 'spiritual truths' as understood by great thinkers. Brendan asks whether atheists are "so committed to their literal thinking that they're afraid to consider the truth".

NOT: What can be said about the next post, Gawain's God Refuses To Be Known? This epic journey helps the reader dissect and investigate all the gooey innards of religious 'truths'. Not for readers with weak-stomachs, pregnant women, or anyone who drives a Honda. They know why.

NOT: Truth is a big issue, says Morgaine. And the questions don't stop there, so take a look inside.

GOD: There is an absolute moral Truth, argues Xyba…at least, for theists. Look inside for positions, points, questions, and even a conclusion. That's right. The conclusion is free of charge.

NOT: Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream to Reluctant Atheist's staggeringly metaphorical production, BUT IT’S A GOOD SAW!. It's in all caps, so it must be true.

Well, that's all for today. I apologize to the submissions I didn't include, but, well, they weren't about truth!

Tune in next time - March the 13th - to Mathetes, where we will discuss Children and Religion. And remember…there is no spoon.

A Quiz

2006-02-24T19:08:00.000-05:00

Well, well, what a surprise:

Your Political Profile

Overall: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Social Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

How Liberal / Conservative Are You?

I'm going to be unable to post for a little while (in the past I've had a play in which I am the lead, pnuemonia, and a seriously upped amount of homework). I apologise, and encourage the other contributors to this site to post while I'm unable to.

WTF! Carnival # 3

2006-01-31T16:43:00.000-05:00

Yeah, yeah, it's the fourth edition and we have the same basic contributors. But all good things take time to get off the ground, and if you enjoy this, I encourage you to promote it on your own blog. Now without further ado, this month's assortment of quips; you get 3 votes, and voting ends on the 15th:

A
1: How about... never mind.
2: No, tell me.
1 Oh, you wouldn't understand.
2: Try me
1: O, nunca entenderias.

B
A guy walks into a bar. Then he has a Guiness, two Budweisers, and a Sam Adams. Then he plays pool for a while, and snacks on peanuts. Then, when he's in a state of complete inebriation, he ravenously feeds upon peanuts and hits on several waitresses. Then, as his drunken condition intensifies, he rolls about on the floor with his shirt off. Then, the barkeeper throws him out, hollering "Next time bring a punchline, you bastard!"

C
1. Hello, I have a message for a ‘Jeffrey’, have I reached him?
2. This is he. Who is this?
1. I am of no consequence, but I have a message for you.
2. From who?
1. A person.
2. Oh. Give the message.
1. Alrighty. *ahem* … ‘Is your teakettle as homosexual as you are? Because if it is, it will have homosexuality coming out of the wazoo.’
2. …
1. If in future you too require my unique services, I can be
reached at 1-800-UP-WAZOO. Call toll free! Thank you.

D
The dark side: Not affiliated with the light side. Although they have some pretty snazzy parties.

E
I couldn't stand FDR, but then again, neither could he.

F
1: You have to think outside the box!
2: Okay, and how do I go about doing that?

G
It was just a minor fender-bender, but twelve people in the other car died.

H
The apathy police called, but nobody cared enough to listen.

I
1: Oy, is that a bald spot on your head?
2: I think so, but you're one of the first people to notice, so it must not be too serious.
1: Wait…lemme look closer…oh, geez.
2: What?
1: That's not a bald spot…that's a tumor!
2: Oh, well, I guess that explains the searing pain.

J
Everything I say is a lie. Heck, even this sentence is a lie! Actually, that's not true.

K
This how-to guide got me through writing this how-to guide.

L
1. I have spoken with the Lord!
2. Oh really? What did he or she look like?
1. Well, he was wearing a hat.
2. A fishing hat?
1. No…
2. Oh, he is no lord of mine.

M
Some of the things submitted to this carnival are funny. This is not one of those things.

N
Girl: Uh, do you wear mascara?
Boy: Heh, no, I'm just naturally beautiful.
Girl: I see.
Boy: Yep!
Girl: Well, then you really should see a doctor about those dark things under your eyes.
Boy: …Oh.

O
If you laugh at this, you're gay.

WTF?

2006-01-29T20:37:00.000-05:00

The next WTF! Carnival will be here on Tuesday. Send all quips to me by 6PM tomorrow if you want to be included.

Religion and the Invention of Homophobia

2006-01-24T18:26:00.000-05:00

So I'm writing this History paper on the differences between Lesbianism and Male Homosexuality during the Middle Ages and I came across an interesting tidbit.

The early branches of the Catholic church are almost entirely responsible for the existence of homphobia. It had thrived in the ancient times of the Romans and Greeks and same-sex unions were even permitted in many cases.

Enter Catholics, they made homosexuality less and less popular by passing legislature which allowed homosexuals to be burned at the stake, have their genitals tied to a pole and exiled.

The ironic part to me though is that many debates are held about whether the Bible contains homosexual themes. Of course, the Bible is an all-encompassing book right?

Any thoughts? If you're interested in reading more about the history of homophobia, I would highly recommend Homophobia: A History by Byrne Fone. It's quite comprehensive.

GOD or NOT

2006-01-16T14:46:00.000-05:00

Oh yes, the new GOD or NOT carnival is up at Back of the Envelope. Read and enjoy.

What we're ranting about... vs. what we SHOULD be ranting about

2006-01-13T23:15:00.000-05:00

All of you should read this article, it explains my point of view on the issues we've been ranting about very precisely. We go on about the words on coins, when there are much bigger issues we should rant/deal about, some of them even regarding religion! So, we can rant about religion and about something important having to do with it... rather than the pointless drivel I've been hearing in the posts and the comments, I'd like to have some intellectual discussions about real-world issues, rather than pointless flame wars that eventually result in some theological type telling us that we blaspheming, sinning atheists will be saved and discover Jesus some day.

So, somebody get posting! You think I'm going to start this?

Fetch the Book of Armaments!

2006-01-12T20:59:00.000-05:00

As many of my friends know, I used to be a member of a Reconstructionist Jewish congregation. Reconstructionism has been described as a more liberal approach to Judaism, but most atheists should realize that a liberal religion is still a religion. Reconstructionism takes a hypocritical stance, claiming that some parts of Jewish teachings may not be true, while teaching other aspects as the basis for a good life. It says that people should find their own meaning in religion, as long as they don't follow the (modern) socially unacceptable parts.

In other words, Reconstructionists realize that parts of scripture do not make sense, but are afraid to actually question their religion. In some cases, such moderation is worse that orthodoxy; as people like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins have argued, moderation provides the ground on which religion cannot be questioned. By admitting that the Bible is faulty while maintaining that this is nothing wrong, hypocrites such as the Reconstructionists become the people for whom "religion has been helpful." You know, whenever you're debating someone about religion, and they say "but mindless worship is good for some people!" Moderates are those people.

In many debates over religion with my Reconstructionist mother, she has claimed that the Bible is more than a random crazy book. She says that sure, it may not be literally true, but it is still a good source for people who are looking for morals…like moderates.

That insight could only come from someone who has not read very much of the Bible. After an hour or two of skimming, any rational person should realize that the Bible is not a stable source of morals. It is inconsistent, vague, and downright outrageous. Whether or not certain passages may be meaningful to someone, the book should not be relied upon as any sort of moral guide. If you want pretty poetry, there are better places to look.

Harry Potter has morals. The Series of Unfortunate Events has morals. Mein Kampf has morals. Does this mean they should be given a special standing over all other books?

In conclusion, acknowledging that the Bible is not literally true is not a significant step if one still believes that it is a valid moral source.

Religion kills people (whaddaya know?)

2006-01-12T17:35:00.000-05:00

CNN - Hajj stampede kills hundreds

So you've got a bunch of Muslims climbing over rocks to find some holy spot, and they have a ritual involving throwing stones at a 'symbolic devil.' It seems like a recipe for disaster, and this disaster has even happened before. Will they never learn?

Knock-knock

2006-01-11T19:18:00.000-05:00

Oy, would anyone out there have a legitimate objection to me offering to host the next WTF Carnival here?

Just checkin'.

Yad Vashem

2006-01-01T16:29:00.000-05:00

So for vacation, I made a religious "pilgrimage" of sorts to Israel. You can't really go to Israel and avoid Yad Vashem ("The Memorial of Names") or more literally, Jerusalem's spectacular Holocaust memorial. You walk through a long gray corridor and watch personal testimonials of Holocaust survivors and German soldiers. Although I'm a pretty emotional person myself, I don't cry unless I've got a good reason to cry, i.e. the Children's Memorial.

Visitors walk inside a cave where five candles are reflected millions of times over in a hall of mirrors to represent the souls of one and a half million children who died in the Holocaust. A voice states the name, age and birthplace of each dead child. This overwhelming sorrow consumed me, keeping me stationary in that one spot. Think about it. Among those kids, we may have found the cure for cancer, a great world leader or a loving parent.

Now I know that an event like the Holocaust draws a line between the theistic and atheists. I've heard both sides argued quite convincingly and it makes me wonder: how many modern atheists are so deeply affected by world traumas versus their own inner questioning? In my case, the Holocaust didn't confirm my belief in any sort of deity.

So my question is: How did the Holocaust (or other similar events such as the Rwandan Genocide or the Darfur Crisis) affect your view on theism?

An open letter to the atheist blogosphere

2005-12-29T23:26:00.000-05:00

These past two days saw some warfare on the godless blogosphere. It began yesterday with a post by The Raving Atheist, "the sole purpose" of which, according to TRA, "was to torment Francois Tremblay."

It continued with a quarrel in the comments of The Evangelical Atheist's latest post. The dispute was namely over Tremblay's 'Shit List'; The Uncredible Hallq weighed in on that issue, requesting the removal of said list.

Now that I'm through with my journalistic need to establish a context, I must urge the immediate cease of petty spats such as this one. Arguing with each other does not help us build a front against theism. I have recently been losing respect for TRA because of his pointless attacks aimed at Objectivists and Individualists and [insert -ist here]. Such attacks are no better than feuds between Protestants and Catholics, Baptists and Methodists, or the People's Front of Judea and the Judean People's Front. We're all godless! We are all different! (I'm not)

The problem with the blogosphere is that it is so easy to waste a comments section with arguments and personal attacks. As soon as Person A says something Person B doesn't like, B can respond and instigate the wrath of A as well as C, D, and E. Then we all get mad at each other, as happens so often with Francois Tremblay. We desperately need to stop degrading him, because in doing so we degrade ourselves.

But it was right to take down the Shit List, Franc. That reflected poorly upon you; it sunk you to the level of your attackers. For the longest time, I did not believe my parents, but they were right: The best way to deal with petty personal insults is to ignore them. If you ignore the antagonist, he goes away. Be better than him.

Now, I'm not saying we should just stop feuding with Francois Tremblay. I suggest we cease all such arguments between atheists. We have a common enemy.

How do we do this, you ask? Simple. Avoid all criticism unless it's constructive. Today Franc called GOD or NOT a "personality contest" over at TEA (he has since apologized), and the warfare ensued shortly thereafter. It was an unnecessary statement, and the reaction to it was just as unnecessary. Therefore, it is also advisable not to respond to such comments.

Furthermore, blogs are about content, not the bloggers. For all you know, I could be a jerk in real life (betcha Aeger'll make a joke about that), but you would have no idea. Some of us are better at hiding it than others. On any given blog, you should focus on what the blogger produces, not the blogger him/her/itself. Save that for real life. I mean, geez, Goosing the Antithesis is a great blog; don't ignore a post just because Francois Tremblay wrote it.

If our blogs are to progress and become more successful, we must put these inconsequential squabbles in the past. Perhaps that can be a general New Year's Resolution.

Good night.

GOD or NOT submissions

2005-12-27T18:05:00.000-05:00

According to I AM,, there's a startling lack of submissions for the next GOD or NOT carnival. The topic is "ghosts, angels, etc," so get writing and send 'em on in.

What? I'm an atheist blogger too, you say? Ah, hell. I'm on vacation.

Oh, fine. I'll write something at some point. Next time I get up before 12.

…You are all individuals! You are all different!

Happy Holidays from His Noodlieness

2005-12-14T19:32:00.000-05:00

Have a happy Flying Spagetti Monster weekend everyone.

Yes, I am just doing this because I need to post.

Christmas should be called Buy-Mas

2005-12-09T21:24:00.000-05:00

Christmas is rolling around, and with it come the commercials we see on TV and the ads we see in newspapers.

Christmas has experienced a sort of evolution over time. It started out as a purely religious holiday, celebrating the birthday of Jesus Christ. Then, Christians all over started adding things to the celebration. For example:

The Christmas tree, which Started out as just a custom, but went on to be a way for stores to make money selling "super-high-efficiency Lightomatic SuperGloober christmas lights."
Mistletoe, which I really can't argue against :)
Candy canes... just plain wtf
Santa Claus, who started out as a character in christmas stories. It's evolved into a way to get kids to be nice to each other, and also into something we atheists like to use as a metaphor for countless things.
Gift giving, which started out as a nice way to celebrate the holiday for families. Now it's a nice way to get people to buy tons of expensive consumer electronics.

Christmas just annoys me in that it's linked to religion but also used by companies to suck money from you into their pocket. I kinda like the way atheism doesn't force you to buy things...

Awesome

2005-12-03T21:26:00.000-05:00

Every so often, I encounter something produced by Christians that is so hilarious I think it must be fake. Most of the time, it's not. This seems to be one of them:

Our God Is An Awesome God

Hypnosis

2005-12-03T10:01:00.000-05:00

This is a bit of a non-sequitur for KoH, but it does have something to do with spiritualism and a lot to do with science, and besides, I need to post again. Hypnosis has always been very interesting to me. Well, actually not just hypnosis but also the whole idea of meditation and all that mind-over-matter type stuff. But whenever I've asked about it, I've always just been given some spiritual explanation. I was reading something online (I seem to have lost the URL, sorry) about hypnosis and its scientific value, and becoming very intrigued. What follows is derived from a paper I wrote for school on the subject.

Hypnosis is not just a parlor trick. From its original use by German physician, Dr. Franz Mesmer in the 18th century to fool people into giving him money to its application in neuroscience today, it has always had an air of mystery about it. Now its mysteries are beginning to become unraveled by modern day science, and the results are truly revealing.

"The idea that perceptions can be manipulated by expectations" is fundamental to the study of cognition, said Michael I. Posner, an emeritus professor of neuroscience at the University of Oregon and expert on attention. "But now we're really getting at the mechanisms." Neuroscientists like Posner are speedily conducting tests on hypnotizables (people that can easily be hypnotized) and hypnosis resistants to look deeper into this world of discovery barely identified. Now, Dr. Posner and others said, new research on hypnosis and suggestion is providing a new view into the cogs and wheels of normal brain function.

One area that it may have illuminated is the processing of sensory data. Information from the eyes, ears and body is carried to primary sensory regions in the brain. From there, it is brought up to so-called higher regions where interpretation occurs. These higher regions are what we use to think, and it is here that hypnosis takes hold.

Allow me to illustrate: photons bouncing off a flower first reach the eye, where they are turned into a pattern that is sent to the primary visual cortex. There, the rough shape of the flower is recognized. The pattern is next sent to a higher region, where color is recognized, and then to an even higher region, where the flower's identity is encoded along with other knowledge about the particular bloom. Exciting, isn’t it?

This system of information traveling from lower to higher regions in the brain, which also works for all of your other senses, is what is call feedforward. But here’s the cool part: information travels the other way too. Surprisingly, there are ten times as many nerve fibers carrying information down as there are carrying it up. These feedback fibers mean that consciousness, what people see, hear, feel, etc., is based on what neuroscientists call “top down processing.” Here’s the point: what you see is not always what you get, because what you see depends on a framework built by experience that stands ready to interpret the raw information - as a flower or a hammer or a face. Your frame of reference can determine how you experience your life. Now that’s neat.

That’s where hypnosis comes in. A hypnotist can burden the higher functions of your brain so that they overload your lower regions, meaning that when your eyes see a pink flower, but your higher regions want it to be blue, it becomes blue. If the top is convinced, the bottom level of data will be overruled.

That is quite neat. I hope that y'all have learned something.

Thank you for your time.

…wtf?

2005-12-01T19:48:00.000-05:00

I think most of us agree that atheists produce better humor than theists. Many great comedians and comedy groups (Mark Twain, George Carlin, Monty Python, Penn & Teller) are godless. So, us heathen bloggers recently started a carnival for the collection of humorous quips, a tradition which origination over at the Pix Capacitor.

It's called "Wow! That's Funny!" but we abbreviate it as "WTF" to save time and punctuation. It's not exclusively for atheists, but that's how it seems so far.

Anywho, the new edition is now up at Quailitude Dot Com. I encourage you all to vote for your two favorite quips, promote it, and if you like us enough, sign up to host.

And now I am done abusing my ability to post here.

One nation under god

2005-11-30T16:01:00.000-05:00

I agree with all the people that say that we atheists are too sensitive to the word "god." However, the pledge of allegiance really bugs me. It's not so much the mere use of the word, it's the arrogance of using the word "one" before it. On a different point, I don't see at all why we should be taught to promise loyalty to our country at the age of 5 or 6, when we don't really know what we're saying. Now, we could go on and on about it, but this country has more pressing problems than the word "god."

Apologies for this terrible, incoherent post that I wrote at midnight last night. It would be great if someone could write a post right after this one so it doesn't take up room at the top of the page for too long.

Thin Red Line

2005-11-29T20:57:00.000-05:00

Where is the boundary when somebody stops being agnostic and starts being an atheist?

I'm sure that everybody has had their doubts about God and religion, and everything related, but how much doubt do you have to have to be an agnostic, as opposed to an atheist?

Somewhere there's got to be that thin, red line.

God: The Word

2005-11-24T14:43:00.000-05:00

Note: any reference to "we" or "us" is a collective term for atheists

Our recent posts & discussions have evolved around the topic of God in our government. This made me wonder: Well, if we [the atheists] don't believe in God, then why do we care so much that the word "God" is on the dollar bill? It's an interesting question, since if atheists don't believe that God exists, God is just a word. A word by which we attempt to pin down as an abstract concept in which atheists by definition have no faith in.

If we don't believe in God, why are we so upset about the word being on the dollar bill? Sure, it's a word that has caused people to kill each other and have huge wars, but in the grand scheme of things. The word is just a label, but isn't necessarily the concept it's attempting to decribe. Personally, if we get frustrated by having the word "God" on our currency, then we are letting the definition of the word become more generalized and accepted. Basically, if you try to treat it as though it's a word more special or taboo than other words, it will become more special and revered. If we don't believe in the concept the word represents, the word shouldn't really bother us should it? It's the meaning behind the word which holds so much power.

By giving "God" so much attention, we are letting the whole situation bother us much more than it has to. And again, we have to draw the line somewhere between atheist and a-religion because as much as some of us may want to group them together, they are innately different concepts and must be treated as such. Finally we're getting somewhere.

Silly Catholics, God is for Protestants!

2005-11-22T20:12:00.000-05:00

But seriously.

A Catholic school teacher was recently fired for being pregnant and unmarried. At a news conference announcing a lawsuit Michelle McCusker is filing against the school, she said, "I don't understand how a religion that prides itself on forgiving and on valuing life could terminate me because I'm pregnant and choosing to have this baby."

And I don't understand how a woman professing to be of that faith could not follow its laws. If she was a good Catholic, she would follow the rules outlined in the Bible and allow her community to stone her (KJV Deuteronomy 22:21). Geez.

No, really. I've said it time after time: You cannot claim to follow a religion because of the morals it teaches, because it also teaches ones that most people would regard as bad. When people mention the morals of a religion, they mean the morals that they agree with.

And that's all for today, folks. Have a great holiday.

A Dollar For Your Thoughts?

2005-11-21T21:35:00.000-05:00

A while ago I posted about this very subject, since then I have actually begun to participate in it, and today I am once again bringing it to your attention. The activity is what I call Godoffing - or the removal of "God" from the "In God We Trust" printed on all of our dollar bills. I feel strongly about this, so strongly that, for the next two sentences, I will type in all capitals. IT IS STUPID TO HAVE A "GOD" ON THE NATIONAL CURRENCY OF A SOCIETY WHICH CLAIMS TO HAVE DIVIDED ITSELF FROM THE CHURCH. IT'S IDIOT, WRONG, AND MUST BE STOPPED.

To borrow a comment made on Skeptic Rant, this is bringing the battle to the home ground. It's infinitely easier to ignore an atheist wacko you see on the news than it is to disregard the message clearly labeled on the bill clutched in your hand.

Yes, technically this is illegal. But the law against it only marginally applies to this and really means not to write cusses etc. on your bills. And besides, this is an unenforceable law that is utterly victimless and for a good cause.

So here's the simple "how to" for those of you that don't already know. There are two ways to do this:
1. Buy a stamp. The specified selling of these stamps is illegal, however, you can buy a stamp custom made from places like Stampman.net. or
2. If your like me and don't have the fund or the want to purchase a professional God-offer, you can just use a sharpie and black out the "God" part.

To show your support of this movement you can visit the official website God Off Money. Com and learn more about it. You can even get a site badge to publicly show your support.

Every bill you fix is just one more bill that will be carried by thousands of people in its lifetime. It takes almost no time to whip out a sharpie or a stamp and correct the mistake made on bills. Think about it.

Thank you for your time.

P.S. apologies for the length of time between posts. I don't know about the other contributors, but Seth and I were both involved in our school's variety show, which has taken up most of the day for the past two weeks.

Divine Intervention

2005-11-13T16:11:00.000-05:00

It's high time there's another post.

A major turning point for my atheism was when I started to think about a concept I'll call "divine intervention." For our purposes, divine intervention is the possibility that God intervenes in human life. This can be in either a micro-managing parent view or just as a salesperson/encouraging guide type.

I personally, refuse to accept the fact that there is any sort of intervention from any supernatural being. To me, this intervention would cause a contortion of free will.

In Biblical times, God played a pretty active role. Like after Cain's fratricide, God comes down and asks Cain about the whereabouts of his brother. Now to me, God allowed Cain the opportunity to own up to what he had done, but by coming down to Cain while he was in a crazed state warped Cain's sense of choice. Given the opportunity to think clearly, Cain may have been able to properly atest to his crime.

So if you're the type of theist who believes that by praying to God, God takes an active role in your life and the lives of every human being, answer this: When God solves your problem, or grants you wish, is God somehow denying the right of free will to another person? If you think about it, if every religion considers themselves the "chosen people," we're all on an equal plane. Since the pure contradiction of having all religiously affiliated peoples be "chosen" is obvious. If we're all equal, than how can God play a neutral role in the lives of people. People hate, kill and hurt each other, that's what they do. So at some point, God takes sides.

I would love to start a dialogue on this.

Al-Qaeda is winning

2005-11-09T21:44:00.000-05:00

Advocate of the Browns, who until very recently was a contributor to this group blog, wrote an article on his blog www.desilives.blogspot.com. As it concerns a topic that KoH focuses on, AotB asked me to put it in here. This won't be a regular thing, so enjoy it while it lasts.

In late October, there was a Globe article talking about Ramadan. It was discussing how Ramadan influences media. Many TV networks only broadcast during Ramadan to give the believers some entertainment while they wait for the nightly feast, and after the feasts. Al-Qaeda is using their internet connections to proclaim themselves Caliphs, by giving Wahabist viewpoints on Islamic news and making them seem right. And they are gaining followers. Considering that the sites used change every two days, and the sites are only slightly Wahabist enclined, people are a bit more likely to agree then if it were Al-Qaeda websites or Wahabist extremist websites. But Al-Qaeda is gaingin much more political influence. Saudi Arabia changed its flag, because one of the two scimitars on the flag stood for Wahabism, which, until recently, Saudi Arabia was proud of being. If Al-Qaeda can get the most influential Islamic country to change their flag because of a chance association, it means they are gaining fear. When terrorists gain fear, it means they are gaining power from the fearful. It also means that Al-Qaeda is getting power from those who still support Wahabism in Saudi Arabia. If people see the government changing a national symbol as to remove association with a terrorist group that they still want, they might feel inclined to support the terrorists.

Now take all this new support and add it to the Al-Qaeda and Iraq sympathizers, and you have an army of jihadists and politicals to support you. Face it. We're screwed. Al-Qaeda is winning, unless we can do something about its followers. We tried cutting off the head. Now let's try the rest of the body.

Sexism in Religion

2005-11-06T08:09:00.000-05:00

Considering that I'm the only female contributor to the blog, I think I've got the right to bring up the issue. Sexism certainly has distinguishable roots in religion. Example: Garden of Eden, Adam isn't punished for eating the fruit, he's punished for listening to his wife. Since obviously, it's her fault that he decided to eat the fruit, we women are just so incredibly tempting.

Another example: Think about any older movie you've seen where two people get married. What does the presiding clergyman say? "I now pronounce you man and wife." The implications of the statement are that the man owns the woman. The woman is just another one of his possessions like a chair or a dog. Not everbody today realizes why this is so offensive, but it is, and people still say it and may even believe that women are the property of men.

And people today when they refer to original sin, often take the prerogative to refer to women as original sin. It's sinful to be with a woman because she has no sense of right or wrong. I guess my question is, why aren't more men fighting against sexism?

My theory is, there are plenty of people that are alienated by biases and prejudice. They'll always fight back, but in reality, they shouldn't have to. White people should fight against racism; Christians should fight against anti-semitism; and Men should fight against sexism. It's pretty simple, once guys start realizing that sexism is so prominent in our society due to its use in a more religious context.

So even if you never would look at the Bible or the Torah as serious historical documents, you can see that they have cultural and moral effects regardless of their historical accuracy. That is, and always will be, the danger of a religious text.

A very long and complex post about a very simple thing

2005-11-04T17:28:00.000-05:00

For quite some time now I have been reading the Bible. I do this because I think that amidst all of the hooey there are a few gems of moral value, or perhaps they are more like Quartz, or maybe just fools gold, well the point is that there's something there. I also have been writing down humorous texts (and yes, just so he doesn't internally combust, I will say that Seth was doing this before me and gave me the idea).

Now this week I went off for 4 days to Natures Classroom, a school trip. This camp happened to take place on Christian fundy land and there were many many crosses as well as mucho posters about "Meeting Jesus: You will never be the same again." But that's just a side note.

The real subject of this post is a certain conversation that took place between me, Seth, and a certain Christian cabin mate who was getting annoyed at my atheism.

As I recall, the conversation started when I entered the room, after hearing my other cabin compadres talking about the joys of red wine or some such thing, and said something about red wine being the blood of Christ and how he must have been wasted 24/7. Perhaps not the best way to start off a conversation with a certain Christian cabin mate who was getting annoyed at my atheism, but I had had a bit too much of the blood of Christ on that particular day anyway, and besides, what's done is done.

Soon a rather heated debate ensued between me and the aforementioned Christian about the existence of God, God's plan for us all, and how after this certain kid had an encounter with Jesus "He was never the same again." Eventually we got to that inevitable point in any cross religion debate where the one, losing the power to his argument, starts questioning the other's proof. And then I took out the proof, my Bible.

Before I go on, I'd just like to clarify: this kid is a wonderful person, and great to be around. Normally, we would have been best of friends. That night, we were both jerks.

But I wander. Here's the meat of this post:

During this argument this boy accused me of "doing nothing but make fun of the bible." (and yes, this is a direct quote, I had a notebook with me at the time). His statement made me pause because, though I do have the highest respect for all people and their rights to practice what they believe in (along with the normal "as long as it doesn't hurt anyone" speech), I knew right then that I was right, and that he was wrong, and that he knew that he was right, and that I was wrong, and that I could never convince him or myself otherwise. I told him that I wasn't making fun of the Bible, that I respected the life he chose. And of course he didn't believe me. He was most likely praying for my forgiveness or some such thing.

One of the greatest obstacles this world faces is difference of opinion, and the greatest difference of opinion in the world today is religion. The only way we can accomplish anything for the betterment of the human race is if we understand the human race we are attempting to better. I got no where with my argument because no matter what either me or my opponent said, neither of us was willing to accept the possibility that we were wrong. A most recent post on the Evangelical Atheist talks about a solution, education. I agree fully. We must educate kids about ALL religions, as well as life before them. Then, and only then, will we have a world that can accept itself in all its differences, and work towards its own betterment.

Thank you for your time.

Hmmmm

2005-10-30T15:00:00.000-05:00

Well, this is interesting.

You fit in with:
Humanism

Your ideals mostly resemble that of a Humanist. Although you do not have a lot of faith, you are devoted to making this world better, in the short time that you have to live. Humanists do not generally believe in an afterlife, and therefore, are committed to making the world a better place for themselves and future generations.

20% scientific.
100% reason-oriented.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

I always pictured myself as a horrible rotten person who was only interested in himself. Odd. Perhaps I should reevaluate myself? Maybe tomorrow.

Natural selection and evolution

2005-10-29T16:32:00.000-05:00

What never ceases to amaze me is how some people can't get their heads around natural selection/evolution. With three simple, obvious facts, you can explain natural selection in its entirety.

Features are inherited from parents
Parents with certain features can be more likely to survive
Parents who don't live to maturity cannot have children.

The other thing is that creationism explains what MADE organisms, and says that they haven't changed. If you look at fossil records, you'll see that things have definitely changed. How can people say that bones taken out of the earth are all fakes?

Halloween Corrupts our Young Kids

2005-10-28T18:44:00.000-05:00

I personally don't like Halloween that much. Never have. But when I heard that Underwood (a school in Newton) actually isn't celebrating it in school because "some people claimed the holiday offended their religious beliefs." I have to wonder... what does Halloween do to hurt anyone?

To prove my point a little better, I've looked up the origins of Halloween. It has roots in a Celtic celebration of the new year (5th century BCE). Romans later adopted the traditions and many years later, it was brought to the US by Irish immigrants in the 1840's. The original ritual involved the disembodied spirits of the dead coming back and inhabiting some living bodies so they could get to the afterlife. The living people would parade around so that the spirits wouldn't come back to haunt them.

Okay, how many people can seriously believe that Halloween will corrupt young souls? The modern day incarnation is kids walking around in fun costumes getting candy. It's a very benign and innocent holiday that doesn't do any harm at all. A quote from an Underwood parent:

"All I can say is what a shame. I watched the news this morning and am also glad my children don't attend there. First, saluting the flag was a controversy, now Halloween? Oh please! I understand we Americans have free rights and it is all being taken away by allowing everyone with religious issues to take over. This is not about religion for the kids, Halloween is about tradition and fun. Can't kids be kids anymore? What's next?"

What's next to go? Maybe Valentine's day will become too romantically heated and sacrilege to celebrate. It's ridiculous, it almost makes me want to go out trick or treating to defy these stupid people who think that Halloween is such a bad thing.

Check out the articles:
Halloween History & Controversy

The Million Dollar Ticket

2005-10-24T18:07:00.000-05:00

I got one of these fake million dollar bills from one of my friends at school today. The front looks a normal fake bill, except in the bottom left had corner instead of "Treasurer of the United States" it says "Department of Eternal Affairs". Something's fishy...

So on the back side it's really different. There's a picture of the Supreme Court building and "IN GOD WE TRUST" is emphasized on the steps of the building. Not good. Here's the scariest part: there's writing around the edges, and (suprise, suprise) it's all about Jesus.

It reads:

"The million dollar question: Will you go to Heaven? Here's a quick test. Have you ever told a lie, stolen anything, or used God's name in vain? Jesus said,'Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has commited adultery already with her in his heart.' Have you looked with lust? Will you be guilty on Judgment Day? If you have done those things God sees you as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. The Bible warns that if you are guilty you will end up in Hell. That's not God's will. He sent His Son to suffer and die on the cross for you. Jesus took your punishment upon Himself- 'For God loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.' Then He rose from the dead and defeated death. Please, repent (turn from sin) today and trust in Jesus, and God will grant you everlasting life. Then read your Bible daily and obey it. www.wayoftheMaster.com"

Uh huh.

First off, Everyone's lied, stolen and 'looked with lust'! One of my Die-Hard-Born-Again-Christian friends admits she's a habitual liar. That guy probably does it on a regular basis.

Second, "If you have done those things[comma?] God sees you as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart." Geez, talk about bringing down someone's self esteem!

My favorite: "The Bible warns that if you are guilty you will end up in Hell. That's not God's will." Sure it's not. "Sorry little Timmy, I REALLY don't want to send you to eternal torture, but if you continue to lust over women and lie to your mommy, I'm going to HAVE to!"

"Then read your Bible daily and obey it." Ooh boy! Let's kill my entire heathen family!

Who's the author? Oh, of course. Kirk from www.wayoftheMaster.com I love this guy!

P.S. click on the way of the Master link, and on the front page you can see a small picture of bill in the bottom left corner. Aparently it's all part of the kit you can buy for only $99.99!

Clarification

2005-10-23T19:29:00.000-05:00

Okay, just to make sure I've got this right. I want to know about your definitions of atheism. Like what specifically don't you believe in.

Example:
I don't believe in a biblical interpretation of God, as in, that guy with a beard who micromanages and controls our everyday lives.

I don't believe God is a physical or spiritual omnipotent reality either.

What I do believe is that "God" is an ideal and a moral standard to which we hold ourselves. I'm a religious humanist. To me, "God" is merely a useful term to describe an idealism that hopefully humans want to strive toward. To be godly instead of know "God."

The purpose of life is to understand yourself and your relationships with other people and with nature. Whether or not you believe in God is irrelevant; one should just attempt to be godly. This is still a Jewish theology that's widely accepted in more liberal movements.

My point being, it's highly possible that the more a-religionistic of us have condemned religion as being a horrible thing without properly looking at all of its more flexible aspects. Atheism and religion can coexist.

A Realization

2005-10-22T23:27:00.000-05:00

I don't want to steal the spotlight, but I have to jump in before I forget.

I just realized something while I was driving home tonight, over the debate of the same-sex marriage amendment that is about to go to vote in Texas. I was running through the arguments that the other side might use, and then it hit me. Something that Christians sometimes say is that the Constition is based upon Christian ideals. No, I still know that they aren't right. The older Christian ideals differ alot from more modern ones. Its not against the law to work on the Sabbath, its not illegal to express ideas against church ideas anymore. This is because that the Christians ideology has been assimilated (some of it anyway) with the Constitution. This means that Christians will see their modern ideas in the Constitution, though the ideas of Christians at the time aren't really there.

Starbucks Is Not Infallible

2005-10-22T16:20:00.000-05:00

Starbucks began in August a campaign called "The Way I See It" which featured quotes on theur cups from well known people. This is all good and dandy, and some of the quotes are indeed spiffy, almost uber-spiffy. An example would be a saying from poet and philosopher Noah benShea reading "Do not kiss your children so they will kiss you back but so they will kiss their children, and their children’s children."

But that's not really what this is about.

As with all opinions, some are offensive to some people. One such cup that was pulled from Baylor University's Starbucks coffee shop said “My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. Don't make that mistake yourself. Life's too damn short." People that would take off shelves something like that are not really people I would want to spend time with. I, in my childish idea of the goodness of all mankind, am shocked that people like that exist. But that too is not really what this is about.

Coming in 2006, a quote from the Rev. Rick Warren explicitly mentions God:

You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your real purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny.

My response to that is disgust. Starbucks can put those those things on its cups, and they shouldn't be taken away, that's one of the great things about this country. That doesn't abate my disgust. This is really the first bad thing that starbucks has done in my opinion. Granted they're replacing the town coffee shop, but their product is certainly worthy of buying.

I thought I'd bring this to everyone's attention, Starbucks is not infallible.

Not that I'm going to do anything about it, their coffee is just too damn good.

Sermon on the Mount

2005-10-21T17:15:00.000-05:00

There are in the scientific world, some true great people. I'm not just talking about the people who make discoveries, but the people who convey our message. One of those people is Sidney Harris, a cartoonist. He has drawn some of the most amazing science cartoons I have read. And this is his sermon from a scientist about "Genesis":

Preacher:Brothers and sisters, at the time of 10^-33 seconds after the big bang, the heat was enormous!
Crowd Member: Verily! It was over 10^33 degrees!
P: Matter and anti-matter arose!
CM: Halleluja- They annhilated each other!
P:And the universe was filled with particles!
CM: Amen! Quarks!
CM: And Gluons!
CM: Yea Leptons!

hehe.

He also published a hilllarious cartoon that can be typed out here

. <--- The Universe before the Big Bang (actual size)

Sidney Harris is a great scientific mind. Here is my salute to him.

See the light, yo.

2005-10-18T20:55:00.000-05:00

So there's a contest. This is the first draft of my entry:

"And the LORD spake unto his disciples, commanding, 'Thou shalt boil thine Holy Noodles, and stir them three times hitherto; four shall not be the number of stirs you stir, nor two. Unless, of course, thou shalt stir unto three times shortly thereafter. And then you shall hurl thine Holy Noodles unto thine heathen enemy, in His Noodliness's mercy.'" Noodleonomy 24:16-24:17

I once deserved to have Holy Noodles hurled at me. In fact, I probably do now. Hell, maybe everyone deserves to have Holy Noodles hurled at them; aren't we all sinners?

Ah, but some of his sinners have indeed seen the light, and lo, it is Noodly. It was not long ago that I was first touched by His Noodly Appendage. He touched me in my sleep. I was dreaming, as usual, of penguins. As I dreamt of sliding down snowy slopes with my furry friends, I tripped…over a meatball. In my dream, I looked into the sky, and behold! His Noodliness was reaching towards me! Then I woke up, and saw that actually––well, that's a different story.

Of course, I was first a skeptic. But I was soon bogged down by the mass of evidence there is for His Noodliness. I was naturally swayed by the ('coincidental') universal appearance of pasta throughout history. However, I was tipped over the edge when four-thousand year old noodles were discovered in China. And they were, as the prophecy said, rolled from dough of millet grains! And I quote:

"Behold! When the LORD brings the Earth to a simmer, and the sauce melts, shall the LORD's son be discovered. And lo! He shall be of no taxonomic group, as the LORD had not created taxonomy when he gave birth to his son. And lo! The phrase 'gave birth' is a general term, and shall not be interpreted to assign a specific sex to the LORD; his Noodliness may very well have impregnated the earth through nonsexual means, or maybe caNoodled with some sort of easily-seduced female being." Pastalms 137:2-137:3

How can anyone deny this eyewitness testimony to the existence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster? As usual, the only excuse for non-belief is non-education. The heathens should all be ashamed. They should be forbidden from EVER eating Ramen noodles. No! Angel-hair pasta! No! Linguini! Why, let us forbid them from ever consuming ANY sort of comestible produced by rolling and cutting dough, or, as in some cases, forcing dough through holes in a plate, known as a "die." Yes! Let that be the course of action we take! And while we're at it, let us hurl Holy Noodles at them!

Well, I don't want to be labeled as a firebrand. All I want is equality; and for me to have more of it than others. Ramen.

WWJB?

2005-10-17T12:49:00.000-05:00

Why do Christians seem to get all the attention? [link]

That and other pressing questions drew 135 Christians to Southern California this weekend for a national conference billed as the first-ever for "God bloggers," a growing community of online writers who exchange information and analyze current events from a Christian perspective.

The three-day conference at Biola University marked an important benchmark for Christian bloggers, who have worked behind the scenes for years to spread the Gospel and infuse politics with religion.

The Funniest Joke

2005-10-15T10:32:00.000-05:00

There are some damn funny jokes out there, and religious ones are often the funniest. The website Ship of Fools recently held a contest for the funniest religious joke, and the results are hilarious.

The Christian website showed a surprising fondness for black humour about their faith, or lack of it. "We were surprised that Christians sent such offensive jokes. We didn't think they had it in them," said the editor of the site, Simon Jenkins.

There were two categories: funniest joke and most offensive joke.

Here are a few of my favorite runner ups in the top ten of the two categories:

In the offensive jokes section:

Jesus walks into a motel, throws a bag of nails on the counter and says, "Can you put me up for the night?"

A Catholic priest, a Boy Scout leader and a lawyer take some boys out on an adventure trip. On the flight over, there is engine trouble and the plane is about to go down.

"We have a problem", says the pilot. "There are only three parachutes!"

The Boy Scout leader suggests they give them to the boys.

"Screw the boys," shouts the lawyer.

"Is there time?" asks the priest.

Here one from the funnies:

St Peter decides to take the day off to go fishing, so Jesus offers to keep an eye on the Pearly Gates. He is not sure what to do, so Peter tells him to find out a bit about people as they arrive in Heaven, and this will help him decide if he can let them in.

After a while, Jesus sees a little old man with white hair approaching who looks very, very familiar. He asks the old man to tell him about himself. The old man says, "I had a very sad life. I was a carpenter and had a son who I lost at a relatively young age, and although he was not my natural child, I loved him dearly."

Jesus welled up with emotion. He threw his arms around the old man and cried, "Daddy!"

The old man replied, "Pinocchio?"

And finally, we have the winner of the Top Ten Funny Jokes:

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump. I ran over and said: "Stop. Don't do it."

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.

"Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Are you religious?"

He said, "Yes."

I said, "Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?"

"Christian."

"Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant."

"Me too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow. Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"

He said: "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915."

I said: "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.

For a complete list of both categories, go here.

I'm glad Christians are just as ready to make fun of themselves as we are, it gives hope that they are capable of questioning their own beliefs. Jokes are a great way to look into another culture, and I suppose when you look past all of the horrible things religion has caused over the centuries, it becomes the ultimate victim for humor.

Something that happened today

2005-10-12T17:50:00.000-05:00

This is a really, really short post. This introduction is only to make it longer.

This evening, my mom said, "Would you like to go to services with me?" She was referring to the night-before-yom-kippur services, aka Kol Nidre. I say no. My dad says, "C'mon, you know he's an atheist." Thanks, dad. Then my mom says, "Don't say that! It's Yom Kippur!" What the hell?

Living on a Single Philosophy

2005-10-10T06:56:00.000-05:00

A question that I've gotten a lot is: How can you be an atheist Jew? It seems totally impossible. It's really not impossible at all; here's the way I think about it.

If you tried to live your life by a single moral, would you be able to do it? Let's take the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would like done unto you. Suppose I lived my entire life just by following that moral until one day when a lie just slips out inadvertently. What do I do then? I don't want people to lie to me, but according to my one and only moral, it's their prerogative.

Basically, I don't feel that I can live my life without having a more than one basis in philosophy. Just as a good research paper needs many good sources and not just one source, philosophy in my mind, requires the same thing. Without having knowledge or a decent understanding of other philosophies, how can you accurately choose your own? The previous post does touch upon this topic slightly.

I don't feel like I can live without religion. And by religion, I mean a set of moral values that happen to come from religious doctrine. However dated the doctrine may be, there's some good lessons to be learned in there. Like during Rosh Hashana when we read the binding of Isaac, where Abraham is so zealous, he's ready to kill his son. I realized that it really is bad to believe blindly in something where there's no proof. Quite a different message from the one that the Rabbi wanted me to take away from that service.

That's the beauty of this whole thing. I've taken the best of both worlds. Or rather, accepted my history as a Jew and just left God out of it.

So my point is, philosophy is much stronger when it's drawn from multiple sources because you're getting a more objective view of the world and of other people's philosophies without necessarily compromising any of your own personal beliefs.

Religious indoctrination of children is nothing short of brainwashing

2005-10-09T14:34:00.000-05:00

If I had a nickel for every time I have uttered that phrase. . .well, I say it a lot. It's frustrating how so few people understand what I mean.

Children are impressionable. If parents teach their children something when they're very young, it will stick. Look at Santa Clause: How many young children in America do you think are convinced that Santa exists?

The same goes for religion. Parents, for some strange reason, are allowed to teach their children that one religion is better than all others, and raise them with it. So many American children believe in a god simply because their parents do, and because their parents sent them to Sunday School, or Hebrew School, or whatever. When a three year old is brought to church and told that god loves him/her, he/she is going to get sucked in.

For example, I have a theist friend who said he started going to church at a young age. When I questioned him, he went on about his god's powers, and how much his god loves him. At one point he even admitted omnipotence is an illogical idea, but that doesn't matter if his god is omnipotent.

Similarly, I have a friend who told me she started going to church around the age of three, and is a rather firm Catholic. She says that indoctrination of kids is not brainwashing. . . "it's religion." Obviously, faith suspends normal social rules.

Sadly, it's going to be a looooong time before anyone in power recognizes that it is a bad thing for parents to raise their kids with a religion. The only thing children can do about this is spread the word themselves.

Fides

2005-10-09T14:18:00.000-05:00

As an atheist and supporter of science, I have been told time and again by theists that science is a religion. They inform me that scientists put faith in their instruments' ability to function, and have faith that their instruments are in fact telling them the truth, blah blah blah, and so on.

Well, those statements are right. Science does require faith. But what it does not require is blind faith, one of the most dangerous things in existence.

If I am a meteorologist, and I'm setting up my tools in a new place, I have faith that I am doing my job correctly, and not damaging the instruments. However, I will have previously set up said instruments in other locations. I have experience, and have observed my anemometer working in the past. Thus, since I have my experience to go on, I am not believing blindly that I will succeed in setting up the weather station.

Similarly, if my barometer tells me that the air pressure is going down, I have faith that it is correct. However, if a storm follows shortly thereafter, I will have confirmation that my barometer is functioning properly.

Religion, on the other hand, requires blind faith. Nobody has observed a god creating the earth, a flood enveloping the planet, Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt, or some carpenter being crucified. Theists place trust in a book that was written thousands of years ago, after being orally passed down through generations of people. They suspend all logic and reason for the sake of eternal salvation, as promised by the aforementioned book. They kill other people for the sake of eternal salvation. Religion is the ultimate idiocy.

Da Bible IN TXT (^_^)

2005-10-07T19:09:00.000-05:00

Great news for all you IM speaking religion junkies out there, the Bible is in TXT. That's right, you heard me. All 31,173 verses have just been translated into IM speak by the The Bible Society in Australia. Now you can download the holy texts for free onto your cellphone. . . AND understand them.

It begins:

In da Bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth. . .

Michael Chant, a representative of the Society, says his son spent six weeks translating the entire Bible into txt messages. About 30,000 txt messages to be precise.

In an interview with the French news agency AFP, Chant said that "It's a logical step. Our aim at the Bible Society is to get the Bible out there among the people and this is a very effective way of doing it."

Here's the punch line: it's free! It's all free. The entire of the holy texts is now just one click away.

This is funny, like really funny. It's just another example of religion changing to fit the wants and needs of its suppliers of money. Like this. If this trend continues, God will be soon be wearing an afro and platform shoes.

You know, when it's not causing untold devestation and ruining the lives of nonconformists, religion can be pretty entertaining.

Much thanks to Seth for finding the info for this.

I'll Stand Up for you God!

2005-10-07T18:28:00.000-05:00

The biggest party is when you get through the gates of heaven... because you'll be eternally living with GOD

96% OF TEENS WON'T STAND UP FOR GOD...
REPOST THiS iF YOU'RE ONE OF THE 4% WHO WILL

Wow, I really don't think there are that many people that can truly explain atheism. Great stuff ain't it?

Thank you myspace bulletins for being so amusing.

Morality in Choice

2005-10-05T16:50:00.000-05:00

One of the common perceptions of God is of this omnipotent being who micromanages human life. Herein lies the first problem in all religion. "Is God watching me all the time, like when I'm in the shower? Do I have free will? Does God punsh me for thinking bad thoughts?"

If there is one religious person who honestly believes that were are punished for every single bad thought in our heads, I'd love to hear from you. The implications of that are incredibly huge.

God punishes you when

you want to commit suicide
you swear
you laugh at others' suffering
you get into a fight with a friend or sibling
you make a sarcastic comment about your peers
etc etc

If you seriously believe that God cares about every one of these "sins," large or small. I ask you, does God really care? Is God pissed off at you because you did a bad thing, or do your religious superiors tell you that God is pissed so that you decide to become a better person. God is a threat, a method by which people can be brainwashed to do the "right" thing according to your specific religious doctrine.

C'mon people, do we really need a God figure to start thinking about our daily actions? Do we need to have the threat of eternal damnation dangled in front of us in order to choose the right path? I say no. People can make their own choices. Before any of us even were aware of the "existance" of God, we were choosing a course of action. The morality of the action is irrelevant; it's the fact that we can make choices and determine ourselves how moral they really are.

So I guess you could say that the choices we make are both good and bad, it's all relative. If you need the guidance of God to make your choices, get a little self-confidence please.
We're all going to "hell" anyway.

Common Contradiction

2005-10-04T15:33:00.000-05:00

There is a common contradiction in Christian belief. Most Christians that I have talked to recently, claim that their Christ came to repeal the old laws enforced in the Torah (first five books of the Bible). Well, I've found a verse that defeats this common misconception.

Matthew 5:17, 18- "Do not think that I [Jesus] have come to abolish the old law or prophets; I have come not to abolish, but ot fufill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until it is accomplished."

I always remind my Xtian friends when they speak of Christ repealing the old laws of this verse, so they know what their own Bible actually says.

Anyone know anymore verses that contradict current Christain beliefs?

Seeya later,
Mesoforte Nebulous

Another Murdering Fanatics

2005-10-03T21:18:00.000-05:00

Apparently, according to one judge, A preist killed two people back in '02 becuase somebody found out he had molested children.

Why is is becoming more and more common place to hear about preist or pastors killing and molesting people, or religious fanatics blowing themselves up in subways or bombing abortion clinics?

And why don't you hear about Athiests doing these kind of things?

The impossibilities of God

2005-10-03T18:21:00.000-05:00

There is no proof of God, everything that God apparently does can be explained through science, and everything that God does that cannot be explained through science is told in a book that was written by a bunch of murdering fanatics centuries ago. Even what we know as the basis of the Christian religion can be easily disproven. A prime example is God's omnipotence.

God is omnipotent, right?

The definition of Omnipotent as defined by Dictionary.com and Wikipedia:

Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful. - Dictionary.com

Omnipotence (literally, "all power") is power with no limits or inexhaustible, in other words, unlimited power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence only to God. Theists hold that examples of God's omnipotence include Creation and miracles. - Wikipedia

There are a few big problems with omnipotence, mainly the fact that it is impossible.

To be omnipotent, a God

must be able to do anything
must know everything
must not be 'good' or 'evil'
must be worthy of our worship

There are some things that are just impossible. I'm being totally serious here. It is impossible to add two plus two to get five, it is impossible to create a rock so heavy that the creator himself cannot lift it, and it is most definitely impossible to lick your elbow (believe me, I've tried).

If God knows everything, he knows the future. More specifically, he knows his future. If he knows his future, then he knows what he will do next, and cannot change it, meaning he has no free will, meaning that he is not omnipotent.

I think the matter of good and evil has been said best by David Hume:

If the evil in the world is intended by god he is not good. If it violates his intentions he is not almighty. God can't be both almighty and good. There are many objections to this, but none that holds since god is ultimately responsible for the existence of evil. Besides, if only god can create he must have created evil.

Many might say that Satan created evil, but if Satan can create, who's to say that he didn't create the universe? And if he created evil, God didn't create it, meaning God didn't create everything.
Oh, and another thing God did not create: himself.

From my readings of the Bible, I have found a lot of stuff about God. Much of it is good, but there is also a good quantity of bad stuff. One example is Job. I won't go into detail, but the Book of Job is essentially the story of the greatest servant God has ever seen, and how God, through peer pressure from Satan, competely destroys Jobs life to prove that his faith was as good as it was.
Another example is how God keeps on asking people for foreskins. What's with that?
I, at least, am convinced that this God is not a God worth worshipping (and it doesn't matter if the good outweighs the bad, because God cannot do bad, but he did, you see?).

But if there is a god worth worshipping out there, he, she, or it has not yet made contact. If it is a god that is worth worshipping, then it would be worshipped, therefore it would contact us to inform us of it's worshipability. But it has not, and so is not worthy of worship. If, on the other hand, it cannot contact us, then it is not worth worship either.

I conclude this anti-proof with a simple test:

If God is out there, then pray to him, and ask him to give you proof of his existence immediately. If he does not, then he either does not exist or doesn't want to reveal himself. If he doesn't want to reveal himself to you, then he is not worth your worship. If he does give you proof, then you should email me at aeger.kingdomofheathen@gmail.com, and tell me about it. If I don't believe you, it means that God couldn't foresee that I wouldn't, and so cannot tell the future, and so cannot do everything, and so is not worthy of my worship. Try it.

Thank you for your time.

Religion in my classes

2005-09-29T18:13:00.000-05:00

In English, God has been showing up a lot. I don't have much of a problem with it though, since like European or US History, leaving religion out of it can kind of mess things up a little. Though with English, you can be fine without reading any literature dealing with religion, so that point sucked.

Anyway, allusions to the Bible are everywhere in literature. If a snake is mentioned somewhere, one could probably make it an allusion to the snake in the Garden of Eden and it would fit. My English teacher is aware that not all of us read or have read the Bible so she made a Bible "cheat sheet". It's a list of characters and some other things within the Bible. She didn't hand this cheat sheet out though, since she didn't want to be accused of handing out religious material or whatever, so she just set it in the front and said if anyone wants one, take it. She suggested that religious people may not want to take it since she... kind of takes jabs at some of the things.

An example would be:

Noah: Built an ark and put two animals of each species in it. God flooded the world to get rid of all the bad people and Noah and company floated while it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. A rainbow appeared at the end as a promise from God that he/she wouldn't cause any more plumbing problems.

Bethlehem: Town where Christ was born in a manger (not a basket) because the hotel was full. Joseph forgot to call ahead.

Nothing bad, just a little comedic.

These two past days we've read two things concerning God. One was about nature being evidence of God's greatness and the reading last night... was, well, interesting. It was an except from a sermon given by a Puritan named Johnathan Edwards called "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". For some background information, when he gave this six-hour sermon, he drove the congregation into hysteria several times. I find that hilarious. It's a lot of bullshit.

My teacher wanted us to look at the rhetorical strategies used and different stylistic devices. It was full of metaphor, scare tactics, bandwagonand just outright stupidity. He basically was saying that all of us were doomed to Hell unless we converted... or something.

We discussed all of this in class. I got the chance to say that I think God was personified as a spoiled five-year-old brat because he was dangling us over Hell and he'd drop us whenever he felt like it and that God kind of took a "It's my way or the highway" approach to things. Pretty childish, and thanks to el penguino for giving me the idea to say it. I wanted to mention how Edwards described God in a way that reminded me of the God character in the Bible, but I didn't and that may have alienated me big time. Not like I care too much anyway. My friend commented on how humans and God have a sadomasochistic relationship. He hates us and he makes us afraid but we love him and want to be with him. Stupid, isn't it?

And strangely enough, my physics teacher mentioned God today. He was talking about how when you slide a book down a table, it stops at some point. He said something along the lines of "Some evangelists would have you believe that little things called God stop it" and mentioned how some people are actually telling others this. I thought his comments on stupid ideas like that were funny.

So am I against any of this? Not really. None of my teachers are trying to convince me to convert to any particular religion or anything. I'm actually thinking my English and physics teachers aren't religious at all. Anyway, you can't
really ignore religion's influence on literature and some of the stupidity it tries to spout out.

Morality & God

2005-09-28T20:09:00.000-05:00

What is morality really? Is it this definiton from Dictionary dot com?:

"Virtuous conduct."

Or is it this?:

"A system of ideas of right and wrong conduct. religious morality; Christian morality."

When you follow a law are you being moral? Or are you just following it so you don't get arrested and thrown in jail?

When a Christian follows God's word, is that being moral, or is that just aren't sent to Hell for eternity?

If you could kill somebody you hate, and you know you would not be caught by the police, would you kill that person? If God let you kill that person, would you kill him/her?

Morals aren't a set of rules. Morals are a sense of right and wrong. There is no such thing as Christian morality. It is called Christian LAW.

More Idiotic Homophobia

2005-09-27T17:51:00.000-05:00

I am one of those peoples who sing good songs when they hate being distracted. In math today I started singing the cookie monster rap byLimp Bizkit. So this guy overheard me singing the part "Big Bird in his nest/and Oscar in his can/Ernie is a guy/Who lives with another man." and the guy started telling me about the conservatives who SUED SESAME STREET for promoting GAY SEX using Bert and Ernie.

Bert and Ernie...

I mean COME ON! Are they that desperate to have something to complain about? Some plaintiffs were willing to drop the suit if GBH changed the rating to TV-14. Dog thats pretty stupid. Really. If you want to discourage homosexuality, stop sending people to prison. Then people wouldn't have to use other men to soothe their natural urges. Then after they have become comfortable to gay sex, they look for it outside. They do it, and they spread the "disease" around. How about you do that you conservative bastards? Oh thats right! Then crime will run the world. And you dont want that!

I'll leave you readers to come up with other fun, happy ways for the conservatives to exterminate the "problem."

Study: Religion hurts societies

2005-09-27T13:26:00.000-05:00

First of all, let me say this:

YES! YES! YES!

With that off my chest, y'all should take a look at article from the Times Online. The headline: "Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'"

The paper, published in the Journal of Religion and Society, a US academic journal, reports: “Many Americans agree that their churchgoing nation is an exceptional, God-blessed, shining city on the hill that stands as an impressive example for an increasingly sceptical world.

“In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.

“The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so.”

(my emphasis)

This makes me happy. I mean, really happy, I realize that this study won't have much of an impact, but it's great to see that an objective study has concluded that religion is a bad thing.

He said that most Western nations would become more religious only if the theory of evolution could be overturned and the existence of God scientifically proven. Likewise, the theory of evolution would not enjoy majority support in the US unless there was a marked decline in religious belief, Mr Paul ["Gregory Paul, the author of the study and a social scientist"] said".

We knew that.

And finally, the conclusion (a quote of Mr. Paul's) of this article is by far one of the best things I've read today:

“The widely held fear that a Godless citizenry must experience societal disaster is therefore refuted.”

About Us

2005-09-26T15:38:00.000-05:00

This is an introduction to a new series we're starting. In it we'll each write about our journey to atheism and our feelings on religion in general. Since we're a new blog, I thought it would be a good idea for us to explain these kinds of things. The first post should be with in a week. I hope you guys enjoy it.

~Aeger~

So Many Floods, So Little Time

2005-09-26T12:45:00.000-05:00

Noah's Ark is the story of a man who escaped God's great Flood becuase of a divine warning. The story of Utanapishtim speaks of a man who escaped the God Enlil's great Flood becuase of a divine warning. Babylonian culture tells of a man who escaped Enki's great Flood becuase of a divine warning. There's something odd about these stories, somehow they seem similar. Funny how the latter two are older than Noah's Ark, but Noah's Ark is considered original.

Then there's Scandinavian folklore:

Oden, Vili, and Ve fought and slew the great ice giant Ymir, and icy water from his wounds drowned most of the Rime Giants. The giant Bergelmir escaped, with his wife and children, on a boat made from a hollowed tree trunk. From them rose the race of frost ogres. Ymir's body became the world we live on. His blood became the oceans. [Sturluson, p. 35]

Silly Scandinavians, stealing the Bible's story before it was even written.

But let's not forget the Kikuyu from Africa:

A beautiful but mysterious woman agreed to marry a man on the condition that he never ask about her family. He agreed, and they lived happily together until it was time for their oldest son's circumcision, and the man asked his wife why her family couldn't attend the ceremony. With that, the wife bounced into the air and made a hole seven miles deep when she landed. She called upon her ancestors, who came as spirits from Mt. Kenya. The spirits raised a thunder and hailstorm as they came. They brought food, goats, cattle, and beer with them and, while the people took shelter in caves, flooded the countryside with beer, turning it into a lake. When the
spirits left, they took the couple and their children with them into Mt. Kenya. [Abrahams, pp. 336-338]

That's a good one, perhaps an even better story is this one:

A heavy rain fell for many days, and a giant snake lay across the river, blocking it so that the whole land flooded. Many people drowned, and thefew survivors fled to the highest mountain, but they still feared as the waters kept rising. A crab appeared and cut through the body of the snake, and the flood subsided. [Frazer, p. 232]

I hope I've made my point. The people who wrote the bible were not only blatantly wrong, but totally unoriginal about what they were wrong about. I would have expected better from the authors of the most read book in history.

~Aeger~

The idea for this post came from I Am at the Evangelical Atheist.

The Real Reason

2005-09-25T22:56:00.000-05:00

I have finally decided to come clean with a lot of things. This includes my story of why i became an atheist.

I was about five. A very impressionable age. I wanted a brother to play with. That wish has fucked up the last 9 years of my life. Nine and a half today. My mom became pregnant and i was ecstatic. i told my friends. My teachers. Everyone. When the big day came. March 25, 1996 i was too happy to contain it. guess what. He died. before he could breathe real air. He died. Before he could truly see the world. He died. Being a hindu, over the years i consulted religion. I learned about karma and mokhsha. I was pretty analitical back then. I was logical. I wanted to find out why he died. So i did.

Hinduism teaches us that you accumulate karma in your life. Your good deeds are good karma, and your bad deeds are bad karma. When you die, your karma determines the quality of your next life. This is all according to Vishnu. My former God. So i wondered, if god says that your karma is so bad that you cant even live. Then how can you improve your karma. Therefore you have completely lost the chance to attain Mokhsha. If God designed that system so someone could get stuck as a baby that was unborn over and over and over again. How could the soul ever develop good? if God could make a system so infinately flawed, was he really hoping for our betterment? I realized that if God was truly as benevolent as Hinduism says, and that we would truly protect you. He would show some mercy to those who are not completely good. If God cannot be completely benevolent to those who could possibly promote him, then why would he have such a plan? It didnt make sense. The only thing that did make sense, was that God could not make a system that didnt show what he said. He was good. If God contradicted God. He couldnt exist. (Remember this is like 8 year olds logic). So i decided that there was no God. And now i am what i am now. A death obsessed, suicidal, masochistic, sanguinaphilic, atheist. That is my story.

The March on Washington D.C.

2005-09-25T09:44:00.000-05:00

This weekend I went to Washington D.C. and marched. Many of you have heard of Cindy Sheehan and Camp Casey, if you don't you can learn about it here. Sheehan recently went on a massive bus tour across the U.S., stopping in several cities and giving talks about her position regarding the Iraq War. On Saturday, September 24th, the 3 tour buses converged on the Ellipse in Washington, joining the nearly 150,000 people already there. That's A LOT of people.

With Cindy Sheehan and her supporters was Jesse Jackson and his supporters.

I went as a Quaker. Before y'all jump to any conclusions, let me first explain. Until my ascension into atheism, I was a very devout Quaker. Historically, Quakers were the ultimate protesters. And we still are, but there are a lot less of us now. I say us because, though I am atheist, I still consider myself a Quaker in every other way. There are a lot of us atheist-Quakers at my meeting, we even have a name: "non-theist." Heh. Anywho, what I'm saying is that wearing a T-shirt proclaiming that you are a Quaker (as I did) basically gives you instant respect in a crowd, and an almost as instant press pass. In the protester scene, we are an endangered species, and everything someone sees us, they give us a thumbs up and yell something like "Go Quakers." It's a nice feeling, but back to the post.

To get to Washington, I took a train. Since I was going with about 30 other Quakers, we managed to get a package deal or something. I got about 4 hours of sleep on the train, I couldn't sleep, to excited. Actually, though I didn't know it then, I was coming down with a bad cold which I think everyone else on the train now has. Oh well.

When I stumbled off the train at 8 o'clock in the morning I was met with a dreary assembly of about 200 other people stumbling off the train. The station reflected the general mood, i.e. "I want to go back to sleep." But soon we recovered, and with an obvious lack of spring in our step we made our to the Ellipse. About halfway there we met the crowd.

I had never seen so many people in my life. I nearly fell over with shock. You moved two inches to the left and you bumped into someone, and when you tried to move the 2 inches back you bumped into someone else who had just taken your spot. I'm fairly tall, so I could see over much of the crowd, my mother, on the other hand, was about a foot below me and sick with claustrophobia. Eventually we got there, and the 600 people we had been walking with joined up with everyone else, and I fell over with shock.

The match hadn't started yet, so we waited. After about two hours of waiting, Mom and I decided to check out the Washington Memorial. That's one helluva tall building. If you look up at it at just the right angle it looks like a path straight into the sky.

Then we got a call from our meeting, the March had begun. Soon the crowds once again engulfed us. Like an ocean, the people washed back and forth across the horizon. It made me sea sick. And so we walked.

Every so often we passed a white man with a microphone telling us we were all going to burn in hell for challenging God's chosen leader of the U.S., George Bush. Once we passed a white man and his white wife and white son, all of them screaming at us. I took a picture.

Soon the White House appeared. I took my sweatshirt off and made my Quaker shirt apparent, making a path to the fence. About 100 armed guards protected every angle of the White House, and a few even had their weapons drawn. And I saw Snipers on the roof. I quickly realized the reason we had stopped, Sheehan and Jackson were answering question about 10 feet away. They seemed to have materialized out of no where. Determined to get some good pictures for THE DAYTIME, I headed forwards and entered the core of the crowd.

The only analogy I can think of is the Earth. At the Crust were the observers of the march, some supporters, some not. Then there are the Tectonic Plates, people moving away from the core or towards it. After that is the Liquid Magma, those trapped within the crowd, unable to move farther in or farther out, stuck forever. And finally, there is the Core. In the Core there is less than no room. I mean that literally. When you enter it half of you is instantly crushed to the size of a flea by 400 other people, all squished into 40 sq. feet of space. At the very center there were Sheehan and Jackson, answering questions to the press. After much waiting and pushing and losing of various appendages, I was at the center. I was within half a foot of Jesse Jackson and Cindy Sheehan, and there were still 3 people in front of me. But I did get a few good pictures.

Halfway through the March my shoes, which I had had for about 2 or 3 years, finally gulped their last gasp of air, and died. So about a third way through I finally had to break out and head to a shoe store, where I bought, along with a pair of shoes, a Berea. Hey, when in D.C.

I also saw the Lincoln memorial, the Reflecting Pool, and the Vietnam War Memorial. They were all very awe inspiring, but I was tired, so we took a few pictures and headed back to the train. . .

We are governed by a man who consults an invisible man in the sky for advice before he orders the destruction of whole societies. This invisible man must be an idiot, 'cause Bush has made some of the worst decisions the U.S. has ever seen. The Iraq War is stupid, pointless, and must be stopped.

Response to "Mr. Theist"

2005-09-25T09:35:00.000-05:00

A commenter on this post (at my blog) brought up something I want to talk about: Faith and reason and all that jazz. Seth has dubbed him "Mr. Theist" so that is what I'm going to call him.

You have faith Kele, you just don't know it. Whenever you do something as simple as sitting in a chair, you have faith that it will hold you. I have faith that God exists and YOU have faith that He doesn't because you cannot pove He doesn't exist.

A theist has faith, an atheist does not. Of course, both of us do have faith in certain things, but that's a different kind.

First, let's look at the definition of "faith", from dictionary.com.

1. Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
2. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.
3. Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance: keeping faith with one's supporters.
4. often Faith Christianity. The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will.
5. The body of dogma of a religion: the Muslim faith.
6. A set of principles or beliefs.

Which kind are we talking about? I don't think we're talking about 3, 4, 5 or 6. I'll go with 2. "Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence." I think an atheist does take faith in things probably every day, but that's with #1, and I think that can be partly based off reason and past experiences. An example would be the chair analogy Mr. Theist used. I can look at the chair and judge if it will hold me or not, wait for somebody else to sit there and then sit it when they get out of it.

But I think the kind of faith we're really talking about is #2. "Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence." If there was logical proof or material evidence for a god, everyone would be a believer. There just isn't any right now. Maybe in the future sometime.

The atheists are being rational while the theists are being IRrational. "Irrational" is a good word to use, I think; I bet it would infuriate a lot of theists. Dictionary.com defines "irrational" as:

1. Not endowed with reason.

There ya go. That is the theist position. They have faith, or a belief that isn't based on logic or evidence, in god, while the atheist does not.

Note that I'm not calling theists irrational people, just that particular belief is irrational.

Until there is evidence for a god, I won't believe in one. But really, I don't want to believe a god exists. I'd rather KNOW a god exists based on logic and evidence. Until then, screw it!

So, Mr. Theist, YOU have faith God exists, based on irrational assumptions while my position is based on the evidence (or lack of evidence).

If you could prove your point, noboby would worship a God that doesn't exist.

You're making the positive claim, you have to prove your point. I don't have to do anything.

(I took out the evolution bit. Evolution has nothing to do with atheism so I felt that it shouldn't really be talked about on here. If any of the other contributers feel otherwise, please say so.)

So, basically, the theist belief that a god exists is irrational and not based on evidence, logic or anything. The atheist's position is based off the lack of any of these things. Until someone comes up with a good logical argument or good evidence, there is no reason to believe a god exists. As PZ Myers said at the presentation I went to yesterday (this isn't exact), we just don't have a need for a god in any of our current scientific hypotheses. Everything we know about in science just doesn't need it. They work fine without it.

(Oh crap, what time zone are we supposed to use?! Hahaha. I'll stick with the default for now.)

(This was also posted at my blog.)

Example of homophobia in the US

2005-09-24T22:24:00.000-05:00

This is a post from my blog at http://cdmarcus.blogspot.com.

Disclaimer: This happened in January, so it's not recent. But you should still know about it. Recently, I was surfing the web when I found some information about how the Education Secretary Margaret Spellings asked PBS not to air an episode of "Postcards from Buster," an educational public television show where Buster, a rabbit from the "Arthur" show, visits places and learns about their cultures. In this episode, entitled "Sugartime," Buster visits a family in Vermont, and learns about how maple syrup is made. The family he visits consists of two lesbian parents and their adopted children. According to the Washington Post, she said that "many parents would not want their young children exposed to the life-styles portrayed in this episode." Now, I find this totally wrong. Homosexuality does exist, and there's nothing wrong with that. Isn't it better that children learn that from a neutral point of view and are allowed to come to their own conclusions? I would hope that any parent who encourages their child to watch such shows as "Postcards," which teaches children about different cultures and lifestyles, would not be prejudiced against homosexuals. In fact, nobody should. But at least don't conceal facts and censor certain lifestyles and cultures, and the people to which they belong.

In a country that frowns upon prejudice, how can this happen? Be sure to look at the comment by Bobkul, who commented on Kingdom of Heathen, on the original post at my blog. To see the comments, click here.

The Lone exHindu

2005-09-24T21:19:00.000-05:00

This is more of an introductory post. My name is Rohan I am a freshman and am 14. I am the only person on this blog who came from a polytheistic religion. I think this will help differentiate opinions. Not much to say, except that i will barely ever post.

How Religion Came to Be: an Atheist Myth

2005-09-24T20:53:00.000-05:00

A long time ago, there was a young man with amazing intellectual capacities named Zilphagin. People always came to him for advice. Since modern drugs hadn't been invented, and no one actually lived long enough to be an old, wise man.

Now, Zilphagin knew that there was more to life than sitting on a rock in the town square and answering people's questions. He could become a lawyer, or a doctor. His city-state could certainly use one of those, as university graduates were hard to come by. Anyhow, one day, he created a plan. A plan to get all those irritating, undereducated citizens to leave him alone, leaving him to pursue a better life. His plan was so simple, yet so powerful... powerful enough that thousands of years later, his legacy lives on.

His plan was, the next time anyone inquired about why the moon changed, why the tides rolled in and out, what made the sun come out in the morning, etcetera, he would tell them, "Because there's a big man named God who lives in the sky and makes it all happen." Sure enough, they left. And no one ever asked him any more questions at all. He lived happily ever after as a doctor. Unfortunately, being one of two doctors in miles around, he was never left alone. He realized how stupid his whole "God" story was.

By the way, I'm Caleb. I know Seth from the Hebrew school we both used to suffer in. I hope to be a regular contributor on Kingdom of Heathen.

The Hypocrisy of Sin

2005-09-24T14:07:00.000-05:00

Have you ever asked somebody to follow a rule that you don't even try to follow? It's happened to all of us at one point or another.

Christians out there: Most of you probably consider the Ten Commandments a basic guideline of Christianity. But have you actually tried to follow it? Take a look:

The 3rd commandment:

"Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

Have you never said "Jesus Christ!" in you life? Many Christians haven't, I'm sure, but plenty have.

The 4th commandment:

"Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.

Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou."

How many Christians actually make an effort not to work on Sunday? Is this commandment less important than any of the others?

The 5th commandment:

Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Have you ever dishonored your parents?

The 8th commandment:

"Neither shalt thou steal."

Perhaps some people have never stolen something purposefully in their life, but most people have. Stealing a pencil or a stick of gum is still stealing whether somebody notices or not.

How about the 9th?:

"Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour."

Does any Christian never lie? You can’t accidentally lie, can you?

And the 10th?:

"Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's."

Do Christians really have NO desire AT ALL for something they don't have?

It really isn’t difficult to follow the 10 commandments, though it might take a little bit of work. But wouldn’t it be worth it to enter heaven? Of course nobody wants to not lie, steal, covet or work on a Sunday. God doesn’t even want to. How many times has God killed somebody? (Hosea 13 is my favorite example) Does God ever lie? Does God really not work at all on Sunday?

You have to be a hypocrite to expect people to even TRY to follow the 10 commandments. But this is a post for the Atheists as well as the Theists: The next time you tell somebody to obey a rule, ask yourself if you have even TRIED to obey it. It’s not that hard. It just takes guts.

(cross-posted at my blog)