thought of the day.349

Which 5 people would you invite to dinner?

My youngest son, Nicholas, was asked that as part of an assignment in class a couple days ago. I have always enjoyed reading which people are chosen and why. Always the persons picked are important to the person picking. Jesus, a famous athlete, celebrity, scientist, family member, etc. But always it is about what’s in it for the one choosing. But Nic chose people he felt didn’t get the appreciation and love they deserved when alive and wanted them to know how much people cared about them after they had died. It wasn’t about him at all. Damn. I was impressed.

thought of the day.344

One of my fundamentalist christian friends just updated me on his truly remarkable children. What excellent citizens, athletes and students these kids are! Yet I couldn’t help but think how sad it was that their brightness is dimmed by the horrible shadow of hell. How sad to go through life thinking all one’s wrong-believing friends and neighbors are destined for a very uncomfortable eternity. What a crime.

thought of the day.343

On Humanism

Old: God created the world and humanity.
New: The world and humanity evolved.

Old: Hell is a place of eternal torment for the wicked.
New: Suffering is the natural result of breaking the laws of right living.

Old: Heaven is the place where good people go when they die.
New: Doing right brings its own satisfaction.

Old: The chief end of humanity is to glorify God.
New: The chief end of humanity is to improve ourselves, as individuals and as the human race.

Old: Religion has to do with the supernatural.
New: Religion has to do with the natural; the so-called supernatural is only the not-yet-understood natural.

Old: Humankind is inherently evil and a worm of the dust.
New: Humankind is inherently good and has infinite possibilities.

Old: Humankind should submit to the will of God.
New: Humankind should not submit to injustice or suffering without protest and should endeavor to remove its causes.

Old: Salvation comes from outside humanity.
New: Improvement comes from within. No person or god can save another person.

Old: The ideas of sin, salvation, redemption, prayer, and worship are important.
New: These ideas are unimportant.

Old: The truth is to be found in one religion only.
New: There are truths in all religions and outside of religion.

~ Charles Francis Potter, Originally published in 1930, Language updated in 1994

thought of the day.342

While conversing with a Christian today I was offered this gem that is often used as a last resort:

“...When I die, if I am wrong about my God, I have nothing to lose. When you die and if you are wrong about there not being a God, you have everything to lose."

My response: What if you are wrong about the particular god you worship? What if there is in fact a god but his name is Allah and you get tortured in Muslim hell? Or what if there is a god but She doesn’t care for religious types and rewards only atheists with heavenly bliss?

If there is no god — no afterlife — it means the christian has spent their one and only life living a grand delusion. They have spent precious time and resources on believing and perpetuating a falsehood — a big fat juicy lie. Now that seems to me to be quite a loss indeed.

thought of the day.341

The difference between Science and Creationism

Scientists search for a deeper understanding of reality by:
1. collecting data
2. drawing conclusions

Creationists believe they already possess the Truth (Bible) and so:
1. start with the conclusion
2. collect data to support it

Science continually expands our knowledge while Creationism retards it and is yet another example of the harm done by religion.

thought of the day.340

Just wanted to share something a buddy of mine wrote about his dog, Scout. Strange, but I felt I was actually a better person for simply having read it. By the way, Goetz designs as well as he writes.

If you've got a minute, a toast to a friend...

Almost 16 years ago, in the spring of 1994, I decided it was a good
time to get a dog. I had just bought my first house and was starting
to admit to myself that among the reasons I had bought the house on
Coolair Drive was to have a place to keep my dog. The only thing
missing was a dog. So on a sunny afternoon in May, I aimed my car in
the direction of the Animal Adoption Center on Garland Road and set
out to find that dog. That's where I met my gal Scout.

Instantly, and for the next 15-odd years of my life, that sweet
patchwork quilt of a dog became the most loyal friend I have ever
known. Whether we were claiming the Pedernales River for a day -- not
a soul in sight for miles, except for an occasional herd of cattle
taking a drink from the river at sundown -- or hiking the trails of
Dinosaur Valley, Scout was with me literally every step of the way. We
took road trips, we camped, we hiked, we terrorized armadillos, we
chased jackrabbits and bobcats (Scout carried a "souvenir" on her ear
as the result of one particularly ill-fated but memorable encounter
with the latter), we drank beer on the patio, we crashed buddies'
bars, we made friends, we met girls, we mowed the lawn, we smoked
brisket, we stared at the stars in the back yard, we hosted parties
and we pissed off the neighbors. From the death of my father to the
birth of my daughter, Scout was a constant, comforting, irreplaceable
fixture in virtually every aspect of my life.

But Norbuck Park was the best. For 14 straight years, Norbuck was the
place where Scout and I would escape the world, if only for an hour or
so, but damn near every single day, rain or shine. A 40-acre oasis
comprised of trails and woods and cedar trees and pecan groves in the
middle of East Dallas, Norbuck was Heaven on Earth and the Greatest
Secret in Dallas. We'd run those trails every morning like a couple of
goofy giddy school kids, competing to see who could outsmart and
outrun the other and make it to the pecan grove on the north end
first. It was the place where we both spent some of the finest hours
of our lives. It was where our Wild Things were.

I had to put my dog Scout to sleep last week. She had become a ghost
of her old self over the past many months and finally let me know, in
no uncertain terms, that she had had enough. There's no doubt that
sentiment as sappy as this, spent on a dog no less, must seem entirely
silly to most, but for those of you who have been blessed to share
such a large portion of your life with a friend as steadfast and
virtuous as my dog Scout, you know exactly where I'm coming from.
Hell, that's what dogs do to us... they make us far sappier than we
ever plan on being. Scout was a damn good friend and a damn fine dog
-- as fine as they come -- and worthy of as dignified a salutation as
I could muster for all the joy she brought to me and those who knew her.

It's been about a year and a half since Scout was able to run the
Norbuck trails with me, but I will always remember our adventures
there like they happened yesterday -- especially on those crisp autumn
mornings when the sky was impossibly blue, the trees impossibly
brilliant and the promise of the day impossibly boundless. And I can
still hear the silent conversation that took place five thousand times
between she and me on those shady trails...

"Hey buddy, I'm going to run up this trail a little ways. You cool
with that?"

"That's cool, buddy. You run on up ahead. But don't stray too far."

"I won't. I'll be just a little ways ahead of you."

"I know you will. I'll see you soon, sweet girl."

~ Pierce Goetz

thought of the day.339

“I consider religion the enemy of science because it short-circuits critical thought and gives believers an escape hatch to superstition. As long as religion teaches that the answers to real world issues can be found in revelation and authority and the interpretation of holy texts, belief is inimical to scientific thinking.”

~PZ Myers

thought of the day.338

“Organized religion came of age...to fill many roles, not the least of which was the justification of power for the ruling elite. The ‘divine right of kings’ is not the invention of early-modern European monarchs. In fact, every chiefdom and state society known to archaeologists from around the world, including those in the Middle East, near East, Far East, North and South America, and the Polynesian Pacific islands, jutified political power through divine sanction, in which the chief, pharaoh, king, queen, monarch, emperor, sovereign, or ruler of whatever title claimed a relationship to God or the gods, who allegedly anointed them with the power to act on behalf of the divinity.”

Michael Shermer, The Science of Good and Evil, pg.33-34

thought of the day.337

"Tell me a creation story more wondrous than that of a living cell forged from the residue of exploding stars. Tell me a story of transformation more magical than that of a fish hauling out onto land and becoming amphibian, or a reptile taking to the air and becoming bird, or a mammal slipping back into the sea and becoming whale. Surely this science-based culture of all cultures can find meaning and cause for celebration in its very own cosmic creation story."

-- Connie Barlow

thought of the day.336

In the long run—the real long run—our actions make no difference at all. In the short run, they make all the difference.

thought of the day.335

“Since there is no place large enough to contain so much happiness, you shrug, you raise your hands, and it flows out of you into everything you touch. You are not responsible. You take no credit, as the night sky takes no credit for the moon, but continues to hold it, and share it, and in that way, be known.”

-Naomi Shihab

thought of the day. 334

Conversing with a fundamentalist Christian friend the other day I was struck by his statement that if it wasn’t for his God calling him to be other-centered, he would be very self-centered. But isn’t it far better, far more authentic, to be other-centered because one genuinely cares about others—has true empathy for others—than to be motivated by a “divine calling?”




“The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still purely primitive, legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this. ... For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstition.”

~ Albert Einstein

thought of the day.333

Beautiful thoughts about struggle and joy by my insightful sister,
Sandy Fish.

‘till you find your dream’….
10.4.09

Oh my our lives are hard and we can wonder, ‘what have I done to deserve such a fate’…’why me?’ ‘the only luck I have is bad luck, or I’d have no luck at all’….and again and again, thumping our chests with our question and crying out in our psyches, ‘why ME?!’…..

Spend a day at the grocery store and you’ll get your answer. There could be a chorus from every single customer, ‘help! Why me!‘ ‘Why us?!’ That’s more like it, Why US?….struggle, bad legs, humped backs, big bodies, frail ones, toothless, broken inside and out….single, married big large small tiny…..

Standing at the cookie demo cart for four hours I get to watch this human spectacle of us….I watch as the grocery shelves are scoured by these creatures who after a few hours all look like either descendants of birds or monkeys… foraging for food….we have to…we have to go and get food no matter how depressed or heartbroke or body bent we are….

I watch.

I cry. I do…I hold back tears at the bravery of most people. Their struggles are too much for me….at once I am grateful for my own struggles, they are what I barely handle….but these….I can almost smell the sofa on some of the pale soft bodies who have dragged themselves to the store to get food….and when I call out for them to try a cookie or ask how they are….they smile, they do, they smile! In spite of the flat tire, the broken tooth, the traffic ticket, the stolen purse, the transmission and the goddam computer crashing, they smile and say they are fine. A woman is hunched over making her way….so many seem to lumber or limp and in others you see the stress of it all on their faces as they frown at the different eggs or butter they must choose in spite of the divorce, the death, the disappointments, the disappointments, disappointments…..

This is our lot. I see that. We dress up our broken beleaguered bodies, pull a red sweater, clean and fresh, over the hump….place a bright pin on our collar buttoned up on the aging neck that has seen deaths by now of loved ones, the teens in new sneakers or shiny belts dressing up the aches, fears, manic gladnesses that turn at a text into sadnesses….the eyes twinkle after they bite a cookie, they raise it up, ‘these are good!’….there are sweet moments.

It is mostly struggle. That is our plight. It just simply is. And why have we been fed some notion of attaining comfort? That, that is some attainable goal? That, there is some comfy destiny some reach. I don’t believe it! It’s a lie! It is! I watch. I watch and watch and watch….. I see the huge burdens, physical or emotional….I see it…I smell it, I feel it….and I am impressed.

And I want to know, not how to attain comfort or riches-- things that are but a glamour…a glimmer of glamour of smoke and mirrors, illusion….but to know the struggle….to embrace that fact with maybe a wince but not a whine, not a why me, not a poor me…..but Me! We! I am here because I am struggling, therefore I know- I Am. No, no, not I THINK Therefore I am, I STRUGGLE Therefore I Am; I am, I am very much alive and there, aha, it is, the twinkle, the smile, the grandness of all who can do it….and say, “I’m Fine”….

The glory that we are not shiny photos in magazines, not popping out in high def luxury….not cruising in cars with painted smiles 24/7 being what is called prettiness….that is not alive and as far as I can tell and see when I watch for hours all of us….being alive is the goal…….living

The disappointments come from the lie. To try to believe a lie is to be weighted in a constant inert fog of disappointment….

There is substance in….working in the cold or lugging heavy things up and down hills in the heat; to have sore feet and not enough money, to feel lonely or inadequate or crowded and nervous, sick or sore, exhausted, frustrated. It brings, I suppose most would say, a ridiculous, smile to me….yet it is the finest sweetest lightest kind of joy…..because to feel these things, to be involved in the battle against the elements whether outside of us or inside of us or on our very bodies….is to share the burden of our humanness… and shared burdens are lighter….there now… that’s true… and so my struggle becomes my comfort giving me the knowledge that ‘I am’, one of us, which brings a joy that makes me smile and say, ‘I’m Fine!”

~ Sandy Fish

thought of the day.332

(From the Religious Tolerance web site)

How and why do people become Atheists?
A series of personal stories and journeys

A very common belief expressed by many conservative Christians is that many, perhaps most, Atheists are deceitful liars. They suggest that Atheists really do believe in the existence of God. However, Atheists deny this because if they admitted that he existed, they would have to come to terms with God's demands in their life concerning morality and ethics, salvation, heaven and hell, beliefs in the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, etc.

From the personal experiences I have had with the Atheist in our virtual office and with other Atheists, I suspect that this is a false understanding of why people become Atheists. That suspicion was confirmed by reading an Internet forum provided by Amazon.com. The personal stories of many Atheists indicate that people are forced to become Atheists because they become convinced -- often reluctantly -- that either:

An all-powerful, all knowing, all-present, creator God does not exist, or

The probability of the existence of such a God is extremely small.

They are often compelled to become Atheists because their personal ethics demand that they be true to themselves. They have no other option.

On 2007-SEP-09, Karen Terrell posted a new discussion to an Amazon.com religion forum called "Dear atheists." She wrote to the Atheists of the world:

"There are times when I actually feel more comfortable talking with you guys than with others on this Forum. I enjoy the intelligence and wit that you express. And I'd really like to hear how you came to be atheists. Were you brought up in atheistic homes? Or did you experience some epiphany that brought you to atheism? Or did you see a whole lot of hypocrisy amongst God-believers that just turned you off? Or did atheism come to you as a result of reasoning and education? Did any of you start off as Christians / Pagans / Muslims / Buddhists and then have some experience that took away your belief in a god?"

She appears to imply that Buddhists have a belief in God. Actually, most Buddhists have no concept of a deity.

Fourteen out of sixteen readers reacted positively to Karen's posting. The forum received 200 responses in its first 35 days. Some are shown below.

Two things struck me about the individual postings. There was an almost complete lack of spelling and grammatical errors. More important, there was a high level of respect for each other's postings that I have never observed before on a religious forum. Everyone was quite respectful of each other's opinions and beliefs.

Personal stories of conversion to Atheism:

"Ariex:" My childhood family life was disorganized, with only minimal contact with religion. In my teens, I found myself drawn to the "clean cut" among my schoolmates, and I began to be curious about Christianity. When I became engaged to a Christian girl, I took the leap and became a Christian, enthusiastically attending church. A couple of years after marriage I began to seriously study the Bible, beginning with a thorough reading from cover to cover, and immediately found problems. I sought answers from clergy, who pointed me to various apologetic works. These actually set off "alarm bells" in my head as I recognized things that seemed contrived and artificial, designed to save the reliability of the Bible, but I began to feel as if they were directed at people who were gullible and would believe anything. I kept at it, but the problems kept cropping up and the answers kept looking lame. Finally I started reading critical Biblical scholarship and found that there were answers, just not the ones I was hoping to find. I kept on studying and finally recognized the probability that gods were mythology, the product of ancient minds trying to explain their own existence and purpose. My search for "truth" began in 1964, and continues to this day.

James Longmire: I grew up in a nominally Baptist family. We did not go to church, or discuss religious matters. We did go thru some of the motions, including Sunday school, at least until I was expelled at the age of 8 ;o)

I can't recall ever believing in God, altho' I'm sure I must have at one time. I certainly remember believing in Santa! (but not the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy, LOL)

Religion was never an issue where I grew up (Nova Scotia, mostly) and those who were overly vocal about their beliefs were looked upon as being slightly daft. Quite different from the US Bible Belt, I guess...

I was a bit of an evangelical atheist for a while, but eventually came to realize that such an approach was not only pointless, but was in fact, presumptuous. Who am I to tell people what to believe?

As I am a skeptic by nature, and a materialist philosophically, I regard all claims of the supernatural to be without merit. Still, I may very well be wrong, tho' I've yet to encounter either evidence for the supernatural, or even a compelling argument for its' existence.

So, I experienced no trauma, nor do I feel a sense of 'betrayal', as ... many other atheists seem to. The concept of the supernatural just never made sense to me. I know that 'absence of evidence, is not evidence of absence', but I also know that evidence cannot be found for the non-existent...

I believe in tolerance of other's beliefs, but not respect. Respect must be earned.

John E. Evans: I was a Christian from the time I was 5 until about 4 years ago. That is when I turned 40 and was compelled to know God as much as humanly possible. I wanted to love God more than any human that had walked the earth. I began a quest for truth that started with an in-depth study of the bible which I continue today, consultation with theologians, intensive book reading of almost a book a week for the past 4 years, interviewing church leaders, attending laity classes at SMU and much personal thinking.

I loved Jesus and God with all my heart. I never questioned heaven. I prayed almost every day. We were even one of those families that prayed before dinner in restaurants. I felt sorry for atheists and could not comprehend why they did not believe.

But early in my journey, as I was trying to wrap my mind around God, I decided that if God was anything, God was truth. So I made truth my god and decided to follow it wherever it led. I NEVER would have guessed it would have led me to atheism but it has. It was not pleasant letting go of the idea of God. It was scary and dark and lonely at first.

But I discovered a new way of seeing that makes far more sense and is actually far more interesting than my old way. Like opening a dirty window and feeling a spring breeze and morning light illuminate a dark musty room, I feel more alive than I ever did while accepting the Christian worldview. I feel like I am making steady progress toward a better understanding of reality and that is incredibly exciting and fulfilling.

Conley Thorn: I was born into a Baptist family in the hills of West Virginia. They were solidly religious, and my mother regularly read me stories from a large illustrated Bible. Later we moved to a small city in southern Virginia where I attended a rural public school. I was a sincere believer until about my 15th birthday, leader of a youth Baptist training class, etc. I had met two women missionaries and corresponded with them briefly after they returned to the Sudan. For three years I was privileged to attend a week-long summer church camp, the third year at Massanetta Springs, VA. On the first evening there, everyone assembled at an outdoor amphitheater for vespers. When the service ended it was beginning to get dark and red streaks were visible in the sky through the pines. I sat on the hillside, glorying in "God's universe" until everyone else had gone to their cabins. My "heart" seemed filled with glory, and I was certain I was communing with God. The following morning, in a Bible class, a lovely young lady asked the instructor a question regarding free will and predestination. His reply was to the effect that that was one of the thorniest problems in the Christian tradition. "A problem?" I thought--"in my religion?" It was almost a shock to me. I'd never before questioned any item of belief, nor heard anyone else do so. I began to wrestle with the seeming contradiction that had been posed. It was the first time I had realized that I could think critically about such things--probably the first time I realized I had the capacity to do so. Once begun, I continued the process fervently and fearlessly. I was agnostic within a month, though there were many more years of thought and study before I considered myself an atheist. But my apostasy resulted purely from intellection, not from any anger or disappointment with family, church or "God." I have always felt very fortunate that I had those years of experience in religion, and in Bible classes. It's a rich heritage that I would not want to have missed.

"LawStudent2187:" For me, there was nothing dramatic that led me to atheism. I'm a confirmed catholic, but I never really felt what others apparently do while I was going through the rituals. When I went to college and started spending more time critically thinking, I started to reevaluate the wisdom of the religious teachings I'd been exposed to. I too acknowledge the possibility there's a god, but I know of no good reason to believe in one.

"Zoltan:" It was easy, quick and painless, really. The Easter Bunny turned out to be a lie, Santa Claus turned out to be a lie, along with a whole lot of other things that adults tell kids. Stories about God always sounded suspect to me, if a little bit scary sometimes. When the things adults told me about God didn't pan out, he entered the same category as the bunny and the fat guy. I think I was about eight when I figured this out. Later, as an adult, I began to explore theism and religious belief. Everything I have encountered reinforces my childhood notion that all of theism is a sham.

"Ponger:" ... I don't blindly disbelieve. I look at how religion came to be and see a rational progression that has nothing to do with any real evidence of a god. And I understand that our the emotions and ego allow us to believe in anything from Astrology to Tarot cards to created a reality we can feel more comfortable in. So when I factor all this stuff in the evidenced gives me 99.99% confidence we created God in our own image. I am surprised most people don't see it this way. But I have been lucky to have a good life and don't need to find fulfillment by being made in God's image. ...

J. Stewart: I was raised in a very strict Christian home. My six siblings and I were home-schooled all of our lives; we never owned a television or a computer. There was no explanation, meaning or purpose outside of the Bible and we studied it for hours every day. My father is an international evangelist. As far as I know, I am the only atheist in my family.

I believe that my de-conversion occurred because I searched for answers; over a period of roughly ten years, I came to regard religion as being intelligently designed. I envy those who never truly believed. The trauma associated with my de-conversion is greater than anything I have ever experienced, but I survived and I suspect that this is more than can be said for many others. The freedom of being able to think for myself without the constraints of a totalitarian deity was worth the price.

Thomas A. Lewis: I was born-again at 12, home schooled for seventh grade with the usual creationist, "Christian history" propaganda (and sincerely believed it,) and baptized at 15.

That all started to unravel at about age 19 when I started to realize the psychological functionalism inherent in afterlife beliefs. At that point, religion became quite clearly false to me but I still held to a generic theism/deism. After that it was simply an intellectual journey. Sometime around my sophomore year in college I wanted to become a "better Christian" (I still called myself and believed the basic tenets of Christianity at this time even though in retrospect it is more accurately called "generic theism/deism.") and so I began studying my religion.

After about two years and 100 books ranging and hailing from both sides of creation/evolution, psychology of religion, history of religion, etc I was pretty sure that atheism was correct.

I still have an open mind and would accept a god (gods) if I found that plausible, for to me it is a simple question of correctness. However, I find that highly unlikely because a thoroughgoing naturalism seems to be the standard of reality.
bullet "Old man:" I came from a non-religious family. I envied my friends who believed in god and went to Sunday school. I read the Bible off and on throughout my life and I found nothing in it that wasn't in any other history book, fiction mythology book.

What convinced me was when I studied anthropology/evolution/mythology and found that religious mythology to be no different than any other mythology and today's science fiction stories.

Eric Pyle: My experience parallels that of old (but wise) man's. Like him, I felt no religious pressure from my family. Like him, I occasionally envied those who had faith. In my case, this wasn't true in childhood, but in my teens when I started to look around. The beauties of Dante, Milton, Bach, the cathedrals of Europe, these really appealed to me, and their aesthetics lured me to learn as much as I could about Christianity.

But as he wrote before, when you study history, anthropology, etc, you realize that every culture in history has had a religion. They have had as much reason to believe theirs as we have to believe one from ancient Palestine. They were as sincere and as intelligent as we are.

In the zillion years of human history, am I supposed to believe that only our supernatural unprovable beliefs are true? Though many generations have believed they were in "end times", in our case it's really true? That the theology of the trinity makes more sense than Hinduism or Jainism? Nope, can't believe that. I still love the art, though."

Daniel Burdette: My parents weren't the most religious people. My dad was an agnostic, and my mom always said she believed in God, but they were the types to just make the customary Easter & Christmas appearances at church. For some reason, they felt that we (my sisters and I) needed to go to Sunday school every week though.

So, early on, I was learning religious stuff pretty much every week. I don't know how critically I thought about it (being maybe 6 or 7 when I started), but I definitely remember it never seeming real to me.

I was very much an imaginative kid, always drawing pictures of monsters and dragons, and whatever else I could come up with, and while I knew the difference between reality and fiction, even the stuff I made up seemed more "real" than what they taught me every week at Sunday school. One day, in probably 3rd or 4th grade, our teacher was talking about how old the earth was, and he said something about it being only thousands of years old (I forget his exact number). Being a young boy, I had a fairly vested interest in dinosaurs, and his statement alarmed me.

I asked "But what about the dinosaurs? If Earth isn't millions of years old, when did the dinosaurs live?". His answer? "They didn't, their bones are just a trick of Satan". And with that, I was gone forever.

I still had to attend, per my parents wishes, until I finally negotiated my way out of it at age 12, but mentally, I was never back in that room after that. I *knew* that dinosaurs were real, and not the trick of some evil dude who I never really believed existed.

From there, I eventually looked into several other things (wiccan nonsense that was all the rage among loners in high school, LaVeyan Satanism, because it seemed "cool", etc), and found all of them lacking as well.

Beyond that, I never really thought seriously about it again. I'll debate religious beliefs, think about religious concepts, philosophy, etc...but nothing I've ever read, watched, or experienced has given me any reason to think that belief in a higher power is anything more than wishful thinking.

David Lister: ... I was raised in a nominally Christian family, although neither of my parents were churchgoers. As a teen, I was a member of a Presbyterian youth group, primarily for the exposure to social activities. A friend and I often attended churches of other denominations out of curiosity. It was through this habit that I was able to observe everything from the majesty of a Catholic midnight mass to the passion of a large evangelical service, a Billy Graham crusade held at the Seattle Domed Stadium, and the anti-music, anti-dancing, anti-everything teaching of a particular branch of Christian fundamentalism. While in the army, stationed in Italy, I briefly studied Mormon theology with the Mormon missionaries that were living nearby.

In other words, from a very early age, I've always been a religious seeker, but not for the typical reasons. I was more interested in understanding why people believed what they believed, and less interested in picking a belief system that I could then ascribe to.

For much of my adult life I was an agnostic, and I argued that atheism was as foolish as theism. Eventually, however, I came to understand that in reality I was an atheist. I think Richard Dawkins did it for me, when I read his quote (I think it was his and I'm paraphrasing here) that most people are atheists about all gods but one, but that atheists simply take it one god farther.

A light bulb went off in my head, and I realized that since I believed in no theology, I was without theology--therefore an atheist, by very definition of the word. It became revelation (if I can use that term) to me that to be an atheist one need not deny the possibility of a creator (proving a negative is, after all, impossible), but that he/she merely must choose to live without theology and to assume God's nonexistence, based on the lack of evidence to the contrary.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/atheist11.htm

thought of the dy.331

“I maintain that thoughtful Atheism affords greater possibility for human happiness than any system yet based on, or possible to be founded on, Theism, and that the lives of true Atheists must be more virtuous--because more human--than those of the believers in Deity, . .

Atheism, properly understood, is no mere disbelief; is in no wise a cold, barren negative; it is, on the contrary, a hearty, fruitful affirmation of all truth, and involves the positive assertion of action of highest humanity.”

~ Charles Bradlaugh, "A Plea for Atheism," Humanity's Gain from Unbelief (1929)

thought of the day.330

“The freethinker has the same right to discredit the beliefs of Christians that the Orthodox Christians enjoy in destroying reverence, respect, and confidence in Mohammedanism, Mormonism, Christian Science, or Atheism.”

~ Theodore Schroeder, Constitutional Free Speech Defined and Defended in an Unfinished Argument in a Case of Blasphemy (1919).

thought of the day.329

“Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness.”

~ James Thurber

thought of the day.328

“I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind--that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.

I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious. . .

I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.

I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech . . .

I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.

I believe in the reality of progress.

But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.“

~ H. L. Mencken’s Creed, cited by George Seldes in Great Thoughts

thought of the day.327

Nothing is certain but everything is not equally uncertain. All ideas should be put on a scale of probability which will show that though it is uncertain the sun will “rise” tomorrow, it is exceedingly more certain than the idea that Santa lives at the North Pole or that “God” exists.

thought of the day.326

Justice not vengeance. Compassion not righteousness. Reason not Faith.

thought of the day.325

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.”

~ Henry Miller

thought of the day.324

“If ignorance of nature gave birth to gods, knowledge of nature is made for their destruction.”

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Necessity of Atheism, 1811

thought of the day.323

“It is natural that people should differ most, and most violently, about the unknowable. . . . There is all the room in the world for divergence of opinion about something that, so far as we can realistically perceive, does not exist.”

~ E. Haldeman-Julius, “The Unknowable”

thought of the day.322

“Another person's words are the windows to his or her world, through which I see what it is like to be that person. When another speaks to me in truth, he or she becomes a transparent self, and releases in me an imaginative experience of his or her existence. If he or she cannot speak, if I do not listen, or if I cannot understand then we must remain suspicious strangers to one another, uncognizant of our authentic similarities and differences.”

~ Sidney Jourard

thought of the day.321

“We have our hands, we have our brains, we have the challenge all around us, and we have within (from whatever source) the will to strive. That is enough; there is no need to assert 'belief' in that which we do not, as yet, know.”

~ Robert A. Heinlein, personal correspondence in 1956 with Warren Allen Smith, cited in Who's Who in Hell

thought of the day.320

“There is no argument worthy of the name that will justify the union of the Christian religion with the State. Every consideration of justice and equality forbids it. Every argument in favor of free Republican institutions is equally an argument in favor of a complete divorce of the State from the Church. History in warning tones tells us there can be no liberty without it. Justice demands it. Public safety requires it. He who opposes it is, whether he realizes it or not, an enemy of freedom. ”

~ Benjamin Underwood, "The Practical Separation of Church & State," an address to the 1876 Centennial Congress of Liberals

thought of the day.319

Is America a Christian Nation?

Many Christians claim America is a “Christian nation” but America has never been a Christian nation for the simple reason that a “nation” cannot be religious—only people can. America, like all nations, is made up of people with myriad ideas, religious and otherwise, and those ideas are in constant flux. Most believe in one of the many flavors of Christianity though it should be noted that in 1790 some 90% of Americans did not go to church at all. Trends suggest we may be coming full circle as fewer and fewer Americans affiliate with Christianity or any other religion and it is possible we could see a predominately atheistic American population at some point. Of course it would be just as inaccurate to call America an atheist nation then as it is to call it a Christian nation now.

It is also argued that because America was founded by Christians it is therefore a “Christian nation” but It seems our first six presidents are better described as Deists, not Christians. The author of The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, denied the divinity of Jesus and Thomas Paine, widely considered the man most responsible for inspiring the Declaration of Independence, absolutely detested the Bible. However, even if our founding fathers were Christians, it would not mean that our nation should forever embrace their religious ideas as most all of them also believed it just —even God ordained— to own other human beings as property and withhold from women the right to vote. We abandoned these and other primitive ideas so why not abandon their religious notions as well? What makes a country thrive is its ability to continuously evolve.

In 1873, Robert Green Ingersoll said, “It is contended by many that ours is a Christian government, founded upon the Bible, and that all who look upon the book as false or foolish are destroying the foundation of our country. The truth is, our government is not founded upon the rights of gods, but upon the rights of men. Our Constitution was framed, not to declare and uphold the deity of Christ, but the sacredness of humanity. Ours is the first government made by the people and for the people. It is the only nation with which the gods have had nothing to do. And yet there are some judges dishonest and cowardly enough to solemnly decide that this is a Christian country, and that our free institutions are based upon the infamous laws of Jehovah.”

In a "Reply To The Indianapolis Clergy" Ingersoll writes, “Our civilization is not Christian. It does not come from the skies. It is not a result of "inspiration." It is the child of invention, of discovery, of applied knowledge -- that is to say, of science. When man becomes great and grand enough to admit that all have equal rights; when thought is untrammeled; when worship shall consist in doing useful things; when religion means the discharge of obligations to our fellow-men, then, and not until then, will the world be civilized.”

thought of the day.318

“It is not hardness of heart or evil passions that drive certain individuals to atheism, but rather a scrupulous intellectual honesty.”

~ Steve Allen, 2000 Years of Disbelief

thought of the day.317

Genesis 1-3 NBT (Non-Believer Translation)

An invisible something called 'God' who existed forever and always as a penis-less Father, a mother-less Son of the Father and a sheetless Ghost rolled into one, yet remaining distinctly three, without shape or substance, decided to make a universe. This God performed ‘his’ first miracle by making light but no light source. More miracles followed when he made mornings and nights without sunrises and sunsets and molded a man out of dirt, shaping each eyelash, each organ (vestigial ones included), and each neuron and synapse with his bigger than life invisible God hands. Perhaps even more miraculous than the dirt-man becoming flesh and blood is that he came to life speaking a language.

After failing miserably at his attempt to find a suitable mate for the man amongst a parade of animals, (not a terribly astute all-knowing being) the invisible God put the man to sleep, knifed his way into his chest and broke off a rib—Ouch! He rubbed his bigger than life invisible God hands on the bloody broken bone and magically transformed it into a woman. Bad move. Should have stuck with an aardvark or sheep as a partner for the man as all hell broke lose when the woman brought death into the world by disobeying the disembodied voice of the invisible God. Soon after, the invisible sculptor/surgeon put on the hat of invisible hunter as he killed some animals (perhaps with a big invisible bow and arrow or maybe he just beat their heads against a rock) and after somehow gutting and skinning them, (maybe Jesus had a holy hunting knife on hand) he replaced his camouflage hat with a tailor cap and used his big invisible bloodstained hands to fashion clothes for his naked Ken and Barbie (needle and thread provided by helpful angels who procured them from a sewing shop just above the clouds no doubt).

thought of the day.316

“Man is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion—several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat, if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven.”

~ Mark Twain (1835-1910), Letters from the Earth, "The Damned Human Race," 1909

thought of the day.315

“They first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up -
because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up-
because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up -
because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up -
because I wasn't a Catholic.
Then they came for me -
and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

~ Pastor Martin Niemoeller

thought of the day.314

“I realized early on that it is detailed scientific knowledge which makes certain religious beliefs untenable. A knowledge of the true age of the earth and of the fossil record makes it impossible for any balanced intellect to believe in the literal truth of every part of the Bible in the way that fundamentalists do. And if some of the Bible is manifestly wrong, why should any of the rest of it be accepted automatically? . . . What could be more foolish than to base one's entire view of life on ideas that, however plausible at the time, now appear to be quite erroneous? And what would be more important than to find our true place in the universe by removing one by one these unfortunate vestiges of earlier beliefs?”

~ Francis Crick, What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery, 1988

thought of the day.313

Problems don’t exist outside our mind.

thought of the day.312

Vaccinations, Autism and Jesus

Harriet Hall, MD, writes, “During a question and answer session after a talk I recently gave, I was asked for my opinion about the vaccine/autism controversy. That was easy: my opinion is that there is no controversy. The evidence is in. The scientific community has reached a clear consensus that vaccines don’t cause autism. There is no controversy.

“There is, however, a manufactroversy — a manufactured controversy — created by junk science, dishonest researchers, professional misconduct, outright fraud, lies, misrepresentations, irresponsible reporting, unfortunate media publicity, poor judgment, celebrities who think they are wiser than the whole of medical science, and a few maverick doctors who ought to know better. Thousands of parents have been frightened into rejecting or delaying immunizations for their children. The immunization rate has dropped, resulting in the return of endemic measles in the U.K. and various outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S. children have died. Herd immunity has been lost. The public health consequences are serious and are likely to get worse before they get better — a load of unscientific nonsense has put us all at risk. ”

This an example of how accepting ideas without evidence often leads to all kinds of negative consequences. Whether the topic is autism, real estate, politics, religion or anything else, it is never a good idea to accept ideas without compelling supporting evidence.

thought of the day.311

The difference between Reality and Truth

Reality is the actual state of things independent of our minds whereas “truth” is merely a perception of reality. The closer that perception aligns with reality, the more true it is, but as all perceptions are subjective and incomplete, so is “truth”.

thought of the day.310

Death is not Nothingness

There’s no Heaven, no Hell, no eternal bliss, no everlasting torment, no silent oblivion, no black engulfing emptiness. No nothingness. For all these things are something and death is the annihilation of everything—the complete cessation of sense. So there’s no reason to fear death but every reason to suck the marrow out of each and every moment!

thought of the day.309

No sermon can compare to the song of birds on a sunny Sunday morning!

thought of the day.308

Test of Faith. Proverbs

He that loves his children
A. nurtures them like a garden
B. beats them with a rod

To deliver a child’s soul from hell
A. pray for them
B. beat them with a rod

A child learns wisdom by being
A. taught well
B. beaten with a rod

Proverbs 13:24, 23:14, 29:15

“Punishment is embedded in most Christian theology. The threat of future and eternal punishment has provided the ineradicable core of violence, suffering, and pain that has perpetuated anxiety and fear in the minds of vast numbers of people throughout the world for two millenia. Although the Old Testament provides most of the verses and texts used to advocate the physical punishment of children, the New Testament Gospels and Epistles and the Book of Revelation provide the basis for terror contained in a single word: hell.…. Incalculable suffering and pain have been inflicted on children because of the belief in the physical reality of hell. Many Christians have heeded and acted upon the words of Proverbs 23:13-14: “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” The threat of eternal punishment remains one of the greatest sources of anxiety and terror ever known, and must be recognized as a primary basis for the rationales for painful physical discipline and punishment advocated and practiced by so many Americans for centuries.

“Larry Christenson, whose book The Christian Family has sold more than a million copies throughout the world, observes in his chapter “God’s Order for Parents”: God holds you accountable for the discipline of your children. If you discipline and bring up your children according to his Word, you will have his approval and blessing. If you fail to do so, you will incur His wrath.

“Christenson also insists that “The Scriptural method of discipline is simple and unequivacal: the rod.”

“In recent years, however, Benjamin Spock has taken a clear public stand against the practice of corporal punishments. “I hope,” he wrote in 1988, “American parents can outgrow the conviction, which a majority have, that physical punishment is necessary to bring up well-behaved children.” In Dr. Spock on Parenting (1988), Spock acknowledges that:

“In earlier decades–and in earlier editions of Baby and Child Care–I avoided a flat statement of disapproval of physical punishment. I contented myself with the statement that I didn’t think it was necessary. This was because of my belief that it’s disturbing to parents when a professional person appears to imply that he knows better than they. What made me go against my own rule was my growing concern over the sky-high and ever-rising figures for murders within the family,
wife abuse, and child abuse in America, and our government’s enthusiasm for the nuclear arms race and for an aggressive foreign policy. It’s not that physical punishment creates these alarming conditions by itself, but it certainly plays a role in our acceptance of violence. If we are ever to turn toward a kindlier society and a safer world, a revulsion against the physical punishment of children would be a good place to start.”


~ Philip Greven, Spare the Child: The Religious Roots of Punishment and the Psychological Impact of Physical Abuse, 1990

thought of the day.307

The only God worthy of worship would be one who didn’t want any; who loathed praise, ritual and doctrine; and who desired that our focus —our time, energy and love—be showered on each other, not Her.

thought of the day.306

Smile! There is no hell.

Thought of the day.305

A few thoughts on religion and atheism from Hitler:

"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith ...we need believing people."
-Adolf Hitler, from a speech on April 26, 1933

"We were convinced that the people need and require this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out."
-Adolf Hitler, from a speech on October 24, 1933

"My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.”
-Adolf Hitler, in a speech on April 12, 1922

"For this, to be sure, from the child's primer down to the last newspaper, every theater and every movie house, every advertising pillar and every billboard, must be pressed into the service of this one great mission, until the timorous prayer of our present parlor patriots: 'Lord, make us free!' is transformed in the brain of the smallest boy into the burning plea: 'Almighty God, bless our arms when the time comes; be just as thou hast always been; judge now whether we be deserving of freedom; Lord, bless our battle!'"
-Adolf Hitler's prayer, from Mein Kampf, Vol. 2, Chapter 13

"We demand freedom for all religious confessions in the state, insofar as they do not endanger its existence or conflict with the customs and moral sentiments of the Germanic race. The party as such represents the standpoint of a positive Christianity, without owing itself to a particular confession...."
- Article 20 of the program of the German Workers' Party (later named the National Socialist German Workers' Party, NSDAP)

“This human world of ours would be inconceivable without the practical existence of a religious belief. The great masses of a nation are not composed of philosophers. For the masses of the people, especially faith is absolutely the only basis of a moral outlook on life. The various substitutes that have been offered have not shown any results that might warrant us in thinking that they might usefully replace the existing denominations. ...There may be a few hundreds of thousands of superior men who can live wisely and intelligently without depending on the general standards that prevail in everyday life, but the millions of others cannot do so. ”
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 10

“The greatness of Christianity did not lie in attempted negotiations for compromise with any similar philosophical opinions in the ancient world, but in its inexorable fanaticism in preaching and fighting for its own doctrine. ”
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf Vol. 1 Chapter 12

“Christianity could not content itself with building up its own altar; it was absolutely forced to undertake the destruction of the heathen altars. Only from this fanatical intolerance could its apodictic faith take form; this intolerance is, in fact, its absolute presupposition. ”
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf Vol. 2 Chapter 5

“For how shall we fill people with blind faith in the correctness of a doctrine, if we ourselves spread uncertainty and doubt by constant changes in its outward structure? ...Here, too, we can learn by the example of the Catholic Church. Though its doctrinal edifice, and in part quite superfluously, comes into collision with exact science and research, it is none the less unwilling to sacrifice so much as one little syllable of its dogmas... it is only such dogmas which lend to the whole body the character of a faith. ”
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf Vol. 2 Chapter 5

“Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.”
-Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

thought of the day.304

“To a man whose mind is free there is something even more intolerable in the sufferings of animals than in the sufferings of man. For with the latter it is at least admitted that suffering is evil and that the man who causes it is a criminal. But thousands of animals are uselessly butchered every day without a shadow of remorse. If any man were to refer to it, he would be thought ridiculous. And that is the unpardonable crime.”

~ Romain Rolland, author, Nobel Prize 1915

thought of the day.303

“The gods did not reveal, from the beginning,

All things to us; but in the course of time,

Through seeking, men find that which is the better ...

These things are, we conjecture, like the truth.

But as for certain truth, no man has known it,

Nor will he know it; neither of the gods,

Nor yet of all the things of which I speak.

And even if by chance he were to utter

The final truth, he would himself not know it;

For all is but a woven web of guesses.”


~ XENOPHANES of Colophon (570-480 BC)

thought of the day.302

For me, Heaven is sex, biking with friends, double scoops of ice cream, and a kazillion other things to be experienced here and now. Great conversation and beers with my pals last night was truly awesome. Thanks guys.

thought of the day.301

Test of Faith. Luke

Jesus told his friends not to fear people, but
A. fear only fear itself
B. fear God, who after killing, may throw them into hell

Jesus came to bring the world
A. peace and harmony
B. division and family strife

Jesus said when he comes again it will be
A. a day of great joy for everyone
B. like when God rained fire on Sodom and killed everyone

Lk 12:4-5, 12:49-53, 17:22-30

thought of the day.300

Most Christians don’t realize how atheistic they are. They are born atheists and remain atheists about all the countless Gods of history but one.

thought of the day.299

For those who think the New Testament is more enlightened than the Old, just remember that Jesus commands people to obey the Law of Moses which includes commands to cut off the hands of women, kill children, friends and neighbors, stone brides on their wedding night, sacrifice animals and humans, and allows fathers to sell their daughters into slavery. But far more despicable than Jesus’ upholding of the barbaric Law, is his promise to gather unbelievers into his chamber of eternal torture making the New Testament infinitely more dehumanizing than the Old.

Mt 5:17-18

thought of the day.298

Christians value their possessions more than their Lord and Savior’s words. For Jesus said, “When someone asks you for something, give it to him;” yet they conveniently interpret this command to mean anything but what it plainly does. Of course this just shows they have more sense than their God.

Mt 5:42

thought of the day.297

Pick up a book called Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and you won’t want to put it down. It’s sure to make you more appreciative of what you have. It will also make you see the often invisible people around you with new eyes.

thought of the day.296

www.youtube.com/v/gLBE5QAYXp8&hl

Great video about our terribly flawed and unsustainable system of consumption. For being rather clever creatures we sure are stupid.

thought of the day.295

Religion Divides — Again

“It was during recess at one of Santa Barbara’s adorable, sun-spangled elementary schools that Ashley, a sprightly 6-year-old, approached her first-grade classmate Emma near the swing sets and delivered the bad news.

“You can’t go to heaven.”

“Ashley had already determined that Emma, the only Jewish girl in her class, did not believe in Jesus.

“Emma protested, but Ashley persisted. “If you don’t believe in Jesus, you are going to hell.”

Without religion, these two girls might have been enjoying recess jumping rope together or perhaps braiding each other’s hair. But due directly to religion— and the Good News Club that taught Ashley that her unbelieving friends would suffer in hell—they found themselves divided into the saved and the damned, the right and the wrong—the good and the evil—and their friendship and both their views of life and others was poisoned. This divisiveness and poisoning of perspectives in young children is perhaps the greatest crime of religious superstition.

Read the excellent story by Katherine Stewart at
www.independent.com/news/2009/may/07/reading-writing-and-original-sin/

thought of the day.294

Test of Faith. Second Samuel

Jerusalem became known as a holy city after David
A. prayed God’s blessings upon it
B. slaughtered its inhabitants

When a man tried to keep the Covenant Box from falling, God
A. blessed him and his descendants
B. killed him

God punished David for adultery and murder by
A. making him step down as king
B. having his innocent wives raped for all to see

2 Samuel 5:6-10, 6:1-8, 12:5-15

thought of the day.293

A common idea held by many believers is, “everything happens for a reason.” Of course, this is another way of saying “God” is in control.

This seems to me to be a most unhealthy way to view reality. Are we really to think that there is a “reason” that a child is diagnosed with cancer, that a wife is beaten to death by a husband, or terrorists fly planes into buildings?

Everything happens as a result of a natural cause, not for a mysterious, supernatural reason. For example, the wind causes a kite to fly. The kite doesn't soar for a reason.

The only reason—or meaning—in life, is that which we personally give it.

thought of the day.292

The Rev has a book recommendation for today. It only takes about 15 or 20 minutes to read the whole thing. (It’s a reprint of a commencement speech given to a graduating college class). One of my new all time favorites.

This is Water by David Foster Wallace

thought of the day.291

Happy Mother’s Day!

Let it be remembered that mothers are people too! So be nice to them—at least today.

thought of the day.290

Word of God or Myth of Man?

1. When the Great Spirit first made the earth he also created a large number of spirits. Some of these spirits were benevolent, but many were malevolent, and they went to live beneath the earth.

2. When mankind had spread all over the world, and girls were being born, some of the supernatural beings saw that these girls were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked. In those days, and even later, there were giants on the earth who were descendants of human women and supernatural beings.

3. The children of darkness were descended from the dwarf Nibelung who was famous for having slain twelve giants.

All of these should strike the reader as whimsical story telling—as myth. But if told one of these statements is from the bible, the True Believer suspends normal critical judgment and any notion becomes plausible.

thought of the day.289

“The abominable laws respecting [women in the Bible] . . . are a disgrace to civilization and English literature; and any family which permits such a volume to lie on their parlor-table ought to be ostracized from all respectable society. . .”

~ Ella E. Gibson, The Godly Women of the Bible by an Ungodly Woman of the Nineteenth Century, 1870s.

thought of the day.288

“I get my morality from the same place that I think moral persons of faith get theirs - my personal sense of right and wrong. This encompasses a strong sense of fairness, honesty, and an ethos of minimization of harm.

The bible has some charming moral tales. It also has some truly vile ones. A quick flick through the bible reveals incitements to genocide, infanticide, pederasty, misogyny, slavery, racism, rape, murder, death penalties for trivial crimes, witch-burning and more. (I won't provide references, but there are plenty of websites which do).

Bishop Shelby Spong has a reply for people who say that the bible is a complete source of morality - "Have you read it?"

Presumably some Christians are unaware of these passages. Others pretend that they're not there and skip straight to the sermon on the mount. A third group take even the most vicious passages literally, which is scary and possibly the world's most active source of evil. (I'm happy to level the same accusation against people who take similar incitements in the Koran literally). A fourth group will attempt to explain it away - "God moves in mysterious ways" (which must be the ultimate intellectual cop-out) or attempt contorted and improbable theological explanations.

But, surely, there must be at least a sizeable minority who read such passages and think "That's just evil". Any reasonable person should be viewing acts of slavery and genocide that way. And that's where morality comes in. Real morality doesn't come from obeying the bible slavishly out of fear of a bad outcome in the afterlife - it comes from our own minds.

So, my morality comes from a sense of freedom, fairness, kindness, honesty, and an ethos of minimisation of harm. Some aspects of Christian morality are just fine to me, others are destructive. Many of religion's sexual hang-ups are simply repressive. Any ethos which limits medical research or processes is just evil (think restrictions on stem-cell research. A fair way to think this through is to imagine that you have a daughter with a genetic disease which might become curable). Misleading the public on matters of science is vile also (yes, I mean you, Benedict). Freedom of speech in the public sphere is crucial, so blasphemy is a badge I would wear with pride.

As for meaning of life, that's easy. Atheism is totally life-affirming - what could be more inspirational than knowing that this is it, this is our only chance? So, for me the meaning of life is: aged cabernet, rare steak, fried squid, good chocolate, a cold drink on a hot day, Albert King guitar solos, progressive rock epics, English comedy shows, a high level bridge game, boardgames with friends, water views, peace and quiet, sleeping in on weekends, playing games with small children, spending time with my wife, walking through rainforests, making the world a better place.”


~ Kieran May 5, 2009 4:08 Beliefnet response to article

thought of the day.287

Renowned religious philosopher William Lane Craig recently said, “The fruit of the naturalistic worldview is that mankind is reduced to meaninglessness, valuelessness and purposelessness.”

But the “fruit” of a worldview should be of no concern. The concern should be what is true. And are we to think that without a god, Craig would find being a husband meaningless, his children without value, and getting out of bed without purpose? If so, perhaps it’s best that he, and those like him, believe in whatever it takes to see their loved ones as valuable and their life worth living.

thought of the day.286

Test of Faith. 1 Samuel

God
A. keeps his promises
B. breaks his promises

The “spirit of God” made Samuel
A. kind and peaceful
B. furious and threatening

God told his people to
A. love their neighbors
B. kill men, women, children and babies


1Samuel 2:30-36, 11:6-7, 15:1-3, 27:8

thought of the day.285

“We all have but one life to live. In this finite time we have but a moment to understand who we are and where we come from. Unable to prove that we live beyond mental and physical death any more than the ant we crush with our index finger, our life is immeasurably precious. One day we will all face our own deaths and, before the silence of the stars, we have only a short time to examine our place within the cosmos.

Understanding our existence truthfully and honestly is the quest of many atheists and agnostics. There is nothing more beautiful than the pursuit of truth and to glimpse – for but a second – the strange creature that we are. To do this, we cannot accept answers simply because our parents told them to us as children.

To really seek the answers, we must ask uncomfortable questions and confront the issues that some people might prefer to keep in the closet. As an atheist, I refuse to sit complacently and accept stories that smack of superstition. If all cultures believe in contradictory ideas of reality, we need a method to understand what the truth really is.

In the present day, this means the use of empirical evidence that can be demonstrated and repeated – the opposite of hearsay and faith. Faith is believing in something despite the evidence, for with evidence, faith is superfluous. Conversely, modern science and rationality have provided a way for us to examine our claims. So powerful is this method that the language of science has become universal, nearly every society on earth having adopted its practice. Yet religions have remained separated by geography because they cannot convincingly prove their own claims.

Many people say atheists are no different than religious thinkers because atheists “believe” in empirical facts – a kind of faith. This claim is nonsense. Everyone alive, as far as I know, accepts the fact that they live in a physical and empirical world. Every time we open our eyes we confirm a physical reality.

Further, atheism is not a religion; it is not a religious proposition so much as the lack of one. Atheists do not have to prove God does not exist anymore than atheists must prove that leprechauns do not exist. We must take reality for what is, leaving out our assumptions and desires as much as possible. We build our understanding from experience and measure it with our reason.

I have never experienced the supernatural and never has it been scientifically demonstrated. The factual existence of gods and leprechauns must be supported by evidence and proof from those who claim them to be real.

Additionally, never have I confirmed that a supernatural being is watching over me. Indeed, if I told you Zeus was watching over you, you would not believe me. In this way, we are all atheists of Zeus. The same reason modern day religious thinkers do not believe in Zeus is the same reason atheists do not believe in the modern day God. Atheists just extend their critical analysis one god further.

Finally, the reason atheists and agnostics sometimes passionately engage in debate is because we believe religious thought is distorting reality. To truly create the most inclusive and harmonious society, it is imperative we understand the truth of who we are. From this knowledge we can create the proper regulations and controls to cultivate a more humane and inclusive morality.

Atheists and agnostics wish to probe into the uncomfortable assumptions of all times and of all cultures. It is not that we wish to upset people. We wish to find the truth.”

~Nickolas Conrad, THE DAILY EVERGREEN, 04/27/2009

thought of the day.284

“I’ve read I flew up the hills and mountains of France. But you don’t fly up a hill. You struggle slowly and painfully up a hill, and maybe, if you work very hard, you get to the top ahead of everybody else.”

~ Lance Armstrong

Off to ride a 100k up and down the monstrous hills of Muenster, Texas today with Team Cruise and Booze. Happy day!

thought of the day.283

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

~ Thomas Edison

thought of the day.282

The Christian is in the unenviable position of believing she possesses The Truth—“God made everything...Jesus loves me...I am Heaven bound...Hallelujah!” but this mindset is life-narrowing rather than expanding as any information that challenges these beliefs causes discomfort and is met with resistance, if not hostility.

It seems the preferable position is that of the atheist who seeks a better understanding of reality. With no cherished beliefs to protect, she is always willing to abandon currently held propositions in favor of ones better supported by evidence.

thought of the day.281

“Death is not an event in life; we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.”

~Ludwig Wittgenstein

thought of the day.280

Test of Faith: 1 Kings

On his death bed, David called for
A. forgiveness and mercy
B. revenge and murder

Solomon became king after
A. working tirelessly for the people
B. murdering several powerful men

God promised Jeroboam he would
A. never punish sons for the father’s sins
B. kill all his male descendants

1 Kings 2:1-9, 2:13-46, 14:9-11

thought of the day.279

“It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas . . . If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you . . . On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the useful ideas from the worthless ones.”

~ Carl Sagan

thought of the day.278

The Good Life

Just finished reading an excellent book by William B. Irvine called “A Guide to the Good Life: the ancient art of stoic joy”.

He begins by asking “What do you want out of life?” He says “I am asking not for the goals you form as you go about your daily activities but for your grand goal in living. In other words, of the things in life you might pursue, which is the thing you believe to be the most valuable?”

He explains that without taking the time to formulate such a grand goal there is a danger one will mislive—find themselves at the end of their life not having pursued what was most important to them.

My goal: To become ever more aware, compassionate, and joyful.

I now have a very simple guide to keep in the back of my mind at all times. Hopefully, these things will be an ever increasing part of my life.

thought of the day.277

Just watched the 2006 Academy Award nominated documentary, “Deliver Us from Evil,” about the Catholic Church’s 1,600 year old sexual abuse cover-up.

I want to throw up. Made me never want to set foot in a Catholic church again. I will, I’m sure, but will do so with a new understanding of the inherent wickedness of the Church hierarchy.

thought of the day.276

Desiring heaven requires relinquishing power to hope and fear, clergy, creed, bible, church... Having no need of heaven is power—power to think fearlessly, power to live one’s life as one deems right.

thought of the day.274

Pierce from Dallas, asks, “What is the difference...between “prayer” and the acquisition of strength/energy through meditation or deep and total spiritual immersion? When a friend...tells me that they will “pray for me” ...I always accept their offering as an act of good karma, regardless of whether I believe in the source from which they are drawing. ...

“Or...in your opinion, are such notions that the generation of positive energy (ergo positive results), through thought or meditation or prayer...simply fool’s gold?...I recently spoke with...a friend who is two years beyond breast cancer -- and she insisted that “the Lord Jesus Christ Our Savior” was solely responsible for her recovery.

“I suggested that her inherent strength and fortitude and mental acuity, combined with her doctors’ expertise were the reason for her recovery. Needless to say, my suggestion was blasphemous in her mind.

“Jesus was the sole reason for her success. I was told that “until you experience the grace of God in your life, you cannot know what it means.” I must confess, I was rendered a little bit envious by her confidence in this god that no one can see, and it made me wonder if I somehow got on the wrong bus somewhere along the way. Even though, during the conversation, I felt as though I was listening to an 8 year-old tell me about how cool Santa Claus is, I couldn’t help but wonder if she knew something I didn’t know.”

Dear Pierce, We first need to note that there are two distinct types of prayer—intercessory (prayer for others) and personal. The most recent study* of intercessory prayer showed prayer to be of absolutely no benefit for the prayed for, and in fact, those prayed for experienced slightly more complications than the other groups (believed caused by the stress of feeling their condition was dire enough to warrant prayer).

Personal prayer—whether to “Jesus,” “Allah,“ “St. Patrick,” or “Zeus,” has clearly helped many cope with life’s difficulties, though evidence would suggest any benefits are simply a placebo effect since praying to any god, or a jug of milk for that matter, can produce the same results. But belief in a God who answers prayers also has a dark side as it may lead people to forego medical treatment (their own or their children’s) resulting in needless suffering and death. And when prayer fails, believers may feel rejected—wondering if they’re not worthy, are being punished, didn’t pray properly or didn’t have enough faith.

* $2.4 million study was funded by the John Templeton Foundation

thought of the day.273

Test of Faith: Micah

God commands his people to
A. forgive and love others
B. punish and crush others

God
A. guards his people from enemies
B. abandons his people to enemies

God brings
A. enlightenment and mercy
B. ruin, destruction and hunger


Micah 4:15, 5:3, 6:13-16

thought of the day.272

Bonus thought of the day!!

My good blogging friend, myrtle, suggested tackling "The kalam cosmological syllogism" which is stated:

a. Everything that has a beginning has a cause
b. The universe has a beginning
c. Therefore the universe has a cause

a. It seems terribly arrogant to think we of such feeble abilities to comprehend reality can know a great degree about something as incomprehensibly large and complex as the universe. The best we can say in response to the assertion made is "as far as we know" everything that has a beginning has a cause.

b. The evidence points to the fact that the current universe we inhabit had a beginning roughly 13 billion years ago. However, it is possible that we find ourselves in the middle of one particular expansion of the universe in what has been an ongoing expansion and contraction process making the universe an unknown age. It is also possible that there are multiple universes. But "as far as we know" the universe we find ourselves in did have a beginning.

c. Knowing what we do, it is fair to say, "As far as we know" the universe did have a cause. Apparently, scientists can peer back in time to within hundredths of a second after what is called the 'singularity' became the 'Big Bang' and our current universe began to take shape. But we do not have the technology to go back further, (and it seems there is no time or space to observe before the Big Bang and thus likely impossible to do so.)

In conclusion, it seems reasonable and responsible to say 'we do not know' what caused the universe and that we likely cannot know. It seems unreasonable and irresponsible to invent something (God) to fill in this gap in our knowledge. I would add that suggesting “God” did it only complicates the matter for now we have an even bigger mystery of what is and what caused “God”.

It seems there are people who are content to live with unanswered questions such as “how did the universe come about” and tend to believe there are natural explanations for everything and there are those not so comfortable with such unanswered questions who tend to believe in supernatural explanations. For me, supernatural explanations are not really explanations at all. They are constructions that reduce uncertainty but have no relation to reality.

thought of the day.271

Hitchens/Craig Debate

Last Sunday I watched Christopher Hitchens and William Lane Craig via a live simulcast debate the idea “Does God Exist?” My overall impression was that Craig was well organized and Hitchens was less so. It also seemed Hitchens could have used a comb and maybe a bath.

But rather than discussing the points argued, I would like to note how the debate was slanted before anyone took the microphone.

To phrase the debate as “Does God Exist?” is misleading. An admittedly less catchy, but far more fair and accurate phrasing would be: “Is it Likely Any Gods Exist?” Wording it in such a way reminds us that one cannot prove the existence or non-existence of a “God” or “Gods” but can only place such a notion on a scale of probability. It also reminds us of the fact that there has never been one agreed upon “God” but countless competing gods. And if we believe that any gods are merely the product of human imagination (which we all do) then it is possible (if not likely) that all gods are.

thought of the day.270

Happy Eastre!

Before Jesus came hopping down the bunny trail, Easter was a festival devoted to honoring a Teutonic goddess named Eastre. And from her festival came the traditions of the Easter Bunny (symbol of fertility), colored Easter eggs and baby chicks (symbols of new life).

The pattern of nature dying in winter and coming back to life in spring has been the basis for countless religions. The return of Persephone from the underworld to the light of day symbolized the resurrection of life in the spring after the desolation of winter to the ancient Greeks. The Phrygians believed that their omnipotent deity went to sleep at the time of the winter solstice, and they performed ceremonies with music and dancing at the spring equinox to awaken him.

Though Easter is considered a Christian holiday, we see from its pagan origins that it needn’t be. Whether or not Jesus or any of the thousands of gods and goddesses of history literally rose from the dead or not, the miracle of Spring— of rebirth and resurrected life—is ample cause for celebration!

thought of the day.269

Bible Fun Fact: Foreskins before Foreplay

What kind of man pulls down the pants of dead men to genitally mutilate the corpses? A Bible-Hero kind of man, of course! David, considered a “man after God’s own heart”, paid for the first of his many wives with foreskins carved from hundreds of murdered men.

1 S 18:20-28

thought of the day.268

Happy Good Friday to all my Christian friends.

“God is a metaphor for that which trancends all levels of intellectual thought. It’s as simple as that.”

~ Joseph Campbell

thought of the day.267

A Few Reasons to Go Vegetarian

U.S. Animal Agriculture is responsible for:

LAND USE: 1 billion acres of land. That's 43% of all U.S. land, and 83% of agricultural land.

CROPS: 560 billion pounds of grain a year fed to U.S. livestock, enough to feed 840 million people.

SOIL EROSION: 2 trillion pounds a year.

ENERGY: The equivalent of burning 26 billion gallons of gas a year.

GREENHOUSE GAS: Emissions equivalent to 1 trillion pounds of CO2 a year.

EXCREMENT: 9 billion pounds a year, or as much in 3 days as produced by the U.S. human population in a year.

WATER USE: 35 trillion gallons a year, more than half of all US water use, enough for every American to take 26 showers a day.

WATER POLLUTION: 570,000 miles of U.S. streams and rivers and 6 million acres of U.S. lakes and reservoirs are polluted due to animal agriculture, comprising 15% of all streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs.

thought of the day.266

The ugliness of Christianity is no more evident then when a believer beholds a beautiful newborn child and sees her as a sinner—a fallen creature worthy of eternal torture— and believes her only hope of escaping being gathered up with the other “goats” and hurled into a lake of fire is being baptised and growing to believe certain things. From birth to death, nothing poisons life like Christianity’s threat of hell.

thought of the day.265

“The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel lonliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.”

~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali

thought of the day.264

In his usual eloquent style, Robert Ingersoll said, “There is something tenderly appropriate in the serene death of the old. . . . When the duties of life have all been nobly done; when the sun touches the horizon; when the purple twilight falls upon the past, the present, and the future; when memory, with dim eyes, can scarcely spell the blurred and faded records of the vanished days—then, surrounded by kindred and by friends, death comes like a strain of music. The day has been long, the road weary, and the traveler gladly stops at the welcome inn.”

But there is nothing tenderly appropriate about the death of the young.

We’ll be attending a memorial service today for a 16 year old who collapsed and died suddenly during football practice. He was the family’s only son.

thought of the day.263

Test of Faith. Genesis

God said wives were to be
A. equal to husbands
B. subject to husbands

Lot offered up his daughters to be
A. baptised
B. gang-raped

God used his power to
A. heal the sick children in Sodom and Gomorah
B. burn the children in Sodom and Gomorah

Gn 3:16, 19:6-8, 19:24

thought of the day.262

“To profess to be doing God’s will is a form of megalomania.”

~ Joseph Prescott

thought of the day.261

I love riding my bike. It makes me feel like a kid; burns enough calories that I can eat (and drink!) whatever I want without getting too obese; clears my little mind of cobwebs and connects me to nature and friends. And once the small fortune is spent on all the equipment and clothes, it costs nothing to go for a ride. I love my bike.

thought of the day.260

“Imagine a world in which generations of human beings come to believe that certain films were made by God or that specific software was coded by him. Imagine a future in which millions of our descendants murder each other over rival interpretations of Star Wars or Windows 98. Could anything — anything—be more ridiculous? And yet, this would be no more ridiculous than the world we are living in.”

~ Sam Harris

Thought of the day.259

Happy April Fools Day!

In its April 1985 edition, Sports Illustrated published an article by George Plimpton that described an incredible rookie baseball player who was training at the Mets camp in St. Petersburg, Florida. The player was named Sidd Finch (Sidd being short for Siddhartha, the Indian mystic in Hermann Hesse’s book of the same name). He could reportedly pitch a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. The fastest previous recorded speed for a pitch was 103 mph.
museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/Hoaxipedia/Sidd_Finch/

The Taco Liberty Bell - In 1996, the Taco Bell Corporation announced that it had bought the Liberty Bell from the federal government and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Naturally, hundreds of outraged citizens called up the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell is housed to express their anger. Things only calmed down when Taco Bell revealed a few hours later that it was just a practical joke.

For April Fools Day - 2007, Google.Com did two hilarious pranks which were featured on their homepage. One was the TiSP (BETA)™, a free in-home wireless broadband service that delivers online connectivity via users' plumbing systems (i.e. their toilets). Users who sign up online for the TiSP system will receive a full home self-installation kit, which includes a spindle of fiber-optic cable, a TiSP wireless router, installation CD and setup guide. Home installation is a simple matter of GFlushing™ the fiber-optic cable down to the nearest TiSP Access Node, then plugging the other end into the network port of your Google-provided TiSP wireless router. Within sixty minutes, the Access Node's crack team of Plumbing Hardware Dispatchers (PHDs) should have your internet connection up and running.

aprilfoolsjokes.info/

thought of the day.258

First, the President throws unbelievers a bone by acknowledging their existence, and now, Family Guy’s, “Brian”, comes out as an atheist! Change is definitely in the air!

thought of the day.257

Money pays the bills but friends make us rich.

Some thoughts on friendship:

“The intelligent and good man holds in his affections the good and true of every land—the boundaries of countries are not the limitations of his sympathies. Caring nothing for race, or color, he loves those who speak other languages and worship other gods. Between him and those who suffer, there is no impassable gulf. He salutes the world, and extends the hand of friendship to the human race. He does not bow before a provincial and patriotic god—one who protects his tribe or nation, and abhores the rest of mankind.”
~ Robert Ingersoll


“What profit is there in agreeing that universal friendship is good, and talking of the solidarity of the human race as a grand ideal? Unless these thoughts are translated into the world of action, they are useless. The wrong in the world continues to exist just because people only talk of their ideals, and do not strive to put them into practice. If actions took the place of words, the world’s misery would very soon be changed into comfort.”
~ Baha'u'llah


“I note the obvious differences
in the human family.
Some of us are serious,
some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they really live
the real reality.

The variety of our skin tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige and purple,
tan and blue and white.

I've sailed upon the seven seas
and stopped in every land,
I've seen the wonders of the world
not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I've not seen any two
who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,
and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.

We love and lose in China,
we weep on England's moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in major we're the same.

I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.”
~ Maya Angelou


“A man's friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.”
~ Charles Darwin

“Remember then that there is only one important time, and that time is now. The most important one is always the one you are with. And the most important thing is to do good for the one who is standing at your side. For these, my dear boy, are the answers to what is most important in this world.”
~ Jon J. Muth

thought of the day.256

Test of Faith. 2 Chronicles

God helped
A. heal all the sick children in Egypt
B. slaughter half a million Israelites

God and his army
A. fought for truth and justice
B. attacked shepherds and stole their sheep

God had the king of Babylonia
A. memorize bible verses
B. murder men and women, young and old

2 Ch 13:13-18, 14:12-15, 36:17

thought of the day.255

Gems from The Simpsons Library of Wisdom

“Pride goeth before prejudice, and I before Ye except after Thee.”
Isayso 16:18

“But if you break my covenant I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and then I will bring on you seven times more plagues, plus I will punish you another seven times more just for the hell of it.”
Reverberations 6:8

“The Lord neither giveth slack nor taketh any up.”
Luke and Matthew Perry 3:19

“Thus was said to Peter, Paul, and Mary: “Taketh the blasphemer and let Ye stone him unto death, and let he who pitched last season’s shutout game cast the first stone.”
Hey Jude 24:16

~ Flanders’ Book of Faith

thought of the day.254

Dear Bishop Spong,

I’ve been a big fan of yours for several years. I applaud you for leading people out of the narrow confines of a literal interpretation of the bible, but am writing to voice my growing disenchantment.

You write, “Our experience has rendered the religious answers of yesterday to be inoperative....The God of yesterday dies as we struggle to view the birth of the God of tomorrow.”

“God of tomorrow”? Please, no more God talk! Hasn’t the world had its fill of Gods and the suffering that inevitably accompanies such notions? Isn’t it time we stop speaking of our relation to “God” (which only confuses communication) and instead speak of our relation to reality. Isn’t reality remarkable enough? It seems to me you’ve had one foot out of the atheist-closet for some time. Why not come all of the way out and continue your extraordinary journey unencumbered by the language of theology?

thought of the day.253

Some Mistakes of Jesus

Jesus has long been proclaimed as Perfect. Sinless. The Prince of Peace. God in the flesh! But Jesus wasn’t perfect, sinless, a promoter of peace, nor a deity come to earth. Jesus was a mythological character—and a very flawed one at that.

1. Jesus committed an unforgivable sin by never once condemning slavery. This failure shows he wasn’t divine, nor even as enlightened as other men of his time who did condemn it. He should have made it clear that it was profoundly evil to own humans as property. Jesus’ silence on this fundamental matter of morality allowed the slave trade to flourish at the hands of Christians and made the lives of countless men, women and children a living hell.

2. Jesus initially refused to heal a little girl and referred to her and her non-Jewish mother as “dogs” because they were outside his small circle of concern. (Mt 15:22-28, Mk 7:25-30) He only healed a handful of people with his supernatural powers. Why so damn stingy? Besides healing this child he should have given the world tips on preventing diseases like the Black Death that killed over 75 million.

3. Jesus killed an out of season fig tree because he was hungry and it had no fruit. (Mt 21:18-22 Mk 11:12-14, 19-25) This was a ridiculously senseless and selfish act which denied food and shelter for human and creature alike. If Jesus had any common sense he would have known it wasn’t fig season and that searching the tree was pointless. He should have “blessed” the tree with fruit rather than “curse” it with death and explained that it’s evil to kill things just because they disappoint us.

4. Jesus sent demons into 2,000 pigs causing them to run into the sea and drown. (Mk 5:1-17) St. Augustine explained that this act was intended to teach us that we have no responsibilities for the welfare of animals. St. Thomas Aquinas agreed and thought there was nothing wrong in itself with making animals suffer. Pete Singer explains that as late as the middle of the nineteenth century “Pope Pius IX refused permission for the founding of a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Rome, on the grounds that to grant permission would imply that human beings have duties to the lower creatures.” How differently animals would have been treated if Jesus had said a few words about treating all life—even pigs— with reverence instead of sending them to a watery grave.

5. Jesus promised that believers could pick up venomous snakes and drink poison without being harmed (Mk 16:17-18) leading to thousands of bites, deformities and nearly a hundred documented deaths in the last century alone. I’m not sure who is more irresponsible and stupid—Jesus or those that believed him. He should have encouraged people to ignore “teachers” who spouted such harmful nonsense.

6. Jesus proclaimed that he didn’t come to bring peace to the world but “division.” (Lk 12:49-53) He promised that because of him families would be divided—fathers against sons, mothers against daughters, and daughters-in-law against mothers-in-law. He said “a man’s worst enemies will be members of his own family.” (Mt 10:36) He should have worked to unite the family, communities, countries and world.

7. Jesus demonized unbelieving Jews, calling them “evil,” “serpents,” and children of the “devil” leading to 2,000 years of Jewish persecution. He should have explained how immoral and destructive it is to dehumanize people.

8. Jesus said he hadn’t come to do away with the Law of Moses (which includes commands to chop off wives’ hands (Dt 25:11-12), burn daughters (Lv 21:9) and stone sons (Dt 21:18)) but to make the teachings come true. In fact, he warned that obeying the Law was necessary to enter the Kingdom of heaven. (Mt 5:17-20) He should have condemned the Law of Moses as the work of manipulative and power hungry men and explained that the Kingdom of heaven was not a place to go after death but a state of mind to be achieved here and now.

9. Jesus said he didn’t come to bring peace but a sword (Mt 10:34) and told his followers if they didn’t own a sword to sell their coat and buy one (Luke 22:36). He told violent parables about a vineyard owner slaying his tenants; a master slicing up his slave; a king commanding his enemies be executed in front of him; a stone symbolizing himself, upon which people are broken to pieces and under which others are crushed; and threatened to throw Jezebel and her adulturous partners on a bed where he would make them “suffer terribly” and “kill her children.” (Rev 2:22-23) He should have explained that violence only begets violence.

10. Jesus was the most intolerant character ever as he promised eternal torture for those who didn’t agree with him. This evil idea has caused more suffering than any concept in history. His description of sinners being gathered and cast into the fiery furnace led to the burning of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people as heretics and witches and his threats of torture still cause mental anguish and divisiveness today. He should have said there was no more wicked idea than hell and that it was merely that, an idea used to control people.

thought of the day.252

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

~Alexander Solzhenitsyn

thought of the day.251

Top 10 Blood Baths of the Bible or Over a Billion Reasons Not to be a Christian

10. GOD SLAUGHTERS OVER 50,000 PEOPLE OF BETHSHEMESH
And [the LORD] smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. (1 S 6:19)

9. GOD SLAUGHTERS 70,000 ISRAELITES
So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. (2 S 24:15)

8. GOD LEADS GIDEON IN SLAUGHTER OF 120,000 MIDIANITES
...the LORD said unto [Gideon], ...I have delivered [the Midianites] into thine hand. ...and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow...And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.... there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword. (Jg 7:9, 22-25, 8:10)

7. GOD LEADS SLAUGHTER OF 120,000 JUDEANS
Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.... And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters... (2 Ch 28:5-8)

6. GOD’S ANGEL SLAUGHTERS 185,000 ASSYRIANS
And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. (2 K 19:35)

5. GOD LEADS SLAUGHTER OF 500,000 ISRAELITES
...and they cried unto the LORD, and ...it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand. And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers. (2 Ch 13:14-18)

4. GOD LEADS MOSES IN SLAUGHTER OF COUNTLESS MIDIANITES
And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males....And ...took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones...And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?...Now therefore kill every male among the little ones (children), and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him....But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. (Nu 31:7-18)

3. GOD SLAUGHTERS COUNTLESS EGYPTIANS
The LORD turned streams to blood and killed the Egyptians firstborn: And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink. He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost. He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them. He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence; And smote all the firstborn in Egypt... (Ps 78:44-51)

2. GOD SLAUGHTERS EVERY THING THAT BREATHS ON EARTH
And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air....And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. (Gn 6:7, 7:23)

1. JESUS TO BRING BLOOD BATH OF ALL BLOOD BATHS
And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men (Would mean a slaughter of over 2 Billion people if Jesus returned today). And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand...and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. (Rev 9:15-18)

Thankfully, these accounts are myths. The God of the bible is not a supernatural being but a product of the imagination of violent men. The Book of Exodus describes this character as a war Lord: “The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name” (Ex 15:3). Such “a man of war” will always provide any nation that calls on him—that glorifies him—divine justification for violence on a massive scale. There is no hope for peace as long as “a man of war” is worshipped which makes all the Abrahamic religions enemies of humanity.

thought of the day.250

A christian and atheist discuss the bible

One of the most despicable stories in all of literature can be found in that holiest of all books—the Bible. Chapter 31 of the Book of Numbers tells of a “Holy” War fought by God’s people against the people of Midian. It begins with the LORD telling Moses to, "Take vengeance on the Midianites.” So they fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and “killed every man.” The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. They burned all the towns to the ground. Moses was furious that anyone was left alive and commanded the officers of the army to “kill all the boys” and “kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.”

Now to the discussion. The participants are Mike the Christian who is an author, teacher, speaker and Christian apologist. John the Atheist is an ex-Christian.

John the Atheist:
This story alone should lead any ethical person to reject the God of the Bible as morally abhorent. It is evil to kill captured and cowering little boys and mothers; evil to kill a young girl’s mother, father, brother and friends and then give her to the soldier that slaughtered them; and despicable to defend such behavior.

Mike the Christian:
An Israelite was permitted to marry women from the captives of a particular battle. If an Israelite soldier genuinely desired one of the captives he could have her only through marriage. This helped protect the dignity of the women captives and the purity of the Israelite soldiers. Israelites were not to rape, plunder, or otherwise mistreat captives as other armies of the ancient Near East did.

John the Atheist:
I find your choice of words about the soldiers and captives disturbing: “genuinely,” “protect,” “dignity,” “purity.” The reality of this young girl’s situation is that she has just witnessed an attack on her town and watched as her mother and father were hacked to pieces with swords, her older brothers, grandfather and all the males in her town have been likewise slaughtered. Her little brothers along with tens of thousand of other little boys were chased down, rounded up, brought before Moses and then murdered. All of the girl friends of this captive have been taken away by soldiers who must have been dripping with the blood of her family and friends to undoubtedly be raped repeatedly. Can you put yourself in the place of this young girl? Can you imagine your daughters in such a situation? Do you really feel it’s honest to speak of the soldier’s “purity” or the girl’s protection of “dignity”? Again you have used words to paint a noble picture of utter atrocity and shifted the focus to the armies of the Near East, who you say, are the ones who rape and plunder. Yet the Israelites’ plunder from this battle alone included nearly a million animals and 32,000 virgins!

Mike the Christian:
A soldier’s marriage to a foreign captive could not take place immediately. The prospective wife was first prepared psychologically for her new life as an Israelite. She was actually integrated into the Jewish culture as family. This was accomplished by her shaving her head, trimming her nails, having a change of clothes, and mourning for her parents for one month. The full month allowed the captive woman a proper amount of time for mourning, (Jews only mourn for 7 days) and it also gave the prospective husband opportunity to reflect on his initial decision to take her as his wife. For with a shaved head she would be less attractive. The phrase, If you are not pleased with her may refer not to some trivial problem in their relationship, but rather to the new wife’s refusal to accept her husband’s spiritual values. In this case the husband could dissolve the marriage only by giving up all rights over her. Clearly he is forbidden from treating her as a slave if she leaves and he was expected to treat her as a wife if she stayed. This law underscored the value of human life; it contrasted with the terrible treatment of war captives common throughout the ancient Near East.

John the Atheist:
Again, I find your choice of words to be dishonest. “Prepared psychologically,” “integrated into the Jewish culture as family”?These people just covered an entire town with entrails and dismembered limbs. They are barbarians of the worst kind, killing the old men and women, the blind, the crippled, mothers and the babies at their breast, fathers, teenagers—boys just like our sons. Is it truly honest to say that the fiends that did these things to these girls’ families and friends are now concerned about gently preparing them psychologically? That the man is going to reflect on his decision of a wife? You make it sound like these are Harvard educated, contemplative and sensitive men. You speak of the law that underscored the value of human life— PLEASE! And again, you say it is not the Israelites who are barbaric but the people of the Near East!

Mike the Christian:
As for the killing of the children, several things should be noted. (1) Given the immoral state of the society into which they were born, they had no chance to avoid its fatal pollution and subsequent eternal consequences. (2) Children who die before the age of accountability go to heaven. This was an act of God’s mercy to take them into His holy presence from such an unholy environment. (3) God is sovereign over life and can order its end according to His will and in view of the creature’s ultimate good. As for the virgins, they were spared (only by Moses concession) because they obviously had had no role in the Baal of Peor incident nor could they by themselves perpetuate the Midianite peoples. The purpose for utterly destroying the Midianites was to protect the Israelites from further deception and harm by completely removing the Midianite people from the earth.

John the Atheist:
Murdering children is actually an act of God’s mercy? Mike, you scare me-is this how badly you must twist your thinking to reconcile the despicable evil attributed to the God of the Bible? Your argument makes no sense, if it was so merciful to have male children slaughtered so that they could enter His holy presence as you say, why not the female children? Is it conceivable that the truth is that this story reflects ancient soldiers lusting after young virgins rather than a God who demanded the murder of countless people?

Mike the Christian:
It was common practice for women to serve as “staff” in the Temple. (1 Sam 2:22) These women were given to Temple service and would have been under the direct authority and care of the priests. These women were still protected by the law given in Deuteronomy and thus they would not have been raped, summarily killed, or used as “human sacrifices.”

John the Atheist:
The Bible says that 16,000 virgins were given to the soldiers, 320 were given to the Levites, and 15,680 were given to the men of the community leaving 32 girls who were given to Eleazar the priest as a “tax for the LORD.” Everything else that was given as a “tax for the LORD” was sacrificed but you say they became Temple “staff.” You make it sound like a great career move — do they get Christmas bonuses? When you say these girls were under the “care” of the priests, and “protected” by the law you make it sound like they won the lottery and were blessed to be in such a warm environment. It must have been spiritually fulfilling for them to work in the Temple of the God responsible for commanding the murders of their family and friends and sexually fulfilling satisfying the lusts of godly men. If they weren’t sacrificed, they probably wished they were.

The only thing more disturbing than the slaughter of the Midianites is listening to Christians try to defend it.

thought of the day.249

Putting all propositions on a probability scale leads to confidence but never certainty. And far better to be confident than certain, for certainty breeds intolerance; and doubt, compassion.

thought of the day.248

“The Christian ...can exult over his own salvation while seeing others going to destruction. This is a fiendish happiness, a devilish joy. For one to be happy while knowing that a brother or sister is lost shows a hard, selfish, cruel heart.

“Think of the Christian mother being happy for having been rescued from her burning home in whose fatal flames her children all perished! Think of the Christian father filled with joy at his escape from the sinking ship in which his wife and babe sailed to the port of death! Think of a Christian man or woman exulting over their good fortune in not having a disease which took away those who were nearest and dearest! Such joy, such happiness, as this is not human, it is brutish.

“The Christian is welcome to all the happiness his heartless religion affords him. I want none of it. Such a religion would drive me mad. The loving heart is happiest in the joy of those it loves; it is happy in seeing others happy, but there could be no joy for it to be saved while those it loved were lost. Christianity is a heartless religion, a cruel faith, a selfish scheme...”

~ Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading?, 1911

thought of the day.247

Test of Faith.Lamentations

Who invited enemies to murder beloved children?
A. Satan
B. God

Who angrily pursues people and kills without mercy?
A. Satan
B. God

Who brought such starvation that mothers ate children?
A. Satan
B. God

Lm 2:22, 3:43, 4:10

thought of the day.246

New Book Attacks Evolution Supporters as ‘Atheists,’ ‘Monsters’ and ‘Morons’

Preceding a critical vote on science curriculum, the chairman of the Texas State Board of Education endorsed a new book that portrays parents who want their children to learn about evolution as “monsters,” and pastors who accept the science of evolution as “morons.”

Christianity strikes again.

thought of the day.245

O.C.I.C.B.W.

It seems a good phrase to write upon our heart, tattoo across our forehead, and perhaps wear in bright-colored rubber bracelet form around our wrist, would be...“Of course, I could be wrong.”

thought of the day.244

Was a spectacularly pretty day today—blue skies and perfect temperature. I talked a little religion with an old friend and a new one; was treated to a delicious lunch by a much appreciated client; had a nice walk in the park with my wife and threw bread to swooping seagulls; held a beautiful 2 week old baby while eating pizza and drinking beer; experienced a weird mixture of pride and horror as my 16 year old son nearly whipped me in a playful wrestling match; and we topped off the day with popcorn, candy and sodas while watching a movie. It’s spring break and we’re taking the train to the zoo tomorrow—life is sweet.

Postscript: 11:58 pm. 18 year old daughter is on the phone—crying. Seems to have a flat tire. Oh, and seems to have some body damage. I stumble out of bed. The formerly near mint condition 94 Celica has been split open along the side with what looks like a giant can opener. Fire hydrants will do that. But she’s o.k. Sadly, her bank account won’t be. Maybe next time she comes home after working all day (like her mom suggested) instead of driving to the boyfriend’s house. Tow truck will be called in the morning. Life is still sweet.

thought of the day.243

Reason or the bible?

Reason says people can’t live to be nearly a thousand years old.
The bible says they can.

Reason says men can’t turn sticks into snakes and rivers into blood.
The bible says they can.

Reason says snakes, donkeys and burning bushes can’t talk.
The bible says they can.

Reason says the sun can’t be stopped in the sky.
The bible says it can.

Reason says hordes of rotted people can’t walk out of their graves.
The bible says they can.

Reason says there are no witches.
The bible says there are—and to kill them.

Knowing this, shouldn’t we teach our children to listen to reason
rather than the bible and its preachers?

thought of the day.242

“Happiness is not an individual matter. When you are able to bring relief, or bring back the smile to one person, not only that person profits, but you also profit. The deepest happiness you can have comes from that capacity to help relieve the suffering of others. So if we have the habit of being peace, then there is a natural tendency for us to go in the direction of service. Nothing compels us, except the joy of sharing peace, the joy of sharing freedom from afflictions, freedom from worries, freedom from craving, which are the true foundations for happiness...

“And once we have the condition of peace and joy in us, we can afford to be in any situation. Even in the situation of hell, we will be able to contribute our peace and serenity. The most important thing is for each of us to have some freedom in our heart, some stability in our heart, some peace in our heart. Only then will we be able to relieve the suffering around us.”

~Thich Nhat Hanh, Inquiring Mind Magazine, Spring 1996

thought of the day.241

“The only thing that makes life endurable in this world is human love, and yet, according to Christianity...We are to be so taken up
with Jesus and angels, that we shall care nothing about our brothers and sisters that have been damned. We shall be so carried away with the music of the harp that we shall not even hear the wail of father and mother. Such a religion is a disgrace to human nature.”

~ Robert G. Ingersoll

thought of the day.240

A Few Good, Devoted, Spirit-Filled, Zealous Men of God

Elijah proved he was a “man of God” not by loving people, but incinerating them. Likewise, Jehu proved his devotion to the LORD not through acts of kindness, but mass murder. Phinehas’ zealous killing didn’t anger God, but pleased him. Each time “the Spirit of the LORD” came upon Samson, he didn’t become more generous, but more violent, spilling more and more blood. And no hands were more blood-stained than those of our bible “heroes” Moses and David, the former ordering untold numbers of helpless, captured little boys and their mothers to be systematically murdered, and the latter, said to be a man after God’s own heart who cut the hands, feet, and heads off of people and slaughtered tens of thousands in the name of the LORD.

Yet countless Christians—either oblivious to the mind-numbing atrocities in their “holy” scriptures, or perhaps because of them—pray for such godly men to rise up and lead our country. In The Bible Unmasked, Joseph Lewis writes, “When ministers plead for another David perhaps they want another Savage Commander. Surely the proper place for the Bible is in the War Colleges of belligerent nations...Killing and murder are related with so little compunction that a continued reading of the Bible cannot help but make one callous to the value of human life. No wonder the Christian countries at war use the Bible as the basis of their national religion and give each soldier a copy while engaged in battle.”


2K 1:10-12, 2K 10:16-17, Nu 25:1-13, Jg 14:6-16:30, Nu 31:17, 1 S 18:6-9

thought of the day.239

Test of Faith.Leviticus

Children who curse a parent must be
A. prayed for
B. killed

Children
A. are most precious to God
B. may be enslaved for life

Everyone “unconditionally dedicated” to the LORD
A. is blessed
B. must be killed

Leviticus 20:9, 25:44-46, 27:28-29

thought of the day.238

Not only does “objective morality” not exist, it cannot exist. Morality is but meaning we give to behavior, and as all meaning is subjective, all morality must necessarily be as well.

But where one might interpret this as “anything goes,” our social ties means it does not. The fact that morality is subjective is indeed liberating—where obedience to the ghost of an objective or revealed morality is confining—but with freedom comes responsibility.

thought of the day.237

Our “carbon footprint” is but one in our trail of “suffering footprints.” One giant step toward reducing suffering is simply eating less meat.

thought of the day.236

The Making of Jesus

There’s nothing cheaper to make than a god, and two thousand years ago gods were a dime a dozen. People worshipped characters like Osiris, Glycon, Simon, Apollonius of Tyana, Pythagoras, Orpheus, Dionysus, Zalmoxis, Kore, Samothrace, Attis, Adonis, Horus and Mithras. Their claims to fame included such supernatural feats as being born of a virgin, walking on water, healing lepers, raising the dead, turning water into wine, and dying and rising again. The writers of the Christian scriptures—like those of Judaism before it, Islam after it, and the countless religions scattered all about it—were influenced by the superstitions of the time and borrowed (or less charitably—plagiarized) from other stories in making their own.

But my argument here is not that Jesus was copied from “pagan” religions but that he was largely copied from the Jewish scriptures themselves—primarily the books of Kings which give us the escapades of the god-like characters, Elijah and Elisha. In fact, Luke has Jesus compare himself to Elijah and Elisha (Lk 4:25-27) and even has Elijah make an appearance and talk to Jesus (Lk 9:30-31). Matthew has some people think Jesus IS Elijah (Mt 16:14). Even the names mean the same thing—Elisha meaning “God is salvation” and Jesus (Greek for “Joshua”) meaning “Jehovah saves.”

Obviously, the gospel accounts aren’t word for word copies of these earlier myths, but many share an unmistakable theme upon which the later writer based his stories showing that Jesus was not a unique person in history but a literary Frankenstein, cobbled together from older stories.

DIVINE BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT (Stolen Story 1)
An angel told Samson’s mother she’d have a son (Jg 13:2-3)
An angel told Jesus’ mother she’d have a son (Lk 1:30-31)

WONDER WOMB (Stolen Story 2)
Joseph was a miracle baby (Gn 30:22-23)
Jesus was a miracle baby (Mt 1:18)

SLAUGHTER OF INNOCENTS (Stolen Story 3)
A king orders the murder of male children but Moses is saved (Ex 1:9-22)
A king orders the murder of male children but Jesus is saved (Mt 2:16)

SHARP DRESSED MEN (Stolen Story 4)
Elijah (Elisha’s predecessor) wore animal skins & belt (2K 1:8)
John the Baptist (Jesus’ predecessor) wore animal skins & belt (Mk 1:6)

THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT (Stolen Story 5)
Elisha received the spirit at the Jordan (2K 2:9-12)
Jesus received the spirit at the Jordan (Mk 1:1-10)

30 CANDLES (Stolen Story 6)
Joseph began his public work at the age of 30 (Gn 41:46)
Jesus began his public work at the age of 30 (Lk 3:23)

THE WILDERNESS (Stolen Story 7)
Elijah went into the wilderness for 40 days (1K 19:4-8)
Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days (Mk 1:12-13)

MINISTERING ANGELS (Stolen Story 8)
An angel helped Elijah before his wilderness trip (1K 19:5-9)
Angels helped Jesus after his wilderness trip (Mk 1:12-13)

HOLY GROUPIES (Stolen Story 9)
Elisha had a group of followers (2K 6-1)
Jesus had a group of followers (Mk 13-15)

THE DRINK OF WATER (Stolen Story 10)
Upon entering a town, Elijah had a woman fetch water (1K 17:10)
Upon entering a town, Jesus had a woman fetch water ( Jn 4:5-7)

COMMANDER OF THE ELEMENTS (Stolen Story 11)
Elijah controlled the weather (1K 17:1)
Jesus controlled the weather (Mk 4:39)

CROSSING THE WATER (Stolen Story 12)
Elijah walked across a river (2K 2:8)
Jesus walked across a lake (Mk 6:45-52)

RAISING THE DEAD (Stolen Story 13)
Elisha raised a widow’s dead son (1K 17:21-23)
Jesus raised a widow’s dead son (Lk 7:11-14)

FEEDING THE MULTITUDE (Stolen Story 14)
Elisha fed a multitude and had left overs (2K 4:42-44)
Jesus fed a multitude and had left overs (Mk 6:31-44)

HEALING THE LEPER (Stolen Story 15)
Elisha healed a man with leprosy (2K 5:1-15)
Jesus healed a man with leprosy (Mk 1:41-45)

THE SHEPHERD (Stolen Story 16)
Joseph was a shepherd (Gn 37:2)
Jesus was a shepherd ( Jn 10:11-14)

CURSE OF DEATH (Stolen Story 17)
Elisha’s curse caused death (2K 2:24)
Jesus’ curse caused death (Mt 21:18-19)

MAGIC NUMBER (Stolen Story 18)
Elijah used 12 stones to rebuild the altar (1K 18:32)
Jesus used 12 disciples to build the Church (Mt 10:1-4)

AT THE FOOT OF THE MASTER (Stolen Story 19)
A distraught woman took hold of Elisha’s feet (2K 4:27-37)
A distraught woman took hold of Jesus’ feet (Lk 7:36-50)

FINANCIAL GENIUS (Stolen Story 20)
Elisha gave creative financial advice (2K 4:1-7)
Jesus gave creative financial advice (Mt 17: 24-27)

SAVIOR OF THE PARTY (Stolen Story 21)
Elisha transformed food (2K 4:38-41)
Jesus transformed drink (Jn 2:6-10)

FIRE FROM HEAVEN (Stolen Story 22)
Elijah called down fire from heaven (2K 1:10-14)
Jesus’ disciples wanted to call down fire (Lk 9:54)

ARMY OFFICERS (Stolen Story 23)
Elisha helped an army officer (2K 5:1-15)
Jesus helped an army officer (Mt 8:5-6)

GO IN PEACE (Stolen Story 24)
Elisha said “Go in peace” (2 K 5:19)
Jesus said “Go in peace” (Lk 7:50)

TEMPLE “CLEANSING” (Stolen Story 25)*
Zechariah says there’ll be no more traders in the Lord’s house (Zec 14:21)
Jesus drives out the traders (Mt 21:12-13)

WANTED MEN (Stolen Story 26)
The people wanted Elijah killed (1 K 19:10)
The people wanted Jesus killed (Mt 27:20-25)

THE PROFITABLE BETRAYAL (Stolen Story 27)
Judah (& bros) made 20 pieces of silver by selling Joseph (Gn 37:28)
Judas made 30 pieces of silver by turning over Jesus (Mt 26:15)

THE AGONIZED SHOUT (Stolen Story 28)
As Elijah “died,” Elisha cried out, “My father, my father” (2K:2:12)
As Jesus died, he cried out, “My God, my God” (Mt 27:46)

THE TEARING OF THE CLOTH (Stolen Story 29)
Elisha tore his cloak in two upon Elijah’s death (2K 12)
The Temple’s curtain tore in two upon Jesus’ death (15:38)

THE RESURRECTION (Stolen Story 30)
Elisha’s entombed bones raised a dead man to life (2 K:21)
Jesus’ entombed body was raised to life (Mt 28:1-8)

LIFT OFF (Stolen Story 31)
Elijah was visibly taken to heaven (2K 2:11-12)
Jesus was visibly taken to heaven (Acts 1:9)

FLESH-EATING WORMS (Stolen Story 32)
Isaiah said worms and fire await the disobedient (Isaiah 66:24)
Jesus said worms and fire await the disobedient (Mk 9:48)

(more to come)

IN CONCLUSION
The True Believer may rationalize all of this away but there’s no disputing that there’s nothing unique about Jesus. Further study of comparative religions reveals Christianity stole all of its ideas—from the virgin birth to Jesus’ prophesied thousand year reign—from “pagan religions.” In fact, Christianity IS a pagan religion. It simply has outlasted most of its competition, aided by two millennia of persecuting them.

*“When the book of Zechariah describes the "Day of the Lord," a Jewish term for the coming of the Kingdom of God that would be inaugurated by the messiah, he writes "On that day there will no longer be traders in the house of the Lord." Earlier the hero in Zechariah, known as the Shepherd King of Israel, was removed from his leadership role by those who buy and sell animals. The price of this removal was thirty pieces of silver which were then hurled by the Shepherd King back into the Temple. Matthew, building on Mark, placed those extra details from Zechariah into the passion story in which the Temple authorities, following Jesus' act of disrupting the traders, paid Judas Iscariot thirty pieces of silver to betray the messiah. Judas then hurled the silver back into the Temple.” ~John Spong

thought of the day.235

There’s no better medicine than laughter and nothing better to laugh at than oneself.

thought of the day.234

It has long been recognized that men make gods in their own image. Greek philosopher, Xenophenes, noted, “The Ethiops say that their gods are flat-nosed and black while the Thracians say that theirs have blue eyes and red hair. Yet if cattle or horses or lions had hands and could draw and could sculpture like men, then horses would draw their gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and each would then shape bodies of gods in the likeness, each kind of its own.”

The Israelites, just like the Ethiopians and Thracians, created their god in their own image. Yahweh was an exalted father and they were his children. Like other parents, he took strolls in the garden and like most men, he savored the smell of cooking meat. He was also the tribal leader, who took up residence in a tent and gave the orders of when to make and break camp. He was a tailor, who made clothes out of animal skins; a ship builder, who designed the very first boat; an architect, who provided plans for buildings; an interior designer who specified fabric colors, lamp styles, artwork and placement of furnishings; a judge, who sought justice and resolved conflicts the same way his people did—with violence; an assassin, who waited at a camping place to kill Moses and a “man of war” who directed the Israeli army to commit genocide.

Though he wore many hats, in the final analysis, Yahweh was the “father” of Israel. As a father figure, he was a firm disciplinarian and sadly, like many fathers, he was physically abusive, punishing his children by hurting or killing them in myriad ways.

By recognizing our innate tendency to anthropomorphize we can purposefully dismiss these absurd thoughts and any notions that even hint of a super-human deity as being the product of our very human imagination.


Thanks for the art goes to my uber talented friend, Willie Baronet.
williebaronet.blogspot.com

thought of the day.233

It isn’t love that fuels religion but fear. Fear of the unknown, death, loneliness and being unloved. But as Marie Curie said, “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” The more our knowledge about ourselves and the universe increases, and the more compassion, love, and reality-based hope we can fill the world with, the less need there’ll be for fear-based superstitious belief systems.

thought of the day.232

WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY PROGRAMMED THOUGHT OF THE DAY FOR AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE. EVERYONE’S FAVORITE REVEREND STAYED UP VERY LATE LAST NIGHT UNEARTHING STARTLING AND COMPELLING EVIDENCE THAT JESUS WAS NOT A UNIQUE HISTORICAL PERSON BUT SIMPLY A FICTIONAL CHARACTER BASED ON A VERY SIMILAR CHARACTER THAT PRECEDED HIM. THE WORLD (OR AT LEAST THE 3 PEOPLE WHO OCCASIONALLY VISIT THE TOTALLY RIGHTEOUS CHURCH OF REASON) SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH MONDAY, MARCH 9.

NOTE: YOU MAY WANT TO STOCK UP ON BATTERIES, WATER AND CANNED FOOD AS THERE IS NO TELLING HOW THIS EVIDENCE MAY SHAKE THE VERY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. HAVE A GOOD DAY.

thought of the day.231

Reason and Christianity

In our modern age of science, it seems Christians are increasingly uncomfortable with merely having child-like “faith.” They want to claim their belief is reasonable. But there is nothing reasonable about talking bushes, snakes and donkeys, nor the other myriad fantastic stories of scripture. These things are, by definition, unreasonable.

Martin Luther, founder of the Protestant Reformation, understood that not only was reason incompatible with Christianity—it threatened it. He noted, “There is on earth among all dangers no more dangerous thing than a richly endowed and adroit reason, especially if she enters into spiritual matters which concern the soul and God. For it is more possible to teach a donkey to read than to blind such a reason and lead it right; for reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and … know nothing but the word of God.”

And if trampling reason, sense and understanding under foot doesn’t do the trick, Luther suggests blinding oneself to such things: “Whoever wishes to be a Christian, let him tear out the eyes of his reason.”

St. Tertullian turned reason completely upside down and inside out by claiming the more unreasonable Christianity seemed, the more reasonable it was to believe it: “And the Son of God died; it is by all means to be believed, because it is absurd. And He was buried and rose again; the fact is certain because it is impossible.”


Works Vol. 12, First Psalm Lectures, Luther's Works, Vol. 11, p.285

thought of the day.230

There is no easier, no cheaper, no less honorable way to increase one’s power and influence than to suggest “God” is on one’s side.

thought of the day.229

Morality

Christians speak of an “objective moral law giver” or “God” as being imperative to having a basis for morality. But a “moral law” is an oxymoron. Morality comes from within not without. It is a personal response to a particular situation, the consideration of consequences to one’s actions. It demands the best of us— wisdom, empathy, and courage not mere obedience to authority.

My friend, Jason Heatherly, shared this story about his experience with Christianity. His willingness to question authority and his courage to go against the grain of a group’s idea of goodness, is to my mind, an excellent example of true morality:

“I grew up protestant primarily because my mother’s father was a protestant preacher. My dad never really claimed a denomination, just sorta went through the motions. In High School I was involved in a christian group called young life. It's pretty popular amongst HS kids and it was mostly just to socialize for me more than anything. The summer I graduated from HS in 2001 I went to a camp in Virginia and Florida and West Virginia. It was a blast. White water rafting and the beach and the girls on the trip I didn’t mind either, but then we got to the actual camp and I sat through and listened every night to what these guys were telling me and I just couldn't buy it. It was all scare tactics.

“There was a moment out in the camp where we were to all go somewhere and sit by ourselves and “think” for 15 minutes. I sat there, and watched everyone else sitting there and thought something was off. We came back in and everyone was to pass a mic around and say they have “given their life to christ” or just pass the mic. Well, out of 500 kids, I was the only one to just pass the mic. I remember afterwards my camp leader, who was also my basketball coach, asked if I had a bible. I remember laughing a little bit.

“Since then I got really into learning more about religion, and that just turned into realizing how much sense it actually doesn‘t make. So I have been an atheist (not as outspoken as I used to be about it) for about 5 or 6 years. I have lost friends over it, had gf break up with me over it, had people tell me they feel sorry for me. Nothing actually irritates me more than the ‘religious right.’”

thought of the day.228

“A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men. It needs a fearless outlook and a free intelligence.”

~ Bertrand Russell

thought of the day.227

To presume the existence of a “Perfect God” is the pinnacle of presumptuousness; to think this God made us in his image, made the universe for us, died for us, not only loves us but desperately desires a relationship with us, talks to us, listens to us, is saddened by us, made glad by us, and suspends the laws of nature for us while intervening in the world at our request, is the very height of egotism; and to suggest all those not accepting these fanciful notions will be eternally tortured in hell is the very depth of depravity.

thought of the day.226

On Intercessory Prayer

Walking through the woods, a father comes upon his child caught in a thorny thicket. The child is frightened, covered in blood and wincing in obvious pain but cheered by the sight of her father. The father, a gardener, has his trusty shears with him but aside from offering a few comforting words, he inexpicably does nothing more than watch her futile struggling and listen to her increasingly anguished cries for help.

Family and friends begin to worry about the missing child. They organize a search party and eventually the child is found by a young girl. Unable to free her trapped friend herself, she pleads with the father to assist her. But the father does nothing. Exasperated, the girl runs to town to get help. Many people come but no one has the proper tools. They beg the father to use his shears to free his daughter, but the father just watches the growing spectacle. Some friends keep vigil through the night and all the while beg the father to help. Others rally people from neighboring towns to talk to the father.

Finally, having listened to much heartfelt pleading, the father cuts his way through the thorns and upon reaching the now completely exhausted, whimpering child, he plunges his shears into her heart killing her. Everyone is grief stricken! But as they gather themselves they acknowledge that the father has his own plans for his daughter and they have no right to question him. The father picks up the lifeless body and carries it away to bury in the yard. Everyone rejoices! The child has gone home to be with her father, and the father, they say, is a good father.

thought of the day.225

Test of Faith.Exodus

God is a
A. man of peace
B. man of war

God says daughters
A. are to be loved and respected
B. may be sold as slaves

Moses commanded his followers to
A. teach the world of God’s grace and mercy
B. kill family, friends, and neighbors

Ex 15:3, 21:7, 32:27-29

thought of the day.224

The Jescebo Effect

Christians often claim that Jesus is responsible for helping save a crumbling marriage, get control of a drug or alcohol addiction, or maybe reach some goal. But what’s happening in these cases isn’t supernatural but natural. It’s not “Jesus” but the “belief” in Jesus that has power. I would call this the “Jescebo Effect ” which describes the positive feelings and results derived from the belief in Jesus or other supernatural being or religious idol.

The bible actually acknowledges this truth in Isaiah 57:10 as the LORD says, “You think your obscene idols give you strength, and so you never grow weak” demonstrating it’s not the object of belief but the belief itself that is empowering, just as it’s not the placebo pill itself but the belief in the pill’s curative powers that can trigger healing.

My friend “Janet” astutely notes, “Some people may argue that if this is the case, maybe it's a good thing. If "Jesus" can help people kick alcohol addiction, for example, isn't this constructive? I would disagree. Coming from a christian family, I have seen faith in god replace the real work of growing as a person. I had bulimia as a teenager; instead of taking me to counseling, they prayed for me. I did stop, and their "prayers were answered". However, I did not get to the root of the problem - why was I addicted in the first place. That took another 20 years, and in the meantime I succumbed to more addictions and many other problems that could have been avoided if superstitious belief in god & jesus had been replaced by scientific knowledge and common sense. I am not the only victim of this - this happens all the time.”

thought of the day.223

Jesus vs Schweitzer

Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Albert Schweitzer, gives us a framework for understanding evil that is so beautiful in its simplicity that even a small child can grasp it: “Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life, and that to destroy, to harm, or to hinder life is evil.”

In contrast, Jesus gives us the following thought on evil: “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.”
(Lk 11:24-26)

Whereas Schweitzer provides a clear, practical basis on which to live our daily lives, Jesus gives us confusing and superstitious ideas about evil spirits that are not only completely unhelpful but can be quite harmful as believers blame all manner of destructive behavior, sickness, or whatever, on supernatural “demons” rather than pinpointing natural causes.

thought of the day.222

Biblical Inequality

Of all the sexist biblical passages elevating men above women, one of the most absurd denigrates child birth as “impure” then adds insult to injury by proclaiming that giving birth to a female is twice as impure as giving birth to a male. The good book degrades women further with the mandate that the “unclean” mother can only be cleansed by bringing offerings (lunch) to the priest (male of course).

It boggles the mind that any self-respecting woman or half-enlightened man could claim such nonsense to be the wisdom of a perfect being rather than the misogynistic madness it is.

Lv 12:1-8

thought of the day.221

Though many claim the bible is the Word of God, there is in fact not a single sentence that rings of truth, goodness or insight into the workings of the universe that can only be explained as divine inspiration. Instead, we find nothing more than what one would expect from the minds of primitive men living several thousand years ago.

thought of the day.220

Rainbow Post-it Notes

Science tells us that rainbows are a natural phenomenon resulting from the refraction of sunlight through water droplets, whereas the bible tells us they are a supernatural sign reminding God of his promise not to drown every child in the world—again, showing the bible to be not only incompatible with science, but incompatible with commonsense and common decency.

Gn 9:8-17

thought of the day.219

Christian Hate Speech

Woven throughout the bible are strands of unabashed intolerance and hate. Yet we are so conditioned to accept it we rarely notice it as such. For example, a verse spouted from church pulpits and broadcast over television and radio everyday is this:

“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.”

And Christian listeners everywhere smile smugly and nod in agreement over this hateful notion that is both irresponsible and erroneous.

Imagine if we just changed a few words and broadcast this message: “Christians are fools, they are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” Or what if we said, “African Americans are fools, they are corrupt...” or maybe, “...there are no women that doeth good.” Oh, the outcry that would ensue! But unbelievers remain fair game for the “godly” to demonize with their hate-filled scriptures.

Ps 14:1

thought of the day.218

Test of Faith.Mark

Jesus reminded people about the command to
A. love and protect children
B. kill children who curse their parents

Jesus referred to a mother and her sick child as
A. his precious sheep
B. dogs

Fathers who leave their children for Jesus’ sake will be
A. cursed for abandoning their families
B. rewarded with 100 times more children

Mark 7:10, 24-28, 10:29-30

thought of the day.217

Excellent talk on virtue, wisdom, empathy...well worth 20 minutes.

thought of the day.216

Cowardly Christ

Any average parent would lay down their life for their child. Yet when it was time for Jesus to “save” humanity from the hell of his own making via the plan of his own concocting, he prayed “fervently” to be excused, saying, “if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done.” What a cowardly character! Jesus only “saves” us because his Father wills it. If it were left to him, we’d all go to hell.

Jesus had no problem asking his followers to suffer and die for him. He had no trouble designing fiendish ways to cause ETERNAL suffering for humankind. But he did not want to be bothered with a little temporary suffering himself. Is there a greater hypocrite in all of literature? He did not go to the cross willingly and triumphantly but merely obediently... like an abused child obeying his abusive father.

Luke 22:41-44 Matthew 10:16-23, 24:9 Mark 9:48

thought of the day.215

Happy President’s Day!

In honor of our recently retired Commander in Chief, here are a few gems of wisdom from George W. himself:

1. “The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.”

2. “If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.”

3. “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”

4. “No senior citizen should ever have to choose between prescription drugs and medicine.”

5. “I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change.”

6. “One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.”

7. “I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job.”

8. “I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.”

9. “Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?"

10. “I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."
—Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

thought of the day.214

Down is Up & Wrong is Right

Jesus is a master of double talk of the most harmful kind. He discounts people’s real emotions and replaces them with fantasy. The hungry and the weeping are not miserable he says, but “happy!” The rejected, demonized, insulted and hated are not distraught but “happy!” Such ill treatment is not cause for tears but “joy!”

And those who have enjoyed their life are to be pitied—how “terrible” for them! How “terrible” for those with food in their bellies says Jesus, for they will go hungry! And how “terrible” for those full of life and laughter, for Jesus promises their dancing will be replaced with mourning! Praise God!

These words were put in the mouth of the Jesus character for one purpose—to keep the downtrodden down. To keep the poor and oppressed from rising up and changing their circumstances. As Napoleon Bonaparte said, “Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet."

Luke 6:20-26

thought of the day.213

Happy Lupercalia Day!

Like Christmas, Easter, and Halloween, the origins of Valentine’s Day can be traced back to our pagan past. From February 13-15, the ancient Romans honored the gods Lupercus and Faunus, as well as the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, in a celebration called Lupercalia. In addition to great feasts, the festivities included the coupling of young women with men who would draw women’s names from a box, pairing them up until the next year’s celebration.

One legend has it that a priest named Valentine disobeyed Emperor Claudius II’s decree that soldiers remain bachelors (Claudius thought the soldiers would be more focused on killing if not distracted by wives) by secretly performing marriage ceremonies. Valentine was imprisoned where he fell in love with his jailor’s daughter. Before being executed (beheaded) on February 14, 269, he wrote a letter to his new love which he signed ‘From your Valentine’. He was later named a saint.

Seizing the opportunity to establish yet another Christian holiday while destroying a pagan one, Pope Gelasius declared Lupercalia immoral and renamed the holiday St. Valentine’s Day. And the tradition of picking a sex partner out of a box was replaced with picking the name of a saint. Oh, fun.

Did you know? There are over 10,000 saints and Valentine is the patron saint of not only love, but bee keepers, epilepsy, fainting, and plague. Ah plague, now that’s romantic!

thought of the day.212

Is God Love?

Christians— at least the kinder, gentler ones—will often say “God is love.” Like a good corporate slogan, this phrase is short and sweet and warms the heart. But as nice as it sounds, it’s untrue.

Here are a few fundamental differences between the bibleGod’s “love” and Real Love:

God places conditions on his favor, demanding submission and obedience; Real Love is unconditional, desiring equality and mutual respect.

God is fearsome, threatening physical abuse in this life and beyond the grave; Real Love is the antithesis of fear, wishing only the very best for another.

God merely promises heaven; Real Love IS heaven, here and now.


Lv 26:14-39, Mk 16:16, 9:47-48

thought of the day.211

Happy Birthday to Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln! Both born on this date in 1809

“I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother, and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.”

~ Charles Darwin


“Mr. Lincoln was never a member of any Church, nor did he believe in the divinity of Christ, or the inspiration of the Scriptures in the sense understood by evangelical Christians.

When a boy, he showed no sign of that piety which his many biographers ascribe to his manhood. When he went to church at all, he went to mock, and came away to mimic.

When he came to New Salem, he consorted with Freethinkers, joined with them in deriding the gospel story of Jesus, read Volney and Paine, and then wrote a deliberate and labored essay, wherein he reached conclusions similar to theirs.”

~ Colonel Ward H. Lamon (a religionist and Lincoln’s longtime friend)

thought of the day.210

The LORD of Hypocrisy

Common sense says murdering and stealing from our neighbors is seriously detrimental to the stability of society. But as Christians are apt to say, “the LORD’s ways are not our ways” and this is evident in the following instructions:

“As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.”

Following these instructions, the Israelites, with the help of the LORD who fought beside them, crushed the Hagrites and they took 2,000 donkeys, 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep and 100,000 people for themselves. When the LORD had his people slaughter the Midianites they made off with 61,000 donkeys, 72,000 cattle, 675,000 sheep and goats, and 32,000 virgins (one is left to imagine how the faithful determined virginity). And then there was the 200,000 women and children taken from the people of Judea along with large amounts of loot. These are but three of dozens of such holy crime sprees boasted of in the good book.

If we tally the carnage from just these, we have a staggering sum of over a million animals pillaged, over a quarter of a million people enslaved and countless more butchered. Only the LORD knows how many young girls had their innocence stolen by “godly” men with blood-stained hands. And all this thievery and murder was commanded and aided by the LORD of Hypocrisy who so famously said, “Do not steal” and “Do not commit murder.”

Dt 20:10-14, 1 Ch 5:21, Nu 31:32-35, 2 Ch 28:8

thought of the day.209

“I quit [going to church] because I came to believe that what is preached in the churches is mainly untrue and unimportant, tiresome, hostile to genuine progress, and in general not worth while. As for the necessity of paying homage to the deity, I began to feel that I did not know enough about God to pay him set compliments on set days. As for the God who is preached in the churches, I ceased to worship him because I could no longer believe in him or respect what is alleged of him. I cannot respect a deity who would want or even endure the hideous monotony and mechanism of most of the worship paid him by hired men, hired prayer-makers and their supporters.”

“As for those who protest that I am robbing people of the great comfort and consolation they gain from Christianity, I can only say that Christianity includes hell, eternal torture for the vast majority of humanity, for most of your relatives and friends. Christianity includes a devil who is really more powerful than God, and who keeps gathering into his furnaces most of the creatures whom God turns out and for whom he sent his son to the cross in vain. If I could feel that I had robbed anybody of his faith in hell, I should not be ashamed or regretful.”

~ Rupert Hughes, “Why I Quit Going to Church,” 1924

thought of the day.208

Christianity & Cannibalism

The Eucharist, or Holy Communion, is deeply rooted in cannibalism. Not only did our ancestors consume the bodies of vanquished enemies and the deceased members of their own community in the hope of gaining their power, in a practice called theophagy, they consumed the body and blood of their god (sometimes in the form of a human proxy).

The notion of a sacred meal shared by a god and his followers (such as found with the Christian Last Supper) was a concept prevalent throughout the ancient world. The Catholic Encyclopedia says this about the Mystery religions: “There was usually the meal of mystic foods— grains of all sorts at Eleusis, bread and water in the cult of Mithra, wine (Dionysus), milk and honey (Attis), raw bull’s flesh in the Orphic Dionysus-Zagreus cult.” Christian father Firmicus Maternus wrote that the followers of Liber (aka Dionysus, or Bacchus) believe “he was intercepted and killed,” and his murderers, “chopped his members up into pieces and...devoured them.” An event which his worshipers celebrate in “recurring sacred rites celebrated every two years,” in which, “They tear a live bull with their teeth, representing the cruel banquet [ at which the God was eaten.]”

The gospel writers simply borrowed these ideas and had Jesus say, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” ( Jn 6:53-56)

It came to dawn on the Catholic Church that this passage posed a difficult problem. Here we have Jesus himself proclaiming eternal life came only by consuming his flesh and blood—not bread and wine. So how to resolve this dilemma? Magic of course!

On October 11, 1551, the Council of Trent, decreed “By the consecration of the bread and of the wine a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the Body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His Blood; which conversion is by the holy Catholic Church suitably and properly called transubstantiation.”

Shazam! Transubstantiation! Problem solved. What looked, smelled and tasted like ordinary bread and wine was now the real flesh and blood of God himself. And not just a portion of flesh— not just a thigh or finger but everything—liver, spleen, heart, bowels, testes, eyes, hair. It was nothing short of Holy Jesus Sausage. And Catholics seemingly swallowed this idea as easily as they did the immaculate conception (another borrowed idea). However, Frederick the Great was one who found the idea a “repulsive and blasphemous absurdity” and in a letter to Voltaire said, “This is the most disgusting dogma of Christian religion, the greatest insult to the Highest Being, the climax of madness and insanity.”

For hundreds of millions of people to think a cracker is the flesh of an invisible mangod and to happily wash this down with what is believed to be blood can only be understood as mass insanity—at least temporary insanity. And though Protestants may see the holy sacrament as merely symbolic, it nonetheless symbolizes a repulsive cannibalistic act.

thought of the day.207

Test of Faith. Joshua

Upon entering the city of Jericho, God’s people
A. shared a message of hope and forgiveness
B. killed everyone, men and women, young and old

God made the sun stand still while his people
A. distributed food and clothing
B. committed genocide

Needing a place to live, God’s people
A. searched for uninhabited land flowing with milk and honey
B. attacked a city, killed its people, and claimed it for themselves

Joshua 6:20-21, 10:12-14, 19:47

thought of the day.206

Think your own thoughts, make your own way!

Thought of the day.205

The Image of God

The bible says man was made in the image of God. Or does it?

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness...”

That’s an “us” and two “ours” clearly written by men still holding to polytheistic notions. But what’s troubling isn’t the number but the nature of this God(s). This is a character who’s very name is “Jealous.” What an unflattering image! So jealous is this character it demands the killing of family and friend for praying to a different god. And this character isn’t a Peacemaker but a “man of war.” Is there a more ugly image than war? Well yes, torture is an even uglier image than war, and Jesus himself gives us this despicable image:

“... In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you...”

Maniacally Jealous, a Man of War, a Cruel Jailer. Is it wise to teach children they are made in the image of such a fiend?

Gn 1:26, Ex 15:3, 34:14, Mt 18:33-35

thought of the day.204

Christianity and Human Sacrifice

There are few things more objectionable to modern sensibilities than human sacrifice. Yet the ritualistic slaying of humans in honor of a deity was not just an ancient “pagan” practice but that of the Israelites as well. Like many of the more unsavory parts of the bible, the story of Jepthah’s daughter is not often preached to congregations on sunny Sunday mornings so I have included it here for those unfamiliar with it:

“Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah....And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD : "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering." ...and the LORD gave [the Ammonites] into his hands. ... When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break." "My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry." "You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.” (Judges 11:29-39)

Carol A. Valentine comments on the brutality of the story: “In payment for victory, Jephthah promises LORD God he will sacrifice the first ‘whatsoever’ that comes from his house to greet him upon his return. Unless Jephthah keeps oxen, sheep, goats, or chickens in his living room, he must expect the promised victim will be a human being. …We suspect Jephthah plans to sacrifice one of his servants. But when the ‘whatsoever’ turned out to be Jephthah’s daughter, Jephthah is surprised. Notice his daughter’s reaction: She expresses no surprise that LORD God would accept a human sacrifice, nor does she protest; …The Old Testament does not specify how Jephthah sacrifices his daughter, but following the correct methods for animal sacrifice, he would slit her throat first and drain her blood into a Temple service vessel; cut off her arms, legs, and head; cut the torso in sections, remove her entrails and wash them; pour, sprinkle, and smear her blood at prescribed points around the altar; and burn the flesh. Or of course, a priest might do this for him.”

There are numerous other texts supporting the fact the Christian God enjoyed a good human sacrifice. He tests Abraham who, like Jepthah’s daughter, is unsurprised by the request that he sacrifice a human. In a bizarre passage, God admits to making bad commands that “do not bring life” and shows his people he is LORD by letting them sacrifice their children (Ez 20:26). Yeah, that will show them! And there is what could be called the Human Sacrifice Law that actually commands that any human unconditionally dedicated to him must be put to death (Lv 27:28-29).

The sacrifice of Jesus is but the evolution of the ridiculous superstition that a “scape goat” could take away the sins of the people (Lv 16:20-22). And though few Christians see it as such, the crucifix is a symbol of the ugly ritual of human sacrifice that reaches back into our darkest days.

thought of the day.203

Lord of Violence

The bible is not a book overflowing with love and kindness but a book dripping with blood. In fact, there are accounts of well over a million people being slain in the Old Testament alone. Blood is spilled by knife, sword, spear and stone. It’s spilled by beheading, eye gouging, gang rape, dismemberment, mutilation, cannibalism, animal sacrifice, human sacrifice, mass execution, and holy war after bloody holy war. To list every perpetrator and victim of murder and mayhem from A-Z would be overkill so I will spare you the gore beyond A:

Abel was murdered by Cain.

Abihu and his brother were burned up by the LORD.

Abijah and his army slaughtered five hundred thousand people.

Abimelech slew his 70 brothers on top of a stone and burned 1,000 men and women alive.

Abinadab was killed along with his brothers and father and their bodies were nailed to a wall.

Abiram died “according to the message from the LORD.”

Abishai became famous for spearing three hundred men.

Abner was murdered by Joab.

Abram (Abraham) armed hundreds of his servants and attacked his enemy at night “and smote them.”

Absalom had three spears thrust through his heart.

Achan and his children were stoned and burned as the LORD brought trouble upon them.

Adalia, Aridai, Aridatha, Aspatha and the rest of Haman’s sons were among over 75,000 people killed during several days of slaughter by the Jews who “struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them,” and their bodies were hung from the gallows for public display.

Adonijah was murdered by Benaiah on the orders of Solomon.

Adoni-Bezek had his thumbs and big toes cut off after being captured during the slaughter of 10,000 men by the people of Judah when “the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands.”

Adonizedek and his fellow Amorite kings were killed and hung from trees after the LORD had their people slaughtered by the sword and beaten to death by holy hailstones. So hated were these people that the LORD is said to have “obeyed” Joshua and stopped the sun in the sky to shed more light on the carnage.

Adrammelech murdered his own father “with the sword” for worshipping the wrong god.

Agag was executed by Samuel, who cut him into pieces “before the LORD.”

Ahab was killed with an arrow and dogs licked his blood out of the floor of his chariot, “just as the LORD had promised.”

Ahaz was handed over to the king of Aram by the LORD who defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners.

Ahaziah was told by the LORD: “You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”

Ahijah had a message for Jeroboam that the LORD would bring disaster on his dynasty and “kill all your sons, slave or free alike.”

Ahimelech was among 85 priests murdered after Saul shouted, "You will surely die...along with your entire family!”

Ahithophel comitted suicide by hanging himself.

The entire population of Ai was chased down and butchered as the “LORD” gave the city to Joshua. Over 12,000 men and women perished and the king of Ai was hung from a tree as his city was burned to the ground.

The Amalekites were slaughtered when the LORD gave instructions to attack them and “totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”

Amasa was murdered when a dagger was “plunged it into his belly, and his intestines spilled out on the ground.”

Amaziah killed ten thousand Edomite troops and threw another 10,000 captured men off a cliff, “dashing them to pieces on the rocks below.”

Ammiel’s life was snuffed out by the LORD with a plague.

Amnon raped his virgin sister, Tamar, then was killed by Absalom’s men.

Amon was murdered by his own servants.

The Anakim were a race of giants apparently too tall to live and were slaughtered in the name of the LORD.

Arad, Achshaph, Adullam and Aphek all had their kingdoms crushed and their people slaughtered by invading Israelites.

Armoni was executed when David handed him over to the people of Gibeon and they hanged him “in the mountain before the LORD.”

Asa and his army crushed the Cushite’s before the LORD, destroying all the villages around Gerar and plundering all the villages.

Asahel was killed when the butt of a spear was thrust into his stomach and came out through his back.

And finally, Athaliah was brutally murdered when Jehoiada the priest gave the orders to ‘Take her out of the Temple, and kill anyone who tries to rescue her.”

Biblical stories of heavenly angels, divinely appointed kings, God’s chosen ones and God himself all solving conflict through deadly force has profoundly poisoned our thinking by legitimizing our acceptance of violence. This will remain so until the Bible is seen for what it is—not the Word of God but merely the words of violent men claiming to speak for said God.

thought of the day.202

Better to ask good questions than have the right answers.

thought of the day.201

Forget everything I have ever said about there not being a God.

There is in fact a God. Miracles do indeed happen.

And God’s name is Big Ben and his miracle worker is Santonio Holmes.

Steelers win! Steelers win! Steelers win!

:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

thought of the day.200

Super Bowl Sunday!

Big Ben, Willie, Heath, Hines, and Santonio will be ringing up the points and that number one ranked D led by my boy Troy Polamalu, the most beastly safety ever to play the game (despite his neurotically incessant Catholic crossing of himself) will be punishing the Cardinals all over the field. The Steelers are clearly the superior and more deserving team, so if they somehow lose it will be irrefutable proof that there is no God. So I win either way.

Prediction: Steelers 31, Cardinals 20.
More importantly, Steelers 6 Super Bowl Trophies, Dallas 5.

thought of the day.199

Test of Faith.Psalms

Serve God with fear or
A. your nights will be long
B. you’ll suddenly die

The righteous are joyful to
A. do what is right
B. wade through the blood of the wicked

Happy are those that take babies and
A. teach them the ways of the LORD
B. smash their heads against rocks

Psalm 2:11, 58:10, 137:9


“In some of the Psalms the spirit of hatred which strikes us in the face is like the heat from a furnace mouth. In others the same spirit ceases to be frightful only by becoming (to a modern mind) almost comic in its naivety.

“Examples of the first can be found all over the Psalter, but perhaps the worst is in 109. The poet prays that an ungodly man may rule over his enemy and that “Satan” may stand at his right hand (5). This probably does not mean what a Christian reader naturally supposes. The “Satan” is an accuser, perhaps an informer. When the enemy is tried, let him be convicted and sentenced, “and let his prayer be turned into sin” (6). This again means, I think, not his prayers to God, but his supplications to a human judge, which are to make things all the hotter for him (double the sentence because he begged for it to be halved). May his days be few, may his job be given to someone else (7). When he is dead may his orphans be beggars (9). May he look in vain for anyone in the world to pity him (11). Let God always remember against him the sins of his parents (13). Even more devilish in one verse is the, otherwise beautiful, 137 where a blessing is pronounced on anyone who will snatch up a babylonian baby and beat its brains out against the pavement (9). And we get the refinement of malice in 69, 23, “Let their table be made a snare to take themselves withal; and let the things that should have been for their wealth be unto them an occassion of falling.

“The examples which (in me at any rate) can hardly fail to produce a smile may occur most disquietingly in Psalms we love; 143, after proceeding for eleven verses in a strain that brings tears to the eyes, adds in the twelfth, almost like an after-thought “and of thy goodness slay mine enemies”. Even more naively, almost childishly, 139, in the middle of its hymn of praise throws in (19) (Wilt thou slay the wicked, O God?”—as if it were surprising that such a simple remedy for human ills had not occurred to the Almighty. Worst of all in “The Lord is my shepherd” (23), after the green pasture, the waters of comfort, the sure confidence in the valley of the shadow, we suddenly run across (5) “Thou shalt prepare a table for me against them that trouble me”—or, as Dr. Moffatt translates it, Thou art my host, spreading a feast for me while my enemies look on.” … This may not be as diabolical as the passages I have quoted above; but the pettiness and vulgarity of it, especially in such surroundings, are hard to endure.”

~ C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, pg 20-21

thought of the day.198

God & Gays

“There is...a widely accepted mentality that if the Bible is opposed, the idea must be wrong. That is little more than nonsensical fundamentalism. The rise of democracy was contrary to the "clear teaching of the Bible," as the debate over the forced signing of the Magna Carta by King John of England in 1215 revealed. The Bible was quoted to prove that Galileo was wrong; that Darwin was wrong; that Freud was wrong; that allowing women to be educated, to vote, to enter the professions and to be ordained was wrong. So the fact that the Bible is quoted to prove that homosexuality is evil and to be condemned is hardly a strong argument, given the history of how many times the Bible has been wrong. I believe that most bishops know this but the Episcopal Church has some fundamentalist bishops and a few who are "fellow travelers" with fundamentalists.

“The Bible was written between the years 1000 B.C.E. and 135 C.E. Our knowledge of almost everything has increased exponentially since that time. It is the height of ignorance to continue using the Bible as an encyclopedia of knowledge to keep dying prejudices intact. The media seems to cooperate in perpetuating that long ago abandoned biblical attitude.

“That is not surprising since the religious people keep quoting it to justify their continued state of unenlightenment. That attitude is hardly worthy of the time it takes to engage it. I do not debate with members of the flat earth society either. Prejudices all die. The first sign that death is imminent comes when the prejudice is debated publicly. The tragedy is that church leaders back the wrong side of the conflict, which is happening today from the Pope to the Archbishop of Canterbury to the current crop of Evangelical leaders. That too will pass and the debate on homosexuality will be just one more embarrassment in Christian history.”

~ John Shelby Spong

thought of the day.197

Creatures Great and Small

Ghandi said “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Immanuel Kant voiced the similar sentiment that “we can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.” So what can be said about the morality of ancient Israel and the heart of its God?

This God seemed quite devoid of empathy for the suffering of animals. He sent swirling holy water to swallow the flailing and terrified. He followed this slaughter of all slaughters with massive fish and frog kills and visited suffering and deadly diseases upon horses, camels, sheep and the like. He has animals cower and die under holy hail and heaven sent fire and brimstone.

He also commands man to kill in his name—to stone animals, break the necks of calves and donkeys and to twist the heads off of doves. He likes his bull’s throats slit, their blood drained and thrown against his red stained altar, their skin peeled off, their body cut into pieces, their organs washed, their heads burned. And since this God’s taste for barbeque was not easily satisfied, he ordered such brutality to continue forever.

Kant made the connection that those who are cruel to animals are likewise hard in their dealings with men. In his book, In Defense of Animals, Peter Singer writes, “In an earlier stage of our development most human groups held to a tribal ethic. Members of the tribe were protected, but people of other tribes could be robbed or killed as one pleased. Gradually the circle of protection expanded, but as recently as 150 years ago we did not include blacks. So African human beings could be captured, shipped to America and sold. In Australia white settlers regarded Aborigines as a pest and hunted them down, much as kangaroos are hunted down today. Just as we have progressed beyond the blatantly racist ethic of the era of slavery and colonialism, so we must now progress beyond the speciesist ethic of the era of factory farming, of the use of animals as mere research tools, of whaling, seal hunting, kangaroo slaughter and the destruction of wilderness. We must take the final step in expanding the circle of ethics.”

thought of the day.196

A little levity :) This is so me.

thought of the day.195

The God of Christianity is a God of Contradiction.

This God makes killing sinners The Law (Lv 20:10). Then contradicts himself by chastising the Law-abiding and pardoning the Lawless (Jn 8:1-1). To add to the confusion, despite breaking his own Law, he says The Law is to remain in effect unto the end of time (Mt 5:17-20). Huh?

thought of the day.194

Speaking for God

The LORD’s first priests enjoyed a priveledged lifestyle as his ordained messengers. They dressed in magnificent priestly garments that included embroidered robes, shirts, turbans and sashes of colored wool and fine linen. They ornamented themselves with gold, diamonds and other precious stones and perfumed themselves with their own private cologne made from the finest spices. Everything in Israel that was unconditionally dedicated to the LORD belonged to the priests. They took the choicest cuts of meat from the offerings and the greater portions of flour and oil, baked breads and wine. They issued fines and collected tithes, taxes, fees and “protection” money from their people to ensure the LORD watched over them. When a field was released in the Jubilee, it became the property of the priests. They accumulated booty including young virgins from vanquished enemies. It was very good to be a priest.

The priests wrote in their holy books that the LORD was Jealous. But it wasn’t the LORD who was jealous of other gods but the priests, who’s lifestyles were threatened by the competition. And it wasn’t the LORD that was all powerful but his spokesmen. Thomas Paine said organized religion was “set up to terrify and enslave” and to “monopolize power and profit” and this is exactly what we see in the bible. Less interested in advancing the human condition than maintaining their power, they ruled with an iron fist. In fact, violence was the priest’s solution to most every problem. Those failing to obey their decisions, walking too close to Yahweh’s Tent, performing priestly functions or touching sacred objects were all killed. Prophets speaking false messages (anything that undermined the priests’ authority) were seized and their own parents were commanded to stab them to death. Priests wrote laws permitting a man to sell his daughter into slavery, stone his son and chop off his wife’s hand. They burned their own daughters for promiscuity and brides unable to prove their virginity were ordered to be stoned to death by all the men of the city. The entire community was commanded to partake in the killing of any man’s brother, child, wife or friend who suggested worshipping other gods. Anyone thinking or acting outside the priest’s narrow boundaries was cast out or killed. The priests made intolerance a holy duty and sanctified violence in the home, community and on the battlefield as well.

Thankfully, the power of religious leaders has been restrained by secular laws. And though most surely mean well, those that speak authoritatively about unknowable things—about the Islamic Paradise and awaiting virgins, the Christian Hell and flesh eating worms or the Scientologist’s Xenu and his alien interventions—mislead people and for that reason are a menace to clear and rational thought.


Lv 21:9, 7:31-34, 27:21, Nu 31:32-46, 3:10, Zec 13:2-3, Ex 30:12,15-16, 21:7, Dt 25:11-12, 22:20-21, 13:6-10 21:18-21, 17:12,

thought of the day.193

Being spiritual needn’t have anything to do with belief in invisible beings. The word spirit comes from the Latin "spiritus" which means "to breath," to be alive. We are spiritual to the extent we are full of life—full of joy and wonder, full of spirit.

thought of the day.192

Anti-Intellectualism

Jesus praised God for hiding his message “from the wise and intelligent” and revealing it to the uneducated or those with minds he likened to an infant’s or small child’s. And he said it is not those possessing the mind of an adult but only those with child-like ones that will enter heaven.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the most influential Christian of his time, thought the pursuit of knowledge was “vile” unless “sanctified by a holy mission” and St. Augustine described “curiosity” as a “disease.” He said, “it is this which drives us to discover the secrets of nature, these secrets which are beyond our understanding, which can avail us nothing and which man should not wish to learn.” Imagine if Plato, Galileo, Pasteur, Darwin, Edison, Einstein and all the countless men and women who have conquered diseases and improved our lives with their thoughts, discoveries, and inventions would have embraced such an anti-intellectual position! Arthur Schopenhauer said it well, “All religions promise a reward for excellences of the will or heart, but none for excellences of the head or understanding.” And H.L. Mencken said, “Not by accident does Genesis III make the father of knowledge a serpent—slimy, sneaking and abominable. Since the earliest days the church as an organization has thrown itself violently against every effort to liberate the body and mind of man. It has been, at all times and everywhere, the habitual and incorrigible defender of bad governments, bad laws, bad social theories, bad institutions. It was, for centuries, an apologist for slavery, as it was an apologist for the divine right of kings.”

Lk 10:21, Mt 18:3

thought of the day.191

Test of Faith. Isaiah

Horrible, painful diseases are something
A. Satan sent to cause great suffering
B. God sent to cause great suffering

God sent armies of men to
A. feed the hungry and rebuild Jerusalem after the Great Earthquake
B. stab people, bash babies and rape wives in front of their husbands

God says the world will know he is LORD by making people
A. love each other
B. kill each other

Isaiah 10:16, 13:14-18, 50:26

thought of the day.190

Just love this video. Though technically, we’re apes not monkeys...

thought of the day.189

“Biblical Morality”

The phrase “biblical morality” is an oxymoron—absurd as the phrase “immoral morality.” That is unless one thinks it moral to beat a child with a rod, offer a child as a sacrifice or drown every child in the world; moral to stone sons to a lifeless bloody pulp, roast daughters over a raging fire or sell them as sex slaves to the horny old man down the road; moral to kill homosexuals, kill “witches” and kill one’s own family and friends who pray to the wrong god; moral to take young girls as “wives” after butchering their families and torching their homes; moral to plunder towns of all their valuables, burn books, cripple horses, commit genocide, chop off the hands and feet and heads of foes and cut fetuses out of their mother’s bellies; and moral to keep people alive beyond the grave with the sole intent of inflicting unimaginable suffering upon them forever and ever and ever...

thought of the day.188

Inauguration Day

When Barack Obama is sworn into office today it will be a truly historic moment worthy of unbridled celebration. The unfortunate part of the ceremony will be the mixing of church and state through the use of a bible and prayers uttered by religious leaders. These symbols unnecessarily alienate and divide us, leaving many tens of millions of citizens with different religious beliefs or none at all, feeling like we don’t quite belong. Someday a President will have the courage and common sense to break with these unjust traditions and begin new traditions that exclude no one on the basis of their belief or non-belief in invisible beings in the sky.

thought of the day.186

Happy MLK Day!

“There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

thought of the day.185

“It took me years, but letting go of religion has been the most profound wake up of my life. I feel I now look at the world not as a child, but as an adult. I see what's bad and it’s really bad. But I also see what is beautiful, what is wonderful. And I feel so deeply appreciative that I am alive. How dare the religious use the term ‘born again.’ That truly describes freethinkers who’ve thrown off the shackles of religion so much better!”

~ Julia Sweeney

www.juliasweeney.com/letting_go_mini/

thought of the day.184

The Stoning of Soraya M.

There are times I get so beaten down by reading the bible I could almost cry. Sometimes its wickedness literally makes me sick to my stomach. Try reading the following verse and imagining the “damsel” to be your mother, daughter, sister or friend, or perhaps yourself.

“But if... the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die...” Dt 22:20-21

My guess is your natural sense of decency won’t allow yourself to fully picture the horror of such a scene. The bloodthirstiness of the men, the self righteousness of the community, the fear and suffering of the young woman. Let me help you. Fereydoune Sahebjam, who recently died at the age of 75, was a respected journalist and war correspondent. He had been condemned to death by the Khomeini regime for his writings, which included the book, “The Stoning of Soraya M.”, a true story of a modern Iranian woman wrongly accused of a crime and stoned to death. It offers a glimpse into the barbaric life of the ancient Israelites by bringing to life all too vividly the “holy” scripture above. And shows how the belief in the Abrahamic God continues to cause incredible suffering throughout the world today.

“The mayor took a stone and handed it to Soraya’s father: “It is to you,” he said, “that befalls the honor of throwing the first stone....” The old man set his cane down on the ground and took the large stone in his hand. He gave thanks to God, drew his arm back and, as he threw the stone with all his might in the direction of his daughter, he shouted: “Allah be praised!.... There, whore, take that!” ....Then it was Ghorban-Ali's turn. He had rolled up his sleeves and had four rocks neatly piled next to his feet. He waited for the mayor's signal. “Your turn, my boy,” the mayor said to him affectionately, “and may God guide your arm.” ....The crowd was screaming hysterically now, and there were ripples of applause from the men. The shadow of a smile flitted across Ghorban-Ali's face; he picked up another stone, aimed more carefully, and threw it as hard as he could. This time the stone struck the woman on the forehead, just at the hairline. The skin burst open, blood began to trickle down her face, as Soraya's head jerked viole