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toward a clearer understanding of reality
the rev’s faves
The Age of Reason
Thomas Paine
Some Mistakes of Moses
Robert Ingersoll
The God Delusion
Richard Dawkins
The Demon Haunted World
Carl Sagan
Awareness
Thomas Paine
Some Mistakes of Moses
Robert Ingersoll
The God Delusion
Richard Dawkins
The Demon Haunted World
Carl Sagan
Awareness
Anthony deMello
Breaking the Spell
Daniel C. Dennett
Freethought Across the Centuries
Gerald A. Larue
The Sins of Scripture
John Spong
Jesus for the Non Religious
Daniel C. Dennett
Freethought Across the Centuries
Gerald A. Larue
The Sins of Scripture
John Spong
Jesus for the Non Religious
John Spong
Doubt
Jennifer Michael Hecht
The Atheist’s Way: Living Well Without Gods
Jennifer Michael Hecht
The Atheist’s Way: Living Well Without Gods
Eric Maisel
Atheist Universe
David Mills
Atheism: The Case Against God
George H. Smith
Natural Atheism
David Eller
David Mills
Atheism: The Case Against God
George H. Smith
Natural Atheism
David Eller
Atheist Manifesto
Michel Onfray
A History of God
Karen Armstrong
A History of God
Karen Armstrong
The Spiral Staircase
Karen Armstrong
The End of Faith
Sam Harris
Letter to a Christian Nation
Sam Harris
Ishmael
Daniel Quinn
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Bill Bryson
The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power
Joel Kramer & Diana Alstad
God is Not Great
Christopher Hitchens
50 Reasons People Give for Believing in God
The End of Faith
Sam Harris
Letter to a Christian Nation
Sam Harris
Ishmael
Daniel Quinn
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Bill Bryson
The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power
Joel Kramer & Diana Alstad
God is Not Great
Christopher Hitchens
50 Reasons People Give for Believing in God
Guy P. Harrison
Being Peace
Thich Nhat Hanh
The Miracle of Mindfulness
Thich Nhat Hanh
The Reason Driven Life
Robert Price
The Conquest of Happiness
Bertrand Russell
Ken’s Guide to the Bible
Ken Smith
Losing Faith in Faith
Dan Barker
Thich Nhat Hanh
The Miracle of Mindfulness
Thich Nhat Hanh
The Reason Driven Life
Robert Price
The Conquest of Happiness
Bertrand Russell
Ken’s Guide to the Bible
Ken Smith
Losing Faith in Faith
Dan Barker
Godless
Dan Barker
Pagan Christs
J.M. Robertson
Treatise on the Gods
H.L. Mencken
The Christ Conspiracy
Acharya S.
The Jesus Mysteries Was the original Jesus a Pagan God?
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
The Road Less Traveled
Scott Peck
Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant
Edited by Preston Jones
Godless (age 12 and up)
Pete Hautman
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert M. Pirsig
How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science
Michael Shermer
Religion Explained
Pascal Boyer
The Hero’s Journey
Joseph Campbell
The True Believer
Eric Hoffer
Holy Horrors
James Haught
Pagan Christs
J.M. Robertson
Treatise on the Gods
H.L. Mencken
The Christ Conspiracy
Acharya S.
The Jesus Mysteries Was the original Jesus a Pagan God?
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
The Road Less Traveled
Scott Peck
Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant
Edited by Preston Jones
Godless (age 12 and up)
Pete Hautman
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert M. Pirsig
How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science
Michael Shermer
Religion Explained
Pascal Boyer
The Hero’s Journey
Joseph Campbell
The True Believer
Eric Hoffer
Holy Horrors
James Haught
Crazy for God
Frank Schaeffer
Your Inner Fish
Neil Shubin
A Guide to the Good Life:
the ancient art of stoic joy
William B. Irvine
This is Water
David Foster Wallace
Nickel and Dimed
Barbara Ehrenreich
links to enlightenment
10 reasons christianity is toxic
10 reasons Christianity is toxic
1. Christianity is INHERENTLY DIVISIVE as believers are promised eternal bliss and nonbelievers eternal torture.
2. Christianity INDUCES UNWARRANTED GUILT AND FEAR by asserting that a Cosmic Judge watches one’s every move and knows one’s every thought.
3. Christianity OBSCURES TRUTH AND PROMOTES FALSEHOODS by diverting focus from the natural (real) to the supernatural (unreal).
4. Christianity DEBASES HUMANITY by condemning us as sinners worthy of eternal damnation.
5. Christianity BREEDS A FALSE SENSE OF IMPORTANCE by asserting that The King of the Universe knew each of us intimately before we were born, knows the numbers of hairs on our head, has a special plan for us, loves us, watches us, listens to our every word, desperately wants a personal relationship with us and even promises to give us anything we ask for (Mt 21.22).
6. Christianity’s assertion that the Devil is real ALLOWS FOR THE LITERAL DEMONIZING of others.
7. Christianity PROVIDES THE ULTIMATE JUSTIFICATION FOR EVILS of all kinds (such as the vilifying of homosexuals and the subjection of women).
8. Christianity’s THREAT OF HELL HARDENS HEARTS and causes others mental anguish.
9. Christianity PROVIDES COVER FOR ABUSES OF ALL KINDS as evidenced by thousands of sexual abuse cases in the last few years alone.
10. Christianity LEGITIMIZES FRAUD as evidenced by countless insincere televangelists and church leaders.
1. Christianity is INHERENTLY DIVISIVE as believers are promised eternal bliss and nonbelievers eternal torture.
2. Christianity INDUCES UNWARRANTED GUILT AND FEAR by asserting that a Cosmic Judge watches one’s every move and knows one’s every thought.
3. Christianity OBSCURES TRUTH AND PROMOTES FALSEHOODS by diverting focus from the natural (real) to the supernatural (unreal).
4. Christianity DEBASES HUMANITY by condemning us as sinners worthy of eternal damnation.
5. Christianity BREEDS A FALSE SENSE OF IMPORTANCE by asserting that The King of the Universe knew each of us intimately before we were born, knows the numbers of hairs on our head, has a special plan for us, loves us, watches us, listens to our every word, desperately wants a personal relationship with us and even promises to give us anything we ask for (Mt 21.22).
6. Christianity’s assertion that the Devil is real ALLOWS FOR THE LITERAL DEMONIZING of others.
7. Christianity PROVIDES THE ULTIMATE JUSTIFICATION FOR EVILS of all kinds (such as the vilifying of homosexuals and the subjection of women).
8. Christianity’s THREAT OF HELL HARDENS HEARTS and causes others mental anguish.
9. Christianity PROVIDES COVER FOR ABUSES OF ALL KINDS as evidenced by thousands of sexual abuse cases in the last few years alone.
10. Christianity LEGITIMIZES FRAUD as evidenced by countless insincere televangelists and church leaders.
About Me
- john evans
- See evidence that strongly suggests that the Jesus of the bible was a character fabricated from Old Testament stories! jesusisamyth.blogspot.com
Many men without morals have attacked religion because it was contrary to their inclinations. Many wise men have despised it because it seemed to them ridiculous. Many persons have regarded it with indifference, because they have never felt its true disadvantages. But it is as a citizen that I attack it, because it seems to me harmful to the happiness of the state, hostile to the march of the mind of man, and contrary to sound morality, from which the interests of state policy can never be separated.
~ Baron d'Holbach
~ Baron d'Holbach
18 comments:
Justice not vengeance. I think that is a good motto.
Compassion and righteousness can coexist.
Reason and faith can coexist.
Hi Kelsie, Hope school is going well. Glad you agree with the first one.
Righteousness condemns. Compassion seeks understanding.
Faith accepts propositions (ideas) without evidence. Reason applies logical principals to the available evidence.
John,
What is energy?
Tough to wrap our minds around what exactly energy is but I think this is a good definition:
“Energy is a property or characteristic (or trait or aspect?) of matter that makes things happen, or, in the case of stored or potential energy, has the "potential" to make things happen.”
~Dave Watson
"Righteousness condemns?" That would be a holier-than-thou attitude, which isn't really righteousness. Having the mindset of "I'm better than you because I know God and you don't" is not righteousness at all.
"The Hebrew word for righteousness is tseh'-dek, tzedek, Gesenius's Strong's Concordance:6664—righteous, integrity, equity, justice, straightness. The root of tseh'-dek is tsaw-dak', Gesenius's Strong:6663—upright, just, straight, innocent, true, sincere. It is best understood as the product of upright, moral action in accordance with some form of divine plan." (http://www.yesselman.com/glosindx.htm#Righteousness)
Faith does not necessarily accept ideas without evidence. I have faith that there is a God, but I have also reasoned and thought and debated and logically concluded that there is a God. Obviously, God is not (visibly) sitting in front of me, so it also takes faith, but I have both reason and faith in the same relationship.
You say “Faith does not necessarily accept ideas without evidence.”
But why would you need faith if you have evidence? Makes no sense. Faith is used in place of evidence.
I see the evidence around me that there is a God. I see a sunrise, I see human beings existing, I see the harmony of nature and how all animals and plants can live together, I see the fact that I even can see and my eyes work! I see the universe and I know the facts about the universe, things like the perfect, exact balance of gravity, the exact placement of our earth in the solar system and the Milky Way, etc. I see all of this and conclude that it could not have been random chance. I see all of this and conclude that there must be a God.
But it also takes faith. God did not write me an email telling me He existed. I have never spoken to God face-to-face. I have never (at least to what I know you would accept) seen or touched or heard or smelled or tasted God. I have not directly contacted him as I can contact other humans. Thus, it also takes faith.
Reason and faith. Both existing in one relationship.
And by the way, you atheists have faith, too.
But seeing “the evidence around me that there is a God. I see a sunrise, I see human beings existing, I see the harmony of nature and how all animals and plants can live together...” is not evidence of a creator. We know how life on earth developed. It evolved. It was not created. We know how the sun works, how it seems to “rise” and this is explained through science not by leaning on ancient ideas of big invisible beings in the heavens. There is harmony in nature (better described as balance) but there is also untold suffering as life feeds on other life, which if you want to believe an intelligence planned that, points to a very malevolent not benevolent being.
So when you argue that you are using reason you are actually using faulty logic. It is like me saying I see clouds so there must be a cloud making machine hidden on top of a mountain somewhere.
I see clouds, so I believe that water evaporated from some source and became those clouds. Do I see the individual water molecules rising from a nearby lake and forming a cloud? No, but I see evidence of it, because the nearby lake's water level has gone down a couple of inches and there is now a cloud in the sky.
I see the world around me. I see order, patterns, design, so I believe that there must be an Orderer, a Patterner, a Designer. Whenever there is design, order, or pattern in everyday life, there is obviously an orderer, a patterner, or a designer. Random chance does not form specific, beautiful, balanced patterns or well-working machines. Neither does random chance form the mechanics behind the way an eye works or the beautiful pattern on a butterfly. I do not see God himself designing, as I was not present for the creation of the universe. But I see evidence of it in everything I see, and thus I believe.
We have evolved as pattern seeking creatures. We see a stick on a path and think snake and we jump when there is no reason. But this impulse has helped us to survive because sometimes there is indeed a snake.
We see amazing things in nature and think they must be designed. But if you read just a little about evolution (Richard Dawkins has a new book on it coming out soon) you will understand that remarkable things like the eye were not designed at all but evolved. What appears to you as “top-down” design is really “bottom-up” evolution. I would suggest becoming an expert on evolution. You might want to read Thank God for Evolution, Finding Darwin’s God and Your Inner Fish (There are many, many good ones). They will help you think outside the confines of your narrow fundamentalist box.
I have read a few books on the subject but not those specific ones. I'm just not sure how something irreducibly complex can be a "bottom-up" evolution. (I wrote a paper on irreducible complexity last year in biology.)
And evolution has so many holes in it, I can't understand why you would accept that as a plausible explanation and yet not Christianity.
No organism is “irreducibly complex”. That is Intelligent Design pseudo-science refuted by the scientific community in peer reviewed papers.
I don’t reject Christianity because evolution is a fact (though it supports my position).
I reject Christianity based on the study of other religions that preceded it that all point to Christianity simply being another pagan religion that just happened to be the one made the official religion of the Roman Empire.
However, even if I thought it were true, I would reject the the God/Jesus of the bible for being such a horribly immoral character. How anyone can read the bible and not be horrified by the vindictive, violent, jealous, petty, angry, mysogynistic and a million other ways vile character astounds me. It is so obviously the product of the imagination of primitive men.
My point of this whole long discourse (and bunny trail) was that reason and faith are not exclusive.
John,
I think you misunderstand what faith is. You seem to think it means blind trust.
You think of faith very negatively. You look at faith as a bad thing. You as a naturalist have just as much faith in empiricism as the theist does in God.
You say “You as a naturalist have just as much faith in empiricism as the theist does in God.”
So faith in empirical evidence is the same as faith in God? hmmmmm, really?
I see a fan on my desk. I feel the air it is blowing on me. I hear the hum it makes. I cannot say with absolute 100% certainty that there is a fan on my desk but I can say with 99.999...% certainty that there is. And you suggest this is the same faith that you have in an invisible being that is undetectable by all senses? And is your undetectable God somehow more real than the Muslim’s undetectable Allah? How about the Mormon’s undetectable Angel Moroni? And the thousands upon thousands of other undetectable gods and goblins of history?
The example you give is silly. I never said there was not value in empirical investigation. Empiricism is limited. It CAN'T provide all the answers.
Can you give me an empirical answer to this question?
Why is there something instead of nothing? Was there every a time when there was nothing?
You said I said this. "So faith in empirical evidence is the same as faith in God? hmmmmm, really?"
I didn't say that at all. What I am saying is that empiricism has limitations. It can't answer the most fundamental questions . . . it tries but many of the answers are inadequate.
Most empiricists say that, "science is the only way to know." That statement is a philosophy. It can't even be verified scientifically. It is a self refuting statement. So, from the start there are flaws.
The use of empiricism (science), logic, rationality, philosophy, anthropology, you name it . . . points to God. It provides evidence for what is not seen.
If I am walking in the woods and see the foot prints of an animal . . . it's really not too much of a stretch to say I believe an animal was here.
I have faith in my kids to do the right thing. I have faith in my wife to stay faithful to me.
You have faith in empiricism to one day provide all the answers to life and everything.
Of course science is limited because humans are limited. My point is it is the best technique we currently have for understanding reality. You seemed to have been saying there were other, better ways. There aren’t. Your example of footprints being evidence of “what is not seen” is a bit misguided. There are no footprints for “God“— just things people think are footprints because they don’t know the scientific explanation or have an emotional need to believe there is a big powerful daddy in the sky that cares about them.
There is a difference between having “faith” in someone or that the light will turn on when you flip a switch and “faith” that Santa lives at the North Pole or that an invisible Father lives in heaven. One kind is based on experience with reality the other is not.
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