Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
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
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
Thursday, May 28, 2009
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.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
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
"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
Sunday, May 24, 2009
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
~ Romain Rolland, author, Nobel Prize 1915
Saturday, May 23, 2009
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)
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)
Friday, May 22, 2009
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.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
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
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
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
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.
Monday, May 18, 2009
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
Mt 5:17-18
Sunday, May 17, 2009
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
Mt 5:42
Saturday, May 16, 2009
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.
Friday, May 15, 2009
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.
Great video about our terribly flawed and unsustainable system of consumption. For being rather clever creatures we sure are stupid.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
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/
“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
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
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, May 11, 2009
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
This is Water by David Foster Wallace
Sunday, May 10, 2009
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.
Let it be remembered that mothers are people too! So be nice to them—at least today.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, May 8, 2009
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.
~ Ella E. Gibson, The Godly Women of the Bible by an Ungodly Woman of the Nineteenth Century, 1870s.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
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
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
Friday, May 1, 2009
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.
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.
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