What is God?

July 27, 2010 By

The Atheist Revolution blog asks a simple, but important question, What is God? God can truly be many things, or nothing at all.

What is God? Is it an idea you’ve derived from one of the many versions of the Christian bible? Since these bibles were written by men, how can you be so sure that the idea they describe is accurate? What leads you to think that their understanding of God was any better than yours would have been had you not read their words? You may have noticed that the God described in the Old Testament is fairly different from the one mentioned in the New Testament. Which is the correct God, and how do you know?

What is God? Is it an idea you have been taught by your family, friends, church, and culture? You may have noticed that there is great variability in what people around you believe about God. Who is right, and how do you know? What if you’ve been worshipping the wrong God all this time?

What is God? Perhaps what you are worshipping is your own unique understanding of God based on everything you’ve been taught, your personal experiences, and how you’ve interpreted them. This would certainly make sense and is probably how most religious people understand God. But how is this meaningfully different from worshipping yourself? Wouldn’t this mean that worship is really a form of self-love?

It’s a thought-provoking question. I have my answer, do you have yours?

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Definition of Christianity

July 4, 2010 By

Christianity: The belief that some cosmic Jewish Zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity, because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.

Makes perfect sense.

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Let Go of What You Know and Honor What Exists

June 13, 2010 By

One of the most challenging things about leaving the faith of your parents, is raising their grandchildren as freethinkers.

Freethinkers who have come from evangelical homes, like myself, know the intense social pressure that comes from their extended family. This is especially true when the grandparent believes you’re leading their grandchildren straight to hell!

There’s a song by David Bazan – someone who has also gone through a major faith transition – that fully understands the position that freethinking parents find themselves in. His song, Bearing Witness, captures exactly how I feel as a parent, but also repurposes religious vernacular to offer encouragement to those who have chosen a rational and logical belief system, and parenting style.

I clung to miracles I have not seen
From ancient autographs I cannot read
And though I’ve repented
I’m still tempted, I admit
But it’s not what bearing witness is

Too full of prophecy and fear to see
The revelation right in front of me
So sick and tired of trying to make the pieces fit
Because it’s not what bearing witness is

When the gap between
What I hoped would be
And what is makes me weep for my kids
I take a cleansing breath
And make a positive confession
But is that what bearing witness is

Though it may alienate your family
And blur the lines of your identity
Let go of what you know
And honor what exists
Son, that’s what bearing witness is
Daughter, that’s what bearing witness is

The last paragraph is the most powerful statement for me. Every parent that has experienced a transition from make believe to freethinking, has felt the alienation from their family, and initial blurring of their identity. For me, it includes a loss of intimacy. I no longer have the ability to talk deeply or philosophically with my parents, because the foundation of our belief system and world views are so deeply opposing.

I feel fortunate and hopeful though, because I’m in the unique position to help stop the superstitious beliefs that have accompanied my family lineage for as long as anyone can remember. Bazan put that reality into a more concise statement, by naming his album Curse Your Branches.

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Are Your Cats Old Enough to Learn About Jesus?

March 11, 2010 By

Because my kids sure aren’t. This is from a funny t-shirt that the Onion sells.

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All Creative Work Builds On What Came Before

March 7, 2010 By

Question Copyright put together an intriguing video to highlight how all creative work builds on what came before it.

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What is Morality?

March 5, 2010 By

Morality is doing what is right, regardless of what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, regardless of what is right.

(via irReligion.org)

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The “New 10 Commandments” According to Christopher Hitchens

March 4, 2010 By

Christopher Hitchens wrote an article in Vanity Fair called The New Commandments. He makes a compelling case–using scripture against itself to defend his action in a tongue in cheek fashion–that it’s time to replace the old commandments with new ones.

The New Commandments

  1. Do not condemn people on the basis of their ethnicity or color.
  2. Do not ever use people as private property.
  3. Despise those who use violence or the threat of it in sexual relations.
  4. Hide your face and weep if you dare to harm a child.
  5. Do not condemn people for their inborn nature—why would God create so many homosexuals only in order to torture and destroy them?
  6. Be aware that you too are an animal and dependent on the web of nature, and think and act accordingly.
  7. Do not imagine that you can escape judgment if you rob people with a false prospectus rather than with a knife.
  8. Turn off that fucking cell phone—you have no idea how unimportant your call is to us.
  9. Denounce all jihadists and crusaders for what they are: psychopathic criminals with ugly delusions.
  10. Be willing to renounce any god or any religion if any holy commandments should contradict any of the above.

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Fox News Teaches Us How to Make Super Biased Opinion Polls

March 4, 2010 By

Logical, rational, and sane people already know that Fox News is the media talking head, and lie spreading feux news channel, for people who are controlled by fear, promote hate, and are in a perpetual state of playing follow the leader (aka Conservative Christian Republicans). One of the things they’re very good at is relentlessly promoting their narrow-minded message, in spite of differing, more reasonable opinions. However, I admire their ability to be so blazen in their bias – it’s definitely a sight to see, even if just to witness the pure destructive spectacle of it.

One of the best things Fox News is good at is spinning a poll. Not only can they throw around poll numbers that are completely different from other news organizations–numbers that are always in favor of their message–they can also craft a damn good biased poll. They recently did a poll called Does the ‘Reconciliation’ Gambit Make You Angry?.

The three options they included (there were actually four, but the “Other” option is just there to filter out trolls) would have been fine if they were expressed without their tacked on opinions. In its simple form–without opinions–it was Yes, Not Sure, and No. Simple enough. However, the opinions that came after each option were cynical, biased, and designed to fuel the moronic angst of the type of people who actually go to Fox News to get their news.

  1. Yes. This is outrageous! They’re using rules to bypass the clear voice of the people – payback in November, guys.
  2. Not sure, but if they have to resort to rules loopholes to pass a law, doesn’t that indicate that a lot of people oppose it?
  3. No. Look, we need health care reform and we need it now. Let’s get started, even if it means using a rules loophole.

The “Not Sure” and “No” options were sabotaged with dickishness.

“…doesn’t that indicate that a lot of people oppose it?”

“Let’s get started, even if it means using a rules loophole.”

I mean, really? Not surprisingly, most people chose yes ;) If you preach to a choir, can a tree in a forest hear the preaching?

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , ,

Is Imposing Religion on Children Abusive?

February 23, 2010 By

Atheist Revolution asked the question (actually, they made a statement), is imposing religion on children abusive? They gave the example of a seventeen-year-old that was forced to go to church.

17 year-old being forced to attend church and told that he belongs to a particular religion by his parents. He’s wondering whether this is legal (I suspect that it is) and has raised questions about what any of us can do to prevent other children from having to endure similar experiences in the future.

The writer then talked about their own experience as a child—being forced to go to church—and how the relationship with their parents was never the same after that experience.

The question, or statement as it might be, is not a new one. Most recently, Richard Dawkins got attention for making similar statements. He suggests that labeling children as Christian children or Muslim children is absurd, as is filling their minds with the idea that unless they believe, they will burn in hell.

Personally, I think the word abuse is a bit much. Oppressive maybe, but abusive?

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Morality Without God

February 20, 2010 By

via The Thinking Atheist

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