This week, ads that say "1 Million New Yorkers Are Good Without God" are going up throughout the New York City metro system.
The ads just went up Monday, and religious folks are already having a fit.
A couple of quotes from the article linked above:
"I teach my children to believe in God and lead a life faithful to Him," said Aime Roberts, 37, of the Bronx, when told of the campaign. "If my children see these ads that say there is no God, they’ll think their mother is lying."
"These aren’t good, you need to believe in God," said Rafael Rodriguez, 20, of the Bronx.
Charlene McNair-Lawery, 19, of Brooklyn, said she was dismayed by a trend toward taking religion out of the public sphere, mentioning efforts to remove the word God from the Pledge of Allegiance. "The MTA can just do whatever it wants and get away with it," she said.
I'll deal with these three quotes then move on to the real problem here.
First off, to the lady worried about her kids thinking she's lying to them, do you have a guilty conscience? What is wrong with children questioning the beliefs of their parents? Supposedly, we would think it was bad for parents to tell their children that it's a legitimate belief that people of other races are inferior to them. However, if you convince your kids that they're consuming the body and blood of a 2000 year old deity, or if you convince them that a man convicted of fraud "found" a new holy book and was a modern day "prophet," that's ok. Children shouldn't be allowed to question those things, right?
If my wife and I ever have kids, I intend to foster a spirit of reason and inquiry in them. My wife feels the same way. If my kids learn to question things at an early age, it will help their critical thinking skills later in life and hopefully they won't end up as one of Barnum's famous "suckers." Reason and inquiry are beautiful things. I would marvel at the mind of a child trying to wrap itself around why the sky is blue or what makes flowers bloom in pretty colors. I would equally marvel at them trying to comprehend the mysteries of the universe, with our without the aid of a creator or god. Ultimately, Children grow up to have their own lives and make their own choices, I intend to give them the skills to do so.
Onto the guy who says I have to believe in god. No sir, I don't. That attitude is exactly what is wrong with religion in a nutshell. I don't have to believe in your deity, and you don't need to believe in anyone else's deity. Anyone who thinks that you must have religion as a prerequisite to being a fine, moral person is extremely shallow and needs a history lesson. There have been some very benevolent atheists and many religious people are responsible for some of the worst wars the planet has seen. No sir, I don't have to believe in your god, in fact many people don't. Less and less believe every day.
To the woman concerned about removing god from the public sphere: these ads don't seek to remove god from anything. It's just other people claiming their beliefs. Second of all, the designers of USA never wanted god to be in the public sphere in the first place. The Constitution doesn't mention god ONCE. NOT ONCE. We derive our law from that document and the enlightenment. Not the ten commandments, not the Bible, The Koran, The Book Of Mormon, or any other "holy" fiction work. Thankfully, I wouldn't have wanted to be stoned when I back talked my parents as a child!
So why are religious people so up in arms about this? Well I honestly think a lot of it is that they just can't fathom anyone disagreeing with them and their god. We seem to have that disease particularly in America, which sad because our country was founded to include all ideas.
Isn't this kind of weird? No matter what religion you are: Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Mormon, or anything else, you're supposed to be able to firmly hold the belief that your god and your religion is right and everybody else is wrong. If I challenge you on that belief, and tell you that have absolutely zero evidence to prove your point of view, you get angry with me because I offend your religion.
An atheist merely points out that they, and many others don't believe in God at all, and you freak out. They're not going as far as you. They're not saying you can't believe in God, they're just saying that they don't. From the collective scream arising from religion, you'd think all civilization is coming to an end. Just today, "No God" was the number one trending topic on twitter, and Christians came out of the woodwork to scream about it and tell others that they're wrong. Yet you politely try to point out that they might be wrong, and it's a major federal offense.
I run into it in Utah almost every day. First comes the absolute shock that I'm not a Mormon, then If I dare go further and say I question the existence of God at all, the people are ready to call for the doctors and straight jackets. They've been taught to think that way, and never bothered to question it.
I submit to you today that if we all sat around and questioned a bit more, and took more on reason than revelation, that the world would be a better place indeed. Just think...no more suicide bombings, no more planes flying into buildings, no more Christian pastors pouring acid down a child's throat for an exorcism. No more Catholic priests molesting children, no more of religious people hating gays and preaching intolerance from the pulpit. No more "latter day prophets" putting printing presses to the flame, no more men out west marrying 14 year old girls, no more Mormons seminary teachers having affairs with their students, and hey kids could actually stay in school the whole day instead of getting a period off to go outside and study mythology!
A nice world indeed.
What purpose does religion serve again?
Question EVERYTHING.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Book Thoughts: "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins
It has been with great interest that I've delved into the last two books I've read, "God is Not Great" by Christopher Hitchens and "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins.
If you know me very well at all, you know that I was born into religion, raised in religion, and steeped myself in religion so much during my late teen years and into my early 20s that I actually planned on going to seminary to become a pastor. This desire of mine overcame, for a period of a few years at any rate, my fantastic desire to learn about and know about science, ethics, and natural law.
It was on a night spent on my own in a monastic cell in 2001, that I started to think about what was going on in my life and life as a whole. That evening I began an argument with "God" that has in one form or another until the present day. Part of this was in respect to a conversation had with my pastor earlier in the day in which he told me that he didn't believe everything in the Bible was true. As an honest and semi-intellectual individual, I really didn't believe that the Bible was true either, but to be confronted with the fact by the man who had been responsible for my religious upbringing and education was absolutely startling. If the Bible indeed wasn't true, why was I continuing to go around espousing the faith that is based on it? Why was I spending every Sunday morning in church when I could have been sleeping in, watching football, or reading a book?
I began a journey on that day in July 2001, and that journey continues today. That journey has taken me to depths of depression and into the heights of human inquiry. The reading of these books and exploring these issues is just another step on that journey.
Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist, professor at Oxford, and one of the world's most prominent and out-spoken atheists. In this book, he sets out to prove that either God does not exist, period, or that the likelihood of his existence is extremely improbable. He accomplishes his task very well, at least for anyone who comes to the book with an open mind.
Where Hitchens primarily makes his case on Philosophy and logic, Dawkins uses these as well as the hammer of science to make his. To Dawkins, there is no question that science can't answer. There may be questions science hasn't answered yet, but it has the capacity to answer them in the future. Religion, he argues, is a closed system of belief that has no new answers for us on anything. Each new religion claims to be god's final word. Yet somehow, they keep springing up. The Christians thought themselves to be the completion of the Jewish traditions, and the Muslims prefer to think that a new revelation to their prophet finally got it all right. Even now in the modern age new religions keep springing up, many from the burnt over district of New York State in the 1800's. Despite the fact that any objective look at these modern faiths shows that they have been totally fabricated and don't stand up to scrutiny any better than the great monotheistic religions of our past, they still find a way to entrap people in their web.
Dawkins not only makes a convincing argument about the error of religion in all things worldly, but he also makes a compelling case for erecting science, using Darwinian natural selection as an example, as the foundation for our beliefs, then pursuing new knowledge strictly through scientific inquiry.
Other topics covered:
The evolution of Religion
The roots of morality
The Bible and morality
What is so wrong with religion anyway?
Religion and Child Abuse
How to view a world through science and not religion.
All in all. this one of the most enjoyable non-fiction books I've ever read. While I wouldn't stop and go all out and say I'm an atheist at this point, I'm certainly trying on the glasses. I would love to sit down with Dawkins and have dinner. An outstanding book from an obviously outstanding intellect. It's not over done either. Though there is a lot of science in the book, a high school understanding of biology and physics should allow the reader to go through the book with very little problem.
Give it a try with an opn mind and see where it takes you.
If you know me very well at all, you know that I was born into religion, raised in religion, and steeped myself in religion so much during my late teen years and into my early 20s that I actually planned on going to seminary to become a pastor. This desire of mine overcame, for a period of a few years at any rate, my fantastic desire to learn about and know about science, ethics, and natural law.
It was on a night spent on my own in a monastic cell in 2001, that I started to think about what was going on in my life and life as a whole. That evening I began an argument with "God" that has in one form or another until the present day. Part of this was in respect to a conversation had with my pastor earlier in the day in which he told me that he didn't believe everything in the Bible was true. As an honest and semi-intellectual individual, I really didn't believe that the Bible was true either, but to be confronted with the fact by the man who had been responsible for my religious upbringing and education was absolutely startling. If the Bible indeed wasn't true, why was I continuing to go around espousing the faith that is based on it? Why was I spending every Sunday morning in church when I could have been sleeping in, watching football, or reading a book?
I began a journey on that day in July 2001, and that journey continues today. That journey has taken me to depths of depression and into the heights of human inquiry. The reading of these books and exploring these issues is just another step on that journey.
Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist, professor at Oxford, and one of the world's most prominent and out-spoken atheists. In this book, he sets out to prove that either God does not exist, period, or that the likelihood of his existence is extremely improbable. He accomplishes his task very well, at least for anyone who comes to the book with an open mind.
Where Hitchens primarily makes his case on Philosophy and logic, Dawkins uses these as well as the hammer of science to make his. To Dawkins, there is no question that science can't answer. There may be questions science hasn't answered yet, but it has the capacity to answer them in the future. Religion, he argues, is a closed system of belief that has no new answers for us on anything. Each new religion claims to be god's final word. Yet somehow, they keep springing up. The Christians thought themselves to be the completion of the Jewish traditions, and the Muslims prefer to think that a new revelation to their prophet finally got it all right. Even now in the modern age new religions keep springing up, many from the burnt over district of New York State in the 1800's. Despite the fact that any objective look at these modern faiths shows that they have been totally fabricated and don't stand up to scrutiny any better than the great monotheistic religions of our past, they still find a way to entrap people in their web.
Dawkins not only makes a convincing argument about the error of religion in all things worldly, but he also makes a compelling case for erecting science, using Darwinian natural selection as an example, as the foundation for our beliefs, then pursuing new knowledge strictly through scientific inquiry.
Other topics covered:
The evolution of Religion
The roots of morality
The Bible and morality
What is so wrong with religion anyway?
Religion and Child Abuse
How to view a world through science and not religion.
All in all. this one of the most enjoyable non-fiction books I've ever read. While I wouldn't stop and go all out and say I'm an atheist at this point, I'm certainly trying on the glasses. I would love to sit down with Dawkins and have dinner. An outstanding book from an obviously outstanding intellect. It's not over done either. Though there is a lot of science in the book, a high school understanding of biology and physics should allow the reader to go through the book with very little problem.
Give it a try with an opn mind and see where it takes you.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Book Thoughts: "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything." by Christopher Hitchens
A really fascinating book. I wouldn't say I'm totally ready to throw my hat in with the atheists, but Hitchens gave me a lot to think about. I suppose maybe at this point in my life, I probably would be considered more of an agnostic or deist, but Hitchens makes the case, fairly convincingly I might add, that even those beliefs are too out there.
He seeks to lay waste to religion, and does a frighteningly good job. I think it would be pretty much impossible to read this book with an open mind and NOT come away questioning religion. I know we're not generally supposed to do this, but an inquisitive life is an informed one and we need to take Hitchens and others like Richard Dawkins seriously. Their case is a good one. Not only is religion wrong, but it's harmful.
Hitchens doesn't spare anyone's faith from his razor sharp wit and well constructed, logical narrative. He lays waste to Judaism and Christianity, basically by arguing that the Talmud and The Bible are completely man made and are not inspired in the slightest. The LDS religion? Forget it. According to Hitchens, it's nothing more than the latest and greatest fiction of a convicted confidence man and fraud artist who fancied himself a Muhammad to a new generation. Islam, a racist plagiarism of Christianity. He doesn't spare Wicca or the Eastern "spiritualism" either.
In the end, his argument is that we would all be better off as a people if we could usher in an age of new enlightenment based on scientific evidence and our own sense of reason. Of course, this would largely mean setting aside the religious framework in which so many of us live our lives, but perhaps Hitchens is right. He certainly makes a stunning and provocative case.
Please don't be afraid to give this book a shot.
He seeks to lay waste to religion, and does a frighteningly good job. I think it would be pretty much impossible to read this book with an open mind and NOT come away questioning religion. I know we're not generally supposed to do this, but an inquisitive life is an informed one and we need to take Hitchens and others like Richard Dawkins seriously. Their case is a good one. Not only is religion wrong, but it's harmful.
Hitchens doesn't spare anyone's faith from his razor sharp wit and well constructed, logical narrative. He lays waste to Judaism and Christianity, basically by arguing that the Talmud and The Bible are completely man made and are not inspired in the slightest. The LDS religion? Forget it. According to Hitchens, it's nothing more than the latest and greatest fiction of a convicted confidence man and fraud artist who fancied himself a Muhammad to a new generation. Islam, a racist plagiarism of Christianity. He doesn't spare Wicca or the Eastern "spiritualism" either.
In the end, his argument is that we would all be better off as a people if we could usher in an age of new enlightenment based on scientific evidence and our own sense of reason. Of course, this would largely mean setting aside the religious framework in which so many of us live our lives, but perhaps Hitchens is right. He certainly makes a stunning and provocative case.
Please don't be afraid to give this book a shot.
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