THOSE People…

I have nothing against religious people. Hey, some of my best friends are religious. It’s nobody’s business what sort of ignorant, superstitious rituals they perform in their own homes and churches. No one should care what sort of bizarre mythical creatures they worship, or what kind of “holy” objects (statues, icons, and / or books) they revere.

Of course these religious people do need to show some restraint in public. I’ll give you an example: I was at a nice restaurant with my wife the other night. There were these two guys at a table next to us. They looked fairly normal, but I thought by the way they dressed, and the way they styled their hair that they were “that way”. So I kept my eye on them. Sure enough, as soon as their meals came they started praying right there at a table not ten feet away from us. How were we supposed to eat with that going on? Don’t those people have special clubs or something where they can go?

What I really hate is the way they influence the media. I’m not talking about the ones with their own shows. I can spot those a mile away, and avoid them. I’m talking about the ones who sneak their insane agenda into supposedly factual news stories. How often have you seen something like this on the news?

Reporter: “You’ve just lost your house and everything you own. How do you feel.”

Victim: “I just thank the LORD everyone made it out okay, especially my little foofoo.”

Meanwhile, in the background you see the firefighter who actually saved little foofoo being treated for his injuries, with the LORD nowhere to be seen.

But I digress. My point is that we shouldn’t hate these people, but pity them. We should try to help them see past their delusions when we can. When we can’t help them, we should just leave them alone…unless they run for public office, or want to teach in a public school or…

CLOSED CAPTIONED FOR THE HUMOR IMPAIRED

The preceding was a satire of the way people, even some liberals, talk about alternative lifestyles, especially homosexuality. Did it hurt? make you angry? Now do you understand why “those people” get upset when you think you’re being perfectly reasonable?

My thanks to James Huber.

Why Hate Religious People?

Sometimes, as someone who is an “unbeliever,” I am asked why I hate believers; why am I so against their beliefs?

It’s a funny question. Maybe I come off arrogant and intolerant. That’s entirely possible (I’ve been known to be so), and if that is the case I must apologize both to people of faith, and atheists. I apologize to the people of faith because I really don’t mean to project hate. I apologize to the atheists because I don’t want to contribute to the stereotype “angry atheist” that is often portrayed.

Let me be perfectly clear: I don’t hate “believers.” I hate their beliefs.

What people of faith are probably picking up from me is impatience and my discomfort with an absolute certainty on their part, and a double standard.

Somehow, it is okay to question and debate someone’s beliefs about physics, astrology, medicine, politics, psychology, parapsychology and astrophysics. Yet it is (as far as I can tell) not acceptable to debate someone’s religious beliefs.

Here I am simply re-phrasing Sam Harris. None of this is new to atheists, though I am sure it is new to some people of faith. For them, I would suggest reading Mr. Harris, or at least spending twenty minutes watching him here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=J3YOIImOoYM

He’s not perfect, and I don’t agree with everything he says.

But I do think he makes quite a few good points.

Let me be clear: I don’t hate religious people. I just hate their religion. I’m not entirely sure how different this is from “love the sinner, hate the sin.”

I hate what religion does to people. I hate the evil that has been committed in this world in the name of God/Allah/Jehovah — whatever.

To be honest, that’s kind of a funny thing because I don’t believe in evil. Let me quote Robert Jay Lifton of Harvard (visiting professor of psychiatry):

“…one has to be aware of any claim to absolute virtue, because it’s absolute virtue that you call forth to kill large numbers of people. It may be impossible to do that without that claim.”

I’m hard-pressed to come up with a more apt description of the horrors of history.

Most of the evils of the world can probably be traced back to such sentiments. It is the adherence to absolute virtue, the belief one is serving God, that provides us with the means to commit unspeakable horrors. Some evils can be traced to selfishness, competition for resources, exploitation, racism, untreated mental illness and just plain stupidity. But I still believe the majority of the atrocities that have taken place on our planet were done in the name of “absolute virtue.”

I’m posting this on an atheist site, obviously. I suppose I am posting this to ask all of you atheists to recognize that we don’t hate people, we just hate what their beliefs have contributed to.

In a future post, I’ll address the popular belief that atheism has given us the dictators of the world. What makes that ludicrous is the belief that atheism is a philosophy that has adherents.

But for now, let’s agree that people of faith are not people to be hated, and we (atheists) don’t hate them. We just don’t like the bi-product.

I’m new here. But ….. Is that a fair start?

Freedom of Religion Just a Myth in USA

Recently in Texas a polygamist “cult” ( cult seems to be code for religion we don’t like) lost over 400 of it’s young female members in government raid.

As reported from The New York Times

“On Thursday, a Texas ranger described in detail what occurred last week when law enforcement officers, responding to a call for help from a 16-year-old who said she was being sexually abused in the compound, sought entry.

In the raid, 416 children were removed and placed in temporary state custody on suspicion of being abused or under the threat of abuse or neglect; 139 women voluntarily left the ranch to care for them.

The women and children are at the Fort Concho National Historic Landmark and other temporary shelters in San Angelo.”

Apparently the state believed the girls were being forced into relations with older men resulting in rape and emotional abuse.  Regardless of your personal feelings on this, is this not what the constitution protects?  Who is the state to say that what they’re doing is wrong?  More importantly, why is the state so motivated to break up a religious community?

I believe the state doesn’t like the polygamist lifestyle and is attempting to destroy it completely.  Where was the government when Catholic Priests were raping boys like it was going out of style?   They couldn’t have cared less. The Catholic Religion teaches a one man one woman philosophy, something more in line with the government program.

Is this something that Atheists support? I have to believe that even Atheists would defend that ones spiritual belief is not the province of Government.

Fear and Bribery

In my previous post, a discussion was born with Chris with regards to morality and whether or not it means anything without a god being present. He contends that morality means nothing without a god. I, of course, have a different opinion on the matter. I promised you a post on this matter, Chris, so here goes! Enjoy, and I welcome your feedback. Read more

I want the Witnesses to leave me alone!

I can’t stand it anymore! I came home from the store the other day and found my husband standing at the back door talking to a young lady. In the driveway, blocking my way into the garage is a minivan being driven by a young man dressed in a suit. Great, I thought, another one. My husband and I have lived in our new home for less than a month and this is the third time we have had a Witness on our door step. The first thing that I wanted to do was whip the door open and apologize to the girl, maybe tell her that he was visiting for Easter from his group home or something…anything to save her from all of his questions. The poor girl had no idea what she had gotten herself into when she knocked on our door. None of them ever do. She finally left after stuttering a little about Easter and her beliefs. I don’t know if she cried. Maybe she got into the van and they all prayed for our family. Maybe (please please PLEASE) they crossed us off the list of places to stop. Either way, we got noticed, for you see, I am married to a special man. My husband is TJM admin, and the Witnesses will never leave me alone. First I was invited to the memorial service for Jesus, and then they had a meeting of some sort to talk about who was qualified to rule the world. I would have LOVED to go to that one. I can’t remember why this poor girl was here this time. She told him that she had talked to me before, so I guess I am in her precinct. I should go back and read the “Porch Monkeys” article again. When we were first married we lived literally right next to a meeting hall. We would watch those little 6 year olds run into the building carrying their little brief cases. We were there for 4 years and were only visited once. I miss those days. My hubby told me that those “No soliciting” signs don’t work either. Did you know that? They aren’t solicitors. I guess I will just have to let TJM admin keep answering the door! Poor little Witnesses…

You Disgust Me…

I saw you. Yeah, you. Driving your Honda Insight with the “Got Jesus?” bumper sticker placed above the license plate, ever so carefully centered. Expressing your love for your omnipresent, yet always just out of sight God. In your rear window is the obvious sign of a “holy man,” your sacred fish symbol.

Guess what else I noticed? Even though Jesus taught that you should obey the laws of man, there you go, a good 15-20 MPH over the speed limit. Even though it is quite dry and brown in this part of the country, I find myself swerving to the right ever so slightly to avoid the smoldering cigarette you have so carelessly tossed out your window while fumbling with your cell phone.

We’re coming up to a set of lights now. A gentleman approaches your vehicle, obviously homeless and in dire need. Tonight is the night of the Last Supper. You know, where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples in an effort to show what it means to be humble and to teach them the lesson of servitude. While he may have taught compassion and encouraged his followers to “give all you have to the poor,” you don’t hesitate to roll up your window before the man even gets to you. You avert your gaze. He has seen the look on your face several times before on the faces of others. He knows what you feel. The light changes from red to green. No sooner than it does, you are already in the crosswalk, narrowly missing the small child that was crossing the street. Her mother yells at you as you drive off. You simply gesture to her with a one fingered salute.

I take my attention off of you and look at the homeless fellow that was trying to make his way to your car. He had fallen down and seemed to be in some pain. I put on my four-ways, pull the e-brake and get out to help him up. “I wonder if that idiot knows that his tire is flat,” he says as I help him to his feet. I can’t help it. I laugh out loud, almost to the point of tears.

As Ken and I finish our Whoppers and talk over our Cokes, I can’t help but to think about all the times that I have seen you; all of you. Driving around with your “love of God” pasted all over your vehicles. As I take Ken back to the spot that you so hurriedly drove off from, he says, “God bless you, man.” I don’t say anything. He doesn’t need to know that I am an atheist. “Thank you,” I reply.

And THAT’S why you disgust me, you hypocritical bastard.

For the Bible Tells Me So (Movie for Your Review)

Some Older Arguments DO Stand the Test of Time

New Year, Same Quiz…Just for Fun

Last February was our first year on the net so not many came across this Easter quiz. I still think that organized religion as a whole makes about as much sense as rabbits laying eggs… Of course, if you are one of our fine readers that know your history, then you know that Easter was celebrated long before Jesus came along which means that you already know about the rabbits and the eggs…… Read more

New in the Mail Bag

An interesting dialog developed as someone contacted me via our contact page. The following is the transcript of our communication thus far. Read more

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