Paul: Preaching Hate Since 52 A.D.

1 Thessalonians 2:14-15
“14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: 15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:”

Charles Colson’s “The Faith”

As some of you already know, I have been approached by Zondervan books and asked to read Charles Colson’s book, “The Faith: What Christians Believe, Why they Believe it and Why it Matters.” First of all, let me start of that I think that it is pretty presumptive for Mr. Colson to try to encompass all Christians within the title. Not all Christians have the same beliefs, even when it comes down to core beliefs such as the role that the “Holy Spirit” plays in todays’ society. Read more

Infidel

One November morning in 2004, Theo van Gogh got up to go to work at his film production company in Amsterdam. He took out his old black bicycle and headed down a main road. Waiting in a doorway was a Moroccan man with a handgun and two butcher knives.

As Theo cycled down the Linnaeusstraat, Muhammad Bouyeri approached. He pulled out his gun and shot Theo several times. Theo fell off his bike and lurched across the road, then collapsed. Bouyeri followed. Theo begged, “Can’t we talk about this?” but Bouyeris shot him four more times. Then he took out one of his butcher knives and sawed into Theo’s throat. With the other knife, he stabbed a five-page letter onto Theo’s chest.

The letter was addressed to me.

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Whether you a re a person of faith, an agnostic, or an atheist, I highly recommend Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali grew up in Africa (born Somali), the product of a Muslim upbringing, ultimately bravely abandoning her roots and becoming a controversial member of the Dutch parliament. Her story is one of incredibly bravery and an amazing capacity to overcome all obstacles. At the same time, it is a painfully clear indictment of Islamic misogyny, absolutism, intolerance, and the price we all pay for religious beliefs that contribute to insane actions.

Some of her criticisms could just as easily be leveled at any other organized religion, but her critique is certainly most scathing of Islam. But she holds back no punches against the West for failing to address the fundamental conflict between Islam and the West. For example, she faults multiculturalism:

“We in the west would be wrong to prolong the pain [of the transition of Islam to the modern world] by elevating cultures full of bigotry and hatred toward women to the stature of respectable alternative ways of life.

This is not just a critique, however. This is her personal story. It is filled with vivid detail, personal trials, the charming and beautiful moments of adolescence, the tragedy of war and her conflict between faith and reason. It is both tragic and uplifting

I found this book so compelling I am reading it all over again even though I just finished it. This is one of those books which, when you close the final chapter, you ask yourself “what exactly do I have to complain about? Wow …”

I also recommend looking her up on YouTube.

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?

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…

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

Middle East earthquakes: It’s the gays what did it

SIX earthquakes have struck Israel and neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan in recent months, with two coming last week alone – and what is to blame? Homosexuality.

That’s the view of imbecile Shlomo Benizri, MP, of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas party, who, according to the Telegraph, believes that the tremors could be stopped by repealing various liberalising laws on homosexuality that have been passed by the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, in recent years.

Since decriminalising homosexuality in 1988, Israel has passed several laws favouring gay Israelis , including decisions to recognise same-sex marriages carried out abroad, and granting inheritance rights and other benefits held by married couples to gay partnerships.

Last Sunday, to the outrage of the religious Right, the country’s attorney general, Meni Mazuz, ruled that same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt children.

In what Mr Benizri clearly believes is no coincidence, the first of last week’s quakes hit the country just two days later.

Why do earthquakes happen? One of the reasons is the things to which the Knesset gives legitimacy, to sodomy. God says that if you shake your genitals where you are not supposed to he will shake the world in order to wake you up.

In 1999 this crazy god-botherer caused controversy by saying homosexuals were mentally ill. Quoted in the Israeli newspaper Maariv, he said he was “ready to fund the creation of special closed sections for them in psychiatric hospitals.”

Repost

Can the Bible be Used to Prove Jesus’ Divinity?

Ru laid down the following argument at the forum. Thanks Ru. Read more

What Would Jesus Buy? (W.W.J.B.)

Everybody is out buying this and that for their kids, aunts, uncles, parents and other loved ones in preparation for the big event, Christmas.
Christmas in America has become a time of greed, and the ever inevitable arrogant assumption that all should celebrate by buying gifts. If you tell someone that you do not participate in gift exchanging at Christmas, they attempt to label you as cheapskate or an interplanetary alien. Read more

8th Grader kills himself for God

A 14-year-old boy, Dennis Lindberg, killed himself under the instructions of a sadistic cult. This action was blessed by Skagit County (Washington) Superior Court Judge, John Meyer, who prohibited the State of Washington from interfering in the youth’s suicide pact.

Unfortunately, no criminal action will be brought against either the “Cult” or Judge Meyer, because the “Cult” is the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the method of suicide the youth chose was to refuse treatment that would have given him a 70% chance of survival.

TJM author Luci recently wrote about another senseless death associated with Jehovah’s Witness prohibition on accepting blood transfusions.

Basically, JWs are prohibited from consuming the blood of an animal. “Church” leaders decided that hospital patients can be fed intravenously, a blood transfusion is food.

What?

TJM reader Jerry Jones (his link) commented:

Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to acknowledge that when human blood is transfused into their body’s circulatory system that the transfused human blood remains to be human blood and continues to function as human blood. Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to acknowledge that if blood is eaten, then the ingested blood enters the body’s digestive system, where the blood would be treated by the body exactly the same as it would treat a hotdog, a potato chip, or any other food item.

Before you start thinking that I’m singling out JW’s, remember that MANY religions/dogmatic beliefs require the individual to harm himself/herself in the name of worship and/or conformity. Judaism (and others) requires the partial amputation of male genitalia. Sects of Islam require adherents to flog and/or lacerate themselves as a part of their worship. (Check out “Ashoura”) Female Genital Mutilation is still widely practiced in several locations around the world. Foot Binding, an old Chinese custom, has crippled millions of women.

Dogmatism turns otherwise rational people into lemmings. Religion is the single largest source of Dogmatism. Religion is also the most “Protected” in its application. Without Religion to back up this boy’s decision, his parents would have been brought up on child endangerment charges, he would be declared a ward of the court, and his doctors would be ordered to begin treatment.

Read more:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/11/religion_kills.php
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/29/jehovahs.witness.ap/index.html

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