Apotheosize Me

The question of religious influence in American politics is as old as American politics itself.  In fact, a major pollster says the U.S. is the most religious developed democracy in the world.  Yet most studies of the influence of religion in American politics show that there is no simple ’cause & effect’ relationship; there is no pastoral ‘Red State & Blue State’ equation.  There are vast differences in all facets of the political spectrum, and the degree to which any religion can or does influence any particular political issue is very much subject to individual perception.  By and large, people consider the overall context of an issue as it relates to any given religious concept.  The U.S. is in fact very much a Purple Nation. Read more

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:”

Just Tired of the Bullshit

You’ve seen it all over the net; the Christian’s definition of what an atheist is. I’ve read it in Christian literature, even the newest books put out to prop up the failing religious dogma in an attempt to “energize the base.” You’ve got us all wrong, but you don’t care because your depiction of us makes you feel better about yourselves. Read more

Man Sues Jesus for Breach of Contract

John Holmes has decided to file suit against Jesus in Ohio today. The suit alleges that Jesus “willfully neglected to fulfill certain verbal obligations made by the defendant.”

“I just don’t understand it,” John explains. “When I tell someone that I am going to do something, I do it. I mean, a man is only as good as his word, right? Especially if the man is the Son of God!”

In the suit, John claims that he was inspired one night while meditating on the Word of the Lord. As he read his Bible that night, a passage stood out to him and he was overcome with inspiration.

John 14:13 “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

“So, that night, I got down on my knees and prayed. I asked Jesus to give me a brand new Porsche 911 by the end of the week. I had a high school reunion to attend and I wanted to drive the Porsche there. I figured that people would ask me what I did now to afford a car like that and I thought that that would be a good opening for me to witness to them. Even if I only led one of them to the Lord with the story of how I really got the car, that would glorify God.”

Unfortunately for John, the reunion came and went. John drove to the reunion in his 1995 Saturn SL1. He has yet to receive the Porsche. TJM has tried to contact the defendant, Jesus, but he has been unavailable for comment.

PWNED

True String Theory

Just for a little fun…

Keepin’ the Man Down… I mean the Woman…

The Vatican announced Thursday in a general decree that it will excommunicate anyone who would attempt to ordain a woman as a priest and the woman herself. Is this surprising? When Paul says that a woman should remain silent in the church (1 Corinthians 14:34-35), he means sit down and shut the hell up! What the hell do you know?!? You are a woman, created only after man and with the stain of being the first to succumb to temptation (even though Adam fell too ’cause he didn’t want to lose the only available “piece” that was around at the time…). When will you women learn? It is a MALE god, with a MALE son. Sure, he was born to a female…a female that was knocked up by a MALE “Holy Spirit!” (Actually, reading the story, sounded more like rape, but hey…) And the suppressive Catholic money machine moves on…

Autographed Book Contest

UPDATE FOR THOSE COMING LATE IN THE GAME: All entries are in and have been published for your review and vote. Find all the entries here.

Thanks to our friend at Debunking Christianity, John Loftus, TJM is holding a small contest. We our looking for your story. What were the triggers that led you down the path of skepticism? Did you forsake a religion? What is your de-conversion story? Have you always been an atheist? Why?

Yes, these are the things we want to hear about. May the best article win. Win what? An autographed copy of the book, ” Why I Rejected Christianity: A Former Apologist Explains” by John Loftus. Don’t know about John? Allow me to give you some background info on him.

How have I gone from being a defender of Christianity to an atheist? That is the question of this book. I was a Christian apologist set for the express purpose of defending Christianity from intellectual attacks. I was not afraid of any idea, because I was convinced that Christianity was true and could withstand all attacks. Now I turn that same intellectual muscle into questioning the things I formerly defended.

I graduated from Great Lakes Bible College, Lansing Michigan, in 1977. Afterwards I became the Associate Minister under Eddie Bratton in Kalkaska, Michigan, for two years. Then I attended Lincoln Christian Seminary, Lincoln, IL, and graduated in 1982 with M.A. and M.Div. degrees, under the mentoring of Dr. James D. Strauss. After this I attended Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and graduated in 1985 with a Th.M degree, under the mentoring of Dr. William Lane Craig. I also took classes at Marquette University in a Ph.D. program with a double major in Philosophy and Ethics, but didn’t finish. At Marquette I studied with Dr. Ron Feenstra, Dr. Marc Greisbach, and Dr. Daniel MaGuire. I have taught extension classes for Lincoln Christian College, Lincoln, IL, and I taught for Great Lakes Christian College, Lansing, Michigan, for the College of Lake County, in Grayslake, IL, for Tri-State University, Angola, IN, and for Kellogg Community College, Battle Creek, MI. I was in the “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers” in 1996.

From December of 1987 to December of 1990 I was the Senior Minister of the Angola Christian Church, Angola, IN, and for a year was the President of the Steuben County Ministerial Association. Before that I had several ministries in Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. I was in the ministry for about fourteen years, or so, and wrote many articles for the Christian weekly magazine, The Christian Standard.

I have a copy of this book, and it is a great read. Entries will be taken until Tuesday, May 6 2008. All entries will be posted in a new section on the site for peer review. Sunday, May 10, the winner will be announced. The winner will be chosen by you, the readers. There will be a rating with each essay, highest rating wins.

Pleases send all submissions to bookcontest [@] thejesusmyth.com. This email address will be invalid after may 6, so get writing! This contest is open to current authors on TJM and everyone.

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?

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