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

PWNED

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…

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…

Our Nation, a Side Note

Just taking a brief hiatus from my normal critiques on religion for a moment to rant about something that has really been under my skin for quite some time; our nation, the United States. With our growing deficit (both economical and trade), plunging dollar and unhealthy population, there are quite a few things that need to be changed here in America. The rest of the world has seen this coming for some time as we sat complacently on our couches watching our HD T.V.’s and playing our $500+ gaming systems, all the while stuffing our faces with calorie ridden chips and washing it down with a liter of Coke. 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

Seven Kids, No Heat, No Water, In Foreclosure…It’s God’s Will Though

Before you jump to conclusions, let me just say this; I do not usually watch Dr. Phil. In fact, today’s program is the first one that I have ever seen. A friend of mine called me to let me know what the subject matter was so I recorded it for later viewing. Sure glad that I did…well, maybe not. Read more

“McCain is a Good Christian…

with family values and Obama is a Muslim. That’s all I need to know.” Wow. Read more

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