This coming Wednesday, May 14th, at 7 PM, I'll be doing a presentation on my book for the budding Ft. Wayne Freethought Association at the Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza. If you live within driving distance I'd love to meet with you. It's to be held in Meeting Room B. The Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel did an interview with me and it will be printed on Monday or Tuesday. This is the city I was born and raised. This will mark the first time I step forward and come out as an atheist in my own area since I live within driving distance myself. Now the shit hits the fan.
May 9, 2008
May 8, 2008
Another One Bites the Dust: This Time An Epicopalian Priest
Link. Is it just me or is this a new trend? Thanks to the Secular Outpost for this.
May 7, 2008
Bart D. Ehrman vs. N. T. Wright on "Is Our Pain God's Problem?"
Link. You'll have to start from the bottom up to see the flow of things. Thanks to Ed Babinski that surfer of all surfers for this!
Contest Entries For a Free Copy of My Book
Just go here, click on the names to the right to read and to rate their deconversion stories. The winner gets a free autographed copy of my book.
May 6, 2008
Who's Ignorant?
Inevitably we here at DC run up against a wall with some Christians and it is frustrating to us, and to them. It's hard to even know where to begin sometimes. I've written on this topic so many times before but here I am again with a different angle.
The charge made back and forth is that the other side is ignorant. Let me cut through this deep water.
To answer the accusation from my side, I admit I'm ignorant. That's right. I am ignorant. What am I ignorant about? Most things! Again, let me state this loudly and clearly. I am ignorant about most things. In comparison to that which I do know, I am ignorant about almost everything. I only claim to know a small sliver of things in the totality of that which can be known. I'm not joking when I say this, either. I really am. Okay so far?
But I don’t believe in the Bible. I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in the church.
How dare I say that when I’ve just admitted I don’t know most things? Easy. Based on what I know I don’t believe. Can I do any differently? No! I can only believe that which I can believe. Have I studied these things out enough to have an informed opinion on the matter? I think so, but what difference does it make to me personally if I have never studied these things out at all and I still don’t believe? Most people who don't believe in the Christian faith have not studied the issues out in any depth at all, just like most Christians who believe. The bottom line is that I don’t believe.
Let me use a couple of examples to make a point. If you tell someone he should believe in Leprechauns, a totally ignorant person can simply say “I don’t believe you.” It doesn’t take any amount of knowledge at all to reject a strange and outlandish claim like this. The believer making the claim can say the nonbelieving guy is ignorant all he wants to, but ignorance isn’t his problem. His problem is that the claim is too strange to believe. Strange claims must have some solid evidence for them. If as a believer you do not produce the needed evidence for such a strange claim, then it will do your case no good to call the nonbeliever ignorant. That’s the bastion of last resort when all else has failed.
Just think for the moment if a scientist is trying to convince other scientists of a new theory, and he’s having no luck. They don’t accept it. What good does it do for him to call the others ignorant? The problem is his. He has not established his case.
So, when a believer calls me ignorant because he or she has not provided me what I need to believe, then the ignorance is not mine. It's an ignorance that fails to take seriously his or her role in providing the needed evidence to believe. Such a believer is ignorant for thinking that this is my problem. Even though I am ignorant about so many things, this particular problem is not mine at all.
I have repeatedly said agnosticism ("I don't know") is the default position. That best describes me. I just don't think Christians understand how far removed it is to affirm a full blown Christianity when moving off the default position and how small of a step it is to move in the direction of atheism. Even if atheism is not the case, I would first and foremost be an agnostic. But to affirm the Bible as the inerrant word of God, as one extreme, is so far removed from a reasonable faith that it just seems incredible for me that any thinking person can believe it. I know something about that claim, and I do deny it vehemently. Such a claim is ignorant on the par of the Holocaust deniers. But why do so many people believe? The very short answer is that they were taught to believe and that they are afraid to question their beliefs.
View Online Book - "Folklore In The Old Testament Vol. I"
You can view Vol. I of Sir James George Frazer's famous book from the links below. You can find Vol II there as well if you poke around a little.
Here is a link to some information from my beloved Wikipedia about the book which contains some links to more information about Sir James Frazer.
These links are to the website where the book is located.
You have several options to view it.
1. View it online, which is slow and I don't recommend it
* Internet Archive
2. Or download the book and the software to read it at the following links.
* The software download page. Download it and install it.
* The ftp site where you download the book. The file is called "FolkLoreInTheTestamentVolI.djvu". Right click on it and click "save as" to download it. Then when its finished, you should be able double click it and have the DJVU reader software display it.
The book is almost one hundred years old, but around here, old books mean a lot don't they?
Sir Frazer's theories haven't borne themselves out and have seen their share of criticism, but generally his research and published data seems to have stood the test of time.
May 5, 2008
How Do You Know That Which You Claim to Know?
Ed Babinski sent me a list of books and said, "Simply reading book titles and descriptions is an education in itself, and a reminder that philosophy and religion still appear to raise more questions than answers." I've taken the time to hyperlink some of them below. Anyone who understands the slightest bit of epistemology knows enough not to claim he or she knows too much with any degree of assuredness. Doubt about what we claim to know is a virtue. This is one of the reasons I doubt the Christian claims. Most Christians claim to know what they believe with complete assuredness. Just read their comments here at DC. I have repeatedly made the distinction between claiming to know something and doubting someone's claims. I simply doubt the Christian claims, and the following books could give Christians an insight into why this is reasonable to do...
On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not
A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
The You You Don't Know: Covert Influences on Your Behaviour
Don't Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking
Knowledge and Its Limits
Problems of Knowledge: A Critical Introduction to Epistemology
What We Believe but Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty
Here is Ed's complete list:
On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not by Robert Burton
http://www.amazon.com/Being-Certain-Believing-Right-Youre/dp/0312359209/ref=cm_lmf_tit_8_rsrsrs1
A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives by Cordelia Fine
http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Its-Own-Distorts-Deceives/dp/0393331636/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1EBHU51TMKC3B&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman (Author), Rom Brafman (Author) 'A page-turner of an investigation into how our minds work . . . and trick us. Think you behave rationally? Read this book first. If you think you know how you think, you'd better think again! Take this insightful, delightful trip to the sweet spot where economics, psychology, and sociology converge, and you'll discover how our all-too-human minds actually work.
http://www.amazon.com/Sway-Irresistible-Pull-Irrational-Behavior/dp/0385524382/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IG3HYXXKTL1R4&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Hidden-Forces-Decisions/dp/006135323X/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I13YS4H0IYCY47&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
The You You Don't Know: Covert Influences on Your Behaviour by Webster, Jr. Riggs (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/You-Dont-Know-Influences-Behaviour/dp/1573921165/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1DWXB4P0S0RU1&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life by Sandra Aamodt (Author), Sam Wang (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Your-Brain-Puzzles-Everyday/dp/1596912839/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I9BX8F0U6847Z&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers by Daniel L. Schacter
http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Sins-Memory-Forgets-Remembers/dp/0618219196/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IUAP5JN3OTO94&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Don't Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking by Thomas E. Kida
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Believe-Everything-You-Think/dp/1591024080/ref=cm_lmf_tit_31_rsrsrs1
The Neuroscience of Fair Play: Why We (Usually) Follow the Golden Rule by Donald W. Pfaff (Author), Edward O. Wilson (Foreword) http://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Fair-Play-Usually-Follow/dp/1932594272/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IIFQ3U919F0LT&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God by David J. Linden (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Mind-Evolution-Memory-Dreams/dp/0674024788/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3K1EGC0BMX9GZ&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind
by Gary Marcus
http://www.amazon.com/Kluge-Haphazard-Construction-Human-Mind/dp/0618879641/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IDBMZRL1NRRG2&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves by Sharon Begley (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345479890/ref=reg_hu-wl_mrai-recs
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (James H. Silberman Books) by Norman Doidge (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/0143113100/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2KIHYL8UOMONB&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better by Sandra Blakeslee (Author), Matthew Blakeslee (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Body-Has-Mind-Its-Own/dp/1400064694/ref=pd_sim_b_njs_title_5
Beautiful Minds: The Parallel Lives of Great Apes and Dolphins by Maddalena Bearzi (Author), Craig B. Stanford (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Minds-Parallel-Lives-Dolphins/dp/0674027817/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I34NY8KEPO765A&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
In Search Of The Soul: Four [CHRISTIAN] Views Of The Mind-body Problem by Joel B. Green (Editor), Stuart L. Palmer (Editor), Kevin Corcoran (Editor)
http://www.amazon.com/Search-Soul-Views-Mind-body-Problem/dp/0830827730/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I17B7NCECJXWSC&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind's Hidden Complexities by Gilles Fauconnier (Author), Mark Turner
(Author) Numerous examples are offered to illustrate conceptual blending and to demonstrate how it may play out in different 'conceptual niches.' Blends, which occur constantly without our awareness, are critical for the creation of emergent meanings and 'global insight.' The authors further argue that language surfaced naturally once the capacity for blending had developed to a critical level about 50,000 years ago. This theory requires a language of its own, generating such terms as counterfactual thinking, compression, projection, and vital relations. While skillfully written, the text, like the human mind, is rather complex. Recommended for cognitive science collections in academic libraries. A dazzling tour of the complexities of human imagination.'
http://www.amazon.com/Way-We-Think-Conceptual-Complexities/dp/0465087868/ref=pd_sim_b_njs_title_5
More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor by George Lakoff (Author), Mark Turner (Author) 'In this bold and powerful book, Lakoff and Turner continue their use of metaphor to show how our minds get hold of the world. They have achieved nothing less than a postmodern Understanding Poetry, a new way of reading and teaching that makes poetry again important.'
http://www.amazon.com/More-than-Cool-Reason-Metaphor/dp/0226468127/ref=pd_sim_b_njs_title_4
Philosophy in the Flesh : The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought by George Lakoff (Author), Mark Johnson (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Flesh-Embodied-Challenge-Western/dp/0465056741/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b
The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason by Mark Johnson (Author) 'There are books—few and far between—which carefully, delightfully, and genuinely turn your head inside out. This is one of them. It ranges over some central issues in Western philosophy and begins the long overdue job of giving us a radically new account of meaning, rationality, and objectivity.'
http://www.amazon.com/Body-Mind-Bodily-Meaning-Imagination/dp/0226403181/ref=pd_sim_b_njs_title_3
Neither Gods Nor Beasts
How Science Is Changing Who We Think We Are by Elof Axel Carlson (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Neither-Beasts-Science-Changing-Think/dp/0879697865/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I12NMNQCY0LUR8&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Mind (Contemporary Debates in Philosophy) by Brian McLaughlin (Editor), Jonathan Cohen (Editor) Comprises 20 newly commissioned essays on hotly debated issues in the philosophy of mind. Written by a cast of leading experts in their fields, essays take opposing views on 10 central contemporary debates.
http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Debates-Philosophy-Mind/dp/1405117613/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3N5CZFF3HT8LG&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Knowledge and Its Limits by Timothy Williamson
http://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-Its-Limits-Timothy-Williamson/dp/019925656X/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3PP1V8VTZ98IO&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Beyond the Limits of Thought by Graham Priest (Author) 'Four limits of thought in particular will concern us in the book: the limits of the expressible, the limits of the iterable (the mathematical infinite),...' 'a splendid tour de force, one which should be read by every philosopher...' `highly entertaining and provocative... an engaging and instructive tour through some of the most perplexing features of our own conceptual finitude...' `clever, resourceful, undogmatic, unpretentious, often sensible and usually clear over a wide range of issues'
http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Limits-Thought-Graham-Priest/dp/0199244219/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2YQOOP3SO4VCY&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Labyrinths of Reason: Paradox, Puzzles, and the Frailty of Knowledge by William Poundstone
'a dazzling tour de force' We conceive of and describe the world in ways that usually work just fine, but in the far corners of the labyrinth of reason, our best intentions fold back on themselves, and we end up trapped in an intractable loop or tumbling down a chute of infinite regress. Labyrinths of Reason is a collection of classic philosophical thought experiments and other imponderables that push reason and language to their logical limits. Beyond just idle brainteasers, William Poundstone shows that these mental exercises have profound implications for such fields as cryptography, decision theory, subatomic physics, and computer programming. But most of all, they're good, clean philosophical fun!
http://www.amazon.com/Labyrinths-Reason-Paradox-Puzzles-Knowledge/dp/0385242719/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IXW224Q6Y37HL&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
A Brief History of the Paradox: Philosophy and the Labyrinths of the Mind by Roy Sorensen
http://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Paradox-Philosophy-Labyrinths/dp/0195159039/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IOJHJMQHT3UM4&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
An Introduction to Non-Classical Logic: From If to Is (Cambridge Introductions to Philosophy) [Rev. Expand. 2nd Ed.--May 31, 2008] by Graham Priest (Author) 'Priest succeeds in offering a marvellously unified treatment of 11 varieties of logic: classical, basic modal, normal modal, non-normal, conditional, intuitionist, many-valued, first-degree entailment, basic relevant, mainstream relevant, and fuzzy ... Excellent references support this concise but clear treatment.' 'bound to be the classic on non-classical logics for many years to come.'
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521670268/ref=reg_hu-wl_mrai-recs
Possibilities and Paradox: An Introduction to Modal and Many-Valued Logic (by J. C. Beall (Author), Bas C. van Fraassen (Author) 'A clear, self-contained, unified introduction to a variety of extensions and alternatives to classical logic.'
http://www.amazon.com/Possibilities-Paradox-Introduction-Modal-Many-Valued/dp/0199259879/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b
Logical Pluralism by J. C. Beall (Author), Greg Restall (Author) In this book JC Beall and Greg Restall present and defend what thay call logical pluralism, the view that there is more than one genuine deductive consequence relation, a position which has profound implications for many linguists as well as for philosophers. We should not search
for one true logic, since there are many.
http://www.amazon.com/Logical-Pluralism-J-C-Beall/dp/0199288410/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1I7RI93IOWV8P&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
The Law of Non-Contradiction: New Philosophical Essays by Graham Priest (Editor), J. C. Beall (Editor), Bradley Armour-Garb (Editor)
The Law of Non-Contradiction -- that no contradiction can be true -- has been a seemingly unassailable dogma since the work of Aristotle, in Book G of the Metaphysics. It is an assumption challenged from a variety of angles in this collection of original papers. Twenty-three of the world's
leading experts investigate the 'law,' considering arguments for and against it and discussing methodological issues that arise whenever we question the legitimacy of logical principles. The result is a balanced inquiry into a venerable principle of logic, one that raises questions at the very center of logic itself.
Doubt Truth to Be a Liar by Graham Priest
Defends 'paraconsistent logic' (challenging the law of non-contradiction) which runs against orthodoxy in logic and metaphysics since Aristotle, and has implications for many of the core notions of philosophy. Doubt Truth to Be a Liar explores these implications for truth, rationality, negation, and the nature of logic, and develops further the defense of dialetheism first mounted in Priest's In Contradiction, a second edition of which is also available.
http://www.amazon.com/Doubt-Truth-Liar-Graham-Priest/dp/0199263280/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I14E2BX6LUPT85&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Liars and Heaps: New Essays on Paradox by JC Beall (Editor)
http://www.amazon.com/Liars-Heaps-New-Essays-Paradox/dp/0199264813/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1Q3TM4X94AIHS&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Problems of Knowledge: A Critical Introduction to Epistemology by Michael Williams
http://www.amazon.com/Problems-Knowledge-Critical-Introduction-Epistemology/dp/0192892568/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I6LP9KZGSEXSA&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Vagueness: A Reader by Rosanna Keefe (Editor), Peter Smith (Editor)
http://www.amazon.com/Vagueness-Reader-Rosanna-Keefe/dp/0262611457/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I26G5XOFX03FVS&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Vagueness (Problems of Philosophy) by Timothy Williamson
http://www.amazon.com/Vagueness-Problems-Philosophy-Timothy-Williamson/dp/0415139805/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I95GYC9AXTXMX&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Vagueness and Contradiction by Roy Sorensen (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Vagueness-Contradiction-Roy-Sorensen/dp/019927116X/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3TIVCS3AA7ENY&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Empty Names, Fiction and the Puzzles of Non-Existence (Center for the Study of Language and Information - Lecture Notes) by Anthony Everett (Editor), Thomas Hofweber (Editor) Philosophers and theorists have long been puzzled by humans' ability to talk about things that do not exist, or to talk about things that they think exist but, in fact, do not. Empty Names, Fiction, and the Puzzles of Non-Existence is a collection of 13 new works concerning the semantic and metaphysical issues arising from empty names, non-existence, and the nature of fiction. The contributors include some of the most important researchers working in these fields. Some of the papers develop and defend new positions on these matters, while others offer important new perspectives and criticisms of the existing approaches. The volume contains a comprehensive introductory essay by the editors, which provides a survey of the philosophical issues concerning empty names, the various responses to these issues, and the literature on the subject to date.
http://www.amazon.com/Fiction-Puzzles-Non-Existence-Language-Information/dp/1575862549/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3LXQ2UQYZG6JD&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Holes and Other Superficialities (Bradford Books) by Roberto Casati (Author), Achille C. Varzi (Author) It is wonderful to see how intelligent philosophers can take a modest concept, such as that of the hole, as a starting point for an immense and brilliant exercise.... The writing is delightful. The authors want us to think of absences as full-fledged cognitive entities. The book describes a grand variety of holes -- holes in doughnuts, tunnels through blocks, flowing gaps in regularly-spaced flowerbed, and hundreds more. There are an enormous number of beautifully-rendered illustrations of every imaginable (and often never-before-imagined) type of hole....The overlap with philosophical issues of every sort is marvelous, and the authors have a delightful sense of humor.'
http://www.amazon.com/Holes-Other-Superficialities-Bradford-Books/dp/026253133X/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2AZ0M6FRLNLAC&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
The Shadow Club: The Greatest Mystery in the Universe--Shadows--and the Thinkers Who Unlocked Their Secrets by Roberto Casati (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Club-Greatest-Universe-Shadows-Thinkers/dp/0375407278/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IMA5CFN7CYOB4&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Shadows: Unlocking Their Secrets, from Plato to Our Time by Roberto Casati
http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Unlocking-Their-Secrets-Plato/dp/0375707115/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2YUTAGX9RKI7B&colid=1OBWAFG152ZYS
Science at the Edge: Conversations with the Leading Scientific Thinkers of Today by John Brockman (Editor)
http://www.amazon.com/Science-Edge-Conversations-Scientific-Thinkers/dp/1402754507/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I18WS76VMJ1XUI&colid=34WLYCPYOOKUM
What We Believe but Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty by John Brockman
http://www.amazon.com/What-Believe-but-Cannot-Prove/dp/0060841818/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1P4QVGFHC2QG0&colid=34WLYCPYOOKUM
The Next Fifty Years: Science in the First Half of the Twenty-first Century by John Brockman
http://www.amazon.com/Next-Fifty-Years-Science-Twenty-first/dp/0375713425/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2M4STZF2FOJLI&colid=34WLYCPYOOKUM
Wrestling With Doubt: Theological Reflections on the Journey of Faith by Frank D. Rees
http://www.amazon.com/Wrestling-Doubt-Theological-Reflections-Journey/dp/0814625908/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I152QRSVGEB87V&colid=2CQDBZYQXUFB8
The God Problem by Nigel Leaves
http://www.amazon.com/God-Problem-Nigel-Leaves/dp/0944344984/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1AHT0VXFII8HT&colid=2CQDBZYQXUFB8
God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer
by Bart D. Ehrman (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Problem-Answer-Important-Question-Why/dp/0061173975/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2W065J1YZD1L6&colid=34WLYCPYOOKUM
God, Do You Exist?: The Questions of a Curious Agnostic by Lester C. Graham
http://www.amazon.com/God-Do-You-Exist-Questions/dp/1414079362/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I11HSVCEBA88BJ&colid=34WLYCPYOOKUM
In God We Doubt by John Humphrys
This is not a Dawkins or Hitchens kind of book that believers can fairly attack as one written by a 'Militant Atheist', though the people who use that description have not explained whether they meant it to be used to disapprove of militant atheists as they would religious extremists or whether they are saying it's all right to be a religious extremist but not a militant atheist. Humphrys just asks questions. Intelligent questions that believers and non-believers alike would and should be asking. He takes the neutral ground of an agnostic; he can't prove that there is no god, but he wants religious people to explain and prove what the god is that they are worshipping. His chapter on interviews with a rabbi,a an Anglican Archbishop, and a Muslim academic is worth reading carefully. The reader must judge for himself whether the answers given by these three learned men clarify the religious stand. I suspect most neutral people would be left skeptical.
http://www.amazon.com/God-We-Doubt-John-Humphrys/dp/0340951265/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2ZUCMKYHX4L98&colid=34WLYCPYOOKUM
The Wisdom to Doubt: A Justification of Religious Skepticism by J. L. Schellenberg
http://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Doubt-Justification-Religious-Skepticism/dp/080144554X/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I34IHAFCSS5DK4&colid=34WLYCPYOOKUM
Divine Hiddenness: New Essays Daniel Howard-Snyder (Editor), Paul Moser (Editor)
http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Hiddenness-Essays-Daniel-Howard-Snyder/dp/0521006104/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I28043A3AMFRKM&colid=34WLYCPYOOKUM
Divine Hiddenness And Human Reason (Cornell Studies in the Philosophy of Religion) by J. L. Schellenberg (Author), Zainam Bahrani (Editor), Marc Van De Mieroop (Editor)
http://www.amazon.com/Hiddenness-Cornell-Studies-Philosophy-Religion/dp/0801473462/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IWLCGVV4BS5I0&colid=2CQDBZYQXUFB8
Wrestling with God: The Story of My Life
by Lloyd Geering (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Wrestling-God-Story-My-Life/dp/1845400771/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2OB5W04KAYYDV&colid=2CQDBZYQXUFB8
Honest to God by John A. T. Robinson
http://www.amazon.com/Honest-God-John-T-Robinson/dp/0664224229/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1QSDJ84VMVD0M&colid=2CQDBZYQXUFB8
The Unknown God: Agnostic Essays (Continuum Compact) by Anthony Kenny (Author) For some years, Kenny was a Roman Catholic priest. he lost his faith and resigned from the priesthood. But, as this book demonstrates, he has never been able to let go of God and he continues to struggle with the intellectual problems of theism and the possibility of believing in God, especially in an intellectual climate dominated by Logical Positivism.
http://www.amazon.com/God-Agnostic-Essays-Continuum-Compact/dp/0826476341/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I4NKVBDSM8AUM&colid=DCTP3UDWLVBH
Who Knows?: A Study of Religious Consciousness by Raymond M. Smullyan (Author) From the author: 'Martin Gardner has left us a host of thought-provoking thoughts on religion (as well as other topics) in his book The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, and I would like to share some of my own thoughts that his have provoked.' Philosophy as it should be done. Smullyan's writing and thinking in this book is witty, engaging, and subtle without being pretentious, dogmatic, and overly technical. we are most fortunate that this magician/logician should turn his attention to the greatest puzzles of all: Does God exist, what are God's attributes and can we, or at least some people, know God? Countless volumes have been written on these questions. I have sampled not even an insignificant fraction of such work, but I'd bet good money that you could travel a long way in those jungles before finding a book as lucid and as accessible as 'Who Knows?' Here is a book that manages, in relatively few pages and in a style that is consistently readable, to address provacatively and intelligently some of the central questions that men and women throughout time have pondered.
http://www.amazon.com/Who-Knows-Study-Religious-Consciousness/dp/0253215749/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1QVDKI8GRVNXQ&colid=DCTP3UDWLVBH
Don't be a Dupe!
2005 was a very difficult year for my sister. She was facing a tremendous struggle as she strove to beat drug addiction, the falling out of a relationship, and as usual, unruly bouts of Type-I diabetes. On her way home from work one evening, she saw a well-lit neon sign from the road that read, “Psychic Readings starting at $10.” She stopped and went inside the old, creaky house that had the sign. Sis made it home that day minus $63. A few days pass by and she’s in and out of the house a little more than normal, so on one particular trip out the door, I decide to ask her where she’s headed.
Now crossing brains with her erudite, outspoken atheist brother is not what she has in mind, so she puts off giving a clear answer. “I gotta run an errand. Be back.” This went on for several more days when finally, she burst in the door, sniffling, and with tears in her eyes. I followed her upstairs, and after some prolonged hesitation, she shared with me a tidbit of what had happened—she was duped by the same “madam” charlatan psychic she had begun visiting several days earlier.
Shaking my head in anger, just as I was about to say something chopping and derogatory, she cut me off. With her head still facing the ground in shame, using the side of an index finger to wipe away a stray tear running down her cheek, she said, “I know, I know. I should have known better.” “How much did you lose?” I asked. She said, “$65.” But sis and I know each other too damn well. “Why don’t you tell me how much you really lost?” I said. With gritted teeth, a quivering lip, and embarrassment written all over her face, she said very slowly, “ssssssssix hundred and ninety-two dollars.” I stood there, contemplating how I would reply as I gathered a few more details of how it happened.
This fat-forearmed, spirit-frolicking fraud, this wart-necked, lying lard-ass, toad of a woman found a trusting, vulnerable girl to exploit—and exploit she did! The moment sis entered the room, she was bombarded with, “My, my, the negative energy surrounding you is strong!” From there, it went to “Ah, I see now…a curse has been put upon you by a man and a woman you know.” With some further dressing up, it went from there to the main-course like you knew it would: “I need some money to buy sacred items from Jerusalem so we can begin the ritual and end the curse.” A little butter here, a touch of garlic there, a little dressing down below, and the sale was made! A naïve, unsuspecting person had been stripped of what limited livelihood she had, not realizing the whole scheme was bogus until it was too late. But as much as I’d like to, I can’t really be mad at the psychic! You don’t blame the croc for being a good ambush predator and snatching up the deer that comes to drink from the water’s edge, do you? No, you blame the innocent-but-clueless deer!
I wasn’t the kindest that day. The “I told you so” mentality had me consumed, so much so that I couldn’t resist the urge to say: “Little Miss Bimbo Baggins got taken for a ride, did she? I bet she doesn’t hate the skeptics quite as much now, does she? You got what you deserved, honey!” Before I could say anything else, she looked up at me, and with tears in her eyes and quivering cheeks, screamed, “I’m a trusting person, ok!”
Sis always was a trusting person. She goes through life assuming (a) that people are generally telling the truth and “wouldn’t lie,” (b) that people usually have her best interest at heart, and (c) that the spirits and powers that be are “up there,” looking out for her wellbeing down here. Well, sis got played, and she learned a valuable lesson (I think). But she did deserve to get flimflammed. That’s what happens to “trusting” people.
And hell knows, sis isn’t alone. Many people are taken in Nigeria banking scams, or “get rich quick,” pay-before-you-play programs, like those “work from home” schemes that show a picture on their websites of a young, handsome man sitting in his Porsche, parked out in front a multimillion dollar mansion as his wife sips away at a margarita next to a sparkling-blue, 24-foot, in-ground, swimming pool. Hey, we’ve all been tempted to click on such links occasionally (Come on, now! Don’t deny it!) But just like all that clairvoyant crapola, it’s bullshit made to suck in three classes of pathetic people: the greedy, the gullible, and the stupid. Now the owners of these sites and the perpetrators of these scams, they are the smart ones! They make some pretty mean money in their filthy profession too. And who are their victims?
The elderly are big suckers. They spend their days thinking the world is still a place where the milkman rolls up his sleeves and lays a carton of milk on the doorstep, saying, “G’morning, maam!” before leaving. Then, there are the sheltered suckers. These dupes consist of the young, like children or sheltered people, who’ve lived privileged lives. Some broken-English-speaking, sly fellow, with a ponytail and a yin-yan necklace actually convinces these morons to send their credit card numbers to him in an email to “commid de sum of $2,900,000,000 US doller tu u acount” when in reality, they’re just going to take what’s available in the dupe’s account and get lost on a beach in Maui. And they’ll be saying to themselves, “Stupid Amelwican! Hehehehe!” all the way there!
That just leaves the religious dupes like dear old sis. The religious are the biggest dupes of all. How do you know if you’re a religious dupe? Well, for starters, if you buy prayer shawls or anointing oil from Pastor Hagee’s church, you’re a dupe. If you sit close to the TV during a religious telecast, laying your hands on it in hopes of being healed of whatever ails you, you’re a dupe. If you pray to God to save your child’s life, and God lets your child die, but you keep on praying to him anyways, hoping he will help you through the difficult period of grief to follow, you’re a dupe. If you travel to Lourdes, France to see the famous Lourdes Basilica because 66 healings have been officially recognized by the Catholic Church, or perhaps just because you seek an encounter with The Virgin Mary, yes, (say it with me now) you’re a friggin’ dupe! You get the idea. But religious dupes are even more “duped” than other dupes.
Greedy dupes have their egg-in-face moments and get taken, but from the sting of being played the fool comes a valuable lesson on how not to get taken again! The same lesson is learned by the wet-behind-the-ears chump who started off too innocent and too sheltered in life to know any better. And chances are, even the elderly will learn to be more cautious after being victims of heartless scams. But religious dupes, they are another matter. They never learn because in religion, there’s often no obvious victim. It’s not clear to the believer that they’ve been had, and this motivates the faithful to continue to play that endless, trial-and-error game of “Wheel o’ Prayer.”
When heartfelt prayers fail, the religious dupe keeps on praying. When his business takes a dive financially, the religious dupe keeps on tithing. When Aunt Olga dies of breast cancer, despite the efforts of the “healing ministry” of the local church, the faithful keep on going with the bullheadedness of a flea-ridden mutt, getting zapped by an electric fence. The religious dupe is too stubborn to learn from his or her mistakes and give up what obviously doesn’t work. They choose to persist in the mentally calamitous execution of their insanity—they choose to persist in doing the same things over and over again while expecting to get different results. That’s the textbook definition of insanity, friend! The net result is, the religious dupe rarely ever learns from even the most painful and heartrending of mistakes. Perhaps stubbornness is an unlisted fruit of the Spirit?
Now no one wants to be a dupe, but keeping from becoming one demands that we retain a healthy level of skepticism about absolutely everything—and with skepticism comes another dirty word to some—cynicism. A healthy level of cynicism is necessary too. Even if being a pessimistic, troubleshooting skeptic isn’t your thing, you’d better learn the trick of the trade fast! Yes, people will lie to you about anything, directly or indirectly. No, people very often do not have your best interest at heart. They have their own interests at heart. And no, if the spirits and powers that be are “up there” at all, they certainly aren’t watching out for us down below (or they are, but are doing a terribly suck-ass job of it!)
Using cynical street-smarts, what should our attitude be towards religion of all kinds, including the Christian religion? Christianity is a faith that is 2,000 years old, hailing from a time when men believed in miracles and gods that rise from the dead; knowing what we know of human nature and the all-too-human tendencies to lie, exaggerate, and fall prey to the ignorance of the times in which we live, how can we view the religion as anything but a stupendous fraud of frauds? The handwriting is on the wall! Don’t be religious! Don’t be a dupe!
(JH)
May 3, 2008
May 2, 2008
How to Get a Free Autographed Copy of My Book
See link. Andrew Atkinson said this about it:To me your book is obviously the best single volume in criticism of Christianity on the market. It is just a no contest; I mean really, what even is a close runner up can you think of? There are many good books on Atheism, but there are none that compare to yours when it comes to criticizing Christianity. When people ask me about what books they should read on Christianity, I just tell them to wait for your book, since it is by far the best. The only one that I can think of that is even in the same ball park is Martins Case Against Christianity. But it is a bit too academic for most normal people. Your book is much more accessible, it covers a lot more arguments, it has the best chapter on the problem of evil you can find, it is more interesting to read, it refutes more apologetic arguments then any other book, it addresses more central issues, and you point out all the chinks in the intellectual Christian armor like a champ.
May 1, 2008
The Samaritan Strategy For Skeptics
Atheists, skeptics and freethinkers lack their own kind of Samaritan Strategy...
To people who were aware of Colonel Doner's book, The Samaritan Strategy, which I bought hot of the press in 1988, here is a 1988 summation of it's goals and uses:
The following is from the Origin of the Samaritan Project;Chesapeake, Virginia — Earlier this year, with great fanfare, Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed announced the formation of the Samaritan Project. Ostensibly formed to bring Christian social relief to the inner city, the project, just like the Christian Coalition, was conceived years ago to advance the radical religious right's agenda.
What I'm thinking is that atheists, skeptics and freethinkers can easily adopt this strategy of their own. If we did we could help people and at the same time change perceptions of who we are as people. Is there an atheist organization that sends help to people hurt in areas of our world? I know skeptics give to help, most often through the government the United Way, and Red Cross organizations. But with skeptics being the second largest denomination with a lot of them holding a great deal of money, what about an atheist charity organization complete with volunteers in the name of atheism? That would be a Samaritan strategy for skeptics. It would show people we do care and that we do give, and it would also help to change people's perceptions of us. Can this be done?
When Pat Robertson ran unsuccessfully for president in 1988, Florida physician, Dr. Max Karrer, coordinated Americans for Robertson in that state. At the end of the campaign, the Florida organization was so solid that Karrer and others decided to keep it going, naming the group the Conservative Christian Coalition.
About the same time, a book by political strategist Colonel V. Doner was published by a subsidiary of the Thomas Nelson Co. The book drafted "a new agenda for Christian activism." Doner wrote, "What would a Christian conservative coalition [emphasis added] in power really do about the economy, national defense, nuclear war, hunger, poverty, AIDS, etc?"
Doner rejected the religious right's efforts to capture the White House. Instead, he described a bold new plan to bring the Christian Right into the next century. His 1988 book is called The Samaritan Strategy.
Then, exactly one year later, Pat Robertson launched the Christian Coalition with Ralph Reed at the helm. The Conservative Christian Coalition in Florida became part of the fledgling organization.
The Christian Coalition and the Samaritan Project appear to mirror Colonel Doner's "Christian conservative coalition" and The Samaritan Strategy. Much of the Christian Coalition and Samaritan Project game plan appears in Doner's book. So, it seems reasonable that these movements will play them-selves out in a similar fashion. Doner failed to respond to a request for an interview from the Freedom Writer.
While strong on social action, Doner's Samaritan Strategy advocates the same moral agenda as the Christian Coalition. For example, although Doner takes a sympathetic approach to people with AIDS, he refers to homosexuality as a sin, and calls for gays to be converted to Christianity, thus "liberating" them from homosexuality.
Doner assails abortion in his 1988 book, particularly the procedure widely known today as "partial birth abortion." Now, for the first time, this procedure is close to being outlawed.
"Pornography is not just poor literature," Doner wrote, "It is the fuel for almost unlimited sexual exploitation, sexism, homosexuality, and the rape and molestation of thousands of children." He adds that "soft core" pornography leads to violence, and calls for its elimination.
In conclusion, Doner wrote, "The Samaritan Strategy is the only method that will lead us to the results we desire...we need to urge Christian activists to volunteer their time in the community, meeting its real needs. In ten years, by the beginning of the twenty-first century, it will be Christians who are looked to in the local community for leadership and guidance."
I'm looking for suggestions and people who might want to help. I've got ideas of my own on this.
Apr 30, 2008
National Day of Reason May 1st
See the link. Here are some ways to celebrate it...
Use a Bible as a door stop.
Use a Bible to make a Paper Mache bust of Darwin.
Listen to a skeptical podcast.
Read a chapter or two in a critical thinking textbook.
Enroll in a class on some aspect of science.
Tell someone who does not know, that you’re a skeptic.
Call up all your closest friends and relatives to tell them you’re a skeptic.
Write a letter to the editor about Ben Stein’s movie Expelled.
Become a member in a skeptical group or organization.
Go street witnessing with a copy of Origin of the Species in your hands.
Picket a church with a sign that says: “Smile, there is no Hell.”
Religious Mental Instability and the Will of God
Please God, Help Me!
One of the things I’ve noticed after 30 years as a Christian and a minister is the number of mentally ill people who desperately depend on the Biblical promises and myths to give their life meaning. When my high school psychology class visited the state metal hospital, I remember seeing many of the patients with Bibles and one patient grabbing hold of my arm and telling how wonderful Jesus had been to him. Before I graduated, I knew a boy name Rusty J. who, as a Baptist, would have wide mood swings from one month, trying to save every student in the school, to the next month cussing like a drunken sailor and picking fights.
Mentally instable people who are charismatic cult leaders have caused true believers to murder as well as commit mass suicide. A example of the former was the 1969 murders of 7 people in by the Charles Manson “family” based on his reading of the book of Revelation mixed with the Beatle’s song Helter Skelter to create a theology Manson construed to being the end times with an apocalyptic race war that the murders were intended to precipitate leaving Manson and his “family” to lead the new world order.
But the Bibles has given the mentally ill illusions of messianic grandeur, be it Jim Jones founder of the Peoples Temple who (full of drugs and Biblical ideals) lead 913 people including 276 child into his view of Heaven where all the believers would be waiting after everyone left this evil world with strychnine laced Kool-Aid.
Then there is the mental messianic figure of David Koresh whose 1993 understanding of Daniel and Revelation drawn from his theology rooted in Branch Davidian Biblical hermeneutics convinced 76 people (17 of which were held under the age of 12) were either forced to stay (the children) or stayed freely in a Biblical apocalyptic and prophetic end to history in Waco, Texas.
In 1997 a San Diego, Calf. Heaven's Gate Cult lead by Marshall Applewhite got ready to ride to Heaven in a space ship coming to get them behind the Comet Hale-Boop since, Applewood claimed that it was the “Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled”. They purified themselves in the food they ate and six male members had even castrated themselves (Matt. 19: 12). Wikipedia states: “In preparing to kill themselves, members of the group drank citrus juices to ritually cleanse their bodies of impurities. The suicide was accomplished by ingestion of Phenobarbital mixed with vodka, along with plastic bags secured around their heads to induce asphyxiation. They were found lying neatly in their own bunk beds, with their faces and torsos covered by a square, purple cloth. Each member carried five dollars in quarters in their pockets. All 39 were dressed in identical black shirts and sweat pants, brand new black-and-white Nike tennis shoes, and armband patches reading "Heaven's Gate Away Team." The suicides were conducted in shifts, and the remaining members of the group cleaned up after each prior group's death.”
While group suicide cults have often held the news headlines, personal religious mental illness has left its mark too. Such was the case of a 1982 high school valedictorian Andrea Yates, who, in June 2001 killed all five of her children by drowning the in a bathtub explained her “Christian action” to her jail psychiatrist, "It was the seventh deadly sin. My children weren't righteous. They stumbled because I was evil. The way I was raising them, they could never be saved. They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell."(Wikipedia)
Just to night on the new here in South Carolina, a Florence 18 year old high school youth “Schallenberger was arrested April 19. Authorities say he bought materials to make several bombs and had written a journal detailing his plans to attack Chesterfield High School. The teen faces several state and federal charges, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. That charge carries a possible life sentence if he is convicted.” (The Greenville News). When asked why he was planning to kill his classmates, he said so he could go to Heaven, stand before Jesus at the judgment at which time he would kill Jesus also.
While the Bible can inspired everything form Holy Rollers to Mountain Snakes Handlers to Faith Healers to Satan Worshipers, it has a very profound affect on the mentally unstable. It is at just such a juncture that the freedom to worship as one’s conscience dictates can mean the difference between life and death, not only for the cults true believer, but for innocence adults and children as well.
Apr 29, 2008
Genesis 1:1-25 Is An Amalgam of Near Eastern Creation Myths
This Article covers Genesis 1:1-25 and compares it to older pre-existing Near Eastern creation myths of the universe and earth.
Using the principle that the greater civilization influences the lesser, this series of articles intends to falsify the claim that the Torah was given to moses by God and to show how syncretism(1) blended folklore(2) in the Ancient Near East and South-Southwest Asia as a result of the interconnectedness of the Ancients which was discussed in the first article of this series Interconnectedness of the Ancients(3).
This article begins with some historical background information intended to show that key elements of Hebrew scripture existed in several areas of the Near East and Southwest Asia prior to being Incorporated into scripture. Once the background information has been presented, it uses Genesis 1:1-25 as its point of reference. Because the focus of this article is the book of Genesis, it overlooks many similarities between the Egyptian(4), Mesopotamian(5) and Hindu(6) religions that are not incorporated into Judaism(7), and it overlooks aspects of the other religions that share concepts with Christianity(8) which came much later. It is my assertion that the more popular religions in the Near East borrowed from each other.
BACKGROUND: SOME IMPORTANT CIVILIZATIONS AND EVENTS
A list of Important Civilizations and events follows. I could not list all of the most important ones (such as the city-states) because I wanted to keep the article as short as possible. I tried to make a "snapshot" estimation of the positions of the largest civilizations to each other on the map. I recommend you scroll down and open the map at the bottom of the article in another window so you can reference it as you follow along. The map is meant to represent "initial conditions" of the LARGEST civilizations at the start of the second millennium and ignore the smaller nomadic, mountain and Arabian tribes present in the area. For example, the Persians lived in the mountains of Iran as early as 3000 BCE but they weren't organized to any significance.
* 8000 - 500 BCE - Vedic Religion in the Indus Valley
* 5000 - 300 BCE - Mesopotamia
* 4000 BCE - Estimation of the creation of the world as calculated according to Hebrew Scripture.(39)
* 4300-3300 BCE - Southern Levant, Canaan. The Ghassulian period created the basis of the Mediterranean economy which has characterised the area ever since. This region was also the natural battleground for the great powers of the region and subject to domination by adjacent empires, beginning with Egypt in the late 3rd millennium (3000-2000) BCE. Although Neanderthals (from 200,000 BCE) and Homo Sapiens Sapiens (from as early as 75,000 BCE) occupied the same territory for thousands of years, it can't be classified as a civilization.(11)
* 3650 - 1100 BCE - Minoans (9)
* 3500 - 2000 BCE Sumer
* 3100 BCE Egyptian and Sumerian Languages develop.(18)
* 3150 - 31 BCE - Egypt and their Myths
* 3000 - 1500 BCE - Indus Valley (10)
* 2400 - 612 BCE - Assyria
* 2350 BCE - Traditional date for the global flood
* 2300 - 2100 BCE - Akkadian
* 2300 - 1000 BCE - Indo-Iranians, Andronovo (12)
* 2250 BCE - Traditional date for the tower of Babel and the catalyst for the differentiation of all the languages of the world.
* 1959 - 1659 BCE Babylonia
* 1920 BCE - Traditional date for when Abraham was approached by God.
* 1750 - 1180 BCE - Hittites (13)
* 1700 - Enuma Elish created
* 1550 - 1060 BCE - Mycenaean (14)
* 1550 - 1450 BCE - Moses traditionally thought to have lived
* 1500 - Exodus?
* 1150 - 1020 BCE David traditionally believed to have lived.
* 900 BCE - According to the Documentary Hypothesis, thought to be when the Jawist scriptures were written.
* 700 BCE to 1935 CE - Persia until it became Iran. (15)
- During the Second Millennium, when Abraham showed up, the Near East was a busy place. Here is a proposed map of 1300 BCE I presume done by a historian of sorts.(17). In The Second Millennium Indo-Aryans migrated into the the Indus valley(19). They brought with them the Sanskrit language and the Vedas. The Hindus up until the the Buddha (between 500-400 BCE) were very ethnocentric and concerned with ritual cleanliness. Only the priests knew the scriptures, they were called Brahmins, and were the source of this ethnocentrism. Their culture was more pastoral, less violent. I mention this because I notice many similarities between Hinduism, Judaism and Christianity and because to get to Mesopotamia from the Indus Valley, it would only take a little over a month of traveling along the coast on a raft. There has been discussion for over a century about the Hindu Origin of the Abrahamic religions(42).
OBVIOUS INCONSISTENCIES BETWEEN HISTORY AND THE BIBLE
- The Agricultural revolution was already underway in Mesopotamia when scripture says the world was created and human beings had already spread all over the world, even to the Polynesian Islands.
- Commerce and exploration by sea was already underway by the time of the Global Flood. Sea worthy ships capable of carrying cargo already existed and probably could have carried a crew with enough supplies to last a little over a month (or up to 40 days).
- There were already a multitude of languages by the time the Tower of Babel was destroyed.
BACKGROUND: TRAVEL TIME BY SEA VIA COAST OR OPEN SEA
Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian explorer, set out to test his theory that South Americans had populated Polynesia using rafts(20). He was investigating reports from Spanish explorers to Peru that had been told legends about a "white race" that had been routed and escaped to the west on rafts. Heyerdahl theorized that they wound up in Polynesia and settled there. He made a raft to second millennium specifications which he named Kon-Tiki, set sail and after a 101 day, 4,300 mile (7,000 km) journey across the Pacific Ocean, Kon-Tiki smashed into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands on August 7, 1947. Using Kon-Tiki's voyage as a baseline, 43 miles a day or roughly two miles an hour, comes out to about 1.5 knots an hour. To get from Oman to the Indus Valley which is 439 miles at 1.5 knots would be 12.19 days open ocean (http://www.dataloy.com/).
It would take a little over a month or up to 40 days to go from the Indus Valley to Mesopotamia.
Persian Gulf properties(21)
* Max length - 989 km
* Max width - 56km
* Average depth - 50m
* Max depth - 90m
Gulf of Oman(22)
* Width: ~230 mi (370 km),
* Length: ~340 mi (545 km) long.
It connects with the Persian Gulf through the shallow Strait of Hormuz.
It would take a little over a month or up to 40 days to go from the lower Red Sea to the upper red sea.
Red Sea Properties(23)
* Length: ~2,250 km (1,398.1 mi) - 79% of the eastern Red Sea with numerous coastal inlets
* Maximum Width: ~ 306–355 km (190–220 mi)– Massawa (Eritrea)
* Minimum Width: ~ 26–29 km (16–18 mi)- Bab el Mandeb Strait (Yemen)
* Average Width: ~ 280 km (174.0 mi)
* Average Depth: ~ 490 m (1,607.6 ft)
* Maximum Depth: ~2,211 m (7,253.9 ft)
And using the length of the Red Sea as a standard, and a ruler, you can see for yourself that the distance from the coast of Africa to the Indus Valley would take a little over a month or up to 40 days.
And by the same standard, to get from Mycenea to Canaan, would be 15-20 days.
NEAR EASTERN CREATION MYTHS
A list of common themes in Near Eastern and South-Southwest Asian creation myths(24) follows.
1. Some Gods pre-exist, or self-create.
2. Creation is done by acting on some sort of primordial matter, in a state of chaos, which is often represented by the Sea. The Sea is big, uncertain, frightening, unmanageable, destructive and a source of chaos.
3. Creation is done through conflict, between god and chaos where chaos is represented as some sort of sea monster. The God kills the chaos monster uses the body of the monster to create the ordered cosmos. The God and the chaos monster exist before everything else. In the Old Testament in Job(25), a Leviathan(26) is discussed and it is a sea monster which God can and does overpower.
4. Creation is the result of a Sexual act. Gods in human form have sex and make other gods. Sometimes Gods have sex with Humans.This type of thing happens in Greek and Egyptian mythology. In the Enuma Elish(27,28), Gilgamesh was part God part human, and went on to be king. It turns out there was Historical Gilgamesh. Obviously the kings name was inserted in the story to Legitimate him. In the old testament we have mention of the Heroes of old (Nephilum)(29) that were the result of supernatural beings mating with human women.
5. Creation is the result of spoken word identifying and controlling the essence. It requires only a single god. In ancient languages, breath, wind and spirit were conveyed by single word. In Hebrew scriptures god spoke the universe into existence, breathing out a word giving it spirit, giving it life. In Greek, the Logos existed prior to all things and in Hindu, the God spoke the Universe into existence with the word AUM(33).
Egyptian Creation stories seem to be indigenous to a City or Region. They can be found in books about creation myths or online(41). Because of their age, they have been modified to fit the culture that used them and are frequently contradictory. The best known Mesopotamian creation story comes from the Enuma Elish(27,28) of which versions have been found in Canaan, and in modern day Iraq and was very well known in that area. Variations of portions have been found in many more places. Hindu Creation Stories come from the Vedas and were evidently a composite of pre-existing Indus Valley civilization and immigrant Central Asian people commonly known as the Aryans. Hindu scriptures (Vedas) are so old that they have been modified as they were used by groups and therefore are sometimes contradictory.
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT DATES IN NEAR EAST RELIGION
* 8000 - 500 BCE - Vedic Religion in the Indus Valley
* 3150 - 31 BCE - Egypt and their Myths
* 1700 - Enuma Elish created
* 1550 - 1450 BCE - Moses traditionally thought to have lived, creation of the the Torah.
GENESIS 1:1-25
* Egypt - Some Gods like Atum(30), Ptah(31), Amun(32) pre-existed.
-- Amun was believed to be not only king of the gods but also the divine essence found in all gods.
-- Amun is understood as “self-generated,” active in creation as the impulse of creative energy prompting the Ogdoad (a group of four pairs of gods and goddesses) into action.
* Hindu - The God Vishnu was pre-existant, grew a lotus flower from his belly and from that was born the God Brahma who created the other Gods.
* Mesopotamia - Enuma Elish begins with three uncreated Gods, the God Apsu, his consort Tiamat, and Mummu.
* Jewish - God pre-existed or was self-created1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
* The Universe and Earth were created by the Gods acting on some primordial matter, in a state of chaos. Common representations of Evil were the dark, chaos, and the sea because of its unmanageable nature, it potential for destruction, the fact that salt water wasn't drinkable and the Hebrews weren't sea faring people so they didn't understand the fundamental characteristics of the sea. Breath, wind and spirit were conveyed by a single word.
* Egyptian - Amun created the Ogdoad and they were the agents of creation. The Ogdoad existed initially as entities within the primordial sea.
-- Before creation Nun (Primordial chaotic waters) already existed as a principle of chaos.
* Hindu - The Golden Seed incubated on the waters of chaos
* Mesopotamian - Tiamat is a body of water, the bitter sea waters that support the earth.
-- Like the waters of the abyss, Tiamat is formless and exerts power without purpose.2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
* Egyptian- Ptah was worshiped from the early dynastic era, but his role as the patron of artisans (for example, carpenters, woodworkers) came later. Ptah creates by speaking a word, giving spirit to a divine idea and “breathing” it into being.
* Hindu - Some Hindus believe that the universe created from Sound. The sound was AUM(33). Each letter is the sound of a God. It is the sound of the three foundational gods, the Trimurti(40), ("The Great Trinity" Brahma(34), Shiva(35) and Vishnu(36)) as One. Three gods make up one which is similar to the Christian idea of the Trinity. In reading the Vedas, ancient Hindu scripture, it is customary to start with the word AUM and end with the world AUM. Similar to the Christian word and usage of Amen. Sound is very important to the Hindu gods. Similar to Logos, it regulates moral order, ritual, morality. Sound and Ritual ceremony was connected to the cosmic structure, morality and moral activity. The Vedas(37), were a collections of prayers, wisdom literature (but not stories like the Old Testament) that could only be handled by Brahmin(38) (Priests) and were thought to be lethal to non-priests. The ears of a non-priest would burn if they came in contact with their sounds. In the beginning, it was considered heresy to try to capture the Vedas in writing, however, the influx of outsiders and the potential for their corruption caused someone to write them down. The Vedas were not written down until around 600 BCE and not translated into English until the 18th or 19th centuries.3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
And now we have the ordering and organization of things which follows closely the order or creation in the Enuma Elish.4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
* Egyptian - A few myths cover this in different ways. Geb and Nut were separated to make the earth and the sky.
* Hindu - They have few myths that cover this it different ways. The golden egg separated and each have half made the the earth and the sky. Or one of the Gods bodies was sacrificed (concept similar to Mesopotamian god that was killed to make people and the Christ that was sacrificed for the benefit of humans) and divided up to make the earth, cosmos and people.
* Mesopotamian - Finally, Marduk smashes Tiamat’s (waters of Chaos) head and splits her body in two to form the heavens and earth.6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water."
7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so.
8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
Egyptian - In the midst of Nun, Atum stood on the Benben, a primeval pyramidical hill that arose out of the waters9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so.
10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.
At this point (Genesis 11-25) God created the rest of the vegetation, animals, sun, moon, and Man. The Hebrew scriptures diverge with the Egyptian and Mesopotamian gods and their more violent, less nurturing natures. The Hebrew God is more like the Hindu gods in that he is more part of the creation, has created the cosmos for humans, however the Hebrew god is not as much a part of creation as the Hindu Gods.
Myths are a reflection of the culture they belong to. The remarkable thing about the Indus Valley Civilizations are the lack of weapons relative to Mesopotamia and Egypt. They seem to be a more peaceful people. In the Egyptian and Mesopotamian myths man is created as lowly, flawed, subservient and savage by design. The creation of Humans will be covered in the next article.
CREATION MYTHS OF CONFLICT EMBEDDED IN THE BIBLE
In Job, Isaiah and Psalms there are characteristic elements of the conflict type of Creation story embedded. Since there is evidence of water-borne trade starting around 4000 BCE, It seems that sailors saw whales and relayed information about them that made their way into creation myths. The description in Job is similar to characteristics of commercial whaling. The description in Isaiah and Psalm 74:14 is more similar to creation myths, and Psalm 104:26 seems to describe a whale.
* Book of Job 3:8 "May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan "; NIV
* Book of Job 41
* Isaiah 27:1: "In that day,
the LORD will punish with his sword,
his fierce, great and powerful sword,
Leviathan the gliding serpent,
Leviathan the coiling serpent;
he will slay the monster of the sea." NIV
* Psalms 74:14: It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert. NIV
* Psalms 104:26: 26 There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. NIV
This brings us to the creation of Man in Genesis 1:26.
To be continued......
"Snapshot" of Ancient Civilizations in the second millennium (2000 - 1000 BCE)
Land and Sea routes between the Civilizations
Quick Reference to material in the sources. For the Quick References, Wikipedia is used liberally because while academics don't consider Wikipedia definitive or acceptable as a source they do consider it generally good enough for quick reference. Please do not confuse quick references with the sources. The sources are where the majority of information came from.
1. Syncretism
2. Folklore
3. interconnectedness of the Ancients
4. Ancient Egypt
5. Mesopotamia
6. Hinduism
7. Judaism
8. Christianity
9. Minoans
10. Indus Valley Civilization
11. Southern Levant
12. Indo-Iranians
13. Hittites
14. Myceneans
15. Persia
16. Abraham
17. Eastern Hemisphere 1300BCE
18. List of Languages by first written accounts.
19. Indo-Aryan Migration
20. Thor Heyerdahl; Kon-Tiki
21. Persian Gulf
22. Gulf of Oman
23. Red Sea
24. Common Themes in Creation Myths
25. Job
26. Leviathan
27. Enuma Elish
28. Enuma Elish Text
29. Nephilum
30. Atum
31. Ptah
32. Amun
33. AUM
34. Brahma
35. Shiva
36. Vishnu
37. Vedas
38. Brahmin
39. Blue Letter Bible Chrono-Genealogical Table
40. Trimurti
41. Egyptian Myths
42. Hindu Origins of Abrahamic Religions
Sources
1. Human Prehistory and First Civilizations, The Teaching Company
2. Great World Religions: The Religions of India, The Teaching Company
3. Great World Religions: Hinduism (2nd Edition), The Teaching Company
4. Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World, The Teaching Company
5. Ancient Near Eastern Mythology, The Teaching Company
6. The Book of Genesis, The Teaching Company
7. Great Figures of the Old Testament, The Teaching Company.
8. History 4A_ The Ancient Mediterranean World - Fall 2007, University of Berkeley
8. The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers
9. Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality, 2nd Edition, The Teaching Company
RELATED INFORMATION
Joseph Campbell books on Amazon
The Early History of God, Mark Smith
Ancient Ships
* Maritime history - Wikipedia, the free encyclop...
* ancient ships
* Archaeology team helps find oldest deep-sea shipwrecks | HarvardScience
* Ancient Egypt: Ships and Boats
* Ancient Phoenician Ships, Boats and Sea Trade
* early ways of navigating sea
Whale information
* Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries
Monsoons
* Monsoon African Connections: An ... - Google Bo...
* 538bc monsoon
Ancient History
* Ancient history
* First dynasty of Egypt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ancient Prehistory
* archaeolink.com archaeology, anthropology, social studies, general knowledge
* Evolution of Modern Humans: Early Modern Homo sapiens
* Hominid Species
Behavior
* Novelty Seeking Study
* NOVELTY SEEKING e-Review of Tourism Research
Interconnectedness of the Ancients
* Early Modern Homo sapiens
* Prisoners Dilemma
* Sea Level
* Monsoon Winds
* Ancient Sea Exploration
* Second Millenium shipwreck
* Whales Arabian Gulf
* Whales Turkey and Greece
* Whales Coast of Oman
* Leviathan
* Syncretism
* Creation Myths
Foundational Study, recommended reading
Cognition
- Influence: Science and Practice (4th Edition) by Cialdini, Robert
- Persuasion: Theory and Research (Current Communication) by O'Keefe, Daniel J.
- How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age by Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn
- Innumeracy : Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Social Consequences by John Allen Paulos
- Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (Popular Science) by Martin Gardener
- Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer
- Historians' Fallacies : Toward a Logic of Historical Thought by David H. Fischer
- Conquering Deception by Nance, Jef
- General Psychology course from Berkeley
- Self and Society by John P Hewitt
- How We Know What Isn't So by Gilovich, Thomas
Christianity
- Evidence that Demands a Verdict Vol. 1 by Josh McDowell
- Evidence that Demands a Verdict Vol. 2 by Josh McDowell
- More Than A Carpenter by Josh McDowell
- Biblical Errancy: A Reference Guide by C. Dennis McKinsey
- Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions & Healing Cures by Joe Nickell
- Mysterious Realms: Probing Paranormal, Historical, and Forensic Enigmas by Joe Nickell and John F. Fischer
Folklore
- Folklore in the Old Testament by Frazer by James George
- Gospel Fictions by Helms, Randel
- Holy Writ as Oral Lit : The Bible as Folklore by Dundes, Alan
- Old Testament Parallels (Fully Expanded and Revised) by Victor H. Matthews and Don C. Benjamin
- Don't Know Much About Mythology by Kenneth C. Davis
History
- The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin by Neil Asher Silberman and Israel Finkelstein
- The Bible with Sources Revealed by Friedman, Richard E.
- The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel by Mark S. Smith
- The Historical Jesus & the Mythical Christ by Massey, Gerald
- The Secret Origins of the Bible by Tim Callahan
