On August 29th, 1984, Austrian Josef Fritzl drugged his eighteen- year-old daughter Elisabeth and imprisoned her in a secret dungeon beneath his home. Over the next twenty-four years, he physically and sexually abused her. Repeated rapes resulted in one miscarriage and the birth of seven children. The details of this nightmarish and horrific story can be read here. The indomitable human spirit and will to survive, under the most extreme circumstances is truly amazing. When one of her daughters became ill and had to be hospitalized, Elisabeth managed to convince her father to allow her out of her subterranean prison. Shortly thereafter, the truth was uncovered and Josef was arrested.
Johnnie Moore, vice president at Liberty University, writes of how he astounded his colleagues by suggesting that Jesus may have stopped to take a crap by the side of the road, on the way to Jerusalem. Granted, he didn’t use the word ‘crap’ but more provocatively, he also posited that Jesus may even have suffered the ravages of diarrhea. His article goes on to point out that Christians often don’t think of Jesus as fully human. I would heartily agree.
Now I suppose that Professor Moore’s musings might seem edgy and possibly even blasphemous to the average evangelical fundamentalist, but I would like to suggest that he is playing it way too safe.
Look, debates are all well and good, but being such fervent supporters of the Bible as the Inspired Word of God, why not settle things the good, old-fashioned biblical way?
Since becoming an atheist, one of things that I hear over and over from Christians is that I now have no basis for morality because morality only comes from their god and their Bible. They claim ownership of true, unchanging morality and yet the Bible they revere sends conflicting messages. Consider these examples:
The way that Christians are willing to ignore all the horrible aspects
of their god's character and actions (as reported in the Bible), and blissfully cozy
up to him reminds me of how Dennis Rodman likes hanging out with
sadistic North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un. It kind of makes you want
to shake him and say "What the hell are you thinking?!"
I guess for Christians, the perceived benefits of being buddies with a powerful psychopath outweigh the negatives. Written by J. M. Green
In this video, we witness a host organism (the priest) whose infection with the God Virus has progressed to an extreme state. He is performing a wedding ceremony for two living, breathing, human beings, but all he can think about is how offended his Invisible Friend must be by the photographers who are documenting the wedding.
“This is not about the photography, this is about God.”
Uhhh, no Reverend Douchebag. This is about the couple getting married, and their happiness. They hired the photographers that you are trying to run off, to capture memories of what should have been one of the happiest moments of their lives.
In this installment, dear Christian, let’s look at the role of doubt, with regard to religion and truth. Most religions have sacred books or traditions. These books make claims about all sorts of things – the origins of the world, prescriptions for daily living, and promises and threats about a supposed afterlife. The more fundamentalist the religion, the more demands it places on the believer’s mind and life. Often, fundamentalist faiths seek to impose these view by force of law, for example the Taliban and Sharia law, or religious conservatives in the U.S. who want to impose legal penalties for those who violate their beliefs or ‘offend’ their god.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31 (NIV)
Nice try Jesus*. I suppose you meant this little ‘gem’ to be comforting, but I have to say it fails badly. This is just the sort of ridiculous, crappy platitudes that many of your followers spout whenever bad things happen.
Matthew Hagee is the Executive Pastor of 19,000 member Cornerstone Church. He is also a skilled practitioner of Christian mind games.
Here is a one-minute video clip in which a viewer asks Hagee a question about praying for healing. Watch his answer, and then we’ll dissect the mind games which he employs.
Existential bleakness runs deep in HBO’s excellent new Louisiana noir
crime drama, where damaged cops investigate a murder marked by cultic
overtones.I found this scene
to be fascinating, between a cop who believes that religion is useful
and necessary, and one who thinks that “If the common good’s gotta make
up fairy tales, then it’s not good for anybody.” (NSFW language throughout.)
Great back-and-forth verbal jousting between the two viewpoints.You will have had these conversations many times with believers.
“If the only thing keeping a person decent is the expectation of divine reward, then brother, that person is a piece of shit.”
“What’s it say about life… Hmm?You gotta get together to tell yourself stories that violate every law of the universe, just to get through the goddamn day.What’s that say about your reality, Marty?”
Nearly two thousand years ago, Christians were faced with a problem. Their beloved Jesus had said things indicating that he would return within their lifetime and set up his earthly kingdom (Matthew 16:27-28, Mark 9:1, Matthew 24:33-34). The apostles also taught this (James 5:7-8, 1 Peter 4:7, Revelation 22:12), with Paul even denigrating marriage because the end was so near (1 Corinthians 7:25-31). The trouble was that with each year that passed, just like Lindsay Lohan with a court date - Jesus was a no-show. As history has shown with apocalyptic cults and numerous failed Rapture predictions, most believers don’t lose faith when the return of Jesus fails to occur – they just find a way to rationalize, and push it into the nebulous future.
The pseudonymous author of 2 Peter (writing decades after the crucifixion) was acutely aware of the problem of the absentee Jesus, and helpfully offered this biblical nonsense as an explanation:
My years in a variety of fundamentalist Christian churches taught me something: despite all claims to the contrary, these Christians do not really believe that their faith would survive if you took it off of life support.
Believers claim to have the spirit of the all-powerful creator of the universe indwelling and empowering them as “new creations in Christ.” Purportedly, the Bible is the living, powerful word of God – “sharper than any two-edged sword.” The believer’s faith is said to be a shield, able to “quench all the fiery darts of the enemy.” And yet…
It's that special time of year when the forces of darkness and sugary excess are unleashed upon the U.S. and other countries which celebrate Halloween. Although this holiday's pagan roots run deep, it also has direct ties to the Christian feast of All Hallow's Day, and I must say that I am a bit disappointed that my Christian Facebook friends are not busily posting "Keep Christ in Halloween" memes on their status updates.
I would also like to take this opportunity to remind our Christian friends (and enemies) that the fact that we do not believe in their imaginary god also means we do not believe in - or worship - his fictional arch-enemy.
For those who have never delved into how the Satan character evolves in the biblical writings (and how Christianity borrows from other religions to build its concept of Satan), I am linking to several videos. I would also recommend the book The Birth of Satan: Tracing the Devil's Biblical Roots by T. J. Wray and Gregory Moberly. It is a fast read, entertaining, and gives a good popular-level coverage of the topic.
And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3
Well Jesus, this was silly because you revealed too much (kind of like a magician telling how he does his tricks). A childlike mentality, and childhood conversions are the fuel on which Christianity runs.
Kids are trusting, uninformed about life, and unskilled in the art of reason. The line between fantasy and reality is blurred for children. It’s not unusual for them to have invisible friends, which makes them perfect victims for spiritual salesmen!
“First, what does it mean to win or lose an
argument? There is an unspoken belief in some quarters that the point of an
argument is to gain social status by utterly demolishing your opponent's
position, thus proving yourself the better thinker. That can be fun sometimes,
and if it's really all you want, go for it.But the most
important reason to argue with someone is to change his mind. If you want a
world without fundamentalist religion, you're never going to get there just by
making cutting and incisive critiques of fundamentalism that all your friends
agree sound really smart. You've got to deconvert some actual fundamentalists.
In the absence of changing someone's mind, you can at least get them to see
your point of view. Getting fundamentalists to understand thereal
reasonspeople
find atheism attractive is a nice consolation prize.”
This is
really what we want – right? Changing
minds when possible, and at least clearing up misconceptions about atheists.
Later in the
article, the author says:
“If you believe morality is impossible without God, you
have a strong disincentive to become an atheist. Even after you've realized
which way the evidence points, you'll activate every possible defense mechanism
for your religious beliefs.If all the defense
mechanisms fail, you'll take God on utter faith or justbelieve
in belief,
rather than surrender to the unbearable position of an immoral universe.
Yesterday, as the devastating tornado ripped a path of destruction through Moore, Oklahoma, I watched the storm play out through the Facebook status updates of a friend who lived in the area. This friend is a Christian, and her response is similar to that of many believers in the face of such an event. Earlier in the day she posted:
“Praying the storms won’t hit.”
Then, as it became evident that this prayer was unanswered,
“Hang on, my friends.”
Followed by a Bible verse:
"Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. 1 Peter 5:7”
Next status:
“We are in a safe shelter. Praying for all those in the path in the storm. Jesus, protect us!”
Then:
“Lord, we beg your mercies upon us. Praying for the two schools that were hit. Please keep the children & teachers safe.”
The Southern Baptist Convention, under the leadership of Rev. Fred Luter Jr. just voted to officially condemn the policy of the Boy Scouts of America, which now allows the participation of gay Scouts. They will seek the removal of executive and board members of the Boy Scouts who tried to allow gay members without first consulting religious groups. They affirm support for churches which decide to drop ties with the Boy Scouts..
The irony in all of this? The Southern Baptist denomination formed as a pro-slavery breakaway from American Baptists, in 1845. In 2012, they tried to atone for their racist past by electing Fred Luter - a black man - as their leader. And now, under his leadership, they vote overwhelmingly to support bigotry against gays. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up!
Right Wing radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh likes to refer to himself a “talent on loan from God”. He will be today’s exhibit of how beliefs have consequences, and how religious beliefs can cause harm .
On the subject of human-caused global warming, Rush (who has millions of listeners) has said:
"If you believe in God, then intellectually you cannot believe in man-made global warming. You must be agnostic or atheistic to believe that man controls something he can't create. It’s always been one of the reasons for my anti man-made global warming stance."
The purpose of this blog post is not to generate arguments over global warming. I merely offer the Limbaugh quote as an example of how a religious belief can drive irresponsible and dangerous attitudes which could have far-reaching implications for the planet.
Behind all the furor over gay marriage, there seems to be the underlying belief by fundamentalists, and the preachers and pundits of the Religious Right, that the purpose of marriage is this: To be a method of funneling men and women together into a government-backed monogamous, lifetime child-production alliance. They also contend that Traditional Marriage™ is in a weakened state and needs to be protected and propped up by the government, since the future of society, our country, and indeed perhaps civilization itself could be threatened if gay marriage becomes a legally-recognized union. Traditional marriage does seem to be in trouble, and in light of this, I would like to present a solution which addresses all the important root causes. If you are a literal-minded Christian, please stop reading immediately, get a dictionary, and look up the word ‘satire’ before proceeding.
