Our poor friends the persecuted Christians are up in arms all over the country, battling to keep Nativity scenes on public property. Bless their hearts.
They've taken a very simple concept - that governments can't endorse any particular religion - and turned it on its ear. All they have to say is that part of their particular religion involves being free to share their message in public places, and that if they are prevented from doing that then they do not have the freedom of religion guaranteed in our Constitution.
It's kind of brilliant in its simplicity. Say that your religion requires you to pray in school, or see a statue of the Ten Commandments in your courthouse, or see a Nativity on the courthouse lawn, then the rest of us have to let you do it, right, or you are being denied the right to practice your religion?
Bullshit. Or maybe it's not. Maybe I should say that if your religion does, indeed, require you to share it in public places, then yes, I am proposing that we deny you the right to exercise that particular belief. Is that shocking? I also deny you permission to fly planes into buildings full of innocent people. You can't just get carte blanche permission to do whatever the hell you want because it's your religion. We all have to live together.
So the atheists are usually the bad guys in these courthouse Nativity battles, but a town in Connecticut solved their problem very simply, in a way that both allows Christians to see the Nativity when downtown and keeps religion off public spaces:
Creche Clash Averted
They simply moved the Nativity to the lawn of The First United Methodist Church. Now they can accompany the Nativity with hymns, Bible readings, prayers, whatever they want.
See how easy that was?
Monday, December 5, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
The Imaginary War on Christmas
It's that time of year again, when our facebook pages are awash in outrage over people not being "allowed" to say Merry Christmas.
Yawn.
Can we get real for a minute? Why do you think you aren't allowed to say Merry Christmas? You are totally "allowed" to say Merry Christmas, or Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Kwanzaa, Ashura, Bodhi Day, St Lucia Day or Boxing Day.
So why have so many big retailers left Christmas behind in favor of Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings? Because they like the money that non-Christians spend every bit as much as the Christian money, and those greetings are all-inclusive. Being told Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings doesn't rob you of your Christianity. If Christmas is the holiday that you celebrate at this time of year then consider yourself greeted. If you own a business it is certainly your right to wish your customers a Merry Christmas.
I'm not offended by a Christian holiday greeting because that would be a stupid thing to get offended over. I am offended at the cries of persecution, however. If you want to be persecuted for your faith (and apparently this is something that has appeal) then I suggest spending December in Iran, where saying Merry Christmas could very well get you killed.
Having to endure seeing Happy Holidays on Walmart ads is not persecution.
Yawn.
Can we get real for a minute? Why do you think you aren't allowed to say Merry Christmas? You are totally "allowed" to say Merry Christmas, or Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Kwanzaa, Ashura, Bodhi Day, St Lucia Day or Boxing Day.
So why have so many big retailers left Christmas behind in favor of Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings? Because they like the money that non-Christians spend every bit as much as the Christian money, and those greetings are all-inclusive. Being told Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings doesn't rob you of your Christianity. If Christmas is the holiday that you celebrate at this time of year then consider yourself greeted. If you own a business it is certainly your right to wish your customers a Merry Christmas.
I'm not offended by a Christian holiday greeting because that would be a stupid thing to get offended over. I am offended at the cries of persecution, however. If you want to be persecuted for your faith (and apparently this is something that has appeal) then I suggest spending December in Iran, where saying Merry Christmas could very well get you killed.
Having to endure seeing Happy Holidays on Walmart ads is not persecution.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Why I Think Prayer Is Harmful
How is an atheist supposed to react when told someone will pray for him? Of course it depends on the context. I usually get told that by a pissed off stranger, so it's a little hard to feel the love. But what about when a real-life friend says they are praying for me?
Everybody likes to be thought about. It's a kind gesture. And it can't hurt, even if I don't believe it works, right?
Here's my problem with prayer. It makes you feel like you're doing something. In my experience, only about 5% of the people who have prayed for me during my homelessness have taken any other action. And those actions were awesome. I got a gas card once, a grocery card, one friend drove from another state to bring me a phone, heavy coat, and lots of snacks and supplies. One awesome friend gave me a small job at his house to help me earn a little cash. To say that these kinds of things are humbling is an enormous understatement. There really aren't words to say how much I appreciate them. If it's any consolation to these people, I will someday be in a better position to help others and pass their kindnesses along, just like I've done in the past.
I'll be fine. I'm always fine. Nobody owes me anything. But it's not just me. I suspect that when we pray for folks, for most of us it ends there. We can sleep a little better knowing that we've done something. But have we really "done" anything?
Prayers don't hurt anything UNLESS we allow ourselves to feel that we have taken some kind of action to help another.
Two hands in action accomplish more than a thousand clasped in prayer. People swear by prayer. Everybody knows somebody who was healed or had some great thing happen after they were prayed for. But the hard truth is that there has never been any evidence that prayer changes anything at all.
Some people get better. Some get worse and die. It's confirmation bias that makes us remember the happy endings. People dying after they were prayed over doesn't make the news. Stuff happens, to Christians and non-Christians alike. We say, when the outcome isn't what we hoped for, that God had some bigger plan in mind, something that we aren't privvy to. That makes sense. But then why pray?
I'm not going to try to talk anyone out of prayer. And I'm going to continue to say a heartfelt thank you to anyone who tells me they are praying for me. I'll be fine. But if you know of somebody else who is sick, or in a bind, or having some kind of struggle, do pray - do - but please don't stop there. If everyone who prayed also accompanied those prayers with action, can you imagine the difference we could make in the world?
.
Everybody likes to be thought about. It's a kind gesture. And it can't hurt, even if I don't believe it works, right?
Here's my problem with prayer. It makes you feel like you're doing something. In my experience, only about 5% of the people who have prayed for me during my homelessness have taken any other action. And those actions were awesome. I got a gas card once, a grocery card, one friend drove from another state to bring me a phone, heavy coat, and lots of snacks and supplies. One awesome friend gave me a small job at his house to help me earn a little cash. To say that these kinds of things are humbling is an enormous understatement. There really aren't words to say how much I appreciate them. If it's any consolation to these people, I will someday be in a better position to help others and pass their kindnesses along, just like I've done in the past.
I'll be fine. I'm always fine. Nobody owes me anything. But it's not just me. I suspect that when we pray for folks, for most of us it ends there. We can sleep a little better knowing that we've done something. But have we really "done" anything?
Prayers don't hurt anything UNLESS we allow ourselves to feel that we have taken some kind of action to help another.
Two hands in action accomplish more than a thousand clasped in prayer. People swear by prayer. Everybody knows somebody who was healed or had some great thing happen after they were prayed for. But the hard truth is that there has never been any evidence that prayer changes anything at all.
Some people get better. Some get worse and die. It's confirmation bias that makes us remember the happy endings. People dying after they were prayed over doesn't make the news. Stuff happens, to Christians and non-Christians alike. We say, when the outcome isn't what we hoped for, that God had some bigger plan in mind, something that we aren't privvy to. That makes sense. But then why pray?
I'm not going to try to talk anyone out of prayer. And I'm going to continue to say a heartfelt thank you to anyone who tells me they are praying for me. I'll be fine. But if you know of somebody else who is sick, or in a bind, or having some kind of struggle, do pray - do - but please don't stop there. If everyone who prayed also accompanied those prayers with action, can you imagine the difference we could make in the world?
.
The Nonstop Drunken Orgy That is Atheism
Seven Things Many Christians Believe About Atheists and Why They're Not Necessarily True
In the three or four years that I’ve been out as an atheist, I’ve had the opportunity to discuss religion with quite a few Christians. Some were obnoxious, some belligerent, some simply typed in all caps to settle the question once and for all (as evidenced by the phrase, “AND THAT SETTLES IT!”), but most at least tried to be courteous, especially my real life friends. In the course of these conversations I’ve come to find that there are some common, basic assumptions most Christians have about atheists. If we ever hope to share our planet peacefully, we should at least try to learn a little bit about each other. It’s a start.
1. Atheists just don’t want to have to answer to anyone. They want to be able to pursue their various gratifications without guilt.
Probably part of the reason that Christians believe this about atheists is because of the gay question. The “issue” of homosexuality has divided churches and families, but the only reason people seem to give for their opposition to the gay community is that they believe it is a sin in their religious view. Have you heard any other argument against gays? Me either. So let’s look at that.
What if the Bible was just a collection of old stories passed down first orally and then compiled by ancient men? What if, just what if, the Bible is not actually the word of God? (In my experience, most Christians can’t get their heads around this one. I’m not asking anyone to change his beliefs, but if you possibly can, just pretend with me for a minute that the Bible is an old book, full of some good stuff and some just strange stuff.) If the admonishments in the Bible against homosexuality aren’t the word of our Creator, but are instead just your regular old, run-of-the-mill bigotry against anyone different, then how might that change your stance on gays? Without religion, would you have any reason to oppose gay rights? Maybe you still think it’s gross. Maybe you still hope your kids will be straight, because it’s not easy being different. But if there was no God, would it make sense to fight to keep gays from pursuing happiness like you do? Could it be, just possibly, that a small percentage of people are attracted to members of their same gender, for reasons we don’t fully understand yet? If that’s the case, then the gay atheist is dating and marrying for the same reasons you date and marry, not just because he can get away with it.
But that’s just the gay thing. What about other measures of morality?
We can look at statistics, where available, for atheists vs. Christians. Just like you may know several atheists who get drunk every day and sleep around, I know some Christians who do that. None of that is statistically significant. If we look at the few studies that do exist, you might be surprised to learn that the divorce rate is actually lower for atheists than Christians, as are the rates of teen pregnancy, criminal behavior, abortion, murder, and domestic violence. Obviously there are a lot more Christians than atheists in the US, but these statistics show that the percentage of Christians with these problems is actually higher than the percentage of atheists who suffer from them. I won’t speculate on why that is, but I offer it as evidence that atheism, in and of itself, doesn’t seem to be a free ticket to carnal wickedness that some Christians seem to think it would be.
What about how we treat others? Turn the other cheek, love one another, all of that, good stuff. Did you know that Christ wasn't the first person to teach what we call the Golden Rule? The "ethic of reciprocity" was present in almost all ancient civilizations, including those that predated Rome. To those who claim that their morality comes from the Bible I would ask, what is your source for the knowledge that slavery is wrong? The Bible condones slavery, incest, rape, and murder. Fortunately, and thankfully, most people have enough sense to know that these things are wrong, Bible not required.
What about atheist governments and societies? I call this the Hitler argument, which is funny because Hitler claimed many times to be Christian, had considerable help from the Vatican, and his hatred of the Jews had its origin, at least in part, in Christianity. But people who know history a little better will use Italy's Benito Mussolini; the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin; China's Mao Tse-Tung; Cambodia's Pol Pot; North Korea's Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il; Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic as examples of atheist leaders. Yes, these guys rejected religion, but they didn’t commit atrocities “in the name of atheism.” There is no “name of atheism.” It’s just non-belief. Sometimes an evil bastard is just an evil bastard.
Apparently we’re to believe that it’s Christianity alone that is keeping us all from killing each other. But what about all the Christian wars throughout history? What about the Inquisition? That was a long time ago. Okay, what about the wars today that have religion at their cause? Rwanda, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Timor, India, Indonesia, Kashmir, Kosovo, Kurdistan, Macedonia, Sudan, the Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Chechnya, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet, Uganda and pretty much everything that has ever and is still happening in the Middle East, have religious differences as the source of their conflict. What about terrorists who murder for their God? Believing with your whole being that people of other religions are the enemy of your God hardly lends itself to compromise. Conversely, those countries which rank highest on the global peace scale are also those with the greatest numbers of atheists.
It is entirely possible to be atheist, AND be an evil asshole, just as it is possible to be Christian and be an evil asshole. Stalin & company, assholes. Their societies were about absolute power and corruption, which, by the way, is a lot easier to accomplish if you can convince the masses that you work for God. Our best hope for peaceful societies is those in which people are free to learn and embrace the kinds of philosophy that hold meaning for them. For some that will include religion, but some have learned that religion isn’t necessary for a peaceful existence. When was the last time you saw an atheist with a bomb strapped to his chest blow up a city bus?
Part 2 - Atheists Have Never Experienced God
In the three or four years that I’ve been out as an atheist, I’ve had the opportunity to discuss religion with quite a few Christians. Some were obnoxious, some belligerent, some simply typed in all caps to settle the question once and for all (as evidenced by the phrase, “AND THAT SETTLES IT!”), but most at least tried to be courteous, especially my real life friends. In the course of these conversations I’ve come to find that there are some common, basic assumptions most Christians have about atheists. If we ever hope to share our planet peacefully, we should at least try to learn a little bit about each other. It’s a start.
1. Atheists just don’t want to have to answer to anyone. They want to be able to pursue their various gratifications without guilt.
Probably part of the reason that Christians believe this about atheists is because of the gay question. The “issue” of homosexuality has divided churches and families, but the only reason people seem to give for their opposition to the gay community is that they believe it is a sin in their religious view. Have you heard any other argument against gays? Me either. So let’s look at that.
What if the Bible was just a collection of old stories passed down first orally and then compiled by ancient men? What if, just what if, the Bible is not actually the word of God? (In my experience, most Christians can’t get their heads around this one. I’m not asking anyone to change his beliefs, but if you possibly can, just pretend with me for a minute that the Bible is an old book, full of some good stuff and some just strange stuff.) If the admonishments in the Bible against homosexuality aren’t the word of our Creator, but are instead just your regular old, run-of-the-mill bigotry against anyone different, then how might that change your stance on gays? Without religion, would you have any reason to oppose gay rights? Maybe you still think it’s gross. Maybe you still hope your kids will be straight, because it’s not easy being different. But if there was no God, would it make sense to fight to keep gays from pursuing happiness like you do? Could it be, just possibly, that a small percentage of people are attracted to members of their same gender, for reasons we don’t fully understand yet? If that’s the case, then the gay atheist is dating and marrying for the same reasons you date and marry, not just because he can get away with it.
But that’s just the gay thing. What about other measures of morality?
We can look at statistics, where available, for atheists vs. Christians. Just like you may know several atheists who get drunk every day and sleep around, I know some Christians who do that. None of that is statistically significant. If we look at the few studies that do exist, you might be surprised to learn that the divorce rate is actually lower for atheists than Christians, as are the rates of teen pregnancy, criminal behavior, abortion, murder, and domestic violence. Obviously there are a lot more Christians than atheists in the US, but these statistics show that the percentage of Christians with these problems is actually higher than the percentage of atheists who suffer from them. I won’t speculate on why that is, but I offer it as evidence that atheism, in and of itself, doesn’t seem to be a free ticket to carnal wickedness that some Christians seem to think it would be.
What about how we treat others? Turn the other cheek, love one another, all of that, good stuff. Did you know that Christ wasn't the first person to teach what we call the Golden Rule? The "ethic of reciprocity" was present in almost all ancient civilizations, including those that predated Rome. To those who claim that their morality comes from the Bible I would ask, what is your source for the knowledge that slavery is wrong? The Bible condones slavery, incest, rape, and murder. Fortunately, and thankfully, most people have enough sense to know that these things are wrong, Bible not required.
What about atheist governments and societies? I call this the Hitler argument, which is funny because Hitler claimed many times to be Christian, had considerable help from the Vatican, and his hatred of the Jews had its origin, at least in part, in Christianity. But people who know history a little better will use Italy's Benito Mussolini; the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin; China's Mao Tse-Tung; Cambodia's Pol Pot; North Korea's Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il; Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic as examples of atheist leaders. Yes, these guys rejected religion, but they didn’t commit atrocities “in the name of atheism.” There is no “name of atheism.” It’s just non-belief. Sometimes an evil bastard is just an evil bastard.
Apparently we’re to believe that it’s Christianity alone that is keeping us all from killing each other. But what about all the Christian wars throughout history? What about the Inquisition? That was a long time ago. Okay, what about the wars today that have religion at their cause? Rwanda, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Timor, India, Indonesia, Kashmir, Kosovo, Kurdistan, Macedonia, Sudan, the Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Chechnya, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet, Uganda and pretty much everything that has ever and is still happening in the Middle East, have religious differences as the source of their conflict. What about terrorists who murder for their God? Believing with your whole being that people of other religions are the enemy of your God hardly lends itself to compromise. Conversely, those countries which rank highest on the global peace scale are also those with the greatest numbers of atheists.
It is entirely possible to be atheist, AND be an evil asshole, just as it is possible to be Christian and be an evil asshole. Stalin & company, assholes. Their societies were about absolute power and corruption, which, by the way, is a lot easier to accomplish if you can convince the masses that you work for God. Our best hope for peaceful societies is those in which people are free to learn and embrace the kinds of philosophy that hold meaning for them. For some that will include religion, but some have learned that religion isn’t necessary for a peaceful existence. When was the last time you saw an atheist with a bomb strapped to his chest blow up a city bus?
Part 2 - Atheists Have Never Experienced God
Monday, November 7, 2011
Atheists Have Never Experienced God
Seven Things Many Christians Believe About Atheists and Why They're Not Necessarily True
2. Atheists have never experienced God the way that I have, or they would believe.
Lots of atheists were Christians at some point. Depending on which study you use, 75-80% of US households consider themselves to be Christian, so it is reasonable to assume that a good many, if not most, of today’s American atheists grew up in Christian homes. How immersed they were in that belief system varies. But there is a curious thing about the atheists I’ve been in contact with. They are usually better educated about the Bible and other world religions that many of the followers of those religions. Just as they take their lack of belief seriously, many of them took their former faith seriously too. They prayed and worshiped and had those same kinds of feelings that Christians say they have. They’ve seen loved ones heal when all seemed lost. They’ve felt the peace that comes from “letting go and letting God.” But they didn’t stop there. They questioned. Rather than shutting the “eye of reason,” as Ben Franklin suggested was necessary in order to have faith, atheists continued to think, and think hard.
I’m not suggesting that Christians don’t think, but I am suggesting that they don’t take the process as far. Religion rewards faith without evidence. Blessed are those who do not see but still believe. (John 20: 29) If you want to believe in God, rational thought is not necessarily your best friend. Atheists tend to value honest inquiry above all else. We would rather know the truth, even if that truth isn’t as comforting as the idea of a happy afterlife with loved ones.
Plenty of atheists have experienced Christianity and the feelings that come with it.
Part 3 - Atheists Want To Destroy Christianity
2. Atheists have never experienced God the way that I have, or they would believe.
Lots of atheists were Christians at some point. Depending on which study you use, 75-80% of US households consider themselves to be Christian, so it is reasonable to assume that a good many, if not most, of today’s American atheists grew up in Christian homes. How immersed they were in that belief system varies. But there is a curious thing about the atheists I’ve been in contact with. They are usually better educated about the Bible and other world religions that many of the followers of those religions. Just as they take their lack of belief seriously, many of them took their former faith seriously too. They prayed and worshiped and had those same kinds of feelings that Christians say they have. They’ve seen loved ones heal when all seemed lost. They’ve felt the peace that comes from “letting go and letting God.” But they didn’t stop there. They questioned. Rather than shutting the “eye of reason,” as Ben Franklin suggested was necessary in order to have faith, atheists continued to think, and think hard.
I’m not suggesting that Christians don’t think, but I am suggesting that they don’t take the process as far. Religion rewards faith without evidence. Blessed are those who do not see but still believe. (John 20: 29) If you want to believe in God, rational thought is not necessarily your best friend. Atheists tend to value honest inquiry above all else. We would rather know the truth, even if that truth isn’t as comforting as the idea of a happy afterlife with loved ones.
Plenty of atheists have experienced Christianity and the feelings that come with it.
Part 3 - Atheists Want To Destroy Christianity
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Atheists Want To Destroy Christianity
Seven Things Many Christians Believe About Atheists and Why They're Not Necessarily True
3. Atheists want to destroy Christianity.
Maybe some do, but in my experience most atheists simply want Christianity kept out of our public spaces. There’s a big difference between that and stamping out religion. The brave men and women who founded the United States knew all too well the problems inherent when government and religion are one. Religious freedom was probably the single biggest factor in motivating our ancestors to start anew here. I think we can all agree on that. Unfortunately some people just won’t give up on making the US officially Christian. I suppose if I believed that the Creator of the universe wanted me to enact His laws in my country, that would trump any kind of government philosophy and I’d be right there with them. Hopefully I would be able to see that there would never be any way of passing law based on religion that would satisfy everyone’s faith – there are just too many varieties of religion – and isn’t that a great thing? If we pass laws based on the Judeo-Christian religion simply because most Americans believe in that God, then we are missing the point in a major way. If you truly value your freedom of religion then you will fight any attempt to marry church and state. You may worship where you please, when you please, and how you please. There won’t be a government censor sitting in the pews taking notes on the sermon to present to the higher-up’s to see if what is being said is acceptable. But if you feel that being prevented from having your minister speak to a class of children at a public school about his faith is an infringement on your freedom of religion, well, you need to just find a quiet room and think about that one for a bit. We are a country of diversity. Don’t throw out the rule book when it comes to the rules you don’t like.
What about the bigger picture? If it were even possible to destroy religion entirely, would that be something that atheists would want? Speaking only for myself, I think that would be a wonderful thing, but I value personal freedoms too much to put any effort into that. The real cure for religion is education, and, given time, knowledge has a way of making itself known. The church fought Galileo. It fought Darwin. But given enough time we now have plenty of evidence to know that the earth does, in fact, revolve around the sun and not vice versa, and that people did descend from an ancestor common to the apes and, if you go back far enough, every other life form on our planet. Religion tends to operate from the perspective that we already know all that we need to know about the world from the Bible. New information can be threatening to that worldview. Honest inquiry examines the world without preconceived ideas and draws conclusions from what is observed. You can’t keep people in the dark forever. Religion will gradually die out. There might always be some fringe groups, just as, although racism is dying out, there are still some white supremacists, but among the educated populace religion is becoming obsolete. Any legislative effort on the part of atheists to hasten that would, I believe, backfire in a big way. All we need is time.
Part 4 - Atheists Are Arrogant
3. Atheists want to destroy Christianity.
Maybe some do, but in my experience most atheists simply want Christianity kept out of our public spaces. There’s a big difference between that and stamping out religion. The brave men and women who founded the United States knew all too well the problems inherent when government and religion are one. Religious freedom was probably the single biggest factor in motivating our ancestors to start anew here. I think we can all agree on that. Unfortunately some people just won’t give up on making the US officially Christian. I suppose if I believed that the Creator of the universe wanted me to enact His laws in my country, that would trump any kind of government philosophy and I’d be right there with them. Hopefully I would be able to see that there would never be any way of passing law based on religion that would satisfy everyone’s faith – there are just too many varieties of religion – and isn’t that a great thing? If we pass laws based on the Judeo-Christian religion simply because most Americans believe in that God, then we are missing the point in a major way. If you truly value your freedom of religion then you will fight any attempt to marry church and state. You may worship where you please, when you please, and how you please. There won’t be a government censor sitting in the pews taking notes on the sermon to present to the higher-up’s to see if what is being said is acceptable. But if you feel that being prevented from having your minister speak to a class of children at a public school about his faith is an infringement on your freedom of religion, well, you need to just find a quiet room and think about that one for a bit. We are a country of diversity. Don’t throw out the rule book when it comes to the rules you don’t like.
What about the bigger picture? If it were even possible to destroy religion entirely, would that be something that atheists would want? Speaking only for myself, I think that would be a wonderful thing, but I value personal freedoms too much to put any effort into that. The real cure for religion is education, and, given time, knowledge has a way of making itself known. The church fought Galileo. It fought Darwin. But given enough time we now have plenty of evidence to know that the earth does, in fact, revolve around the sun and not vice versa, and that people did descend from an ancestor common to the apes and, if you go back far enough, every other life form on our planet. Religion tends to operate from the perspective that we already know all that we need to know about the world from the Bible. New information can be threatening to that worldview. Honest inquiry examines the world without preconceived ideas and draws conclusions from what is observed. You can’t keep people in the dark forever. Religion will gradually die out. There might always be some fringe groups, just as, although racism is dying out, there are still some white supremacists, but among the educated populace religion is becoming obsolete. Any legislative effort on the part of atheists to hasten that would, I believe, backfire in a big way. All we need is time.
Part 4 - Atheists Are Arrogant
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Atheists Are Arrogant
Seven Things Many Christians Believe About Atheists and Why They're Not Necessarily True
4. Atheists are arrogant.
This is one of my favorites. Which sounds more arrogant, the person who believes that the Creator of the universe loves him specifically (enough to sacrifice His own Son) and occasionally changes the laws of the universe in response to specific requests (prayer), or the person who sees the world as a great puzzle to be observed and studied, maybe someday even to be solved? Probably the most common argument for the existence of God is the one that says, “If there is no God then where did all of this come from? Every watch has a maker.” The atheist, if he is being honest, will answer, “I don’t know.” Because he doesn’t, and neither do you. You believe. You don’t know. Everything you think you know about God came from other men. It came from your parents, your Sunday school teachers, and the Bible, written by men. Is it a coincidence that when white Americans picture God he is usually an older white man who speaks English? How arrogant is it to believe that the Creator looks like us? Wouldn’t the God of the apes, if they had one, also be an ape?
There is a normal stage of development in little kids where they believe that their thoughts can control things in their environment. If they are angry at Mommy and say they hate her, then she gets sick, it’s not uncommon for them to think that they caused it. Does that sound kind of familiar? Televangelist Pat Robertson says that the earthquake in Haiti was because the Haitians worshiped the wrong God. Westboro Baptist Church says that soldiers die in American wars because our nation tolerates homosexuality. Millions of Christians believe that their thoughts can condemn them to eternal torture. Many believe that God is angry with America because we’ve taken prayer out of schools and allowed gay marriage, and that our current economic problems are a result of God’s anger. How different is that from throwing a virgin into a volcano to bless the crops? Our emotions, our wants and desires, don’t control the universe by making God happy or angry.
We do have an effect on our environment, but it’s not our thoughts that change things. It’s our actions. We need to realize that we are no more important in the circle of life than anything else. We are a part of nature. It wasn’t created for our enjoyment; we evolved the way we did because our environment is what it is. If earth didn’t have as much oxygen, we wouldn’t be here. Something else might be. It’s a simple question of cause and effect. If you get your science and history from the Bible then you know that God created the heavens and the earth and all the animals for man, in six days. If you get your science and history from, well, science and history, you know that the earth was here billions of years before anything crawled on it.
Which worldview is more arrogant?
Part 5 - It Takes As Much Faith To Be An Atheist
4. Atheists are arrogant.
This is one of my favorites. Which sounds more arrogant, the person who believes that the Creator of the universe loves him specifically (enough to sacrifice His own Son) and occasionally changes the laws of the universe in response to specific requests (prayer), or the person who sees the world as a great puzzle to be observed and studied, maybe someday even to be solved? Probably the most common argument for the existence of God is the one that says, “If there is no God then where did all of this come from? Every watch has a maker.” The atheist, if he is being honest, will answer, “I don’t know.” Because he doesn’t, and neither do you. You believe. You don’t know. Everything you think you know about God came from other men. It came from your parents, your Sunday school teachers, and the Bible, written by men. Is it a coincidence that when white Americans picture God he is usually an older white man who speaks English? How arrogant is it to believe that the Creator looks like us? Wouldn’t the God of the apes, if they had one, also be an ape?
There is a normal stage of development in little kids where they believe that their thoughts can control things in their environment. If they are angry at Mommy and say they hate her, then she gets sick, it’s not uncommon for them to think that they caused it. Does that sound kind of familiar? Televangelist Pat Robertson says that the earthquake in Haiti was because the Haitians worshiped the wrong God. Westboro Baptist Church says that soldiers die in American wars because our nation tolerates homosexuality. Millions of Christians believe that their thoughts can condemn them to eternal torture. Many believe that God is angry with America because we’ve taken prayer out of schools and allowed gay marriage, and that our current economic problems are a result of God’s anger. How different is that from throwing a virgin into a volcano to bless the crops? Our emotions, our wants and desires, don’t control the universe by making God happy or angry.
We do have an effect on our environment, but it’s not our thoughts that change things. It’s our actions. We need to realize that we are no more important in the circle of life than anything else. We are a part of nature. It wasn’t created for our enjoyment; we evolved the way we did because our environment is what it is. If earth didn’t have as much oxygen, we wouldn’t be here. Something else might be. It’s a simple question of cause and effect. If you get your science and history from the Bible then you know that God created the heavens and the earth and all the animals for man, in six days. If you get your science and history from, well, science and history, you know that the earth was here billions of years before anything crawled on it.
Which worldview is more arrogant?
Part 5 - It Takes As Much Faith To Be An Atheist
Friday, November 4, 2011
It Takes As Much Faith To Be An Atheist
Seven Things Many Christians Believe About Atheists and Why They're Not Necessarily True
5. Atheism is a religion too, or, it takes as much faith to be an atheist as it does to be a Christian.
All atheism means is a lack of belief in a god or gods. That’s it. It is no more a religion than not collecting stamps is a hobby, or ‘off’ is one of the channels on tv. An atheist is simply someone who has concluded, for whatever reasons, that there is most likely no supreme being running the show. Painting atheism as a religion is a tactic some Christians use to get their religion into the public forum. They will say that atheism or secularism is just another belief system and therefore it shouldn’t be given any more weight in government than any other religion. They’ll say that by banning things like prayer from schools, the government is endorsing atheism over other religions. No. We just want to keep the tv OFF so that we don’t have to argue about which channel to let the kids watch.
“Atheists worship science” is a variation on this theme of atheism as a religion. Atheists like science because it isn’t personal. Science doesn’t care who wins a war. Good science is honest inquiry, without a preconceived idea of a desired result. A scientist might have a suspicion about the way a particle behaves, or whether a certain chemical modification might eradicate a disease. He might hope fervently that his suspicion turns out to be true, but if it does not, he doesn’t change the data. He goes back to the drawing board. He revises his theory and he experiments again. Computers, medicine, cars, microwaves, and all the things we use every day are the result of science. We don’t need to worship science to appreciate all that it can do for us. Which is a better way to understand the world, observation and study, or an ancient book?
Penn Jillette makes an excellent point about why science and religion aren't two sides of the same coin. “If every trace of any single religion were wiped out and nothing were passed on, it would never be created exactly that way again. There might be some other nonsense in its place, but not that exact nonsense. If all of science were wiped out, it would still be true and someone would find a way to figure it all out again.”
Part 6 - Atheists Are Angry With God
5. Atheism is a religion too, or, it takes as much faith to be an atheist as it does to be a Christian.
All atheism means is a lack of belief in a god or gods. That’s it. It is no more a religion than not collecting stamps is a hobby, or ‘off’ is one of the channels on tv. An atheist is simply someone who has concluded, for whatever reasons, that there is most likely no supreme being running the show. Painting atheism as a religion is a tactic some Christians use to get their religion into the public forum. They will say that atheism or secularism is just another belief system and therefore it shouldn’t be given any more weight in government than any other religion. They’ll say that by banning things like prayer from schools, the government is endorsing atheism over other religions. No. We just want to keep the tv OFF so that we don’t have to argue about which channel to let the kids watch.
“Atheists worship science” is a variation on this theme of atheism as a religion. Atheists like science because it isn’t personal. Science doesn’t care who wins a war. Good science is honest inquiry, without a preconceived idea of a desired result. A scientist might have a suspicion about the way a particle behaves, or whether a certain chemical modification might eradicate a disease. He might hope fervently that his suspicion turns out to be true, but if it does not, he doesn’t change the data. He goes back to the drawing board. He revises his theory and he experiments again. Computers, medicine, cars, microwaves, and all the things we use every day are the result of science. We don’t need to worship science to appreciate all that it can do for us. Which is a better way to understand the world, observation and study, or an ancient book?
Penn Jillette makes an excellent point about why science and religion aren't two sides of the same coin. “If every trace of any single religion were wiped out and nothing were passed on, it would never be created exactly that way again. There might be some other nonsense in its place, but not that exact nonsense. If all of science were wiped out, it would still be true and someone would find a way to figure it all out again.”
Part 6 - Atheists Are Angry With God
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Atheists Are Angry With God
Seven Things Many Christians Believe About Atheists and Why They're Not Necessarily True
6. Atheists are just people who are angry at God. They are miserable people.
I know too many snarky atheists to be able to fully refute this one. But let’s look closer.
First of all, you can’t be angry with something you don’t believe exists. Some Christians use this fact to point out that this is proof that there are really no such things as atheists. That’s a really strange argument, but one that seems to come up now and then. I suspect that there is some theologian author who has purported that, and it makes a good sound bite so it gets passed around.
I can tell you that I don’t believe in God, and you can tell me that I secretly do. We can yell louder and louder, but I’m not sure that volume should determine which position makes more sense. I can’t stop you from suspecting that I do secretly believe in God and that I’m just very angry with Him because of some of the things that have happened in my life. You could probably make a decent case for that. In fact the only thing I can offer to refute that is my telling you that I do not, in fact, believe in God. I’m not sure I can prove to you that I truly don’t believe, any more than I can prove that there is no God. It’s not possible to prove the nonexistence of anything. Try it with unicorns, or green Martians, or Bigfoot, or any other thing that your imagination can come up with. Go ahead. Prove to me that they don’t exist. I’ll wait.
Right.
Interestingly, I’ve had Christians tell me that the very existence of atheists proves that God exists because the concept of God is necessary to the definition of atheist. Really, Christians? Yes, the concept of God exists, but that isn’t the same thing as God existing. Does the fact that many people believe in Bigfoot prove he exists too?
Getting back to the question of why so many atheists just seem so goddamn miserable, we need to look at cause and effect. If Christians are, in fact, happier people overall, doesn’t this point to the reality of God? George Bernard Shaw said, “The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.” It makes sense to me that if you’re able to believe that the Creator of the universe loves you and has your best interests in mind, that he is protecting you and your loved ones, and that when you die you won’t cease to be but instead live on in eternal peace and happiness, then I should think you would be very happy.
But you don’t believe in something simply because believing makes you happy, do you? Maybe you do. I can only believe in something because I truly think it is real. If I suspect that it’s not, I don’t seem to be able to just flip a switch and believe anyway. And maybe that’s the crux of our miserable atheists. Life isn’t always a happy thing. Atheists tend to keep their eyes open. Christians, when faced with tragedy, will say things like, “God must have had a reason.” They will thank and praise God when something good happens, as if He reached down from heaven and blessed them personally, but when something bad happens then it’s just a part of God’s plan that we don’t understand. I agree that if there was a God, we probably wouldn’t be privy to his mysterious ways, but then why do we give him credit for the blessings? Aren’t they also part of his mysterious plan? Atheists tend to be more cynical. People have accidents because the roads were wet and a tire blew or any number of reasons that we may never know about. But there is a difference between not knowing what the natural explanation is, and assigning a supernatural explanation.
Atheists are more often realists, and they know that there is no father in the sky looking over them. When our hearts stop, as they all will, our brains cease to receive oxygen. Cells cease to function. Our sense of awareness ends. That’s it. It’s nothing to fear, because we won’t be aware of no longer existing. Was it scary before you were born? But it is sad to know that we will end. It’s more than sad. It’s insulting. Surely I am more than chemicals! Surely this sense of myself that I have, my love for my kids, my desire to do right to others, surely all of that is more than just the neurology of an advanced animal! Isn’t it completely natural that we would think that we are so much more special than other animals? It is this awareness of ourselves that sets us apart. Our evolution is truly impressive. It doesn’t stop just because you do, though. You pass your DNA to your offspring, and so on, and man continues to live on … indefinitely. It’s almost like immortality, isn’t it? It’s pretty cool, but given all that, I’d still kind of prefer to live on. So I’m a little pissed about that.
Also, atheists don’t live in a vacuum. We live in a world that is dominated by those who believe in one God or another. In order to keep religion out of our public spaces, atheists have to look like assholes. The poor teacher just wants to bring her worn out old Bible to the lunchroom to read to the little kids, but the mean old atheists won’t let her. Assholes. But it’s these assholes who are protecting your right to worship how you please, too. We’ve kind of agreed to take that hit for everybody. You’re welcome.
Part 7 - Atheists Won't Believe In Anything Without Proof
6. Atheists are just people who are angry at God. They are miserable people.
I know too many snarky atheists to be able to fully refute this one. But let’s look closer.
First of all, you can’t be angry with something you don’t believe exists. Some Christians use this fact to point out that this is proof that there are really no such things as atheists. That’s a really strange argument, but one that seems to come up now and then. I suspect that there is some theologian author who has purported that, and it makes a good sound bite so it gets passed around.
I can tell you that I don’t believe in God, and you can tell me that I secretly do. We can yell louder and louder, but I’m not sure that volume should determine which position makes more sense. I can’t stop you from suspecting that I do secretly believe in God and that I’m just very angry with Him because of some of the things that have happened in my life. You could probably make a decent case for that. In fact the only thing I can offer to refute that is my telling you that I do not, in fact, believe in God. I’m not sure I can prove to you that I truly don’t believe, any more than I can prove that there is no God. It’s not possible to prove the nonexistence of anything. Try it with unicorns, or green Martians, or Bigfoot, or any other thing that your imagination can come up with. Go ahead. Prove to me that they don’t exist. I’ll wait.
Right.
Interestingly, I’ve had Christians tell me that the very existence of atheists proves that God exists because the concept of God is necessary to the definition of atheist. Really, Christians? Yes, the concept of God exists, but that isn’t the same thing as God existing. Does the fact that many people believe in Bigfoot prove he exists too?
Getting back to the question of why so many atheists just seem so goddamn miserable, we need to look at cause and effect. If Christians are, in fact, happier people overall, doesn’t this point to the reality of God? George Bernard Shaw said, “The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.” It makes sense to me that if you’re able to believe that the Creator of the universe loves you and has your best interests in mind, that he is protecting you and your loved ones, and that when you die you won’t cease to be but instead live on in eternal peace and happiness, then I should think you would be very happy.
But you don’t believe in something simply because believing makes you happy, do you? Maybe you do. I can only believe in something because I truly think it is real. If I suspect that it’s not, I don’t seem to be able to just flip a switch and believe anyway. And maybe that’s the crux of our miserable atheists. Life isn’t always a happy thing. Atheists tend to keep their eyes open. Christians, when faced with tragedy, will say things like, “God must have had a reason.” They will thank and praise God when something good happens, as if He reached down from heaven and blessed them personally, but when something bad happens then it’s just a part of God’s plan that we don’t understand. I agree that if there was a God, we probably wouldn’t be privy to his mysterious ways, but then why do we give him credit for the blessings? Aren’t they also part of his mysterious plan? Atheists tend to be more cynical. People have accidents because the roads were wet and a tire blew or any number of reasons that we may never know about. But there is a difference between not knowing what the natural explanation is, and assigning a supernatural explanation.
Atheists are more often realists, and they know that there is no father in the sky looking over them. When our hearts stop, as they all will, our brains cease to receive oxygen. Cells cease to function. Our sense of awareness ends. That’s it. It’s nothing to fear, because we won’t be aware of no longer existing. Was it scary before you were born? But it is sad to know that we will end. It’s more than sad. It’s insulting. Surely I am more than chemicals! Surely this sense of myself that I have, my love for my kids, my desire to do right to others, surely all of that is more than just the neurology of an advanced animal! Isn’t it completely natural that we would think that we are so much more special than other animals? It is this awareness of ourselves that sets us apart. Our evolution is truly impressive. It doesn’t stop just because you do, though. You pass your DNA to your offspring, and so on, and man continues to live on … indefinitely. It’s almost like immortality, isn’t it? It’s pretty cool, but given all that, I’d still kind of prefer to live on. So I’m a little pissed about that.
Also, atheists don’t live in a vacuum. We live in a world that is dominated by those who believe in one God or another. In order to keep religion out of our public spaces, atheists have to look like assholes. The poor teacher just wants to bring her worn out old Bible to the lunchroom to read to the little kids, but the mean old atheists won’t let her. Assholes. But it’s these assholes who are protecting your right to worship how you please, too. We’ve kind of agreed to take that hit for everybody. You’re welcome.
Part 7 - Atheists Won't Believe In Anything Without Proof
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Atheists Won't Believe In Anything Without Proof
Seven Things Many Christians Believe About Atheists and Why They're Not Necessarily True
7. Faith is a virtue. Atheists are too skeptical. They won’t believe anything without proof.
Actually we believe in stuff without proof all the time. I believe that Barack Obama is the President of the US, but I’ve never met him. I haven’t been to DC since he’s been in office to actually observe him personally. I’ve simply taken the available information (thousands of newscasts and other people who have met him) and concluded that it is reasonable to believe that Barack Obama is our President. It would take a lot more faith for me to believe that he isn’t real – that he is the result of a huge conspiracy to fool the world. It’s not that I put things like that past people. Not at all. It would simply be too enormous of a task to pull off successfully. It would require cooperation from too many people. Somebody would screw up.
I’ve had Christians ask me what it would take for me to change my mind and believe. I’m not sure what answer they’re wanting or expecting here. If I say, “There is nothing that could make me believe,” then I just look like a close-minded fool. I’m sure there are things that could make me believe, but the fact that none of them has ever happened makes me tend to think that they never will. It’s not proof that I require but I do require some kind of evidence. In every area of life we require evidence before we believe. It’s only with religion that we have suspended those rules. We’ve even taken it a step further and praised faith without evidence as a great virtue. Would you use faith to cross the street or would you look both ways for evidence of whether it’s safe? I have yet to hear anything said by any Christian ever that is compelling enough for me to believe that there is a God. There is tons of evidence that lots of others have believed in God, but that’s not the same thing.
The one thing that turned me from a very skeptical agnostic to an atheist was when I wondered what our world would look like if there was no God, and I realized (and was quite surprised by the realization) that it would look exactly like it does now. We would have people trying to convince others that they know there is a God because of how it makes them feel when they think about him. We would have people claiming that any time someone recovers from a serious illness that that is evidence of God (but no matter how many people don’t recover, that isn’t evidence that there is no God). People would say that belief is the most important thing – that you will be rewarded for believing, and punished for doubting. Various groups would claim to understand the real thoughts of God – what He really wants for the world. Candidates running for president would claim that they were doing the will of God. People who agree with each other on things like that would form groups to promote their ideas. They would be quick to inform people about the eternal torment awaiting those who believe differently.
I didn’t write this in the hopes of destroying anyone’s belief. If your belief in God gives you comfort and helps you treat others well then I’m all for it. Hopefully what I’ve written will help dispel some ideas that I hear often promoted by Christians regarding atheists. It’s my hope that with all the information available to each of us that religion is on its way out. If that does begin to happen then there will be more and more atheists in your lives – in your family, among your friends, at work and at the grocery store. The first step in living together is understanding each other.
7. Faith is a virtue. Atheists are too skeptical. They won’t believe anything without proof.
Actually we believe in stuff without proof all the time. I believe that Barack Obama is the President of the US, but I’ve never met him. I haven’t been to DC since he’s been in office to actually observe him personally. I’ve simply taken the available information (thousands of newscasts and other people who have met him) and concluded that it is reasonable to believe that Barack Obama is our President. It would take a lot more faith for me to believe that he isn’t real – that he is the result of a huge conspiracy to fool the world. It’s not that I put things like that past people. Not at all. It would simply be too enormous of a task to pull off successfully. It would require cooperation from too many people. Somebody would screw up.
I’ve had Christians ask me what it would take for me to change my mind and believe. I’m not sure what answer they’re wanting or expecting here. If I say, “There is nothing that could make me believe,” then I just look like a close-minded fool. I’m sure there are things that could make me believe, but the fact that none of them has ever happened makes me tend to think that they never will. It’s not proof that I require but I do require some kind of evidence. In every area of life we require evidence before we believe. It’s only with religion that we have suspended those rules. We’ve even taken it a step further and praised faith without evidence as a great virtue. Would you use faith to cross the street or would you look both ways for evidence of whether it’s safe? I have yet to hear anything said by any Christian ever that is compelling enough for me to believe that there is a God. There is tons of evidence that lots of others have believed in God, but that’s not the same thing.
The one thing that turned me from a very skeptical agnostic to an atheist was when I wondered what our world would look like if there was no God, and I realized (and was quite surprised by the realization) that it would look exactly like it does now. We would have people trying to convince others that they know there is a God because of how it makes them feel when they think about him. We would have people claiming that any time someone recovers from a serious illness that that is evidence of God (but no matter how many people don’t recover, that isn’t evidence that there is no God). People would say that belief is the most important thing – that you will be rewarded for believing, and punished for doubting. Various groups would claim to understand the real thoughts of God – what He really wants for the world. Candidates running for president would claim that they were doing the will of God. People who agree with each other on things like that would form groups to promote their ideas. They would be quick to inform people about the eternal torment awaiting those who believe differently.
I didn’t write this in the hopes of destroying anyone’s belief. If your belief in God gives you comfort and helps you treat others well then I’m all for it. Hopefully what I’ve written will help dispel some ideas that I hear often promoted by Christians regarding atheists. It’s my hope that with all the information available to each of us that religion is on its way out. If that does begin to happen then there will be more and more atheists in your lives – in your family, among your friends, at work and at the grocery store. The first step in living together is understanding each other.
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