rss

Tag: "Christian"

22
Christians and Muslims: Why do you deny Zeus?
By Mike Pulcinella on July 23rd, 2009

Christians and Muslims: Why do you deny Zeus?

Those who have not seen the light and built a home temple to the ALMIGHTY GOD ZEUS will soon feel his wrath. Zeus is the one true God, the Protector who will watch over you but only if you cast aside all others and turn to Him in thankfulness and supplication.

Come to Him now because WHEN you get hit by one of his lightning bolts (and it WILL happen!) you WILL know the truth!

I’m being facetious of course.

I am an atheist but this is a challenge to believers of all kinds. Why DON’T you believe in Zeus or any of the thousands of other gods from the past? Please tell me the process by which you examined the faith of the ancient Greeks and decided to reject it.

If you can examine yourself and find the reasons why you feel that Zeus is not the god for you, or if you would even go so far as to say “He doesn’t exist” (Gasp! Please forgive them oh Wielder of Lighting Bolts!) then you have repeated some of the same process by which I turned my back on Catholicism and Christianity many years ago. You too are an atheist, as far as Zeus is concerned.

One of the greatest and most intellectual civilizations ever to be known accepted wholeheartedly the supremacy of Zeus. The innovations of the Greeks were immensely influential on language, politics, educational systems, philosophy, science, and the arts. They inspired the Islamic Golden Age and the Western European Renaissance! By rejecting the God of the Greeks are you saying that you are smarter than they? Do you know something the Greeks didn’t know?

Just because the stories of Zeus (all glory and power to Him) are from an ancient past doesn’t mean they are any less true. In fact, Zeus was around BEFORE your Jesus and your Muhammed. Those guys are newbies compared to The Almighty Zeus! So, explain yourselves Christians and Muslims. Why not Zeus?

Featured • Humor • Religion • Whimsy
Full Story
0
By Erich Vieth on June 19th, 2009

Have we been bombing Middle Eastern civilians with Bibles?

Has the U.S. military been proseletyzing the civilians of Iraq and Afghanistan? Apparently so, according to Newsweek:

[A] civil-rights watchdog group, Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), says . . . a cadre of 40 U.S. chaplains took part in a 2003 project to distribute 2.4 million Arabic-language Bibles in Iraq. This would be a serious violation of U.S. military Central Command’s General Order Number One forbidding active-duty troops from trying to convert people to any religion.

Lots of disturbing details regarding what appears to be the Christianized military of the United States.

Military • Religion • War
Full Story
12
The Interview
By Hank on May 12th, 2009

The Interview

Via the Barefoot Bum, I found a list of interview questions posted by the Wintery Knight.

For now, I shall leave alone the good knight’s contention that Hitler was a “Darwinist atheist” (certainly not a Darwinist and arguably not an atheist, given his obsession with Nordic mythology and the occult, not to mention those SS belt-buckles that said “God is with us”), as well as his claim that “Atheists struggle with morality, it just doesn’t sit well on their worldview, even though they sense God’s law on their hearts, like we do.” Both are baseless and false and not worth any decent person’s time. I shall answer his questions though, and with as little snark as I can muster, given that I know I’m answering someone who believes I may have “fascist tendencies” (bah - I’ve never once advocated a merger of state and corporate power) and struggle with morality even though I apparently really do believe in God, even though I say I don’t - but obviously I’m just rebelling against our heavenly father like I did against my real one when I was 15. Really, if Christians wish to have an open dialogue with atheists, these tiresome myths must be left at the door.

Anyway, on with The Interview (I have sent this post as an email to the good knight and eagerly await his reply:

1) Do you believe that the universe was brought into being out of nothing by a person (agent)? Is it possible that this agent could communicate to us, or that we could discover something about that agent? (i.e. – does God exist, is he knowable)

No. However, if an agent powerful enough to create the universe existed, you’d expect such an agent to be able to communicate with us in some way we could all understand, all at the same time. Also, if such an agent wanted anything about itself to be discovered, surely that agent would know the best way for us to do so. Revealing himself to a small number of people and letting them fight amongst themselves about who was right about what for two thousand years doesn’t make a lot of sense.

2) Explain to me in which religion you were raised by your parents, if any. How did your parents approach religion in the home? (strict, lax, etc.)

My parents didn’t raise us in any faith. I became a Christian at a young age after being exposed to it at primary school (age 5-12). Religion didn’t come up in conversation at all at home (let alone positively or negatively). We were, however, taught the importance of empathy, politeness, generosity, respect and decency (both directly and indirectly, by our parents’ examples). Both my parents are fine moral people, having proudly served their family and community their whole lives. My father was a public school science teacher (now retired but continuing to serve with Meals on Wheels). My mother was a long-time public servant and both parents were tireless social campaigners in our local area, defending our community hospital and local bushland reserves against corporate and government interference.

3) What events in your past affected your beliefs about God’s existence and knowability? (e.g. – I studied biology, comparative religions or anthropology, or I met a girl I liked)

Culture • Featured • Religion
Full Story
0
By Erich Vieth on May 10th, 2009

Andrew Sullivan reviews Robert Wright’s account of the evolution of religion

At the Daily Dish I learned that Andrew Sullivan reviewed Robert Wright’s new book, The Evolution of God, in the London Times. Here’s an excerpt:

From primitive animists to the legends of the first gods, battling like irrational cloud-inhabiting humans over the cosmos, Wright tells the story of how war and trade, technology and human interaction slowly exposed humans to the gods of others. How this awareness led to the Jewish innovation of a hidden and universal God, how the cosmopolitan early Christians, in order to market their doctrines more successfully, universalised and sanitised this Jewish God in turn, and how Islam equally included a civilising universalism despite its doctrinal rigidity and founding violence.

Fundamentalism, in this reading, is a kind of repetitive neurotic interlude in the evolution of religion towards more benign and global forms.

History • Psychology Cognition • Religion
Full Story
139
Traditional “Christian” marriage is outlawed by the Bible
By Erich Vieth on April 23rd, 2009

Traditional “Christian” marriage is outlawed by the Bible

“Christian” marriage is outlawed by the Bible. I’m not exaggerating. You’ll find all of the stunning details, along with citations to the Bible, at Dwindling in Unbelief. How does the Bible outlaw traditional “Christian” marriages? Here are some of the Bible rules listed:

  • The Bible says that Christians should not marry.
  • But if a Christian man decides to get married (which he shouldn’t), he can have more than one wife.
  • And if he doesn’t like one of his wives (like if she’s unclean or ugly or something), he can divorce her.
  • If a Christian man gets married and then discovers on his wedding night that his new wife is not a virgin, then he and the other Christian men must stone her to death.
  • Christians shouldn’t have sex (even if they are married, which they shouldn’t be).
  • Christian parents must beat their children (which they shouldn’t have, since they shouldn’t get married or have sex).
  • Good Christians must hate their families.
    (If they abandon them for Jesus, he’ll give them a big reward.)

This list list only includes the first seven rules. Go to Dwindling in Unbelief for the details and the pinpoint citations. Don’t just trust me on these rules. Go read the Bible. These rules are all there, clearly stated.

Conclusion: We need to march to America’s heartland and start picketing traditional Christian marriage because it is clear that traditional Christian marriage contravenes the clear teachings of the Bible.

American Culture • Good and Evil • Religion • hypocrisy • ignorance
Full Story
4
By Erich Vieth on March 22nd, 2009

Why do many people believe that Barack Obama is not a Christian?

Our minds are big bags of tricks, many of them helpful out in the wild, but prone to deceive us in the modern world. Princeton Psychologist Samuel Wang points out that two of our mind’s heuristics, “source amnesia” and “bias dissimulation” (confirmation bias) account for the persistent belief of many people that Barack Obama is not a Christian, in the absence of any evidence supporting this claim.

Politics • Psychology Cognition
Full Story
22
By Erich Vieth on December 14th, 2008

We are gods with anuses: another look at “terror management theory.”

Gods with anuses? This post concerns some of the elaborate ways humans seem to compensate for their anxiety about death.

A 2008 Harris poll shows that 61% of Americans believe that Jesus was born to a woman who was a virgin. Thus, by a landslide margin, Americans believe that a woman named Mary got pregnant without any of that icky sperm/penis/vagina stuff (whether a human ovum was involved is keeping theologians busy ). To keep the Savior pure and holy, I can only assume that Jesus emerged into the world through some sort of Divine Cesarean rather than out of the vagina, but the Bible is not clear on the actual method of delivery. Ever since the alleged birth of Jesus, Mary (who was “without sin”) has been referred to as “Virgin Mary,” despite her long marriage to Joseph, suggesting that she kept Joseph sexually frustrated for the rest of his life.

All of this uneasiness our animal nature is typical of many religions. In order to keep people focused on the other-world, religions work hard to convince people that human animal existence is vulgar and vile. According to many religions, our earliest “ancestors” were taught that human bodies were shameful even as they were being unceremoniously booted out of the Garden of Eden.

Rather than considering our bodies to be exquisite machines that constitute and sustain us, many religions portray human bodies as ungainly, oozing, disgust-inducing earth-bound vessels from which we will eventually escape, thanks be to God! We are to God as slugs are to us. Rather than embracing the marvelous functioning of human bodies, many religions disparage them though, paradoxically, they attribute the “design” of our sordid bodies solely to God, not to natural selection. Thus, there is one notable exception to the general rule: only when Believers are trying to fight off Darwin do they consciously strive to appreciate the exquisite function of human bodies. Oh, such a tangled web religions weave . . .

Culture • Evolution • Human animals • Meaning of Life • Psychology Cognition • Religion • Reproductive Rights • Science • Sex
Full Story
0
By Erich Vieth on November 25th, 2008

The Onion publishes a letter from a Christian setting the record straight

The Onion has published a letter from a Christian who wants to set the record straight: “It’s not like I’m one of those wacko ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ types.”  It’s classic Onion satire aimed squarely at the kind of Christian who has dominated the news for the past eight years:
My faith in the Lord [...]

Humor • Religion
Full Story
0
By Erich Vieth on November 04th, 2008

A few last thoughts about the upcoming elections.

What is it that’s so bad about . . .
What’s so bad about Marxists? Is it that they exhibit a sympathy for the working class or is it their understanding of class in terms of differing relations of production?  I’m not a “Marxist” because I have some specific serious concerns about many versions of Marxism, [...]

American Culture • Politics • Psychology Cognition
Full Story
3
By Hank on October 12th, 2008

Fascism … yeah, it could happen

Sure it could. The same way fascism always happens. Not imposed, all of a sudden, from above, like a boot on your neck in the dead of night. It grows and festers in dark corners of society, feeding off the irrational fears and resentments and feelings of entitlement of an angry minority and growing ever stronger, with noone noticing [...]

Current Events • Economy • Good and Evil • Iraq • Politics • Religion • War • ignorance
Full Story
3
By Erich Vieth on September 16th, 2008

Dealing with the insanity of moose meat and Palin’s proud ignorance

At Salon.com, Anne Lamott writes eloquently about her inner struggle brought on by Sarah Palin’s nomination, then issues a call to arms.  Here’s an excerpt about her inner struggle:
[I] called my Jesuit friend, who I know hates these people, too. I asked, “Don’t you think God finds these smug egomaniacs morally repellent? Recoils from their [...]

Uncategorized
Full Story
2
By Erich Vieth on August 01st, 2008

McCain conveniently finds his way to church, just in time for the election

If you want to read some first-rate writing that harpoons one of America’s best-known liars, check out Matt Taibbi’s new article in Rolling Stone, entitled, “Without a Prayer.” Here are a few of his gems, but really do go read the full article. Not many writers are this dangerous with a pen:
McCain’s chosen stump [...]

Media • Politics
Full Story
7
By Erich Vieth on July 04th, 2007

Disgust as a basis for morality

It is striking that so many conservatives spend so much energy condemning gays. They don’t just criticize gays; they condemn gays with intense passion. Nor does this process of moral judgment usually involve any sort of delicate weighing process. Too often it is a visceral and unrelenting moral harpooning delivered by the likes of Ted Haggard—or, at least, the sort of judgment previously delivered by the then-closeted version of Ted Haggard, whose name is now synonymous with “reaction formation.”

Many of the people who condemn gays on street corners and pulpits remind me of steam boilers on the verge of blowing up. Anti-gay bigots are rarely if ever attempting to work through the details of any of the three main historical philosophical approaches to morality (consequentialism, deontology or virtue) when they condemn gays. No, there is nothing much philosophical about the way most people rail against the gays. They are not driven by any sort of philosophy. In my experience, they are primarily driven by disgust.

What especially disturbs conservative Christians are images of men kissing men and men having sex with other men. Such images are so incredibly disgusting to those who hate gays that it has become a favorite insult on the streets and in the military to shout “You’re GAY!” And when this insult is hurled in the process of casting moral judgment, it is done by people whose faces are contorted with utter disgust.

Because such condemnations of gays are so visceral, this raises the issue of whether disgust is a valid basis for morality . . .

Bigotry • Civil Rights • Culture • Good and Evil • Meaning of Life • Politics • Psychology Cognition • Religion • Science • The Middle East
Full Story
Older Entries