Bill Maher conducts a unbaptism and proclaims that atheism is not a religion.
Bill Maher draws a line between religions and atheism, prior to conducting (presumably) the world's first unbaptism:
Bill Maher draws a line between religions and atheism, prior to conducting (presumably) the world's first unbaptism:
Hell-bound Michael Morris has been working hard at Funmentionables. In his most recent article, he lists seven theme park rides you won't find at the upcoming Kentucky bible-theme park, which is getting $43 million in tax breaks. Here are the categories: 1. Porkvalanche! 2. The Undead Jamboree 3. Everybody Must Get Stoned 4. Ye Old Testament Sideshow 5. Tamar’s Wild Ride 6. The All New Testament Sideshow, and 7. Noah’s Post-diluvian Carcass Roundup
Alain de Botton doesn't believe in supernatural beings, but suggests that non-believers should change the way they think about religions and their followers. Through their religions, followers are seeking many of the sorts of things the secularists seek, or should seek. Many people enjoy Christmas carols, old churches and the ritualistic and community aspects of religions, but don't believe in any sorts of fairies. Until now, they were forced to live in "a spiritual wasteland" in order to partake of the parts of religion that they enjoy. In this TED talk, De Botton suggests that atheism should be about sorting through religion and picking up the things that are worthwhile and ignoring the rest. Secularists intend to replace scripture with culture, but higher institutes of society, including institutes of learning see humans as rational adults needing only information and data rather than guidance and didactic learning. We do need guidance, though, and this is best delivered through some sort of scheduled and somewhat repetitive sermons rather than mere lectures (which deliver merely data and information). We all need ritual, which can be a simple as scheduling that we look at the moon on a regular basis, to remind ourselves that we are small in a vast universe. In a religion, the ideas are delivered through a particular type of rhythmic talking, and physical actions and movements. Religions also recognize the importance in art. The modern world, through our system of museums and schools, puts art in a hermetic bubble and tries to explain art rather than allowing it to become a visceral encounter. Religion allows art to be didactic. In the modern world, artists tend to be isolated individuals, not collaborating their efforts through an organization. He adds that religions are big well-monied machines that can encourage this sort of collaboration--the secular world should consider similar collaborations for spreading ideas of higher meaning. He adds that there need not be any particular leaders for this effort--he offers that perhaps it can be done though a wiki. Religion offers powerful communal advantages, even for those who don't believe any of religious dogma. Religion offers a highly effective mechanism for spreading ideas. Atheism 2.0 can use these techniques to cultivate the idea that the world is about much more than any particular person.
What do Christian scripture and Communism have in common? At Daylight Atheism, Adam Lee explains:
The Bible goes so far as to say that the first community of Christians weren't just socialists, but communists:The above is an excerpt from a post titled "Why We Should Tax the Churches," and Lee develops this theme in detail, dovetailing with the modern-day struggle between the 1% and the 99%. He isn't shy about bluntly stating why:"And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need."
—Acts 2:44-45
By some accounts, this verse is what inspired Karl Marx's dictum, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." Irony of ironies: Communism began in the pages of the Bible!
Even when it begins among the poor and disenfranchised, religion almost always ends up being co-opted by the wealthy and powerful and used as a convenient excuse to justify inequality.
Funmentionables comes to the rescue of Newt, who reportedly wanted his second ex-wife to approve of an open marriage. Here is the Bible authority for the concept:
If he take himself another wife… —Exodus 21:10
If a man have two wives… —Deuteronomy 21:15
And here are the Bible characters who paved the way for Newt:Abijah, Abraham, Ahab, Ahasuerus, Ashur, Belshazzar, Benhadad, Caleb, David, Eliphaz, Elkanah, Esau, Ezra, Gideon, Jacob, Jehoiachin, Jehoram, Jerahmeel, Joash, Lamech, Machir, Manasseh, Mered, Moses, Nahor, Rehoboam, Saul, Shaharaim, Simeon, Solomon, and Zedekiah.