Undeserved Respect

Over the past year or so, I have been very active within Atheist circles; both online and in real life. Most of that time has been and much more enlightening than a lifetime of religious instruction. That relative superiority however, does not really mean very much. Many problems exist within the Atheist community on how they regard religion and there still remains great room for improvement. I personally am quite possibly the definition of the anti-religious person, from attitude to practice, I despise religion. However, I value intellectual honesty much more than I despise religion. So in accordance with that principle, I hope to explore some issues which I find to be quite common within Atheist circles and also quite annoying.

Just about every single Atheist I come across respects religion, religious people and religious festivals far too much, whether it be consciously or unconsciously. To the best of my knowledge, not a single organized religion is deserving of my respect (I have standards). They all encourage servility and non-thinking (faith). They do not want to produce adults who engage in critical thought, or for that matter, think at all. They want humans to refer their responsibility upward, and it is with god on your side (not the other way around) that, “all is permitted.” These people are completely out of touch with reality, and respecting their effective community organizing ability is absurd and potentially dangerous. They encourage group-think, a concept that is at all times in conflict with modernity. How can one possibly respect delusional beliefs and value truth at the same time? If someone walked around in New York City saying that they were born to a virgin mother or that, they are their own father but at the same time their father’s son…they would be sent to a psychiatric ward (and they should be). Likewise with anyone who believes in the teaching of a man 2000 years ago who makes those same claims (any many more stupid ones).

So, when I discuss Christianity, by that I am referring to the faith which promotes the often immoral philosophy of Jesus who probably never existed; or say, when I discuss Judaism, a religion which condones slavery and genocide and respects maniacs who would kill their own son because of voices in their head; or Islam, that religion which was propagated by the sword by tyrannical military dictators, some of which are also pedophiles (Muhammad); I discuss these faiths with that knowledge in mind. Nothing good has ever come from the religious mentality, or from any servile mentality for that matter. I simply cannot act with respect to these religions when Christianity wants you to love god more than your family, or when Islam breaks women down to a point beyond that of the African slave or the Russian serf. The knowledge that I have is not compatible with respect; and it does not allow me to act with anything but bottomless contempt for this nonsense. So when it comes to religious festivals about Jesus’ birthday, I simply will not participate. But, if you want to take part in the Pagan booze fest (the precursor to Christmas), consider me in. With regards to any “interfaith” activity, let us not forget that religions are more alike than they are different. Sure they may disagree on insignificant details (like who fathered someone) but at the core, they are all the same. They contain the same attitude and that is what really matters. They realize that for each of them to survive, they cannot wage intellectual attacks at each other all the time. Violent attacks are another matter, those require little justification, and very little thought.  The intellectual attack on Christianity can be slightly modified and then waged against Islam. Likewise with another religion like American-Style-Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, or any other absurdity.

When I use the word “god” you may have noticed that it has never been capitalized on this blog. This conventional use of capitalizing a word simply because it represents the notion of some elderly father figure who cannot get his act together and continues to be the fuel to much violence and hatred around the world. god, regardless of its position or context in a sentence will not be capitalized by me. I ask others to join me on that perhaps small, but maybe significant piece of subtle activism.

Another important area of undeserved respect, is the respect the entire society has given to organized religions in the form of tax breaks. This is truly a bizarre situation, and even if it wasn’t unconstitutional (which it most likely is), it would still be a large form of undeserved respect. Simply due to the nature of America as a largely Christian nation, it is the Christian churches who receive most of the benefit from tax breaks and a special charitable status. These churches do, in fact do charity work, but it is the impact that they have on the intellect of children (and flock in general) that really is concerning. I have not heard a single church service that proclaimed the beauty of evolution, even if most of their church hierarchy “support” evolution. A good number of these churches attempt (successfully too) to drill creationism, hell fire, and all sorts of other lovely things into the minds of their flock. I think this is probably the biggest threat that organized religion poses to modernity, their continual attack on science, and science education. These churches do not deserve a special non-taxable status, and considering their counter-productive stances on perhaps, it is they who should be paying heavy fines for the propagation of nonsense. Henry David Thoreau once said, “I did not see why the schoolmaster should be taxed to support the priest, and not the priest the schoolmaster” and I full-heartily agree with Mr. Thoreau.

Respecting people. This is an issue that comes up often and often leads to charges of empty-hearted-Atheists. Lets get something straight, when I disrespect someones’ religion or religious belief, I am not attacking them personally. So when I question the existence of Jesus, or accuse Muhammed of being a pedophile, I am NOT trying to disrespect a person who respects those people. The only ones who I would be disrespecting in those situations are both dead already (or never really existed), so no need to care about their feelings. I will never make a personal attack on someone simply because of their means of invisible support. On the other hand, I will if their religious beliefs inspire them to take part in bigotry, as they often do. If I wanted to disrespect someone directly I could (I can do it quite well actually), but when I am attacking their religion, it is strictly intellectual and not personal. It is the case that people will be offended by my words, and I do not deny that is common, but it is simply impossible to criticize religion without being “offensive” to someone. If I constantly take into consideration the feelings of those who read my work, or of religious people in general, I could hardly write anything controversial. That sort of self-censorship is very common in Liberal circles (the originators of the Politically Correctness Movement) and the Atheistic circles, which are often essentially the same crowd. I have been constantly told by others to not be so scathing of religion, or try perhaps not to be controversial. Such nonsense is unfortunately extremely common, and very difficult to fight. It seems as if more or less everyone cares far too much about what others may think or feel and not enough about the root of such self-censorship. I refuse to take part in it, and in short, I will not censor myself.

Update, added in the second to last paragraph after a couple requests.

Why I Can’t Believe

The question “Why Don’t You Believe?” is often posed to me by most religious people whenever I discuss my rejection of god and religion. They bring up the same tired arguments each time, not realizing that I have (and others) answered them countless times before. But, after battling this question so many times, I have come to the realization that “Why Don’t You Believe” is not the proper question. The better question is, “Why Can’t You Believe?” Now this is a question that deserves more than just a laugh, but an entire article.

First, I would like to state my goal clearly and what exactly I am arguing against. If you read this blog at all, you will know that when I refer to god, I specifically mean the Abarahamic god. It is this god that I rejected, and so that is what I will argue against. I am also not attempting to argue against the existence of god, but rather I am arguing for the improbability of a Abrahamic god. My purpose here is give why I believe an intellectual person cannot be a theist, and more specifically, one who follows an Abrahamic god.

The Scientific Incompatibility

The Scientific Incompatibility is the main reason why I could never again believe in a theistic god. Biology has advanced to the point where, Evolution by natural selection is a fact of the history of the Earth just like the American Revolution. Its quite obvious that Evolution or something awfully similar took place, and is currently taking place as we speak (perhaps at a faster rate than ever before). The fossil record is very good evidence, but the Human Genome Project is overwhelmingly indicates some sort of common ancestry between species. We know that humans, like every other living species, evolved from common ancestors (either one or multiple), that the process was slow and gradual and given the amount of time, the improbable became possible. However, Evolution by natural selection only gets rid of a literal reading of the “holy” books. By Biblical literalist, I mean anyone who honestly believes that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old or that the world was created in 7 days (technically 6, as god rested on the 7th). So what about the more common, though also wrong, metaphorical reading?

The problem with the metaphorical is slightly different, and I believe it to be an even worse position. The first issue arises when one considers, which parts are metaphorical and which aren’t? There aren’t any doctrine based or well founded theological reasons to label one passage metaphorical and the next literal. People pick and choose which part they like based on modern sensitivity and common sense, but they do it on very tenuous grounds. The second issue is, if evolution is indeed true there are many complications that arise. Such as, 99.8% of the species that ever existed are already extinct, why such brutal wastefulness? Couldn’t god just cut to the chase and just start humans from the beginning? Why even create the dinosaurs if they were just going to be extinct a few million years later? Why create humans with organs that have no function (appendix)? Why watch the species that are the ancestors to humans die slow painful deaths for hundreds of thousands of years? Why wait 4 billion years to even consider sending down messages to illiterate, delusional fools in the Middle East? I challenge my religious readers who believe in a metaphorical reading of their Holy Book to think of answers for these questions, and when they can’t, think why you can’t, for it is part of the reason I can’t believe.

Those are, of course are just some of the issues with regards to biology and evolution, but there are many more associated with the other sciences. For when someone accepts some sort of theism, you are essentially rejecting the rest of modern science as well. Why create planets that cannot and will most likely never be suitable for life? Why create physical constants that if shifted ever so slightly can cause the only planet suitable for life to go extinct within seconds? That seems like an ever so cruel way to create the universe. Most good engineers often design products and structures with some flexibility… why couldn’t god do the same? Why create a planet that large portions of it aren’t even able to be lived on naturally, limiting humans even further (the so called prized possessions of god). Why create moons for planets that don’t allow for life? Why create a galaxy that’s heading in our direction and will cause our extinction if it doesn’t happen prior to it? So it seems to any reasonable  and rational person that it is not god which created the universe and life, but rather humans which created god. Again, these are just a few unanswerable questions that religious folk must face, yet don’t (and so they remain religious).

Praying

If there were ever a “eureka” moment with regards to my change from a Muslim to an Atheist it was while I was in prayer. As a Muslim it is considered mandatory after the age of 16 that a male begin reading the daily five prayers. These prayers consist of constantly reminding god how good, merciful and awesome in general he is. Technically, at the end, you get the chance to ask for something you want, so it is not entirely about god. To me, this kind of activity is fit for a slave or a serf. Anyone who would willingly restrict their schedule by adding these five daily annoyances simply is a servile fool. The desire to be a slave is something unique about religion. It compels otherwise reasonable people to be a slave. With 1.4 billion Muslims, I don’t see how these people actually think “Allah” cares about each and every one of their insignificant wishes. Also, why does god need praise five times a day? Is god a bit hard on hearing and the repetition allows him to know for sure which ones are his followers? I will go one step further, god is deaf. For there is surely no god listening to the prayers of the faithful, yet servile flock.

The above paragraph is of course is targeted largely at Islam but the same is true about the other religions and their prayer schedules. The Jews pick Friday and Christians pick the day of Sunday (god has a three day weekend apparently) to get together and pray. I could think of many constructive things to do on a Sunday, and none of them involve getting down on my knees at a Church, Synagogue or Mosque. Also, I am skeptical of any god which requires its followers to constantly repeat some sort of chant of praise. The desire to be praised is something some humans get over, and yet this god has not been able to do it…pathetic.

The Number of Different Religions

Most religions make incompatible claims with each other. They don’t say, you can be a part Muslim and part Christian, or sometimes believe in Jesus and sometimes believe in Odin. Rather, they say, you must believe (fill in dogma or nonsense) and that’s final. This means, your concepts of morality and the cosmos are being controlled merely by the accident of your birthplace. If I were born to Christian parents, I might be a Christian, but why does that mean Jesus is more likely than Odin? The same question can be posed to every religious person. What is so special about their religion, and their place of birth that ONLY it gets to decide which is truth and which are lies. Another reason why this is interesting is because I have noted that Muslims argue against Christianity with usually the same reasons that I argue against both. What I don’t understand is why they don’t apply this same thinking to their religions, why do they think their religion is any different just because it was the religion of their parents or community. When they understand fully why they reject other gods, they will understand why I reject theirs.

With regards to reality, it doesn’t work like this “geographical belief set” that religions have put forth. Either evolution is true or it isn’t, and it makes no difference if you’re in Canada or India. The same should be true about a creator, either it exists or it does not, there really is little middle ground on this matter. So if one of these gods actually does exist, surely it is not something that changes due to your lattitude and longitude.

Justice (or lack there of)

Every second, someone in the world is committing a crime. Every few seconds a child dies of starvation.  Murderers walk free, and mass murderers are praised and elected as leaders of nations. The poor continue to suffer and are never able to create a better life for themselves, yet the rich dominate the world and spend more in a day than most make in a year (or even a decade). The gap between the rich and poor only grows, and the pain of poverty remains strong. We have rigged elections and criminals roaming the streets, ready to rape, murder and steal at any moment. Natural disasters kill innocent people, and wars kill even more. What kind of cruel creator would allow such injustice? Surely not a just or loving one.

Suppression of Women

The religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are truly man-made. Not just in the sense that it was humans that created them, but men in specific. In Judaism, one needs to only read the Torah to see the hatred of women, as the inferior sex. For Eve is born out a “bent rib” from Adam.  She is created for the benefit and pleasure of Adam. It is she, who is more likely to be tempted and thus Satan targets her first. All of that bigotry without even leaving the book of Genesis. Leviticus also highlights the difference between male and female, for a woman who gives birth to a girl is twice as dirty as a woman who gives birth to a boy. With Christianity, why can’t Christ be born through the normal processes that a woman goes through? Why is the birth canal a one way road? Islam has an even more intense hatred of women. Women can’t even look a man in the eye who isn’t part of their family. A woman must be covered head to toe, and veiling her beauty because it can cause “temptation.” Oddly enough these religions think they are giving respect to women, when all they do is lay the groundwork for sexism and the hatred of women.

Faith

I define faith as, “belief without material evidence.” That is a concept that I will never, and never can agree with. How can one believe in anything without evidence? Why believe in the first place, why not just take a “neutral” or “undecided” stance instead? Some would counter with Pascal’s Wager, but how would one know which god to pray to? Personally, I believe in ideas or concepts, not because I would like for them to be true, or because they are comforting, but because there is good evidence to support them. If the evidence is pending or just not very good, then one should just accept that more research needs to be done and leave it at that. The rejection of faith is the fundamental core position of any free thinker, and thus it is the basis of my atheism.

My “spiritual” Journey Part 2

If you missed the previous part – Click here for Part 1

I remember once when I was around maybe 14 or so, I asked my parents “What are we?” in regards to which sect of Islam…Sunni or Shiite. At the time it seemed like a legitimate question…now with hindsight, I can see the overall ridiculous nature of such a question. Part of my journey away from religion has been due to the whole culture aspect of it. Think of how this really sounds “I support a particular scientific theory on X because I was born in Y”…That is exactly what you are accepting when you are a religious person. The fact that you were born either in a certain area, or to the parents who are from a certain area…is how you view the world! We know from science that, the fact of your birth is itself an improbable occasion. The fact of where it happened is simply a mere random chance, so on what grounds should it be the basis of your view on the cosmos and morality? If such an idea wasn’t so ingrained into society, this would be(as it is) the most absurd notion ever put forth. How can a serious, intelligent, mature adult really accept such a idiotic idea, “I believe what I believe because my parents did.”

As I left off in the last part, the conflict of science and religion is far bigger than one would imagine at first glance. People often say, “well I accept science and evolution, and it makes me an even more firm believer in god”…this often lets me know that my peer has simply not researched science or just hasn’t really thought of the implications of being a believer and accepting science. This is not a “non-overlapping” issue as many people will often argue…the idea that “religion answers “why” questions and science answers “how” questions is absolute nonsense.

I believe what I believe, not because of what some old virgin told me, a delusional bastard child from the 1st century, a genocidal orphan from 3000 years ago…or what some pedophile in the 7th century, preached in their respective times…but because of what the evidence tells me. A proper research into a scientific field like physics or biology would reveal to anyone the quite obvious overlapping that occurs with science and religion, and how science’s answers blow to bit those that religion provides.

To be continued…