Preach Atheism

A guest blogger wrote of Religious Freedom Day in yesterday’s Washington Post. I’ve...

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 22:42:10 -0400

A guest blogger wrote of Religious Freedom Day in yesterday’s Washington Post. I’ve taken the liberty of rewriting the opening paragraph to reflect reality.

The original:

Across the globe, religion and belief continue to matter deeply in the lives of people and their cultures. From worship to prayer, births to funerals, weddings to holy days, almsgiving to thanksgiving, religion is a central source of identity, meaning, and purpose for billions of human beings.

The reality:

Across the globe, religion and belief continue to worm themselves dangerously into the lives of people and their cultures. From self-abasement to talking to oneself instead of taking action, physically deforming male and female children without their consent to delusional thoughts of deceased loved ones being in a better place, from fighting to allow only a man and a woman to commit to a life together to strange ceremonies concocted by imaginative goatherds of old, giving huge sums of money to support the very system that seeks to control their lives to giving credit to superstition instead of science, religion is a central source of pain, suffering and misery for billions of human beings.

You’re welcome!

who writes

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 23:00:39 -0400

The person behind the @preach_atheism account. I prefer to remain annonymous for several reasons, not the least of which is the lethality of criticizing Islam.

I recently ran across a horrible indoctrinational operation targeting children at a local county...

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:02:28 -0400

I recently ran across a horrible indoctrinational operation targeting children at a local county fair. I had seen their booth over the last few years and just laughed at the mime skits they were using to talk about the accept-Jesus-or-burn-in-hell threat implicit in Christian teaching.

But I always figured it was a local church just a little more whack than the normal evangelical efforts of your friendly baptists. I noticed however that the participants had teeshirts and an acronym “CEF” on the sleeve.

So I looked that up and it turns out this is a worldwide organization called Child Evangelism Fellowship. This is a group that, duh, targets children of the world for indoctrination into the cult of christianity.

I cannot imagine a stated purpose much worse than warping the brains of children with religious nonsense. The video recently posted by Bill Nye @thescienceguy made this very point. Parents, feel free to believe whatever nonsense you want, but we need logical thinkers out of the next generation and to twist their brains with creationist, religious cult-thought works at cross-purposes to the progress of society.

This group is, by their reports, startlingly effective. A recent press release claims that, in 2011, they reached 12.1 MILLION children with their message, an 11% increase over 2010. They reach kids through a correspondence club, in the US through a Camp Good News program, Military Children’s Ministries,

How on earth can rationalist naturalist freethinkers keep up with this? They hold Good News Club meetings after-hours in public schools and crow about it, though they don’t spend much time mentioning their legal defeat in the effort to have information about their club included with take-home packets the schools sends with kids to give to parents about school activities.

This is a huge problem.

The bumper sticker “I don’t believe the liberal media” is, in reality, a giant...

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 13:57:13 -0400

The bumper sticker “I don’t believe the liberal media” is, in reality, a giant flashing billboard shouting “I am the ‘sucker born every minute’ you hear so much about.” You have to give credit to the Murdoch’s and Koch’s of the world for herding these helpless folk into a steerable glob of brainless protoplasm.

TSA accused of racial profiling. So?

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 19:38:27 -0400

http://m.cbsnews.com/storysynopsis.rbml?pageType=general&catid=57491583&feed_id=999&videofeed=999

As Sam Harris has argued it’s a waste of time to target the general population rather than those whose race and religion (Arabic and Islamic) are most correlated with violence. Our homeland security policies are another example of cultural relativism gone bad.

Putin, in reference to Pussy Riot, speaks truth about Islam saying if they had performed in a mosque...

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 21:29:40 -0400

Putin, in reference to Pussy Riot, speaks truth about Islam saying if they had performed in a mosque there would have been not even enough time to make an arrest.

The obvious implication that Muslims take their game of invisible hater so seriously they think they can kill anyone who breaks their train of delusional thought. Islam-Join or Die™

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268812/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=o584iNBx

Carl Sagan - Widespread intellectual and moral docility may be convenient for leaders in the short...

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 20:42:48 -0400

Carl Sagan - Widespread intellectual and moral docility may be convenient for leaders in the short term, but it is suicidal for nations in the long term.

One of the criteria for national leadership should therefore be a talent for understanding, encouraging, and making constructive use of vigorous criticism.

Washington Post Refers to Sex with a 12 year-old as "Marriage" Instead of Child Rape

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 02:00:00 -0400

In an article posted on July 9th, the Post discusses on the front page the phenomenon of the marriage of underage girls in Niger but never refers to the act as child rape. The article refers only obliquely to Islamic traditions as the source of the crazy notions at the base of this problem, but there it is for any willing to read and understand.

I frequently take note of the Post’s use of page A1 and the front page of the Metro section to fawn over religion, but this is a step beyond. Here they are giving a pass on one of the most heinous aspects of Islam, the acceptance of the concept that a young girl is mere currency between adult men.

The article opens talking about a 14 year-old who has just lost a baby during childbirth. Married at 12, she is quoted saying she’s going to try again to have a child as soon as she gets home.

The article frames the issue as one caused by food shortages in Niger. As is common whenever the Post deals with religion, they bury the lede.

Only after opening with mentions of the girl married at 12, the food crisis in Niger, and a quote from a UNICEF representative does the article get down to the root of the problem:

In a landlocked nation that has one of the world’s fastest-growing populations, the hunger crisis is the latest twist in Niger’s efforts to combat early marriages, a battle pitting modern values against centuries-old traditions. Niger’s government has enacted legislation outlawing unions before age 15; in some cases, parents have been arrested and imprisoned. Government social workers and international aid agencies have initiated efforts in remote villages to encourage girls to remain in school.

Yet early marriages remain widely accepted by families across large swaths of the country, fueled largely by high rates of poverty and illiteracy, ancient tribal codes and conservative religious views that wield more influence than government decrees in rural communities.

Let’s be clear. This refers to Islam and giving the practice a pass is cultural relativism of the worst, lowest, and most vile order. But this is standard practice for the Post and for Islam.

Quoting a hospital director as saying that the increase in girls giving birth is a survival tactic against the food crisis just doesn’t make sense. Introducing more humans into a food crisis is the exact opposite of the correct answer to the problem. And it’s a particularly bad idea where the underage mother also is malnourished.

Later on the author gets down to the nitty gritty. Describing the parts of the world most heavily Muslim, guess where child rape (marriage) is most prevalent?

Child marriage is a global phenomenon, but it is more prevalent in Africa and southern Asia. In many poor communities, girls are viewed as commodities, used as currency or to settle debts. To protect them in dire economic times, girls are sometimes married into more affluent families. Notions of morality and family honor also drive early marriages — girls are often married off to ensure their virginity. In some cases, men “reserve” especially young girls to marry them later as a way to unite families and communities.

Girls as commodities. Whether married off by fathers while still too young to have had sex and thus still virginal or promised by uncles as a way to settle a debt at an age way too young to understand the consequences is a human rights violation, not a niggling factor popping up as a consequence of a food crisis.

To be fair, the government has tried to stem the crisis by setting the age of 15 as the earliest age at which a girl can be married off, which the Islamists ignore, just taking the marriage underground. But, as in so many countries and with so many issues, Islam bows to no man but to the crazed edicts of Mohammed, a man who saw fit to marry a 6 year old and consummate that relationship when she was 9, and the writings of those who knew him or read his writings.

These heinous acts will continue as long as Islam and other religions continue without sufficiently loud, persistent challenge. The Washington Post is, as a publicly held company, unfortunately a part of the problem, afraid to call child rape by its ugly, true name, leaving a false impression of the problem on those who choose not to take time to understand what is really happening.

The war of words is lost again, this time the Catholics winning. In an @AP news item the opening...

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 20:27:56 -0400

The war of words is lost again, this time the Catholics winning. In an @AP news item the opening sentence reads:

“Sharpening an election-year confrontation over religious freedom and government health insurance rules…”

When the AP refers to the “other side’s” position in exactly the way they want it framed, even though it is patently wrong, it demonstrates that the Catholic church has successfully repeated the phrase “religious freedom” often enough to make it look as if freedom is being denied them rather than the other way around. Or, more correctly put, they are fighting to retain their self-assigned “right” to discriminate against those who don’t follow their crazy cult beliefs.

Response to my question to Billy Graham Crusades

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 01:45:43 -0400

Dear Evan,

Thank you for visiting PeaceWithGod.net, and for your interest in knowing more about Jesus and his love for you. We want you to know that we have received your message and will reply to it as soon as possible.

We also have materials available online, through the links noted below, and I encourage you to visit them as well.

May God bless you!

Yours in the love of Christ,

Franklin Graham

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up…” Acts 20:32

PS: Invite now all your friends (through email, facebook, twitter, etc.) to PeaceWithGod.net!

Discover GOING FARTHER that offers many resources :
• Living in Christ
• Spiritual Growth Topics

Growing up in the home of fundamentalist Christians left many painful marks on my psyche, but the...

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 12:58:00 -0400

Growing up in the home of fundamentalist Christians left many painful marks on my psyche, but the fabric of religion wasn’t without its funny patches. On Sunday mornings, while we were all getting into our Sunday best, me putting Greasy Kid Stuff in my hair to create the perfect wave in my hair to match Dad’s, the radio was always tuned to a gospel program on a local AM radio station.

One Sunday a traveling preacher was being interviewed by the host about his travels through the Appalachians. The preacher told a story of being invited to preach at one particular church to which he’d never been.

He spoke of coming, along with his assistant, from the preacher’s office, through a curtain at the side of the sanctuary, walking up to the dais and taking his seat in front of the congregation. Only after sitting down and arranging his bible on his lap did he lift his gaze to the congregation.

It took a moment for the reality of what he saw to sink in, but it was true, this was a church of snake-handlers.

He looked over at his assistant and said “do you see what I see?”

The assistant, clearly scared out of his wits, said “yep, I do. Do you see a back door up here?”

The preacher looked over the dais side-to-side and behind him and then back to his assistant and said “No. Where do you suppose they want one?”

Pribble Takes on de Botton's Latest Book

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 02:58:08 -0400

Pribble Takes on de Botton's Latest Book

Contemporaneous Accounts of Jesus?

Tue, 29 May 2012 22:27:00 -0400

I’ve been challenged on my assertion that there are no contemporaneous accounts of Jesus’ existence. The proof offered was Cornelius Tacitus and Josephus. I’m not a history expert, but here’s what I find:

Cornelius lived from 56 C.E. to 117 C.E., instantly disqualifying him from this challenge, but I’ll give a quick summary of what I see.

Here is the passage in question:

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.^[31]

So we have Tacitus mentioning “Christus” or “the messiah” in passing in one of at least 16 books in the Annals group on the Roman empire.

What’s curious to me is that, in this mention, Tacitus is referring to Christianity not as a positive group but describes them as promulgating “a most mischievous superstition” from Judea “the first source of the evil” to Rome “where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre.” What a glowing report!

Historian David Fitzgerald discusses this passage in his book “Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed At All.” He points out that Tacitus is discussing the beliefs of these cultists as background for a different point of Roman history.

At the time of this mention, 116 C.E., this was a story any Christian-on-the-street would have known, it is not in any way based on an eyewitness account. He almost certainly didn’t find this tidbit from historic documents. The Romans did not keep detailed records of the great number of crucifixtions carried out and any records that may have existed at all were undoubtedly destroyed in one of the repeated burnings-to-the-ground of Rome in the intervening years.

And the Romans would hardly have referred to Jesus Ben Joseph of Nazareth as “Christus”, or “The Messiah!” He also points out that Christ is the Greek translation of a Jewish religious title.

Josephus, or Titus Flavious Josephus, lived from 37-100 C.E. disqualifying him also from this discussion, but, what the hell. Let’s see what he had to say.

Josephus fought in the first Jewish-Roman war and is an early claimant of divine revelation. He correctly predicted that Vespasian would become emperor. After this actually happened he wrote that his revelation had taught him three things: “that God, the creator of the Jewish people, had decided to “punish” them, that “fortune” had been given to the Romans, and that God had chosen him “to announce the things that are to come”

Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews was written in 93 or 94 C.E., was widely read and had the additional feature of being disingenuous in how it presented Jewish history. The passage in question does not even appear until the 4th century. There are no mentions of this passage, the “Testimonium” until 300 years later.

“Nailed” mentions that historians also note that the paragraph is out of context of the preceding and following paragraphs, uses a different style and non-Josephean vocabulary. Josephus’ books were among the most widely read of that period in time. That there is no mention of this paragraph until the 4th century is wildly telling.

Fitzgerald points out that when the Testimonium begins to get mentioned it’s by Bishop Eusebius, against whom over two dozen complaints survive including poor scholarship, deliberate misrepresentations of history and lack of integrity.

So I’m going to stick with the incredulous and skeptical here and conclude that there are still no contemporaneous accounts of Jesus, let alone accounts of his miracle-working ways. History is a cruel taskmaster, ain’t it?

Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed At All

330 schoolgirls & teachers poisoned in 1 month in Afghanistan. #Islam keeps giving & giving....

Tue, 29 May 2012 19:18:00 -0400

330 schoolgirls & teachers poisoned in 1 month in Afghanistan. #Islam keeps giving & giving. Or is that taking & taking lives & liberties from women. As described in Jonathan Turley’s article, Islamic men work to close schools that dare teach girls and women and, failing that, work to disfigure or kill them.

Interesting then, the comparison with the US religious right and the zeal to inculcate youth with the poison of fairy tales and un-humanistic dogma. While the US right isn’t throwing acid on or outright killing girls, they do share the common goal of steering learning to insular private schools, many feeding off the public teat, where their crazed teachings can be passed on without the challenge of rational thought.

The US religious right is only better than the Taliban by a matter of degree, the goal is the same.

I’m having trouble with this article in Religious Dispatches, by Austin Dacey, representative...

Thu, 24 May 2012 22:39:00 -0400

I’m having trouble with this article in Religious Dispatches, by Austin Dacey, representative to the United Nations for the International Humanist and Ethical Union and author of “The Future of Blasphemy: Speaking of the Sacred in an Age of Human Rights.”

In it he uses the plight of one Alexander Aan, imprisoned in Indonesia for the crime of “inciting hatred or enmity of a religious group, and under the country’s blasphemy provision, Article 156a, which criminalizes “hostility, hatred or contempt” and “disgracing” of a religion. Article 156a also prohibits attempts to persuade others to leave their religion and embrace atheism.”

A reminder, Indonesia’s Constitution stipulates that every person believe in a supreme being. Can you imagine being atheist and visiting Indonesia and what would happen should you have a couple of beers and get into a conversation in the wrong bar? Say goodbye to the return portion of your air fare!

For me the cognitive dissonance comes from statements like:

“In the West…The public debate is about how to balance freedom of speech with respect for religious belief.”

Dacey contrasts his view of the Western framing of the issue with that of predominantly Muslim Indonesia this way:

“Here the value at stake is not just freedom of speech, but freedom of conscience. The real contest is not between atheists and believers, but between those who affirm the equality of all persons of conscience and those who deny it.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong. On both the West and Indonesia. There is no need to respect religious beliefs! To paraphrase someone, perhaps Hitchens, those with ridiculous ideas should be treated as such. Freedom of conscience is a veiled way of giving the religious the right to slap back at any perceived insult.

Then he puts atheism and religion on the same moral level:

“From a moral perspective, there is an important symmetry between the attitude of the believer who reserves special reverence for a deity, saint, or prophet, and the attitude of the secularist who asserts that every person is equally holy.”

He’s treating atheists and atheism as just equal to a religion, just another dogma lookin’ for respect. Nothing could be further from the truth. Atheism leads to humanism, though I admit one can get there from other vectors, but religion is full of the exact opposite of humanism.

Anywhere religion holds sway over a majority of the citizenry, and especially where religion is baked in to the government is a bad, dangerous place to be, for this is where only those with the facts on their side are persecuted. Respect for religion is the worst answer to the problems of the world and for the ability of every person to think for themselves and express their ideas.

I’m having trouble with this article in Religious Dispatches, by Austin Dacey, representative...

Thu, 24 May 2012 22:37:06 -0400

For me the cognitive dissonance comes from statements like:

“In the West…The public debate is about how to balance freedom of speech with respect for religious belief.”

Dacey contrasts his view of the Western framing of the issue with that of predominantly Muslim Indonesia this way:

“Here the value at stake is not just freedom of speech, but freedom of conscience. The real contest is not between atheists and believers, but between those who affirm the equality of all persons of conscience and those who deny it.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong. On both the West and Indonesia. There is no need to respect religious beliefs! To paraphrase someone, perhaps Hitchens, those with ridiculous ideas should be treated as such. Freedom of conscienceis a veiled way of giving the religious the right to slap back at any perceived insult.

Then he puts atheism and religion on the same moral level:

“From a moral perspective, there is an important symmetry between the attitude of the believer who reserves special reverence for a deity, saint, or prophet, and the attitude of the secularist who asserts that every person is equally holy.”

I’m first on the wagon to keep #sharia from being used here in the US and everywhere. But it...

Wed, 23 May 2012 17:15:49 -0400

I’m first on the wagon to keep #sharia from being used here in the US and everywhere. But it seems to me to be a tricky strategy to go exclusively after sharia.

When I think of sharia I think of it in terms of not just the worst options like beheadings, stonings, honor killings and loss of limb but the more insidious things like all the subjection of women to second class status.

But what this all boils down to is that, by participation in the religion, voluntarily or less than voluntarily, a person subjects themselves to this secondary law, to which, in some countries, like the UK, civil courts defer. The “voluntary” nature of religion is a subject until itself as many are participants of a religion due strictly to the “inherited” nature of having been indoctrinated into the cult from the earliest days of childhood by the very parents whose job it is to prepare your mind for the big world.

Here in the US (and presumably elsewhere) a couple married in the eyes of civil and Jewish religious law and who want to divorce have to be granted divorce by both bodies if either party wants to be granted a new marriage under Jewish law.

To me it seems that the most practical thing is to abolish ALL religious law in the US. It’s silly to have, or even condone, a secondary unelected, potentially coercively adopted, “legal” system for religions. Count me in the camp for abolition of ALL religious “law” in the U.S. at least.

“The essence of science is that it is always willing to abandon a given idea, however...

Sat, 19 May 2012 14:34:40 -0400

“The essence of science is that it is always willing to abandon a given idea, however fundamental it may seem to be, for a better one; the essence of theology is that it holds its truths to be eternal and immutable.” H.L. Mencken

Today’s WashPost A1 headline is “The Two Faces of Freedom.” It’s about the...

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 18:15:00 -0400

Today’s WashPost A1 headline is “The Two Faces of Freedom.” It’s about the state of Islam since Arab Spring and like the cultural relativist rag that it is, it buries the lede. The very last sentences of the article quote one of the persons interviewed for the article:

“Every Muslim will reach our phase and be like us,” he says. “Our duty is to convert others, and if they don’t let us express ourselves, we will have to fight.”

Tunisia prior to Arab Spring was like Egypt in that Islam was suppressed in favor of a secular state. The downside of that arrangement was that it was effected by a dictator.

Now, with the freedom to speak out and to practice Islam to its foul fullest you get in Tunisia what you hear wherever Islam, and especially where the strict version known as Salafism is practiced:

“We must adopt Sharia law,” making sharia the law of the land. If the state “tries to silence us, will use any means - violence too.”

While the recent announcement that Tunisia’s constitution would not be based on Islamic principles was good to hear, with Islam, a religion that is forsworn to obliterate all other religions, you can never be too sure.

Beautiful Hitch Quote

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:06:00 -0400

“In order to be a Christian you have to believe that, for 98,000 years our species suffered and died. Most of our children died in childbirth. Most people having a life expectancy of about 25…Famine, war, struggle…suffering, misery. All of that for 98,000 years and heaven watches it with complete indifference. And then, 2,000 years ago, thinks, “that’s enough of that” it’s time to intervene. And the best way to do that is for someone to be a human sacrifice somewhere in the less literate parts of the middle east. Let’s not appear to the Chinese, where people can read and study evidence. Let’s go to the desert and have another revelation there. This is nonsense. You can’t be believed by a thinking person.”