We live in a twisted world, where right is wrong and wrong reigns supreme. It is a chilling fact that most of the world's leaders believe in nonsensical fairytales about the nature of reality. They believe in Gods that do not exist, and religions that could not possibly be true. We are driven to war after war, violence on top of violence to appease madmen who believe in gory mythologies. These men are called Christians, Muslims and Jews.
Osama bin Laden is insane. He believes God whispered in the ear of Mohammed 1,400 years ago about how he should conquer Arabia. Mohammed was a pure charlatan -- and a good one at that. He makes present religious frauds like Pat Robertson look like amateurs.
He said God told him to have sex with as many of the women he met as possible. I'm sorry, I meant to say "take them as wives." God told him to kill all other tribes that stood in his way or that would not placate him with assurances of loyalty or bribes. God told him, conveniently, that everyone should follow him and never question a word he said.
He sold this bag of goods to the blithering idiots who lived in the Arabian Peninsula at the time. If that weren't shockingly stupid enough, over a billion people continue to believe the convenient lies that Mohammed told all that time ago -- to this very day.
We live in a world full of insane people. Sanity is an island battered in an ocean of frothing delusion. The people who believe in science are the minority. The people who believe in bloody fairytales are the overwhelming majority.
George W. Bush is the most powerful man alive. He is a class A imbecile. He is far less intelligent than the average Christian. But like most of the others, he believes Jesus died for his sins. That idea is so perverse and devoid of logic it should shock the conscience. Instead, it gets him elected, and earns him the reverence of a great percentage of America. America! The most advanced country in the world -- run by a bunch of villagers who still believe Santa Claus is going to save them.
There is no damn Easter Bunny. There is no Jesus waiting to return. Moses never even existed. These were all convenient lies from the men of those times to gain power. Their actions were rational -- they wanted to deceive their brethren so that they could amass power. I get their motivations. But I cannot, for the life of me, understand our motivations, thousands of years later, still following the conmen of yesteryear into our gory, bloody, violent end.
Jesus is said to have said on the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Because Jesus was insane and the God he thought would rescue him did not exist. And he died on that cross like a fool. He fancied himself the son of God and he could barely convince twelve men to follow him at a time when the world was full of superstition.
Excellent marketing by some of his followers would later rescue his botched effort. How many people saw his miracles? One? Twelve? Eighty? Why didn't he show the whole world? Not because this is some giant pop quiz by God to test us -- but because he did not perform any miracles!
Even his apostles can't agree on what miracles he supposedly carried out or when he carried them out. Or whether he returned after death or he didn't. Whether they saw him in person or just as a vision. Rational human beings shouldn't believe this kind of nonsense. Yet most of the world does.
If a man today killed his only son to show how much he loved other people, he would be considered a madman, locked in jail and earn society's contempt. Yet we think this is some sort of noble act by our Father in Heaven.
In Heaven? What, with the harps and the winged angels and the 72 virgins? My God, how stupid do you have to be to believe that?
I know most of you don't actually read your religious texts, and when you do, you assiduously try to avoid the parts that make no sense whatsoever or hide underneath the comforting grasp of your religious leaders who have concocted a bunch of circular logic (a crime to even use that word in regards to Christianity, Islam or Judaism) to shield you from the obvious folly of the written text.
So, I'm not calling you stupid if you haven't really read the material. And I know how powerful brainwashing is. We all received it when we were young and it is exceedingly difficult to break its grasp. But people dance around the issue out of politeness because they don't want to call you what you are -- ignorant.
There are a lot of people I love dearly and respect wholeheartedly who believe in religion. I hate to do this to them. But we have killed far too many people, wasted far too much time on this nonsense for us to keep going in this direction for fear of offense.
Jesus was a lunatic. God is not coming to your rescue. He hasn't come to anyone's rescue in thousands of years, including Jesus. Mohammed was a power hungry, scam artist and ruthless conqueror. Moses and Abraham were figments of the imagination of some long dead rabbi. He would probably laugh his ass off at all of you who still believe the fairytales he made up thousands of years ago. He probably wouldn't even believe it if you told him.
Did I mention Judaism? The chosen people? Come on, get off it. People walk around in clothes from 18th century Russia, thinking they have been chosen by God when they look like a bunch of jackasses. I'm tired of all the deaths because we did not want to give offense. Orthodox Jews are wrong and ridiculous.
As are the orthodox and fundamentalists of all of the religions. It says in the Bible that it is an abomination to wear clothes made of two different cloths or to eat shellfish. If you think God will hate you because you mixed wool and linen or because you ate some shrimp, you are insane.
How long are we going to dance around the 800-pound gorilla in the room? The world is run by madmen. It's not just Bush and bin Laden. It is the leader of all of the countries in the Middle East, almost all of the Americas and most of the rest of the world.
Have I offended you? That's too bad. Stop killing each other in the name of false and ridiculous Gods and I will stop ridiculing you. Trust me, your offense is much worse than mine.
Right now as you read this, there are ignorant, hateful Muslims teaching other ignorant Muslims how to put on a suicide belt. There are orthodox Jews telling other Jews how they must never leave their "holy land" no matter what the consequences are to other human beings. They assure their followers -- remember, they are not the chosen ones, we are. If we crush and oppress them, don't worry, God will excuse it, and even desires it, because He is on our side.
There are maniacal Christians who are praying for the end of time. Who are hoping that most of the world's population is wiped off the face of the Earth by their vengeful and murderous God. Whom they believe is, ironically, a loving God. Unless, of course, you make the fatal mistake of not kissing his ass and appeasing him, in which case he will slaughter you and condemn you to eternal torture. What kind of sick people believe this?
The kind who live next to you. The kind who voted for George Bush. The kind who send their religious leaders to the White House to argue against even-handedness in the Middle East because it would prevent their sick prophecy. The kind who have undue influence over how we use the greatest and most lethal army ever built by man.
If you don't want to be called ignorant or misinformed, then get informed. Learn the real nature of our universe and put aside old wives tales about resurrected Gods, omniscient prophets and a guy who could split the Red Sea but couldn't find where he's going in the desert for forty years.
Excerpt from The Huffington Post, Written By Cenk Uygur
www.theyoungturks.com
www.youtube.com/stemcgolf
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Why do atheists have such a bad image?
A poll in America showed atheists to be one of the most mistrusted groups. It is quite shocking to see that when you look at the statistical evidence.
If you are an atheist, you are more likely to have a college degree. Thats a good thing. If you are an atheist, you are more likely to be on a higher salary. Thats a good thing. If you are an atheist, you are less likely to go to jail. Atheists make up .2% of the prison population, when the make up 10-20% of the population. Thats a good thing. If you are an atheist, you are less likely to get divorced. Thats a good thing.
This data was collected from America and used a very large sample space. This data is inconsistent which our image. So why is that? One reason why atheists have such a bad image is that there is no one large organisation representing us, only a few small ones. So the organized religion can just crush a bunch of small ones instead of having to stand up to a united front. As a result, atheist funding is miniscule compared to the funding of organized religion, who take collections and don't pay tax. Money talks.
Publicly, very few high profile people are reluctant to say what they believe. We have got a load of celebrities preaching religion, Pamela Anderson, Tom Cruise, News Anchors, musicians, politicians and sport stars. The constant bombardment of jesus freaks in the media does wonders for religion. For simple people, it makes them feel good about it and the fact that there are more theists than atheists seals the deal for them that they are right. They don't accept the fact that most of these people are not even educated enough and are not qualified to have an opinion on the oirgin of the universe or how we came about. Could you imagine a debate with Pamela Anderson and Bill O'Reilly vs Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. They would be destroyed, but their audience and media power are vastly greater than Dawkins/Hitchens. Politicians and musicians wave the religion banner because most of their voters/consumer are theists. And they don't want to isolate that base. Science, technology and innovation is the engine for the human race, constantly pushing us forward, improving our lives. But scientists, and intelligent people aren't in the media because thats not what they do. There is a growing movement with the likes of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Stephen Fry and Bill Maher etc coming out and speaking against religion. More books are being published and films are being produced. Atheists are the largest fastest growing group.
Another reason atheists have a bad image is because of the misinformed public view. Before I came to reason, I thought atheists were Satan worshippers, and were into weird stuff. Obviuosly that is totally wrong but I was young and atheists were portrayed as killers and social parasites. Theists claim that atheists have no morals. In response to that I ask;
1. Name a moral action that a religious person can do that an atheist can't do.
2. Name a wicked action that person can do, only because of their religious beliefs.
There is no good answers to the first, but plenty of answers to the second. Largely because religious people are irrational. Another point I like to point out is that the biggest philantropists and charities in the world are secular and atheist/agnostic. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Ikea Foundation. Where do they get their morals? I also like to quote Albert Einstein- "If we are good only because we fear punishment, and hope for a reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed". I ask the theist, that if he gets his morals from the bible, slavery, genocide, human sacrifice and condeming people to torture for eternity are all OK. I say that my moral standards are greater. Then I say if he were to stop believing tomorrow, would he go out and murder, rape and steal. If he says maybe, you should inform a mental hospital. We witness morals in the animal kingdom. You get your morals from experience growing up. You learn if you do a good action, a good action will be return, if you do a bad action to hurt someone, there will be consquences. People say that Hitler was an atheist. This is totally untrue. He was a roman catholic and the vatican was saying prayers for him on the pulpit. If Adolf Hitler was an atheist, why did he keep saying that he believed in God, had faith in God, and was convinced that he was doing God's work? Adolf Hitler was not just certain that his attacks on Jews were divinely mandated, but also his efforts to clamp down on society by restoring traditional morality. Christian apologists only seem to claim that Hitler was an atheist because they cannot handle the idea that a Christian theist would cause so much evil in the name of their God. Doesn't sound like an atheist to me! They also say that Mao and Stalin were atheists. This is true. But in Russia, the tsar was seen to be a divine being. So Stalin had all these peasants and soldiers worshipping him, and you shouldn't be in the dictator business if you don't take advantage of that. The same with Mao. The religious dogma's in these countries were the reason that the leaders could get away with so much. Plus, were all the soldiers atheists? No.
Another reason is that people don't know what atheists stand for. Or they had a totally wrong view like I did. The basic atheist message as I interpret it is, to cherish life, live a good one as you only have one. Some people don't like it, but if you think more deeply, it is much better than, worship a space daddy who loves you, you filthy scumbag sinner, and you can live in heaven for all eternity worshipping some more, or if your father (who loves you) judges you to be not worthy, he will send you to hell to suffer. I like the factual based message as I will be rewarded for what I do, not what I believe. Atheists try to better the world, they are not content in say "Well, you had a crappy life on earth, but you will be rewarded when you die". Atheists try to improve civilisation and humanity, while theists pray for the destruction and only when you are dead does the fun begin.
Another reason why theism is more popular is because of the fear they strike into you. They preach freewil, but what are the consquences of excercising that right? The brutality that organized religion has inflicting over the centuries show what money, power and fear mongering can achieve.
So to sum up, atheism has a better moral standard than that of the most popular religions. Atheism gives you no false hope, and doesn't threaten you if you disagree.
For interesting videos check out;
www.youtube.com/stemcgolf
If you are an atheist, you are more likely to have a college degree. Thats a good thing. If you are an atheist, you are more likely to be on a higher salary. Thats a good thing. If you are an atheist, you are less likely to go to jail. Atheists make up .2% of the prison population, when the make up 10-20% of the population. Thats a good thing. If you are an atheist, you are less likely to get divorced. Thats a good thing.
This data was collected from America and used a very large sample space. This data is inconsistent which our image. So why is that? One reason why atheists have such a bad image is that there is no one large organisation representing us, only a few small ones. So the organized religion can just crush a bunch of small ones instead of having to stand up to a united front. As a result, atheist funding is miniscule compared to the funding of organized religion, who take collections and don't pay tax. Money talks.
Publicly, very few high profile people are reluctant to say what they believe. We have got a load of celebrities preaching religion, Pamela Anderson, Tom Cruise, News Anchors, musicians, politicians and sport stars. The constant bombardment of jesus freaks in the media does wonders for religion. For simple people, it makes them feel good about it and the fact that there are more theists than atheists seals the deal for them that they are right. They don't accept the fact that most of these people are not even educated enough and are not qualified to have an opinion on the oirgin of the universe or how we came about. Could you imagine a debate with Pamela Anderson and Bill O'Reilly vs Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. They would be destroyed, but their audience and media power are vastly greater than Dawkins/Hitchens. Politicians and musicians wave the religion banner because most of their voters/consumer are theists. And they don't want to isolate that base. Science, technology and innovation is the engine for the human race, constantly pushing us forward, improving our lives. But scientists, and intelligent people aren't in the media because thats not what they do. There is a growing movement with the likes of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Stephen Fry and Bill Maher etc coming out and speaking against religion. More books are being published and films are being produced. Atheists are the largest fastest growing group.
Another reason atheists have a bad image is because of the misinformed public view. Before I came to reason, I thought atheists were Satan worshippers, and were into weird stuff. Obviuosly that is totally wrong but I was young and atheists were portrayed as killers and social parasites. Theists claim that atheists have no morals. In response to that I ask;
1. Name a moral action that a religious person can do that an atheist can't do.
2. Name a wicked action that person can do, only because of their religious beliefs.
There is no good answers to the first, but plenty of answers to the second. Largely because religious people are irrational. Another point I like to point out is that the biggest philantropists and charities in the world are secular and atheist/agnostic. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Ikea Foundation. Where do they get their morals? I also like to quote Albert Einstein- "If we are good only because we fear punishment, and hope for a reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed". I ask the theist, that if he gets his morals from the bible, slavery, genocide, human sacrifice and condeming people to torture for eternity are all OK. I say that my moral standards are greater. Then I say if he were to stop believing tomorrow, would he go out and murder, rape and steal. If he says maybe, you should inform a mental hospital. We witness morals in the animal kingdom. You get your morals from experience growing up. You learn if you do a good action, a good action will be return, if you do a bad action to hurt someone, there will be consquences. People say that Hitler was an atheist. This is totally untrue. He was a roman catholic and the vatican was saying prayers for him on the pulpit. If Adolf Hitler was an atheist, why did he keep saying that he believed in God, had faith in God, and was convinced that he was doing God's work? Adolf Hitler was not just certain that his attacks on Jews were divinely mandated, but also his efforts to clamp down on society by restoring traditional morality. Christian apologists only seem to claim that Hitler was an atheist because they cannot handle the idea that a Christian theist would cause so much evil in the name of their God. Doesn't sound like an atheist to me! They also say that Mao and Stalin were atheists. This is true. But in Russia, the tsar was seen to be a divine being. So Stalin had all these peasants and soldiers worshipping him, and you shouldn't be in the dictator business if you don't take advantage of that. The same with Mao. The religious dogma's in these countries were the reason that the leaders could get away with so much. Plus, were all the soldiers atheists? No.
Another reason is that people don't know what atheists stand for. Or they had a totally wrong view like I did. The basic atheist message as I interpret it is, to cherish life, live a good one as you only have one. Some people don't like it, but if you think more deeply, it is much better than, worship a space daddy who loves you, you filthy scumbag sinner, and you can live in heaven for all eternity worshipping some more, or if your father (who loves you) judges you to be not worthy, he will send you to hell to suffer. I like the factual based message as I will be rewarded for what I do, not what I believe. Atheists try to better the world, they are not content in say "Well, you had a crappy life on earth, but you will be rewarded when you die". Atheists try to improve civilisation and humanity, while theists pray for the destruction and only when you are dead does the fun begin.
Another reason why theism is more popular is because of the fear they strike into you. They preach freewil, but what are the consquences of excercising that right? The brutality that organized religion has inflicting over the centuries show what money, power and fear mongering can achieve.
So to sum up, atheism has a better moral standard than that of the most popular religions. Atheism gives you no false hope, and doesn't threaten you if you disagree.
For interesting videos check out;
www.youtube.com/stemcgolf
View on Religion
Im an atheist. I like listening to Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Fry etc. You know, smart people. I feel that religious people turn off their rational critical thinking parts of their brain when it comes to religion. People are afraid to question religion because of traditions and superstitions which are based on no evidence and are driven home by fear and peer pressure from family and friends. Fear of the unkown is a scary thing to these people and instead of thinking about it, finding facts and evidence, they choose the easy way out and say god did it. There is nothing left in the world where a celestial space daddy is needed to explain anything. Religion came out thousands of years ago when humans didn't know anything about chemistry, biology, physics and geography. The power and wealth that organised religion has gained is a testament to what good P.R., brutal force and fear mongering can achieve. It targets the weak and ignorant and is afraid of science. But science keeps on piling on the evidence, and all the evidence(or lack of evidence) contradicts the religious beliefs. I laugh when people say they get their morals from god and lead their life from the 10 commandments. The god in the bible advocates slavery, genocide and human sacrifice. He is a vengeful egotistical character who loves you, but will send you to hell to torture for all eternity? Some father. The 10 commandments are ridiculous, who deserves to be tortured for eternity for working on Saturday, thinking about how good looking someone is or wanting a ferrari? Frankly, it is immoral to believe in that.
Name a moral action that can only be done by a religious person and not that of an atheist. Now name a wicked thing done by a person purely because of their religion. You can't answer to first but it is very easy to answer the second.
Sex scandals, child abuse, terrorism, wars, brainwashing, and impeding science is the legacy of religion.
To creationists, evolution is a fact. The theory of evolution is just like the atomic theory or the theory of gravity. "God did it" just doesn't cut it. A theory in science is different to the common use of theory (guess/idea). A theory in science is the ultimate goal in explaining something useing a bunch of facts and evidence to support the theory. Scientists all over the world will try to disprove a theory and unless they find something to disprove it, it remains a theory. Theories are there waiting to be disproved, because science doesn't have the arrogance to say definetly. The evidence supports evolution. 99.98% of biology scientists support evolution. Intelligent rational beings support it. It is not a debate. Why don't we teach the world is flat, we don't teach stars are souls, we don't teach the earth is the centre of the universe and we don't teach that volcanoes are the gateways to hell. Why should we teach creationism? Evolution is a theory. Creationism is a myth.
For good videos on the matter, check out
www.youtube.com/stemcgolf link on right
Name a moral action that can only be done by a religious person and not that of an atheist. Now name a wicked thing done by a person purely because of their religion. You can't answer to first but it is very easy to answer the second.
Sex scandals, child abuse, terrorism, wars, brainwashing, and impeding science is the legacy of religion.
To creationists, evolution is a fact. The theory of evolution is just like the atomic theory or the theory of gravity. "God did it" just doesn't cut it. A theory in science is different to the common use of theory (guess/idea). A theory in science is the ultimate goal in explaining something useing a bunch of facts and evidence to support the theory. Scientists all over the world will try to disprove a theory and unless they find something to disprove it, it remains a theory. Theories are there waiting to be disproved, because science doesn't have the arrogance to say definetly. The evidence supports evolution. 99.98% of biology scientists support evolution. Intelligent rational beings support it. It is not a debate. Why don't we teach the world is flat, we don't teach stars are souls, we don't teach the earth is the centre of the universe and we don't teach that volcanoes are the gateways to hell. Why should we teach creationism? Evolution is a theory. Creationism is a myth.
For good videos on the matter, check out
www.youtube.com/stemcgolf link on right
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