Will We Deserve It?

Will We Deserve It?

Humans, since the beginning of knowledge, have searched for the meaning in everything.  For some reason, we seem to think there's a reason for why things happen the way they do.

Blaise Pascal wrote: Human things must be known to be loved: but Divine things must be loved to be known.

We have always put a god in position to try to explain the unexplainable.  Let's call it a human frailty.  Our psyche is still so close to the animal from which we evolved that we need to feel protected, loved and, most importantly, to NOT be responsible.

We attribute everything that seems evil to one god or another.  The recent tornado that hit Oklahoma is a case in point.  Everything from 'God works in mysterious ways', which is only a little bizarre, to Alex Jones' truly incredulous claim that our own government has a weapon to control the weather, was bandied about in an attempt to assuage our uncertainty.

The Black Plague was a judgment from God.  The tsunami in 2004 was a punishment from God for everything from not praying enough to the LGTB movement.

When we're born, we are totally dependent upon others to take care of us. And, until we're old enough to take care of ourselves, we stay that way.  Somewhere, buried very deeply, that need to be coddled never goes away.  Hence, gods.

But, all is not lost.  I see hope for humanity. I see the dying gasps of religion on the trash heap of childish things.  If, and that's a very big, IF we can get past the 'blasphemy' of denying all gods, we can begin to grow up and realize that awful things happen just because.  We will begin to see that good things happen just because.

How we deal with the awful things will determine whether we deserve the good things.  Let's stop loving the unknowns and understand them for what they are:                                                         Unanswered Questions

Walk the Path in Grace

ASH VS. THEM

ASH vs. Them

This quote is from a Tweeter that I respect and I thought of the future and our (ASH) place in it:

"When bad men combine, the good must associate else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

When you read the above quote, what do you think of?  We've seen this happen over and over throughout human history.  Some one comes to power and influences people to commit heinous acts in the name of country, religion or money.

All it takes is for good people to not step up to stop these evil doers for evil to triumph.  As the quote above says, "...they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice..."

ASH needs to stick together to fight the good fight against religion or each of us will end up on the pile just like everyone else.  With a cohesive group, we can make a difference.

BUT, we must stop the petty bickering and infighting to do it. Is it worth losing the war over making a small point that, in the long run, means absolutely nothing? 

So, I ask you.....NO, I beg you to keep your disagreements civil.  Of course, you should make your points and, of course, you should defend them.   That can all be done in a civil and polite manner.

If you want to see ASH fail and each of us become the "unpitied sacrifice", then keep doing what you're doing.  If you want to see ASH succeed, the keep the tone of your discussions civil and polite.

Here's the real problem:  The Christians aren't our REAL enemy.  Yes, they disagree and, yes, they hold a great deal of power in America, Australia and the UK; but they are mostly impotent.

I'll leave it to you to determine who the REAL opponent is. 

Back To Start

Back To Start

Atheism is as complex as you want it to be.

It starts with, "Well, I wonder if God exists?" after some stressful event in your life.  You might not like the outcome and wonder why it turned out the way it did.  Then, you find yourself saying, "Well, if God doesn't exist, that would explain a lot."

The next step is saying, "I don't THINK God exists because ___________."   You start to argue with your friends and family about miracles and their improbability.  Maybe something happens that others are telling you, "God works in mysterious ways."  Although you nod your head, deep inside your mind is screaming, "No f'ing way!!!"

Some time later, perhaps years, you discover that you're actively denying "God's blessed hand has touched us."  When you hear of a tornado that tore through a town, killing dozens while "a miracle" is declared because a baby survived with a piece of glass in its brain.  And you throw your shoe at the television.

And the last step is to become an anti-theist.  Actively denying the existence of any god becomes your modus operandi.  You're polite in public discussions out of respect for your fellows but you now KNOW that if a god existed, this world wouldn't be so f'ed up.

Bottom line:  IF a god existed, just one of the 3,000 or so suggested throughout history, it would exhibit itself to everyone.  Most gods have been hate filled, narcissistic, insecure monsters and, in my opinion, you have every right to disbelieve in all of them.

You don't become an Atheist, you go back to being one.  We are taught to believe in a god depending on the region where we're born.  Some of us unlock the shackles and breath free.

Walk the Path in Grace

A Free Gift

A Free Gift

Immigrants the world over have moved to a new country for three basic reasons. To escape something, to run to something or to invade somewhere.  Of course, life is complicated and it can a combination of any of the three.

What I've noticed of Muslims immigrating to the Western world, it's a combination of escaping and invading. 

They escape the totalitarian living conditions, but:

They escape the lack of common decency, but:

They escape the deplorable living conditions, but:

            They bring their religious intolerance with them.

They invade the absolutely free living conditions, but:

They invade the wonderfully available free lifestyle, but:

They invade a land that encourages religious freedom, but:

            They bring their suffocating law with them.

So, what are we faced with? Escapees to a better life or invaders who take all that is offered to them and demand their laws be respected?

It seems that in the UK, it's the latter.  Islam demands respect and tolerance while exhibiting none.  Islam labels dissenters as 'Islamophobic' while demonstrating that it is 'phobic' about EVERY other religion in the world.

It will come to the US.  I predict that it will come to the US within ten years.  We are already seeing very small skirmishes in Dearborn, Michigan.

Here's the solution: If you move to another country, please, live within that country's framework of laws.  Please throw away the inhuman religion that caused your own country to make you want to leave.

If you think you need to change the laws to fit your need and create the same thing you left, then feel free to find the same boat or plane and get back on it.

I'll help you pack.  If you were born here and still want to create another Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan or any other Muslim country here, I'll help you pack.

And, as a departing gift, I'll supply a small bottle of dirt.  Free dirt.  Take it back to your sub-human hell-hole and, with enough of them, maybe you can life free there, too.

Walk the Path in Grace

Togetherness

Togetherness

Animals all through nature tend to band together for many reasons.  Safety and procreation are the main ones but I'm sure there are many others.  Fish form schools, dolphins form pods and there are many ants in an ant hill.  Predators do it, too.

There are great benefits of numbers.  Ants can kill prey many times larger than they are while bees store food.  Lions and wolves work in teams to feed themselves.

A post on Twitter by @FreeAtheism got me thinking that maybe that's why religion works for so many.

Is it also built into our psyche from eons of togetherness to form religions to take the place of working together when we had to hunt to survive?  If you study history, you will find that religions came about at the time when we were starting to break the dependence on daily hunting.

We started farming and raising animals for food.  We didn't need to be together for those reasons anymore but we still kept our tribes anyway.  Why?

Because we, like many other species, are social animals; but intelligence started to separate us.  The con men among us seized this opportunity to bring us back together and profit from it.  Religions grew from there. 

Before you ask, yes there are true believers out there and there are believing preachers, too.

As atheism grows, we are seeing us tend to band together as well.  We are forming small groups which, I predict will grow as reason overtakes faith.  I won't live to see atheism become a major force in the world, but the younger readers of this just might.

Can't happen soon enough for me.

Walk the Path in Grace

Cherry Picking

Cherry Picking

I've always wondered about how cherry picking the Bible came about. But then I realized that it's just human nature to want to read the good stuff and ignore the bad.

I think our species, for the most part, keeps a positive outlook.  So it figures that we would not want to think about bad things, especially when it comes to something as important as 'our creator'.  I mean, who would want to think 'our creator' was a monster.

From what I know of our history, even back in the caves we thought about more than us. The primitive art on the cave walls is very telling.  They show the hunt for food and the excitement of the challenge.

We wouldn't have formed tribes, countries or any society unless we are basically a positive people. 

Now, here's the problem.  When our Christian friends start debating how good their god is and how omnibenevolent it is, we must be prepared to show them where the evil is in their holy book.  Quite often they don't even know it's there. 

And worse, there are believers who know it's there and still choose to believe. I scratch my head at that one but that's for another post I guess.

Start by asking if they've read the Bible and then, gently, proceed to show them the quotes.  And don't forget to show the verse identifier.  Oh, and don't forget the "out of context" argument.

If our fundie friends can cherry pick, we can 'evil pick' just as well.

Walk the Path in Grace

Immaculate Deception

Immaculate Deception

What is an immaculate deception, you ask?

It's a con job that is so well set up that billions believe it without question.  Even when shown the ridiculousness of many of the elements, the believer is not convinced that it's just plain silly.

Only religion can do this.  But, why?

We are born in fear and we live in fear our entire lives.  It starts out with fearing everything.  A two year old might seem fearless but when you consider that they don't want to be in the dark and jump at strange noises, our base fears are there.

Many of us learn to fear one or both our parents as we grow which instills respect/fear of people in authoritative positions.  This indoctrination is built upon when we start learning religion.  Isn't God/Allah the ultimate authoritative being?

This fear is driven so deep into our psyche that most of us just can't get rid of it.

The con of religion can only work if three things happen:

1.  Our unconscious psyche accepts someone in authority as superior.

2.  Our unconscious mind needs something/someone to guide us, however ephemeral.  It give us peace and confidence while allow us to shirk responsibility for our own lives.

3.  Our conscious self willingly give up control of our lives to someone/thing else.  It's the lazy way of getting through life without responsibility.  "God did it." makes us feel better when bad things happen and doesn't allow us full credit when good things happen.

The religious con game has existed since the first god was made up and humans, with all their flaws and greatness, are easily tricked into believing that someone/thing is looking out for us.

"God works in mysterious ways." is the ultimate out for the con man.  He never has to explain when his con is questioned.  He never has to give back the money, time or respect he has stolen from the mark.

Maybe the con is beginning to fail as our knowledge grows.

Walk the Path in Grace