This page sets out and explains my religious beliefs. I explain why I do not believe in a god, ghosts, angels, demons, or any other supernatural beings or activities.
Why should I set out my beliefs? See Why tell you my beliefs? below.
My writings are in black. Plagiarized text is in maroon, sometimes highlighted by me in red.
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The older I get, the more depressed I am by most religion. It seems bent on promoting irrationality, absurdity and hypocrisy. It makes a virtue of believing the ridiculous, and a sin of enjoying life. Yet, its adherents number in the billions. What is there that attracts people to beliefs in their religion that they would find absurd in the religion of others? -- Dr. Bill Gold: Essay, "The Pathology of The Need to Believe." Dr. Gold, an ex Catholic Priest, was for many years the pastor at Hope Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of....Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and of my own part, I disbelieve them all.” -- Thomas Paine, From The Age of Reason, pp. 8–9
"To read the Bible without horror, we must undo everything that is tender, sympathizing and benevolent in the heart of man." -- Thomas Paine
"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion." -- Robert M. Pirsig
"The harm that theology has done is not to create cruel impulses, but to give them the sanction of what professes to be lofty ethic, and to confer an apparently sacred character upon practices which have come down from more ignorant and barbarous times." -- Bertrand Russell
"Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis." -- Sigmund Freud, "Future of an Illusion". 1927
"The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum." -- Havelock Ellis
Page contents for My religious beliefs
. . . Why tell you my beliefs?
. . . My beliefs about religions
. . . The Koran and Islam are barbaric
. . . The Bible and Christianity are barbaric
. . . Blasphemy and religious satire
I have been skeptical of religious beliefs since about the age of ten. What has prompted me to set them out here in public are the following reasons:
1. My mother died this year (2001) in May. She was a devout Protestant Christian who derived great comfort from her beliefs and from the church community. Although she has been aware of my doubts and misgivings about religious beliefs and their consequences over the years, I have never set them out so directly, knowing that they would offend her. See second paragraph of Some of my beliefs.
2. The September 11 terrorist attack on America was, in my view, the direct consequence in large part, of devout religious belief, despite almost universal declarations to the contrary by President Bush, Prime Minister Chretien, and many public officials, and in particular, their repeated statements that they could have nothing to do with Islam. I beg to differ -- and very strongly. These attacks had everything to do with Islam. See Religious terrorism. I find it to be almost a travesty of the principles of a secular state that such officials would make such denials, and call for prayers in public, unwilling, it seems to me, to admit that religious beliefs can have bad consequences as well as good ones. Yes, I admit that there are some good consequences of religious belief, but they are far outweighed by the historical record of atrocities committed under their dictatorial imposition and inspiration -- many of which continue today, especially for 1.3 billion Muslims.
On the question as to whether Islam had anything to do with motivating the terrorists, most people disagre with my assertion that Islamic beliefs had a very important role. Ah, but they say, if Islam was involved, it was a distortion of Islam. I disagree, as do several Islamic scholars. The terrorists actions were justifiably based on the Koran. Islam is not a peaceful, moderate world view -- it is a fascist, all-encompassing dictum governing all political and religious life of its adherents -- voluntary or otherwise -- in a religious fascist dictatorial system. The concept of democracy is totally foreign to its dictates. Even if the terrorists views are a distortion, who are we to say that they are any less valid than many other conflicting views as to what Islam is? Ironically, one of the few people who agrees with me is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Ottawa. He and I agree that not only are the terrorists views Islamic, but that they could, under that system, go to Paradise, while their victims, if not true believers, could go to Hell. That is no different than the same superstitions of Christianity and its equally barbaric concepts of Heaven and Hell. See Archbishop offers a refreshing dissent.
As to the many problems posed by the Bible and Christianity, see Tough Questions for the Christian Church.
3. My overall motivation is to help hasten the day when all religions will become extinct. I view them as being very harmful to society and to individuals. Their irrational nature allows for the justification of any belief and atrocity. After all, if the God of Christianity commits murder, torture, genocide, and advises cannibalism (still practiced today in the Eucharist -- see Phase 4: The Holy Eucharist and the Cloning), what is so terrible about killing a few more thousand people in a god's name? The recent attack on the World Trade Center is but one example of the danger of such beliefs. The Nazi Holocaust is another -- a direct consequence of centuries of Christian anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism by Christianity -- primarily by the Catholic and Lutheran churches. Hitler, a Roman Catholic Christian, finally carried it out -- in the most Christian country in the world, with the willing support of the public, and with Swastika flags flying proudly in the churches. See Was Hitler a Christian? The argument made by some that it is evil men, not religion, that fosters such atrocities is to argue that the religions were man-made, not the inspired word of God. On the one hand, that seems reasonable to me, in that I consider that religions are entirely man-made. Even more unfortunately, the man-made gods of those religions are also malevolent and evil. For example, the gods of both Islam and Christianity commit mass murder and torture, among other atrocities. On the other hand, adherents of those religions believe that the religions, and their sacred texts, are not man-made, but are the inspired word of God. If the latter is the case, then to murder in the name of religion can be readily supported by terrorists on the basis of their religious beliefs -- beliefs that are divine, not man-made. After all, they are only carrying out admonitions such as those from their prophets Mohammed, when he says slay the idolaters, and Jesus, when he says slay them before me.
4. One of the detrimental effects of religion on society is that such beliefs -- which, by definition, are irrational -- contribute to a general mindset which too often employs irrational ideas in other areas of life as well, to the overall detriment of society. Witness the growing popularity of touch therapy (see Quackwatch), based entirely on superstitious ideas about imaginary energy fields, self-deception, and anti-scientific dishonesty. See Christian stupidity and Islamic stupidity.
5. I believe that religious belief borders on mental illness -- a form of malady that has proven to be of overwhelming harm to individuals and to mankind, and continues to be so; see The Case against Religion by the psychotherapist Albert Ellis. See also, for example, Religious groups that reject medical treatment.
6. I am ashamed of Canada's support of religious discrimination in the public funding of separate (Roman Catholic only) schools in Ontario, in violation of UN treaties. It is an abomination which the secular state of the USA would not put up with -- UN or no UN. See Freedom from religion.
7. Our secular societies -- the best of which is the USA -- have enacted laws** that are based on ethical principles that are far superior to those of the main religions of Christianity and Islam. That is not too surprising to me, as the sacred texts of these religions were written by ignorant men centuries ago. They are not only barbaric, but contradictory. Among these secular freedoms that are so important are the freedom of religious belief and worship, and -- importantly -- freedom from religious belief and the subsidization of religion by the state. These are freedoms that these two religions absolutely forbid. See Commandment #1. The penalty for its violation under religious law (of both Christianity and Islam) is death (still in effect in theocratic states such as Saudi Arabia)! ** Contrary to popular opinion, the Constitution of the USA is specifically not based on the Judaeo-Christian tradition; see Links, Founding fathers were not Christian . There is some danger, however, that the Bush administration will violate the Constitutional provisions of church-state separation.
See George W. Bush's Faith-Based Initiative: a very regressive idea. I suspect that President Bush does not want to emperil that initiative by having to admit that religious belief (current manifestation: militant Islamic fundamentalism) can have bad consequences.
At is simplest, you could call me an atheist, although I expand upon this in the section below. That means that I do not positively believe that there is a god. That does not mean that I believe that there is no god. Atheism is not a belief system nor a religion. After all, how can not believing in something be a belief? If I do not believe in unicorns, does that make me a member of a unicorn-belief system? I think not! Being an atheist does not make me part of any belief system, including religious belief systems of any kind.
Atheists come in various flavors, as do religions. Atheists range from being quite neutral to being rather aggressive -- as with so-called positive atheists, who attack certain aspects of religious belief -- especially those which are contradictory or barbaric (of which there are plenty!). See Atheism links. I am a positive atheist in the sense that I wish to see the demise of dogmatic religious belief systems. To that (worthwhile, in my view) end, I shall have to attack certain aspects of religion. That does not imply that I should do so in a mean-spirited way or in bad taste. For example, I have included links to some Blasphemy sites, but not to others which, in my view, go beyond the boundaries of civilized taste (even though I would not call for their censorship in any way).
Religious belief systems also come in a myriad of flavors (thousands of them) -- ranging from fuzzy ideas of spirituality to hard-line dogmatic beliefs based on so-called sacred scriptures, including the Bible and the Koran. When I attack, for example, some beliefs or practices of Christians, I hope that it is not taken as an attack upon Christians in general. For example, congregants of what is considered to be a traditional and conservative religious organization such as the Church of England (Anglican) will no doubt have individual beliefs spanning the full gamut from atheistic and vaguely spiritualistic, to hard-line fundamentalist. Islam seems to fall into a different category in a very fundamental respect, in that it presents a world view making religious belief inseparable from all aspects of life, including political governance -- and therein lies its very real potential danger to society. It seems to me that, even more than Biblical Christianity, Islam is totally incompatible with democracy and religious freedom.
I had better point out from the outset that I am not a religious believer, although I view the subject of religion to be very important and interesting.
For want of a label, I hover somewhere between being an agnostic and an atheist. That is, I do not believe in a god that has any personal qualities, even ideally perfect ones. I do not believe in a personal god, or any kind of god whatever. I am inclined to agree with Bertrand Russell in thinking that if there is a god -- at least as portrayed by Christianity and Islam -- that god is more like a fiend of a non-benevolent dictator and slavemaster, than a friend. I would find it impossible to worship -- much less pray to -- a god who is less ethically moral than I am, imperfect as I am. I might help a sparrow or a person in need, but God never does -- in spite of reports to the contrary from borderline schizophrenics and religious terrorists.
There are many quotations in which Einstein refers to God. For example, he remarked that "God does not play dice with the world" in expressing his deep-seated belief that the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the concept of randomness -- which are at the core of both theoretical quantum mechanics and many unassailable experimental observations and inferences -- was not a correct description of the fundamental order of the universe. Rather than accept the concept of that inherent randomness, he felt that further advances in physics would discern a more fundamental underlying order to the universe that was not based on randomness. (Some have sought to develop such a so-called hidden-variable theory involving either variables which are more fundamental than the traditional ones of classical and quantum mechanics, or which involve holistic, action-at-a-distance concepts, e.g., David Bohm.) Unknown to many people, it is well documented that Einstein specifically stated that he did not believe in a personal god. When he spoke of God, he meant the underlying order (and yes, the beauty) of the universe and its laws. Another quote is quite revealing, and I shall add it here verbatim later. He said, in effect, that the Lord is subtle, but not malevolent, in referring to how it is sometimes difficult to fully infer and understand some of the laws and subtleties of nature. For me, also, that is as close as I can come to a belief in anything one could call God.
You can visit other parts of my Web site where I have many comments about religion, very few of them being positive. In spite of those comments, I do believe that religions have contributed some good things and ideas to societies -- especially in the realms of myths, parables, art, and music. On the whole, however, I agree with Bertrand Russell that religions have done immeasurably more harm than good to societies, and that they continue to do so. For example, see More Jews have been affected, hurt or killed, in the name of Christ and his church than those massacred by the Nazis.
Overall, my belief is closest to the following, and to all of the quotations about religion by Bertrand Russell and the psychologists Thomas Szasz and Albert Ellis:
"The world in which we live can be understood as a result of muddle and accident; but if it is the outcome of deliberate purpose, the purpose must have been that of a fiend. For my part, I find accident a less painful and more plausible hypothesis." -- Bertrand Russell
I include some references (all of which views I agree with) here, which I consider to be of key importance, before continuing with my own thoughts.
Why I Am Not A Christian, by Bertrand Russell: http://www.users.drew.edu/~jlenz/whynot.html . . .
There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ's moral character, and that is that He believed in hell. I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment. Christ certainly as depicted in the Gospels did believe in everlasting punishment, and one does find repeatedly a vindictive fury against those people who would not listen to His preaching -- an attitude which is not uncommon with preachers, but which does somewhat detract from superlative excellence. [See slay them before me.] You do not, for instance find that attitude in Socrates. . . .
. . . churches compel one to mention facts that are not pleasant. Supposing that in this world that we live in today an inexperienced girl is married to a syphilitic man; in that case the Catholic Church says, "This is an indissoluble sacrament. You must endure celibacy or stay together. And if you stay together, you must not use birth control to prevent the birth of syphilitic children." Nobody whose natural sympathies have not been warped by dogma, or whose moral nature was not absolutely dead to all sense of suffering, could maintain that it is right and proper that that state of things should continue. . . .
The whole conception of God is a conception derived from the ancient Oriental despotisms. It is a conception quite unworthy of free men. When you hear people in church debasing themselves and saying that they are miserable sinners, and all the rest of it, it seems contemptible and not worthy of self-respecting human beings. We ought to stand up and look the world frankly in the face. We ought to make the best we can of the world, and if it is not so good as we wish, after all it will still be better than what these others have made of it in all these ages. A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men. It needs a fearless outlook and a free intelligence. It needs hope for the future, not looking back all the time toward a past that is dead, which we trust will be far surpassed by the future that our intelligence can create. . . .
The Case against Religion: http://www.matriarch.com/case.htm By Albert Ellis, Ph.D. Psychotherapy. . . .
The religious person must, by virtual definition, be so concerned with whether or not his hypothesized god loves him, and whether he is doing the right thing to continue to keep in this god’s good graces, that he must, at very best, put himself second and must sacrifice some of his most cherished interests to appease this god. If, moreover, he is a member of any organized religion, then he must choose his god’s precepts first, those of this church and it’s clergy second, and his own views and preferences third. . . .
If we summarize what we have just been saying, the conclusion seems inescapable that religion is, on almost every conceivable count, directly opposed to the goals of mental health — since it basically consists of masochism, other-directness, intolerance, refusal to accept uncertainty, unscientific thinking**, needless inhibition, and self-abasement. In the one area where religion has some advantages in terms of emotional hygiene — that of encouraging hearty commitment to a cause or project in which the person may vitally absorbed — it even tends to sabotage this advantage in two important ways: (a) it drives most of its adherents to commit themselves to its tenets for the wrong reasons — that is, to cover up instead of to face and rid themselves of their basic insecurities; and (b) it encourages a fanatic, obsessive-compulsive kind of commitment that is, in its own right, a form of mental illness.
If we want to look at the problems of human disturbance a little differently, we may ask ourselves, "What are the irrational ideas which people believe and through which they drive themselves into severe states of emotional sickness?"
** Bertrand Russell has noted that he cannot find one single instance in the Bible where an intelligent approach or the search for knowledge and wisdom are praised. To the contrary, they are frequently denigrated.
Open Directory - Society Religion and Spirituality Opposing Views Christianity: http://dmoz.org/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Opposing_Views/Christianity/
Christianity: Bogus Beyond Belief: http://members.aol.com/bbu84/biblicalstupidity/home.htm
As to why I am not only not a Christian, (nor Jewish), but I am also not an Islamist, see Why I Am Not a Muslim. That the aim of Islam is to have the world controlled by a theocratic dictatorship is no more extreme than the similar aims of Christianity up until secularism began abridging its barbaric powers over the past three centuries. The only difference is that Islam is still stuck in the twelfth century -- with the same aims and mindset as then, based firmly on the Koran. See Quotes from and about Islam: http://www.truthbeknown.com/islamquotes.htm. Democracy and religious freedom are totally incompatible with -- and forbidden by -- Islam and the Koran.
I have made an earlier statement of my beliefs, which I should integrate with this section. See Some of my beliefs.
In summary, I do not believe that there is anything that can be remotely interpreted as being a god**. That is not to say that I believe that there is no God. With that distinction in mind, I do not mind being termed either an agnostic or an atheist. The lingering reluctance in being called an atheist lies in my reluctance to believe in something that cannot be proven -- namely, that there is no God. On the other hand, there are several proofs that, under reasonable assumptions, the God of Christianity cannot exist -- even in principle. See my article Proof that the God of Christianity cannot exist.
** It is for that reason that I find it somewhat offensive and misleading for Einstein to have so often used the word God as a substitute for what he clearly intended to mean the impersonal orderliness (and, perhaps, beauty) of the laws of nature. It only encourages an irrational mindset which tends to impose some sort of mystical aura to everything -- sometimes involving ridiculously naive interpretations of quantum mechanics. See The Myth of Quantum Consciousness.
A major type of harm to society and to individuals throughout the centuries is that religious belief can be -- and has very often has been -- the overwhelming motivation for terrorism, especially, of late, suicidal terrorism. I treat that topic on the page Religious terrorism. Some of the topics that it treats are set out in its following subsections, with slight summary repetition included here for those who do not wish to read those details now:
(a) Can religious faith motivate bad actions as well as good ones? Some people may have trouble with the concept that suicidal terrorists who kill innocent people could be motivated by sincere religious belief. If even a skeptic such as I am happy to acknowledge that the good works of a Good Samaritan are motivated by sincere religious belief, why are we so reluctant to admit that some bad works are also motivated by sincere religious beliefs?
(b) Are suicidal terrorists religious? What greater incentive could a true believer have than to act in accordance with his faith and sacrifice his life in what he believes to be a noble cause? In our tradition, we call them saints -- even if they too have murdered people in their only very slightly different cause?
The wars of religion have now landed firmly upon the shores of the USA -- a very natural target, given that it is the most secular state in the world. My thoughts -- rather dark ones -- now turn to a further study of Islam. For a start, I quote from its holy book: see slay the idolaters.
To apologists for Islam who do not agree with my criticisms (and more to follow), I offer no apologies -- just as I offer no apologies to the Christians and the Jews for the genocidal barbarities of the Bible. Do they have so little faith that they, themselves, do not believe in the Koran as written?
In fact, it may be overly charitable to assume that murder, terrorism, and theocratic state dictatorship are not supported by the religion as a whole, called Islam, and its holy book, the Koran. See Why I Am Not a Muslim.
The Holocaust of Hitler occurred in the most Christian country of Europe. The genocide in Rwanda occurred in the most Christian country of Africa. About 93% of the people are Christian, of which about 63% are Roman Catholic. Coincidence? I think not! The sanctity of human life may be of paramount value to an atheist. To a Christian, the sanctity of human life is secondary to faith in an imaginary God.
It seems that the ultimate aim of militant Islamic fundamentalism is for the entire world to be ruled by a theocratic dictatorship based on the Koran and Islam. See Establishing Islamic Shari'ah law worldwide.
In the aftermath of the recent
terrorist attack on the USA, it is ironical that the leaders of
the USA, Canada, and the UK call for -- or imply the need for -- prayer.
Do they not yet realize that it is religious faith and
prayers by these terrorists that are at the heart of their
fervent and faithful dedication to their cause? It is
the main reason why terrorists are joyfully willing to commit
suicide in what they consider a good cause (or jihad),
especially as Paradise instantly awaits
them. Lest non-Moslems think that Heaven
is too extreme a notion, check out the Bible,
as well as the Koran. It is mainline,
not extremist!
Unfortunately, religious wars are not yet over. The world needs a
lot less prayer, not more. The world needs fewer gods. There
is no chance for world peace until the last god has died and
become but a perverse and pernicious myth, freeing up mankind
from ridiculous and dangerous bonds of mental slavery and
superstition.
A friend was critical of my emphasis upon my opinion that religious faith is a very central cause of this latest terrorism. But, what greater incentive could a true believer have than to act in accordance with his faith and sacrifice his life in what he believes to be a noble cause? In our tradition, we call them saints -- even if they too have murdered people in their only very slightly different cause?
The wars of religion have now landed firmly upon the shores of the USA -- a very natural target, given that it is the most secular state in the world. Several essayists have been warning of this for years, but to little avail, it appears. My thoughts -- rather dark ones -- now turn to a further study of Islam. For a start, I quote from its holy book: see slay the idolaters.
To apologists for Islam who do not agree with my criticisms, I offer no apologies. Do they have so little faith that they, themselves, do not believe in the Koran as written? Or, are they reading a Disneyland version of it? As for the Taliban leaders, it is estimated that their average level of schooling amounts to the equivalent of Grade 6. A leading Mullah of the Taliban knows enough about being able to write as to sign his name -- but no more.
(c) How can we counter terrorism? After you read that section, consider the following letter which I sent on 25 Sep 01 to the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, but which was not published.
To: Letters Editor, Ottawa Citizen
Re: Letter "We must learn to pray to overcome evil", by The Rev. Thurland Brown , Sep 24, p. A13
Proposed title: We need less prayer, not more -- or, We need more secularism, and less prayer
---- There are about 229 words (1,311 characters, with spaces) in the body of the text below. ----
The Rev. Thurland Brown bemoans the fact that no prayer was invited at the Day of Mourning on Parliament Hill. ("We must learn to pray to overcome evil", Sep 24.) I am pleased that there were no state-sanctioned prayers.
Let us leave such prayers to the theocracies, in which religious belief is an important basis for terrorism and mental servitude. Does anyone remember the Crusades, and the Inquisitions? That we have advanced beyond such horrors is due in large part to the advance of secularism and the retreat of religious power and influence -- especially when aligned with that of the state.
It is ironic that leaders in the USA and the UK call for prayer. Do they not yet realize that it is religious faith and prayers by some terrorists that are at the heart of their fervent and faithful dedication to their perverted cause? It is the main reason why terrorists are joyfully willing to commit suicide, especially as Heaven instantly awaits them. Lest one thinks that Heaven is too extreme a notion, check out the Bible and the Koran. It is mainline, not extremist.
Another irony here is that Jesus was not in favour of prayer in public -- asking, instead, that one should pray in private. See Matthew 6:5.
Unfortunately, religious wars are not yet over. The world needs a lot less prayer, not more.
You are free to publish any or all of the above, in any form, edited as you please, including my name and city.
Signed: Wayne R. Paulson, Ottawa, Ontario
The Koran and Islam are barbaric
The Koran is a monstrously barbaric piece of literature revered by more than one billion people as the inspired revelations of the the prophet Mohammed, the revealer of the religion of Islam. Mohammed was, among other things, a serial mass murderer, rapist, and torturer of innocent people. The Koran, supposedly inspired or written (if, indeed, he even knew how to write) by him, includes divinely inspired instructions from a god called Allah to murder all Kafirs -- those who do not believe in Allah -- and methods as to how to torture people to death. Allah recommends chopping off the fingertips of unbelievers, for a start! It further provides that society should have the form of an integration of religion and public affairs and law in a theocratic dictatorship. For more, see the following:
(a) The Koran is Inherently Evil and links following that one.
(b) Islam-Terrorism, Inc, which includes the quote: The holy book of the Muslims, the Koran, contains specific instructions on how to loot, pillage, plunder, rape, torture and murder in order to further the interests of Islam. It can clearly be called a specific instruction manual of terrorism.
(c) Koran atrocities and Islam.
(d) The Totalitarian Nature of Islam. "The principles enshrined in the Koran are inimical to moral progress."
(e) The Canadian Atheist Issue 9, which includes the following quotes:
"Most of the people on this planet are brainwashed into one or another form of religious insanity. We are told that we must "respect the beliefs" of those we disagree with. Well, to hell with that!" . . .
"Moderate" Muslim apologists deny that the torturing and murdering movement is a literal example of jihad in the name of Mohammed. A cursory examination of the Koran belies this."
"Much of the criticism of Islam comes from pompous Christians. How dare these Jesusists claim that Christian insanity is preferable to Muslim insanity. All religion apologists suggest that "doing religion real hard" is bad and "doing religion moderately" is good. In other words, religious "fundamentalists" are insane. Religious "moderates" are insane to a lesser degree." . . .
"Adult religionists force . . . their stupid belief systems on their offspring. Sunday school, whether in a mosque, basilica, cathedral, synagogue, temple, tepee, or tabernacle is child abuse! Teaching lies to children is a crime against humanity" . . .
In 1993, the supreme religious authority of Saudi Arabia, Sheik Abdel-Aziz Ibn Baaz, issued an edict, or fatwa, declaring that the world is flat. Anyone of the round persuasion does not believe in God and should be punished. See Science and Knowledge Obstacles to Islam.
I cannot agree with our political leaders in their request that we should respect Islam, when in fact, I absolutely detest it. The question of whether we should respect people of other religions is quite a separate matter. Of course we should respect the rights of people, even if we do not respect them individually. Why should I respect someone who believes in every word of a book that recommends the torture of innocent (or even guilty) people? Why should I respect Hitler?
The Bible and Christianity are barbaric
One hardly knows where to begin with outlining the ferocious barbarity of the Bible -- in both the Old Teatament and, yes, the New Testament -- that New Testament that is called the Gospels, spelling out what is supposed by many -- but not by me -- to be a kinder and gentler religion called Christianity. Let us introduce the horrifically violent nature of Christianity gradually by starting with Gideon before moving on to the even more morally decrepit personnae, Jesus and God.
Gideon -- a genocidal mass murderer and torturer venerated by Christianity
Regardless of what faith you happen to be, it is perhaps understandable that you have not looked at another barbaric book lately, called the Koran. However, if you have sojourned in a hotel overnight, it is probable that you have seen a copy of the Bible, or part of it, compliments of the Gideon Society. See: Gideon Slaughters in the following: The Dark Bible Atrocities.
The Gideon Society places Bibles into motels and hotels across America. One would assume Gideon lived as a person of exemplary character and great worth to have a worldwide society named after him. Below describes some of Gideon's accomplishments:
___ Gideon slaughtered thousands in battle by plotting with the "Lord" to use Treachery.
___ Gideon murdered thousands more for worshipping "false Gods."
___ Gideon tortured and killed still more for daring to taunt him.
___ Gideon plundered the bodies of his victims (to fashion a jeweled priestly vestment).
___ Gideon fathered an offspring who killed 69 of his stepbrothers.
Read the story of Gideon in Judges, chapters 6-9. The tale of Gideon describes just one of the many horror stories in the Bible, a book that glorifies behavior abysmal to modern society. The clergy and leaders have hoodwinked millions of people about the stories in the Bible.
Now, isn't that just a great role model after which to name an organization? Perhaps the Mafia missed its chance to use that name!
Violence of God of the Old Testament carries on to become central to Christianity in the New Testament, with two inflictors and promoters of murder, genocide, mutilation, human sacrifice, rape, and torture now to be venerated: Jesus and God. This statement is fully corroborated at Violence and the Biblical God, where I have included highlighted extracts of a book review of the Bible from the point of view of its promotion of violent and depraved behaviour by Jesus and God. I agree with its conclusion:
Americans can take a huge step toward discouraging violence by labeling the God of the Bible as a product of barbaric and ignorant times, and by replacing his example and teachings with the best ideas that have been propounded by human reason, experience and compassion.
In other words, let us strive to help make religions such as Christianity and Islam obsolete.
But, a Christian might say, that's in the Old Testament; we believe in the New Testament. Well, Jesus stated that He had not come to overthrow those older teachings. How could he? They were supposed to have been divine, what with the Creation, the Garden of Eden, Original Sin, Moses and his barbaric Ten Commandments (80% of which have a death penalty for disobedience, including non-belief and adultery -- and usually by stoning with small stones (still in effect today in some Islamic states, including Saudi Arabia)). Jesus and the religion of Christianity and its God (is it not the same one as in the Old Testament?) are not quite as kind and gentle as Christians might suppose. In fact, Christianity just continues on with the same ignorant and dictatorial barbarities. See some of my earlier thoughts and misgivings, which started percolating in this vein in a Protestant Sunday School about 55 years ago (at about the age of ten) -- at teachings of Christianity.
As for The Ten Commandments, I shall have more to add -- particularly as to why it is important to not have government post these anywhere, especially in schools or courthouses.
I shall have more to add, seeing as how we have not even touched yet upon later direct abhorent consequences of Christianity -- including the murderous and genocidal Crusades, the Inquisitions, and the (Christian) Hitler's Holocaust.
I shall add a more detailed note here as to Islamic schools in Pakistan (state-funded, just as we do in Canada -- but not the USA!) near the Afghan border that indoctrinate young boys in the cruel teachings of the Koran, the sacred nature of the Taliban, the hatred of all things non-Islamic -- especially the Great Satan, the USA -- and the glory of becoming a martyr and going to Paradise by carrying out suicidal terrorism against the Kafirs (anyone not Islamic).
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You can e-mail me at waynerp@sympatico.ca.