This continuation of My religious beliefs (page MyRel010) contains related links.
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. . . Anti-Christianity links
. . . Archbishop offers a refreshing dissent re could religious terrorists go to heaven. Yes, they could, but I might not!
. . . Atheism links ___ Atrocities of Christianity ___ Bible atrocities
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. . . The Case against Religion ___ Catholic Encyclopedia ___ Christian stupidity
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. . . Tough Questions for the Christian Church ___ Violence and the Biblical God
Christian Crimeline: http://www.antichrist.com.au/crimeline.html EVOLUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN CURSE (V1.0). Christians promote peace, love and mercy yet reputable historians like Nicholas Freret (1688-1749) claim Christians have been "more abominable monsters than all the sectaries of the other religions put together" (The Antichrist's Bible, 2001). Here is proof of Christianity's abominations since the religion's inception: Very many brief entries of murder and torture by Christians.
The Christian Hall of Shame: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5195/shame.html Famous Christians are listed here, Christians from all of history, in the following "Hall of Christian Fame." This is but a very small selection of all who should be mentioned here. Some of them are still celebrated today. Do they represent Christian virtue and holiness? Can they serve as a model of Christian life? Until a few decades ago most Christian leaders would have confirmed this, some even do so today. So the question arises: what is the achievement of these Christians' lives, what is the human race indebted to them for? I kindly suggest the reader to judge for himself.
Bible Atrocities: http://www.nireland.com/atheism/Bible%20Atrocities.html Compiled by Donald Morgan. (Note: In the Bible, words having to do with killing significantly outnumber words having to do with love.) Here is but one example of such Divine work: GE 6:11-17, 7:11-24 God is unhappy with the wickedness of man and decides to do something about it. He kills every living thing on the face of the earth other than Noah's family and thereby makes himself the greatest mass murderer in history.
The Bloody Bible: http://www.minitru.org/llf/bloody.html The greatest atrocities that man has had to endure at the hand of his fellow man have been in the name of GOD. The pages of the Bible are painted red with blood spilled to please this bloodthirsty vampire known as "God."
The Bible reveals an important, yet often overlooked trait of God's nature and that is his thirst for blood. From the beginning of his dealings with man he has shown his preference for spilled blood; he accepted Able's offering of sheep's blood and rejected Cain's offering of grains and plants . . . God has told man that the shedding of blood is required to be forgiven of sins (Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22). . . . Why is blood so sweet to this vampiric God? Why is blood required to be spilled in order to receive forgiveness from this "merciful" God? Don't ask these questions, "just believe," you will be told. Besides why risk ending up in an eternal barbecue just because things smell a little strange to you?
NOTE: The analysis that follows is largely based on the irrational belief that an actual God(s) exists and that the world is subject to intangible, magical forces. For a more probable analysis of who the authors of the Bible were talking about when they used the word "God," see The Immaculate Deception..http://www.minitru.org/llf/deceive.html.
Example: . . .
Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me:
The Bible tells us that Jesus loved little children so much that when adults tried to keep them from bothering Jesus, he told the adults to let the children come unto him (Matthew 19:14). Apparently Jesus' father (God) didn't have the same caring opinion of children, as is clear from how he allowed them to be treated in the Bible.
God threatens to send wild beasts among his chosen people that will steal their children from them and eat them. He then tells them that if they still don't obey him, he will cause them to eat their own children. - Leviticus 26:22,29
Apparently, God likes to threaten his people with the horrible idea of eating their own children because he mentions it again. - Deuteronomy 28:53 And again... - Jeremiah 19:9
One of the prophets dares to ask God, "Think about who you're doing this to. Are you going to make women eat their babies and children much longer?" - Lamentations 2:20, 4:10 . . .
The Dark Bible Atrocities: http://www.satan2000.com/christians/atrocities.htm#gideon-slaughters It documents, by chapter and verse, with commentary, a range of depraved atrocities carried out by God and His true Believers, including such topics as: Gideon slaughters, God buries them alive, God kills the firstborns!, God sends pestilence, God slaughters blacks, Kill all unbelievers, Moses' mass murder.
Violence and the Biblical God: http://www.humanismbyjoe.com/Violence_and_God.htm
Many Americans are worried about the widespread promotion of violence in society. Their concern is with numerous cultural messages that seem to encourage violent responses to problems. . . . from television . . .
What is unclear is why so few are similarly troubled by the widespread promotion of violent Bible teachings. Violent religious ideas, presented as unquestionably true, are more likely to influence people to behave violently than entertainment that is obviously make-believe.
The potential of the Bible to instigate violence stems, in large part, from its claims that God committed or ordered violent and cruel acts, while at the same time the book describes him as perfect, righteous, just, gracious, merciful, compassionate and loving.
Because of the belief that God possesses exemplary characteristics but still carries out or mandates extremely violent and destructive acts, there is a strong possibility that his followers will decide they can behave similarly and still be good people. They may even conclude that they have a religious duty to follow the violent example set by their God.
The American patriot Thomas Paine referred to the development of such attitudes when he said, "The belief in a cruel god makes a cruel man."
Violent acts that the Bible attributes to this "perfect" and "loving" God are multitudinous and can be a veritable grab-bag of justifications for brutal actions by his followers.
Violence in Basic Doctrines
The biblical God's affinity for extreme violence is seen in some of the most fundamental and well-known teachings of the book.
The Old Testament claims that God damned the entire human race because of the acts of the first two people. It also says he caused a worldwide Flood that drowned pregnant women and innocent children and animals. It further reports that he killed Egyptian babies at the time of the Passover.
The New Testament states that God required the torture and murder of his own son. And it promises he will send to eternal torture all who do not accept Christianity.
God looks no better when many of the Bible's lesser-known teachings are examined. The variety of his methods of tormenting and killing people, and his frequency of using those techniques, make him appear worse than any sadistic and sociopathic mass murderer of ancient or modern history.
War
The God of the Bible is guilty of wartime atrocities. After bringing the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt and having them wander in the wilderness a number of years, he ordered them to attack King Sihon of Heshbon and his subjects. As a result, they "put to death everyone in the cities, men, women, and dependents" and "left no survivor."
Then God told them to do the same to King Og of Bashan and his people. Thus, the Israelites "slaughtered them and left no survivor." The book of Psalms cites these specific massacres as proof that the Lord's "love endures for ever."
At the Lord's command, the Israelites made war on Midian and slew all the men and burned their cities. But Moses was angry because they had spared the women and children. So he ordered his soldiers to "kill every male dependent, and kill every woman who has had intercourse with a man, but spare for yourselves every woman among them who has not had intercourse." Shortly thereafter, God gave Moses directions for distributing the captive virgins among the fighting men and the community.
In resettling the Israelites after the Egyptian sojourn, God instructed them to steal the land** of seven nations. In doing so, they were to "not leave any creature alive. You shall annihilate them. . . ." [** Israel is still carrying on this violent tradition today -- contrary to 30 years of UN resolutions -- with hardly a whimper of protest from its chief backer, the USA and its Jews and the Christian Right.]
Consequently, the Israelites entirely wiped out various peoples . . .
Additional Old Testament stories relate divine acts that are just as ruthless. The prophet Samuel gave Saul these instructions from the Lord: "Go now and fall upon the Amalekites and destroy them. . . . Spare no one; put them all to death, men and women, children and babes in arms, herds and flocks, camels and asses." . . . [We call that genocide today.]
Jeremiah denounces those who do not assist in carrying out killings desired by the Almighty. He says: "A curse on him who is slack in doing the Lord's work! A curse on him who withholds his sword from bloodshed!"
Clearly, the Old Testament God supported ethnic cleansing, wars of extermination and indiscriminate slaughter of young and old alike as methods of dealing with problems. Any government leader or military commander who ordered such actions today would be guilty of war crimes and viewed as in the same league with Hitler, Stalin and Mao.
The New Testament's depiction of God is hardly more favorable. The book of Revelation states that in the end times, heavenly power and a sword will be given to a rider on a horse. He will be allowed to make men slaughter one another.
Another rider will be granted similar divine authority, including power to kill with the sword over a quarter of the earth. Later, four angels and their cavalry of two hundred million will go forth to slay a third of mankind.
These conflicts are to culminate in Christ himself coming on a white horse, leading the armies of heaven. A sharp sword will extent from his mouth to smite the nations, whose armies will be killed by the sword.
Christ's actions here are in accord with his teaching that he came "not . . . to bring peace, but a sword." And they show that he, like his father, supports bloodshed and killing as solutions to problems.
Pestilence
Another punishment God frequently employs is to afflict people with disease. After the Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites complained about having no meat to eat while wandering in the wilderness. Then "the Lord's anger broke out against the people and he struck them with a deadly plague." . . .
Not having learned their lesson, the people later complained about the leadership of Moses and Aaron. So God sent a plague that killed 14,700 more of them. . . .
The New Testament shows that the Lord does not improve in regard to this behavior. The book of Revelation states that one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse will be given power over a quarter of the earth, including power to kill by pestilence. The same book says that part of the doom God announced for Rome is that the city will be struck with pestilence.
Too bad God didn't realize from his experiences with the Jews that this type of punishment proved ineffective in bringing permanent changes in people's behavior. It would avoid a lot of unnecessary pain and death at the end of the world.
Famine
God uses famine to torment and kill people. After David angered him by taking the census, he said that one of the punishments David could choose was three years of famine. David instead chose pestilence, which he believed would be a milder form of punishment from God, and thereby limited the Lord to causing the death of a mere 70,000 men. . . .
This form of punishment proved no more effective than pestilence in changing people's behavior. . . .
Nevertheless, the God of the New Testament intends to punish people with famine. The book of Revelation says that the third of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse will be given divine authority to cause famine on earth. . . .
Anyone who has seen the horrible effects of famine in the modern world knows that, in choosing this punishment for adults and children alike, God could hardly be crueler.
Fire
God has a fondness for burning people with fire. There is the story of him raining fire and brimstone on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. By that means, he "destroyed all the Plain, with everything living there." . . .
God required humans to employ fire as punishment. The Law of Moses directs that if the daughter of a priest becomes a prostitute, she must be burnt to death. . . .
In describing the end times, the book of Revelation indicates how at least some of these divine pyrotechnics will be displayed. An angel will blow a trumpet and then fire mingled with blood to be cast upon the earth, resulting in a third of the earth being burnt. . . .
The same book goes on to state that other angels will lead 200 million mounted troops, whose horses will spew fire, smoke and sulfur from their mouths to kill a third of humankind. . . .
Medical personnel know that burns are some of the most painful injuries people can sustain. By choosing this form of punishment, the Almighty is again shown to rank among the cruelest of beings.
Torture
God carries his ruthlessness to infinite extremes in the New Testament by inflicting eternal torture on people. Being the firebug that he is, his favored method of torture is to burn them.
The book of Matthew says that when Jesus returns to earth, he will send his angels to gather people and cast them into a furnace of fire, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Also at that time, he will order persons to "go from my sight to the eternal fire that is ready for the devil and his angels." . . .
. . . story of the beggar Lazarus who went to heaven and the rich man who was consigned to Hades. Jesus described the rich man as suffering torment in the flames. Elsewhere, he indicated that the same fate will befall everyone who does not accept his message. This will include the vast majority of humanity.
Jesus also spoke approvingly of torture in one of his parables. The story involves a king who forgave a servant's debt but later found the same servant treating harshly a debtor of the servant. The king became angry with the servant and "condemned the man to torture until he should pay the debt in full." Jesus went on to say that God will do the same to people who do not forgive others.
Jesus' teachings make clear that God will actually be much more severe than the humans who employed torture in the parable. Unlike them, God will never stop the torture and his victims will never be able to "pay the debt in full."
Because eternal torture is the most horrible pain that can be conceived, God and Jesus have succeeded in reaching the very pinnacle of viciousness and mercilessness.
Wild Animals
The Lord injures and destroys people by having wild animals attack them. He warned the Israelites that if they disobey him, he will "send wild beasts among you; they shall tear your children from you, destroy your cattle and bring your numbers low. . . ." . . .
. . . God sent two bears that killed forty-two children because they were making fun of the prophet Elisha's bald head. . . .
The God of the New Testament also uses animals to devour people. The book of Revelation states that one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse will be given power over a quarter of the earth to kill with wild beasts. . . .
By having wild beasts carry out his maiming and killing, God reveals his character to be on the same level as a wild beast.
Infanticide
Killing babies is another way that God expresses his anger. It has already been noted that he drowned babies at the time of the worldwide Flood, that Egyptian babies were among the firstborn he killed at the Passover, and that babies were killed as a result of the wars of extermination he ordered.
This type of divine punishment was also used after King David successfully schemed to have a loyal Israeli soldier, Uriah, killed in battle. David selfishly took that action in order to steal Uriah's wife, Bathsheba.
Although David was the one who committed premeditated murder, the son that Bathsheba had born to him received the brunt of God's punishment. God, in his infinite wisdom and justice, punished David by killing the baby. . . .
The book of Psalms indicates that those inflicting such punishment can take pleasure in doing so. In regard to the retribution to be taken against Babylon, the book states, "Happy is he who shall seize your children and dash them against the rock." . . .
And the book of Revelation indicates that Christ will behave likewise. In regard to a certain false prophetess who will lead his servants astray, the book quotes Jesus as promising to throw her on a bed of pain and strike dead her children.
Jesus then explains the reasons for those actions: "This will teach all the churches that I am the searcher of men's hearts and thoughts, and that I will reward each one of you according to his deeds." One would think he could find a humane way to convey these lessons.
It is said that, in prisons, child molesters are often despised by the rest of the prison population. As a serial baby killer, God is worse than child molesters and ranks below the meanest and lowest criminals. And his son is no better.
Cannibalism
The Lord causes cannibalism. According to the book of Leviticus, God says that if the Israelites disobey him: "I myself will punish you seven times over for your sins. Instead of meat you shall eat your sons and your daughters." . . .
Jeremiah reports that the Lord promised to punish Jerusalem by making it "a scene of horror and contempt. . . . I will compel men to eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters; they shall devour one another's flesh in the dire straits to which their enemies and those who would kill them will reduce them in the siege." . . .
In the New Testament, cannibalism is an integral part of Christian ritual. At the Last Supper, Jesus gave his disciples bread to eat and told them it was his body. And he said the wine they were to drink was his blood. On another occasion, he explained: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood possesses eternal life. . . . Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells continually in me and I dwell in him."
The Catholic Church's doctrine of transubstantiation is that, when the Last Supper is commemorated during the Eucharist, the bread and wine ingested by the communicants is miraculously turned into the body and blood of Christ.
Many persons believe that the worst pain that parents can suffer is the death of a child. But the Lord was not satisfied with producing that degree of hurt, and added to it by forcing parents to cook and eat their children. Then he required Christians to eat his own son. It's all very sick.
Executions
God is a big proponent of capital punishment. He likes it so much that he prescribed it for situations where it was glaringly disproportionate to the seriousness of the offenses. To add to the horror of these killings, he directed that they be carried out in a brutal ways.
After the Israelites found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath, the Lord said, "The man must be put to death; he must be stoned by all the community. . . ." He also ordered the death penalty for anyone else who works on the Sabbath. . . .
People were not to spare even their children from these barbaric slayings. God required capital punishment for reviling one's father and mother. And as for a son who is disobedient and out of control, he directed that "all the men of the town shall stone him to death, and you will thereby rid yourselves of this wickedness."
Comparable instructions were given for dealing with a person's brother, son, daughter, wife or best friend who tries to have the person worship other gods. . . . You shall stone him to death. . . ." . . .
Among other acts for which the Law of Moses requires the death penalty are blasphemy, adultery, homosexuality, worshipping other gods, being a witch or medium, being a false prophet, and not being a virgin on one's wedding night.
Besides stoning, additional methods that the Lord approved for carrying out the death penalty include burning, hanging people on a gibbet or a tree, and hurling persons off a mountain.
Jesus supported the Old Testament's death-penalty provisions when he said he came not to abolish the Mosaic Law but to complete it. He warned that anyone who sets aside even the least of the Law's demands, and teaches others to do so, will be lowest in the kingdom of heaven.
According to the New Testament, Jesus was executed even though he was perfectly innocent. In failing to protest against capital punishment so that others would not be subject to similar injustice, Jesus and his followers were not being rational or compassionate.
Mutilation
Another action God approves is the mutilation of humans. He ordered people to employ it in their legal system and sanctioned its use against a prisoner of war.
In the legal code that the Lord gave to the Israelites, he prescribed mutilation as punishment for a man who disfigures a fellow countryman. God directed that "it shall be done to him as he has done; fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury and disfigurement that he has inflicted upon another shall in turn be inflicted upon him."
This lex talionis approach was to be applied without pity. The Lord specified that in administering it, "You shall show no mercy. . . ."
He also required mutilation as the penalty for a woman who tries to stop a fight between her husband and another man by dragging her husband away. God said that if this peacemaking endeavor results in the wife grabbing the other man's genitals, "you shall cut off her hand and show her no mercy."
For persons who might oppose these and other cruel and absurd commandments, God endorsed a type of mutilation that would silence them. The book of Proverbs says that "the subversive tongue will be rooted out."
Support for mutilating prisoners of war is contained in the book of Judges. After the Israelites made war on the Canaanites and Perizzites, they captured one of their opponents' leaders and cut off his thumbs and great toes. God did not condemn that act, and the victim attributed his fate to the punishment of the Lord. . . .
In the New Testament, Jesus endorsed mutilation as a method of dealing with certain situations. To avoid lusting after women, he recommended that men pluck out their own eyes. To prevent masturbation, he advocated that people cut off their hands. And he endorsed castration for "the sake of the kingdom of Heaven," and said to let "those accept it who can."
All this chopping up of body parts is worse than in many slasher movies that Christians denounce for violent content.
Beatings and Floggings
Beatings and floggings are other methods God supports for dealing with problems. And he directs that the pummeling be severe.
Under the Law of Moses, judges can sentence a wrongdoer to a flogging. The number of strokes corresponds to the gravity of the offense and can be as high as forty. . . .
The New Testament gives additional endorsement for having people battered. . . .
The writers of the Bible obviously did not know, as modern science does, that beatings and floggings are counterproductive. Those barbaric methods teach the victims and persons witnessing the punishment to use violence as a means of dealing with problems. Other undesirable results are that the assaults instill in the victims a resentfulness and bitterness, an unwillingness to cooperate, and a desire for revenge.
Plundering
The Lord punishes people by having marauding bands loot them. . . .
The New Testament vouches for divine approval of depredation and worse, when it states that Jesus spoke approvingly of David and that God described David as "a man after my own heart."[169] The Old Testament tells us that while living in Philistine country to avoid King Saul, David raided various villages, slaughtered all the inhabitants, stole their property, and then lied to the Philistine king about what he had done.[170]
By supporting killing, stealing and lying, God and his son again show that they would qualify for the maximum-security units of any prison system.
Miscellaneous Violence
The Lord supports various other forms of violence. These include, but are not limited to, turning a woman into a pillar of salt, having a woman thrown out of a window to her death, tormenting and killing persons with hail, delivering his people into captivity, requiring human sacrifice, poisoning people, sending earthquakes to kill them, having the ground open and swallow them, and causing them to be sexually assaulted.
Because two angels had warned Lot that God was going to destroy Sodom, he and his family fled the city. But contrary to the instructions given by the angels, Lot's wife looked back while the Lord was raining fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. For that act, she was turned into a pillar of salt. . . .
The New Testament promises that God will be hurling more hailstones. The book of Revelation reveals that part of God's judgment on the wicked will be that "hail and fire mingled with blood" will be cast upon the earth. Later, the book says that God's wrath will include dropping huge hailstones, weighing perhaps a hundred pounds, on men. . . .
God showed his support for human sacrifice when he commended Abraham for being willing to sacrifice his son Isaac. Fortunately for Isaac, an angel stayed Abraham's knife-wielding hand at the last second.
The daughter of Jephthah was not so fortunate, inasmuch as her father sacrificed her to fulfil a vow he had made to the Lord. In the New Testament, Jephthah is listed as one of the great men of faith. The New Testament God also revealed support for human sacrifice by having it done to his son.
Earthquakes are another means the Lord uses to kill people. . . . The Lord is also willing to have the earth open and consume people. . . .
Finally, the Heavenly Father is not above causing sexual assaults. Isaiah quotes God as promising to send the Medes to attack the Chaldaeans and have "their houses rifled and their wives ravished." . . .
Thus, besides all his other violent traits, the Lord reveals himself to be on the same level as a murderer/rapist.
Violent Protagonists
In addition to the previously discussed violence committed by the biblical God's favorites, his servants were responsible for other mayhem. Moses murdered an Egyptian who had struck a Hebrew. The murderer Moses is described in the Bible as "the man of God" and "the servant of the Lord." . . .
The New Testament sanctions all these actions by speaking approvingly of [the murderers] Moses, Solomon, Samson, Elijah and Gideon.
There should be much more concern about the influence that the murderous example set by so-called "men of God" can have on impressionable youth.
Conclusion
These violent, brutal and heartless acts of the biblical God and his followers should completely discredit the Bible as a moral guide in the modern world. . . .
No wonder Thomas Paine said: "To read the Bible without horror, we must undo everything that is tender, sympathizing and benevolent in the heart of man."
Because the biblical God's despicable behavior has been wrongly considered a paradigm of holiness and justice, innumerable Bible-believers throughout history have followed his example and teachings by committing horrendous violence -- and felt good about themselves after doing so.
Many of those actions led Sir James Paget to state in the nineteenth century: "I know of no book which has been a source of brutality and sadistic conduct, both public and private, that can compare with the Bible." We can expect such conduct to continue as long as a vicious and merciless monster is worshipped as being the quintessence of divine love.
Civilized societies adhere to a much higher ethical standard than does the biblical God. . . .
They also recognize that the validity of an argument depends on the quality of the evidence and logic that supports it -- and not at all on the amount of violence that proponents of the argument can inflict. In fact, a resort to violence usually means the proponents know they cannot win with arguments.
Moreover, enlightened societies realize that gratuitous violence by society's leaders and other role models can, by dint of example, promote more violence in the rest of society. . . .
As a result, civilized societies permit violence solely for self-defense or the defense of others, and only in amounts necessary to accomplish those purposes. . . .
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.
Footnotes: 207 of them!
Bible Codes Books: http://www.torahsoft.com/books.html
Bible Browser Advanced Home Page: http://www.stg.brown.edu/webs/bible_browser/pbform.shtml Uses Revised Standard Version.
Biblical Errancy: http://members.aol.com/ckbloomfld/index.html by Dennis McKinsey. The issues raised in Biblical Errancy represent a challenge to Bible inerrantists, and religion in general.
BIBLE PROBLEMS: http://home.teleport.com/~packham/bible.htm NOTES ON BIBLE PROBLEMS, Compiled by Richard Packham.
Biblical Resources, Alphabetical: http://www.piney.com/Resources.html
Bible Study Guide: http://mindprod.com/biblestudy.html
The Bible Unmasked: http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/lewis/lewun01.htm by Joseph Lewis. Author of "The Tyranny of God," "Lincoln the Freethinker," "Jefferson the Freethinker," etc.
This book is dedicated in all seriousness to rabbis, priests and ministers, in the hole that it may bring them to realize the fraud they are perpetrating by preaching the Bible as the Word of God, and as a moral ant intellectual guide for the human race. -- Joseph Lewis.
New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/ Catholic Encyclopedia. Vast array of resources!
Catholic Information Center on Internet: http://www.catholic.net/
Computer-Assisted Theology Internet Resources: http://info.ox.ac.uk/ctitext/theology/
Easton's Bible Dictionary: http://www.westoak.org/ebd/t00012.html Easton's Bible Dictionary, though seriously out of date from the standpoints of archaeology and current events, nevertheless contains information of value to the Bible student. Its articles consolidate and summarize material that may be scattered among a number of different Bible chapters, or even books. Some of the extra-Biblical historical perspective remains valid, as well, and much of the ancient Palestinian geographical information is still a propos. Westoak Baptist Church, Austin, Texas.
Free Christian Library On-line Home page: http://www.christianlibrary.org/home.htm
Nave's Topical Bible: http://www.menfak.no/bibelprog/naves.pl?all=1
Resources for the Rational: http://hometown.aol.com/magyckme/Resources001.html See Religion link. Although atheism is not a religion, several atheistic sites are included here for the sole reason that they include important definitions involving religions. Another important link you'll find here is that to a search engine of the King James Bible, and another that searches any one of seven versions of the Bible.
Resource Pages for Biblical Studies, main page: http://www.hivolda.no/asf/kkf/rel-stud.html Vast, complex set of worthwhile links.
RESOURCES, TALKING POINTS ON NATIONAL BIBLE WEEK: http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/bibwk4.htm American Atheists. How YOU Can Participate in "NATIONAL BIBLE WEEK". American Atheists National Outreach Director Neal Cary is encouraging atheists and nonbelievers everywhere to spread "the good news about the good book" and participate in the upcoming National Bible Week. . . . SEX AND OBSCENITY IN THE BIBLE.
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible The King James Version presented from a skeptic's point of view: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/
FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION: http://www.aaas.org/spp/dser/evolution/perspectives/voices/civlib/ffrf.htm
Evolution is a fact, and schools should teach facts.
The phrase "theory of evolution" does not suggest uncertainty about the fact of evolution any more than the phrase "music theory" questions the existence of music. A theory is a framework by which a known process is understood.
Creationism, a religious belief, has withstood no testing. Whereas scientists will tell you exactly what would falsify evolution (for example, routinely discovering horse skeletons mixed in with trilobite fossils in the Cambrian strata), creationists never volunteer what set of circumstances, if true, would count against their idea that all species emerged at one time. Since creationism is not assailable, not vulnerable to experiment, it is not science. . . .
The understanding of evolution by natural selection is wonderfully enlightening to science. It should be loudly and proudly taught.
Report on the Stupider Effect: http://users.rcn.com/comingsoon/report.html From the Message of Bread Upon The Waters Ministry. Christians often believe and repeat false, silly, and sometimes malicious rumors . . .
The Proctor and Gamble Logo
. . . the rumor that the Proctor and Gamble logo is really a satanic symbol that contains the number "666". This rumor had quite a run in Christian circles in the late '70's, and early '80's. Then, a number of Christian leaders and media personalities made it known that the logo originated before the Civil War, and the stars that supposedly make up the "666" really represent the original 13 Colonies. . . .
The Big Lie About McDonald's
. . . rumor that the McDonald's fast food chain was donating 10% of its profits to satanic cults. . . .
The Silliest of All?
. . . the rumor that says that the building in New York City that is known as "666 Fifth Avenue" is the headquarters of the "Antichrist government" that is supposedly already in power. The rumor further insists that "666 Fifth Avenue" is the name of the building and not the street address. . . .
Stupid Story tsos4.htm: http://www.stupidity.com/story1final/tsos4.htm IV. Medieval Stupidity
Medieval stupidity should be easy to characterize: It should be Christian stupidity. However, a look at the record indicates much less Christian behavior than belief during the Middle Ages, so stupidity in this era was more a function of the Church reacting as a ruling rather than Christian institution to medieval realities.
Still, although the Christian schema was not much of a guide to medieval behavior, it inhibited appreciation of the secular dimension of life, and it was this inhibition which actually characterized medieval stupidity. . . .
. . . medieval stupidity came in two forms, both of which were malfunctional expressions of the interaction of the Church with its environment. One of these was the general lack of intellectual activity in all fields but theology, in which scholastic analysis was eventually carried to hair-splitting extremes. The other was the moral corruption of the Church as its emerging, centralized leadership dealt with the evolving practicalities of medieval life. . . .
Barnes & Noble.com - The Godless Constitution The Case against Religious Correctness: http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/isbnInquiry.asp?sourceid=00299174104359551827&ISBN=039331524X&bfdate=10-09-2001+18:18:31&bfinfo=2928%3frURL=http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click%3fbfmid=2181&sourceid=29917410&bfpid=039331524X&bfmtype=book&bfinfo=2928
The Godless Constitution is an urgent and timely reexamination of the roots of church-state separation in American politics -- and a ringing refutation of the misguided claims of the religious right. In this important polemic two distinguished scholars of American political ideas and religion refute this dangerous attempt to introduce what they term "religious correctness" into our politics, by reminding us that the absence of any mention of God in the Constitution was a conscious action on the framers' part, intended to prevent the bloody religious controversies that so marked European history. They also emphasize that church-state separation was seen as a guarantee of -- not a hindrance to -- religions liberty. Fully respecting the importance of religion in the public sphere, yet forthright in defining proper limits, The Godless Constitution offers a bracing return to the first principles of American democracy . . .
Court Rules Against Freedom of Religion: http://www.cwfa.org/library/freedom/2000-06-19_pr_football.shtml Court Rules Against Freedom of Religion. Bans Prayer at High School Football Games.
Washington, D.C.—Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public schools cannot allow students to lead in prayer at high school football games. This ruling flies in the face of the First Amendment, which bars the government from "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion. With the many problems facing students today, the justices have instead set their sights on eliminating the best solution — a reliance on their Creator.
This ruling comes after years of many parents trying to protect their children in public schools from being captive audiences to graphic sexual and homosexual material, curricula that denigrates religious beliefs, and history revision that censors the role of religion in the founding of America—all taught by school teachers with public funds. Past attempts to cleanse God from public schools have resulted in a proliferation of immorality and lawlessness among students.
The diatribe above shows how ill-informed some religious groups can be -- in this case, Concerned Women for America. The ruling by the court is not a ruling against religion; it is a ruling against the government endorsement (and funding) of religious practices. It upholds theConstitution's separation of church and state, and thereby, freedom from religious coercion.
How stupid can these women be? Why should we coddle such stupidity?
Full Text of the Religious Freedom Restoraction Act: http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/nfs-regs/rfra-act.html
One Hundred Third Congress of the United States of America AT THE FIRST SESSION Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, the fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-three An Act
TITLE: To protect the free exercise of religion. . . .
No Freedom of Religion for Yahweh (washingtonpost.com): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26778-2001Aug17.html Parole Commission Limits Contact With His Followers. By Sue Anne Pressley, Washington Post, Aug 18, 2001.
MIAMI -- Yahweh Ben Yahweh -- the white-robed religious leader who was convicted of ordering his disciples to "kill for Yahweh" in 14 violent Miami area murders -- will walk away from a federal prison early next week. But he will not be allowed, as he had hoped, to resume the leadership of his controversial group, the Nation of Yahweh.
Yahweh, 65, had wanted to reestablish contact with the group, which was launched in Miami in 1979 and once claimed 10,000 members, when he is paroled after serving more than 10 years on conspiracy charges. He had sought an injunction against the U.S. Parole Commission, challenging a condition of his release that prohibited contact with the group until his parole ends in 2008. He argued that it violated his First Amendment rights of free speech and exercise of religion.
But in a ruling Wednesday night, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said the Parole Commission was justified in banning all direct and indirect communication between Yahweh and the group without the written approval of Yahweh's probation officer. Moore described the leader as "an extreme risk" to the community.
"The government may reach its hand further into the religious freedoms of a parolee than of an innocent citizen," Moore stated, "as long as the government has a compelling and legitimate interest in doing so, and reaches no further than it must." . . .
I agree with the court!
Supreme Court Decisions on Religious Liberty: http://atheism.about.com/library/legal/decisions/bl_l_DecisionIndex.htm . . . summaries and expalantions of major Supreme Court decisions dealing with religion and religious freedom. Included are links to full texts of the decisions for further research, and some newer cases also have links to RealAudio of the oral arguments . . .
Supreme Court Files -- Religion: http://www.freedomforum.org/fac/religion.htm First Amendment Center.
Religious Freedom Alert Germany 2000: http://germany.freedommag.org/ This page has been erected to provide information and documentation of officially sanctioned discrimination against religious minorities in today's Germany. Abuses against parishioners of the Church of Scientology form the major focus. But other minority religions are also targeted. . . .
“In Germany, democracy is used as an ideology to impose conformity. It has been dismaying to discover that the state, and some of its politicians and people, are using what are known from the past to be well-worn paths of discrimination and intolerance.”
— Freedom of Religion and Belief: A World Report Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, England, 1997.
What are these “paths of discrimination and intolerance"? And why focus on Germany, when so much brutal persecution is occurring elsewhere? Repressive regimes in middle and far eastern countries have imprisoned, tortured and killed Christians, Muslims and Buddhists for their beliefs.
All true. But Germany is not a dictatorship. It is an influential western democracy. Politically, economically and geographically, it is at the heart of Europe. It has a constitution which guarantees the free exercise of religion and its government has ratified international human rights treaties.
Unfortunately, the German government has fallen far short of these human rights standards. The intolerance of the Kohl administration fermented a McCarthyist climate that has soaked into the fabric of German society. Belonging to a religious minority in Germany puts you at risk of being blacklisted and ostracized. Religious discrimination pervades every aspect of life: the arts, professions, banking and finance, social clubs, political parties, even sports. Some Germans are frightened even to associate with members of certain religious minorities, lest they too are socially isolated.
There are now more than 20 reports by government and human rights bodies criticizing the German government for religious discrimination. The U.S. State Department Country Human Rights Reports have tracked abuses against Scientologists every year since 1993. The evidence is persuasive enough to convince not only the State Department, but the Committee for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, the Human Rights Centre of Essex University, England, the International Helsinki Federation, an ad hoc committee of British lords and scholars and many independent researchers that a serious human rights problem exists in Germany.
[That is not surprising to me. Centuries of domination by the Lutheran and Roman Catholic religions, including their virulent anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism, played an important role in laying the groundwork for Hitler's atrocities. That influence continues today, with prejudice and state funding of the 'chosen' religions.]
Cyber Islam - Islam and Muslims on the Internet: http://www.cyberislam.com/
Islam Must Challenge Its Dark Doctrines: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-091301halev.story By YOSSI KLEIN HALEVI, His latest book is "At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden". Los Angeles Times, Sep. 13, 2001. . . .
Far from being regarded as fringe lunatics, the terrorists who struck against U.S. civilian and military targets are widely regarded as heroes within the Arab world. Religious edicts have been issued in Arab countries endorsing the attack, and thousands danced in the streets of the West Bank and Gaza. That pathological response isn't just the result of anger at perceived injustice, but of years of hate indoctrination in mosques and from state-controlled media. Indeed, only in the Arab world is Holocaust denial a mainstream notion. . . .
Collection of Articles from Nida'ul Islam - The Call of Islam Magazine: http://www.islam.org.au/articles/index.htm One of its many articles and links is the following . . .
The Termination of israel A Qur'anic Fact: http://www.islam.org.au/articles/20/termination.htm It is evident that Allah has Promised to subject upon the corrupted Children of Israel His believing servants who will afflict them with a horrible torment . . .
Science and Knowledge Obstacles to Islam: http://members.aye.net/~abrupt/house/islam5.html
According to legend, when the caliph Umar conquered Alexandria in the seventh century, he had the famous and vast library destroyed, saying that if the writings contained within were in agreement with the Koran, then they were redundant and therefore useless; if they disagree with the holy book of the Muslims, then they are blasphemous and must be burned. It turns out that this apocryphal story was not invented by critics of Islam but rather was created by Muslims of the twelfth century to justify the burning of other heretical texts.
The centuries provide many such examples of Islam's deliberate turning-away from knowledge and human rights, a very common phenomenon in other world religions. The Koran, for example, accepts slavery as an institution, even more so than the Bible.
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. Among many ironies, the lucid evidence that the Earth is a sphere, accumulated by the second-century Graeco-Roman astronomer Claudies Ptolemaeus, was transmitted to the West by astronomers who were Muslim and Arab.
In Islam, any study that is not essential to the furtherance of the cause is deemed unnecessary and therefore forbidden. Biology and paleontology, for example, is largely ignored by believers since discoveries in those areas would hinder Islam rather than promote it, e.g. the development of heretical evolutionary theory.
The Koran is Inherently Evil - Page 185: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atlantis/3425/page185.htm . . .
ISLAMIC HELL-TORTURE CHAMBER FOR UNBELIEVERS
This article describes the Islamic Hell or Jahannum which was an imagination of Prophet Mohammed used primarily for two reasons:
To have a torture chamber for all the kafirs (unbelievers and people of other religions)
To terrorize people into accepting Islam.
The purpose of Hell in Islam is not to punish the Muslim wrong-doers. Because, for them Mohammed will recommend paradise, beautiful virgins and young boys on the Day of Judgment. His recommendation is final and Allah cannot deny it. It is available to all murderers, rapists, arsonists, cheats, thugs, pickpockets and pimps provided they are following Islam.
On the contrary, a flaming Hell is reserved only for all Hindus, Sikhs, Jews and Christians, no matter how pious and God-fearing they may have been.
This article is divided in two sections. The first section deals with the brutal instructions Prophet Mohammed gives to his followers about Kafirs and how to torture, maim and murder them ruthlessly.
The second section explains the various procedures devised by Prophet Mohammed's sick imagination for torturing people of other religions in Hell. . . .
Ibn Warraq: http://msanews.mynet.net/Scholars/Warraq/ The International Society for Islamic Secularization. Books and articles by Ibn Warraq, including: . . . Prometheus Books (Publisher): WHY I AM NOT A MUSLIM Synospis. See Why I am not a Muslim.
Islam-Terrorism, Inc: http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate/terrorist1.html According to the FBI, the definition of terrorism is:
"Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives."
The religion of Islam fulfills each and every criteria of the above-mentioned definition of terrorism. The following irrefutable facts and deductive logic will amply demonstrate this statement. Ever since Islam was founded it has left behind a legacy of violent atrocities and horrible crimes. 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.
The Holy Koran is full of very unholy and terrorist ambitions, . . . it is a journal and collection of a terrorist’s criminal activities and ideas. This terrorist’s name is Mohammed (popularly known as the prophet of Islam). During his lifetime, Mohammed organized at least 86 expeditions against people who either refused to follow his teachings or simply came in the way of his power crazed ambitions. He led the life of a serial killer, terrorist and rapist, who perpetrated genocide throughout Arabia. Along with the pagan Arabs, many Jews and Christians were victims of this mindless terrorist. Mohammed was a man who destroyed peace wherever he went, and in its place brought terror, carnage and death. And he did all this in the name of God! Mohammed has clearly stated in the Koran that God has instructed him and all pious Muslims to loot, pillage, plunder, rape, torture and murder innocent human beings, in order to further the interests of Islam.
I have stated below just a few of the verses from the Koran, which support this fact. As the Koran is supposed to be timeless and universal, the verses in it hold true even today and are used everyday by pious Muslims to justify their brutal and terrorist activities.
1. (Koran 8:12) "Remember Thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): "I am with you: give firmness to the believers, I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers, Smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger tips of them."
In the above verse the great prophet of Islam, Mohammed, is giving step by step instructions on how to torture and kill the unbelievers if they don't follow Islam. He is clearly instructing Muslims to commit cold-blooded murder in the name of religion. . . .
2. (Koran 2:216) "Warfare is ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that you hate a thing which is good for you and it may happen that you love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knoweth, you knew not."
The above verse was stated by Mohammed after his first terrorist attack. He and his followers mercilessly massacred four innocent and unarmed merchants at Nakhla in 623 AD. The massacre came in January, the sacred month of Rejeb. Arabs regard this month as a sacred month, when warfare and violence is forbidden. Since this barbaric criminal act was led and sanctioned by the "great" prophet Mohammed, we can conclude that Islam's sacred activities include loot and cold-blooded murder of innocent individuals. The very beginnings of Islam are stained with the blood of innocents.
By stating the above verse, Mohammed completely absolved himself from all blame for having murdered innocents. The most insidious and devilish implication of this verse is that God is completely justifying Mohammed’s murder of the innocent Meccans. The import of this verse is that killing and violence are JUSTIFIED for Muslims, because they are doing it by divine ordinance! It is a religious duty of every Muslim to murder anyone who comes in the way of Islam. Since it is also the duty of every Muslim to ensure that the entire world is converted to Islam by force if necessary, one must directly conclude that it is the religious duty of Muslims to kill all those who are non-Muslim. This conclusion is derived directly from the supreme edict of Allah, who admonishes that even the Muslim who feels it is wrong to kill, must murder in the name of Allah, otherwise he is not a true Muslim. Over and above this, Mohammed is hypocritically implying that warfare is hateful to him, but he participated in it because God ordained it. . . .
The Termination of israel A Qur'anic Fact
The Totalitarian Nature of Islam: http://www.secularislam.org/humanrights/totalitarian.htm Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society. . . . But as long as we continue to regard the Koran as eternally true, with an answer for all the problems of the modern world, we will have no progress. The principles enshrined in the Koran are inimical to moral progress. . . . A critique of the requirement of Islam that religious dictates must permeate all of society. Excellent article with extensice links.
The Canadian Atheist Issue 9 Winter 1996-97: http://home.istar.ca/~tcas/canat9.html ISLAM: THE ORIGINAL MEN'S CLUB. Islam, the youngest and fastest-growing major religion in the world, is also the most militant, oppressive and brutal. Sociologists are crediting its rapid growth in the western world to its simplicity; there's no trinity to figure out, it's pretty straightforward -- obey and be rewarded, disobey and burn in hell. Islam, with its rigid dogma, lends itself particularly well to fascism, and the fertile soil of poverty and ignorance in which it is sown produces hordes of lemming-like followers, all with their eyes on the "prize". . . .
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!
Today the Muslim Fundamentalist Taliban movement in Afghanistan uses the power of government and automatic weapons (Patriarchy with guns) to commit continuous atrocities on its own people. "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 activity by powerful Muslims is also based on the supposed sayings of the "Prophet" Mohammed -- female genital mutilation for example -- an ongoing religious practice of unbelievable cruelty.
No day passes without news of atrocities committed by religious totalitarians. Taliban militia threatened to hang female Afghan employees of the International Red Cross agency for violating Islamic law. According to news services, Red Cross employees were warned: "If we see any Afghan women in the compound, we will hang you, along with the women." They have banned education and even employment for women. Women must cover themselves completely with a smothering heavy black garment. Suspected adulterers are stoned to death. (In Saudi Arabia, dump trucks full of stones are used with the pumped-up general populace joining in for the kill). Paper bags have been replaced by plastic in market places because someone might copy a phrase from the Koran onto a bag, and it might be thrown out. Female physicians may not care for male patients. They have carried out public "executions" of television sets and have banned photography and music. These are religious "rules" being implemented.
In an obscene Orwellian twist, the Taliban even has an Office for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prohibition of Vice. A motion in the UN Security Council condemning the Taliban for their policies on women was naturally opposed by Muslim theocracies. Pakistan immediately recognized the butchers as legitimate government.
Another Muslim apologist suggests that the Taliban regime is no more representative of Islam than the Spanish Inquisition was of Christianity. Well, the Inquisition WAS a clear representation of Christianity. The bible was used as a guide to the bloody carnage just as the Koran and the cult of Mohammed is being used by Muslim Fundamentalists. It's no wonder that North American Muslims are pumping money into an all-out public relations campaign to fight media stereotyping, i.e. damage control.
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.
We're strident? Damn right! We need to find a way to get right in the face of religious tyranny over and over again. Adult religionists force (there is no other way to put this) 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 and pussy-footing will in no way serve to address this psychological atrocity.
why i left islam: http://www.golshan.com/rationalthinking/why_i_left_islam.htm By Ali Sina. . . . As you see my rejection of Islam is not based on the bad deeds of Muslims but on the bad deeds of its author. All the cruelties and heinous acts of violence, perpetrated by Muslims throughout the centuries were inspired by Quran and Sunnah (the example of the prophet) That is why I condemn Islam for the bad things that Muslims do. I know any effort to humanize the Islamic community is a waste of time. The enemy is Islam and that is the target of my attacks. I do that despite having become the magnet of the hatred of all fanatical Muslims. There is no gain in this for me. The only reason I am so adamant against Islam is to liberate the world from the claws of this satanic cult and restore peace and prosperity, love and amity amongst the children of man.
See also SHARIA - COMPARISON, for current barbarisms of Islamic Sharia law.
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 Afghanistan 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).
@ Com ~~~~Atheism VS Religion--Pope USA Visit 1995~~1~~: http://nowscape.com/atheism/pope_95/pope1.htm
Q: "Where
did you get the GOLD with which your churches are gilded?"
A: "We butchered a lot of Aztecs, loaded it onto our fleet, and pasted it onto our churches. Why ?
Has photo. See also:
Opposing Theocracy Pope Picket '99: http://www.americanatheist.org/pope99/ St. Louis, Missouri. On Jan 26, American Atheists has a . . . special conference:
“OPPOSING THEOCRACY -- STANDING UP TO THE VATICAN’S POLITICAL AGENDA FOR AMERICA.” Among the topics: the church’s drive for vouchers and other public funding of religion; the campaign for censorship and a ban to abortion; suppressed church history; the unconstitutional diplomatic recognition of the Vatican state by the U.S. government; and the Vatican’s ostracism of gays, women, dissidents and other groups. On Jan 27, AMERICAN ATHEISTS pickets the papal mass the Transdome Arena. Has photos.
Reason vs. Faith: http://religion.aynrand.org/fides_et_ratio.html In His Recent Encyclical, the Pope Claims to Be a Supporter of Reason, but Is Actually Its Archenemy. As demonstrated throughout his encyclical, the Pope wants to enshrine faith, but at the same time does not want to renounce the modern world of science and its consequences. The result: his attempt to have the Church reign over everything, i.e. the “evangelization of culture.”
In today’s industrial civilization, people recognize the difference between the secular and the religious. Even those who believe in the Bible, for example, would generally not proclaim Scripture to be science . . .
Pope John Paul II’s recent
encyclical, however, seeks to erase that distinction. Titled
“Faith and Reason,” it seeks to “unite” the
religious and the secular — in order to establish dominion
by the former over the latter. How does the Pope try to do this?
By presenting the Church — an arch-enemy of reason — as
reason’s friend.
Faith and reason represent
antithetical philosophies. The advocates of faith declare that we
must accept as true that which is unknowable to the rational mind
— that we must believe the pronouncements of some
“higher” authority in the absence of any objective
evidence, or in outright contradiction to the evidence.
The advocates of reason, on the
other hand, maintain that man grasps the truth solely by a
process of reason, which is based on the data provided by the
senses.
What, then, does the Pope mean when
he calls for a “unity between the knowledge of reason and
the knowledge of faith”? Does he mean that reason is to be
used to reach conclusions contrary to Church tenets? That is
obviously intolerable to the Pope — as he makes clear
throughout the encyclical:
“The Christian faithful not
only have no right to defend as legitimate scientific conclusions
opinions which are contrary to the doctrine of the faith,...but
they are strictly obliged to regard them as errors which have no
more than a fraudulent semblance of truth.”
“Unity” thus means that
reason is to be used — whenever faith allows it. This
amounts to the repudiation of reason, as it is relegated to the
role of religion’s handmaiden. . . .
The Pope ascribes such modern evils as moral relativism and totalitarianism to what he calls “the crisis of rationalism” — i.e., the replacement of faith by reason. But the reverse is true: these evils are the product of the same anti-reason philosophy endorsed by the Pope. . . .
Totalitarianism, too, is a product not of reason but of its opposite. For it is faith that requires force to implement its beliefs. If two rational people disagree, they use logic to try to persuade one another. And if they fail to agree, they understand that each individual ought to follow the convictions of his own mind, free from the threat of force.
But if mystical faith is the basis of knowledge, logic and persuasion are irrelevant. There is only the brute assertion: “Well, that’s what I feel like believing — and I believe that you better believe it too.” There is no recourse but force.
Throughout history, wherever religion has dominated, freedom has disappeared. From the Catholic Inquisition’s persecution of Galileo for accepting the evidence of his mind, to the Iranian Ayatollahs’ sentencing of Salman Rushdie to death for expressing his views about Islam, to the current attacks on abortion clinics in the name of religion — the only way mysticism has been implemented is by force.
Peter Schwartz is the editor and contributing author of the Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (Meridian/Dutton) by Ayn Rand and is chairman of the board of the Ayn Rand Institute (http://www.aynrand.org/ari_home.html) in Marina del Rey, Calif. The Institute promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.
Ayn Rand Institute Home: http://www.aynrand.org/index.fhtml The philosophy which is the basis of her novels — Objectivism — offers the individual a rational philosophy for living on earth — by means of which he can achieve the best within him.
Objectivism offers a radical alternative to the ideas which dominate today’s culture and universities: mysticism, altruism, and collectivism — and their results, such as nihilism, environmentalism, “multiculturalism,” and statism. Objectivism challenges 2,000 years of thought — and provides the basis for a new Renaissance.
Objectivism is a complete, systematic, integrated system of thought. As such it requires in-depth study.
Open Directory - Society Religion and Spirituality Opposing Views Christianity: http://dmoz.org/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Opposing_Views/Christianity/
The Enlightened Despot: http://www.cyberdespot.com/home.html?jesustricks/index.html&frames/left.html&frames/top.html Stupid Jesus Tricks... . . . This page is dedicated to exposing the more extreme (and laughable) aspects of religious belief. This may range from outright hatred of self and fellow man, to harmless lunacy and gullibility, . . .
I believe the spreading of Catholicism to be the most horrible means of political and social degradation left in the world. -- Charles Dickens.
Go Home. Go up to Page contents for My religious beliefs
You can e-mail me at waynerp@sympatico.ca.