The other day the mail came and there was an unexpected package from my friend Jenny. After having the dogs sniff it for bombs and drugs, I emailed her to see if I could open it. She said yes and lo, what did my wondering eyes alight upon, but my very own Jesus action figure! And he talks! But only in Spanish! He's so awesome!
Fresh out of the box, Jesus is in a nice linen dress with frayed hems. His hair is very neat, and he looks like a surfer or like one of those soulful hippie guys who drink cappuccinos in the local cafe while they write poetry to their mothers.
He also looks worried, doesn't he? I do like the attention to detail in his dress, for example the neckline.
Of course I had to see what he looked like naked! Was he anatomically correct? Inquiring minds need to know! I looked up his dress and there was a note up there! This is what Jenny had left me. HA!
"Hey, let's do something to appease our Lord. We need to rid ourselves of sin."
"I know, let's baptize ourselves. I hear the Lord likes that sort of thing."
"We live in Siberia. It's January, and a bit nippy out."
"Well, then let's chop through the ice, in the shape of a cross of course, then dip our naked children in there. It will take away all of their sins."
"We don't have to take off our coats, do we?"
"No, don't be silly! Just the little children."
"Yes, I hear it's all the rage. I'll get my axe. You get the baby."
And I said, WTF? This is religion at work. In Communist Russia, religion was banned, driven underground. But since the fall of Communism, there has been a resurgence.
All it takes are liberal doses of ignorance and superstition with a dash of confirmation bias, a pinch of cognitive dissonance, and an authoritarian dogma to serve extra portions of indoctrination. And voila! You have people taking their children as young as newborns and dipping them in ice water in January in Siberia.
It's truly barbaric. And it's also dangerous. It can literally shock the heart enough to make it stop, and can cause hypothermia.
There is a popular belief that diving into an ice hole 3 times on Epiphany will erase your sins. But what sins do newborns or small children have? Supposedly, this belief is not endorsed officially by the Orthodox Church.
This has become popular since the 1990's, so it's not an old ritual. Father Yakov Krotov, an Orthodox priest of Moscow said,"This is not going back to our traditions - no, this is just an attempt [by the masses] to create some kind of great past." Whether Father Krotov agrees with it or not, it appears in the video an in other pictures online that there are officials (dressed quite warmly) officiating the abusive treatment.
While my imaginary conversation mentions only children, adults do it too. If they want to freeze their bits off and damage their hearts, that's their business. But it's abusive to make a child do this against their will, or under coercion and indoctrination.
Not to mention, does this give these people license to "sin" throughout the year, knowing all they have to do is get baptized in January to wipe the slate clean? I don't know, but I would think human nature would easily rationalize such behavior.
Epiphany, or Theophany, takes place on January 19 and commemorates Jesus' baptism in the river Jordan. Supposedly the waters are holy on this day.
Last night our local group of heathens and extended friends had our Winter Solstice/Festivus/FSM Holiday/Christmas/Hanukkah party. It was fun. The conversation was very interesting and incredibly diverse. Here are two topics I discussed.
I was talking to a Buddhist physicist who works for NASA part time. He started talking about how the earth and rocks have sentience. I disagreed, of course. He had this weird logic that was completely flawed. He said something about how humans are sentient, and we need the sun and the earth so they are sentient too. Um, what? And he works for NASA?
My friend Eric works for NASA. He went to his office christmas party where they prayed at the beginning "in jesus name".
This is fascinating and disturbing. I had this idea that people in places like NASA are rational and critical thinkers. But I guess you can be smart in one area and compartmentalize your beliefs and faith in the supernatural in another, and blithely eschew critical thinking. I think early and lifelong indoctrination is definitely a factor. It is disheartening, though.
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One of my friends, Jim, is a grief counselor so he and I ended up talking about death and the afterlife. Cheery, huh?
We both agreed that as atheists, there is no fear of death. Being dead is natural. It's the end. For about 14 billion years before you were born you didn't exist. Now you do. Eventually (hopefully later rather than sooner, after a rewarding and wonderful life) you will die. We all die.
Where I have problems with death is the actual act of dying. I really don't want to suffer. I don't like pain. I don't want to lose all of my dignity. As Jim said, though, we are really working on that.
Anyway, if you're religious, you are led to believe that there is an afterlife. Well, some religions anyway. Apparently the jews don't hold to that notion. So if you're a muslim and you do good deeds like kill a bunch of innocent infidels you and 72 members of your family go to heaven where you get 72 virgins (see inside label for details).
If you're a christian, you get two choices (well, catholics get purgatory, too). You're going to hell unless you get saved and accept jesus as your savior (rules and restrictions may differ for your denomination. See insert). Then you get to go to heaven to worship god for all eternity.
Some things are incredibly hard to watch. Watching adults lie to children, manipulate them, turn them away from reality and science all because it's "easier" to control them, keep them in line, keep them in the church, is sickening beyond the pale.
I found this on Stupid Evil Bastard, who reviewed it quite well. But I had to share it with you because these horrid people, Ken Ham and his ilk, are killing the critical thinking of children with lies and bullshit. Get them while they're young and you maybe just get them for life.
And the mother who says it's just easier? I have nothing nice to say so I'll keep my thoughts to myself about that. But I'll just say she gets what she deserves with that kind of lazy, willfully ignorant parenting.
Nothing to me is more despicable that cultivated ignorance. Except maybe spoon feeding it to poor kids who can't reason through the lies yet.
But don't take my word for it. How about an Oxford professor whom you know and love? Richard Dawkins, of course! I found this 2 part video he did for the BBC in 2006. It's a very good overview of his ideas and concepts of religion, evolution and atheism. See below for the descriptions of each episode.
Debating Evolution with religious folk is a waste of time. With the unknown, one is confronted with danger and discomfort--the first instinct is to abolish these painful states. First principle: any explanation is better than none. We all do it, we hear a strange noise and we quickly come up with a guess to explain the noise, i.e., wind, a ghost, a…? All tribes/social groups through time have come up with myths to explain unknowns, answers arrived at not through reason or logic, but to tranquilize the fear of the unknown, providing comfort.
Religious folk form their identities through their religious teachings and any information that doesn’t fit their belief system, triggers feelings of insecurity and fear; emotionally, they feel they are being personally attacked--they must abolish the danger and discomfort they feel. They can’t use reason or logic to evaluate any of the millions of facts supporting evolution--because they are indoctrinated and imprinted as children to feel shame and fear if they question their church's authority.
Don’t waste your time debating Evolution with a creationist; respect the right of others to believe as they wish, but never miss an opportunity to demonstrate the irrational paradox and dangerous delusion that is religious faith.
Anywhere in the world, where education increases, belief in religion declines and inversely, women’s rights increase. The greatest intolerance for religion comes from religious folk’s intolerance of other religions or sub-groups within their own religion.
It's time to tax all religious businesses and for the greater enforcement of the laws separating church and state; including, but not limited to, the armed forces, religious schools and donations to political parties.
I think I'm beginning to understand something about believing. Over the years I've encountered many religious people who have tried to explain to me why I need to believe as they do, why they are right and I am a fool for not understanding that. But I don't have faith like they do. Hell, I don't want it. Faith, by definition is belief that is not based on proof.
I embrace reason and a desire to understand the universe. While we certainly don't have all of the answers, that doesn't mean we stop asking questions. There is always something interesting to learn about.
I love asking questions. One that has puzzled me in the last year or so is why people cling to false beliefs so strongly. No matter how much I reason with a True Believer TM or try to educate them with facts, they just dig in their heels, sit on their haunches and bray their myths and lies over and over. They block their ears, squint their eyes shut and cry out, "I can't hear you, I won't listen… lalalalalalalalala…."
Yesterday I found a new study on ScienceDaily titled "There Must Be a Reason: Osama, Saddam and Inferred Justification". It was published in the most recent issue of Sociological Inquiry. It's a study by four research institutions to understand why people kept believing that Saddam was involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks even once it was obvious that there was no evidence supporting that claim.
But that's not why I was so fascinated. What caught my attention was the underlying research about false beliefs.
Some people form and cling to false beliefs despite overwhelming evidence thanks to a mental phenomenon called motivated reasoning, says sociologist Steven Hoffman, visiting assistant professor at the University at Buffalo and co-author of the study. "Rather than search rationally for information that either confirms or disconfirms a particular belief, people actually seek out information that confirms what they already believe. For the most part," says Hoffman, "people completely ignore contrary information" and are able to "develop elaborate rationalizations based on faulty information." (Newsweek)
Now, let's think about the belief in a god that created the world in 6 days about 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, shall we? And of course, Jesus who died on the cross to save us all from hellfire and damnation. So let's talk a bit about motivated reasoning:
The other day, a friend of mine left the following quote on her Facebook page, in the info section of her profile:
"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones" Psalm 137:9 (Gotta love the fricken "good" book)
This is one of my favorite bible quotes as well, mainly because it shows the "good" book as the charming, moral, loving guide that it is. Meaning it is none of those things.
Anyway, a relative of hers sent her a private message on Facebook, saying the following:
This book that you so malign is so important to me and to many whom I love. I do not understand why you feel such contempt and hatred for Christianity and 'the fricken"good" book'. For many of us it is the foundation on which we base our lives. It is a history book, a poetry book, and to us, a divinely inspired book - one that shows us how to live and to love and attempts to explain the mystery of life and creation. Some take it literally, most do not.
This upset my friend a great deal. She has been an atheist for a very long time, and her relative knows this. This was posted in her profile info, not in anyone's face. My friend was just expressing herself, not attacking anyone. So why did her relative have to go out of her way, all of a sudden, to be openly offended?
My friend sent a reply to her, which unfortunately I don't have. It was polite and loving. Her relative answered with the following:
Apparently the unknown person who wrote it was in captivity and despondent after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. Apparently the psalmist was crying out that the Babylonians should be treated as they had treated the Israelites.
This woman goes to bible study classes all the time, so we can see what she is learning there. Classic Apologetics which is: the branch of theology concerned with the defense or proof of christianity. Because, it seems, if you believe in the bible, you have to prove the only book you've got has something special in it, and when it is shown to be inaccurate, you have to defend it to the bitter end, clinging to your indoctrination in your desperation.
Hello everyone. I heard from Beth again today and will share our further exchange with you in a minute. After I posted the first conversation with her, she and I corresponded at least once more that night. So the following exchange is actually a few emails back and forth. I hope I can keep it straight for you so that it all makes sense.
I have to say, talking to christians is no easy task. I'm sure you understand that in your own experience. It's almost crazy-making to try to reason with someone who believes that Jesus raised the dead and walked on water. I don't know how people who debate such things don't lose their tempers and start smashing things. I guess I understand why some atheists are considered angry. They're probably just frustrated, like I am.
Anyway, here we go. We'll start with Beth. My comments will follow hers.
I apologize because I failed to inform you that even though I am Christian, I do not think the Bible is without flaws. It was written and edited by man, who is imperfect by nature, and therefore I leave room for error in it. When I stated I agree with Jesus's teachings, it was not my intention to come across as the type to "cherry pick", but to establish, given my ideals, that I view Jesus as a figure who represents righteousness. For example, it is like reading a fictional story. You see it is not true, but you can pick up on the lessons and agree with them. Now arguably, that is not sufficient enough a comparison since the foundation of my faith is the Holy Book, but I am not religious. I am spiritual. Organized religion, from my stance, is corrupt to a degree. Mind you, it does not take away from what Jesus advocated. People tend to misinterpret what he said and judge others based on their standards. My definition of what it constitutes to be a Christian appears to be different from yours. I do not fault you for that. I cannot explain myself well on that point, but trust me, I can still give myself that title even if there seems to be contradictions with how the church labels it and how I do. (if you insist on me elaborating on that then I will do my best)
I think I understand. You are a christian, a follower of christ. Spiritual but not religious. I get it. I wonder what being a christian means to you, but don’t feel pressured to explain it to me unless you want to. I already know what the church says. But how you see yourself and how you see christ is interesting to me.
Now, to address the "Is Jesus real?" question. Yes, I do think he lived. I see the parallels between him and other Gods invented (if you prefer that term) before him, but it does not change the fact he was there. Now I'm quite certain you could pull out a list of documents that show otherwise and I would not deny they demonstrate how he possibly couldn't have existed. However, I can also see evidence of him existing being destroyed as a result of how not many agreed with Christianity at the time and would not want a record of him around. I do believe him to be the Savior so yes, I believe he performed those miracles, even if science cannot completely fathom how such was possible. That goes into my belief that God is omnipotent and what that entails.
An Open Mind Is A Happy Mind! Here is a list of 9 things to focus on when raising kids (5:37 min)
Here is an articulate, bubbly 19 year old girl giving brilliant advice about how to raise a healthy, open-minded child. She was raised with dogma and indoctrination like the rest of us, so I get the impression that she's already come a long way to rid herself of the brainwashing from her childhood. Looks like she's doing a good job at it. Now, like Laci here, I don't have kids. Unlike Laci I've decided to refrain from being a baby factory completely. But I did manage to survive an extremely dysfunctional childhood full of brainwashing, dogma and craziness, so I'm thoroughly qualified in how NOT to raise kids. If I did have children, I'd be happy to have these 9 ideas from Laci as a starting point for making healthy decisions to raise a healthy, open-minded child free of indoctrination.
About a week ago, I got an email from a man named Craig. He's a lutheran going to seminary for a masters of divinity. He asked me if I would like to open a dialogue with him about religion. After getting his permission to publish our conversations, I agreed. I'm not good at debating or arguing, but I am always open to learning new things and maybe sharing what I know as well. So here we go. Conversations with Craig the Christian, number 1.
One of our first points of discussion was what exactly is atheism? Craig admitted some probable bias in his definition which he didn't give. He gave me Dictionary.com's definition instead, which surprised me:
Atheism: 1. the doctrine or belief that there is no god. 2. disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.
If you notice that definition says that atheism is a belief or doctrine. See below for an atheist's (that would be me!) definition. So what is religion? Well, that one was more accurate:
Religion: 1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. 2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.
And one more. We need to know what a belief is. This one is really important:
Belief: 1. something believed; an opinion or conviction 2. confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof 3. confidence; faith; trust 4. a religious tenet or tenets; religious creed or faith
So after these definitions, Craig said:
"Both Atheism and Christianity imply a belief system. Science and Math don't have that. For the most part, education relies on the imparting of facts.
I've been an atheist for 9 years and one thing I'm crystal clear on. Atheism is NOT a belief or a doctrine that there is no god. Luckily Wikipedia does much better:
The other day, a study was published that I thought was rather interesting. I then found 2 older studies that were sort of related and thought I'd share them with you. This is an area that is quite interesting to me. I've always been a bit of a black sheep, never really following the trends of the majority in much of anything. So when I read about how people make decisions, especially as a mob group, I find it to be a bit mysterious and fascinating.
Here are the studies:
Children As Young As Preschoolers Tend To Follow Majority Opinion In this study, three- and four-year-old children watched as a small group of people (either three or four members) named a novel object. The majority of group members would use the same name for the object; the lone dissenter would pick a different name. The children were then asked what they thought the object was called. The results revealed that majority rules when it comes to influencing the opinion of preschoolers. Children as young as age three and four are able to recognize and trust a consensus. In addition, young children are good at remembering who was and was not a part of the majority group.
I'd love to know more about how this was conducted. Were the people all careful to keep their expressions neutral and that sort of thing? Were they all dressed the same, etc? And who says the consensus is correct and should be trusted? It all shows a window into indoctrination, which I was talking about the other day. If enough people around a child are praying and talking to invisible gods in the sky, it seems natural for a child to easily accept that as trustworthy. And when something gets into your basic foundational belief system when you're so young and impressionable, it is really stuck in there.
Here are 5 christian movements that are crazy and evil. As if any christian-based movement isn't evil, I know! LOL... anyway, I just wanted to bring these issues to your attention, if you didn't already know about them.
