By Dano ~
Can you imagine the deathly silence in a church full of people, if someone went up to the pulpit and said, " Fellow parishioners, we must stop all of this talking about Faith!. Now that we are grown up, we must stop believing things that our common sense tells us aren't true, we must stop teaching our children things that cause them to hate themselves and others!, we must stop singing praises to an imaginary old man up in the sky. It just aint healthy.
One thing that might happen as a result of a speech like that, is that the biggest, baddest redneck in the first pew might say something like "Aw aint gonna have no one talkin bout my Gahwed lak thet, and threaten the life of the speaker if he didn't stop talking and get the hell outa there.
Now this vociferous defender of the faith, very likely has earned his seat at the front of the church, by "religiously" speaking out against any reform of the Blue Laws in his county, and is one of the most constant contributors for anything having to do with making his church bigger or the membership more prestigious.
Not to mention the fact that there are rumors of him beating a guy half to death once, for making a slur against one of his wives.
Men and women have used faith as an method for controlling others since the first caveman discovered that he could tell a story Faith in imaginary Gods, is destructive and the cause of much of the chaos and ill will between people today, and responsible for much of the suffering down through history.
Men, having faith in an invisible God and following the dictates some ambiguous verse in "their" bible were responsible for 9/11. The torture and cruelty of the Spanish inquisition, and the hundreds of years of suppression of individual freedom and advancement of empirical knowledge, known as the "dark ages" were a direct result of a faith based, church hierarchy, gone amuck.
In fact men and women have used faith as an method for controlling others since the first caveman discovered that he could tell a story, of an imaginary creator of everything, to others , and unless they perform certain rituals, and proclaim the power and goodness of that imaginary being, bad things will happen.
It irritates the hell outa me when a news anchor interviews someone about a friend or relative who just died, and I know the obligatory "he/she was a person of faith" is going to come out of their mouth, and it always does, right on cue.
I know people have written books about how destructive faith based religions are, but I am amazed at how much cognitive dissonance, and willful ignorance still abounds. People speak of having faith in imaginary, mythological, gods as a virtue that is necessary,in order to be included in the human race.
Jesus! Sometimes I just want to yell at the TV "It's people of FAITH, morons, who are strapping bombs to their children and sending them out to kill themselves and other innocent men, women, and children! Wake up!"
Now I am fully aware that when we say "He is a man of faith, it's just another way of saying "He is the victim of a cult", and most of these victims have fallen prey to it before they even realize that it has happened, or never had a chance because, they were born into it.
There should be a law, that every church must post a sign at the front door saying " WARNING, if you enter you will likely be indoctrinated into a cult, which may be very difficult for you extricate yourself from", along with the Wikipedia definition of a cult, and how they work, in large bold letters!
I just want to scream when I hear the phrase, Islam, and Christianity are the worlds greatest faiths. Great for what? Don't they know the world is about to self destruct because of them?
So young person, who has just stumbled across this Ex Christian web site, before you puff your chest up, and proclaim that you are a Christian, and blah, blah,blah, just remember, it's not too late to ask for your brain back, and get the hell out,and go out into the real world,and live, and love, and learn to think critically.
Tell those who try to get you back into the cult" it's your hell, you go there"
Dano (Ignostic)
One thing that might happen as a result of a speech like that, is that the biggest, baddest redneck in the first pew might say something like "Aw aint gonna have no one talkin bout my Gahwed lak thet, and threaten the life of the speaker if he didn't stop talking and get the hell outa there.
Now this vociferous defender of the faith, very likely has earned his seat at the front of the church, by "religiously" speaking out against any reform of the Blue Laws in his county, and is one of the most constant contributors for anything having to do with making his church bigger or the membership more prestigious.
Not to mention the fact that there are rumors of him beating a guy half to death once, for making a slur against one of his wives.
Men and women have used faith as an method for controlling others since the first caveman discovered that he could tell a story Faith in imaginary Gods, is destructive and the cause of much of the chaos and ill will between people today, and responsible for much of the suffering down through history.
Men, having faith in an invisible God and following the dictates some ambiguous verse in "their" bible were responsible for 9/11. The torture and cruelty of the Spanish inquisition, and the hundreds of years of suppression of individual freedom and advancement of empirical knowledge, known as the "dark ages" were a direct result of a faith based, church hierarchy, gone amuck.
In fact men and women have used faith as an method for controlling others since the first caveman discovered that he could tell a story, of an imaginary creator of everything, to others , and unless they perform certain rituals, and proclaim the power and goodness of that imaginary being, bad things will happen.
It irritates the hell outa me when a news anchor interviews someone about a friend or relative who just died, and I know the obligatory "he/she was a person of faith" is going to come out of their mouth, and it always does, right on cue.
I know people have written books about how destructive faith based religions are, but I am amazed at how much cognitive dissonance, and willful ignorance still abounds. People speak of having faith in imaginary, mythological, gods as a virtue that is necessary,in order to be included in the human race.
Jesus! Sometimes I just want to yell at the TV "It's people of FAITH, morons, who are strapping bombs to their children and sending them out to kill themselves and other innocent men, women, and children! Wake up!"
Now I am fully aware that when we say "He is a man of faith, it's just another way of saying "He is the victim of a cult", and most of these victims have fallen prey to it before they even realize that it has happened, or never had a chance because, they were born into it.
There should be a law, that every church must post a sign at the front door saying " WARNING, if you enter you will likely be indoctrinated into a cult, which may be very difficult for you extricate yourself from", along with the Wikipedia definition of a cult, and how they work, in large bold letters!
I just want to scream when I hear the phrase, Islam, and Christianity are the worlds greatest faiths. Great for what? Don't they know the world is about to self destruct because of them?
So young person, who has just stumbled across this Ex Christian web site, before you puff your chest up, and proclaim that you are a Christian, and blah, blah,blah, just remember, it's not too late to ask for your brain back, and get the hell out,and go out into the real world,and live, and love, and learn to think critically.
Tell those who try to get you back into the cult" it's your hell, you go there"
Dano (Ignostic)
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