Tips for staying strong in the Christian religion.
Encouraging doubting, de-converting, deconstructing and former Christians
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
"Nobody Likes to be Lied To" is Itself a Lie
By Carl S ~
On April 15, 2019, I stood alone at home watching TV as flames engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, and wondered: How many children were molested over the centuries within that edifice? After the fire was quenched, donations were requested to rebuild the church. But I don't ever remember any politician or bishop asking for funding to help the victims of clergy to rebuild their lives. “Verily, I say unto you, the Word of God is written not only in consecrated ink on ancient parchment, but in sperm within the bodies of children.”
Why are there still Roman Catholics, Baptists, Witnesses, etc? Why, after all the evidence of the rapes and molestations, which keeps accumulating? There has to be more going on than denial. I think one reason is due to selfishness. Behind ignoring the sexual abuse of children is the adherent's attachment to personal pleasurable feelings during church services. The individuals go to experience a special “closeness to God,” they say, in a place set aside for that purpose. (Maybe cities could set aside secular places, “designated sanctuaries” from the outside distractions, for everyone.) It seems like their “close to a god” pleasures are more important to them than the molesting of children. The children are the true sacrificial victims, not that wood effigy above the altar. A “church-fix” is constantly fed by a desire to be told what the attendees want to believe, even if those wants happen to be lies. They have their pleasurable experiences, the pedophile clergy have theirs, and who is thinking about the children?
“Nobody likes to be lied to” is itself a lie. Millions want to be lied to, want to be told what they want to believe is true. Many want to be assured by lies they are afraid not to believe. Many continue to believe a man who constantly proves he is a liar. It is their learned habit. When the fact-checkers provide evidence he is lying, they side with the liar. If his lies support their own beliefs, connected to their own self-esteem, he and the lies speak for them.
Since humans are prone to accept lies as truths, it's one reason why religious beliefs must always be subject to critical examination. The foundation of faith is just the opposite of truth-finding. But the more important something is claimed to be, the more important it is to question and investigate it! Accepting faiths “on faith,” gets this backwards.
Nobody wants to admit to accepting lies instead of truths. One reason is because no one wants to face the fact believing someone one highly respects, or loves, is related to, or has known intimately, could have deceived one, even for years! This also applies to traditions. It's just so incomprehensible one must be in denial! It's much easier to live with lies and betrayals for the sake of emotional security, to avoid making waves. This self-defense is in not dealing with reality. Without the liars suffering the consequences of their lying, lies become acceptable. Have you noticed how much rationalizing is necessary for this to continue? It may take major trauma to alter such security, which can be so powerful that even the rapes of thousands of children won't change it.
Believers want to believe rationalizations, especially if those around them also accept the lies, and this is their community. It's not psychologically or emotionally healthy. It's artificial security dependent on denying facts of life and upholding falsehoods. It's explained as only human.
It's common sense and necessary to fact-check the claims of politicians. Why should the claims of clergy get a free ride? Any religious authors who claim to be telling the truth should have their writings subject to fact-checking, including biblical authors. (Any book that begins with, “In the beginning” is immediately suspect.)
On April 15, 2019, I stood alone at home watching TV as flames engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, and wondered: How many children were molested over the centuries within that edifice? After the fire was quenched, donations were requested to rebuild the church. But I don't ever remember any politician or bishop asking for funding to help the victims of clergy to rebuild their lives. “Verily, I say unto you, the Word of God is written not only in consecrated ink on ancient parchment, but in sperm within the bodies of children.”
Why are there still Roman Catholics, Baptists, Witnesses, etc? Why, after all the evidence of the rapes and molestations, which keeps accumulating? There has to be more going on than denial. I think one reason is due to selfishness. Behind ignoring the sexual abuse of children is the adherent's attachment to personal pleasurable feelings during church services. The individuals go to experience a special “closeness to God,” they say, in a place set aside for that purpose. (Maybe cities could set aside secular places, “designated sanctuaries” from the outside distractions, for everyone.) It seems like their “close to a god” pleasures are more important to them than the molesting of children. The children are the true sacrificial victims, not that wood effigy above the altar. A “church-fix” is constantly fed by a desire to be told what the attendees want to believe, even if those wants happen to be lies. They have their pleasurable experiences, the pedophile clergy have theirs, and who is thinking about the children?
“Nobody likes to be lied to” is itself a lie. Millions want to be lied to, want to be told what they want to believe is true. Many want to be assured by lies they are afraid not to believe. Many continue to believe a man who constantly proves he is a liar. It is their learned habit. When the fact-checkers provide evidence he is lying, they side with the liar. If his lies support their own beliefs, connected to their own self-esteem, he and the lies speak for them.
Since humans are prone to accept lies as truths, it's one reason why religious beliefs must always be subject to critical examination. The foundation of faith is just the opposite of truth-finding. But the more important something is claimed to be, the more important it is to question and investigate it! Accepting faiths “on faith,” gets this backwards.
Nobody wants to admit to accepting lies instead of truths. One reason is because no one wants to face the fact believing someone one highly respects, or loves, is related to, or has known intimately, could have deceived one, even for years! This also applies to traditions. It's just so incomprehensible one must be in denial! It's much easier to live with lies and betrayals for the sake of emotional security, to avoid making waves. This self-defense is in not dealing with reality. Without the liars suffering the consequences of their lying, lies become acceptable. Have you noticed how much rationalizing is necessary for this to continue? It may take major trauma to alter such security, which can be so powerful that even the rapes of thousands of children won't change it.
Believers want to believe rationalizations, especially if those around them also accept the lies, and this is their community. It's not psychologically or emotionally healthy. It's artificial security dependent on denying facts of life and upholding falsehoods. It's explained as only human.
It's common sense and necessary to fact-check the claims of politicians. Why should the claims of clergy get a free ride? Any religious authors who claim to be telling the truth should have their writings subject to fact-checking, including biblical authors. (Any book that begins with, “In the beginning” is immediately suspect.)
My De-conversion from Christian to Atheist after 30 Years
By 1Life2Live ~
In this my first YouTube video on atheism, I've tried to give a snapshot of how after 30 years as a professing Christian I came to a final realisation that my Christian reality existed only in my mind.
I only recommend this video to those who case more about the truth than about feeling good!
My second video is now available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5MIszF522s
In this my first YouTube video on atheism, I've tried to give a snapshot of how after 30 years as a professing Christian I came to a final realisation that my Christian reality existed only in my mind.
I only recommend this video to those who case more about the truth than about feeling good!
My second video is now available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5MIszF522s
Sunday, May 19, 2019
Despite Obvious Evidence
By Carl S ~
After a hard and bitterly cold winter, at last the shoots of daffodils have started appearing. Days of snow had passed, the rains arrived, and the roads were dry again. Just one week ago from this date last year, it was Easter. Ah Easter, the celebration of spring, of nature's restoration of life! People died over the winter, never to be known again except in memories, but the perennials, unlike humans, have their resurrection. But this year, yesterday, it snowed all day and half the night long. What a disappointment. I said, “Oh dammit,” and I'm not alone. Once again, Nature surprised us.
Now, many people still believe a god created this weather system and controls it. Foolish non-observers and non-thinkers. I once had a phone conversation with a pastor. He was talking to me as if I was a kindergarten child, telling me how “proof” for his God is “order in the Universe.” I immediately mentioned exploding stars. But he was too busy preaching, not interested in discussing. After awhile, I got so frustrated and disgusted with his attitude and other b.s. that I hung up.
Did early humans think there was order in the world or “out there?” It's easy to say there's order when you're comfortably surviving. Under their circumstances, they'd likely conclude, as one man said, “The world is out to kill you.” What did cave dwellers or tribal gatherings mean by “god?” If they thought a god really was in control of Nature, (which included the effects of alcohol and hallucinogenics), they'd say he’s the kind of person who plays dirty tricks, manipulating nature and human lives. He isn't fair. In fact, when things got pretty overwhelming, like when the ground kept quaking beneath their feet, or floods wiped out everything they'd built up, they might have said, “Maybe we've done something to piss him off to deserve this.” And, if a few wannabe exploiters of these “maybe-ers” overheard those words, why, what an opportunity for them! You can hear them saying, “Yeah, you're right, because the god speaks to ME, and that's EXACTLY what HE said!” With this, those exploiters got a handle on fear; so sure, why not see how far they can expand their reach into minds and daily experiences with this simple explanation? So it began...
And so we get God-experts who make their living by telling everyone: “God is in control..."And so we get God-experts who make their living by telling everyone: “God is in control, but human thoughts and actions have something to do with HOW he decides to control.” These “experts who know” keep their fingers crossed hoping there won't be “the emperor's new clothes” kind of child to say, “No one's in control, you idiot! Your 'order' is just illusion.” There's chaos, and there's a material universe with material things clumping together because they have no choice. Natural laws make combinations inevitable. Every clump of atoms and every organism is out for its own survival. Whatever works. Some are successful, some fail. Things are or they aren't; it’s the roll of the dice. Hey - you pray that prayer will work when you plant, knowing if you don't nurture what you plant, it dies. And if you still believe a god's in control, you try to appease the god for the same reason: you want yourself, family, crops and property to survive. That doesn't prove the god is real, dummy!
So here we are in the twenty-first century with people STILL believing a supernatural force controls nature, who should be appeased whenever he plays really big dirty tricks: tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods. They allow others to tell them to be grateful a god gives them these “opportunities” to thank and praise him for sparing some lives while taking most of the others.
Humankind has come a long way from primitive beginnings, but the human brain contains primitive sections along with the logical and sympathetic ones. Instinctual, childlike, barbaric, non-thinking and fearfully reactive parts of the brain are the basis of religious beliefs. Powerfully primitive. And they're invisible too, just like every god! What a coincidence! Religions want THOSE parts to be in control.
Now, many people still believe a god created this weather system and controls it. Foolish non-observers and non-thinkers. I once had a phone conversation with a pastor. He was talking to me as if I was a kindergarten child, telling me how “proof” for his God is “order in the Universe.” I immediately mentioned exploding stars. But he was too busy preaching, not interested in discussing. After awhile, I got so frustrated and disgusted with his attitude and other b.s. that I hung up.
Did early humans think there was order in the world or “out there?” It's easy to say there's order when you're comfortably surviving. Under their circumstances, they'd likely conclude, as one man said, “The world is out to kill you.” What did cave dwellers or tribal gatherings mean by “god?” If they thought a god really was in control of Nature, (which included the effects of alcohol and hallucinogenics), they'd say he’s the kind of person who plays dirty tricks, manipulating nature and human lives. He isn't fair. In fact, when things got pretty overwhelming, like when the ground kept quaking beneath their feet, or floods wiped out everything they'd built up, they might have said, “Maybe we've done something to piss him off to deserve this.” And, if a few wannabe exploiters of these “maybe-ers” overheard those words, why, what an opportunity for them! You can hear them saying, “Yeah, you're right, because the god speaks to ME, and that's EXACTLY what HE said!” With this, those exploiters got a handle on fear; so sure, why not see how far they can expand their reach into minds and daily experiences with this simple explanation? So it began...
And so we get God-experts who make their living by telling everyone: “God is in control..."And so we get God-experts who make their living by telling everyone: “God is in control, but human thoughts and actions have something to do with HOW he decides to control.” These “experts who know” keep their fingers crossed hoping there won't be “the emperor's new clothes” kind of child to say, “No one's in control, you idiot! Your 'order' is just illusion.” There's chaos, and there's a material universe with material things clumping together because they have no choice. Natural laws make combinations inevitable. Every clump of atoms and every organism is out for its own survival. Whatever works. Some are successful, some fail. Things are or they aren't; it’s the roll of the dice. Hey - you pray that prayer will work when you plant, knowing if you don't nurture what you plant, it dies. And if you still believe a god's in control, you try to appease the god for the same reason: you want yourself, family, crops and property to survive. That doesn't prove the god is real, dummy!
So here we are in the twenty-first century with people STILL believing a supernatural force controls nature, who should be appeased whenever he plays really big dirty tricks: tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods. They allow others to tell them to be grateful a god gives them these “opportunities” to thank and praise him for sparing some lives while taking most of the others.
Humankind has come a long way from primitive beginnings, but the human brain contains primitive sections along with the logical and sympathetic ones. Instinctual, childlike, barbaric, non-thinking and fearfully reactive parts of the brain are the basis of religious beliefs. Powerfully primitive. And they're invisible too, just like every god! What a coincidence! Religions want THOSE parts to be in control.
Monday, May 13, 2019
Alligator Pants: Walking Beyond My Faith II
An excerpt from Alligator Pants: Walking Beyond My Faith
In the bottom of my bedroom closet, there is a box containing a sewing machine. I use it every once in a while to hem a pair of pants or fix a seam somewhere — no major projects anymore. But back in high school? Shiny alligator-print faux leather pants? A long-sleeved leafy autumnal dress with tons of buttons? A bright red and orange Chinese-style dress called a “cheongsam”? Oh, yeah, I sewed it all, and I wore it all, and I was darnproud of it. Nowadays, part of me cringes when I think about that, but another part says, “Well, good for you, young Tania! You did your own thing!”
A few years after my sewing days, I read “The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die
,” by John Izzo, Ph.D. He interviewed a couple hundred people over the age of 60 to hear their suggestions about making the most out of our lives. I wrote down the five points and kept a copy in my wallet for a long time. But the first point didn’t hit home until I deconverted from my religious faith about seven years ago. In some ways, I’d been living the first point already — just look at those pants! andh that short spiky hair! — but in small ways in comparison to what was to come. That first point is “Be True to Yourself.”
Ah, yes… Being true to yourself. Letting the outside match the inside. Doing what you want to do or need to do, instead of allowing other people to make your decisions for you. Being honest with yourself. To paraphrase Henry David Thoreau: marching to the beat of your own drummer.
It’s not always an easy thing to be true to oneself. It can be downright heartbreaking to let go of parts of your life you thought would always be around. I watch a co-worker struggling with a marriage that doesn’t seem to get better. My guess might be wrong because I don’t know the whole story, but I imagine a battle going on inside: “This is what I signed up for, this is what’s expected of me, this is what I’ve spent years investing in. But I don’t want it anymore; I’ve tried and tried and I think I’m done.”
I know, too, from personal experience, the pain of knowing that what you’re doing — in my case, leaving my religious faith — is going to hurt your parents, your friends, your church family. It hurts to realize that what was once so important — so real, so vital — is no longer so. I know that in many of these instances, I’ve tried again and again to make things work, to make them go back to how they used to be. But in the meantime, I’ve grown. I’ve learned new information. Other people have changed. What was such a big deal ten years ago isn’t anymore. I realize how short and precious life is — and that I don’t have an endless supply of time and effort to spend on everything that shows up on my path.So, my words of wisdom? Do life your way. Do what makes you feel fulfilled, purposeful, rich. Spend your time with people who make you feel happy, not just with people who are “age-appropriate” or have the same level of education or who are “cool” or whom you’ve known for years and therefore “should” be in your life forever. Pick up the phone and make an appointment with that marriage counsellor, even though you’ve been telling yourself for years that you’re fine, your marriage is fine, and you have no need for marriage counselling. Spend a Friday night at Tim Hortons by yourself, with a good book, if that’s your idea of a fun weekend activity. Fork out a pile of money for a trip to Cuba, or to pay for scrapbooking supplies, or to donate to a cause that you have researched and think is worthy. Do what makes you feel good.
And by all means, go ahead — sew yourself those shiny red alligator-print pants!
Alligator Pants: Walking Beyond My Faith
Hello, everyone,
It's been a while....
Over the last seven years, my visits to this site have been with a mixed bag of emotions, let me tell you!
Seven years ago, in January 2012, I frantically searched the internet for some website, some writer, some video, some sanity, some clarity...something, ANYTHING that would that would calm my deep, deep fear that Christianity might not be all that I thought that it would be. For about a year, I'd been struggling with my faith; questions kept popping up for me, and the places where I usually got my answers -- church, the Bible, fellow Christians, my "quiet time" with God -- no longer provided enough substance for me. By the start of 2012, my uncertainties were still building up, and the silence from God was overwhelming. The faith of my 28 years toppled. Too afraid to talk with anyone in my real life, I typed in whatever combination of words it was that brought me here to exChristian.net And soon after that, out came my first essay on this site, "The Hug"!
For a long time I visited here almost daily - and, frequently, more than once a day. I read others' stories and the comments that followed. Many of the names on the site became familiar, and I felt less alone, even though we were many kilometers apart (yes, I'm in Canada!). I shared some of my own stories and learned that the things I shared were quite common among those of us who have left the church.
Eventually I joined a social group for atheists, humanists, skeptics, and other non-religious people. I slowed down with my church and devotional
activities. I read a lot. I became good friends with another former Christian, and we spent many evenings discussing all things religion as we
consumed wine, dinner, and decaf coffee. I wrote some more. I read more. I cried so much about the whole thing. I went back to church. I cried some more. I made some very poor decisions, dating-wise. I walked a lot. I kept busy.
One winter evening in 2015, I met a wonderful man at Skeptics in the Pub. In a good way, my world stopped spinning so much.
A while later, two other women and I started a peer support group for people who have left or are in the process of leaving their religious faith. This June will mark the group's three-year anniversary!
Many other things have happened, too. My parents became a bit more curious and a bit less fearful of the fact that I'm not holding onto the beliefs and rituals of my younger years. I've developed a more "live and let live" attitude when it comes to others' worldviews, instead of wishing that everyone would just become an atheist already! I started volunteering at Habitat for Humanity in 2017, and I continue to be involved with the skeptics group.
My visits to exChristian.net have dwindled as time goes on, and I think that that is a good sign. For quite some time, I checked in fairly often to read others' stories and perhaps add a comment here and there. Nowadays I mention the site to others who may need it, and I recall the lifesaver that it was for me as I began to navigate life outside of the faith.
Recently I compiled 12 of my essays, some of which are here on exChristian.net. I hired an editor to do a bit of tweaking and a photographer so I wouldn't have to rely completely on stock photos. It's been a fun project, and I've learned a lot along on the way! Check out the "Books" page on this site, and you'll see "Alligator Pants: walking beyond my faith." The book is also available for sale on Amazon and books.friesenpress.com.All the best to everyone who is going through this transition! It can be extremely tough, but you'll make it.
Thursday, May 09, 2019
The Close Call – A Space Odyssey
By Carl S ~
"They” said it couldn't be, and then that it couldn't be done. There have always been “they,” saying one shouldn't play god, if man were meant to fly... the human body is holy ergo autopsies are forbidden, curiosity has dire consequences, dogmas should never be questioned. Who hasn't been exposed to what “they” say? We have all benefited from the few who have ignored their voices, gone on, challenging “they.”
They said the Hubble telescope couldn't miss seeing a planet so close to Earth. But there it was. NASA named it “Sagan I,” after the scientist who encouraged the search for extraterrestrial life. They said there would never be a propulsion system capable of reaching it. You understand, there's nothing like a “It can't be done” challenge. Eventually a vehicle for space travel was developed, able to go to the planet and safely return within the time span of 30 Earth-years. The rocket blasted off, forgotten over the years. Thus began the riskiest adventure in the history of human evolution, its chances of returning the crew intact being 50/50. Why take the chance? One philosopher thought of an answer: “Ah but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what is Space for?”
Chapter 1. verse.1: On board, the crew settled in for living decades together. They were well chosen: emotionally well balanced, intelligent, curious and fascinated scientists in their 20's, with the talents to entertain one another and the thoroughness of a Darwin to record every detail of what they discovered. V. 2: For a steady fount of fun and diversion, they included a man who had become an anomaly ever since the societies on Earth had evolved to where the freethinking of the ages had become the common sense of today. This redundant missionary mentioned how he thought the planet's inhabitants, if there were any, would welcome his “good news.”
Chapter 2. V. 1: As expected, life-forms had evolved for millennia on Sagan I. There, “intelligent” life applied to all organic life. If you can accept having intelligent conversations with the humans there, and then also include with them animals similar to Earth's bonobos, turtles, zebras, chickens or crows, etc., you'll be right at home. V. 2: Everyone on Sagan I worked together, solved problems, shared experiences, tried to understand what reality meant to each individual, and lived amicably. All the sexes respected and enjoyed one another, their common intelligences, and each other’s differences. They had never known violence in all their history. Nice. The crew refused to change anything about them, and decided to stay.
V. 3: There are many wonders in this civilization: a universal language, open libraries containing millions of years of discoveries in evolution, astronomy, social relationships. Treatises on logic. Millions of years of applied scientific and other practical knowledge. One fact was outstanding to their culture: They regarded ignorance as the greatest evil. They heard of other cultures on other planets, which kept in their libraries books written out of ignorance, by ignorant men, wherein their ignorance was revered above truth. V. 4: They have a saying: “Beliefs without evidence are the bastard progeny of ignorance.” They warned of the wicked and confounding consequences such belief brings. Revered ignorance perpetuates ignorance, so it is evil. They want to know, not to believe.
Chapter 3. V. 1: And they have entertainments; every civilization does. Theirs are debates, songs, jokes, plays. Uniquely theirs is a collection of books named “Wurdly.” You might compare it to Earth's Mad magazine's “Mad-Libs” books, in which blanks are left in the sentences to be filled in with whatever words spring to mind, especially if they're ridiculous or puns. Although they regard words as special, certain words, such as “soul, sacred, sacrosanct, spiritual,” are considered ambiguous, impractical, and illogical. So, those words are often used in creating silly sentences. V. 2: As a harmless token of good will, their version of “Mad-Lib” writings were sent to Earth via space capsule. Most of them still contain intact blank spaces, but some have a few of them filled in haphazardly. These scriptures are welcomed by entrenched apologists and scholars as replacements for abandoned religious scriptures. They continue making a living by poring through and tirelessly expounding on texts they declare solemn and profound inerrant wisdom. (Scholars and apologists have no inkling of the intended sophisticated humor essential to Sagan I's inhabitants.)
Chapter 4. V. 1: And so the long-term trek was pronounced a success beyond all expectations. There was one fly in the pudding, though: the missionary. He said, “The inhabitants need to be redeemed. I'll tell them about the punishments for curiosity in Eden, of the killing of Abel by Cain, the Great Flood, the seven plagues on Egypt. But more than anything else, I'll tell them about Christ crucified and how they must accept him or else. And the children...” With these words, he was stopped, for his crew mates were appalled.
V. 2: And thus it came to pass the cover-up of the first and only murder ever in the history of Sagan I, and the last of the martyrs of Earth.
"They” said it couldn't be, and then that it couldn't be done. There have always been “they,” saying one shouldn't play god, if man were meant to fly... the human body is holy ergo autopsies are forbidden, curiosity has dire consequences, dogmas should never be questioned. Who hasn't been exposed to what “they” say? We have all benefited from the few who have ignored their voices, gone on, challenging “they.”
They said the Hubble telescope couldn't miss seeing a planet so close to Earth. But there it was. NASA named it “Sagan I,” after the scientist who encouraged the search for extraterrestrial life. They said there would never be a propulsion system capable of reaching it. You understand, there's nothing like a “It can't be done” challenge. Eventually a vehicle for space travel was developed, able to go to the planet and safely return within the time span of 30 Earth-years. The rocket blasted off, forgotten over the years. Thus began the riskiest adventure in the history of human evolution, its chances of returning the crew intact being 50/50. Why take the chance? One philosopher thought of an answer: “Ah but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what is Space for?”
Chapter 1. verse.1: On board, the crew settled in for living decades together. They were well chosen: emotionally well balanced, intelligent, curious and fascinated scientists in their 20's, with the talents to entertain one another and the thoroughness of a Darwin to record every detail of what they discovered. V. 2: For a steady fount of fun and diversion, they included a man who had become an anomaly ever since the societies on Earth had evolved to where the freethinking of the ages had become the common sense of today. This redundant missionary mentioned how he thought the planet's inhabitants, if there were any, would welcome his “good news.”
Chapter 2. V. 1: As expected, life-forms had evolved for millennia on Sagan I. There, “intelligent” life applied to all organic life. If you can accept having intelligent conversations with the humans there, and then also include with them animals similar to Earth's bonobos, turtles, zebras, chickens or crows, etc., you'll be right at home. V. 2: Everyone on Sagan I worked together, solved problems, shared experiences, tried to understand what reality meant to each individual, and lived amicably. All the sexes respected and enjoyed one another, their common intelligences, and each other’s differences. They had never known violence in all their history. Nice. The crew refused to change anything about them, and decided to stay.
V. 3: There are many wonders in this civilization: a universal language, open libraries containing millions of years of discoveries in evolution, astronomy, social relationships. Treatises on logic. Millions of years of applied scientific and other practical knowledge. One fact was outstanding to their culture: They regarded ignorance as the greatest evil. They heard of other cultures on other planets, which kept in their libraries books written out of ignorance, by ignorant men, wherein their ignorance was revered above truth. V. 4: They have a saying: “Beliefs without evidence are the bastard progeny of ignorance.” They warned of the wicked and confounding consequences such belief brings. Revered ignorance perpetuates ignorance, so it is evil. They want to know, not to believe.
Chapter 3. V. 1: And they have entertainments; every civilization does. Theirs are debates, songs, jokes, plays. Uniquely theirs is a collection of books named “Wurdly.” You might compare it to Earth's Mad magazine's “Mad-Libs” books, in which blanks are left in the sentences to be filled in with whatever words spring to mind, especially if they're ridiculous or puns. Although they regard words as special, certain words, such as “soul, sacred, sacrosanct, spiritual,” are considered ambiguous, impractical, and illogical. So, those words are often used in creating silly sentences. V. 2: As a harmless token of good will, their version of “Mad-Lib” writings were sent to Earth via space capsule. Most of them still contain intact blank spaces, but some have a few of them filled in haphazardly. These scriptures are welcomed by entrenched apologists and scholars as replacements for abandoned religious scriptures. They continue making a living by poring through and tirelessly expounding on texts they declare solemn and profound inerrant wisdom. (Scholars and apologists have no inkling of the intended sophisticated humor essential to Sagan I's inhabitants.)
Chapter 4. V. 1: And so the long-term trek was pronounced a success beyond all expectations. There was one fly in the pudding, though: the missionary. He said, “The inhabitants need to be redeemed. I'll tell them about the punishments for curiosity in Eden, of the killing of Abel by Cain, the Great Flood, the seven plagues on Egypt. But more than anything else, I'll tell them about Christ crucified and how they must accept him or else. And the children...” With these words, he was stopped, for his crew mates were appalled.
V. 2: And thus it came to pass the cover-up of the first and only murder ever in the history of Sagan I, and the last of the martyrs of Earth.
Christianity's Practical Obsessiveness with Victimhood
By Carl S ~
Do not allow yourself to fall into the trap. While you're debating and analyzing scriptures, debating and refuting dogmas, and continually expounding on how and why you have been deceived and exploited by Christianity, you need to wake up to this fact: these are all distractions. They are the whirlpool the religion wants you to be sucked into, where you will be fighting the current. You may consider yourself free, but you serve that master if you are occupied doing these things. Look behind the curtain, and see what's really going on. While apologists, the courts and chambers occupied by those elected by the religious right, and the humanists, progressives, and atheists fight it out using reason and unreason, human rights are being threatened at every level by politically organized and theoretically-determined Christianity. In most cases, they have won and are winning thanks to those who do not vote.
A church near home is the only one with a giant wood cross facing the highway. Many's the time I've thought of tossing red paint on that cross, representing blood. But then I thought I might be arrested for defacing private property, or condemned for insulting a faith. Now, I don't understand why anyone could object, because, let's face it, that's what the cross is there for: to remind everyone who sees it of one man's torturous and bloody death. It really is something that should be saturated in blood.
A bloody cross is THE symbol of Christianity, and no other religion. This, with its particular victim, is the root and foundation of Christianity's attitude, indeed world-view. From its beginning, Christianity is obsessed with its Victim. Then it went on to grossly exaggerate the numbers of its victim-martyrs. Yes, Christianity loves victims – but not in a healthy way. You would think after achieving dominance in politics and the cessation of mass crucifixions under the Roman emperors, Christianity would become the religion of peace and universal toleration it claimed its leaders brought to mankind. But no; the insatiable appetite for victims resumed, with its persecutions and executions of heretics and dissidents to the dogmas it set up.
One mind-set behind establishing an institution which gives adoration to a Victim follows from the personality of that Victim: He will get his ultimate revenge, meting out eternal torture to those who condemned him. He will see that those who don't accept him will be victims of the same fate. Beneath Christianity's cultivated veneer of a Loving Savior lies a reality: he is the Avenging Judge of the Last Judgement. Faithfully, the true believers copy Christ’s judgement and blame the victim. The victim is responsible for whatever happens to him or her. Even Christ goaded others to crucify him. This has been Christ's policy for Christianity from the start.
The Christian religion claims to be persecuted, victimized, whenever it cannot have preferential treatment over other beliefs, cannot dominate public pronouncements, or establish its presence and dogmas in public schools.But the religion decided it wouldn't wait for him to judge. It wanted victims now. On to the inventions of tools for the mind-boggling experiments of torture apparatus and inventive ways to burn, skin alive, draw and quarter, etc., women as witches. Then more victims. Continue to the inquisitions, where condemned dissidents were called heretics and blasphemers to the Christian faith and became victims, martyrs not for, but contrary to, the faith. Truly, we see the triumph of the will of unfettered faith. It works as long as there are victims. Every totalitarian government has copied the example of Christianity for its own ends. Every one of them has an insatiable appetite for victims.
Wherever Christianity gains control, there will be victims. Whenever Christianity is given unquestioned trust with children, with gullible indigenous peoples, there will be victims. This religion takes their victimhood in stride, even when publicly condemning it. Where there are no victims, it creates them, often employing shame, guilt and condemnation. It has no heart when it victimizes innocents by enforcing guilt in them for having simple human needs for sexual intimacy and satisfaction, masturbation, birth control decisions, and the rights for self-determination and opposition to its “God's” authority through free thinking. These are some of the reasons why it's dangerous.
More precisely, it is Christianity's claim to victimhood that makes it so dangerous. While it has made victims of those who disagree with it, it still insists it is being attacked. It takes the stance of victimhood whenever it cannot practice prejudice unimpeded. The Christian religion claims to be persecuted, victimized, whenever it cannot have preferential treatment over other beliefs, cannot dominate public pronouncements, or establish its presence and dogmas in public schools. Many Christians elected men who will dump the Affordable Care Act, as a result of which millions of people will be deprived of health care, and many will die as a result of that decision. Then they themselves are in danger of being the victims.
Devoted “Victim Mentality Christians” live with irrational fears saturated in ignorance. Thus they are determined to make victims of LGBT human beings, in the name of their “Victim-God.” Paranoid victim-mentality Christians are being exploited by wealthy clerics and politicians who use these victimhood fears for their own ends. They take the money from these victims and use it for power to create laws against gay rights, women's rights, end of life decisions, and for their own domination. If you don't vote, you give them, by default, the vote against you.
Ironically, these same victim-mentality Christians are themselves victims, not from the opposers of Christianity, but from exploitation by their own leaders. If they ever find themselves in need of abortion access, sexual education, women’s health care, the options for their end-of-life care, or self-determination of how they will end their final hours - in other words, heir basic human rights - and have them denied, they will be the victims as well as those who don't agree with them.
Christianity has racked up quite a record of creating victims. At base, all of them are the result of its tradition of subjugation and denying human rights. The Cross is a symbol of death and persecution to anyone who opposes it. Therefore we need to oppose it to survive and live together as human beings with equal rights. In opposition to this religion, we must defend this only life we have and be determined to make it the best we can for all of us. We might have been victims before, but those days must now be ended. We must adamantly assert to these bastards and liars for Jesus: You've exercised your power over our lives for too long, and we don't need or want you. We've grown up, become mature. Take your arrogant attitudes, behave, go into the closet yourselves, and stop acting like you're the victims, you bullies. We stand together as human
beings, and we will not be victims again. Now, that's life-affirming.
Do not allow yourself to fall into the trap. While you're debating and analyzing scriptures, debating and refuting dogmas, and continually expounding on how and why you have been deceived and exploited by Christianity, you need to wake up to this fact: these are all distractions. They are the whirlpool the religion wants you to be sucked into, where you will be fighting the current. You may consider yourself free, but you serve that master if you are occupied doing these things. Look behind the curtain, and see what's really going on. While apologists, the courts and chambers occupied by those elected by the religious right, and the humanists, progressives, and atheists fight it out using reason and unreason, human rights are being threatened at every level by politically organized and theoretically-determined Christianity. In most cases, they have won and are winning thanks to those who do not vote.
A church near home is the only one with a giant wood cross facing the highway. Many's the time I've thought of tossing red paint on that cross, representing blood. But then I thought I might be arrested for defacing private property, or condemned for insulting a faith. Now, I don't understand why anyone could object, because, let's face it, that's what the cross is there for: to remind everyone who sees it of one man's torturous and bloody death. It really is something that should be saturated in blood.
A bloody cross is THE symbol of Christianity, and no other religion. This, with its particular victim, is the root and foundation of Christianity's attitude, indeed world-view. From its beginning, Christianity is obsessed with its Victim. Then it went on to grossly exaggerate the numbers of its victim-martyrs. Yes, Christianity loves victims – but not in a healthy way. You would think after achieving dominance in politics and the cessation of mass crucifixions under the Roman emperors, Christianity would become the religion of peace and universal toleration it claimed its leaders brought to mankind. But no; the insatiable appetite for victims resumed, with its persecutions and executions of heretics and dissidents to the dogmas it set up.
One mind-set behind establishing an institution which gives adoration to a Victim follows from the personality of that Victim: He will get his ultimate revenge, meting out eternal torture to those who condemned him. He will see that those who don't accept him will be victims of the same fate. Beneath Christianity's cultivated veneer of a Loving Savior lies a reality: he is the Avenging Judge of the Last Judgement. Faithfully, the true believers copy Christ’s judgement and blame the victim. The victim is responsible for whatever happens to him or her. Even Christ goaded others to crucify him. This has been Christ's policy for Christianity from the start.
The Christian religion claims to be persecuted, victimized, whenever it cannot have preferential treatment over other beliefs, cannot dominate public pronouncements, or establish its presence and dogmas in public schools.But the religion decided it wouldn't wait for him to judge. It wanted victims now. On to the inventions of tools for the mind-boggling experiments of torture apparatus and inventive ways to burn, skin alive, draw and quarter, etc., women as witches. Then more victims. Continue to the inquisitions, where condemned dissidents were called heretics and blasphemers to the Christian faith and became victims, martyrs not for, but contrary to, the faith. Truly, we see the triumph of the will of unfettered faith. It works as long as there are victims. Every totalitarian government has copied the example of Christianity for its own ends. Every one of them has an insatiable appetite for victims.
Wherever Christianity gains control, there will be victims. Whenever Christianity is given unquestioned trust with children, with gullible indigenous peoples, there will be victims. This religion takes their victimhood in stride, even when publicly condemning it. Where there are no victims, it creates them, often employing shame, guilt and condemnation. It has no heart when it victimizes innocents by enforcing guilt in them for having simple human needs for sexual intimacy and satisfaction, masturbation, birth control decisions, and the rights for self-determination and opposition to its “God's” authority through free thinking. These are some of the reasons why it's dangerous.
More precisely, it is Christianity's claim to victimhood that makes it so dangerous. While it has made victims of those who disagree with it, it still insists it is being attacked. It takes the stance of victimhood whenever it cannot practice prejudice unimpeded. The Christian religion claims to be persecuted, victimized, whenever it cannot have preferential treatment over other beliefs, cannot dominate public pronouncements, or establish its presence and dogmas in public schools. Many Christians elected men who will dump the Affordable Care Act, as a result of which millions of people will be deprived of health care, and many will die as a result of that decision. Then they themselves are in danger of being the victims.
Devoted “Victim Mentality Christians” live with irrational fears saturated in ignorance. Thus they are determined to make victims of LGBT human beings, in the name of their “Victim-God.” Paranoid victim-mentality Christians are being exploited by wealthy clerics and politicians who use these victimhood fears for their own ends. They take the money from these victims and use it for power to create laws against gay rights, women's rights, end of life decisions, and for their own domination. If you don't vote, you give them, by default, the vote against you.
Ironically, these same victim-mentality Christians are themselves victims, not from the opposers of Christianity, but from exploitation by their own leaders. If they ever find themselves in need of abortion access, sexual education, women’s health care, the options for their end-of-life care, or self-determination of how they will end their final hours - in other words, heir basic human rights - and have them denied, they will be the victims as well as those who don't agree with them.
Christianity has racked up quite a record of creating victims. At base, all of them are the result of its tradition of subjugation and denying human rights. The Cross is a symbol of death and persecution to anyone who opposes it. Therefore we need to oppose it to survive and live together as human beings with equal rights. In opposition to this religion, we must defend this only life we have and be determined to make it the best we can for all of us. We might have been victims before, but those days must now be ended. We must adamantly assert to these bastards and liars for Jesus: You've exercised your power over our lives for too long, and we don't need or want you. We've grown up, become mature. Take your arrogant attitudes, behave, go into the closet yourselves, and stop acting like you're the victims, you bullies. We stand together as human
beings, and we will not be victims again. Now, that's life-affirming.
Tuesday, May 07, 2019
It's Good to be Human
By Carl S ~
One day I was walking through a barn under construction with 2 or 3 other men. All of a sudden, I woke up in the arms of a man who was carrying me. At this point, we were 80 or more feet out of the building. He told me, “It's a good thing you were out in the open when that falling scaffold hit you; if there was a beam behind your head, you'd be dead now.” Considering the fact I was in the presence of men who had dedicated their lives to, “Having a close relationship with God,” it strikes me as odd nobody said then, or in the following days, that God saved my life, it was the will of God I live, or other pious platitudes. Their reactions were secular, not religious. Would you say honest?
Remembering this experience leads me to ask, “Isn't every automatic reaction to tragedy or impending tragedy, a non-religious one? Aren't the first words out of somebody's mouth when tragedy happens, accidents cause loss of limb, mind, life, usually “Oh shit!' Or, “goddamit?” Or “What the fuck is this?” No normal person says, “Oh dear Lord.” Okay, those first words are vulgar, but doesn't the word vulgar” mean “common”, as in the common man? And your first responses afterward are not to praise a god for saving your ass, but relief from having survived. Ceremonial praising of a god by survivors and consoling survivors by telling them the victims are in a better place or in heaven with Jesus – all that comes much later. Don't you think that the first response to impending danger or loss of lives and property just happens to be the totally honest one? Sure it is, despite centuries of propaganda trying to convince everyone there's a god involved when, really, shit happens. Even when you hear, “Thank God,” it's spontaneous secular relief!
Okay, back to the barn. So there I was, settled safely outside, but in a community without a doctor, unwilling to send me to a hospital to see if I might have a concussion. They put me to bed rest for a few days, then it was back to work. What if I was killed? Guess what, I never would have woken up; I'd be “ceased.” No future with wife and kids, no sex and raising hell. I couldn't miss what would never happen to me. Wonder how those God's people would react to my making those points. Aren't they “vulgar” interpretations of what really would have happened? Don't they know some of their priests and monk predecessors in Medieval times joined with the common folks and were vulgar, mocking the Christian faith, praising pagan gods, and most of all, praising reality in the vulgar and carnal, using the very same terms? There's truth in the initial reactions.
We are vulgar by nature. This isn't nice, romantic, or pleasant; it's reality. And accepting this will keep us human. And human, despite what every friggin' religion tries to suppress and control, is good. Life means experiencing and it also means experimenting. We are pawns to our experiences even when we create them. When we think we have control, things can still go awry, despite the fact life is usually gambling when the odds of coming out ahead are pretty well established. Only the biting-off-more-than-you-can-chew experiments tend to fail. (As in the movie plot of: “Odds Against Tomorrow.”) We can't help but tempt fate, for better or worse. And unless you're indoctrinated in a religion, your primary instinct can smell its bullshit a mile away. That's the vulgar way to say it, and what a relief from belief!
Life is good when we experiment with it. This goes beyond mere temptation. As children, we experiment to see how far we can push a parent before we get a reaction. You may steal a candy bar from the store or eat a forbidden fruit to see if it makes you wiser. Experimenting urges us to use any way possible to find solutions, for example, for diseases every wise mind tells us can't be eradicated. Haven't you noticed: the killjoy clergy who condemn scientists are getting the best science has to offer- rejecting prayer healing for medical care, driving cars, flying in private jets?
Experimenting will get you into bed with the right or wrong person, while you're ignoring the danger warnings of your religion, which has been your “whole life.” We were never cut out for a protected Eden existence; we'd be bored to death. You rebel, declare your independence. You “take no one’s word for it.” Then you find sex feels right, is really good: essential for your emotional health. Virginity's crap.
Not experimenting on your own terms can get you mixed up in the wrong crowd, but on your terms, may cause you to reject them and head for the healthy lifestyle. Experimenting with blasphemy and pornography, like experimenting with new musical forms and writing styles, seems inevitable after they succeed. We tempt life, we mold and manipulate it, like every other animal, and in ways no other animal can. I survived. Life is good. The Earth and Space are our playgrounds. Let's go experimenting.
One day I was walking through a barn under construction with 2 or 3 other men. All of a sudden, I woke up in the arms of a man who was carrying me. At this point, we were 80 or more feet out of the building. He told me, “It's a good thing you were out in the open when that falling scaffold hit you; if there was a beam behind your head, you'd be dead now.” Considering the fact I was in the presence of men who had dedicated their lives to, “Having a close relationship with God,” it strikes me as odd nobody said then, or in the following days, that God saved my life, it was the will of God I live, or other pious platitudes. Their reactions were secular, not religious. Would you say honest?
Remembering this experience leads me to ask, “Isn't every automatic reaction to tragedy or impending tragedy, a non-religious one? Aren't the first words out of somebody's mouth when tragedy happens, accidents cause loss of limb, mind, life, usually “Oh shit!' Or, “goddamit?” Or “What the fuck is this?” No normal person says, “Oh dear Lord.” Okay, those first words are vulgar, but doesn't the word vulgar” mean “common”, as in the common man? And your first responses afterward are not to praise a god for saving your ass, but relief from having survived. Ceremonial praising of a god by survivors and consoling survivors by telling them the victims are in a better place or in heaven with Jesus – all that comes much later. Don't you think that the first response to impending danger or loss of lives and property just happens to be the totally honest one? Sure it is, despite centuries of propaganda trying to convince everyone there's a god involved when, really, shit happens. Even when you hear, “Thank God,” it's spontaneous secular relief!
Okay, back to the barn. So there I was, settled safely outside, but in a community without a doctor, unwilling to send me to a hospital to see if I might have a concussion. They put me to bed rest for a few days, then it was back to work. What if I was killed? Guess what, I never would have woken up; I'd be “ceased.” No future with wife and kids, no sex and raising hell. I couldn't miss what would never happen to me. Wonder how those God's people would react to my making those points. Aren't they “vulgar” interpretations of what really would have happened? Don't they know some of their priests and monk predecessors in Medieval times joined with the common folks and were vulgar, mocking the Christian faith, praising pagan gods, and most of all, praising reality in the vulgar and carnal, using the very same terms? There's truth in the initial reactions.
We are vulgar by nature. This isn't nice, romantic, or pleasant; it's reality. And accepting this will keep us human. And human, despite what every friggin' religion tries to suppress and control, is good. Life means experiencing and it also means experimenting. We are pawns to our experiences even when we create them. When we think we have control, things can still go awry, despite the fact life is usually gambling when the odds of coming out ahead are pretty well established. Only the biting-off-more-than-you-can-chew experiments tend to fail. (As in the movie plot of: “Odds Against Tomorrow.”) We can't help but tempt fate, for better or worse. And unless you're indoctrinated in a religion, your primary instinct can smell its bullshit a mile away. That's the vulgar way to say it, and what a relief from belief!
Life is good when we experiment with it. This goes beyond mere temptation. As children, we experiment to see how far we can push a parent before we get a reaction. You may steal a candy bar from the store or eat a forbidden fruit to see if it makes you wiser. Experimenting urges us to use any way possible to find solutions, for example, for diseases every wise mind tells us can't be eradicated. Haven't you noticed: the killjoy clergy who condemn scientists are getting the best science has to offer- rejecting prayer healing for medical care, driving cars, flying in private jets?
Experimenting will get you into bed with the right or wrong person, while you're ignoring the danger warnings of your religion, which has been your “whole life.” We were never cut out for a protected Eden existence; we'd be bored to death. You rebel, declare your independence. You “take no one’s word for it.” Then you find sex feels right, is really good: essential for your emotional health. Virginity's crap.
Not experimenting on your own terms can get you mixed up in the wrong crowd, but on your terms, may cause you to reject them and head for the healthy lifestyle. Experimenting with blasphemy and pornography, like experimenting with new musical forms and writing styles, seems inevitable after they succeed. We tempt life, we mold and manipulate it, like every other animal, and in ways no other animal can. I survived. Life is good. The Earth and Space are our playgrounds. Let's go experimenting.
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