Discourse

I like science. Not in a weird "I-have-braces-and-never-go-out" type of way. I like the way that anyone, and I mean anyone, can go out and challenge the world on a subject. You can, should the need take you, grab a microscope, and question the theories on biology, or grab a telescope and argue that the moon is made of Cheshire cheese, NOT Cheddar as previously thought. Science may feel cold, and out of reach to many, but the fact is that it is very open indeed, and that accessibility is what makes it an inherently beautiful setup. 

Religion is different. Speak out, or question the religious documents, ways, or teachings, and you suddenly have a name. Heretic, blasphemer, infidel, kuffar, and unbeliever.  From the get-go you seem to be up against a wall. It is not hardened nut-jobs doing the blocking. It seems that every religious person out there thinks that their religious belief is more important than my own on the subject. You come up against people who repeat chapter and verse at you, despite me not putting any weight at al in them. Do you think they believe that by rabbeting these verses I will convert? They will proclaim my doom, and that judgment will come at my end. Well, I'll wait to see about that, as they have as much forst hand knowledge of that event as I do. 

On the international stage, we have religious fanatics going nuts over drawings, and bonkers because their creation story isn't being taught in the science classroom. The science classroom, for goodness sake!What part does science have to play in creationism? It essentially boils down to the religious not likened their religion cheapened by science which they feel contradicts their bible story. Well, fortunately we live in a somewhat free society, (although that seems to be dwindling somewhat), so if I fail to see the point you are making, and point out the fallacies in your story, I will do so. I will tend not to instigate the debate. I seldom talk about religion in normal life. However, the moment someone pips in with a silly statement, or a notion that is absurd, I will put my head above the parapet and say my piece, as politely as I can muster. 

So, we have to do our best to discuss the issue with people who have this faith. They believe in the Ark, Noah, Adam, Eve, the virgin birth, and the resurrection, with no proof other than that of a book. There is no proof of Moses, and the exodus into the desert for 40 years. There is no evidence of a character called Jesus, and we don't know who wrote the gospels. We have no evidence of a crucifixion, and no evidence of a teacher at the time healing people, or feeding 5000 people with a happy meal. It consistes of chinese whispers decades, and centuries after the fact. This all, however, doesn't matter, as it gets argued away with the word "faith"... Oh, OK then. never mind historical records, and logic, faith trumps all! The moment someone uses that argument against you, end it there, as these people have no cognitive ability. mere details, and facts mean nothing to these people, and corroborating their story simply consists waving a bible in your face. 

It is a dead end, and I fear it will be like that for an eternity. Religion will always be part of the human experience, but that is no reason to dump all reason and logic. Superstition, and fear of the unknown will always breed the supernatural thoughts, and 'answers'.  These people are the kind who cannot see the inherent beauty in nature, and for them to see any awe in anything, it has to have a supernatural element. They can;t look at a mountain, a stream, the sky, the stars, and planets, and just think of the science, and natural forces creating, and destroying them. That's not awesome enough. I do not want these people dictating things to me, in any way, shape or form.

Non-stamp collector

I've always been an atheist. I say with certainty for one reason, really. At no point in my life have I looked skywards and, when alone, asked for anything. There have been mutterings, but these were never aimed at any one, or anything other than myself. I was telling myself off, or urging me to do something, or get something done, or get out of a quagmire. I never went to church voluntarily, and when I was there, I was dragged there for some reason or another, and spent the time pondering my navel. 

I do find the thought of a supreme being to be incredibly interesting. Not so much for the supreme being itself, rather for the people who blindly believe, (of course any faith is implicitly blind), and will spend their lives with the thought that in the background, watching over them is this thing of unimaginable power. I could never figure out how people could do that, after all, if I thought I was always being watched, with this presence in the background, how do you relax? How on earth can you live your life with these ever present watching eyes, judging you 24/7? It seems religion has more in common with 1984 or North Korea, than any notion of a free society. 

The power this being has over their lives is indelible. What you eat, who you fuck, who you speak to, who you see, what you watch, etc, is all, seemingly, jotted down in some celestial personell file, and stored away until your life ebbs away. It is only then, apparently, where the adventure starts. It is then you are either adjudged to be worthy, and enter a kingdom akin to Paradise, or a place called Hell. Unfortunately it matters not what you have done in your life, (you could be a mass-murdering fuckhead, a rapist, and so on), but as long as you believe, and ask for forgiveness, you are in. Which is nice. However, if I have led a good, generous, and charitable life, but do not believe, I get to burn in hell for eternity, which is nice. So it doesn't matter how good you are, as long as you say the magic words at the end. 

Of course, where would you rather be for eternity? At a Bishops house, or the rock stars house? I know what I would choose. remember, you're there for eternity! ;-)

So here I am, an atheist amongst a sea of people who believe in a supernatural force beyond our sensory range, (including scientific sensors... How convenient). Why do they do it? What drives them? They talk about this faith thing, but I fail to see how in our technologically literate age, and in a civilised society, they can believe such superstitious guff? We don't get this worked up about ghosts, or fairies at the bottom of the garden. I wasn't aware of people taking umbrage whenever people discussed the existence of ghosts, or Loch Ness either.  For some reason, and only those who believe can explain, why is it so guarded? Why is it my belief, or lack thereof, is seemingly a substandard stance to take? It's not because I am an atheist either, for they are as equally guarded against other religions too, each taking their superior stance. Why is religion such a taboo subject?

Religion, and the rise of Atheism...

After living in the US, religion is something that seems to be taking more and more of a frontline view in everyday life. That is not to say that we are in the US version of the religious theocracy of somewhere like Saudi Arabia, or that religion is overly being forced onto people, BUT, and I think it deserves to be a bit BUT, it is getting to the point where everyday life is getting saturated with the incessant ramblings of fundamental Christians, news of fundamental Islamic terror, and a constant barrage of GOD. Why does it bother me? Well, this is what I am talking about;

Crazy Tracy, and her ilk. I can think of a few words to describe her, but I think Crazy is adequate for the moment. You see, I don't think that regular religious people are a particular problem, (leaving the argument that they give a platform for the nutters aside). They go to work, put out the rubbish, and say "hi" to different folks, without even a second thought about race, sexuality, or religion. I would 'like' to think that these are what normal religious people are like. No, the real problem are the fundamentalists. They are genuinely dangerous. Not in the "I'm going to cut off your head and post it on the internet" type way, (although that certainly applies with aspects of Islam), but dangerous in the way that they could easily lead the country down a path of intolerance, irrationality, and quite possibly to a theocracy, all based on a book that for some reason they hold higher than any other notion they can think of. 

"But why should you care what these people say? It's not impinging on YOUR life!", I imagine some of you may well be shouting. Well, as I said, normal religious folks don't. However, more and more in recent times the religious right is taking a stronger grasp of the political spectrum, not to mention the fact that socialist values, and the PC culture means that it is harder, and harder to voice and opinion that seems to insult, or degrade someone belief system. 

So, I think the atheists of the world, who are frankly tired af all this religious bullshit, are at the point where our viewpoint needs to be taken into account. We are not happy to be dictated to by people who's life lessons are from scripture that is frankly barbaric, and who will take a 2000 year old book above all other ideas, regardless of evidence, or proof, or even common sense. 

Religion is "inherently wicked" according to the superb Christopher Hitchens, and examples of this are not hard to find at all. 

A recent UN resolution, supported by the US administration, is going to proclaim that criticism of religion is illegal. As absurd as it sounds, religion IS getting a foothold, and it needs to be actively countered, and not by sitting back muttering "well, it's got nothing to do with me". It has everything to do with you, and while you are getting on with your life, others are actively fighting to have their point of view forced upon you, whether you life it or not, to the point where you cannot even address what they are saying. 

Here's Pat Condell;

The fundamentally religious bother us with their insistance that they are all about compassion, love, understanding, and tolerance, when it is patently untrue, and the opposite is more aligned with their stance. You only have to take a mere cursory glance at what is going on in the world to see that compassion, understanding, etc, are seemingly very far from the mind of the fundamentalist religious nut-job, and quite often from the run of the mill religious god-botherer as well. 

religion is based on the premise of fear, hatred, intolerance, and the very notion that it is a "good" thing is utterly ridiculous, not to mention the notion they feel about their ideas being above all others, and should somehow be protected. Now, don;t get me wrong, they can believe whatever they want. They can have their Allah, God, Jesus, Zeus, Vishnu, Ganesh, and the great Ju-Ju in the sky (wtf?) as I'm frankly not overly interested in what they choose to believe. What I do object to is being labelled morally bankrupt, etc, and try their damnedest to have their religion thrust upon me, whether I like it or not. Atheists, and other groups under the same cosh, are perfectly allowed to have their rational response. To think otherwise would be verging on fascism, or at least theocratic. 

I'm sure you remember the farcical debacle regarding the Danish cartoons? Now this is the sort of event where the hypocrites come out of the woodwork, feigning upset, and abuse. The fact remains that they feel that THEIR beliefs are to be held in higher regard than all others, namely the newspaper, and the artist. death threats were issued, and people did die. Buildings were ransacked, and rioting occurred. All over some cartoons. Ironically, the very issue the cartoon was raising was shown to be true by the very actions of the protesters. 

It essentially boils down to THIS cartoon;

Unfortunately, freedom of speech is slowly being eroded by these people. People are careful what they say now as the threat of violence is very real. They have no issues whatsoever about telling you what THEY think, but when the tables are tuned, be it regarding beliefs, or moral questions, they stamp their feet like petulant children, and cry intolerance, and oppression. The sooner these people are shown they they do NOT trump the rest of us because of their supernatural beliefs, the better. They have NO right to impose their middle age belief system on us. I wouldn't mind, but it's not as though Islamic cartoonists are entirely innocent of drawing cartoons about jews. 

The notion of Hell if you do not believe, (whether you have led a good life or not), as well as the death penalty for apostasy, genital mutilation, oppression of women, etc, is so hypocritical to the teachings they LIKE to talk about. By far the most dangerous of the religious is the literalist. The people who believe that the bible of Quran is THE word of God, and it must be taken, word for word, as is, and completely true. Anyone who has read the old testament will find that a truly frightening notion. Has there been a book with more death, genocide, slavery, incest, infanticide, and so on, than the bible? Taking this as the word of God is indeed a terrifying idea. They can wave their banners, and bibles, and proclaim their faith in whatever they want on the issue, but in the science room, faith has no place... Science does. Anybody who says otherwise is frankly an imbecile. I'd suggest watching Thunderf00t's series, "Why we laugh at Creationists", for this particular issue. he can debunk the nonsense with far more grace that I ever could. 

Active atheism, (or as the opponents like to call it "militant atheism"), has come a long way in the last decade. The likes of Christopher Hitchens, San Harris, Richard Dawkins, Pat Condell, and Thunderf00t have some excellent material on the subject, and I implore you to go and find their stuff, and have a really good mooch. get your head in the trough of knowledge! 

So, we are at the point where where religion does matter, a great deal, whether you believe or not. have a look at the reaction to the mere mention of 'non-believers' on BO's inaugural address, as well as the reaction to simple atheist billboards. I don;t remember this reaction to the hundreds of thousands of religious billboards, and church signs out there in the world.