Other deities not really born on Dec 25

Horus (c. 3000 BCE)
Osiris (c. 3000 BCE)
Attis of Phrygia (c.1400 BCE)
Krishna (c. 1400 BCE)
Zoroaster/Zarathustra (c. 1000 BCE)
Mithra of Persia (c. 600 BCE)
Buddha (Siddartha Gautama — c. 563 BCE)
Heracles (c. 800 BCE)
Dionysus (c. 186 BCE)
Tammuz (c. 400 BCE)
Adonis (c. 200 BCE)
Hermes
Bacchus
Prometheus

http://unreasonablefaith.com/2008/12/26/other-deities-not-born-on-dec-25/

Do people simply tend to adopt the religion they grew up with?

Various comments on reddit:

I think its just an amazing coincidence that Christian babies are born into Christian families, Muslim babies are born into Muslim families and Hindu babies are born into Hindu families...
What are the odds?

Correct! The coincidence is indeed amazing.
We should totally expect Christian parents to have kids who commonly and spontaneously grow into Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims... based on world statistics. This would make complete sense.
I like how you think. :)

i've got news for you: they simply tend to
adopt the morals they grew up with
adopt the political preference they grew up with
adopt the nationality they grew up with
etc.

Of course they do. This is one of my biggest arguments again religion. My in-laws are fundamentalist Baptists because their parents were and so were all the family, friends, and neighbors. Since these are not people who question authority, how could they be anything except fundamentalist Baptist? If, instead they were born and raised in Salt Lake City to Mormons, they would be Mormon. If they were raised by goat herders in Afghanistan, they would be Muslim. But try and explain this to them, and it goes right over their heads. They still believe that Christianity is the "only way" and all non-believers are going to hell.
So how does it happen that my in-laws are so special that God chose them to be born to the right families so that without any effort on their part they are saved? There is no need for thinking, no need for research, no need to work at being saved. Just get born into the right family, and-- presto! you know all the right answers to get into heaven.
Right, this statistical dependency between religion of parents and children proves that the christian God is very unjust because different people have very different starting positions on the path to the "true faith".

Read more at reddit...

Santa vs. God

Faith around the world

Man says God ordered him to ram vehicle at 100 mph

SAN ANTONIO – A man who rammed his truck into a woman's vehicle on a highway early Friday told authorities he crashed into her while going more than 100 mph because God told him "she needed to be taken off the road."

The truck rear-ended the car on U.S. Highway 281, both vehicles spun across a median then came to a stop along a barrier in the opposite lanes. Both drivers suffered only minor injuries.
"He just said God said she wasn't driving right, and she needed to be taken off the road," Bexar County Sheriff's Office spokesman Kyle Coleman said in the online edition of the San Antonio Express-News. "God must have been with them, 'cause any other time, the severity of this crash, it would have been a fatal."

The pickup driver did not tell police how the woman was driving. Police could not find alcohol or drugs in either driver.

A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered for a man.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081201/ap_on_fe_st/odd100_mph_wreck

Faith

God's works

Children dying in Haiti, victims of food crisis

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The 5-year-old teetered on broomstick legs — he weighed less than 20 pounds, even after days of drinking enriched milk. Nearby, a 4-year-old girl hung from a strap attached to a scale, her wide eyes lifeless, her emaciated arms dangling weakly.
In pockets of Haiti accessible only by donkey or foot, children are dying of malnutrition — their already meager food supply cut by a series of devastating storms that destroyed crops, wiped out livestock and sent food prices spiraling.
At least 26 severely malnourished children have died in the past four weeks in the remote region of Baie d'Orange in Haiti's southeast, aid workers said Thursday, and there are fears the toll will rise much higher if help does not come quickly to the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Full Story

Sincerely reading the Bible broke my faith

Excerpt - It wasn't until I was about 17 that I started to have many doubts about Christianity and ultimately my entire belief system. I found myself entering debates with friends and losing. I had always been openly Christian and therefore people liked to question me. I got to the point where we would be debating and someone would come up with an excellent point about evolution, or sex before marriage, etc. I also found myself arguing mindlessly and saying what I had been taught to say rather than because it was what I believed.

http://exchristian.net/testimonies/2008/11/sincerely-reading-bible-broke-my-faith.html

But He loves you...

Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do..And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! ...But He loves you.

George Carlin

Prayer

The Bible

Have you ever noticed why reason and evidence get you nowhere with religionists?

The reason they believe in God is that they, as very young children, were repeatedly abused with the false dichotomy that either they believe (and, seeing no gods, their senses lie to them), or they disbelieve and everyone but them is insane. This abuse is coupled with:

1) The explicit notion that if they disbelieve, they are perverse -- conversely, if they believe, they are good. No one wants to be bad. At least not when you're 2 years old.

2) The implicit or explicit threat of violence or abandonment.

So what's a child to do? Believe its own eyes and ears, or believe their parents' lies, under what must appear to the child as a sure penalty of death?

And so their parents' lunacy is irrevocably grafted in a child's unconscious, while at the same time severely damaging the natural rational machinery of the child. The child learns, in effect, that rationality and evidence is only to be used in certain circumstances, while it is to be explicitly discarded in other matters (like religiousity).

And that very same child, as parent, will repeat this treatment with their children. This is how the circle of perversion perpetuates itself.

In most individuals, this conditioning is so powerful that the individuals will feel genuinely tormented by anything that is at odds with the conditioning. Yes, even reality, since the child was taught that reality was not to be trusted in matters of religion.

So it's no wonder that logic and evidence are usually met with resistance, dissociation, projection, ex post facto rationalizations... and violence.

Rudd-O from reddit

Why would a God, any God, allow a world like this?

Already, since food prices began to rise 100 million more people have been pushed into poverty, according to the World Bank, with as many as two billion on the verge of disaster. Almost half the world's population, let's remember, live on less than $2.50 per day. Millions die annually of hunger and starvation, and more than a billion do not have access to fresh water.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/real-tragedy-financial-crisis-people/story.aspx?guid=%7BA02D915A%2DE3DB%2D4E24%2DAAC7%2DE5F8EA18DA75%7D

Pharmacy follows faith, no birth control sales

CHANTILLY, Va. (AP) — A new drug store at a Virginia strip mall is putting its faith in an unconventional business plan: No candy. No sodas. And no birth control. Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy is among at least seven pharmacies across the nation that are refusing as a matter of faith to sell contraceptives of any kind, even if a person has a prescription.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iFLoWwSaVUeLMHe8mPIPm-DymIMAD93V56MO0

Albert Einstein

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own-- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human fraility. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism.

Albert Einstein

Hanged for being a Christian in Iran

Eighteen years ago, Rashin Soodmand's father was hanged in Iran for converting to Christianity. Now her brother is in a Mashad jail, and expects to be executed under new religious laws brought in this summer.

A month ago, the Iranian parliament voted in favour of a draft bill, entitled "Islamic Penal Code", which would codify the death penalty for any male Iranian who leaves his Islamic faith. Women would get life imprisonment. The majority in favour of the new law was overwhelming: 196 votes for, with just seven against.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/3179465/Hanged-for-being-a-Christian-in-Iran.html

Pope: financial crisis shows futility of money

Mon Oct 6, 6:17 AM ET

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI says the global financial crisis show the futility of money and ambition.

Benedict says that "now with the collapse of big banks we see that money disappears, is nothing and all these things that appear real are in fact of secondary importance." He urges those who build their lives "only on things that are visible, such as success, career, money" to keep that in mind.

The pontiff was speaking Monday as he opened the works of a meeting of 253 bishops at the Vatican.

Benedict says "the only solid reality is the word of God."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081006/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_pope_meltdown

On a related note:
Bankers' best guesses about the Vatican's wealth put it at $10 billion to $15 billion.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,833509,00.html

Give me a break.

Thomas Jefferson

Question with boldness even the existance of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear

Bill Maher and Larry Charles, Getting 'Religulous'

If you're familiar with the work of political satirist Bill Maher, you probably know that he thinks religion has done way more harm than good in the world.
In his new film, Religulous — a satirical documentary in which Maher travels to religious sites around the world, ranging from the Vatican and Jerusalem to a Muslim gay bar in Amsterdam and a Christian theme park in Orlando, Fla. — he describes religion as "dangerous."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95210724

God works in mysterious ways

JODHPUR, India - Thousands of pilgrims panicked by false rumors of a bomb stampeded at a Hindu temple in western India on Tuesday, killing at least 168 people in the crush to escape, officials said.

More than 12,000 people gathered at the temple at dawn to celebrate a Hindu festival in the historic city of Jodhpur when the stampede occurred early Tuesday morning.

The temple floors were slick with coconut milk as thousands of devotees broke coconuts as religious offerings, causing pilgrims to slip and fall as they scrambled to escape, said Ramesh Vyas, a pilgrim who was standing in line.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080930/ap_on_re_as/as_india_temple_stampede_9

Oldest rocks on Earth found in northern Canada - 5999.98 years old! No, just kidding, 4.28 Billion.

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE48O7JW20080925

On why people believe strange things: Michael Shermer

Skeptic Society founder Michael Shermer dedicates his life to debunking myths, superstitions and urban legends, and also explaining why we believe them.In this utterly brilliant TED talk, Michael shows us how, by telling someone what to hear (in a piece of backwards music) you can make anyone hear whatever you want them to hear, with enough manipulation.

The double standards of God

Did God love his enemies when he destroyed the entire world with a flood? When he killed all the firstborn of Egypt? When he had Israel stone a man for picking up sticks on the Sabbath (Num. 15)? When he killed 90,000 Midianites (Num. 31)? 10,000 inconvenient Canaanites who had Israel’s land first (Judges 1)? 50,000 Benjaminites (Judges 20)? 1,000,000 Ethiopians (2 Chr. 14)?

How does God love his enemies when he slaughters them? How does God do good to those who hate him when he sends them to hell to be tortured for all eternity?

http://unreasonablefaith.com/2008/09/20/the-double-standards-of-god/

Authorities Raid Evangelist's Compound on Suspicion of Child Porn, Abuse

"We don't go into pornography; nobody in the church is into that," Alamo said. "Where do these allegations stem from? The anti-Christ government. The Catholics don't like me because I have cut their congregation in half. They hate true Christianity."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,425697,00.html

Word of God

Sept. 11, 1822: Church Admits It's Not All About Us

Galileo was greatly influenced by the Polish astronomer Nicholas Copernicus, who not only posited that the Earth revolves around the sun but that it makes a complete turn on its axis every 24 hours. The Catholic Church, however, considered the theory heresy, and Galileo was convicted by the Inquisition in 1633 and remained under house arrest for the rest of his life.

Nearly two centuries later, however, the weight of scientific evidence was so overwhelming that the College of Cardinals finally reversed itself and allowed the teaching of heliocentrism. Still, it would take another 170 years, until 1992, for a pope -- in this case, John Paul II -- to officially concede that, yes, the Earth isn't stationary in the heavens. Eight years after that, in 2000, John Paul apologized for the way the Catholic Church treated Galileo.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/09/dayintech_0911

Logic

God, Intellect and Universal Truth

This guy is good. Here are some excerpts:

(Full article on the link)

You’re essentially told: accept the faith as it is or meet eternal damnation.

If you have the same spiritual convictions as your parents, chances are you’ve exposed the issue to about as much intellectual light as your choice of socks this morning.

Fear prevents most people from even peeking behind the spiritual curtain.

http://www.cosmictap.com/god-intellect-and-universal-truth/

Muslim quits over bare arm policy

A Muslim radiographer has resigned from a Berkshire hospital over the NHS's "bare below the elbows" hygiene policy.

The unnamed agency worker claimed she was being discriminated against over her religious beliefs by the policies at Reading's Royal Berkshire Hospital.

This included the Islamic teaching that women should cover the body in public.

The NHS dress code was introduced in January to combat superbugs such as MRSA. The trust said the policy was explained when she first began work.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/7593827.stm

It wasn't the diaper...it was God

"It wasn't the diaper that saved him," Massaneiro told the newspaper. "It was God."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26444404/

The Swedish government is making it illegal for schools to teach religious doctrine as if it were true.

The Swedish government has announced plans to clamp down hard on religious education. It will soon become illegal even for private faith schools to teach religious doctrines as if they were true. In an interesting twist on the American experience, prayer will remain legal in schools - after all, it has no truth value. But everything that takes place on the curriculum's time will have to be secular. "Pupils must be protected from every sort of fundamentalism," said the minister for schools, Jan Björklund.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/oct/18/godshonesttruth

Ah, a world without religion

Without religion, people wouldn't pray for peace, they would work towards it.

http://www.rustylime.com/show_article.php?id=2392

"The Bible's Buried Secrets" New PBS Documentary

If a person already believes that a magical flying zombie born from a virgin is the son of a powerful sky genie who grants wishes to people if they talk to themselves while their hands are clasped and their eyes are closed, then I have serious doubts any documentary is going to shake their faith.

--twistedcain

Documentary Web Site

Parents have the power to end hereditary religion

When it comes to religion, children are the unwitting victims of a geographical lottery. Where you were born closely links to what religion your parents follow. This in turn is the best predictor of what you wind up with, often for life. The name given to this phenomenon is hereditary religion, which is defined as the propagation of a religion down through the generations based on the indoctrination of credulous young children before they can resist. If religion was all they got, perhaps this would not be objectionable. Unfortunately, they also get class enmities, religious doctrinal disagreements, nationalistic disputes, tribal jealousies, and other fractious hatreds that make hereditary religion a curse on humanity.
Read more

Just another beautiful Sunday for church....oh wait

Police say 68 killed in India temple stampede

God works in mysterious ways...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080803/ap_on_re_as/india_temple_stampede_3

Where did our universe come from? A guide for Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc.

Killing for religion is justified, say third of Muslim students

A third of Muslim students in Britain believe killing someone in the name of religion is justified, a new poll claims.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/2461830/Killing-for-religion-is-justified,-say-third-of-Muslim-students.html

Prove that Jesus is imaginary in less than 5 minutes

Galileo Galilei

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."

- Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642)

Fiction

Why do so many children live in poverty?

"If, on any Sunday morning in America, you were to visit a Sunday school class full of small children, there are two things that are nearly guaranteed. On the wall there will be a picture or poster of Jesus with a group of children around him. And the class will end up singing the song "Jesus loves the little children." Christians are quite fond of both the imagery and the music."

http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/god22.htm

Where is God?

Ruthless drought in West Timor puts children in crisis

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/06/westtimor.children/index.html

Biblical Contradictions

Here's the first one in the list:

God is satisfied with his works - Gen 1:31

God is dissatisfied with his works - Gen 6:6

...and it goes on and on and on....

http://www.evilbible.com/Biblical%20Contradictions.htm

Bill Maher: 'Faith' Is Dumb!

Dogs and Islam and Prayer

"The saliva of a dog is Najis (impure). If it touches the clothes or body, that portion also becomes impure and must be washed. And Allah Ta'ala Knows Best"

http://www.albalagh.net/qa/dogs_islam_prayer.shtml

Larry David on Religion

MORE AT ATHEISTNATION.NET

A secular world is a sane world

Shared belief in the "Golden Rule"

http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm

Like I keep saying...Read your holy book

http://www.theinformationparadox.com/2008/06/read-your-religious-book-before-trying.html

Voltaire got it right

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

Voltaire
French author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist (1694 - 1778)

Mark Twain Quotes

“It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”

A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows.

What God lacks is convictions — stability of character. He ought to be a Presbyterian or a Catholic or something — not try to be everything.

Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.

“In God We Trust.” I don’t believe it would sound any better if it were true.

Proving that the Bible is repulsive

Pro Life is Anti-Woman - George Carlin

George Carlin (who died today) - Religion is bullshit

Hey God, can you hear me now?

Who killed more people in the Bible?

What Barack Obama Could Not (and Should Not) Say

"...But Obama's candidacy is also depressing, for it demonstrates that even a person of the greatest candor and eloquence must still claim to believe the unbelievable in order to have a political career in this country. We may be ready for the audacity of hope. Will we ever be ready for the audacity of reason?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-harris/what-barack-obama-could-n_b_92771.html

How do we know that Christians are delusional?

There is No God - An Essay by Penn Jillette

http://www.thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=34

McCain: America Established as a Christian Nation

The Gods Of Japanese Mythology

http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/japanese-mythology.php

Welcome to the Real World

http://www.atheistrev.com/2008/06/welcome-to-real-world.html

The only debate on Intelligent Design that is worthy of its subject

Moderator: We're here today to debate the hot new topic, evolution versus Intelligent Des---

(Scientist pulls out baseball bat.)

Moderator: Hey, what are you doing?

(Scientist breaks Intelligent Design advocate's kneecap.)

Intelligent Design advocate: YEAAARRRRGGGHHHH! YOU BROKE MY KNEECAP!

Scientist: Perhaps it only appears that I broke your kneecap. Certainly, all the evidence points to the hypothesis I broke your kneecap. For example, your kneecap is broken; it appears to be a fresh wound; and I am holding a baseball bat, which is spattered with your blood. However, a mere preponderance of evidence doesn't mean anything. Perhaps your kneecap was designed that way. Certainly, there are some features of the current situation that are inexplicable according to the "naturalistic" explanation you have just advanced, such as the exact contours of the excruciating pain that you are experiencing right now.

Intelligent Design advocate: AAAAH! THE PAIN!

Scientist: Frankly, I personally find it completely implausible that the random actions of a scientist such as myself could cause pain of this particular kind. I have no precise explanation for why I find this hypothesis implausible --- it just is. Your knee must have been designed that way!

Intelligent Design advocate: YOU BASTARD! YOU KNOW YOU DID IT!

Scientist: I surely do not. How can we know anything for certain? Frankly, I think we should expose people to all points of view. Furthermore, you should really re-examine whether your hypothesis is scientific at all: the breaking of your kneecap happened in the past, so we can't rewind and run it over again, like a laboratory experiment. Even if we could, it wouldn't prove that I broke your kneecap the previous time. Plus, let's not even get into the fact that the entire universe might have just popped into existence right before I said this sentence, with all the evidence of my alleged kneecap-breaking already pre-formed.

Intelligent Design advocate: That's a load of bullshit sophistry! Get me a doctor and a lawyer, not necessarily in that order, and we'll see how that plays in court!

Scientist (turning to audience): And so we see, ladies and gentlemen, when push comes to shove, advocates of Intelligent Design do not actually believe any of the arguments that they profess to believe. When it comes to matters that hit home, they prefer evidence, the scientific method, testable hypotheses, and naturalistic explanations. In fact, they strongly privilege naturalistic explanations over supernatural hocus-pocus or metaphysical wankery. It is only within the reality-distortion field of their ideological crusade that they give credence to the flimsy, ridiculous arguments which we so commonly see on display. I must confess, it kind of felt good, for once, to be the one spouting free-form bullshit; it's so terribly easy and relaxing, compared to marshaling rigorous arguments backed up by empirical evidence. But I fear that if I were to continue, then it would be habit-forming, and bad for my soul. Therefore, I bid you adieu.

source: http://abstractfactory.blogspot.com/2005/10/only-debate-on-intelligent-design-that.html

Interesting comment I stumbled across today

I found the following comment on a site where a creationist is debating a true scientist. I especially like this explanation for why some highly intelligent and educated scientists can't shake their religion: "...strong prior non-intellectual commitment...". It's true that religion attacks the young and most are not able to shake it. So thanks Mike, whoever you are.

It's easy to come up with lots of special ad hoc arguments for why God would have done things this way or that way. Someone who is educated and intelligent, but has a strong prior non-intellectual commitment can come up with a hundred rationales for why their view is not disproven - they can read the bible dozens of different ways.
These rationales turn into an elaborate structure, completely dependent on the original core and unchangeable (as your correspondent admits) religious assumption.
But they've given up on the core essence of scientific thinking: science isn't about coming up with arguments to justify your own way of thinking, it's about coming up with evidence to persuade your skeptical self and your peers (who come from many different religious/non-religious/cultural backgrounds).
So the question for these creationists is "You may believe the earth was created 10,000 years ago, but why should anyone else who doesn't share your religion believe it?"
Mike

Pray less, work more, says Islamic preacher

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080605081855.juhs9sqc&show_article=1

Why god won't heal amputees?

Excellent logic!

http://godisimaginary.com/

The Big Religion Chart - Find Yours!

http://www.religionfacts.com/big_religion_chart.htm

Suicide attack at Danish embassy in Pakistan kills up to eight

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5icAu4Oa2Q__ZtaYJjPjvzFjGy3dg

Creationism with Ricky Gervais

Vatican sends threat over women priests

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/05/30/vatican.women.priests/index.html

The Case Against Hell

http://www.tentmaker.org/articles/ifhellisreal.htm

Israeli youths burn New Testaments

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-05-21-jewish-new-testament_N.htm

What Would You Substitute for the Bible as a Moral Guide?

by Robert G. Ingersoll
**** ****

YOU ask me what I would "substitute for the Bible as a moral guide."

I know that many people regard the Bible as the only moral guide and believe that in that book only can be found the true and perfect standard of morality.

There are many good precepts, many wise sayings and many good regulations and laws in the Bible, and these are mingled with bad precepts, with foolish sayings, with absurd rules and cruel laws.

But we must remember that the Bible is a collection of many books written centuries apart, and that it in part represents the growth and tells in part the history of a people. We must also remember. that the writers treat of many subjects. Many of these writers have nothing to say about right or wrong, about vice or virtue.

The book of Genesis has nothing about morality. There is not a line in it calculated to shed light on the path of conduct. No one can call that book a moral guide. It is made up of myth and miracle, of tradition and legend.

In Exodus we have an account of the manner in which Jehovah delivered the Jews from Egyptian bondage.

We now know that the Jews were never enslaved by the Egyptians; that the entire story is a fiction. We know this, because there is not found in Hebrew a word of Egyptian origin, and there is not found in the language of the Egyptians a word of Hebrew origin. This being so, we know that the Hebrews and Egyptians could not have lived together for hundreds of years.

Certainly Exodus was not written to teach morality. In that book you cannot find one word against human slavery. As a matter of fact, Jehovah was a believer in that institution.

The killing of cattle with disease and hail, the murder of the first-born, so that in every house was death, because the king refused to let the Hebrews go, certainly was not moral; it was fiendish. The writer of that book regarded all the people of Egypt, their children, their flocks and herds, as the property of Pharaoh, and these people and these cattle were killed, not because they had done anything wrong, but simply for the purpose of punishing the king. Is it possible to get any morality out of this history?

All the laws found in Exodus, including the Ten Commandments, so far as they are really good and sensible, were at that time in force among all the peoples of the world.

Murder is, and always was, a crime, and always will be, as long as a majority of people object to being murdered.

Industry always has been and always will be the enemy of larceny.

The nature of man is such that he admires the teller of truth and despises the liar. Among all tribes, among all people, truth- telling has been considered a virtue and false swearing or false speaking a vice.

The love of parents for children is natural, and this love is found among all the animals that live. So the love of children for parents is natural, and was not and cannot be created by law. Love does not spring from a sense of duty, nor does it bow in obedience to commands.

So men and women are not virtuous because of anything in books or creeds.

All the Ten Commandments that are good were old, were the result of experience. The commandments that were original with Jehovah were foolish.

The worship of "any other God" could not have been worse than the worship of Jehovah, and nothing could have been more absurd than the sacredness of the Sabbath.

If commandments had been given against slavery and polygamy, against wars of invasion and extermination, against religious persecution in all its forms, so that the world could be free, so that the brain might be developed and the heart civilized, then we might, with propriety, call such commandments a moral guide.

Before we can truthfully say that the Ten Commandments constitute a moral guide, we must add and subtract. We must throw away some, and write others in their places.

The commandments that have a known application here, in this world, and treat of human obligations are good, the others have no basis in fact, or experience.

Many of the regulations found in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, are good. Many are absurd and cruel.

The entire ceremonial of worship is insane.

Most of the punishment for violations of laws are unphilosophic and brutal. . . . The fact is that the Pentateuch upholds nearly all crimes, and to call it a moral guide is as absurd as to say that it is merciful or true.

Nothing of a moral nature can be found in Joshua or Judges. These books are filled with crimes, with massacres and murders. They are about the same as the real history of the Apache Indians.

The story of Ruth is not particularly moral.

In first and second Samuel there is not one word calculated to develop the brain or conscience.

Jehovah murdered seventy thousand Jews because David took a census of the people. David, according to the account, was the guilty one, but only the innocent were killed.

In first and second Kings can be found nothing of ethical value. All the kings who refused to obey the priests were denounced, and all the crowned wretches who assisted the priests, were declared to be the favorites of Jehovah. In these books there cannot be found one word in favor of liberty.

There are some good Psalms, and there are some that are infamous. Most of these Psalms are selfish. Many of them are passionate appeals for revenge.

The story of Job shocks the heart of every good man. In this book there is some poetry, some pathos, and some philosophy, but the story of this drama called Job, is heart-less to the last degree. The children of Job are murdered to settle a little wager between God and the Devil. Afterward, Job having remained firm, other children are given in the place of the murdered ones. Nothing, however, is done for the children who were murdered.

The book of Esther is utterly absurd, and the only redeeming feature in the book is that the name of Jehovah is not mentioned.

I like the Song of Solomon because it tells of human love, and that is something I can understand. That book in my judgment is worth all the ones that go before it, and is a far better moral guide.

There are some wise and merciful Proverbs. Some are selfish and some are flat and commonplace.

I like the book of Ecclesiastes because there you find some sense, some poetry, and some philosophy. Take away the interpolations and it is a good book.

Of course there is nothing in Nehemiah or Ezra to make men better, nothing in Jeremiah or Lamentations calculated to lessen vice, and only a few passages in Isaiah that can be used in a good cause.

In Ezekiel and Daniel we find only ravings of the insane.

In some of the minor prophets there is now and then a good verse, now and then an elevated thought.

You can, by selecting passages from different books, make a very good creed, and by selecting passages from different books, you can make a very bad creed.

The trouble is that the spirit of the Old Testament, its disposition, its temperament, is bad, selfish and cruel. The most fiendish things are commanded, commended and applauded.

The stories that are told of Joseph, of Elisha, of Daniel and Gideon, and of many others, are hideous; hellish.

On the whole, the Old Testament cannot be considered a moral guide.

Jehovah was not a moral God. He had all the vices, and he lacked all the virtues. He generally carried out his threats, but he never faithfully kept a promise.

At the same time, we must remember that the Old Testament is a natural production, that it was written by savages who were slowly crawling toward the light. We must give them credit for the noble things they said, and we must be charitable enough to excuse their faults and even their crimes.

I know that many Christians regard the Old Testament as the foundation and the New as the superstructure, and while many admit that there are faults and mistakes in the Old Testament, they insist that the New is the flower and perfect fruit.

I admit that there are many good things in the New Testament, and if we take from that book the dogmas, of eternal pain, of infinite revenge, of the atonement, of human sacrifice, of the necessity of shedding blood; if we throw away the doctrine of non-resistance, of loving enemies, the idea that prosperity is the result of wickedness, that Poverty is a preparation for Paradise, if we throw all these away and take the good, sensible passages, applicable to conduct, then we can make a fairly good moral guide, -- narrow, but moral.

Of course, many important things would be left out. You would have nothing about human rights, nothing in favor of the family, nothing for education, nothing for investigation, for thought and reason, but still you would have a fairly good moral guide.

On the other hand, if you would take the foolish passages, the extreme ones, you could make a creed that would satisfy an insane asylum.

If you take the cruel passages, the verses that inculcate eternal hatred, verses that writhe and hiss like serpents, you can make a creed that would shock the heart of a hyena.

It may be that no book contains better passages than the New Testament, but certainly no book contains worse.

Below the blossom of love you find the thorn of hatred; on the lips that kiss, you find the poison of the cobra.

The Bible is not a moral guide.

Any man who follows faithfully all its teachings is an enemy of society and will probably end his days in a prison or an asylum.

What is morality?

In this world we need certain things. We have many wants. We are exposed to many dangers. We need food, fuel, raiment and shelter, and besides these wants, there is, what may be called, the hunger of the mind.

We are conditioned beings, and our happiness depends upon conditions. There are certain things that diminish, certain things that increase, well-being. There are certain things that destroy and there are others that preserve.

Happiness, including its highest forms, is after all the only good, and everything, the result of which is to produce or secure happiness, is good, that is to say, moral. Everything that destroys or diminishes well-being is bad, that is to say, immoral. In other words, all that is good is moral, and all that is bad is immoral.

What then is, or can be called, a moral guide? The shortest possible answer is one word: Intelligence.

We want the experience of mankind, the true history of the race. We want the history of intellectual development, of the growth of the ethical, of the idea of justice, of conscience, of charity, of self-denial. We want to know the paths and roads that have been traveled by the human mind.

These facts in general, these histories in outline, the results reached, the conclusions formed, the principles evolved, taken together, would form the best conceivable moral guide.

We cannot depend on what are called "inspired books," or the religions of the world. These religions are based on the supernatural, and according to them we are under obligation to worship and obey some supernatural being, or beings. All these religions are inconsistent with intellectual liberty. They are the enemies of thought, of investigation, of mental honesty. They destroy the manliness of man. They promise eternal rewards for belief, for credulity, for what they call faith.

These religions teach the slave virtues. They make inanimate things holy, and falsehoods sacred. They create artificial crimes. To eat meat on Friday, to enjoy yourself on Sunday, to eat on fast-days, to be happy in Lent, to dispute a priest, to ask for evidence, to deny a creed, to express your sincere thought, all these acts are sins, crimes against some god, To give your honest opinion about Jehovah, Mohammed or Christ, is far worse than to maliciously slander your neighbor. To question or doubt miracles. is far worse than to deny known facts. Only the obedient, the credulous, the cringers, the kneelers, the meek, the unquestioning, the true believers, are regarded as moral, as virtuous. It is not enough to be honest, generous and useful; not enough to be governed by evidence, by facts. In addition to this, you must believe. These things are the foes of morality. They subvert all natural conceptions of virtue.

All "inspired books," teaching that what the supernatural commands is right, and right because commanded, and that what the supernatural prohibits is wrong, and wrong because prohibited, are absurdly unphilosophic.

And all "inspired books," teaching that only those who obey the commands of the supernatural are, or can be, truly virtuous, and that unquestioning faith will be rewarded with eternal joy, are grossly immoral.

Again I say: Intelligence is the only moral guide.

Sam Harris on Stem Cell Research

Agnosticism, Atheism, etc.

http://atheism.about.com/

Here is the best companion site for those reading the OT

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/index.htm

Pope thanks virgins for 'total gift' to Christ

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24648220/

God (pretty good backgrounder if you have not yet read the OT)

http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/middle-eastern-mythology.php?deity=YAHWEH&ds=N

Truth in Advertising

Einstein's musings about religion sells for $400K

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i9TPvxhZ7LkWMqzTA3c7nj3OZUCgD90MMB5G0

Belief in God 'childish,' Jews not chosen people: Einstein letter

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g6vLZj4hBdG1G_1NBqX6s8DMbCIg

LONDON (AFP) — Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday.
The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.
As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they "have no different quality for me than all other people".
"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.
"No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this," he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper.
The German-language letter is being sold Thursday by Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, said the auction house's managing director Rupert Powell.
In it, the renowned scientist, who declined an invitation to become Israel's second president, rejected the idea that the Jews are God's chosen people.
"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions," he said.
"And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people."
And he added: "As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."
Previously the great scientist's comments on religion -- such as "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" -- have been the subject of much debate, used notably to back up arguments in favour of faith.
Powell said the letter being sold this week gave a clear reflection of Einstein's real thoughts on the subject. "He's fairly unequivocal as to what he's saying. There's no beating about the bush," he told AFP.

Religion

The pious exclusivity of those with strong religious beliefs is frustrating to me and dangerous to the world. How is it possible that someone can be so certain of something so completely unprovable? Not to mention that there is always someone else who is equally certain in a belief that is 100% opposite! (and they can't prove their claim either)

Actually, I've also become quite concerned about moderate religious beliefs and the associated flow of money from churches that deny humanitarian needs such as family planning education, condoms, and stem cell research.

With this blog, I will provide references to articles, books, photos, and other evidence that has been chipping away at my belief in God for nearly a year now. In fact, I dare you to read the first five books of the Old Testament -- and come away from that experience believing that the God of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims is real.

I double dare you.