Posts tagged politics.
Seeing Darwin Through Christian Eyes? It All Depends on the Christian ›
On Jan. 22, Rush D. Holt, a Democrat who represents central New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, introduced a resolution designating Feb. 12, 2013 — Charles Darwin’s 204th birthday — as Darwin Day, “recognizing the importance of science in the betterment of humanity.”
Christianity Was Not Responsible for American Democracy ›
I keep hearing this chant, variously phrased: “The Ten Commandments are the foundation of Western morality and the American Constitution and government.” In saying this, people are essentially crediting Moses with the invention of ethics, democracy and civil rights, a claim that is of course absurd. But its absurdity is eclipsed by its injustice, for there is another lawmaker who is far more important to us, whose ideas and actions lie far more at the foundation of American government, and whose own Ten Commandments were distributed at large and influencing the greatest civilizations of the West—Greece and Rome—for well over half a millennium before the laws of Moses were anything near a universal social influence. In fact, by the time the Ten Commandments of Moses had any real chance of being the foundation of anything in Western society, democracy and civil rights had all but died out, never to rise again until the ideals of our true hero, the real man to whom we owe all reverence, were rediscovered and implemented in what we now call “modern democratic principles.”
“How do you teach homosexuality? Is it like French? I was born of heterosexual parents, taught by heterosexual teachers, in a fiercely heterosexual society. So why then am I homosexual? And, no offense meant, if it were true that children mimic their teachers, we’d have a hell of a lot more nuns running around.”
-Harvey Milk, Milk (2008)
Freedom of Religion is Not:
- Freedom to impose your beliefs on others
- Freedom to state that other beliefs are false without supporting that claim
- Freedom to suppress the thoughts and actions of other people
- Freedom to indoctrinate children—even your own
- Freedom to command that homosexuals suppress who they are
- Freedom to oppose the rights of women
- Freedom to judge others
- Freedom to endorse anti-science propaganda
- Freedom to distort facts
- Freedom to endorse proven lies
- Freedom to suppress contrary evidence
- Freedom to remain ignorant of other religions and how they compare and contrast to yours
- Freedom to believe in a plethora of unsubstantiated things
- Freedom to make myriad unsubstantiated claims
- Freedom to condemn others to Hell
- Freedom to wish the worst (“the wrath of god”) on someone
- Freedom to exorcise the “demons” of an autistic or epileptic child
- Freedom to “reenact” the crucifixion
- Freedom to ignore the harm your religion has caused
- Freedom to ritualize circumcision
- Freedom to mutilate female genitalia
- Freedom to sacrifice animals and humans
- Freedom to force a child to marry
- Freedom to murder people in the name of your god
- Freedom to wish death on them who don’t believe as you do
- Freedom to murder people who are adherents of another religion
Most importantly, freedom of religion isn’t the freedom to state that them who abuse the “freedoms” above are fake (insert religious title here). Furthermore, it isn’t the freedom to separate yourself from them. While you’re pointing a finger at them, they’re also pointing a finger at you; while your claiming to live by the correct interpretation of scripture, they are claiming the same. You can’t both be right, but surely you can both be wrong, and I would argue that this is the case. Dare to question!
Note: This post is exposing the abuses of various major world religions (i.e. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism).
The God Intrusion
Lessons in world religions and ethics ought to replace Christian tuition in Victorian state schools.
A woman, perhaps in her mid-60s, enters a classroom of eight-year-olds in a state primary school on the outskirts of Melbourne. She is carrying a Bible. She joins the teacher, who reads out about eight of her pupils’ names. A child stands as a name is called, and when all are called, those on their feet file out of class to a side room. They amount to about a third of this particular group; their parents have chosen to withdraw them from half-an-hour a week of Christian instruction.
The Common Use of Moralistic Fallacy
The following is a common example of moralistic fallacy: “Homosexuality is immoral and thus, it is unnatural to desire someone of the same sex.” Homophobic people, usually Christians, commit this fallacy quite often. Therefore, we no longer need to entertain their faulty logic. Of course, they will redirect us to the Bible, but they’re only making it worse by doing that. If the Bible is the word of god, the fallacy can no longer be blamed on the Christian; the god they believe in must be blamed. However, he is supposedly infinite in wisdom; furthermore, he is the author of the laws of logic. Therefore, he couldn’t possibly commit a fallacy. Now it gets even worse; the Christian will have two choices: 1) admit that the Bible isn’t the word of god 2) admit that god committed a logical fallacy. I guess they have to pick their poison. If you’re a Christian and you’re reading this, take note: you can’t speak against gay rights without being utterly illogical. So, kindly take your nose out of a matter that doesn’t concern you.
The Deconversion Movement
"I reject Christianity because I have closely examined its claims and I have found them to be unsubstantiated."
- Roger Martin
- Roger Martin
