I think that the so-called 'new' atheism is simply a 'not believing that there are any gods'.
Christian philosophers can try to drag that into their 'arena' and 'hammer' it with the old, "How can we know anything?"
That's an uphill climb. If a person lives on this here ball of mud long enough to form an opinion about supernatural beings and that opinion is 'thumbs down' all the word-magic in the World is not going to change their minds.
Think about it. Anyone who is an atheist today has overcome all the church people who belong to all the churches on all the street corners. They've overcome all the teachers, perhaps their own parents and surely some of their sisters and/or brothers.
These people are determined. There is no way that you could be an atheist because daddy was. If you grew up in 'the West' you had to PERSONALLY overcome the notion that there is an all-powerful authority in the face of KNOWING that there IS authority (of course there is), in the face of the propaganda that Christianity IS freedom, in the face of all the propaganda that goodness is exactly the same thing as Godliness, in the face of their DEMAND for respect.
But they KNOW that to 'respect' their demands, is to be them. There is no escape. If you ridicule them, you are in league with Satan.
How do we few, as little as 10% continue on, challenging the D'Souza's of this World that we are not monstrous Stalins, Maos etc. ?
There's NO convincing them that if we're not with them we're not against them.
It is a stand-off.
We can only hope that since the internet is the ONLY means by which we can stand them off, the only means by which we spread our 'reason', that they will not find some way to cut off our solidarity(for want of a better word).
... and they say that we have no 'hope'. HAH!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
I believe..
I believe, in fact I KNOW that I am a streaming consciousness.
What is 'essentially' ME is NOT my body but the process of ME knowing that I am me.
I believe, and I'm SURE that the process of being me is an electro-magnetic process caused by my brain and extended nervous system which 'tells' me that I am an individual human being living in this world with other living human beings who have their OWN personal nervous systems, brains and streaming consciousnesses.
I believe that we can and have, through science, constructed an objective model of reality where individual objects, known as atoms, exist in three dimensions of space and 'through'(or over) time.
I believe that some of these individual objects have combined to form MASSIVE complex objects that we see around us. Anything with the element CARBON in it is called an organic compound because we KNOW that all life is based on CARBON compounds.(therefore, by definition, organic compounds)
This doesn't mean that anything with carbon in it is alive, it means that anything alive has carbon in it.
Speculating that there may be 'life' without CARBON in it, is IMAGINATION.
Does your notion of GOD include HIM being composed of CARBON compounds?
If, "NO!", then your GOD is NOT alive in reality, which is, by any scientific definition that is not speculation or imagination.
Sure, you can hark back to a time when science hadn't defined 'life' or appeal to philosophy(unempirical, untestable "knowledge"), but then you are avoiding the answer to the question, "What is life as we KNOW it?" and substituting an answer to, "What is life as we might imagine it to be?" Is THAT clear enough?
What is 'essentially' ME is NOT my body but the process of ME knowing that I am me.
I believe, and I'm SURE that the process of being me is an electro-magnetic process caused by my brain and extended nervous system which 'tells' me that I am an individual human being living in this world with other living human beings who have their OWN personal nervous systems, brains and streaming consciousnesses.
I believe that we can and have, through science, constructed an objective model of reality where individual objects, known as atoms, exist in three dimensions of space and 'through'(or over) time.
I believe that some of these individual objects have combined to form MASSIVE complex objects that we see around us. Anything with the element CARBON in it is called an organic compound because we KNOW that all life is based on CARBON compounds.(therefore, by definition, organic compounds)
This doesn't mean that anything with carbon in it is alive, it means that anything alive has carbon in it.
Speculating that there may be 'life' without CARBON in it, is IMAGINATION.
Does your notion of GOD include HIM being composed of CARBON compounds?
If, "NO!", then your GOD is NOT alive in reality, which is, by any scientific definition that is not speculation or imagination.
Sure, you can hark back to a time when science hadn't defined 'life' or appeal to philosophy(unempirical, untestable "knowledge"), but then you are avoiding the answer to the question, "What is life as we KNOW it?" and substituting an answer to, "What is life as we might imagine it to be?" Is THAT clear enough?
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Sunday Sermon
Sunday Sermon.
There is an awesome process going on here. It's cyclical nature seems to be hinted at in all.We thinking beings noticed this by the seasons, the tides, the phases of the moon, the repetitive nature of life itself.
But we came to be thinking beings by being social beings, and societies have leaders, societies have authority.For us, it is only natural to assume that the cyclical process of the universe is run by authority.
If some of us call the process GOD, it is natural for us to anthropomorphize that process and have that process be 'the decider' of our fate.
There is NO appeal to this ultimate authority, which is fate. At the same time there is Earthly authority, natural authority that we can see in leaders of packs, herds and flocks of animals and birds, which I'm sure is an extention of the authority of parents.
BUT with religion, there can be an appeal to an organized 'reflection' of spiritual authority. With religion we can connect parental authority to 'fate' through a hierarchy which becomes it's own purpose.
This is a double edged sword as authority not only grants favors, it demands compliance, submission.
The idea is that, ONLY with submission, can come favors BUT as with all authority comes corruption and the authority becomes self-serving, loses its original purpose of 'peace and love to all mankind' to 'bring us together' and replaces that with "you must obey".
What we 'are obeying' here is someone's interpretation of 'that, that is good' corrupted to be, 'that that is GODLY'. The only trouble with this is that the process, or fate or God, is NOT fair, it is not necessarilly good. Authority is not necessarilly just.
Can't you almost hear the theists whispering, "YES, but OUR religion is the best model, the least corrupt, join us, join us..."
There is an awesome process going on here. It's cyclical nature seems to be hinted at in all.We thinking beings noticed this by the seasons, the tides, the phases of the moon, the repetitive nature of life itself.
But we came to be thinking beings by being social beings, and societies have leaders, societies have authority.For us, it is only natural to assume that the cyclical process of the universe is run by authority.
If some of us call the process GOD, it is natural for us to anthropomorphize that process and have that process be 'the decider' of our fate.
There is NO appeal to this ultimate authority, which is fate. At the same time there is Earthly authority, natural authority that we can see in leaders of packs, herds and flocks of animals and birds, which I'm sure is an extention of the authority of parents.
BUT with religion, there can be an appeal to an organized 'reflection' of spiritual authority. With religion we can connect parental authority to 'fate' through a hierarchy which becomes it's own purpose.
This is a double edged sword as authority not only grants favors, it demands compliance, submission.
The idea is that, ONLY with submission, can come favors BUT as with all authority comes corruption and the authority becomes self-serving, loses its original purpose of 'peace and love to all mankind' to 'bring us together' and replaces that with "you must obey".
What we 'are obeying' here is someone's interpretation of 'that, that is good' corrupted to be, 'that that is GODLY'. The only trouble with this is that the process, or fate or God, is NOT fair, it is not necessarilly good. Authority is not necessarilly just.
Can't you almost hear the theists whispering, "YES, but OUR religion is the best model, the least corrupt, join us, join us..."
Sunday, December 7, 2008
"the hat's fault"
Do you know how many sperms 'vie' for 'entrance' to life as a being-that-will-'sex'-another being?
Gotta be a couple-a-hundred to one!(at least) Right?
But we're assuming that the 'egg' is 'in the pipe five by five' here, what are the odds that MAMA would be 'in the mood' to spread her legs?
Are we talking 'mamas' like the women that "I" know here? Are we talking, "Miss Priss!" or "Mattress Mona!"(seriously, I KNOW HER), or what the fuck(pun LOL) are we talkin' here?
Ya KNOW, just 'cos you 'BITCHES' have 'outies' , don't mean that 'goddidit!', surely!
You DO realise that us organic life forms 'happen' to be here 'BECAUSE' we find humping 'intriguing'???(mesmerizing, sexy, 'better than chocolate' etc. etc.)
WTF is wrong with you 'god-did-it''s?
I'd be a 'happy camper' if you would simply live up to your OWN expectations!!!
Why is THAT so hard for you?
Example.. AAAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAA! You live in the desert! THAT'S why no food will grow! Are you MENTAL!?
Gotta be a couple-a-hundred to one!(at least) Right?
But we're assuming that the 'egg' is 'in the pipe five by five' here, what are the odds that MAMA would be 'in the mood' to spread her legs?
Are we talking 'mamas' like the women that "I" know here? Are we talking, "Miss Priss!" or "Mattress Mona!"(seriously, I KNOW HER), or what the fuck(pun LOL) are we talkin' here?
Ya KNOW, just 'cos you 'BITCHES' have 'outies' , don't mean that 'goddidit!', surely!
You DO realise that us organic life forms 'happen' to be here 'BECAUSE' we find humping 'intriguing'???(mesmerizing, sexy, 'better than chocolate' etc. etc.)
WTF is wrong with you 'god-did-it''s?
I'd be a 'happy camper' if you would simply live up to your OWN expectations!!!
Why is THAT so hard for you?
Example.. AAAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAA! You live in the desert! THAT'S why no food will grow! Are you MENTAL!?
Friday, December 5, 2008
Everybody thinks different, Jackass!
I am pissed off at people saying stupid things, such as, "How do atheists think?", "What do atheists believe?", etc.
What part of, "There are no gods, not even one!", synthesize into, "You guys are warring on Christmas!", or, "You guys are responsible for a million-plus abortions!", or , "Can't you see God everywhere you look, you must just HATE God, if you don't!", or, "You saw a killer-whale that you fell in love with at first sight, and YOU just want an excuse to hump that bitch, right?!"
Honestly, I don't want to 'make a woman out of' "Wilhemina", I don't 'bear ANY responsibility for ANY abortion EVER!, and, "NO!", of course I can't 'see' GOD everywhere, I can't 'see' GOD, ANYWHERE!
I just don't 'get it'.
I understand that your entire belief system is BUILT to keep you guys IN and bring more converts in too, and I realise that you MUST KNOW THIS!
So, if someone considers Pascal's Wager, considers the entire contents of THE BIBLE, considers the possibility of any kind of spirituality AT ALL, even SATANISM, or witchcraft, or wicca and comes to the conclusion that it is ENTIRELY BULLSHIT!, why must you take that up as some kind of challenge?
The facts are clear!
NO SPIRITUAL BULLSHIT.
Sure there are atheists who just don't believe in 'supreme beings', and ... I like 'em.
There are probably atheists who want to 'dominate', to 'control' you daffy ducks, and I HATE THEM!
There is a middle line, a fairness, a justice that is REAL and your GODLY MORALITY is just NOT IT!
Denying all gods then proceeding to imagine that then YOU ought to be 'in command' is NOT IT EITHER!
Show me your qualifications. OH, you don't believe in gods, you say.
Hmm.. well, neither does a ROCK or a worm or a dog.
But religion is NO SUBSTITUTE for 'REAL' KNOWLEDGE!
Yea, I know, you have knowledge of propaganda, rhetoric, persuasion, but that is DECEIT!
Don't believe me!
Your booklets tell you that 'they' saw the future!
WHAT. A .LOAD.OF.NONSENSE!
("'Tis the future you see!"- Yoda
(Luke asks him if it is real.
("Hard to see, the future is, always in motion!)
Hey, this is in a fictional story where they can lift objects WITH THEIR MINDS!
What part of, "There are no gods, not even one!", synthesize into, "You guys are warring on Christmas!", or, "You guys are responsible for a million-plus abortions!", or , "Can't you see God everywhere you look, you must just HATE God, if you don't!", or, "You saw a killer-whale that you fell in love with at first sight, and YOU just want an excuse to hump that bitch, right?!"
Honestly, I don't want to 'make a woman out of' "Wilhemina", I don't 'bear ANY responsibility for ANY abortion EVER!, and, "NO!", of course I can't 'see' GOD everywhere, I can't 'see' GOD, ANYWHERE!
I just don't 'get it'.
I understand that your entire belief system is BUILT to keep you guys IN and bring more converts in too, and I realise that you MUST KNOW THIS!
So, if someone considers Pascal's Wager, considers the entire contents of THE BIBLE, considers the possibility of any kind of spirituality AT ALL, even SATANISM, or witchcraft, or wicca and comes to the conclusion that it is ENTIRELY BULLSHIT!, why must you take that up as some kind of challenge?
The facts are clear!
NO SPIRITUAL BULLSHIT.
Sure there are atheists who just don't believe in 'supreme beings', and ... I like 'em.
There are probably atheists who want to 'dominate', to 'control' you daffy ducks, and I HATE THEM!
There is a middle line, a fairness, a justice that is REAL and your GODLY MORALITY is just NOT IT!
Denying all gods then proceeding to imagine that then YOU ought to be 'in command' is NOT IT EITHER!
Show me your qualifications. OH, you don't believe in gods, you say.
Hmm.. well, neither does a ROCK or a worm or a dog.
But religion is NO SUBSTITUTE for 'REAL' KNOWLEDGE!
Yea, I know, you have knowledge of propaganda, rhetoric, persuasion, but that is DECEIT!
Don't believe me!
Your booklets tell you that 'they' saw the future!
WHAT. A .LOAD.OF.NONSENSE!
("'Tis the future you see!"- Yoda
(Luke asks him if it is real.
("Hard to see, the future is, always in motion!)
Hey, this is in a fictional story where they can lift objects WITH THEIR MINDS!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
In the Beginning...(revisited?)
"In the Beginning..", there was no beginning, unless God created time and forgot to mention it.
Life cannot come from nothing, excepting the eternal life of God, which renders the 'When did life begin?' answer moot.
God, as a spiritual being, needs no rest, has no 'feelings' and somehow 'lives' outside of time and space(nowhere, nowhen).
Yet, God created heirarchy (for a mysterious purpose.)
"A hierarchy is an arrangement of objects, people, elements, values, grades, orders, classes, etc., in a ranked or graduated series. The word derives from the Greek ἱεραρχία (hierarchia), from ἱεράρχης (hierarches), "president of sacred rites, high-priest" and that from ἱερός (hieros), "sacred" + ἄρχω (arkho), "to lead, to rule""
Whether God is real, in any sense, HE certainly created heirarchy.
Given HIS manifestation on this planet as religions, the first booklets are clear about who is in charge! God's priests are given authority over us.
The objective of every priesthood is to claim leadership of every hierarchy with a simple trick.
The idea is to convince any hierarchy that they are ultimately responsible to GOD(whether their GOD is real(living outside space and time) or actually DEFINED as a personification of ultimate leadership of all hierarchies. Since every hierarchy NEEDS GODLY advice and the priests are the GODLIEST then the hierarchy ought to take advice from the priests.
Simple. Straightforward. It works every time.
............................................................................................................................
The controlled.
The controlled are kept in line by means of propaganda which has a full range of complexity.
Brainwashing children to accept absurd stories. Bribing children into the scheme with candies, formal dinners etc. never ceasing to equate Godliness with goodness and God with Order.
Conversion of the weak, poor and elderly.
Simple propaganda for the less-than-faithful, "GOD means Good Orderly Direction!", "If there were no GOD, we'd have to invent HIM!"
Infiltration of secular institutions(hierarchies).
Sound-bites.
"Abortion is Murder!"
"Atheists HATE God!"
"This is a Christian Nation!"
Thought-bites.
"Goodness IS Godliness"
"Godliness IS Goodness"
"Atheism CAUSES totalitarianism"
"Atheism IS sociopathy"
.................................................................................................
Can we escape from the clutches of those who know that God is another word for power, that God is another word for money and that God is another word for control?
Perhaps when the controlled stop believing that Godliness is exactly equal to Goodness!
Example.
If I were a pastor of a small community church I'd dream of having a larger congregation, having more money, more power, more respect and more control of secular hierarchies.
Wouldn't you?
The thing that pisses me off about Christianity is their willful ignorance.
Let's say that 'all' is God. The Holy Spirit is life, intelligence, the power to have faith and such. Christ is the tradition, the traditional way to impart the 'power' of belief, the 'power' that you can have OVER those who believe. The 'thing' that we thinkers are, as an entirety.. GOD.
Talking to them is like talking to tricksters and buffoons who are trying their best to trick us non-believers into their buffoonery.
If we point out that there is NO archeological evidence for their most important stories they simply start dissembling.
There is no archeological evidence for the Exodus, NONE!
I can almost hear the faithful mentally adjusting, "But we have the tradition as truth, there IS a place called Egypt, the Sinai desert, Palestine etc. you dummy!
Someone will chime in about morality!
Someone will chime in about philosophy!
Someone will chime in that science is to be questioned!
If they believe that they are 'intellectual' they might try to 'hoist us by our own petard!', (ab)using science against us.(D'Souza anyone?)
There is no archeological evidence for a city or a town or even a village of Nazareth in that time period!
These two facts ought to demolish Christianity and the other Abrahamic religions RFN(right-fuckin'-now!).
But the power to control believers is more or less deliberately confused with some power of God(ALL, remember) to control nature, nations, the future, personal happiness, health etc.
It is this mumbo-jumbo, this praying, this open admission of submission to priests and those at the tops of hierarchies controlled by those 'in submission' that pisses me off!
To misquote the Mythbusters, they reject reality and substitute their own(doctrine, dogma)
Life cannot come from nothing, excepting the eternal life of God, which renders the 'When did life begin?' answer moot.
God, as a spiritual being, needs no rest, has no 'feelings' and somehow 'lives' outside of time and space(nowhere, nowhen).
Yet, God created heirarchy (for a mysterious purpose.)
"A hierarchy is an arrangement of objects, people, elements, values, grades, orders, classes, etc., in a ranked or graduated series. The word derives from the Greek ἱεραρχία (hierarchia), from ἱεράρχης (hierarches), "president of sacred rites, high-priest" and that from ἱερός (hieros), "sacred" + ἄρχω (arkho), "to lead, to rule""
Whether God is real, in any sense, HE certainly created heirarchy.
Given HIS manifestation on this planet as religions, the first booklets are clear about who is in charge! God's priests are given authority over us.
The objective of every priesthood is to claim leadership of every hierarchy with a simple trick.
The idea is to convince any hierarchy that they are ultimately responsible to GOD(whether their GOD is real(living outside space and time) or actually DEFINED as a personification of ultimate leadership of all hierarchies. Since every hierarchy NEEDS GODLY advice and the priests are the GODLIEST then the hierarchy ought to take advice from the priests.
Simple. Straightforward. It works every time.
............................................................................................................................
The controlled.
The controlled are kept in line by means of propaganda which has a full range of complexity.
Brainwashing children to accept absurd stories. Bribing children into the scheme with candies, formal dinners etc. never ceasing to equate Godliness with goodness and God with Order.
Conversion of the weak, poor and elderly.
Simple propaganda for the less-than-faithful, "GOD means Good Orderly Direction!", "If there were no GOD, we'd have to invent HIM!"
Infiltration of secular institutions(hierarchies).
Sound-bites.
"Abortion is Murder!"
"Atheists HATE God!"
"This is a Christian Nation!"
Thought-bites.
"Goodness IS Godliness"
"Godliness IS Goodness"
"Atheism CAUSES totalitarianism"
"Atheism IS sociopathy"
.................................................................................................
Can we escape from the clutches of those who know that God is another word for power, that God is another word for money and that God is another word for control?
Perhaps when the controlled stop believing that Godliness is exactly equal to Goodness!
Example.
If I were a pastor of a small community church I'd dream of having a larger congregation, having more money, more power, more respect and more control of secular hierarchies.
Wouldn't you?
The thing that pisses me off about Christianity is their willful ignorance.
Let's say that 'all' is God. The Holy Spirit is life, intelligence, the power to have faith and such. Christ is the tradition, the traditional way to impart the 'power' of belief, the 'power' that you can have OVER those who believe. The 'thing' that we thinkers are, as an entirety.. GOD.
Talking to them is like talking to tricksters and buffoons who are trying their best to trick us non-believers into their buffoonery.
If we point out that there is NO archeological evidence for their most important stories they simply start dissembling.
There is no archeological evidence for the Exodus, NONE!
I can almost hear the faithful mentally adjusting, "But we have the tradition as truth, there IS a place called Egypt, the Sinai desert, Palestine etc. you dummy!
Someone will chime in about morality!
Someone will chime in about philosophy!
Someone will chime in that science is to be questioned!
If they believe that they are 'intellectual' they might try to 'hoist us by our own petard!', (ab)using science against us.(D'Souza anyone?)
There is no archeological evidence for a city or a town or even a village of Nazareth in that time period!
These two facts ought to demolish Christianity and the other Abrahamic religions RFN(right-fuckin'-now!).
But the power to control believers is more or less deliberately confused with some power of God(ALL, remember) to control nature, nations, the future, personal happiness, health etc.
It is this mumbo-jumbo, this praying, this open admission of submission to priests and those at the tops of hierarchies controlled by those 'in submission' that pisses me off!
To misquote the Mythbusters, they reject reality and substitute their own(doctrine, dogma)
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