Why Believe?

I watched a portion of the recent movie “Noah” last night on TV.  I saw it on the big screen when it came out and thought it was pretty good.  Last night it hit me as a comedy, or historical science fiction much like 10,000 years BC with Raquel Welch, or Jurassic Park.  Special effects were good, story line not so much.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to believe that God is not evil.  As I look at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, Noah, Adam and Eve, etc. it is clear that God has wrath and is capable of throwing temper tantrums that kill multiple human beings.  If he is real, why would he kill the beings he fabricated?  It appears I am more patient, understanding and forgiving of a young puppy than God is of humans.

I was brought up to believe that God was a loving, forgiving, heavenly father.  If he exists he is more like an abusive father, butchering humans when they do not do what he wants them to do.  At the same time he supposedly gives us free will.  Why would he do that then punish us for exercising our free will?  So, do we have free will as long as we do as we are told, otherwise we spend eternity in hell?  Is that free will? 

And on the forgiveness front he is awful.  If one believes the creation story (which science has de-bunked more times than I can list) Adam and Eve did not do as God said, so not only did he kick them out of Eden he cursed humans for all generations to come.  Really?  Is that a loving and forgiving father?  No, that would be a petty being who holds grudges. 

And God does not even live up to the standards of supporting freedom and liberty that we have established in our secular government.  God discriminates against women.  God supports slavery.  God promotes bigotry.  Jesus really blew it when he did not denounce slavery or promote women’s rights.  If the argument is he was speaking to a group in a certain cultural setting that does not apply today, then I ask why we would believe anything he says using the same argument?

In fact, other than fear of damnation, a concept developed by those who worship God, I can think of no good reason to believe in God.  I am more forgiving than he is.  I love my fellow man or woman regardless of gender, sexual preference, country of origin, culture, and religious belief.  If I am more loving and forgiving than God, then why do I go to church, why do I give the church my money?  In fact, why should I believe in such a despicable deity at all? 

If God answers prayers then why do any children die of cancer?  If God answers prayers why does Trump even have a chance of being elected?  If God answers prayers why am I not rich and famous and young and handsome?  If God answers prayers why do we still wage war on one another based on religious belief, dreams of power and money?  If God answers prayers then why do people die when they beseech God to save them?  This God even allowed his own son, so the story goes, to die.  Not just die, but to be executed in one of the most cruel and tortuous ways devised by man.  What kind of father does that?  If you say because he loved sinners more than his own son I would answer that there is not much evidence in the Bible that he loved those who did not do his will.  And his own son?  Jesus.

If he is real we should kick him out of office.  If he is not, what the hell are we spending all this time and money on?  If I have no fear of death I cannot fathom a reason to believe.  I believe I am more moral than God.  If I had his powers I would fix a host of painful human issues and I would do it in a way that I could be seen doing it so that there would be no doubt of my existence.  Supposedly he was not shy about doing public works 2,000 to 4,000 years ago:  Red Sea, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Flood, burning bushes, walls come tumbling down, water into wine, walking on water, rising from the dead, etc., etc.  It doesn’t count today if an event occurs to call it a miracle because it is not currently explainable or is not predictable.  God seems to have become the new Wizard of Oz, a charlatan hiding behind a curtain preying on people’s fears.

So tell me again why I should believe in such a God?

The Cookie Monster

OK, I’ve about had it with all this.  People have totally exhausted me who believe things that are not observable, not provable, not subject to measurement or observation that exist in conflict with the observable, provable and measureable.  There is no way to carry on an adult conversation with people who lack knowledge but use their attitudes, beliefs and opinions as the basis of their position.  And they talk to each other, forming a circle that remains immune to logic.  In fact, give them some facts and they will not only reject them, they will reject you and they become hostile.  There is no way to have an open conversation with a closed mind.

If you believe that there is a giant cookie monster in the sky who is responsible for everything and as long as you give homage to that cookie monster he or she is real because he or she has become real to you.  No one else sees the cookie monster.  No one can find the cookie monster.  No one can carry on a dialog with the cookie monster.  He or she does not show up on radar or long range telescopic scans, he or she is intangible but real in your mind.  There is no way to discuss the reality of the existence of the cookie monster with you.  You believe it and facts will not dissuade you.  When you see good things happen you believe it is due to the presence of the cookie monster.  When you see bad things happen you will say that’s the will of the cookie monster and the cookie monster’s will is mysterious.  The same is true if you think Obama hurt this country, the same is true if you believe what Donald Trump says, the same is true if you are convinced the problem in America is the American government (at least the terrorists agree with you), the same is true if you believe that the proliferation of firearms makes us safer; and if you believe these falsehoods then I am simply beating my head against a wall assuming that logic will prevail over attitude and superstition.  And in that, and only that, do we have evidence of the failure of American education systems where attitudes are promoted over knowledge.  If your cookie monster declares that women are inferior beings to men, that homosexuals are evil, that those who worship big bird are all wrong because cookie monster is right, and that the cookie monster demands that your beliefs be ordained in law, then you are the focus of my rant.  If we do not implement cookie monster policies does not mean we are persecuting followers of the cookie monster, any more than if we fail to implement the beliefs of big bird, or UFO believers or ghost believers or secret alien base believers.

And don’t tell me that faith is like love.  It is not.  If I love someone there will be tangible signs of that love on a daily basis.  I may write notes, send flowers, take her out to eat, go see a movie, fix her car, etc., etc. etc.  And most importantly, there will be a measureable response!  My love will respond one way or another.  After each of those actions I say I did this out of love.  I see no reactions that take place because you have faith.  You tithe, but you do not get notes or flowers.  You pray, but most times there is no evidence your prayer was answered much less heard.  Sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you don’t.  That can’t be faith.  That is random chance.  Though falling in love may be random, the observable behaviors surrounding love are not.  They are purposeful and observable, they can be measured using scientific techniques, and they follow the rules of human interaction.  None of that is true of behavior that is faith based.  If you could pray and part the Red Sea you would have my attention.  If you could pray that a sick friend with terminal cancer be healed and he or she is instantly healed you would have my attention.  If you were on the German Wings flight that crashed in France and on the way down everyone prayed to cookie monster to be saved and miraculously they were, then you would have my attention.  But the results of all those faith based actions is absolutely unpredictable.  In fact, many of those who practice faith-based actions practice forgiving cookie monster for not acting saying that it was not the will of the cookie monster to act.  Really?  Then why worship something that is going to do as he or she damn well pleases anyway?  Prayer is pointless at that point.  Why pray to cookie monster if the assumption is cookie monster knows best and will do whatever he or she is going to do to you despite your prayers?  If you pray for the healing of a loved one and they die, then why did you pray?  If your neighbor does not pray but their loved one survives then why pray?  Cookie monster is not dependable, reliable, believable or trustworthy.  If you buy that all that happens is part of cookie monster’s plan then your prayer should be why the hell is the cookie monster so mean?  Why must we constantly make excuses for his or her lack of action?  Why are we forgiving the cookie monster when the advertisement says he or she is forgiving us?  Makes absolutely no sense.  Might as well worship big bird or nothing at all.

Unless you do all that out of fear of some eternal punishment.  What a great scam.  No one knows what happens after death and there is no evidence that anything happens after death except for those folks who subscribe to paranormal investigations and the Ghost Busters.  Like all other living things it is most likely that when we die we are dead.  We are done.  We had our brief hour on the stage, take our bows or blows and exit.  It appears to me that believing in an after-life life is the main reason most folks worship cookie monster.  While there is no evidence of an after-life life and no evidence of the cookie monster such beliefs are tearing the planet apart. 

Human actions based on faith in the cookie monster or any other deity have been horrific.  We have the Crusades, the Inquisition, the KKK, Al Qaeda, Salem witch trials, and on and on.  We have waged war on fellow human beings in the name of the cookie monster or maybe big bird or maybe some other fictional character.  If that is what the cookie monster wants we should abandon him or her anyway.  If we somehow become convinced we are justified in attacking others because that is the will of the cookie monster then we have become one of the least moral and most dangerous people on the planet.

Don’t you and I know it would be unwise to appoint someone to head up NASA who believes the earth is the center of the universe and the sun rotates around us, it would be unwise to appoint someone as Surgeon General who believes that only the cookie monster can heal, it would be unwise to elect someone who thinks that the past is somehow better than the present or the future, it would be unwise to implement cookie monster beliefs that are in conflict either with science or other belief systems.  None of these positions are backed by science, facts and reason.  They are all subjective attitudes and beliefs. 

The cookie monster domain is shrinking.  At first we did not understand how anything worked and life was a mystery.  We needed a cookie monster to take credit for and explain all that we did not know.  But now we have learned a lot.  And the domain of the mysterious and unexplained shrinks leaving an ever declining number of cookie monster fans.  And it gets worse and worse for the cookie monster fans.  No, the earth is not 6,000 years old, it is not flat, it is not the center of the universe, humans and dinosaurs did not co-exist and there is no evidence of a world-wide flood or the parting of the Red Sea or burning bushes, or resurrections.  Those are beliefs perpetrated by texts written 4,00o to 2,000 years ago by illiterate Bronze Age superstitious peoples.  Hardly a worthy set of ground rules for today. 

Seems to me that if one goes to live after death with the cookie monster in never-never land we would have received some email, card, letter, sky-writing, message in a bottle, or something.  But nothing like that has ever, nor will it ever happen.  Dead men tell no tales.  Because they are dead.

It is my hope that someday we as a species reach a point where beliefs are informed by science, not in competition with science.  It is my hope that as a species we move forward based on facts, not fear.  We clearly are not there yet. 

God, Please Talk to Your Followers

Your followers, especially the Christians, are driving me crazy.  You really need to straighten a few things out for them.  For instance, do you take an active role in their lives or are you an observer from afar.  I see football players scoring a touchdown and thanking you.  Is that right?  Did you give them some sort of boost to score?  If so, why are you punishing all the other Christian athletes when they pray to score or to win?  Do you play favorites?  I can’t believe that you do elsewise you really are not worth worshipping.  So please let them know that the good stuff and the bad stuff in their lives is just random and that you are not the causal factor.

That goes for illness too.  How many prayer warrior lists can one person be on and still lose everyone who is prayed for?  What’s the deal?  Whole groups of folks have gathered in earnest prayer for hours and hours for this person with liver and lung cancer, and dad gum, there was no miracle and he died.  It appears to me that if you wanted to increase your following you would cure Christians and let the others die.  But even doing that goes against some of what you preach.  So please just let them know that if they get sick it is up to modern medicine, genetics, the quality of the doctors and randomness that determines outcomes.  That is only fair if you are not going to intervene.

That goes for all the morons who think they see Jesus or Mary in a waffle, or a tree stump or reflected on the side of a building.   Would please just let them know that you do not communicate that way.  You used to use burning bushes, carved stones, eclipses and the like, but I think you must have given all that up as well.

And what is with this 2 to 4000 year old book your followers treat like it is sacred.  Would you please just tell them that humans got a lot of stuff wrong in that book?  It was never meant to be a science book, it is more like Hans Christian Anderson than Mathew Mark and Luke.  The people who are taking that old book literally are really frightful: an eye for an eye, stone all homosexuals, divorced people and non-virgins on their wedding night, and stone anyone who believes differently than what you dictate.  How in the world can that stuff be holy?  Not to mention you missed some wonderful opportunities to tell us slavery was bad, treating women poorly was bad, and that all God’s children are equally loved.  Well, you kind of said that but then the rest of your book conflicts with that.

And most of all, will you please clear up how you are going to communicate.  If the burning bushes and stone tablets are gone, and the inspiration that occurred to some scribe writing by candlelight on papyrus 2,000 years ago is over, what will you use?  There are claims that you are a personal God for all 7 billion of us, but you are not on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other vehicle that comes close to reaching even half of us.  Even my email accounts send me notice when my message has been read.  No one gets that kind of assurance when they pray.  You could do skywriting and a lot of folks would see it.  Or, send an angel somewhere like Disney World where everyone has a camera and a cell phone.  But you are not even trying.  So what is the deal? 

For me, the general impression is you do not exist.  If you do, you set stuff up and moved away to set up other stuff elsewhere and we have been talking to ourselves all these years waiting for what is not going to happen.  The people who are most defensive about this are the people who believe they talk to you and you respond, but they are very forgiving.  They always say they got an answer, but it wasn’t what they asked for, or god will take his own sweet time.  Holy Moly.  These folks are more forgiving of you than you are of them.  (Still punishing us for some apple in a garden 6,000 years ago?  Come on, get over it.)  If you are there, just tell them anything they think they hear from you is a sign of mental illness.  And since you no longer communicate with us, how will you counter the growing number of people who say you cannot possibly exist and if you do you are mean and wicked? 

So please, straighten these things out for the Christians.  You are so confusing to them they cannot decide for whom to vote, whether Muslims are evil or just other fuzzy headed believers in something else, and what should we do with Syrian refugees.  I see you gave Donald the old Jericho lesson, but he did not listen.  One more failure to communicate.

I know.   You will be a no-show.  Nobody waits at the foot of the mountain because the believers think they know it all, everybody grabs a fire extinguisher when we see a burning bush because we have been prepared since 9/11, and no one gets blinded on the road to Dallas.  And the only ones who get swallowed by whales die and sue Sea World.

So come on, communicate will you?  Not with me.  I’ve written you off and if you want me back you will have to communicate.  I am more concerned about the millions who go around talking to their imaginary friend believing when they die they are coming to be with you in Never-Never Land.

Sports and Porn

Today is “Wear Your Jersey” day at church.  Members of the congregation are encouraged to wear the colors of their favorite athletic team to church.  Amazing.  Sickening.  And I wonder why I am so aghast and upset about this event.  It strikes me that addiction to sports and addiction to porn are very much alike.  I would be equally aghast and upset if the congregation were invited to church dressed (or undressed) as their favorite porn star.

Sound absurd?  Regardless of your sexual orientation and identity, porn is exciting.  We are hard wired to desire sex.  Observing attractive naked people engaged in sexual acts by definition is exciting.  I think one would have to be dead to be immune to porn.  However, we know that many of the folks in porn are abused and degraded, they are treated like cattle or worse, and many have life-long mental health issues once their porn days are over.  People still want to watch so there will be porn.  But watching too much is equally harmful and we know that porn addicts begin to suffer in their personal lives due to their addiction.  There are links to increased chemical addictions, negative impact on social relationships, negative impact on intimate personal relationships, and risk of job loss and productivity.  So, the observers of porn are at risk and the actors in porn are at risk and the effects can be life-long.

Regardless of your city or state there are 100’s of athletic teams to observe.  Watching sports events can be exciting.  We are likely hard wired to compete so watching competition is thrilling or agonizing depending on whether your team wins or loses.  However, we know that there are life-long effects for athletes, especially in the contact sports.  More and more evidence of permanent brain damage resulting from football and boxing makes it clear that we may be watching very self-destructive behavior.  Even middle-aged people who only played sports in high school still suffer from leg and hip and shoulder injuries.  Playing sports can be harmful to the professional players, and they are bought, sold, traded and released in an abusive and degrading way that is more like slavery or indentured servitude that goes un-discussed because millions of dollars are at play.  But they are treated little differently than porn stars.

How about those who are addicted to sports?  Those who cannot wait for their team to play.  Those who subscribe to all the sports channels so they do not miss a game.  Those who are addicted spectators?  More and more research verifies that fan effects are negative.  Spectator aggression including verbal, gesturing, “missile” throwing, swarming the field, property destruction, and physical assault are documented each year as side effects of intense fandom.  Add to that public intoxication, under-aged drinking, sexual degradation of cheerleaders, littering and traffic congestion and it becomes clear that watching such events not only puts the players at risk, it puts the spectators at risk.  Hostility and aggression escalate during the observance of competitive events.

So it seems to me that porn addiction and sports addiction carry numerous similar harmful side-effects with long-lasting effects on both the participants and the spectators.

And what ever happened to turning the other cheek and doing unto others as you would have them do for you?  Competition somehow does not fit those directives.

I am therefore horrified that a church would promote one or either of these addictions.  I will not be there on Jersey Day.  Maybe on porn star day, but not Jersey Day.

Why Leave Religion

Interesting.  Bottom line is many are leaving.

Better Off?

At 4:15 this morning the headline on CNN’s web page was, “Town Fights Mosque.”  In Newton County, Georgia, Islamophobia is reaching fever pitch as an Islamic Imam has purchased 135 acres on which he and his congregation plan to build a new, larger mosque to replace their current overcrowded mosque, and a cemetery to bury their dead.  Word got out, fear spread, and the town has halted the construction.

A town in the United States of America is blocking the construction of church because it is not the same as their church?  I have had it.  These protestant, white, Christians are creating religious conflict where there was none before.  They are acting no differently than the Muslims in the Mid-East who persecute Christians.  These folks are not qualified to call themselves Americans, much less Christians.

Christopher Hitchens, a renowned philosopher and atheist, asked, “Is the World Better Off with Religion?”  The answer appears to be a hearty “no” and the evidence continues to mount.

Without religion we would not have had the Crusades, we would not have had the Inquisition, we would not have had 9/11 and other terrorist attacks, we would not have conflict in Georgia, we likely would not have had the Civil War or mandates to implement Christian symbols across this country.  We would have had considerably more tax revenue as churches own a vast amount of real estate currently exempt from taxes.  We might likely have had real rest on the weekend without the Sunday or Saturday sojourn to a church. 

Without fundamental Christians, women would have always had equal rights, slaves would have been set free from the get-go, and women would have control of their reproductive systems.  Without Christians all stores would be open on Sunday.  Without Christians we would have a logical approach to gun restrictions.  Without Christians we would have been tolerant of people with different sexual orientations and identity.  Is there a Christian position in this country that in fact is more welcoming, more tolerant, and more supportive of diversity than atheists? Believers seem to have this urge to make everyone believe as they believe.  But if what they believe was evident, tangible, observable, and measurable there would be no arguments.  If what they believe is in fact just smoke and mirrors we will have a wide array of beliefs in constant competition for followers. 

I cannot think of a single positive, peaceful contribution to humanity made in the name of religion that would have not happened without religion, other than some absolutely glorious works of art and music.  Yes, religious groups have contributed greatly in areas of natural disasters, but so have countless other groups.  And the other groups helped without the catch that you had to hear about their philosophy.  Did Christians intervene to save Jews in Germany in the 1940’s?  Did Muslims offer to help Christians find relics during the Crusades?  Did missionaries reduce or increase the conflict in China in 1949, in Africa today, in Nepal today, in Bosnia today, in the Americas 500 years ago, and in South America today?  Where are the people of faith at a time of global conflict? 

Inside their ornate walled, air conditioned, pipe organed, and projected lyrics churches enjoying what used to be called a hootenanny. 

I wonder if we awoke tomorrow not knowing anything, our brains swept free of all knowledge, what would happen?  We would develop language, but probably not our current languages.  We would discover the laws of nature as in gravity, evolution, and DNA as they currently exist because they are discoveries, not inventions.  We would likely develop music and other art forms.  We would invent transportation and entertainment, etc.  But what about religion?  Would we “discover” a monotheistic religion?  Would we “discover” Christianity, Muslim, Hindu, etc.?  Would we invent them?  Would we have wars to convince those of other beliefs that our particular belief is the right belief?  Or would we even bother?  Belief systems are invented, not discovered.

It also appears to me we have more scientific evidence of the existence of UFO’s than we do of an afterlife.  And I continue to wonder if there is an all-knowing, all powerful deity out there why he or she insists on being cloaked.  Come on out and show yourself, elsewise, leave us alone.  If the test is to believe based on faith rather than fact, how different is that from a psychotic episode? 

So, I conclude, the world is not better off with religion.  It is an invention that has triggered separation and conflict.  Believing some god is on my side has been used to justify some of the most horrible assaults on humanity by fellow humans.  We no longer need that.  We can live a life governed by strong moral principles, then know we simply die like every other life form on the planet.

Give me liberty or give me death, and give me reality not hallucinations.

God is Anti-Abortion?

Just read an article by Jerry Newcombe ("God or Abortion.  Choose One," 8/4/2016) that simply argues Nancy Pelosi does not understand that God is anti-abortion.  I’ve read tripe before; I have graded thousands of high school seniors’ essays.  But Newcombe is right up there near the top in the non-grounded BS department.

Newcombe sites two Old Testament and one New Testament scriptures to “prove” God is anti-abortion.  David says in Psalm 139 that God knit him together in his mother’s womb.  Jeremiah says before God formed him in the womb He named him a prophet.  In the New Testament he sites Luke 1 where Mary and Elizabeth, both very pregnant, meet and Elizabeth says the baby in her womb leaped for joy.  If it is a baby it must be a human and if it is human abortion is murder and therefore should be opposed.

Really Jerry?  Is that all you’ve got?  A quote from two Bronze Age men who believe that God controls what happens in the womb from conception forward.  Do you want to stick with that?  If so, what kind of God do you worship who controls any number of birth defects?  What kind of God do you worship who controls any number of diseases infants manifest at birth?  Are you going to say that from conception forward the zygote is holy because God controls it and not hold God accountable for all the terrible atrocities that can occur at birth?  Is it that Jeremiah knows God ordains our future as we are formed in the womb?  If so, why does God curse so many infants?  What did they ever do that was so terrible that they deserved a birth defect, childhood cancer, SIDS, or whatever?  One cannot logically claim that at conception humans are sacred because God controls it and at the same time let God off the hook for the atrocities He therefore has committed.  Sounds like God should be prosecuted for murder, not pregnant women who have abortions.  And Elizabeth’s fetus jumping for joy?  Really?  How in the world do we know that the movements of an unborn are the result of some emotional state?  Does that mean if my wife’s baby bump moves when I sit next to her that our baby-to-be is jumping for joy? Or could it be that he is pissed off because he now has less room?  Or could it be that it is simply reflex movement as part of the developmental process?

The scriptural support is bizarre for his claim and logically worthless.  What I find even more disturbing than claiming God is anti-abortion is his willingness to skip over everything else God opposes.  If abortion is murder and should be subject to persecution, how about the passages that just come right out and say that if you get a divorce you have committed adultery and should be stoned to death?  How about the passages that say if you are a homosexual you should be stoned to death?  How about the passages that say if a woman is not a virgin on her wedding night she should be stoned to death?  How about the passages that say if people do not worship the one true God they should be killed?  Each of these passages is extremely clear, no interpretation needed, no pseudo logical projection like if God ordains a future prior to birth this must be a baby and subject to all the protections of adults.  That is stretching logic and inference further than the passage allows.  The passages I refer to above are absolutely clear.  If this is the case, then this is the consequence.  We should be damning premarital sex and divorce more fiercely than we damn abortions.

Or, is Jerry one of those guys who says the rules regarding premarital sex, divorce, homosexuality, refusal to worship God, etc. were historically contextual and do not apply to us today, but I choose to take the logical inference regarding abortion from the same time period and conclude that such interpretations remain valid.  If Jerry has the authority to decide which Bible passages are valid and which ones are not, then I would strongly encourage him to simply decide his made up logic regarding abortions is no longer applicable.  That he does not make such a statement simply reveals his bias, not his logic, not his belief. 

For those of us who are questioning and wondering about our faith there are some incredible takeaways from Jerry Newcombe’s piece.  God must curse some babies in the womb.  God has decided our future roles before birth so there is no reason to presume we choose our own path.  Jerry is empowered to interpret scripture and ignore scripture as he sees fit to meet his own agenda.  Bronze Age men are capable of making better decisions regarding women’s reproductive rights than modern women.

Or, if the Bible says it or implies it we must obey it.  How anyone who has even the most superficial understanding of biology, anthropology, geology and astronomy could adhere to what are clearly statements in the Bible not only not grounded in fact, but actually false, is beyond me and beyond logic.  How can we maintain faith in the face of such lies and falsehoods?  And if the answer to that is we are allowed to pick and choose which passages we hold to be true, then what is the point of belief?  I could edit the Bible to portray any message I choose to portray.

Oh wait.  There are televangelists and mega churches that do that very thing so they make a ton of money.  In America if you get rich you must be right.  My bad.