I left religion for many reasons, one was the fact that I had no reassurance from God. What’s the point of living life constantly being brow-beaten by an omnipotent thug? If, as Christians preach, God is my Father, why does He condemn His children to hell for doing something that p***es Him off? I don’t know if you have children, but I do, and if I treated my children in that way, threatening them with punishment and damnation every time they erred, they would have every right to report me for child abuse. IMO, the God of the Bible is an abusive, dysfunctional, megalomaniac father that desires to have his huge ego stroked by subservient minions.

BTW, I also believe that most (not all), but most people are intrinsically good. Unfortunately we never hear about them on the news. We DO hear about the one’s that are intrinsically evil. Are they born that way? Was there something in their environment that turned them that way? Is there some kind of genetic anomaly in them? I don’t know. It’s possible that all of those factors are involved. I know people that have grown up in the most horrid and abusive homes, people I counseled when I was a minister, even though they had every excuse to be the embodiment of evil, they were extremely good people. (No, they were not all Christians, either.) At the opposite end of the scale, there are people (my ex bro-law comes to mind) that grew up in very moral, religious homes that have committed atrocious acts of “evil.” I don’t really think religion, or “relationship with Jesus” makes an ounce of difference.

We do not need to blame the evil in this world on a potent malevolent fallen angel, the devil. Things just happen. The sooner we deal with that reality, instead of turning to a supposedly loving Creator, or blaming a potent force of evil, the better off we will be.

I’m not sure how much trust we can put in the words of a man that believed people with epilepsy were possessed by demons. I wonder what this man would think of my daughter that has Down syndrome?
I can tell what I would do if such a man told her she was possessed. Wipe the floor with him.

[[The whole point of religion is to make one feel comforted, reassured, good. That is its agenda.]]

Right. My religion, Christianity, makes people feel comforted and reassured by telling them that they’re sinners, and that if they’ve ever refused to help someone who really needed it they’re going to Hell. Oh, and that every idle word they’ve ever spoken is going to be judged.

How reassuring and comforting can you get?

Jesus Christ did not command his disciples to “Go into the world and tell it that it is quite all right the way it is and has nothing to worry about.”

As far as I can see, it’s the atheists and secular humanists who are the real pollyannas. The atheists think all human objectives can be achieved through education, and the humanists think human beings are intrinsically good. You can’t get much more reassuring and comfortable than that.

[[I have learned to be wary of anyone who claims that everyone else is lying and that they have all the answers, especially if they claim to exclusively know the truth.

The late Jens Martin Knudsen was wont of using a quote (the attribution escapes me): “Join forces with those that seek the truth, but be wary of those who claim to have found it.”]]

How can you search for truth if you’re convinced you’ll never find it? What’s the point?

“I hope this gets the skewering it deserves as a violation of the First Amendment.

http://brownback.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=294777“

That “88 reason that the rapture will occur at 1988″ was actually made by an ex-NASA scientist. Oh boy.

So much for scientists.

This really typifies a kind of argument to which many theophiles appeal: they accept whatever makes them “feel” better. The whole point of religion is to make one feel comforted, reassured, good. That is its agenda.

But arguing that evolution loses as a view of the world for this reason is much like saying that the Holocaust never happened- because it’s inhumane. Having confidence in whether or not it occurred is a matter of piecing it together from what’s found out here in the world. How repugnant it turns out to be per se is beside the point.

I have only one problem with it: they print guest essays by just about anyone, and somehow, they often get real doozies. The most recent one features a comparison between the God of the Old Testament and the God of Evolution. The Old Testament God wins as more humane, so therefore Evolution is false.

Nice site. Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see mention of the “Comet-Kohoutec is going to drown us all in oil on Dec. 25, 1973″ that received national coverage.

There seems to be a connection between bad times and obsession with “the end of the world.” The end of the Vietnam War and loss of national prestige seemed to usher in an eschatology craze that lasted into the 1980s. There was the Christ would return by 1984 (I wonder what George Orwell would have thought of that). A preacher once told me he’d received junk mail for “Eighty-Eight Reasons Christ Will Return by 1988.” In 1988 he received junk mail for “Eighty-*Nine* Reasons Christ Will Return by 1989.”

And so it goes.

- Kevin J. Cheek

I just recently finished reading Moral Minority, which pointed out that some of our big name founding fathers were far from devout Christians. It was a good read and seemed to be well-researched, while also pointing out (though mostly in passing) that some of the other big names were believers. Some of the legislative history, particularly of the First Amendment, was included.

I have learned to be wary of anyone who claims that everyone else is lying and that they have all the answers, especially if they claim to exclusively know the truth.

The late Jens Martin Knudsen was wont of using a quote (the attribution escapes me): “Join forces with those that seek the truth, but be wary of those who claim to have found it.”

I suppose it’s possible since most debates are won by rhetoric, not evidence, but Hoagland would still be wrong wrong wrong.

John, I saw that interview, it was totally hilarious, but a sad example of how these people lack knowledge of issues they supposedly are experts on.

I’m reminded of Stephen Colbert interviewing the congressman from Georgia who wants the Ten Commandments (which version, I wonder?) on every courthouse. Colbert asks him what the commandments are and the guy can name, I think, four all told.

Ummm, no. The only ones of the 10 Commandments that made it into American law are “don’t kill people” and “don’t steal things”, neither of which was exactly original to Moses.

On the other hand, the very first commandment is explicitly forbidden by the First Amendment.