Hitch -4

Christopher Hitchens died four years ago today.
I learned so much from watching him on you tube and reading his words.
As Dawkins said, "He just knew so much!"
Dawkins and Dennet and Harris and Hirsi Ali and many others inspire me... but it was Hitch who stood up to religious abuses so readily, so confidently, so knowledgeably, and so full of disdain for lies that showed me we were not only allowed to speak against religious power, but that it was our duty.

(Insert just about anything)

"Shut up! You can't say that!"
"Why not?"
"It offends me!"
"Just you?"
"No! It offends a lot of people!"
"Wait... I shouldn't say anything that offends anyone?"
"Of course not!"
"But what if being censored offends me?"
"That doesn't count."
"Why not?"
"Because free speech is offensive to some people!"
"Yes, but only those people who want to censor all opinions but their own."
"Shut up!"
"See what I mean?"
"Look. We're trying to make the world free of hatred!"
"No. You're trying to force hatred into hiding."
"Same thing."
"No. Hatred in hiding festers. Hatred in the open can be healed."
"Do you know what would happen if anyone could say anything they wanted to say?"
"Freedom?"
"Shut up!"
"Why?"
"Because I don't agree with you!"
"Ooh, what a giveaway! Would you silence all you disagree with?"
"Fuck you!"
"You don't seem too concerned about saying offensive things; only hearing them."
"You're an asshole!"
"A splendid use of free speech! Too bad you don't allow others that same freedom."
"Are you calling me a hypocrite?"
"I would never offend you by stating the obvious."
"Well then... That's better!"

"You can't prove God doesn't exist!"

Look, you fucking wanker...
For 2000 years, people who desparately need proof of God as evidence they will live on after death have been unable to prove God exists. The most motivated people in the history of humanity have found no evidence for 2000 years!
The best they can come up with is, "Someone told me God exists and I believe he exists."
Or, "Flowers are pretty, so God exists."
Or, "We see nature's patterns, so God did it."
Or, "I have an old book..."

I don't have to prove God doesn't exist. I have no burning desire to try to disprove an invisible fiction that does nothing and cannot be sensed in any manner.
There is no valid evidence to refute.
There is nothing to debate.
It is obvious to any reasonable and thinking person that all gods are man made.

You are correct. I can't prove God doesn't exist.
But you are wrong, and probably quite stupid, if you think that proves your god does exist.

Stop! Thief!

Christians usurped the pagan holiday of Yule but endlessly whine about an attack on Christianity whenever someone says, "Happy holidays."
This is the hypocritical nature of Christianity. This is nothing new. The Romans wrote about the same manner of Christianity that we see today... forever whining about their rights while they deny those same rights to all others.
It is the thief asking for help from the police to regain the bicycle he stole.

Peace by fear

The Quran is the Middle East version of The Art Of War put into unmerciful practice. It is a how-to book for ruthless people to use ignorant people to terrorise.
Islam is not about peace. It is about worldwide religious domination.

The Art Of War and the Quran both state that if followed, peace by ruthless laws and unquestioning obedience will be the end result.

Peace by fear is not peace.

Intolerant

Religious tolerance is the act of letting others say or do things in the name of their god that are bad for humanity, in order to avoid being called intolerant.

I am intolerant to religions and I accept my religious intolerance with pride. History has shown us that tolerance does not work with religions.
Once you claim religious intolerance as your own, you can no longer be socially blackmailed by the word.
I have been called every name in the book by religious people who would censor me rather than discuss the validity of gods.
I have been blocked, banned, shunned, threatened in this life and the supposed next, but I refuse to give an inch.

Give a religion an inch and it will claim to be a ruler.

We must speak out against religions. To do this we must have free speech.
Surely you see that you are called intolerant to silence you, to curtail your free speech? You are being censored with guilt.
That is something I will never allow. I have lost friends, family, and love by speaking freely against religion.
I regret the losses but would do it again. Freedom to speak openly about anything is the most important freedom we have.

So, call me intolerant. That's your free speech. But know that I too have the right to free speech.

Religions attack free speech; atheists defend it.
You want to silence me?

Bring it.

Belief in magic

Christians say, "There is no such thing as an Atheist. Not believing is a belief."

What nonsense!

I do not have a belief that there are no unicorns. There just aren't.
I do not have a belief that there are no gods. There just aren't.

Stop trying to use science and reason to prove others wrong. It's not working.
Try using science and reason to prove your beliefs right.

You won't, though...
Reason disproves your god.

Gods are magical excuses for nature from a time when we had little knowledge.
Magic is simply nature we do not yet understand.

Logic

Coda

Atheism is not blasphemy

Blasphemy laws punish not other religions, but the non religious. Such laws are an attack on the most persecuted group in history; the atheists.
Blasphemy laws are intended to silence any criticism of gods, but mostly the Abrahamic god.
It is legalised bullying of atheism. It is an attempt to continue to persecute and silence atheists using a secular legal system.

As Saudi Arabia now heads (ridiculously) the UN Human Rights Council, blasphemy laws are much more likely to be enacted.
Many countries are cowardly and silently accepting the bullying and brutalising of their citizens by Islamic hate groups.
How far away are blasphemy laws? How soon before free speech starts to pay a price? When will atheist books start to be burned by blasphemy laws that deem them against the will of god?

Every crime in the name of religion that goes unpunished is an encouragement to commit another.
Every pedophile priest that is unpunished, every rape allowed by the Quran, every beheading, every lashing, every stoning, every genital mutilation, will be committed without complaint because it will be blasphemy to talk against religious crime.
How long until science must agree with religion or be called blasphemy?

If you consider this hyperbolic, look at the history of Abrahamic religions in power.

Blasphemy laws are intended to silence truth and a crime against humanity.

Atheists are the only free people

Freedom
1.
noun
The state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint
2.
exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.

Tell me again how religion sets you free.
Then tell me why religions use fear to control people.

Beyond fear lies freedom.

You're offended?

Ask yourself why you're offended. It's not in defense of your all powerful god, so it must be something in you.
Ask yourself honestly why you are offended by another's beliefs and you will find it has more to do with pride than anything else.
You are offended because your pride is hurt when I think your religious beliefs are silly.

Listen up, hypocrite. Abrahamic religions have been killing, maiming, torturing, shaming, atheists for 2000 years.
Now, when we are starting to question the universe with science and your god doesn't fit into the answers, you want to be offended?
You are offended by truth.
You are offended by reason.
You are offended by the realisation of your own stupidity in believing nonsense for your entire life.
You try to use being offended as an argument to silence criticism of your false beliefs.

The Earth is a very small place in the unimaginably vast universe. Your offence is a particle sized thing on the Earth.
Imagine your offence in that unimaginably vast universe...

The amount that I care about offending you is less than that.

Thank... who?

Christians have said to me, "You don't have to be religious to be grateful for your life."

I've wondered about this kind of thought.

To whom or what should I be grateful for my life, if not some god?

My parents? They planned to have a baby but had no sway as to which sperm would win the sprint to the egg.
Reproduction is more of a compulsion than a choice. We are biologically programmed to reproduce and continue the species.

Should I be grateful to nature? To biology? To random chance? Mathematical probability?

It is enough for me to be happy to be alive.
Gratitude is not necessary. It is a religious foot in the door that separates the realm of reason from the realm of faith.

If you're grateful to be alive, who will you thank?

The truth is...

Truth is not an opinion. It is not a belief, faith, a hunch, a feeling, or a superstition.

What do you know that's true?
Gravity? Drop a ball and it's proven true.

Life? Well, you're reading this... proven.

Death? So far, nobody has beat it.

God? If you rule out the unprovable... belief, faith, a hunch, a feeling, or a superstition, there's nothing there.

Truth is provable.
I've heard most of the bullshit religious arguments.
"Nothing can't come from nothing."
"Prove God doesn't exist."
"If you believe he will prove himself to you."
These arguments always try to get around the request for evidence.
No evidence = no proof = untrue.

The plain fact is, gods are unprovable. They always have been and always will be because they are invented by humans.
That's why you need belief, faith, a hunch, a feeling, or a superstition.

The truth is... gods are not real.

Comfort is over rated.

Discomfort makes more positive changes than comfort.

Sitting on the couch is comfortable. Exercising is not comfortable.
Exercised muscles get stressed and repair to be larger. Lungs enhance their volume, allowing more blood to flow.
Comfort weakens; discomfort strengthens.

An uncomfortable truth is better than a comfortable religious lie.

Every person I've talked to who has left religion and become an atheist tells me they are much happier living an honest life, instead of denying truth to suit their religion.
It isn't easy to give up religious beliefs. It's bloody hard to look at all you've believed your entire life and say, "I'm wrong."
It's uncomfortable to even contemplate such a huge life change!
Discomfort makes you stronger.

Comfort is over rated.

Blasphemy vs free speech

~Deny science.
Scientists will ask for evidence of your denial.
~Deny a political party.
No harm done. Simply vote the way you choose to vote.
~Deny religion.
Some will wag a finger. Some will yell. Some will hurt you. And some want to make blasphemy laws preventing you from denying any religion in the hopes of protecting their own.

Of all the things that could be unlawful to deny, religion should be at the bottom of the list because it is nothing more than an unprovable belief.
Denial of anything is free speech and should be an untouchable right.

Blasphemy laws are an attempt to legislate faith to be more valuable than truth.

Its unproven nature... its vulnerability to defend itself is the true reason religions scream for blasphemy laws.
Blasphemy laws are against humanity and against the natural order of survivability.
If the only way your religion can survive is to keep the majority of people who don't believe it from criticising it, then maybe it's time your religion took its natural place in mythology.

Religions want to imprison those who freely speak non religious beliefs.

The strictly religious idea of blasphemy is a crime against reason and knowledge and must be denied by all people who put the survival and advancement of humanity before antiquated superstitions.

Superstition

Crossing your fingers when you lie is telling yourself that you're allowed to lie because you're a Christian.

That is just one of many superstitions religious people have. It stems from belief in the unprovable... belief for the sake of believing.
If you can believe without proof in an omnipotent being that created the universe with mojo, you can believe anything.
Superstitions are training wheels for religions.

I do not knock on wood.
I walk under ladders if it's safe.
I open umbrellas indoors.
I do not cast bones to make decisions.
Found pennies are not lucky or unlucky.
Black cats cross my path and I don't care.
I spill salt and don't toss more over my shoulder.
Breaking a mirror does not give 7 years of bad luck.
13 is just a number between 12 and 14 and should be a floor number in tall buildings.
A shiver is not someone walking on my grave.
I step on cracks and my mother's back is unbroken.
Four leaf clovers are plentiful.
Blessing a sneeze does nothing.
Horseshoes protect horse's hooves.
Rabbit's feet belong on rabbit's legs.
A coincidence is not a sign.
Everything does not happen for a reason.
I don't believe in gods.

Superstitions are for those who do not understand how things work and do not question absurdities.

At worst, superstitions cause people to believe in absurdities as training for religions. At best they are a trivial version of Pascal's wager.

Just grow the fuck up

All religious arguments are based on the existence of God.

It is necessary to prove God exists before religious arguments have any meaning, before holy texts can claim to be the word of God, and before churches have anything but lies to peddle.

As proving God is impossible, there are no religious arguments worth debating.

There was good before God was invented and there will be good after God has passed into mythological status. People are good or bad. Religions just gives people an excuse to be bad.

The world grows ever more tired of excuses.
Just grow the fuck up and take responsibility for your own actions.

Plain truth

Religion is using lies to spread fear and hate in the name of power.

This is also the definition of evil.

Humanity first

What do you put before humanity? What has more value to you than humanity?
Money?
God?
The afterlife?

Anything you place before the welfare of humanity is based in fear. Morality is based on what is good for the tribe and we are all one tribe.

~ Money will give you a comfortable life = fear of a hard life.
~ God will protect you and keep you healthy = fear of self responsibility.
~ Heaven is paradise = fear of Hell.

When you stop being afraid of life and death, you find you don't need money or religion.
Death makes life precious and money irrelevant.

When you stop being afraid, you realise that we are more important as a species than as individuals.
But to end fear you must first do something that will lead to your love of humanity...
You must love you.

Is religion a mental illness?

I think the answer is yes, if we are talking about people who have sufficient reasoning capability to understand the natural universe to a degree that would prove that religion is man made... but refuse to acknowledge what they know to be true in favour of their unwavering faith.

If you can understand that religion is false but you will yourself to believe otherwise, then you are mentally ill.

It doesn't matter that 7/8ths of humanity believe in some kind of god.
It doesn't matter that only 1/7th of humanity does not believe in gods.
A majority belief in a god is not evidence of anything but the gullibility of the human race.

Religion is a mental illness that humanity is slowly curing with education.
Every scientific discovery in biology, anthropology, physics, geology, and many other scientific fields, is another bit of evidence that believers have to disbelieve.
It gets more difficult to disbelieve the ever growing evidence and if you can't disbelieve evidence, you can't believe in a god.

There's only so much rationalising a reasonable person can do before seeing the truth.
Unreasonable people are getting more upset at the "attack on religion", which is not actually an attack, but a defense of reason.
These people will not be convinced by evidence. If evidence was a punch in the face, they'd deny their own bloody noses.
These are the mentally ill that believe in something beyond all reason and evidence to the contrary.

Some of these people quietly refuse to see reason and pray in private, never talking about their religion.
I have no problems with them. Someone's belief in a god, however lacking in reason, is none of my business.

The people that must be countered are those that start trying to push religions into schools and governments, and start pushing for blasphemy laws.

These people are not satisfied to be themselves mentally ill; they want all humanity to share their mental illness.

This is where the line is drawn in the sand. Those who cross that line must be met with resistance both firm and resolute.

With reason.
With education.
With love for humanity.

Indoctrination

Someone told me that the word, indoctrinate, was too harsh to use for parents teaching their children about religion.
Unsurprisingly, I disagree.

Many Christians don't tell their children, "This is what I believe. I hope you believe it, too."
They tell their small, innocent children, "The bible is the truth. Everything else is a lie, and if you don't believe it too, God will punish you and make you sad all your life. I will cast you out of my house, and when you die after a life of shame, you will burn in hell forever."

What child of four, five, or six years of age has a chance of critical thinking when faced with the loss of happiness, family love and protection, and the parental threat of never ending torture?

This is emotional child abuse of the very worst kind and it should not be accepted in any society that calls itself fair and just.

I think...

I have heard calls for Kim Davis to undergo empathy training.

People's opinions are often cause for calls of their opinion adjustments.

"Let's deprogram the religious."

"Let's punish those atheists until they believe!"

If you think you have the right to forcibly change the way someone thinks, you're wrong.
This goes way beyond free speech.

Free thought is the most precious freedom we have.

You can speak your mind. You can educate. You can give your opinion. But you must never forcibly change the way someone else thinks!
To even consider that action is to allow another to think they have the right to brainwash you.

I don't care if you have God's permission to do so. I don't care that science has proven religious beliefs false.
None of that matters.

If you force anyone else to believe as you believe, you are the worst kind of human possible.

This includes your children... especially your children.

Hook for Jeses

And there we have half the problem.

I've been dancing around this topic and it's time I said it out loud.
The majority of Christian fundamentalists are stupid, uneducated people.
No, "stupid, uneducated," is not oxymoronic.
Stupid requires a lack of intelligence. Uneducated could be anyone.
You can be intelligent and uneducated, or stupid and educated.

Of course, the other half of the problem with Christian fundamentalists are those who use them for money and power.

Politicians, preachers, racists organisations... it's a long list.

In this day of freely accessible information, denying science and embracing religion is stupid. It is the ignorant, cowardly willing to spend life in slavery, because they are afraid of educating themselves out of the safety of their religion.

Religion is fear based control of the stupid and uneducated.

Thanks to Nikki for the pikki @SexedUp_Atheist

The Long Con

Every great con works because the mark is greedy.
You give him a taste of easy money, make him insist on being in on the next game, and he's ready to be had.

Life.
We want to live for as long as possible. Some of us hedge our bets and follow a religion that promises life after death.
We have a taste of life and want more.
Then along comes religion and, knowing the con, and knowing the mark wants more life, tells him he can't have more... because you have to make the mark insist on having more life.

The mark must come to you, or it's not a fair con.

So religion says, "Okay, but the catch is, you have to give us money and do what we tell you in life if you want eternal life after death. Oh yeah, if you don't, there's this place called Hell..."

As a money con takes advantage of monetary greed, a religious con takes advantage of life greed.
Life greed and monetary greed have this in common; both want something for nothing.
The money con sees unearned money. The religious con sees unearned immortality.

The old cliche is, "You can't con an honest man."

Religion figured out how to con an honest man... you first make him dishonest.

Death

Death.
The end.
The big sleep.
Passing gently into that good night.

Death makes life precious.

If we were immortal, we would view life very differently. We wouldn't fear so much.
But we wouldn't treasure life as profoundly as we do.
Life, love, existence, learning... they always come with pain and scars. Those are the prices of growth.

I think that religious people fear death more than atheists because their unquestioned beliefs have not allowed them to come to terms with death.
They know in their hearts that death is the end but unlike atheists, they have not let their minds accept death.

Even if you spend your whole long life loudly claiming that death is not the end, you know it is a lie. In fact, the louder you proclaim immortality in the afterlife, the more fearful you are of death.

Again, death makes life precious. Life is a brief glimpse into the wonders of the universe, a chance to add to the cumulative knowledge and advancement of our species with your own unique views.
It is sometimes painful, for some much more than others, but therein lie the lessons.

I am what the younger me thought I should be... though I never knew then the scars I would need to get here.
Looking forward, I see the scars to come and accept them with great joy and love, for without those cruel slices of mortality, the love would not fill me so.
Life is thoughts and dreams of ourselves, and death a reflection.

You pay tax for religions.

Religions are tax exempt because it insures the separation of church and state. If religion was taxed, it would mean the end of free exercise of religion. As part of the tax free status, religions are also expected to stay out of politics.

But religions do not stay out of politics. In fact, religions are political corporations and affect every major political decision.
Preachers boldly tell their parishioners who to vote for in elections. This is against the law but the authorities almost always look the other way.
The Pope has said, "Catholics must be involved in politics, even if it may be dirty."

So, if religions enter into politics openly and with the obvious purpose of gaining a theocracy, they have forfeited the right to tax exemptions.

Religions have broken their end of the agreement.

Tax 'em.

Martyr

What if Kim Davis wasn't religious?
What if she decided that she didn't want to give marriage certificates to gay/lesbian couples simply because she is a homophobe?
She would have been arrested even faster.

I submit that Kim Davis is not a victim of religious persecution but that her religious reasons for not issuing marriage licences to gay/lesbian couples actually kept her from being arrested.
Her religion gave her preferential treatment.

Calling the arrest of Kim Davis religious persecution is nothing more than a political ploy.
The people who work for her have stated she is in contact with out of state lawyers who are urging her to continue the fight against religious persecution.

This is religion using a somewhat stupid woman to gain political advantage.

She gains nothing but jail time... for a cause that is obviously false.
According to the judge, her religious reasons gave her more time before being jailed; not less.

There is no war on Christianity. Christianity is starting all the battles with political purpose; to change secular laws to religious laws.
It will gleefully see Christians jailed as martyrs.

I bet Kim Davis is glowing with religious rapture right now. She is martyring herself for God.
(And Christian politics.)

Disproving gods

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Sherlock Holmes

Let's use Holmes' (Doyle's) theory of detection and examine God(s).

To disprove God, we must first have evidence He/She/It exists.
What evidence can I refute?
What working of God can I not attribute to a natural cause?
Show me this god you're asking me to disprove.

No?
Nothing?

Sorry, your faith and belief don't count as evidence or proof.

You can feel God inside you? Are you asking me to disprove a feeling?

Any gods who cannot be proven to exist are indistinguishable from non-existence and may therefore be counted as non-existent.

Gods cannot be disproven because there is no evidence of their existence to disprove.

That which does not exist cannot be disproven.

Having eliminated the impossible, and no matter how improbable you consider the notion, it can only be deduced that gods do not exist.

Elementary.

A+ for atheists

Wilful ignorance is more dangerous than simple ignorance because wilful ignorance is a denial of evidence, while simple ignorance has not seen the evidence.
The simply ignorant can be taught.
The wilfully ignorant refuse to be taught.

If a man is shown DNA evidence of evolution and refuses the theory because it disputes the bible, he is refusing evidence of truth.
If that man then teaches children thay the bible is the only truth, he is wilfully withholding knowledge from that child, in order to create another Christian.

Christians willingly surrender their children to lies based on unprovable faith, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
Whith the sheer numbers of faith believers, this is disasterous for future generations of humanity.
It is a crime against humanity.

Those who refuse truth are more dangerous than those who have not seen it.

Teaching a child religion is like the proverbial yelling, "Fire!" in a crowded theatre. Most won't get hurt running for the door, but many will be hurt at the choke point.

Religion's choke point is when it has enough numbers and social power to violently enforce its religion on others.

And every time it has reached this choke point... every time... it has wielded this power with ruthlessness and a callous disregard for human life, human rights, and even the tenets of its own religion.

The test of a man, an organisation, a country, or a religion is behaviour when in a position of power.

Atheists have a growing social power but there have been no killings, no rapes, no child molestations, no acid throwing, and no riots in the name of atheism.

Atheism is passing the test.

Love that logo! Photo credit to atheism+
http://atheismplus.com/

UBU. IBME.

Anyone who tells you, "This is how you should think," is wrong.

Not everyone needs to think like a scientist, or a religious person, or an artist, or a writer.

Who is a priest to tell an atheist how to think?
Who is a scientist to tell an artist how to think?
Or a man to a woman, a woman to a man, a dog to a cat...

There is no right way of thinking for all people.
The scientific method of thought is perfect for scientists but hardly works for a jazz guitarist plying his trade.

I have been told I should stick to scientific evidence when writing my atheist blog because I, "sound just like a religitard."
I find this just as repugnant as being told I have to believe in a god.

Our individual life experiences make us who we are.
Some of us are dogmatic in the way we lead our lives, whether that is religious or scientific.
Others are creative and prefer creative freedom in all aspects of their lives.
Most of us are somewhere between those two goalposts.

Let nobody tell you how you must think.
Not the religious.
Not the majority.
Not your family.

Your unique experiences have made you who you are. Be that person, but expect nobody else to be or think the same.

Got the time?

"The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it."
Henry David Thoreau

This is my 100th blog post in 100 days.
I have many other things I could be doing.
As the post count suggests, I love to write. I love the process, the choosing of the correct word, the rhythm and flow, the message, the gained self knowledge...
But I also love other things.
I'm also a writer of fiction, a woodworker, and a kiltmaker with many people who would love me to start making kilts again.
What pastime is it on which I would like to spend my time?

"Spend my time."

Yes, time is a commodity. We have only so much time to spend. I always appreciate it when someone chooses me as the person with which they would like to spend time, because it isn't a limitless commodity.
So, for my 100th blog post, I will give you my favourite quote, then go consider how best to spend my life.

Got the time?

Religion forbids doubt.

Doubt is one of the prime factors in human education.

Without doubt, there is no skepticism.
Without doubt we do not question.
Without doubt, all ideas are permanent.

Take away doubt... purposely and systematically strip a child of the ability to question, to wonder, to see more than only one side of any question... allow that child only faith and belief and you create a slave to what that child is taught.

Too often this is religion, this is violence, this is racism, this is misogyny, this is hatred.

We must doubt everything, question everything, learn as much as we can, because only in education and scientific progression can we become more than just an overpopulated, albeit somewhat clever, species of mammal.

Religion forbids doubt.

Treason!

Any person who puts religious laws before the laws of a free society is guilty of treason and should be sentenced to serve the poor and homeless for ten years.

Any police officer who kills the citizens he has sworn to serve and protect should be tried, and if found guilty, subjected to twice the usual sentence for murder.

Any politician who takes campaign donations from billionaires with the promise of doing their bidding instead of serving the people is guilty of treason and should be jailed for life, in a cell next to the billionaire.

Any military officer who commands his men to point their weapons on the citizens of his own country is guilty of treason and should be summarily shot by his own troops.

All faith healers should be tested and if their claims found to be false, should be stripped of their wealth and made to serve the terminally ill for ten years.

Pattern recognition

Pattern recognition may have started as a predator's tool, a way to know what the prey was going to do and to plan for that action.
We can see this in wolves running down a deer in turns. Deer are fast but wolves can turn a deer in circles and tire it with tag team running. They can chase hooved prey into a rocky riverbed where the hooves will slip on the stones. Or in winter they might panic a herd to cause them their hooves to break through the snow, which the wolves and their large footpads can easily traverse.

Pattern recognition in humans has grown into part of our intelligence. It is one of the means we use to understand the universe.
It is even a standard by which we judge intelligence.
Whether we're watching a player across the poker table for patterns when he wins or loses a hand, or knowing that your spouse will want that last cup of coffee in the pot, we use pattern recognition in every part of our lives.

There are patterns in religions, too.
The miraculous birth, the virgin mother, the death and resurrection... the recognition of patterns in religion are one of the reasons atheists do not believe in gods.

Any religion is just one more religion with similar patterns, born of previous religions, followed by the scared and the stupid, and run by the unscrupulous and the immoral.

Religion is as predictable as war for profit and governments turning against their people for greed.

Recognise the pattern?

Why Bernie and not Hillary

The two biggest enemies of freedom are religion and the 1%.

Religion is slowly dying.
The 1% are daily acquiring more of everything.

Bernie Sanders is taking on the 1%. He can only do this if he is elected POTUS.
And only he can do this. Hillary Clinton is a puppet of corporations. Just look at her donors.
http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clintons-top-corporate-donors-are-among-the-most-hated-companies-in-america/

People, ordinary citizens, are Bernie's donors.

The question is whether the citizens of the USA will elect him, or decide they want to be further enslaved.

This election could be freedom vs religion and the 1%.
If Bernie Sanders isn't the Democratic nominee, then it's going to be the 1% for the win.

Adapt or die

Science is not a religion; it is a process.
From the first human who created fire some million and a half years ago, we have been building a base of knowledge that is ever more rapidly increasing.
Fire makes food taste better and kills harmful bacteria.
It was discovered that burnt spear tips are harder and make sharper points. Then we found that fired flint can be bifacially knapped, allowing a thrown spear to fly straighter.
And fire is light; it allowed us to see at night or in a dark cave.

Such discoveries enhanced our chances of survival and this is no different today.
Modern medicine allows for longer lives.
We are beginning to understand quantum physics, which is leading us to answers about the building blocks of life and the universe.
As we once left Africa, now we are leaving Earth.

The acquisition of knowledge is not religion, or faith, or a belief; its core is about the survival and advancement of the human species.

This is why religion must be spoken against. Religion would hold back knowledge that disproves its superstitions and this must never again be allowed. It demands irrational behaviour in life to attain a better, unproven, after-life.

Science is learning about life.
Religion is a death cult.

I choose knowledge and reason and beauty and happiness in nature - over blind belief in a non-existent god who demands misery and servitude for a worthless promise in death.

Knowledge enhanced life in the past and continues to do so today. Our current level of knowledge will be built upon by science and will enhance the future of humanity.

I choose reality.

The passing of religion

It never fails to amaze me that while some people fight desperately for their freedom, others will fight just as hard to remain enslaved.

To willingly surrender your freedom, your reasoning mind... even your life... to a belief that has not been proved by Christians to be true in spite of 2000 years of desperate searching... is beyond my scope of understanding.

I value freedom and free speech and reason because these are the things that have advanced us as humans, and there is no greater good that that of advancing humanity with those three ideals.

Gone are the primitive days of wondering who made the lights in the sky. We are a young species but we are outgrowing such nonsense.
There are religious powers that would once again hold back humanity's advancement.
But they are too late. They no longer have the power to terrorise a world into submissive acceptance through fear.

Religion is dying as the combined forces of reason and evidence continue to disprove religious holy books.

So, some will fight to retain their slavery, but the time is coming when the religious will have to learn be their own masters and accept responsibility for their own actions. I expect great things from the coming generations.

But religion?
It's all over but the crying.

What is not allowed?

That is an interesting question.

If you heard God's voice telling you to kill unbelievers, would you do it? Or would you seek psychiatric help?

If you truly believe the bible is God's literal word, why don't you follow it to the letter? Why ignore the parts that would get you into legal trouble? God would praise you for your obedience.

With God, anything is permissible.
Slavery, child brides, rape, murder... all are permitted by the bible, so why don't Christians follow the bible?

Because they know inside themselves, through their innate human morality, that these things are wrong.
It is obvious that Christians know their bible isn't to be followed literally. They follow those parts they like and dismiss the rest.

They know but cannot admit their bible has false parts... impossible parts... parts that are immoral.

How can they reconcile their claims that the bible is God's word with this knowledge of an imperfect bible?
This can only be explained by an illogical dismissal of that which they don't want to see, in order to maintain their belief.

This is called faith and it is not a virtue; it is a willing blindness to truth.
It is a sickness of the mind on the same order as putting a hand in your coat and calling yourself Napoleon. It is a detachment from reality.

How far does this mental illness affect their lives?
The Christian willingness to disbelieve in order to believe is even practised on their own bible.

"Why do you hate God?"

First, you must be mind bogglingly stupid to believe I can hate something which I don't believe exists.

Second, you aren't asking why I hate all gods; you're asking me why I hate your god.

I don't hate any gods. Not Thor, Yahweh, Allah, or Set.
Thay are all myths to me.

But I will speak out against any religion that kills or harms for its religious dogma, tries to use public schools to indoctrinate children, or uses fear and lies to control populations.

I am against any religion that purposely or negligently holds back the progress of humanity.
I see religion as a superstitious evil.
I don't believe in any gods but I don't care if you do. In fact, I will argue for your right to believe in whatever you choose to believe... right up to the moment you try to force one single person to believe as you do.
I don't care if your holy book tells you that everyone must be converted for the glory of your god.
If you're lying to children and putting the fear of your god in them, or the fear of harm in them for your religion's sake, then I'll fight you.

How will I fight you? How could I even try to fight your all powerful god?

I will use the three weapons so feared by religions that they do everything they can to keep them from being openly used with violence and blasphemy laws.

Those weapons are truth, education, and free speech.

These weapons of reason are more powerful than any religions ever invented by man.

God is a hat rabbit

I've had lots of unexplainable things happen in my life. Things that seem supernatural.
I can't explain them but they fascinate me. There is more going on than we know. Weird connections we feel but don't understand.
But ... that doesn't equate to the existence of a god. Just because I don't understand something, doesn't mean god exists. It just means I don't understand what happened.
It's not proof of god. Any god.
I didn't believe in god in the first place, so I don't automatically assume he did the unknown things.

God is not my fallback excuse for the unexplained.

There is so much I will never know, that I will never understand... some of it that nobody yet understands... but I'm okay with that.
I can say, "I don't know," and leave it alone because there's probably something else I'm trying to figure out.

Too many people equate a god with magic, as if that will explain what they don't understand.
Pulling a rabbit out of a hat isn't a miracle.

Magic. That's what religion promotes as the reason for everything that ever existed.

I am a believer!

If you don't already know; I love coffee.

I'm not a snob or a gourmet... I don't drink lattes or frappes or iced coffees... I just like a nice, hot, strong cuppa joe.

I stopped at the Thrift Store on the way home and picked up this beautiful, vintage GE percolator.
Since my DeLonghi drip coffee maker died, I've been pouring boiling water over coffee in a filter that sits in a funnel.
You can make surprisingly decent coffee with minimal effort but it wasn't up to the high quality of coffee to be had from my Delonghi, which made a very tasty cup.

But this percolator... it makes coffee better than the Delonghi!
Strong, dark, flavourful... I haven't had a cup of coffee as satisfying lo these many years!
And it's fast!

I'm a percolating believer!

Together

Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia... lets just call them all one unified word, hatred.

And these hates are all based in religion.
These Abrahamic religion based hatreds seed divisiveness in our society and keep us from becoming one voice.

This is changing.
I see many Black Lives Matter posts speaking out against trans killings.
I see many atheist posts speaking out against racism.
I see many gay rights posts speaking out against religion.

We all want the same freedom to be who we are and not be oppressed because of who we are.

The real oppressors are religions and the 1%, who pay people to hate and to cause suffering, fear, and division.

We will not be free until we have dealt with these entities.
The only way we have a chance of winning our freedom is... together.

You can't be partly free

I am saddened and that some of my fellow humans reject their own reason simply to worship unprovable gods.

I find it cowardly and shameful to willingly surrender your freedom, to deny your reasoning ability, to ignore any evidence that conflicts with your religious beliefs, because you fear a man made notion of eternal torture after you die.

But it is your right to be a craven coward and I do not deny you your cowardice.

But try to force me, or anyone else, to be cowards or (in your twisted fanatic's logic) to proclaim your cowardice as a virtue and I will speak out against you.

The time of the bullied and submissive atheist is gone.
The new atheists are here to counter you with reason and logic and we will not be bullied into a current version of the Dark Ages.

Freedom of religion includes freedom from religion.
You might not like it. I don't care.
You can't be partly free.

Speak or be silenced

It is not enough to pat yourself on the back for being smart enough to be an atheist. You must speak out. The hate of religion must be opposed.
If you do not speak out for your free speech, you might as well not have free speech, and by not speaking out you could very easily lose free speech.

Just look to the dark ages for a previous example of Christianity in power. Look to Africa to see Christianity in power today.
Or look to current Islamic countries that imprison, torture, or kill those that speak against Islam.

By not speaking out against religion, you allow religions to take small bites of all our freedoms.
Free speech is just the beginning. There are cries for new worldwide blasphemy laws. There are violences taking place for those who mock religions or write truths about them.

Speak for your freedom today and for the future of humanity.

Religion is hate

The core of immorality leads to religion.


Racism - religion
Homophobia - religion
Rape - religion
Slavery - religion
Misogyny - religion
Pedophilia - religion
Murder - religion
Divisiveness - religion

If your religion condones hate, then you are condoning hate by supporting that religion.

All three of the Abrahamic religions condone most of the above list of hateful acts. The Abrahamic God is not a loving god.
He is a god of hate and would have the world divided and hateful.
Once you believe you are among a god chosen people, you will turn to hate in your arrogance of belief.

You can support hate or you can support love.
If you support love, you must defy your hateful religion.
You cannot love hate.

Hate vs love.
There is no middle ground.

We are in control

Why the hate?

What is the cause of racism?

Science has proven we are all one human race with only fractional differences.

Why the hate?

What is the cause of homophobia?

Some people are born with a preference for their own gender.

Why the hate?

What is the cause of misogyny?

Why do some think 50% of the human population is less worthy than the other 50%?

Why the hate?

Why are the Abrahamic religious books so divisive?

Why do they state some people are better than others, that homosexuality is a sin punishable by death, that women are worth less than men?

Because they were written by men who wanted power for themselves and their people, so they wrote their religious laws to state that God proclaimed other people evil, or sinful, or less worthy.

Now, almost two millennia later, people still judge others by looks, by sexuality, and by gender, based on ancient religious texts written with the purpose of acquiring power over primitive people.

Why the hate?

Hate is power to the Abrahamic religions.

Stop the hate.

Be your own power.

Love you.

Pascal's Wager 2: Dumb Ass!

If you give me Pascal's Wager, I give you Occam's Razor.
Plus, Pascal's Wager is a cowardly way to live. It is an insincere and ineffective offering to a god in which you don't believe, who if existed, would see right through such a false bet.
I don't fear Hell any more than I fear Voldemort.
Hell is the donkey's stick. Heaven is the donkey's carrot.
I am not a dumb ass.

Keeping God small

God is limited by the imagination of his believers, even as religion forces limits on the imagination.
"Faith is more important than knowledge."
Religion tells us to have faith above reason. It tells us not to question religion, and not to question anything which might lead to a question of religion.
The imagination of believers is stunted by not questioning, which in effect reduces their god to the constraints of mindless dogma and makes him a finder of lost keys and a giver of touchdowns.

The imagination is kept too small to form any questions that might show religious flaws.
Anything outside of dogma is conveniently and unthinkingly explained with, "God is too vast to comrehend."

Those who created Christianity had to steal most of it from Judaism and various previous religions because even they lacked the imagination to have an original thought.

Except in rare cases, imagination and religions do not mix well, and that's probably a good thing.
Just look at what was done with L. Ron Hubbard's invented religion!
Give some humans half a chance to believe without questioning and they will willingly enslave themselves.

I must admit, I don't understand these people. I love some of them, but I don't understand this voluntary slavery.