A new study says that Atheists and Agnostics know more about religion than do religious people. Now, the study doesn’t say that the godless know more about, say Christianity than Christians, but about religion in general. It’s hypothesized that the reason for this is that most Agnostics and Atheists were religious at one time and that their choice to become nonbelievers was one they really studied and thought hard about, this includes studying what others believe.
I know my own godlessness came only after a thorough review of many religious beliefs, including those of Catholicism and Protestantism, the two religions in which I was raised. If I can toot my own horn and that of other Agnostics and Atheists, this seems both an intelligent and thoughtful way to look at the issue. After all, this is a choice which many consider to be of soul-saving importance.
This is exactly what bothers me about the conclusion of this study. It leads me to believe that religious people studied no other religions before they decided to adopt their one true faith. More than likely their parents indoctrinated them at a young age and they just continued on believing. This seems a bit odd when it comes to, like I said, a decision of soul-saving importance.
The study also shows that many don’t know some of the basic tenets of their own faith. Again, it doesn’t say that Jews know more about Islam than Muslims, but that Muslims may not know all that much about Islam. This doesn’t particularly surprise me in that many of the most fanatically religious seem to only know and really stick to certain tenets of their religion. For example, for some Catholics of a certain ilk it’s not important to know every one of the 10 Commandments but they’ll memorize every single psalm, stanza or verse in the bible that damns homosexuality (and they will endlessly spew them out whenever they get the chance.) Whoops, sorry about that. Assholes have been getting on my nerves during this election season.
Veering away from the results of this interesting study to my own personal babblings, I think it takes some balls to be fanatically religious. Why? Well in the first place, there isn’t a lot of fact/proof to back up religious beliefs. When questioned about their religion, the intelligent religious will say that it’s all a matter of faith and leave it at that because there is no 2+2=4 in religion. To argue anything else reminds me of the arguments of those with deep beliefs in most conspiracy theories when they are called on to defend themselves. For example, I would expect the same reasoning from someone defending their fanatical belief in UFO’s as I would from a fanatical Mormon practitioner.
The second reason I think it takes balls to be fanatically religious is the constant contradictions that they have to live with. For example, in the King James Bible, there are the straight forward crazy things like rules for stoning women who aren’t virgins on their wedding night (Deuteronomy 22: 13-21) contrasted with the commandment “Thou Shall Not Murder.” Come on, can I kill her or not? What about my neighbor who mows his lawn on the Sabbath? Can I punish him for not keeping it holy or will god do it later?
Then there are the contradictions the religious must deal with that aren’t so black and white. Can someone who follows the teachings of the bible support wars where people will be killed in their name? Can they vote for a politician who supports said war? Can they live in a country where their tax dollars go to buy bullets that will be used to kill others?
No doubt these are tough questions they must think about, and these are only some of the most obvious contradictions from only one religion.
Even as a godless heathen I find the topic of religion fascinating, and with examining this little slice of it even more so. I think a little more study is in order.
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Fear and Mosques at Ground Zero
Everybody is up in arms about the plans for building an Islamic mosque/Muslim Activity Center at New York’s Ground Zero.
In a way I can understand the opposition; I mean the evil bastards who flew planes into the World Trade Center towers believed they were honoring the precepts of Islam.
Islam + Mosque at the Site Where Radical Muslims Slaughtered Thousands of Americans = Anger.
I would think Anger is a pretty normal reaction in situations like this. For example, I don’t imagine that Muslims and Jews were too happy when Christian crusaders sacked Jerusalem and started building churches everywhere.
On the other hand, what could be more in the spirit of American acceptance and tolerance than a mosque at Ground Zero? Wouldn’t it show that we’re open minded and don’t damn the majority for the actions of a few? That we, as Americans, truly accept our tolerant Muslim brothers and sisters?
But, we don’t. Click the link above and you’ll see that 62 percent of New Yorkers oppose the mosque plans. The public won’t say it, but many Americans fear and mistrust Muslims they don’t personally know. Again, while I don’t condone these thoughts, I understand where they come from.
At the moment, Islam is not coming off as a bright shining bastion of all that is “good” in the world. I’d argue that few religions do, but Islam is doing a particularly horrible job of it right now, a bit like Catholicism during the age of the Inquisition.
Sure the deck is stacked against it, and much of the deck has been stacked by us (unending wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, dependence on oil, refusal to believe that Israel can do anything wrong). But even if Americans ignore everything that is happening in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, we can’t ignore the Muslim father in Arizona who ran over his daughter because she was too westernized, that many mosques in the United States are still intolerant of women or that MF’er who killed US soldiers in FT. Hood. Why? Because it’s happening right here on American soil, right here in front of our big-fat American faces.
I’m well aware that violence and intolerance run rampant throughout all religions but we seldom get it here on camera and on home soil. All this plus knowing that Muslims committed the worst attack on American soil ever is just too much for some folks.
Now a group of Muslims want to build a mosque/activity center on Ground Zero….of course people are going to be pissed off. They don’t like or trust Muslims for all of the above reasons.
But is building a mosque on sacred ground a good idea? Yes, it would symbolize all that is good and right about America.
Should the mosque be built? No, of course not. Many people will view it as another Islamic kick in the American crotch. It’s poking at a hornets’ nest. It’s bad PR, really bad PR and it’s going to cause some Americans to dislike Muslims even more.
Whomever is heading these plans is doing a real disservice to kind and decent Muslims in America.
In a way I can understand the opposition; I mean the evil bastards who flew planes into the World Trade Center towers believed they were honoring the precepts of Islam.
Islam + Mosque at the Site Where Radical Muslims Slaughtered Thousands of Americans = Anger.
I would think Anger is a pretty normal reaction in situations like this. For example, I don’t imagine that Muslims and Jews were too happy when Christian crusaders sacked Jerusalem and started building churches everywhere.
On the other hand, what could be more in the spirit of American acceptance and tolerance than a mosque at Ground Zero? Wouldn’t it show that we’re open minded and don’t damn the majority for the actions of a few? That we, as Americans, truly accept our tolerant Muslim brothers and sisters?
But, we don’t. Click the link above and you’ll see that 62 percent of New Yorkers oppose the mosque plans. The public won’t say it, but many Americans fear and mistrust Muslims they don’t personally know. Again, while I don’t condone these thoughts, I understand where they come from.
At the moment, Islam is not coming off as a bright shining bastion of all that is “good” in the world. I’d argue that few religions do, but Islam is doing a particularly horrible job of it right now, a bit like Catholicism during the age of the Inquisition.
Sure the deck is stacked against it, and much of the deck has been stacked by us (unending wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, dependence on oil, refusal to believe that Israel can do anything wrong). But even if Americans ignore everything that is happening in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, we can’t ignore the Muslim father in Arizona who ran over his daughter because she was too westernized, that many mosques in the United States are still intolerant of women or that MF’er who killed US soldiers in FT. Hood. Why? Because it’s happening right here on American soil, right here in front of our big-fat American faces.
I’m well aware that violence and intolerance run rampant throughout all religions but we seldom get it here on camera and on home soil. All this plus knowing that Muslims committed the worst attack on American soil ever is just too much for some folks.
Now a group of Muslims want to build a mosque/activity center on Ground Zero….of course people are going to be pissed off. They don’t like or trust Muslims for all of the above reasons.
But is building a mosque on sacred ground a good idea? Yes, it would symbolize all that is good and right about America.
Should the mosque be built? No, of course not. Many people will view it as another Islamic kick in the American crotch. It’s poking at a hornets’ nest. It’s bad PR, really bad PR and it’s going to cause some Americans to dislike Muslims even more.
Whomever is heading these plans is doing a real disservice to kind and decent Muslims in America.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!
Big storm crashed into the city last night, lots of rain and wild wind. It’s still hitting us hard and Sacramento , being a floodplain, is filling up like a big basin. It happens every year, but still local drivers lose their heads. Collisions, spinouts and backups are the rule of the day.
When it’s like this I trade my regular bike ride to work for a light rail ticket. It keeps me dry and sometimes I find a little bit of god.
This morning I had a rather lengthy “stranger waiting for the train” conversation with a Jehovah’s Witness. I must admit his opening was pretty good.
Him: Going to work?
Me: Yup.
Him: While you’re waiting…
At this point he handed me a small brochure. On the front there is an illustration of a smiling man and woman in an idyllic mountain field. They’re surrounded by plump pumpkins, bright red apples and flowers. Behind them is a two story log cabin and a large moose. Yes, a moose. The moose really draws the eye because he’s right smack dab in the middle and he’s the biggest thing in the picture.
Anyway enough with the moose, the top of the brochure reads “All Suffering SOON TO END!”
Him: What do you think about that?
Me: That be great!
Him: Wouldn’t it be. What do you think causes all the suffering in the world?
Me: Greed.
Him: Funny you should say that, in chapter so and so of so and so…(flips open a well worn bible protected in a spiffy black leather case.)
He goes on to tell me that greed is one of the reasons the world, as we know it, is going to end in the very near future.
Okay…Wait, what? The world is going to end!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
I mean come on, the end of the world is a scary thing. It seems odd to sell a religion like you would sell a fallout shelter.
Salesman: Nuclear war is right around the corner my friend.
Me: Really? Wow, umm…how can you be so sure?
Salesman: You don’t want your family to die an agonizingly painful irradiated death, cooked flesh hanging from their bleached white bones, do you?
Me: HOLY CRAP! Give me 10 of those shelters and throw in a couple of those water purification systems.
Great strategy for getting someone to buy something, but it’s dirty pool. I guess that’s another reason I’ve never been turned on to religion, the fearmongering.
Anywho, saw “Zombieland” the other day, fun movie. It doesn’t try to imitate the masterful “Shaun of the Dead” which everyone seemed worried about. Instead it does its own thing and has fun with it.
I leave you with a Paul Krugman essay, a little ditty that illustrates how the GOP is going batshit fucking crazy.
When it’s like this I trade my regular bike ride to work for a light rail ticket. It keeps me dry and sometimes I find a little bit of god.
This morning I had a rather lengthy “stranger waiting for the train” conversation with a Jehovah’s Witness. I must admit his opening was pretty good.
Him: Going to work?
Me: Yup.
Him: While you’re waiting…
At this point he handed me a small brochure. On the front there is an illustration of a smiling man and woman in an idyllic mountain field. They’re surrounded by plump pumpkins, bright red apples and flowers. Behind them is a two story log cabin and a large moose. Yes, a moose. The moose really draws the eye because he’s right smack dab in the middle and he’s the biggest thing in the picture.
Anyway enough with the moose, the top of the brochure reads “All Suffering SOON TO END!”
Him: What do you think about that?
Me: That be great!
Him: Wouldn’t it be. What do you think causes all the suffering in the world?
Me: Greed.
Him: Funny you should say that, in chapter so and so of so and so…(flips open a well worn bible protected in a spiffy black leather case.)
He goes on to tell me that greed is one of the reasons the world, as we know it, is going to end in the very near future.
Okay…Wait, what? The world is going to end!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
I mean come on, the end of the world is a scary thing. It seems odd to sell a religion like you would sell a fallout shelter.
Salesman: Nuclear war is right around the corner my friend.
Me: Really? Wow, umm…how can you be so sure?
Salesman: You don’t want your family to die an agonizingly painful irradiated death, cooked flesh hanging from their bleached white bones, do you?
Me: HOLY CRAP! Give me 10 of those shelters and throw in a couple of those water purification systems.
Great strategy for getting someone to buy something, but it’s dirty pool. I guess that’s another reason I’ve never been turned on to religion, the fearmongering.
Anywho, saw “Zombieland” the other day, fun movie. It doesn’t try to imitate the masterful “Shaun of the Dead” which everyone seemed worried about. Instead it does its own thing and has fun with it.
I leave you with a Paul Krugman essay, a little ditty that illustrates how the GOP is going batshit fucking crazy.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Faith in the will of God
So I read an interesting article in the LA Times today. The gist of it was that Evangelical Christians are battling over whether it’s appropriate for Governor Sarah Palin to be a politician, specifically vice-president. It is their belief that women should be subservient to men (i.e. the household and children are considered their realm), and they base this belief off their faith in the bible.
I try to base my beliefs on logic and experience so it’s hard for me to believe that others are content to live by “faith,” a belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. However, what’s even harder for me to believe is when the “faithful” buck their belief to get something they want.
“"It's probably presumptuous of us to figure out how she is going to balance all of this," said Pat Ennis, a Placerita congregant who heads the home economics department at The Master's College, a Christian institution in Santa Clarita. "The most important thing is that she can do it in God's strength."”
What? So as long as it can be done in God’s strength it’s okay?
I just finished “Escape,” a book written by and about Carolyn Jessop, a woman who grew up in the fundamentalist Mormon cult now associated with the Yearning For Zion polygamist compound and its psychotic leader Warren Jeffs. The men who ran this group continually used the same argument to justify the transgressions they made against the very religion they based their entire life around.
“Umm, do I have a TV? I guess I do. It must be the will of God.”
“Did I just drink a beer? Well, yes I did. It must be the will of God.”
“Sorry your son is sick, but I can’t allow you to take him to the hospital, because his sickness is God punishing you for not pleasing me.”“Whoops, I just married three 14-year-old girls. It must be the will of God.”
Reading this book really pissed me off. I guess I shouldn’t take it out on Fundamentalist Christian Southern California women, but I see the same ridiculousness in their actions that I saw in the world of the FLDS. Sure, the FLDS and Jeffs were abusive, torturous and just plain evil but it’s only a hop, skip and a jump to get to the same place when you live your life based on faith and the threat of burning in hell.
I’m too pissed off to have a smile, feel good clickity today so enjoy looking at my big fat belly: http://picasaweb.google.com/mark.p.henry/09MatherMudRun092708?authkey=FDr2fWIQaj8#
I try to base my beliefs on logic and experience so it’s hard for me to believe that others are content to live by “faith,” a belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. However, what’s even harder for me to believe is when the “faithful” buck their belief to get something they want.
“"It's probably presumptuous of us to figure out how she is going to balance all of this," said Pat Ennis, a Placerita congregant who heads the home economics department at The Master's College, a Christian institution in Santa Clarita. "The most important thing is that she can do it in God's strength."”
What? So as long as it can be done in God’s strength it’s okay?
I just finished “Escape,” a book written by and about Carolyn Jessop, a woman who grew up in the fundamentalist Mormon cult now associated with the Yearning For Zion polygamist compound and its psychotic leader Warren Jeffs. The men who ran this group continually used the same argument to justify the transgressions they made against the very religion they based their entire life around.
“Umm, do I have a TV? I guess I do. It must be the will of God.”
“Did I just drink a beer? Well, yes I did. It must be the will of God.”
“Sorry your son is sick, but I can’t allow you to take him to the hospital, because his sickness is God punishing you for not pleasing me.”“Whoops, I just married three 14-year-old girls. It must be the will of God.”
Reading this book really pissed me off. I guess I shouldn’t take it out on Fundamentalist Christian Southern California women, but I see the same ridiculousness in their actions that I saw in the world of the FLDS. Sure, the FLDS and Jeffs were abusive, torturous and just plain evil but it’s only a hop, skip and a jump to get to the same place when you live your life based on faith and the threat of burning in hell.
I’m too pissed off to have a smile, feel good clickity today so enjoy looking at my big fat belly: http://picasaweb.google.com/mark.p.henry/09MatherMudRun092708?authkey=FDr2fWIQaj8#
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
