Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ara Tidwell on March 31, 2011 at 4:22am

Please fix the paragraph spacing in my letter. It did not copy/past properly

 

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Permalink Reply by David Anam on March 31, 2011 at 7:46am

Sorry, I'm not much into banning books, even from minors.

 

And while I don't claim to know the law, I'm pretty sure that simply giving a book to someone that recommends murder is not the same thing as a conspiracy to commit murder. Even then, I'm not sure I agree that the bible recommends murder. It is a guideline for how the human laws should be enacted, not a recommendation to break the current human laws.

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Permalink Reply by TK on March 31, 2011 at 8:02am

One of the best tools to get people to become atheists is the bible itself.  I don't see how anyone can read it and not think it's some big hogwash fairy tale.  Burning bushes, parting of seas, people speaking from the clouds, magical healing, zombies, talking snakes, etcetera. 

 

That being said, what are you the gestapo?  I'm sick and tired of people wanting the government to use force to enforce their morality on others.  People are free to do as they please, so long as they don't interfere with others.  Someone reading or owning the bible doesn't interfere with you or your rights anymore then reading a book about the Greek gods, mermaids, minotaurs, or any other fictional characters.  Just like you not believing in god doesn't interfere with others or their rights.  What if not believing in god was a felony, or telling a minor that god doesn't exist was a felony?  The logic behind your letter is absurd. 

 

It's even more troubling that you are a librarian and are jumping on the "let's ban books" bandwagon.  We should have freedom of information, not be limited to what information we can have.  Banning books is always a bad idea. 

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Permalink Reply by Ara Tidwell on March 31, 2011 at 2:58pm

Libraries don't carry pornographic books? why should they carry bibles? A librarian that checked out a pornographic book to a minor would be arrested. Why shouldn't a librarian be arrested for checking out a bible to a child.

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Permalink Reply by David Anam on March 31, 2011 at 3:15pm

Controversial ideas are not the same as graphic content. Whether or not pornography should be treated differently than other forms of art and entertainment would make for a fantastic discussion, but it really doesn't compare to the bible.

 

You are suggesting that the bible be banned for presenting controversial ideas, which leads to the question of who gets to decide what ideas are acceptable or not? Should we ban all books that disagree with our current laws? And what about other ancient texts that have horrible ideas in them, are we banning those too? Should we throw away the history of human civilization because many ancient laws would not be considered acceptable today?

 

The bible is arguably the most influential book in western history. It deserves to be in a library, even if its ideas are outdated and barbaric.

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Permalink Reply by Ashleigh Carter on March 31, 2011 at 3:32pm

If we start banning the bible from libraries, we open the door to banning other books other people deem offensive. Considering we're in the minority, that would not end well. I highly doubt the chrisitan machine would take that lying down. Even if we weren't in the minority, we have to think about how things might change against us in the future. If we can get books banned, so can they. Just because we may find the idea of a child with a bible as offensive as a child with pornography does not mean they are equatable, especially in this society. And even if it was, sending letters to librarians full of empty threats is going to amount to absolutely squat except perhaps turning public opinion abainst us even more than it already is. This letter is written like so many I've seen a fundamentalist christian write when they are trying to construct a reasonless emotional appeal. The capitalizing and red make it look like the writer is frothing and angry and not to be taken seriously. This is absolutely not the image we want to convey to the public.

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Permalink Reply by Ara Tidwell on March 31, 2011 at 4:19pm

Ashleigh,

 

thank you for your logical post. I got pretty upset last night and wrote some terrible things that I did not post here also. It seems I pissed off a few people.

 

I do agree, probably be aviable in a public library, but it still should not be checked out to children because of its adult content. There should also be a health warning by the surgon general that the belief's expressed by this book can lead to severe mental illness.

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Permalink Reply by David Anam on March 31, 2011 at 4:34pm

And who exactly gets to decide which beliefs count as mental illnesses?

 

You've lessened your position from an outright ban to a warning, but you still haven't addressed the problem that if the U.S. government starts declaring which ideas are good or bad there has to be some sort of standard to base these decisions on. And someone has to make judgement calls regarding these things. Should this be an individual or a group? Should they be elected or appointed? How easy or difficult should it be to declare an idea bad?

 

You're opening up a whole can of worms here.

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Permalink Reply by Ara Tidwell on March 31, 2011 at 10:21pm

Did you know that people that believe in god and religion meet almost every criteria for Schizophrenia according to the medically accepted Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders "DSM-IV-TR"?

 

Did you know that people that believe in god and religion meet almost every criteria for Schizophrenia according to the medically accepted Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders "DSM-IV-TR"?

 

I will add, that defined by accepted medical criteria and standards, people who believe in god and religion are by fact mentally ill, most medical professionals choose make an exception for the religious/god believers and not officially diagnose these people properly.

 

 

People that fall for the god delusion = mentally ill by medical standards = fact

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Permalink Reply by Ara Tidwell on April 1, 2011 at 12:09am

I didn't notice but I copied the same thing twice. People that believe in god DO MEET ALL of the criteria for a delusional disorder

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Permalink Reply by David Anam on April 1, 2011 at 7:39am

You seem to be going all over the place here. First you say reading the bible is the same as conspiring to commit murder, then you say it's pornographic, now you say it causes mental disorders.

 

Even if I were to agree with you that religious people are suffering from a mental disorder (which I don't), you would also have to show that the mental disorder is the RESULT of reading the bible. Considering that very few Christians actually do read the bible, I can't imagine how there could be a connection.

 

In fact, if personal experience counts for anything, reading the bible is exactly what lead me to being an atheist, and I know I'm not alone in that regard. If anything, the bible might be a good "medicine" to be prescribed to people with the religious "disorder."

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Permalink Reply by KillerDiller on April 6, 2011 at 6:59pm

Sorry, but that's just not true. You could arguably suggest that religious people suffer from delusions and hallucinations (but it would be an uphill battle considering the DSM takes a person's culture into account when making diagnoses). However, ordinary religious people show no other symptoms listed in criterion A and do not meet the criteria for functional impairment and social/occupational dysfunction. They would not score as psychotic on diagnostic assessments either.

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