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The Cost of Religion

To my mind religion is the worse thing that ever happened to mankind. Sure, it converted the Vikings to civilization, but it also repressed and stifled knowledge that kept humanity in the Dark Ages until now and maybe centuries to come. As long as women are forced to wear a burka, humanity remains enthralled.

Tags: aristopus, atheist, endmeme

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Permalink Reply by Richard Goscicki on January 24, 2010 at 12:13pm

Thanks, Mike.

It's true what you say about being critical of religion. Dig one of the reviews I got on Amazon by a retired marine officer.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Crude and Offensive Story from an Atheist Point of View, May 3, 2008
By William T. Mcgee "Tom" (Springfield, IL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
I found nothing in this book worth reading. I forced myself to look for something of value, but found myself wading through obscene language, offensive discourse, and perversion to disentangle the agenda of this book.

I crawled through the muck and found nothing but a faithless atheistic point of view leaking through the downward spiral of a character from sexual permissive, to strip club employee to prostitute. The story line and weird psychology the allegory was based on are pathetic negative nonsense.

This book is not worth the paper it was printed on.

I'm proud of this review in a weird sort of way. I mean, look whom it's coming from.

Permalink Reply by Michael B. Paulk on January 24, 2010 at 1:01pm

Funny, Richard. The good new is, in the "eye for an eye" spirit, we anti-theist writers have similar abilities. I reviewed Keith Ward's book, "Is Religion Dangerous" and I was every bit as scathing and critical as Ward was vacuuous and obscurantist. As Jesus said, I came not with peace, "but the sword." The pen being even mightier.

Of course, my review was accepted for publication in -- big surprise -- a monthly Atheist magazine.

Permalink Reply by Richard Goscicki on January 24, 2010 at 1:35pm

Neat. Which atheist magazine? I check it out.

Permalink Reply by Michael B. Paulk on January 24, 2010 at 1:50pm

Upcoming issue of American Atheist magazine. I believe it will be in the March 15 issue.

Permalink Reply by Richard Goscicki on January 24, 2010 at 7:23pm

Okay, thanks. I'm not too sure about that "but the sword" line. Our Lord Jesus was the Prince of Peace, like in the Crusades.

Permalink Reply by Michael B. Paulk on January 24, 2010 at 7:50pm

Hi Richard, I know you are kidding. Well done -- Prince of Peace "like in the Crusades."

But for other readers out there who might not have read the words of god, gentle Jesus, prince of peace proclaimed he "came not to send peace, but the sword" (Matthew 10:34). Tip of the iceberg, there is so much more evil and BS in the ancient texts.

Permalink Reply by Richard Goscicki on January 24, 2010 at 9:41pm

"came not to send peace, but the sword" (Matthew 10:34)

Thanks for the reference. And I went to Catholic School.

Even in high school I often asked myself why did the Lord have to set an example of violence when morally offended. He brutally whipped the money lenders and merchants for doing business in the temple and yelled nasty epithets about “a house of prayer.”

I figured, even as a teenager, that He could have at least been as pacifistic as Buddha or Confucius, and they preceded him by hundreds of years.

He could have changed the world for the better, not the worse.

Permalink Reply by Michael B. Paulk on January 25, 2010 at 11:18am

Hi Richard - I couldn't reply to your comment below (there was no link) so I'm replying up here. Yes, there are many violent, racist, foul works and deeds supposedly said and committed by Jesus, right there in the NT, that your typical priest or Sunday School teacher is not going to point out. People tend to thing the OT is the "violent one" and the NT is the "good one." I heard Lewis Black say that exact thing. I have a reborn christian friend who goes to bible study; I asked her about some evil edict in the OT and she said "Oh, well Jesus came along and changed all that." I didn't bother pointing out exactly in the NT where Jesus, in fact, agrees with that particular evil edict.

Permalink Reply by Richard Goscicki on January 25, 2010 at 6:16pm

Mike, I don't have a link either. I think we can only reply a few times on any particular comment.

About your friend, how frustrating it is to see them so conditioned and brainwashed and there's little we can do about it. There are build-in defenses that are hard to penetrate. She might see you as an "occasion of sin" or evn worse.

Which "evil act" did Jesus condone? I suspect it was stoning some unlucky lady for having one too many boyfriends.

Permalink Reply by Michael B. Paulk on January 25, 2010 at 6:35pm

Hi Richard,

I agree, "brainwashed" is the operative term. The evil act in question was the Hebrew law allowing parents to kill their child if he or she is disobedient (Jesus agreeing with Deuteronomy 21:20-1). This is not an isolated incident of his intolerance and injustice. Jesus was not a gentle fellow; he never does he speak against slavery, for example.

Permalink Reply by Richard Goscicki on January 25, 2010 at 7:18pm

Do you plan to try to decondition your friend? Just think of all the wasted time, money and energy spent on saying futile prayers and going to fashion-conscious masses.

Try presenting her with outlandish, ridiculous beliefs, like: Do you really believe Eve was created from Adam's rib. C'mon?

Or, Noah captured 20,000,000 species to put on the ark.

Jonah lived in the whale's belly for three day, right?

There's a million of 'em.

Permalink Reply by Michael B. Paulk on January 25, 2010 at 8:03pm

Good point, Richard. Honestly she is one of the smartest people I know. Very smart. She really doesn't buy into the OT, believes the NT stories are compatible with evolution, but hasn't taken a critical look at what I call "Evil Jesus" and also "mythical Jesus" (which writer of the 1st century recorded even one sentence about the Christ? Nobody). Nor does she see the infinitely malevolent blackmail in the cult: Believe, worship, contribute... or god will torture you for all eternity. This is its essence, a cult so obviously manmade and destructive. As George Carlin said, "But he still loves you."

Don't get me started. D'oh! I'm already started.

Good point on these: while Jonah is an OT story, as well as Noah, and Adam and Eve, your point still actually applies to any Christian: Jesus actually BELIEVES all of that nonsense including Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt. "Jesus came along and changed everything" is what they taught my friend in Sunday School. I would love to take 15 minutes as guest speaker and play the part Christopher Hitchens got to play against the Vatican when "Mother Theresa" was to be canonized. Devil's advocate, gladly pro bono.

But my friend, this woman, isn't about to Kill her child in offering to god (as Dena Schlosser did in 2004) or murder a friend upon discovering he's atheist (as Arthur Shelton did, also 2004) or kill her children for posessing demons (as loving mother Banita Jacks, did, 2008).

At least I hope to Zeus not.