Category: Religion
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David Attenborough on creationism
“When creationists talk about God, they always instance hummingbirds, or orchids, sunflowers and beautiful things. But I tend to think instead of a parasitic worm that is boring through the eye of a boy sitting on the bank of a river in West Africa, that’s going to make him blind. Are you telling me that the God you believe…
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The myth of American law being based on the Ten Commandments
It’s a common refrain from among religious and political fundamentalists. The so-called ten commandments of the Judeo-Christian religions are supposed to be the bedrock upon which all Western — or at least American — law is based. People who don’t think it through and who have been raised up among such nonsense generally nod in agreement. The argument is important…
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The perfect deity-designed world
This entry is inspired by a chapter in the book 50 Simple Questions for Every Christian, “Is the world fine tuned for life” which suggested an exercise in designing the perfect world for humanity, to show how far ours is from perfect. This really caught my fancy. I want to give it a shot. Part of what follows is shamelessly ripped from…
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Good without God
Atheists and Humanists are fond of saying we can be good without God. This is in response to the assertion of many religionists — especially fundamentalists — that without God there is neither standards of morality nor incentive to be good. I have always thought the problem lies strictly in what one accepts to be true. And of course, since I left Christianity, I have…
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The Purpose of Life (a short story)
Yahweh sighed and slouched back in his leather desk chair, rubbing his snow-white bearded chin thoughtfully. “You still don’t understand, Lucifer,” he said. “Let me run through it again.” He rubbed his temples. His good friend Lucifer sat across the desk from him and toyed with the stapler. Lucifer was a bit brash and naïve at times, but…
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My own ten commandments (more or less)
This started out as a list of ten general principles for me to live by. I wound up adding a few more. What’s so great about the number ten anyway?
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I don’t miss God — so what?
It’s been well over two years since I made any attempt at prayer or tried to “experience” God. And I don’t miss him one bit. I don’t feel any loss in my life. No hollow feeling inside. No sense of loss or loneliness. No fear and loathing. What does this mean? I believe it can only mean one of…
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Bible interpretation
I saw this comment recently on a forum: One of the things I have always found strange about the fundies is that they don’t follow all or even most of the actual teachings of the Bible. ie. generally they would rather join the NRA than “turn the other cheek” and don’t even think about “It is harder for…
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Life’s purpose
It is assumed by most religious and philosophical minded folks that there is a purpose to life, to the universe. But to me this is yet another of the Sacred Cows that needs to be tipped over. (I’m not talking about the purpose of an individual’s life, as defined by that individual — that’s another matter altogether and I still see…
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The human agency detector and destiny
Evolution has been good to humanity, having endowed with with gifts that make us unique among the fauna of Earth. But along with all the cool features, a few bugs have crept into the system. I want to discuss a couple of these. Humans evolved in an environment where it was far safer to assume that the rustling noise…