Thursday, December 17, 2009
What I got from a Christian
The other day I was having a conversation with a Christian friend of mine about religion. Now James believes strongly in god because of an experience he had during battle in the Vietnam War. Against all odds he lived though this battle and thinks god spared his life. As I listened to him tell the story it saddened me to hear him attribute his unquestionable luck to an invisible deity. He wasn't happy with being in the right place at the right time. He needed to put meaning into a meaningless chance occurrence which just so happened to have saved his life. It was during this conversation that I revealed that I am an atheist. He was neither appalled nor disgusted by me. He was intrigued.
James is actually more of an acquaintance, an occasional friend. I see him once every month or so for a service that I subscribe to. Our time to chat is short and we've shared much but not a lot of personal information, like what denomination of church he goes to or how many kids he has. He did tell me this last time we talked that he heads a bible study group.
Anyway. This last time we talked he asked me if my relationship with my family had changed. I told him about my Facebook experiment and that it seemed to be going well. He was glad to hear it. Then he made a comment that surprised me. He said that although the bible says to share the word of god it doesn't say that you have to force it onto anyone. When I commented that one of my relatives still blocks me and chooses to erase me from her life he got a little angry. He said that the bible doesn't condone that kind of behavior and that if she was as much a follower of Christ as I'd lead him to believe (she's righteous for Jesus, I think that makes her a fundamentalist, maybe a reader of the bible) she should be kind and sweet and engaging with me.
I just laughed. Maybe, I said. But like with any other group of people Christians can be assholes too. His face softened up a bit and he smiled. He agreed.
His point was not lost on me. James wanted to let me know that he accepted me as his friend and it didn't matter that I didn't share his faith. Our connection went deeper than that. We both love cars and dogs. We both want our families to be healthy and happy. He believes that religion is for comfort and community and shouldn't be forced on anyone, a sentiment that I share with him. We have a lot in common and one of those things was respect for each other.
James is actually more of an acquaintance, an occasional friend. I see him once every month or so for a service that I subscribe to. Our time to chat is short and we've shared much but not a lot of personal information, like what denomination of church he goes to or how many kids he has. He did tell me this last time we talked that he heads a bible study group.
Anyway. This last time we talked he asked me if my relationship with my family had changed. I told him about my Facebook experiment and that it seemed to be going well. He was glad to hear it. Then he made a comment that surprised me. He said that although the bible says to share the word of god it doesn't say that you have to force it onto anyone. When I commented that one of my relatives still blocks me and chooses to erase me from her life he got a little angry. He said that the bible doesn't condone that kind of behavior and that if she was as much a follower of Christ as I'd lead him to believe (she's righteous for Jesus, I think that makes her a fundamentalist, maybe a reader of the bible) she should be kind and sweet and engaging with me.
I just laughed. Maybe, I said. But like with any other group of people Christians can be assholes too. His face softened up a bit and he smiled. He agreed.
His point was not lost on me. James wanted to let me know that he accepted me as his friend and it didn't matter that I didn't share his faith. Our connection went deeper than that. We both love cars and dogs. We both want our families to be healthy and happy. He believes that religion is for comfort and community and shouldn't be forced on anyone, a sentiment that I share with him. We have a lot in common and one of those things was respect for each other.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Greta's Meme of the Day
"Believing in God is a safer bet" is a terrible reason to believe in God. If you believe because you fear being punished for not believing, it's like dating someone because they threaten to beat you up if you don't. Pass it on: if we say it enough times to enough people, it may get across. ~ Greta Christina
Pascal's Wager is an argument I don't get very often. When I do it's very easy to refute although I've never used the one above. When I struggled with whether to believe in the Christian god or not this was a thought that crossed my mind frequently. Why would a loving god want to inflict eternal damnation on a person just because that person couldn't believe in him AND couldn't accept that his son was sacrificed for our unworthiness. I mean REALLY! Couldn't god come up with a better, more believable, and more worthy of a story that was timeless and gentle? According to the definition of god Christians use I'd say, "Yes. Yes he could have."
So the argument is the salvation story was written for the people of that time. Those people understood blood sacrifices and atonement. They was accustomed to sacrificing animals to their gods and the bloodier the better. So the writers of that part of the bible wrote to appease these primitive people.
Over the years, hundreds of years mind you, we have changed to be kinder to each other, to know that slavery is wrong and that equal rights for women benefits all of us. Our morals have changed (imagine that!). This Christian god would have known that this was going to happen. In fact, why didn't he just make us that way in the first place. A lot of suffering and death would have been avoided. A lot.
OK, with this knowledge is it still a better bet to believe in god than not to believe? For me, once I got my head around this concept, there was no way I could convince myself to take the story seriously much less believe in it. Who's to say that the ancient Greek and Roman myths aren't true? They are just as unbelievable and were just as believed in their time as the Christian myth is in current times.
My answer is a resounding NO! This is not a good bet. For one thing there is no evidence and another thing is the story is just plain unbelievable on it's own merits. I'll stick with no belief in gods or goddesses until something better comes along.
Pascal's Wager is an argument I don't get very often. When I do it's very easy to refute although I've never used the one above. When I struggled with whether to believe in the Christian god or not this was a thought that crossed my mind frequently. Why would a loving god want to inflict eternal damnation on a person just because that person couldn't believe in him AND couldn't accept that his son was sacrificed for our unworthiness. I mean REALLY! Couldn't god come up with a better, more believable, and more worthy of a story that was timeless and gentle? According to the definition of god Christians use I'd say, "Yes. Yes he could have."
So the argument is the salvation story was written for the people of that time. Those people understood blood sacrifices and atonement. They was accustomed to sacrificing animals to their gods and the bloodier the better. So the writers of that part of the bible wrote to appease these primitive people.
Over the years, hundreds of years mind you, we have changed to be kinder to each other, to know that slavery is wrong and that equal rights for women benefits all of us. Our morals have changed (imagine that!). This Christian god would have known that this was going to happen. In fact, why didn't he just make us that way in the first place. A lot of suffering and death would have been avoided. A lot.
OK, with this knowledge is it still a better bet to believe in god than not to believe? For me, once I got my head around this concept, there was no way I could convince myself to take the story seriously much less believe in it. Who's to say that the ancient Greek and Roman myths aren't true? They are just as unbelievable and were just as believed in their time as the Christian myth is in current times.
My answer is a resounding NO! This is not a good bet. For one thing there is no evidence and another thing is the story is just plain unbelievable on it's own merits. I'll stick with no belief in gods or goddesses until something better comes along.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Houston has a new mayor!
Houston just became the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor by voting for Annise Parker.
As reported by the Houston Chronicle:
Since I don't live in the city limits I didn't pay as much attention to this race as I should have. Apparently Parker's opponent Gene Locke had asked for Dr. Stephen Hotze for his support but was turned down because Hotze had endorsed someone else. So who is Dr. Stephen Hotze? An article from The Houston Press describes him as "a Christian fundamentalist who espouses antigay rhetoric." Clearly not someone one would want to support a campaign.
I also found this clearly anti-gay hate site from World Net Daily, The Pastor's Corner. The article is an emotion driven screed that appeals to those who aren't concerned with the truth. The truth that accepting other people's sexual orientation does not make a society immoral. The article ends with this gem:
I cringed inside when I read that. After reading the article it was obvious it was bigotry and hatred in big bold letters.
So with the election of Annise Parker I'm glad we are ushering in a new age of tolerance and love for each human being and that we can focus on solving our problems instead of making up false ones.
Parker, who began her political career as a gay activist, rose through the ranks of local politics to serve first on city council, then as city controller.
"I realize that I'm a role model, but I've been a role model for my community for 30 years," she said. "It's part of who I am, and I believe it makes me a better representative for the city of Houston."
Since I don't live in the city limits I didn't pay as much attention to this race as I should have. Apparently Parker's opponent Gene Locke had asked for Dr. Stephen Hotze for his support but was turned down because Hotze had endorsed someone else. So who is Dr. Stephen Hotze? An article from The Houston Press describes him as "a Christian fundamentalist who espouses antigay rhetoric." Clearly not someone one would want to support a campaign.
I also found this clearly anti-gay hate site from World Net Daily, The Pastor's Corner. The article is an emotion driven screed that appeals to those who aren't concerned with the truth. The truth that accepting other people's sexual orientation does not make a society immoral. The article ends with this gem:
This is an act of love, not of bigotry.
I cringed inside when I read that. After reading the article it was obvious it was bigotry and hatred in big bold letters.
So with the election of Annise Parker I'm glad we are ushering in a new age of tolerance and love for each human being and that we can focus on solving our problems instead of making up false ones.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Some Holiday Help For The Godless, On I-45
By Chris Vogel in Whatever
Houston can be a lonely place for an infidel, what with all the mega-churches and deep-rooted southern Sunday tradition. Even more so at Christmas, when it all gets ramped up a notch with as many commercial reminders of Jesus' (alleged) birthday at the mall as there probably are in Billy Graham's bedroom.
But to all you atheists and non-believers out there, silent and afraid, you are not alone.
At least that's the message posted on a billboard high in the sky by the Houston Freethought Alliance and the national United Coalition of Reason.
Towering above numerous placards offering $3.99 haircuts, tattoos and "All Pro" eyeglass repair on FM 1960 just west of Nanes Drive sits a giant sign with the words, "Don't believe in God? You are not alone." It is part of a national campaign that's been going on since March, a spokesman tells Hair Balls.
The point of the billboard, says Fred Edwords, national director of the United Coalition of Reason, "is to reach out to the millions of humanists, atheists and agnostics living in the United States. Nontheists sometimes don't realize there's a community out there for them because they're inundated with religious messages at every turn. So we hope this will serve as a beacon and let them know they aren't alone."
And during the holidays, no one wants to be alone.
Houston can be a lonely place for an infidel, what with all the mega-churches and deep-rooted southern Sunday tradition. Even more so at Christmas, when it all gets ramped up a notch with as many commercial reminders of Jesus' (alleged) birthday at the mall as there probably are in Billy Graham's bedroom.
But to all you atheists and non-believers out there, silent and afraid, you are not alone.
At least that's the message posted on a billboard high in the sky by the Houston Freethought Alliance and the national United Coalition of Reason.
Towering above numerous placards offering $3.99 haircuts, tattoos and "All Pro" eyeglass repair on FM 1960 just west of Nanes Drive sits a giant sign with the words, "Don't believe in God? You are not alone." It is part of a national campaign that's been going on since March, a spokesman tells Hair Balls.
The point of the billboard, says Fred Edwords, national director of the United Coalition of Reason, "is to reach out to the millions of humanists, atheists and agnostics living in the United States. Nontheists sometimes don't realize there's a community out there for them because they're inundated with religious messages at every turn. So we hope this will serve as a beacon and let them know they aren't alone."
And during the holidays, no one wants to be alone.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Man dies after sitting in recliner for eight months
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (NBC) -- Believing his faith would heal him, a Greenwood County, South Carolina man sat down in his recliner after an injury in March and never got up.
On Thursday, his wife explained why he stayed in the recliner until shortly before he died.
"The man totally believed in God and his healing," said Ada Webb.
In March, Webb's 550-pound husband, Tillmon, sat down in a recliner inside their trailer in Greenwood. Wearing nothing but a blanket, the 33-year-old didn't move from that recliner for the next eight months.
"He couldn't do nothing for his self and I couldn't do but so much," Webb explained.
Webb says Tillmon tore his ACL in March and drove to a doctor's office.
"They were gonna give him an appointment, but they wanted $300 up front, and we didn't have the money," said Webb.
Webb says he returned to the recliner, picked up his Bible and became determined that faith would heal his leg.
"He read his Bible daily, he spent his full focus on God," said Webb. "And he was literally waiting and praying for a Job miracle. If anybody knows the Bible and knows Job, he really and fully believed that God was going to heal him just like he did Job, because he said he couldn't think of a better testimony to go out and to tell people.
More...
I only have one thing to say, "Disgusting!"
On Thursday, his wife explained why he stayed in the recliner until shortly before he died.
"The man totally believed in God and his healing," said Ada Webb.
In March, Webb's 550-pound husband, Tillmon, sat down in a recliner inside their trailer in Greenwood. Wearing nothing but a blanket, the 33-year-old didn't move from that recliner for the next eight months.
"He couldn't do nothing for his self and I couldn't do but so much," Webb explained.
Webb says Tillmon tore his ACL in March and drove to a doctor's office.
"They were gonna give him an appointment, but they wanted $300 up front, and we didn't have the money," said Webb.
Webb says he returned to the recliner, picked up his Bible and became determined that faith would heal his leg.
"He read his Bible daily, he spent his full focus on God," said Webb. "And he was literally waiting and praying for a Job miracle. If anybody knows the Bible and knows Job, he really and fully believed that God was going to heal him just like he did Job, because he said he couldn't think of a better testimony to go out and to tell people.
More...
I only have one thing to say, "Disgusting!"
Another Meme
To say "You atheists will give up your atheism in a hurry when you're facing death and disaster" is simply not true. Many atheists have suffered great loss and faced terrible crises without turning to belief in God. Pass it on: if we say it enough times to enough people, it may get across. ~ Greta Christina's Blog
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