Lay Theism

Nicely done Atheist Revolution and Hopeful Spirit for collaborating on the Christian Blog Carnival.  Atheist Revolution quotes Hopeful Spirit as quoting Atheist Revolution as follows:

Kudos to Christian blogger, Hopeful Spirit of On the Horizon for including my post, “Doubting Your Faith?” in The Seventh Day blog carnival. Hopeful’s rationale for including the post?

Why is a post from an atheist included in a blog carnival hosted at a Christian site? Because the philosophy here at On the Horizon is and always will be “radical inclusivity.” Christians are called to love everyone, including — and many would say especially — our atheist and agnostic brothers and sisters. The author included this description when submitting his article to the carnival:

This post asks Christians who are doubting their faith to consider a possibility that may be new to them - the possibility that their doubt is a healthy reflection of their rational mind trying to break free from superstition to experience genuine meaning.

Here’s an opportunity for Christian and nonbelieving readers to engage in a meaningful dialogue!

If you are interested in this sort of dialogue, check out the carnival and let them know you were there.

I couldn’t resist.

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I thought this was pretty clever…

I pulled it from http://suitemindcrime.livejournal.com/ but their comment interface requires a LiveJournal ID…  won’t be getting one of those. 

At any rate, thanks, Self Spirit from TN.  I like your style.

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Well, that about sums it up for me too:

Anonymity: Shield of the Atheist Blogger

What a shame that we can’t live openly as non-believers without it negatively affecting our livelihood in some way.

Last week we had a coworker emerge from surgery with favorable results.  One of the senior leaders in the company couldn’t resist but to publicly thank “the Lord” for the positive outcome via e-mail to a large distribution.  This was followed by a large number of Reply All e-mails with things such as “Amen”.  I wanted to reply, “Yes, we are very fortunate to live in the 21st century — medical technology has done wonders by allowing us to extend our lifespans and quality of life significantly.  We should all get together and thank the surgeon…”

Instead, I quietly rolled my eyes and got back to work.  I think I’ll be discrete for just a little longer.

Atheism, Religion blog, medicine, prayer

I noticed this book on my recommended list on Amazon:

• The Book Your Church* Doesn’t Want You to Read
  (* Or Synagogue, Temple, Mosque…)

It reminded me that Christianity was created by our ancestors around 100 generations ago from some of the favorite stories and yarns of that time.  Religious authors took their cues from popular culture and wrote down various versions of the stories being passed and certainly added their own flair.  This is partly why the Bible is contradicatory and inconsistent… it’s not the divine word of God magically transcribed by prophets.  It’s just oral traditional written down by different authors. 

It’s worth reading the first few pages regardless of your point of view.  If you are religious, take a look at the excerpt (scroll to page 28 for the best reading).  After all, you weren’t born a believer, so you may not always be one.  You owe it to yourself to think for yourself.  For instance, I was typically childlike in my thinking up to about age 11 – a good Sunday school kid that sang “Jesus Loves Me” and believed what I was taught (including Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, etc.).  By the time I was 12, I was baptized and a believer because it seemed like that’s what good Christian boys did.  By 15, I was proselytizing regularly.  By 17, I was acting as a typical hypocritical Christian teenager.  By my early 20s, I started to examine life and the world more critically.  Now in my 40s, I realize that these are all tales told by men, abused by many, and something we would be better off without. 

And what of all the other children in the world born at the same time as I, but to Muslim families, or Hindu, or Buddhist, or Navajo, or Nuer???  Are they all doomed to an afterlife in hell just because they were not fortunate enough to be born to Christian parents?  I don’t think so.  This was organized religion’s undoing for me.  This premise made no sense and caused me to question faith in religion or god.  Why would one (or any) be the right one? 

Easy answer?  They are all wrong.

Start living this life.  It’s the only one you have.

Oh, and if you need guidance for how to live your life, start with The Golden Rule — you’ll be impressed how far that can take you.

Atheism, Religion atheist, book, fancy, hell, illiterate, santa claus, skeptic, tooth fairy

Nice work, xkcd:

(Translation for the blind)

Claims of supernatural powers:
Confirmed by experiment — 0
Refuted by experiment — all the rest

James Randi would be proud.

Keep up the good work.

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