Lay Theism

Rafael nailed it in his latest post about why people buy religion.  It’s hell… without that, heaven doesn’t have a chance.  He ends by saying:

Religion is a tricky sale, but Hell is what a sales person would call the perfect closer. As soon as people want to turn away from religion, they pull out the Hell card, and you’re locked in. Another soul saved. Which is the ironic thing, they believe they are doing you a favor, they are saving your soul, and for that you need to give them money.

Having been in sales, and having attended a Southern Baptist church, he’s not kidding.  Basically a restatement of Pascal’s Wager.  It’s shameless and bizarre once you step outside of the circle and see it for what it really is… Control.

Atheism, History, Religion beanie babies, belief, bible, damnation, hell, inquisition, tarnation

Great name for a blog post… even better name for a blog!

http://www.heavingdeadcats.com

Way to go, Neece.  I really liked your recent post. One of the more frustrating aspects of being a non-believer is being a minority:

The very fact that we have atheists today, in growing numbers all over the planet, shows that if you take away the dogma and expose the lies and myths, some people will shrug off the mantle of religion even though in most societies, it means putting oneself outside the supposed comforts of society. It turns them into an outsider, to some degree.

I can assure you that here in the deep south, I am a minority, but not quite an outsider.  I am not an outsider, because I keep my atheistic beliefs fairly quiet. When asked directly, I am always forthcoming, but generally it doesn’t come up.  What is stunning is the number of times per day that people will refer casually or tangentially to their faith.

Just today I was talking with a coworker about a recent death of a friend. I inquired about upcoming services because it was important to him, but seemed to be taking a while. He mentioned that the friend had opted for cremation. He went on to say that this person’s family does things a “little differently”. I said, “Whatever do you mean?”  He went on to say that “Uhh…cremation has never been practiced in Judeo-Christian tradition and only pagan religions cremate.  Look it up… throughout recorded history… blah blah”.

I can count on one hand the number of times the word “pagan” has ever come up in a conversation. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that atheists tend to opt for cremation as well. You can well imagine where this person stands on the issue.

Anyway, if you were not already aware, here is some additional reading, statistics, and fun facts on the topic of cremation.

Oh, and keep up the great work, Neece (and Butch).

Atheism, History, Religion, Science, Statistics Christian, death, hell, pagan

Pretty clever. Points out several of the issues with being devout vs. being good.

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I accidentally found this when writing my Bryant Wright post!  Too funny.  You should try it.  Amazingly, I could not score less than 51 after three tries! What the hell? That only gets me to purgatory.  I guess with lame questions about income and questioning my beliefs, it skews the result.  For instance, I never question my beliefs, but neither would a devout suicide bomber I imagine. See what you can score and post your results here.

Enjoy:

Headed to Hell, I Guess...

Sampling of the questions for your reference (non-functional):

Shamelessly copied from The Afterlife Test, by Heaven Hell Purgatory.

Agnostic, Atheism, Graphics, Polling, Religion, Science, Statistics faith, god, heaven, hell, Love, purgatory, sex

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.

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