Morality Sale! All Religions Must Go!

Posted by on Aug 3, 2007 in Rants | 2 comments

Many strong theists who criticize atheism believe we all want to do away with god and religion. Religion, BIG YES. God, eh. I feel that the idea of god does not do near the harm that religion does. Religion is the problem; god is not. Agnostic theists (or deists) don’t bomb abortion clinics or innocent children on buses. (When I use the phrase “agnostic theist”, I am referring to god-believers or those who just don’t know but refuse to prescribe to any religion. Or perhaps an Eastern philosophy or Wicca.)

Religion has cut the circulation of logic to the brain. It has strengthened the ugly us vs. them dogma. God-belief, too, isn’t logical. But the mere act of believing in something doesn’t provoke the exclusion of outsiders. Nor does is provoke violence, hatred, or poor morals (that religious scripture does). Or even an afterlife necessarily.

The god idea in itself does not contradict scientific evidence. Yet many of the claims made by those who follow Christianity, Judaism, and/or Islam do. Several events that happen in the scriptures of these religions have been scientifically shown to be extremely improbable, if not impossible.

So what’s next? Vjack over at Atheist Revolution asks the same question. What do you think? My first response is rebranding. Humanism or Secular Humanism* sound like a positive direction. While still encompassing all the ideals and ethics, it speaks to a much wider group of people.

*-Isms suck, but are necessary in order to bring people closer to one another who share the same ideas and ideals. What is an -ism anyway. Just a noun.

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  • Larro

    SO TRUE!

    I have, for a while now, been leery to call myself an atheist (not in public, but simply as a label)…though I am an atheist.
    I do prefer humanist, secularist, or secular humanist much more. Because it is more than the mere disbelief (or without belief) in a god or gods. To me it’s more about religions impact on society.
    As to the gist of this post; I am afraid that a whole lot of people would find themselves missing something without going to church. As much as I would like to see these institutions crumble to dust. After all going to church is as much a social gathering (if not more so) than actually seeking redemption and understanding of a god. The sad thing is that you don’t go to church services to debate the theological premise the priest, pastor or whatever are shoving down your throat. That’s for bible study. Which is a farce. A bunch of people get together to reaffirm their beliefs in a book.
    Don’t get me wrong, I understand that the internet and other real world social interactions of atheists (it’s so much easier to type) are similar, but with this caveat: Free thinking individuals (I would hope) seem to be more open about discussing religion than someone who is tied down to believe ONE way or the highway. I’m not about everybody being atheist, what I am about is letting people choose what they want to believe because religion does not allow that. Children are not allowed to choose beginning from the earliest stages in their lives.
    I could go on, but I will leave it at that.

  • Larro

    Christianism…LOL.