July 31, 2011

• An Atheist’s Response

  Recently I was given a book by a pretty hardcore Christian friend of mine called The God Who Is There: Finding Your Place In God’s Story. Before I get into the book, first a little background about me and the friend. As you probably know, I’m an Atheist. My friend is a coworker who I have known for almost seven years and in that time he has frequently tried to convert me to his religion and way of thinking. The past year or so he has grown even more Christian, going as far as to recently get rid of cable television because it, essentially, does not bring him closer to God. Now I should clarify that while I am an Atheist, I was raised Catholic, but not heavy Catholic; in other words while I went to CCD every Saturday morning, I did not go to a Catholic school and we did not go to church, well, ever. So it is not like Christianity is a completely foreign concept to me. While I have never read the Bible cover to cover, I have read very small bits and pieces of it. This book that he gave me, though, is supposed to be kind of like a summary of the Bible.

  Contrary to the common misconception of people’s opinions of Atheists, like other Atheists, I have always been open minded to other people’s views. In the past, I have read other books on Christianity, including a book given to me by a coworker who was a Jehovah Witness. My theory has always been that nobody knows for sure what, if anything, comes after we die. The frustrating and beauty of the whole religious argument is that there is no way possible for anybody to be proven right or wrong; anybody who says otherwise is so arrogant and has their head shoved so far up their ass that it comes out their neck. I don’t believe because there is no proof that any of this is true. And those who believe suspend their common sense and reality to believe things that just aren’t possible or have never proven to be possible: the virgin birth, the talking snake, the resurrection and for Muslims, the promise of 72 virgins upon dying. None of it seems plausible or even close to being even slightly possible. Perhaps I’m being difficult here, but why is it that when it comes to religion, to have faith, you must believe the irrational.

  So back to the book. I can certainly see how and why hardcore Christians become believers and are so good at convincing people to become believers; they essentially brainwash people. The pound home the same talking points over and over, some exactly the same, some the same but just worded differently. This book, along with the Bible and followers, start by recruiting people with the promise of God’s love and then rule by fear; fear that if you do not live a God like life, then you will go to hell, where nobody wants to go. The God they write and speak about is the most egotistical, selfish, self centered, bipolar, schizophrenic, being who has ever existed. What’s more, they seem to intentionally leave many questions unanswered and purposely contradict themselves countless times as to add confusion so that people are left too intimidated to question their stories.

  And why is it that people are supposed to be judged by their God based on their treatment of others and if they have done good on this earth, but on the other hand, sexual immorality get’s scored much worse than anything else. Are they just trying to sexually suppress people so that they can more easily control them? Look, if their God created us to be special and different from any other beings and part of those differences is being able to have sex for joy and pleasure, then wouldn’t it make sense that sex should be okay?

  Another thing I noticed is the warped rituals that seem to come out of nowhere. God is talking to somebody about life and being holy and then all of a sudden out of the fucking blue he tells him to cut off the tip of his baby’s dick. Circumcision is everywhere in the Bible. God seems to have an uncontrolled fixation on the cock. While I am certainly pro circumcision from a visual standpoint, I have yet to learn from the book or anybody else why or how deforming one’s penis makes you more holy. I guess it is a good thing they stopped with the tip of the dick; hell they could have decided that having two balls was wicked and you would have to cut one of those off too.

  I had to decide how I wanted to go into this book; should I go in with the thought that all of it was true and it would just be reconfirmed or should I go in with the thought that I’m an Atheist and this is God on trial and the book is the evidence being presented and so the burden of proof is on Christianity. I went with the latter, because, well, it is what I believe. And as you might have guessed, my opinion and beliefs have not changed; in fact it only reconfirmed and strengthened my belief that religion is the biggest scam ever perpetrated upon mankind. Honestly, the whole thing just seemed to be one load of shit piled onto another heaping load of shit, piled onto more stinking pile of shit.

  In conclusion, certainly there is nothing wrong with having faith. There is nothing wrong with being a believer; whatever anybody chooses to believe is their own personal business. Everybody should have the right to practice what they want to practice and believe what they want to believe. It is when people try to force their beliefs onto others and try to force people to live the way they believe they should live. Look, who am I to tell people how to live their lives; what is the right way for me to live might not be the right way for others to live and vice versa. Yet, this is something that seems to be missed by those extremely religious people like my friend who insist that they know the best way for me to live my life. All I can say to that is you live your life the way you see fit and I will live mine the way I see fit and know that in the end, nobody is right and nobody is wrong. Once again, I say that nobody can be proven correct or wrong in this whole debate, all we can do is live the best life we can based on what we feel to be proper and leave it at that.

  • 5:30 pm
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