Burden of Proof

I have an apple in my hand.

Now, do I really have an apple in my hand? You can't know for sure until I show you my hand holding an apple, right? You might take my word for it, but that's only because it really doesn't impact you very much. But you sure wouldn't be willing to bet your life on it until I showed you an apple inside my hand.

Now what if I told you this apple was in fact Omniscient and outside the bounds of time and space?

Would you take my word for it?

Hypocrisy at its Finest

Anybody who knows the History of the Protestant Church also knows that one of the largest problems that Martin Luther had with the Catholic church is the fact that they sold "indulgences" which were basically tickets into heaven.

Martin Luther was under the impression that "Salvation through Grace alone" was the answer for entry into heaven. So it would stand to reason that Martin Luther's church would nowadays have nothing to do with accepting donations from its members for the purpose of reaching heaven.

But this is wrong.

It turns out that the current system that is in place is almost completely funded by its tenants. Also, one of the most holy acts that can be done by a human being is to give to charity. So therefore when one gives any amount of money to the church, they then have a better chance of getting into heaven. The same practice that Martin Luther so railed against.

Hypocrisy at its finest, ladies and gentlemen.

Book Burning (not by me)

I realize I promised new content yesterday, but you see the Muses were not upon me. I feel that most of my blogs should come from a source of inspiration, rather than a point of school essay- style forcing out of my tired head.

Today I have found inspiration.

The picture you see above may look harmless at first glance. It is simply three books being burnt side-by-side on a porch banister. Next to a dog bowl.

But how would you react to find out that two of these books are the two best selling books in history? That's right, one is the Bible and one is the Koran.

Now don't immediately be shocked or offended. It is for a noble cause. Besides, the third book is "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins.

But the Ultimate purpose of this demonstration was to expose the extreme intolerance of the religious. Fundamentalists from both religions will instantly find themselves willing to resort to violence to defend their personal collection of words. Atheists, meanwhile, are much more likely to consider the implications that such an action would mean.

The ultimate point is that this action must be viewed rationally. Every one of these books is nothing more than a specific arrangement of ink and paper, nothing more. To be offended at the destruction of an arrangement of paper is irrational. Nothing can be made sacred if we are to move forward in life.

Being An Atheist

I'm surprised at the amount of people I talk to who misunderstand what I mean when I tell them I'm an atheist. It doesn't mean I worship the devil (I don't even believe in him); it doesn't mean I am a Pagan, Wiccan, Buddhist, or anything of the sort; it doesn't necessarily mean that I am part of a rising tide of youths who are sick of the religious controlling our every thoughts and actions and restricting our freedoms.

But I am.

But that's a story for another post. Today I discuss why atheism is, as a great atheist once said, not a denial of Theism but instead a close, personal relationship with reality. The great Christopher Hitchens is given credit for saying, "That which can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence." This is certainly applicable in the case of every major religion whose creeds involved accepting some sort of higher power, or "God" but refused to grant any evidence beyond, "Well the Earth is kinda nice to live on, so a god must have designed it!"

Today we know this is due to millions of years' worth of mutation, adaptation, and evolution. We also know now that less than one millionth of one percent of the universe is habitable to humans. Turns out that all-powerful and all-knowing magic man in the sky was pretty inept after all.

God has hidden in many places beyond man's ability to perceive. In pagan days, God(s) was/were used to explain the rotation of the sun around the earth. Once Galileo came along, God was then used to explain natural phenomena such as earthquakes and hurricanes. But then once plate tectonics and meteorology came along, God began hiding before the creation of the Universe. What happened? Apparently in Old Testament times God was a fairly common visitor to the human race. Nowadays we'd have to cross dimensions just to catch a glimpse of the guy.

But soon those dimensions will be crossed. And God will run out of places to hide. The younger generation is largely waking up to this fact. But, as I said, that is a post for another day.