Church Sign Double Takes

As I was driving home today from my parents a few church sign just made me shake my head. So, for your enjoyment and contemplation I thought I would share them with you.

"Daily prayers will diminish your cares!" -- Yes, I always feel better after talking to my invisible friends!

"God gives every bird its food but he does not throw it into its nest"-- When God is done playing hide-and-seek with bird food do you think that he will have time to play peek-a-boo with us?

Atheist 13 Meme

I decided to answer the questions in the Atheist 13 meme that has been going around not because I was tagged, but just because I felt it would be another great way for my readers to get to know me since I am still new to the blogging world.

Q1. How would you define “atheism”?

Atheism is the lack of belief in any god.

Q2. Was your upbringing religious? If so, what tradition?

I grew up going to a conservative baptist church. Practically anytime the doors were open I was there. I was a leader in the youth group. I went door to door handing out fliers and witnessing. I even went to Bob Jones University for a year. It is only by the grace of reason that I am who I am today.

Q3. How would you describe “Intelligent Design”, using only one word?

TSIB (The Stupid It Burns) I know that isn't exactly one word, but it was closest

Q4. What scientific endeavor really excites you?

Transhumanisim

Q5. If you could change one thing about the “atheist community”, what would it be and why?

I wish we would all just shout from the rooftops that we are atheists and proud of it.

Q6. If your child came up to you and said “I’m joining the clergy”, what would be your first response?

I don't have kids, so I am not sure how I would respond. I am pretty sure that I would support him and I know that I would still love him.

Q7. What’s your favorite theistic argument, and how do you usually refute it?

"Evolution is just a theory." I show them link after link of what a theory means in regards to science. I love it when they quote the definition right from dictionary.com because at the bottom of the definition there it says " A theory in technical use is a more or less verified or established explanation accounting for known facts or phenomena: the theory of relativity." They always seem to miss that part.

Q8. What’s your most “controversial” (as far as general attitudes amongst other atheists goes) viewpoint?

I am not sure that I have one, I am pretty mainstream.

Q9. Of the “Four Horsemen” (Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens and Harris) who is your favourite, and why?

I haven't really read enough by any of them to know yet. I did read "The God Delusion" by Dawkins and throughly enjoyed every moment. Then I read "Letter to a Christian Nation" by Harris and found it to be a great little book. Currently I am reading "God is not Great" by Hitchens and so far it is also very good. I haven't read anything by Dennett except for a few articles online, but I am sure that we have something by him on our bookshelf that I will read sometime soon.

Q10. If you could convince just one theistic person to abandon their beliefs, who would it be?

My little sister. She is amazing and I love her even though I don't agree with her religious beliefs. We have agreed to not let religion get in the way of our relationship, but I really wish that we didn't have to keep ignoring the elephant in the room.

At this point I know that I am supposed to name 3 more people to be in the hot seat, but since I am so new to the atheist blogging community I don't really know anyone to name, so I am just going to say if you haven't been tagged yet then consider it your turn.

Welcome to Reality

This is a response to Karla's post titled Unpacking Truth Claims.

She states that she is a Christian because it lines up with reality. I have heard this line from other Christians and I have yet to see how Christianity fits reality.

I will start with the Bible. There are plenty of sections in the Bible that don't fit with reality. The Bible shows very clear signs that it was written by some very primitive people. These people were writing based on what they thought to be true. They obviously didn't have some of the great minds that we have today, nor did they have all the technology that we have today to make all the discoveries that we have made.

First, the Bible starts off with this story of how the Earth was created. Basically, the story says that God said it, and it happened. The theory of evolution has showed time and time again that this isn't how the Earth was created. I know that there are some Christians out there who say that God put Evolution in motion. Cut out the crap; if that is what God did, then that would have been recorded.

Second, I would like to point out the story of Noah and the Ark. I did a post on this a few weeks ago, so for a more complete justification of why this story doesn't line up with reality, read it and follow the links that I provided. For those that are reading this post, all I have to say is there is no way that a little over 4,000 years ago there were only 8 people and a few of each kind of animal. There would be all kinds of inbreeding problems and repopulation issues.

Finally, and probably most importantly, there isn't a shred of evidence for the Christian God or any other god. It is actually quite the opposite; there is plenty of evidence that all of the major monotheistic religions have conceptions of god that are incompatible with reality.

For a "fisk" of Karla's post titled Moral Framework see my husband Kevin's blog post. I hope that there are other readers out there that are enjoying this discussion.

Unmuddling Morality

In this post, I am taking apart a comment that Karla over at Answer Bearer wrote to me after I commented on her post entitled "Who is God?". In her post, she made the following statement:

There is no reality outside of Him. That is why a skeptic or an atheist has to borrow from the Christian worldview in order to substantiate their questions for there is no other reality.

I wasn't exactly sure where she was going with this statement, so I left a comment quoting it and asking:

Would you please explain what you mean by that statement, thanks.

Her response was as follows:

I believe that there is one foundational worldview that is truth, namely Biblical Christianity. Truth being that which corresponds to reality. All other worldviews borrow from the truth of Christianity to validate their positions. For instance, if someone claims that the existence of evil means that there is no God. For evil to exist there must be good as well. And for a person to know that there is good and evil there must be a way to distinguish between the two objectively. That way is a moral law which is inherently known by all people on a basic level (we may disagree with specifics but the basics we all maintain). If there is a moral law then there is a Moral Law Giver. So the skeptic or atheist borrows the concept of evil from Christainity to disprove the existence of God and only really finds he can't use that concept at all without first accepting God's existence. That's just one of the many examples of where one must borrow from Christianity to make sense of their questions.

I would like to "fisk" this comment (take it apart piece-by-piece) in hopes that other atheists will find this information helpful if they are ever in a similar situation and to also show Christian apologists that this argument has many flaws.

I believe that there is one foundational worldview that is truth, namely Biblical Christianity. Truth being that which corresponds to reality.

If I were to say that I believe that there is one worldview that is truth, "Pastafarianism" (belief in the Flying Spaghetti Monster), on what basis would you say that your belief is the one and only truth and that mine was not?

All other worldviews borrow from the truth of Christianity to validate their positions.

I have a feeling that anyone who holds true to another religion would say that they validate their position based on their particular religion as well. How can you say that your religion, Christianity, is the only true religion? There are people throughout the world that have never even heard of Christianity; do they also borrow from the truth of Christianity to validate their positions?

For instance, if someone claims that the existence of evil means that there is no God. For evil to exist there must be good as well. And for a person to know that there is good and evil there must be a way to distinguish between the two objectively. That way is a moral law which is inherently known by all people on a basic level (we may disagree with specifics but the basics we all maintain).

I agree with you on this point.

If there is a moral law then there is a Moral Law Giver.

This point is just thrown out there, but not really explained. How does the fact that there is a moral law mean that there has to be a law-giver? I have heard this idea before and I find it utterly absurd for a number of reasons. Here are two of them.

First, this thought process assumes that there is one moral law that has been and is followed by all people. That just isn't the case. What we considered morally right and wrong in the past isn't what we consider morally right and wrong now.

One example of this is slavery. In the past, slavery was widely accepted and considered morally right, but according to today's standards slavery is considered morally wrong and rightly so. This can't even be twisted around to say that that Christians found slavery to be wrong in the past because in fact the Bible condones slavery (Exodus 21:2-11, Exodus 21:20-21, Leviticus 25:44-46, Ephesians 6:5, and 1 Timothy 6:1-2).

Even today, there are very different moral standards around the world. In some places it is acceptable to have more than one wife, or to treat women as far less than equal, but here in the US those practices aren't accepted.

Second, the idea of a moral law-giver says that we as humans are only moral to please this giver. It is a very sad thought indeed if everyone is acting morally right just to please some giver so that he rewards us and doesn't punish us. This idea of a giver doesn't take into account that we are mature and want to do what is right. This idea says we do what is right because we are afraid of punishment or want to earn another gold star.If the only reason that Christians act morally right is because they are afraid of punishment or want to reap rewards in heaven then I am sure glad that they are Christians and hope that they never stop caring what God thinks of them because then there could be some serious problems.

So the skeptic or atheist borrows the concept of evil from Christainity to disprove the existence of God and only really finds he can't use that concept at all without first accepting God's existence.

The concept of evil isn't a concept that the Christians own. I hope that through this blog post and the links that I have provided at the end you see that is perfectly clear.

That's just one of the many examples of where one must borrow from Christianity to make sense of their questions.

I would love to hear more examples. I truly love to have discussions and debates with people who are very strong in their beliefs.

In conclusion, I would like to recognize my sources for this blog post.
From Ebon Musings: Mere Christianity, Unmoved Mover, and The Ineffable Carrot and the Infinite Stick. I also would like to thank my wonderful husband Kevin for his input and editing help.

Pick and Pair Dinner

I will order the moderate-Christianity plate with a side of gays-are-evil and, um, how about the loving-God-salad (hold the hell, of course). Oh, and before I forget, I would like to start with an appetizer; the grateful-prayer platter sounds wonderful.

There are so many Christians out there who want to say, "I am a Christian, but I do believe in science. There is a lot of compelling evidence for evolution, but I am going to have to say that being gay is wrong because the Bible says so." Those are also the ones that say "Well, some of the stories in the Bible aren't meant to be taken literally. There was no way Noah and his sons and daughters repopulated the earth, but the part of the Bible that talks about God coming back one day; that's going to happen and you need to be ready."

The Bible isn't a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. At least, the one that I read growing up didn't say "If you want to go to heaven, turn to page 379," or "If you want to sit in the belly of a whale, turn to page 168." You can't just throw out the parts that you don't like or that you feel are outdated and just follow the parts that are warm and cuddly.

I detest when Christians enter into an debate with atheists and, when we call them out on a certain part of the Bible, say "Well, that part isn't meant to be followed anymore, or that was just a story, not something that really happened." I say they either need to own the Bible -- the whole thing -- as true, or denounce it as a fairy tale, but stop picking and choosing which parts of it fit their lives today.

Bring it!

This blog idea came from a post over at a blog I recently discovered, The Summer Squirrel. In a post that she titled The Sermon she described her Christian relatives as thin skinned when their religion came under attack. Well, that got me thinking about how as Atheists we don't seem to quake in our boots at the thought of a religious person telling us that we are wrong and we need to believe in their particular god or we are going to endure some kind of wrath. In fact a good number of us laugh when this occurs or at the very least smile and then without much hesitation we start into our speech of how we arrived at the ideas that we have.

I am so happy to be an atheist and know exactly how I would defend my position against most religious people. I actively seek to debate Christians so that I not only can strengthen my debating skills and reasoning skills, but also to show them that my position is built on facts.

There Is No Script

Today I am going to blog about one of my favorite things about being an Atheist, I know that I am in charge of my life. I know that I can make decisions independently, I don't have to wait on any god to "show" me the right choice. I know that if I want to do something I can go for it.

I know that this doesn't always mean that my plan are going to work out the way that I want them to. Sometimes I am going to fail, or something is going to happen to block my way, but this doesn't mean that I am going to give up and say "well I guess God didn't want me to do that." No, if it is something that I really want to do I am going to pick myself back up and try again.

Growing up I was always really confused about what I was supposed to do. I could never figure out what God's plan was for my life. It seemed as if I was playing a huge game of guess and check with God. I never seemed to get a clear answer like some of my other Christian friends said they got. I was told that I wasn't praying hard enough or studying the Bible often enough. So I would try to get closer to God, but still I wouldn't get any clear answers. This was all very frustrating and scary for me. I thought that God didn't care about me, or that maybe I wasn't saved at all since I wasn't getting answers like all my friends.

Now that I am an Atheist I feel free to make my own decisions and write my own life. I know that I am not following a script that has been written for me. My life has a lot of empty pages that I can use to live out all my dreams. I really wish that everyone knew they are the only ones that hold the key to the rest of their lives.

God Made Beer

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" That is what the bumper sticker of a truck in front of me read. That doesn't even make sense, according to the Bible I am pretty sure that God frowns on drinking. This is just one example of how people just assume that there is a god out there and really don't think about it.

This bumper sticker probably annoys me more than the bumper stickers that say "Jesus Loves You!" Those that are driving around with a bumper sticker that says God made beer are giving credence to the idea that there is a God, although most of them haven't set a foot in a church in years. This bumper sticker just goes to show how strong the idea that there is a God really is.

I think that it would be great if people like the guy driving this pickup truck would just stop and think about if the really do believe that there is a God. Then live their life accordingly, if they decide that they really do then maybe they should really look into what the Bible says, but if they decide that they don't then they need to stop furthering the acceptance of religion.

Playing Nice

Sorry for the brief absence, my husband and I just moved into our first home and as you can imagine we have been really busy.

With the move though I have been thinking about who our neighbors might be and what their beliefs may be and how that would influence our relationship with them. My husband and I would love to be good friends with our neighbors, but I can't help but be a little nervous that dream might be hindered by being Atheists.

As Atheists we are sometimes perceived by Christians as immoral corrupt people. This incorrect stereotype is spread not only from the pulpit of most churches, but also is repeated over and over in the Bible.

I feel that Atheists shouldn't stereotype Christians as they may stereotype us. Not all of them feel it is their duty to push their beliefs on every person that they meet. There are some that feel that God is very real, but also feel that not every person needs to believe in their God. Also as Atheists we shouldn't be rude with the way that we tell them that we don't believe the same things that they do. I know I hate it when Christians tell me that I am going to hell and that I am living in sin, but it doesn't help if I reply back with how stupid I think it is to believe in an invisible man.

I really wish that this wasn't an issue. I wish that this world was free from religion, but unfortunately that isn't the case. Now I am not saying that we shouldn't stand up for our rights, we still do need to fight when religious people try to change laws to push their world view. I am just saying that when our rights aren't being trampled we should be kind to those that believe differently than us. Why not try and kill them with kindness and change some of their opinions of us and then maybe try and change their minds about religion.