|
God would be an atheist...
A rational look at religion, morality, politics and daily life |
|
HOME / This Week About GWBAA WEEKLY COLUMNS Previous Print column Why subscribe? Schedule Terms & Rates Subscribe Online column Subscribe BASICS Definitions Atheism Faith God Religion etc Analysis The meaning of life Morality etc NEXT STEPS Buy Discuss Join Read REVIEWS CONTACT Link to this site All Rights Reserved World Copyright © Martin Foreman PREVIOUSLY... Ok, Yahweh, we get the point. Having usurped your father El and siblings Baal and Asherah, you’re still not secure in your position as The One And Only God. You need to enforce loyalty in your worshippers. In modern terms, commandments one to four are the equivalent of martial law – military decrees after a coup d’état. One commandment will do It is not yet certain whether a new prayer will need to be uttered at the Donning of the Condom. Something along the lines of “Oh, Lord, protect us from infection, but allow one or two sperm to creep out so that there is at least an outside chance of bringing yet another bawling infant into this crowded world. Amen” Protect us from infection I didn’t like the emptiness, the disconnectedness, the lack of direction and the prospect of it all ending when I die. It wasn’t long before … I was glad to be back under the umbrella of my faith.” An honest statement, but nothing to do with God. Reich tells us that he is a believer not because he has proof of God’s existence, but because he does not like the alternative. Good, evil and self-preservation Let’s be honest. The Democrats didn’t win the election, the Republican-in-Chief lost it. George W at least has a vision, no matter how awkwardly he articulates it. Make the world more American, make rich Americans richer and ignore the bleating of those whose lives and livelihoods are destroyed in the process. Who won? Others might see inconsistency, but I was proud of these changes. At school I had learnt that if I was intellectually honest, my perspective on the world would change as new information shed light on the old. The swing of the pendulum |
Column 107 Adults only Sex, drugs and religion By © Martin Foreman Word Count: 795 words Publication date: May 13, 2007 Print publications wishing to syndicate the column should click here. Individual subscribers wishing to receive columns by e-mail should click here. Sex, drugs and religion have a lot in common. Each can make you feel good about yourself, each can be addictive and each can do great harm. Look at each in turn. Sex brings many people great pleasure. For some, the overwhelming physical sensation is enough; for others, the orgasm and everything that leads up to it are secondary to the emotions of love and happiness that the sexual act engenders. Sex can bring such joy that it sometimes seems that the sexual act should be compulsory. Every adult of sound mind should be sexually active at least two or three times a week. And if we fail to achieve that hedonistic state, we should at least insist that every sexual act freely entered into by consenting adult partners should be both legal and moral. There is a negative side to sex. Unwanted pregnancy and disease for those who fail to take appropriate precautions. The violence of sexual assault and rape. The self-destruction of sexual addiction. Sexphobes – people who do not understand sex and who fear its power – claim these risks as reason to limit sexual activity as much as possible. But all human activity has its downside – people drown in backyard swimming-pools and are injured in car accidents. We choke on fishbones and die in plane crashes. We fall down stairs and off bicycles. In a rational world, sex should be no more subject to regulation than pools or cars, fish or planes, stairways or bikes. Drugs bring altered states of mind, from the cup of coffee that helps us through the morning to the nicotine that calms our nerves, from the alcohol that bonds friends to the ecstasy that enables us to dance through the night, from the pills that ward off depression to the marijuana that wards off pain. Taken at the appropriate time and in appropriate quantities, drugs enhance our humanity. They relax us and enable us to see the world in a clearer, calmer light. Some of our leading artists, our must successful businessmen and politicians work best when stimulated by moderate quantities of caffeine, alcohol, cannabis or other substance. Few drugs are harmful in themselves. It is not one tablet of ecstasy which causes damage to the brain but tablet after tablet taken night after night. It is not the two glasses of wine with dinner which destroy the liver, but the bottle of vodka downed each day. When we take too much of any drug, it is not only ourselves who suffer. Relationships with friends and family suffer. Strangers are assaulted and robbed, sometimes killed. Our current drug laws are criminally ineffective. A just legal system based on harm would outlaw nicotine and alcohol and legalize marijuana, ecstasy and opium. Like sex, all drugs should be available to consenting adults of sound mind. Unlike sex, every drug should be taxed and regulated to provide consumers with information about the benefits and dangers. And religion? Like sex and drugs, religion causes little harm to those who practise it in moderation. In the privacy of one’s own home, the idea of a loving god – or simply of love as a supernatural force – comforts millions. A quiet prayer can soothe away cares. But like sex and drugs, religion, when taken to extremes, destroys bodies and minds. As people become more addicted to their faith and imbibe it in stronger doses, religion perverts their thought and destroys their ability to reason. The Bible, Koran and other “holy” books promote lies while calling them truths. Through the “word of God”, each religion claims morality but proves itself to be immoral. In its most intense form, religion encourages repression and violence. Extremists call for the conversion or extermination of non-believers – and death for believers who transgress some of their religion’s laws. Few societies attempt to control religion or mitigate its harm. American justice pursues foreign Muslims who plot against the nation with much greater rigor than it goes after American-born Christians who call for the death penalty for homosexuals. To any rational being, this is anathema. Religion should be regulated like any other human activity. Those who use it to practise or preach harm towards others or restrictions on their freedom should be sentenced to long years in prison. And while we can allow adults to worship their mythical God in private, we must protect our children. State and federal laws should enshrine freedom OF religion for adults – and freedom FROM religion for all those under eighteen. In every state religious indoctrination of any child should be a serious crime. Freedom implies responsibility and respect for others’ rights. Since religion is incapable of regulating itself, it is time that Congress and state assemblies stepped in to protect its citizens and above all, our young.
|
If God existed, he would... If God existed, he would be an atheist. After forty years a Vatican commission has recommended that Pope Pius XII, who led the Roman Catholic Church between 1939 and 1958, should be considered for sainthood. The delay is considered by some to have been caused by Pius' less than fulsome condemnation of the Nazi regime and crimes during and after the Second World War. In contrast, the last Pope, John Paul II, was placed on the fast-track to sainthood within two years of his death, at least partly because a French nun appears to be no longer afflicted by Parkinson's Disease. That the one Pope should be considered a candidate for sainthood despite his coddling of Hitler and his cronies and the other should be considered one because of a doubtful diagnosis of disease does little to increase respect for the Roman Church. 
Popular introduction to the writers behind the Bible from historical researcher and journalist Fred Glynn. Click the picture for more information. The 2007 General Assembly of the International Humanist and Ethical Union will held in Turin, Italy on June 17 and 18. To register, apply by May 16. More information and registration here The number of new Southern Baptists is falling. In 1950, SBers baptized one person for every 19 church members. That ratio dropped to one for every 43 church members in 2003. In October 2005 Southern Baptist Convention president, Bobby Welch, set a goal of 1 million baptisms in the following 12 months. Nine months later, 258 of the 43,465 churches reported they had held 3,494 baptisms. If all churches baptized at the same rate over the twelve month period, the church would have achieved 784,000 new members. Rational minds suspect that the actual number baptized was much lower. Source: here |
Search this site WEEKLY COLUMN NOT YET AVAILABLE IN YOUR AREA? Readers: e-mail me the name of the publication you would like to see carry GWBAA... (and / or contact the editor directly) Editors: check out the introductory offers for free trial and low-cost syndication 
Advertisement 
|