Religious definitions – extracts from an antitheist’s dictionary.

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Antitheist's Dictionary

Abbot

An abbot is a father who isn’t a father. He’s the head of a monastery in charge of a bunch of celibate monks. So there’s little chance of him being a father at all.

Abbots spend their days organising silences, talks with fictitious supernatural beings, sitting around and getting into bad habits.

Despite tales of debauchery with nuns they are not supposed to think about their todgers at all let alone touch them. They have to go to bed wearing boxing gloves.

The Abbot may also organise the brewing of lethal beers and wines. These are in no way to be used for pleasure or intoxication. I’m not really quite sure why they do brew the stuff if they are not allowed to enjoy it.

Humanism – I am a Humanist – This is what it means:

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I am a caring, positive human being who believes that religions are created by people and not handed down from some god who is concerned with our fate or has a purpose for us.

I believe religion is used as a means of gaining power (and wealth) by leaders and nations.

I believe that religion has been a source and focus for violence, oppression and intolerance and still is.

I believe people can create clear moral ethics and laws, a purpose for their existence and structure for society without requiring religion.

I took the following from the British Humanist Party. It’s something I agree with:

  • trusts to the scientific method when it comes to understanding how the universe works and rejects the idea of the supernatural (and is therefore an atheist or agnostic)
  • makes their ethical decisions based on reason, empathy, and a concern for human beings and other sentient animals
  • believes that, in the absence of an afterlife and any discernible purpose to the universe, human beings can act to give their own lives meaning by seeking happiness in this life and helping others to do the same.

https://humanism.org.uk/humanism/

Burnt at the stake for speaking the truth! – That’s religious fanaticism for you!

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Giordano Bruno was a genius.  He lived in the late sixteenth century. He was a follower of Nicolaus Copernicus .

Giordano stated three things:

a. That Jesus was not divine

b. The sun was the centre of the solar system

c. The universe was infinite and had an infinite number of habitable planets

The Christian Church (loving, kind and nurturing) took exception to his words. They pinioned his tongue so that he could no longer speak the heresy and burnt him at the stake.

This is what ISIS are doing right now. This is what religious fanatics and fundamentalists do when they have power.

Fortunately we had an Enlightenment in Europe and fought for the right of Free Speech. We no longer get burnt to death in agony for heresy.

 

A conversation about god between an Antitheist and a Christian.

Posted on by Opher

 

‘Without God there is no meaning or purpose to life!’god_thirty_two_feet_per_second_737055

‘I think that’s the problem Brian. The human mind is put together in a way that it looks for the answers to problems, it seeks solutions. That’s what’s made us so successful. We look for answers. We’re very good at it. That’s where all our science and technology came from.’

‘This world was created. Man was created. God created that mind you speak of, for us to use.’

‘Nope. Logic breakdown here, Brian. In primitive times our mind evolved to solve problems – predators, hunting, farming, tools. There’s no end to what we do. Our mind put us apart and gave us an advantage. The problem is that it is hotwired to solve problems. When the problem is a technical problem it is fine – we can fathom out a solution. It’s when we come up on the big things that we have a problem.’

‘God created the big things as well as the little.’

‘In primitive times man looked at the sky, the stars, sun, moon, seasons and weather and tried to understand them. There was no logic or science that he could apply so he invented a supernatural explanation. We like things to be tidy.’

‘If you don’t believe in God your life has no purpose. If God does not exist the whole universe has no purpose.’

‘Yep.’

‘But that does not make sense. How can you believe that?’

‘Well making up something unknowable to explain the unknowable doesn’t solve anything.’

‘God can be experienced.’

‘In that case it’s different. But I’ve never experienced god. Until I do I remain unconvinced.’

‘But you do experience God. You have a wondrous mind. You live in a wondrous universe. Surely you can’t believe that has happened by chance. God created it all. God created you in his image.’

‘Nope. I believe it was by chance. There is no logic in religious belief that explains any purpose. It merely puts a supernatural unfathomable layer in place. It does nothing for me.’

‘So how do you explain your mind, life, the incredible cosmic pattern and order of the universe? The incredible organisation of atoms and energy?’

‘Awesome. Majestic. Mystical. And all out of the wonders of the basic laws of physics and time. The universe is awesome. But it does not presuppose the existence of god. They are the incredible laws of nature we see at work in an infinite universe. Spectacular – but designed? No. I think not.’

‘God guides you through this wonderful world.’

‘Take the human body Brian. Did god design that?’

‘Of course.’

‘Well he didn’t make a very good job of it did he?’

‘You telling me that Naomi Campbell can be improved on?’

‘I certainly could be,’ I mused with my mind drifting to Naomi’s physique. ‘But that’s not the point. The human body is fundamentally flawed. There’s our backbone for instance. It’s not designed for walking upright. Who in their right mind would put the reproductive system and excretory system opening at the same place. Unless they had a wicked sense of humour that is. And I don’t suppose god is allowed to be wicked is he? And then there’s the respiratory tract opening into the digestive tract so you drown in your own vomit. Your brain stuck out on a breakable neck. I could go on and on. It’s not good design. If I can think of ways of improving it then surely god could have done it better? No. The reason it’s the way it is comes down to the way it has evolved and not how it was designed.’

‘God has a reason for everything he does. We can’t be expected to understand.’

‘We have evolved to come up with solutions. The solution we found for the universe and us is god. Look around at the mess the world’s in. Do you see signs of an intelligent force at work here? Guiding us forward?’

‘God is guiding people. He is there if you turn to him. The world is in a mess because so many choose not to turn to him.’

‘Well I don’t use god as a prop and I’m a positive force. I work towards making the world better without promise of a future after-life or rewards. I do it because I see it as logical. A world built of trust and love is a damn sight better than one based on hatred. I do it because it is human nature to help.’

‘God guides you without you even knowing. And it is human nature to be cruel and evil.’

‘Well shame he doesn’t sort out some of the evil bastards while he’s at it. And I believe that good and evil are human creations. They come out of our hearts. We can make the world better – ourselves! Not through some divine intervention. We create evil. It is in us. We can overcome it. Forget the mumbo jumbo. Let’s set about putting things right ourselves. That’s what we’re good at!’

 

Poetry – God – the musings of a mystical antitheist.

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I’m an atheist. I do not believe in god or religion. I believe in science, carbon dating, Darwin, evolution and the Big Bang.

I believe the Bible and Koran were written by men. They are not ‘the word of god’.

I see no evidence of creation in the human body or the universe. I see a lot of things we do not understand with out limited intelligence and perhaps we never will.

I acknowledge the good things that religion has produced: the cathedrals, works of great beauty, poems and writings that move people, morality that helps people live their lives happily, comfort and purpose in times of desolation.

I believe in tolerance, peace, love, free speech and the right of people to believe what ever they want. I think we should argue our case with passion.

We don’t all have to agree – just respect each other.

I also see the terrible things that have been carried out in the name of religion (and still are), the slaughter of unbelievers, pogroms, crusades, jihads, persecution, holocausts, genocides, crucifixions, beheadings, burnings and discrimination. I see the crazed fanaticism of the fundamentalists and the intolerance, bigotry and hatred it induces. I see the indoctrination of small children and cultural brainwashing.

I find the beliefs of creationists and fundamentalists (along with the dogged quoting of religious texts) absurd. I have studied how those texts were put together and find their formation, translation and content all extremely suspect. They were written by various men, long after the events, passed down generations by oral tradition and accrued into books. These books were then further culled to remove ‘heretic’ works and mistranslated. What we have is a mish-mash of contradictory offerings, purporting to be the word of god but really a collection of writings from many suspect sources. No more the word of god than my poems.

We seem to have a need to believe in some deity and magic. It is a psychological need. We’ve worshipped suns, moons, rocks, idols, ancestors, cats, trees, and supernatural superbeings who we have placed in the sky in heavens, valhallas, cloud palaces above Olympus, paradises and the rest. We have had gods and goddesses cavorting in human form, creating catastrophes, drinking, fornicating and causing mayhem. We have idolised, worshipped, sacrificed and beseeched them all. Most of the ones that were previously idolised to the point of martyrdom and believed in to the point of death have fallen by the wayside. Once they ‘ruled’ over millions but now we no longer know their names.

It just so happens that we have a few that are presently flavour of the month. Wars will be fought over them, sacrifices made, much prayer and offerings will be carried out. The only trouble is that they do not exist. They were invented by men (few by women) and are now being used to gain power.

Our present religions will fade and die. No doubt they will be replaced by others equally incredible.

Meanwhile science continues to push back the frontiers of knowledge so that we understand more and more.

I believe all religion is a product of human imagination but I can be persuaded that there are mystical forces at work in the universe. They are probably scientifically verifiable – given time.

My idea of a ‘god’ is more akin to atomic energy. It’s an incredible force that pervades the entire universe. I do not think it is conscious, has purpose or thinks we humans are anything special. It is. It is something in the midst of nothing. It came into being and that in itself is miraculous. Forget the rest.

I am an antitheist because I believe all religion is false, it creates more harm than it does good and it is used by the powerful to gain more power and wealth. It is one more cause of misery, hatred, violence, bigotry, intolerance and arrogance. We’re better off without it.

The end verse is meant to be humorous.

God

God is energy

God is light

God is sound

God holds the atoms

That swirl in the ground

 

God is flowing

Through you and me

God is the galaxy

And electricity

 

Religion is dogma

Religion is a lie

That separates us from energy

And puts God in the sky

 

I don’t believe in God

Jesus, Buddha, Krishna or Mohammed

They’re all just people

That lived on this planet

 

I don’t believe in prayer

Or a God that cares

A force for good or evil

With a face that stares

 

Religion is an evil

Full of pomp and hypocrisy

Useful by the powerful

There for all to see

 

If God were alive

In such simplicity

Guiding our lives

On a planet in this galaxy

One tiny speck of dust

In a raging sea

He’d appear the same to you

As he does to me

 

Not as Jesus to some

Just the chosen few

Jehovah to some others

Creating pagans and true

Giving out commands

Ordering us around

With strange beliefs

And dictats profound

 

No – God is the atom and the energy

The fuse that makes them dance

And the time to let them be

God is around within and without

With no Heaven or Hell

On this magic roundabout

 

When I think about religion

Perhaps there’s something I missed

Maybe God’s just punishing me

For being an atheist.

 

Opher 8.2.99

Freedom of expression under attack – Another atheist blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh!

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Writing a blog and expressing your views about religion can be a dangerous thing to do. Two bloggers who were atheists who criticised religion have been brutally hacked to death for expressing their views.

Bangladesh arrests chief suspect in US blogger murder “He was brutally hacked to death this morning with big knives just 500 yards (460 metres) from his home at Dhaka’s Begunbari area,” local police chief Wahidul Islam told AFP.

DHAKA: A blogger was hacked to death in the Bangladesh capital on Monday, in the latest brutal attack on the country’s independent writers, a senior officer said.

Police have arrested two men over the murder which comes just weeks after an American aethist blogger was also hacked to death in Dhaka, a crime that triggered international outrage, the officer said.

It is alright to stand up and state that you believe in god.

It is worthy of a death sentence to state that you believe all religion is the result of medieval thinking, indoctrination, psychological need and fanciful superstition.

This blogger does not believe in any god, believes that all religion is harmful and despises the intolerance, cruelty and violence carried out in the name of all religions.

However, this blog is open to all. All religious people of whatever persuasion are welcome. I may not agree with you but I would fight for your right to believe in whatever you like. I relish debate, argument and freedom to express your views.

Intolerance, bigotry, fanaticism and hatred must always be opposed.

I support a world of love, harmony and peace to all people.

I wish all fellow bloggers my best wishes whether they are atheists or religious! You are welcome here – this is the blog of freedom.

My thoughts go out to the relatives and friends of the murdered bloggers. They heroically stood up against the fascism of fanaticism. The world needs more like them!

Time for reasonable Muslims to stand up and be counted!

Posted on by Opher

The image of Islam is dominated by the views of the militant Jihadists. They are setting the agenda and seemingly thousands of young English Muslims are taking up their extreme version of Islam.

I am an antitheist. I believe all religion is constructed by human beings and there is no god. However I am tolerant and I believe in freedom. I believe that all people should have the right to follow and practice whatever religion they want.

Perhaps it is time for moderate Muslims to stand up and be counted. If Islam is a tolerant religion that means ‘peace’ then there should be an active opposition to the barbarity being practiced by the extremists.

Do Muslims around the world believe:

  • Non-Muslims must be converted to Islam?
  • That failure to convert is punishable by death?
  • That apostasy is punishable by death?
  • That blasphemy is punishable by death?
  • That anyone should be stoned to death for even the severest crime?
  • That people should be forced to adopt strict codes of dress such as Burqas for women and beards for men?
  • That women should not be educated?
  • That all the world should be forced to convert to Islam?
  • That personal freedom is wrong?
  • That music and the arts should be banned?
  • That other religion’s images should be destroyed?
  • That the West has a war against Islam?
  • That it is ever right to punish people with violence and mutilation?
  • That women are second class citizens who do not have the same rights as men?
  • That politics and decision making are the province of men?
  • That the culture of 600 AD Islam is preferable to that of modern civilisation?
  • That having large families is good?
  • That Allah has given them the right to impose their views on everyone else in the harshest manner possible?

If reasonable Muslims do not believe that then perhaps they need to shout about it and take active steps to stop their sons from getting caught up in such intolerant extremism.

The alternative is surely that we all learn to coexist in peace, tolerance and freedom. That those of religious persuasion can accept the views of others, not oppress people and live in harmony.

There is no room for hatred.

We can build a positive zeitgeist and make the world a better place! We can!!

Islam means peace?

Posted on by Opher

Supposedly Islam literally means peace. So why is it that the Islamic community is not loudly disclaiming the militants who are killing and terrorising non-Muslims in Iraq? Surely this barbaric intolerance is not what the religion is about?

I think there has to be a debate here. Either Islam stands for peace, tolerance and civilisation or it stands for primitive barbarity?

Muslims need to decide. There needs to be a strong outcry from Muslims against these atrocities.

If the British government issued an ultimatum to all Muslims in Britain instructing them to give up their religion or be executed the whole world would rightly be outraged.

Why is the British Muslim community so quiet?

See my views on why we should rid ourselves of all religion on Opher’s World: https://ophersworld.com/

This is what I believe!

Posted on by Opher

I live on a small planet going round an average sun.

My body is an incredible phenomenon created by billions of years of evolution. My consciousness is even more amazing and created by the same way.

My awareness came out of nothing when I was in the womb and will go back to nothing after I die.

I share this incredible planet with billions of other life forms which evolved in the same way as me. Many of them share the same attributes as me. Some are quite different but all have very similar biochemistry. This life is a spectrum created by the evolution of the stupendous DNA molecule. This DNA molecule interacts with proteins to create a phenomena we call life.

At this moment in time my species, having wiped out all other human species, has temporarily overcome most of the predators that kept our numbers in check and all other limiting factors. We are not likely to be eaten by fierce animals, killed by disease or restricted by lack of food, water or adverse conditions. Therefore our numbers are increasing exponentially and we are using up space, resources and the natural environment. In the process we are killing off other species at an alarming rate. We do not seem to understand that we are part of a fragile ecosystem the destruction of which will destroy us. We do not recognise other life forms as possessing intelligence, consciousness or feelings. They are lesser forms of life to be cruelly destroyed or thoughtlessly eradicated.

Many of our species have formed a superstitious belief that we were ‘created’ and there is a wonderful ‘plan’ for us. They are not too bothered by the destruction around us. It is part of the ‘plan’.

Many of our species are sitting comfortably in their own little bubble in which the ‘real’ world does not intrude. That’s just how they like it.

Many of our species are obsessed with owning more whatever the cost.

Many of our species are living hand to mouth and trying desperately to survive. They will use and eat whatever comes their way.

Unless this is addressed on a global scale we will thoughtlessly destroy something that is miraculous.

I do not believe we will destroy life. What is left after we are gone, even if it is only bacterial slime, will form another incredible, but different ecosystem, after a few billion years.

It is the thoughtless cruelty I detest.

Of course we can do something about it and alter the Zeitgeist!!