FreeThinkingAtheist.com

Found this post in an IMDB Beowulf forum. He's arguing against somebody who claimed Beowulf has "anti-Christian" themes in it, and someone posted a rather enlightening & inspiring thought on religion as a whole:  

Both Muslims and Christians have died for what they believe in - I kind of believe that's nothing but fanaticism. There is no logic in thinking that one religion should be more "believable" than another just because it has more followers. Christianity has most definitely had a rather expansive history, with colonization and crusades, while for instance Hinduism and Judaism aren't missionary religions, and therefore don't work as hard on "saving" people. (Or make them choose between the cross and the sword as the Christians did to the Muslims during the crusades).

A lot of old cultural treasures in Scandinavia were destroyed when Christianity arrived, so that it could be the ONLY religion. Of course when we later shifted to protestantism, they burned the catholic stuff. It's all p.r. If people want to believe in God, or whatever they feel like, it's fine by me, but one can't use physical evidence to prove the righteousness of faith. The point of having faith is that one should exercise it even without proof, right? I always saw that as the beauty of it. As soon as you start using history as some kind of proof, you'll end up noticing that people will behave the way they always have - selfish and greedy after power and money. God has nothing to do with it. Both Christianity and Islam are beautiful religions with a message of love though, so I hope all those believers out there starts actually READING their Bibles and Korans and starts to love each other a little more. Then maybe that particular part of history won't have to repeat itself.

Popularity: 34% [?]

    Yesterday, I attended a religious discussion event at my university. In a nutshell, the even creators intended on having a wide variety of religious world views present so that they could split them up where there was one religious view at each table. At each of these tables, there was a mediator present to ask questions on faith and each person answers the question. The whole purpose of the event was to educate others on your religion and to encourage respect of each other's beliefs.

    My table had me: the Atheist, a Muslim, two Christians, a Jew, a Catholic and a Pagan. We had quite a variety! Each person had excellent answers to just about every question. I learned a lot from the Jew and the Muslims in particular. The two Christians at the table seemed to be learning a lot from just about everybody. What I particularly liked about this event was the amount of respect I was given while representing the Atheists of the world. I'm so accustomed to being told things like "Oh, well Jesus forgives everybody, even Atheists like you", or "what?!?! you don't believe in God?? Aren't you afraid of going to hell????". But I received nothing of this sort while there. In fact, not only did I receive solid respect, but I also seemed to be enlightening on everything I said.

     Turns out, none of them knew hardly anything about what an Atheist is. The very first thing I said was "Alright, let's get this straight now. Atheism is not a religion. Atheists come in very different flavors. The only common belief Atheists share is that they lack the belief of a creator, God, or gods. It's not that they believe there IS no God, but rather, they lack the belief of a God. There are Atheists who believe there is no God, there are Atheists who claim we'll never know and just simply lack the belief."

    On the topic of what books our religions followed, one of the Christians asked "So what books to Atheists read, like science books?". I told him jokingly "anything by Richard Dawkins", and nobody got the joke which is a good thing I suppose. It means they are pro-faith, rather than anti-Atheist. I then told him that Atheists don't have a unified book like The New/Old Testaments, Koran or the Kabbalah. Atheism is not a religion. I told him the most common flavors of Atheists are the scientific ones who are heavily into science reading, and the humanist ones who approach things more from a humanist & philosophical way.

     On the topic of creation, every person gave their religion's view on how they got here. The Pagan surprisingly claimed to not know, but she thought the Big Bang was some sort of hoax. And EXTRA surprisingly, the rest of the people at the table didn't discredit the Big Bang Theory. In fact, one of the Christians tried explaining it to the Pagan girl, that our universe is expanding constantly and had to come from some single point. I then proceeded to explain to everyone just what a scientific theory IS, and how it's not just some made up hypothesis, that it's a conclusion that all the facts and evidence points to. I also explained that it remains a "theory" because they don't know what caused it. Just to leaves things open so they could relate to it, I even mentioned the possibility that even "God" could've caused the Big Bang and that was his medium for creation. In short, nobody knows. But I told them as religious people, they should never try and compete with science.

    Overall, it was a pretty cool experience, with pretty cool religious people. If only all religious people were like them! 

Popularity: 36% [?]

     I have to admit that what started me down the path of an becoming and Atheist is the Bible itself. The Bible forms the whole basis for Christian belief. Without credibility and validity to me, there can be no belief. From this point I ventured into doubt despite people telling me to just trust God. But in all reality, you cannot force yourself to believe in something you don't think is true, without going to drastic measures. Christians make it seem like I chose this path or something. Actually, it came quite naturally. It's the Bible that I probably dislike about religion the most. 

    Believe in whatever God you want. But do not trust a 2,500 year old book of folklore, that misleads the rest of your life into thinking you have to "serve" ANYBODY. Do not trust this very book that seems to heavily conflict with what is real, like science. If you have a need for a God in your life, it doesn't have to be the Christian God. Do you really trust the corrupted people who put the Testaments together in the first place? If God's word was intended to be in the Bible, his word has most surely been corrupted beyond belief at this point. Humankind is greedy, remember? Sure it's not really God's fault, it's the fault of humans. That's why you should not trust the Bible. Believe in what you want, but do not pour your very lives into the words of this untrustworthy book. 

Any reasonable human being should question what they believe in on a regular basis. I know I do. Just as Thomas Jefferson said: "Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear."

 Now, the Contradictions:

The Bible is riddled with repetitions and contradictions, things that are quick to point out in criticism. For instance:

- Genesis 1 and 2 disagree about the order in which things are created, and how satisfied God is about the results of his labors.

- The flood story is really two interwoven stories that contradict each other on how many of each kind of animal are to be brought into the Ark–is it one pair each or seven pairs each of the "clean" ones?

- The Gospel of John disagrees with the other three Gospels on the activities of Jesus Christ (how long had he stayed in Jerusalem–a couple of days or a whole year?)

- All four Gospels contradict each other on the details of Jesus Christ's last moments and resurrection.

- The Gospels of Matthew and Luke contradict each other on the genealogy of Jesus Christ' father; though both agree that Joseph was not his real father.

Repetitions and contradictions are understandable for a hodgepodge collection of documents, but not for some carefully constructed treatise, reflecting a well-thought-out plan.

Of the various methods we've seen to "explain" these, the most common excuses are:

1. "That is to be taken metaphorically" In other words, what is written is not what is meant. I find this entertaining, especially for those who decide what ISN'T to be taken as other than the absolute WORD OF GOD–which just happens to agree with the particular thing they happen to want…

2. "There was more there than…." This is used when one verse says "there was a" and another says "there was b," so they decide there was "a AND b", which is said nowhere. This makes them happy, since it doesn't say there WASN'T "a AND b." This is often the same crowd that insists theirs is the ONLY possible interpretation (i.e. only "a") and the only way. I find it entertaining that they don't mind adding to verses.

3. "It has to be understood in context" I find this amusing because it comes from the same crowd that likes to push likewise extracted verses that support their particular view. Often it is just one of the verses in the contradictory set is suppose to be taken as THE TRUTH when if you add more to it, it suddenly becomes "out of context." How many of you have gotten JUST John 3:16 (taken out of all context) thrown up at you?

4. "there was just a copying/writing error" This is sometimes called a "transcription error," as in where one number was meant and an incorrect one was copied down. Or that what was "quoted" wasn't really what was said, but just what the author thought was said when he thought it was said. And that's right–I'm not disagreeing with events, I'm disagreeing with what is WRITTEN. Which is apparently agreed that it is incorrect. This is an amusing misdirection to the problem that the bible itself is wrong.

5. "That is a miracle." Naturally. That is why it is stated as fact. Right.

6. "God works in mysterious ways" A useful dodge when the speaker doesn't understand the conflict between what the bible SAYS and what they WISH it said.

Popularity: 45% [?]

1. In space, no one can hear you scream. Sound, a mechanical wave, cannot travel through a vacuum (nothingness). Without matter to vibrate through, there is only silence.

2. Black holes are not holes or voids of nothingness. They are the exact opposite of nothing. Being the densest concentration of mass known in the universe.

3. The concept of "zero" in the mathematical sense was developed in India in the fifth century.

4. Any number divided by zero is… nothing, not even zero. The equation is mathematically impossible.

5. Aristotle once wrote, "Nature abhors a vacuum", and so did he. His complete rejection of vacuums and voids and his subsequent influence on centuries of learning prevented the adoption of the concept of "zero" in the western world until the 13^th century.

6. Creatio ex nihilo: the belief that the world was created out of nothing, is one of the most common themes in ancient myths and religions.

7. Current theories suggest that the universe was created out of a state of vacuum energy… that is: nothing.

8. But to a physicst there is no such thing as nothing. Matter is made of particles, and empty space is simply anti-particles. These antiparticles quickly form and, in accordance to the law of conservation, annihilate each other in about 10 to the -25^th seconds back into nothingness

9. So Aristotle was right all along.

10. These virtual particles popping in and out of existence create energy. According to quantum Mechanics, the theoretical energy contained in the empty spaces of these words are more than the energy generated by all the power plans and nuclear weapons in the world.

In other words, nothing could be the key to the theory of everything.

Popularity: 41% [?]

Taken from the so-called "good book" that supposedly teaches good morals. Links to the actual passages are provided. And don't give me that "oh, it's taken out of context" nonsense. 

    1. Find an attractive prisoner of war, bring her home, shave her head, trim her nails, and give her new clothes. Then she's yours. — (Deuteronomy 21:11-13)

    2. Find a prostitute and marry her. — Hosea (Hosea 1:1-3)

    3. Find a man with seven daughters, and impress him by watering his flock. — Moses (Exodus 2:16-21)

    4. Purchase a piece of property, and get a woman as part of the deal. — Boaz (Ruth 4:5-10)

    5. Go to a party and hide. When the women come out to dance, grab one and carry her off to be your wife. — Benjaminites (Judges 21:19-25)

This is actually kind of funny, yet at the same time, it is not. It makes you think twice before thinking about bring your child up a Christian and making them actually READ the Bible.  

Popularity: 46% [?]