» A Difference in Darts
Sunday, January 4th, 2009
Tags: Darts, Faith, Science
Posted in Videos | Leave a comments »
Posts Tagged ‘Faith’
» An Evil God?
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
From Unreasonable Faith:
It (the Bible) can be used to support slavery (Paul says “slaves, obey your masters with fear and trembling … as you would Christ”) and human dignity (Jesus says “love your neighbor as yourself”); misogynism (Paul says “women are not permitted to speak [in church], but should be in submission,”) and equality (Paul says “there is no male or female … you are all one”); in obeying government (Paul says “let every person be subject to the governing authorities”) and disobeying government (The apostles refused to obey the Roman authorities saying they “must obey God rather than man”)
Tags: Bible, Faith, Rational Thinkers
Posted in News | Leave a comments »
» Debates with believers
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
Over the past few weeks I have been discussing faith, God, creationism, the scientific method, evolution, and the Bible with a few friends on Facebook. Sometimes it feels like it would be more fun to stab myself in the thigh with a fork, but I have learnt some new things in the process.
Many of the same old tired arguments come up which have been addressed by thousands before me, but occasionally I see something new which forces me to research the topic, and I think that’s one of the fundamental differences. I have a genuine thirst for knowledge. On my days off I will read philosophy books, uncover the methods of encryption used during wartime, read about DNA, marvel at advances in astronomy, watch nature shows on Discovery, or just get online and take part in various discussion forums. I feel that many theists are not interested in the world in the same way.
Once a person is convinced that there is an afterlife and an all powerful, all loving God will punish you forever if you do not follow his list of things to do and don’t, then all that really matters is trying to stick to the rules - anything else is a distraction that may knock you off the narrow, winding path to eternal bliss. It’s no wonder that many feel immortally threatened when the foundations of theor faith as questioned.
Well, it’s not so much that the foundations are questioned, but the vague realisation that they really do not have the answers. Admitting something like the big bang is true, or evolution really does occur means the Bible (and many other “holy” books) is literally wrong. If one part is wrong, then it is not the perfect word of God and the house house of cards comes tumbling down. In their mind either the Bible is 100% correct, or it is not.
This kind of atomic thinking make it impossible for them to see that questioning one part of a theory does not falsify it in its entirety. I think that’s one of the key differences. Rational thinkers allows themselves the possibility of being wrong - it makes no difference to them. By being proved wrong we gain a deeper insight into the true nature of reality.
Theists cannot allow themselves to be wrong since there immortal souls are on the line. Who would risk an eternity in paradise? Fundamentalists take it one step further and do not allow the text of their chosen “holy” book to the wrong in any way. There is no room for interpretation of what the book of God says, unless of course it is allegory, symbolic, or a parable.
Tags: Evolution, Faith, Fundamentalism, God, Science
Posted in Blog | Leave a comments »
» Bill Maher & Mike Huckabee Discuss Faith
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
Tags: Bill Maher, Discuss, Faith, Mike Huckabee
Posted in Videos | Leave a comments »
» The Price of Faith: Introduction
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
Tags: Faith
Posted in Videos | Leave a comments »
» You just need faith!
Saturday, July 5th, 2008
I have discovered something peculiar about the theist mind, and I was guilty of this in the past. When all the arguments have been dismissed with clear rational reasoning the last resort of a believer is to declare “You have just got to have some faith!”. Obviously, I disagree.
First let’s define what we mean by faith. Faith is the belief in a notion or idea to spite any evidence to support it, or in some cases in complete contradiction to the evidence available. When a believer states “It’s all a matter of faith”, my usual retort is now “If it’s solely about faith, then why should I not have faith in Poseidon, Zeus, Baal, Xenu, Vishnu, Allah, or Wotan?” Typically this is meet with stoney silence.
But I am not here to make that point, I want to highlight another aspect to this poor argument. If it’s just a matter of faith, why do believers try SO HARD to conjure evidence to support their claims?
In America you have Christian Evangelical’s building “Creation Museums” detailing in extraordinary detail how science supports their particular version of creation. Of course, they completely ignore vast mountains of knowledge and research that disagrees with their prior assumptions about the universe and present twisted versions of what we do know in order to further their cause. Are the people who build these monuments to ignorance aware of what they are doing, or are they themselves victims of their religious delusions?
We have numerous authors publishing misleading propaganda on “the religion of atheism”, or “the evils of evolution” for no other apparent reason than these conflict with their deeply held core beliefs.
If all I need is “faith”, then why did Jesus exist at all (assuming he did for a moment). Why perform all these miracles? Why bother healing the sick, walking on water, feeding 5,000 people, curing blindness, and coming back to life if it’s all a matter of faith? Surely NOT to provide evidence he was the “son of god”, the Messiah, and the savour of all mankind?
Even god himself was required to show numerous “proofs” of his existence by creating everything, causing a global catastrophic flood killing everyone on earth, smiting cities with fire and brimstone to destroy the wicked, impregnating a virgin, lighting a star in the sky to guide three wise men to his place of birth, setting bushes alight, parting the seas, writing commandments in stone, and underlying the crucifixion with earthquakes, eclipses, and zombies.
If it was “just a matter of faith” you would not have need for the proofs contained in the bible. The stories of god’s wrath, or his supposed eternal love for us demonstrated via the act of killing himself to appease the curse he himself imposed (never mind the fact that this brilliant solution from the omniscient creator of the universe doesn’t work if you don’t “have faith”). Why do you need the bible if it all comes down to faith? Why hold up the bible as evidence of the existence of your god, because the book says it was divinely inspired. This you call proof while simultaneously claiming you do not need proof, for proof denies faith and without faith you can not be a “holy man”.
Don’t tell me is “just a matter of faith” when you try so desperately to provide evidence or rational arguments for the existence of your particular version of the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, omnibenevolent creator.
Your retreat to the phrase “you just need some faith” is the last ditch attempt to convince your opponent to believe because of the lack of evidence, or to spite the evidence, or just to simply believe for the sake of believing.
Faith does not require evidence - that’s WHY we call it FAITH! So stop trying to provide any evidence or reasoning to support your claim. You are only undermining your position and making a fool of yourself.
Tags: Belief, Creationism, Death, Faith, God, jesus, Science
Posted in Blog | Leave a comments »
» Obama and ‘faith-based’ initiatives
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans to expand President Bush’s program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and — in a move sure to cause controversy — support some ability to hire and fire based on faith.
Tags: America, Faith, Obama, politics
Posted in News | Leave a comments »
» Obama to expand Bush’s faith-based programs
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans that would expand President Bush’s program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and — in a move sure to cause controversy — support their ability to hire and fire based on faith.
Tags: Bush, Faith, Obama, politics
Posted in News | Leave a comments »
» Teen From Faith-Healing
Friday, June 20th, 2008
The Followers of Christ church contacted the authorities after Beagley died at his family’s home. The teen had been sick about a week, and church members and his family had gathered to pray.
Tags: Christian, Death, Faith
Posted in News | Leave a comments »
» A child’s death and a crisis for faith
Friday, June 13th, 2008
The recent death from untreated diabetes of an 11-year-old Wisconsin girl has invigorated opposition to obscure laws in many states that let parents rely on prayer, rather than medicine, to heal sick children. (more…)
Tags: Children, Death, Faith
Posted in News | 1 Comment »
