Understanding Religion's Relationship To Human Social Systems

Literally no one ever decides to "reject" a real "God".  Beliefs aren't formed that way. Perceptions for 'standards of evidence' vary from person to person. Every truly-believing Jehovah's Witness honestly perceives that religion's narrative is "the truth" . Same with every Catholic, Baptist, Mormon, Muslim, Wiccan, Native American/Indigenous "spiritualist", etc.. They aren't rebelling against any "God". They aren't secretly aware of being wrong. They aren't in those fabled belief systems due to a lack of virtue. For all the Bad Press Atheists get for being unfairly judgmental about believers, they can't hold a candle to how harsh believers are about each other. I say that because: At least atheists aren't saying or thinking that whoever is getting it "wrong" deserves eternal discard (like trash), or worse. Nor do they normally assume that whoever is getting it 'wrong' is only

  A lot of people seeing that are going to get confused about what it means to: attempt to "insist". --- I'll help out with that. 🙂 --- Forms of "insisting" include: *Religious indoctrination of children, *Any/every belief-system which includes an "or else" clause (even when that's not openly mentioned to prospective converts); whenever that "or else" is a warning of your "God" killing, smiting, or torturing those whom deny or resist "His" authority (by denying or resisting yours). *Supporting any person-or-group's efforts to push for laws or policies which would force others to yield to your "faith's" doctrines/beliefs about what your "God" wants; especially when those goals or demands runs counter to (anyone's) civil liberties, and/or contrary to what the best available science says in regards to impact on public health. *Speaking to/ relating-to others as if you're entitled t

Before we begin,  please note: All words that appear blue and underlined are links. These links are offered as support and further explanation. They are not necessary for the gist.  But they are helpful for anyone who may be foggy or unconvinced of the points being made. The author would ask that you please seriously consider setting aside the time to review the linked materials with an open mind; whenever you can find the time. Thank you ------------   I knew a beautiful woman. Her name was Amanda. She had what I'd call "a beautiful soul". I don't mean that in a supernatural sense; just to be clear.                        She would go for long walks and quite literally commune with nature. She would talk with trees. They had a presence, to her. She would carry on pleasant conversations with them. Sometimes, even serious conversations. They were beautiful people, to her. She didn't realize it, but ... She was actually meeting parts of herself. It's how she wa

In a group about "Stoicism", someone asked: What group tends to be more stoic, liberals, progressives or conservatives? ------  On person replied this way: "Groups are not “Stoic.” Individuals are. The question itself is a rejection of Stoicism and demonstrates a bigoted mind." ------- My initial reply: That reply was neither kind nor fair. -------- The rest of the conversation: He then asked: " Why? Bigotry is judging people by the group we put them in rather than as individuals, isn't it?" -------- My further thoughts about it: He was just asking a question. He wondered about what perspectives/correlations other people perceive between those things. As for groups, I certainly agree that people can frame their narrative were those terms refer to groups. I'll even agree that's usually how those terms get used. But it doesn't necessarily have to be. Those terms can be used to roughly convey a general attitude or moral philosophy of individua

 It's really cringe-worthy when people cite Jesus's suicide as some ultimate expression of love. No matter if it really happened or not, the story has him intentionally getting himself killed, because "God"-voices in his head pressured him into it. He even stayed up late one night, begging the voices not to make him do it. It's a story of a psychologically broken, habitually homeless, jobless, self-medicating, bipolar schizophrenic. He wasn't able to make peace with the rejection he felt from his real dad. His religion was likely part of the initial cause of his mental illness in the first place. But at least it offered his fractured mind a surrogate father. That father existed only in his head. It/"He" was the manifestation of an unhealthy relationship he had with himself. He needed validation from a father. And he would go to any lengths to get it. The dichotomy of personal values, between the imagined "Father" and "son"

 Christians dishonestly and irrationally claim to possess knowledge  beyond the reach of what any humans could actually possess. In doing so, they’ve woven complex and irrational narratives; where the “logos” is quite literally a person.  The Logos was not regarded as a person, to the Stoics. It was the manifest/evident existence of wisdom itself; - Expressed not only through the intelligence of men, but in the brilliantly balanced and purposeful orchestra of nature and physics inherent to all things; -which they determined to be an expression of an eternal source (like a wellspring) of wisdom. So then the logos, to Stoics, is literally that wisdom. And then “God” is an intentionally vague pantheistic intelligence (having more in common with atheism than it does with theism; somewhere in the foggy space between deism and atheism) from-which-flows that wisdom. Not separate from us. Not separate from nature.  Not separate from the universe. Not separate from the cosmos. Not a literal p

A random Christian Fundamentalist said this to me today. "Modern Apologetics has proven Archeology to be false. Therefor I recommend you put your trust in God not Man as Man is short sighted and simple minded. God sees the whole picture. You just need Faith. Science is really just mans best guess based on a limited understanding of the world around us. Nothing changes about God he is the beginning and the end. I hope you pray on it." ------------ My reply to that nonsense: The fact that religious fundamentalists don't understand even the basics of science isn't directly my problem. Their horrible religion, on the other hand, is everyone's problem. Apologetics is just a multipurpose tool for (badly) hiding problems. It can literally be used to pseudo-harmonize any random assortment of contradictions. Example: Statement 1: Tommy says "Joe just got back from the store, with milk and bread". Statement 2: (about the exact same Joe, and the exact same event

[Please note that this blog format has comments enabled.  Feel free to speak your mind in the comments section, if you have something to say]  =========================== I recognize that there is more than one definition for "atheism". The most common definition that actual atheists use is represented in this graph: The most common definition of "atheist" that theists use is: the claim that there definitely aren't any literal gods. -- Regardless of definitions, there are an awful lot of people wanting to demonize atheists . I happen to think that's a real problem; one that needs to be dealt with. Atheists don't "hate God". They don't worship the devil. They aren't "rebelling". Nor are they all a bunch of amoral nihilists. Some are. But most are just like anyone else. Nor does atheism have anything to do with communism. Nor does atheism advocate for Authoritarianism or Totalitarianism. Although, of course, tr

 First Draft.  [This one's pretty long. I need to break it down into three different blogs;  specially since I thought of some things I should add]   Besides the way the whole "I'll pray for you"-mentality discourages people from actually taking real actions that really help people (which is, of course, a problem for our world), ... --- With atheism, when kindness happens, there's no downside. It's just a person doing good things for others. --- With Abrahamic personal-God-theism, there's a lot of downside. They're doing P.R./recruiting work; as an extension of their good deeds. That's usually why they're bothering to do a good deed at all. But even when it's not the primary or soul reason, it's "a reason". More importantly, it's "an effect". It results in: more people joining a random Christian-themed religion. It also results in societies' being more permissive and enabling of the religions they've