Shit Nobody Cares About

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    1. Light Reading

      Light Reading

       
       
    2. I’ve had a lot of people ask me if I was spying on them when I wrote this.

      I’ve had a lot of people ask me if I was spying on them when I wrote this.

       
       
    3. "I’ll tell you what you did with Atheists for about 1500 years. You outlawed them from the universities, or any teaching careers, besmirched their reputations, banned or burned their books or their writings of any kind, drove them into exile, humiliated them, seized their properties, arrested them for blasphemy. You dehumanized them with beatings and exquisite torture, gouged out their eyes, slit their tongues, stretched, crushed, or broke their limbs, tore off their breasts if they were a woman, crushed their scrotums of they were men, imprisoned them, stabbed them, disemboweled them, hung them, burnt them alive. And you have the nerve enough to complain to me that I laugh at you."
      — Dr. O’Hair
       
       
    4. hey man, just wondering with those God questions you posted - most of them were moral-based ("Do you think it is right for God to do this?") where do you base your morals? Like if humans are simply animals, and nothing more, how can you say that sacrificing a child is wrong? Because we need those rules for a functioning society?
      asked by danwithaheart
      answer:

      My morals are loosely based on the founding principles of Jainism. I in no way associate myself with its religious aspects, but as philosophers they were brilliant.
      I’ll list a few of their beliefs if you are unfamiliar with them: C      ause no harm to any living being, speak the harmless truth only, and detach completely from people, places, and material things.
      That said, I’m not saying killing children is unnatural. It’s observed in numerous species and is an insanely common occurrence for various reasons. Not all instances does this occur without repercussion and the perpetrator may be exiled or killed by those affected by the death of the offspring.
      It is like you said though, humans are simply animals and nothing more. However compared to any other living organism on Earth, humans posses highly developed brains capable of introspection, language, and logical-thinking. Utilizing this mental capacity humans have been able to create complex social structures which establish ethics, and values which are the basis of our functioning society.
      Now let’s say it becomes a social norm to execute children, for the lulz. Government mandated. Do you really think society is going to be all ‘Yeah, man go for it.’? People would be pissed. The repercussions wouldn’t come from a divine being, they wouldn’t come from some dictator; repercussions would come from the convergence of a bunch of pissed off animals that posses the mental capacity through centuries of evolutionary development to differentiate right from wrong using common sense.

      Post script, I sucked at essay questions in school.

       
       

    5. Here's a standard philosophical questionnaire for Christians. I challenge you to answer these basic questions honestly without resorting to a standard naked assertion, "because it's God" fallacy.

      1. 1: Do you believe that children should be responsible for the transgressions of their parents? If your great-grandfather committed a crime, should you also be punished for it?
      2. Response: If you don't believe in such a practice, how do you reconcile this fundamental moral tenet that you practice in your daily life, which is in contrast with Christianity and scripture, which mandates that descendants are responsible for the sins of their forebears?
      3. 2: Do you believe that ritualistic sacrifice and the killing of innocent creatures is a suitable way to repay a debt?
      4. Response: Can you see yourself ceremonially burning a goat at an altar to cover your electricity bill? Should you be able to sacrifice your child's life to repay a debt to someone else? If you don't think this behavior is appropriate or moral, why would you worship a deity who claims to have forgiven mankind via ritualistic murder?
      5. 3: Do you believe that morality comes from religion?
      6. Response: Does man not have any other reason than the fear of God to keep him from behaving badly? If so, how do you reconcile the fact that there are plenty of decent people who don't believe in gods? If not, how do you reconcile your liberal interpretation of things with scripture and institutions that suggest otherwise?
      7. 4: Do you believe that God knows our future? (Psalm 139:16)
      8. Response: If so, why does God allow children to be born into certain countries or cultures -- knowing in advance that they will never even hear about Christianity -- and then send them to hell for not believing in Jesus?
      9. 5: Do you believe that God is just?
      10. Response: If so, why does He give us no direct evidence of His existence when He openly revealed Himself to innumerable people over the course of a couple of thousand years? If God could save billions of souls from eternal damnation simply by showing himself publicly, is it not unjust for Him deny us this advantage which He granted so many people in the Bible?
       
       

    6. Refusing to Hide: Dialogue With a 12-Year-Old Atheist

      1. Morgaine: What would you like to say to other young people who may struggling with issues around religion, who may be torn between what their parents say to believe and their own doubts?
      2. Megan: Talk to them. If your parents really don’t want you to believe that way then get on with it. Go to church with them. Think of it as story…a fabulous fairytale. You don’t have to believe it. No one can make you do that.
       
       

    7. Refusing to Hide: Dialogue With a 12-Year-Old Atheist

      1. Morgaine: Some people say you can’t be moral or ethical without religion. What would you say to that?
      2. Megan: No, religious people have started wars over it. If they call mass killing good ethics then I don’t know what to think.
       
       

    8. Refusing to Hide: Dialogue With a 12-Year-Old Atheist

      1. Morgaine: Do you see any dangers in religious thinking? Dangers to an individual? Dangers to the world at large? And do you see any benefits?
      2. Megan: I think that religion will cause history to repeat itself. As long as there are different beliefs, people will fight and kill for power.
       
       

    9. Refusing to Hide: Dialogue With a 12-Year-Old Atheist

      1. Morgaine: Religious people often ask how someone can find meaning in life without belief in God…that the wonders of the world aren’t sufficient to satisfy them. What would you say to that? What gives your life meaning?
      2. Megan: The meaning of life can not be decided after death, in my opinion. I think the meaning of life is decided by the person living it–not some being that they don’t know. I push on by knowing that I will finish my book and become a doctor.
       
       
    10. "Why should I allow that same God to tell me how to raise my kids, who had to drown His own?"
      — Robert G. Ingersoll

      (Source: chrisbeach.co.uk)

       
       
    11. "If you think that it would be impossible to improve upon the Ten Commandments as a statement of morality, you really owe it to yourself to read some other scriptures. Once again, we need look no further than the Jains: Mahavira, the Jain patriarch, surpassed the morality of the Bible with a single sentence: “Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being.” Imagine how different our world might be if the Bible contained this as its central precept. Christians have abused, oppressed, enslaved, insulted, tormented, tortured, and killed people in the name of God for centuries, on the basis of a theologically defensible reading of the Bible."
      — Sam Harris

      (Source: goodreads.com)

       
       
    12. "Beyond the universe there is nothing and within the universe the supernatural does not and cannot exist. Of all deceivers who have plagued mankind, none are so deeply ruinous to human happiness as those impostors who pretend to lead by a light above nature. Science has never killed or persecuted a single person for doubting or denying its teachings, and most of these teachings have been true; but religion has murdered millions for doubting or denying her dogmas, and most of these dogmas have been false."
      — George P. Spencer

      (Source: patheos.com)

       
       
    13. "Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o, and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have."
      — Penn Jillette
       
       
    14. "Imagine a world in which generations of human beings come to believe that certain films were made by God or that specific software was coded by him. Imagine a future in which millions of our descendants murder each other over rival interpretations of Star Wars or Windows 98. Could anything-anything-be more ridiculous? And yet, this would be no more ridiculous than the world we are living in."
      — Sam Harris
       
       
    15. "Man created God in his image: intolerant, sexist, homophobic and violent."
      — Marie de France