If you've read much of my blogging, you know I am no closet atheist. For a while I was, but not after I saw how important the cause was. Besides, with my activist instincts and drives, staying in a closet is virtually impossible.
There was another good blog statement on Pharyngula this morning, and it sums up my feelings rather well:
"And so I finally crossed from atheism to anti-theism. I believe that religion is wrong. Wrong for every reason. Wrong for humanity. Wrong for our future. Any time a single human gives up their capacity for critical thinking to worship or obsesses we all lose. We lose their contribution to our innate humanity. Their ability to be a part of a critically thinking community.
Therefore I believe that any theistic belief system is a negative impact on humanity. Only by releasing ourselves to think critically can we improve ourselves. Only by questioning and re-questioning will the answers become apparent. Through this path, letting go of our structured belief systems, and testing them to break and transfigure will our true humanity reveal it’s place in the universe.
Think critically, test often, and enjoy the results."
That is why I am also an anti-theist. Theism is stultifying. It champions ignorance and the status quo. It sets this nation on a path to retrogression. Progress is impossible when education is hamstrung by bronze age myths shoved down innocent children's intellectual throats -- not just in home schooling of a few unfortunate captives to parents' misguided drive to indoctrinate, but forced into our public schools by activist school boards held captive by religious fanatics.
The chinese nation was once one of the most progressive kingdoms on earth. Then, an emperor came along who insisted on isolating the nation from the rest of the world of "barbarians." Progress stopped. The society became set in cultural and scientific concrete. It has taken centuries for them to begin advancing again, and the old culture had to be destroyed before it could even begin.
We are in a similar situation right now. There is a desire on the part of far too many powerful people to go backward and reverse course into old superstitions and repressive policies they label "conservatism." I have nothing against being truly conservative about truth and moral/ethical values. However, the "conservatism" being championed today is nothing more than retrogression into a repressive way of life our forefathers denounced and abandoned.
At it's core is theism. Theism has destroyed and brutalized every society over which it has gained control. It is well on its way to destroying and brutalizing my beloved nation!
Showing posts with label anti-theism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anti-theism. Show all posts
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
MORE THAN AN ATHEIST
Yes, I am an atheist. I do not recognize the existence of a god or any higher power. In that, I am in the good company of patriots like Thomas Paine and many of the other rationalist founders of this country who were sons of the Enlightenment.
But, I am more than just a quiet, rather passive non-believer. I have found most atheists fall into that category and never forcefully "come out" to family or the world at large. Often there are good and practical reasons to be reticent about doing so. I was in that category for a short -- very short -- time. Then, I decided that approach was not for me. It was "Full speed ahead! Damn the torpedoes!"
I became, and intend to remain, a dedicated ANTI-THEIST!
What's the difference?
The difference is that anti-theists are not content to be hidden in some corner or to be relegated to a closet. We don't care if those who are accustomed to having their way with the world denounce or persecute us and call us every vile name they can think of. Our message to them is that their ascendancy is going to come to an end and we are going to be instrumental in bringing that end about.
They can denounce and threaten us however they choose. We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced.
Ever since desperate Constantine convened that council at Nicacea and saddled the Western world with his hodge podge of mostly mithraic syncretic religion and then enforced it with Roman military might, Christianity in myriad manifestations has run roughshod over occidental society. For centuries, its book of fiction doomed multiple generations to stultifying ignorance. The renaissance mollified and challenged their dominance. The Enlightenment dealt it heavy blows, as has modern science (which it hates with a purple passion) and led to the establishment of an American republic officially free from religious domination.
That was a bitter pill for theists to swallow. They have never ceased to chafe under the limitations placed upon them by the Constitution.
By every stratagem and subterfuge available to them, they have sought to subvert that great document unceasingly. It has been such a pervasive campaign that one ex-president has publicly stated that an atheist cannot be a good citizen "because this is one nation under god."
If he weren't so abysmally ignorant, he would know that that unconstitutional addition to the pledge of allegiance was not added until about sixty years ago. Our founding fathers would have tossed it into the nearest waste basket!
Fanatical religion has never ceased to assault and seek to undo the freedoms our founding fathers took such great pains to bequeath to us. They have been on their zealous quest to undo and circumvent those precepts ever since their establishment, resorting to such ridiculous slogans as "faith based."
Not just the old, traditional Catholic and Protestant organizations. A plethora of new, and just as illusory and ridiculous cults and superstitions soon came on the scene. Many of them have become very widespread and powerful. They are just as, and in some cases even more so, dedicated to surreptitiously gaining control over the thinking and lives of the general population of this country!
It wasn't very long after our nation's founding that a deranged con-artist by the name of Joseph Smith came along and set up the travesty of Mormonism that has now become so mainstream that we have a viable presidential candidate from that organization whose holy book is so stupid as to be laughable even as a work of science fiction.
In the mid-eighteenth Century, the Millerites and their prophetic debacle came along. Like all extremes, they didn't go away when their prognostications were proved false. From their ranks emerged another deranged "leader" who probably suffered from partial-complex seizures (http://www.ellenwhiteexposed.com/egw79.htm) spouting prophecies and inane garbage and set up what is today known as The Seventh-Day Adventists. That led to The Church of God Seventh-Day, The Branch Davidians, Herbert Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God and an inestimable and growing number of COGs and ridiculous cults.
The Western world, and particularly the supposedly rationalist U.S.A., is awash in religion! I couldn't even begin to cover the "wooo, wooo" out there! Like "Scientology!"
As an anti-theist, I refuse to just sit here on my little lot in Cottonwood, Arizona and blow it all off. I have very few years left now, but while I still draw the breath of life, I will never cease to "cry aloud" the anti-theist message.
Every time I encounter a new book, a new article, a new website, a new blog, etc., trumpeting the anti-theist message, I want to shout for joy!
I will continue to seek out others of like mind and meet with them, just like those founding fathers gathered in taverns and lodges to sow and cultivate the seeds of freedom and rationality.
Back off Theists! You've had your nefarious run! A several centuries run of ignorance, deception and tyranny!
The truth will be proclaimed!
You will not stop us!
But, I am more than just a quiet, rather passive non-believer. I have found most atheists fall into that category and never forcefully "come out" to family or the world at large. Often there are good and practical reasons to be reticent about doing so. I was in that category for a short -- very short -- time. Then, I decided that approach was not for me. It was "Full speed ahead! Damn the torpedoes!"
I became, and intend to remain, a dedicated ANTI-THEIST!
What's the difference?
The difference is that anti-theists are not content to be hidden in some corner or to be relegated to a closet. We don't care if those who are accustomed to having their way with the world denounce or persecute us and call us every vile name they can think of. Our message to them is that their ascendancy is going to come to an end and we are going to be instrumental in bringing that end about.
They can denounce and threaten us however they choose. We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced.
Ever since desperate Constantine convened that council at Nicacea and saddled the Western world with his hodge podge of mostly mithraic syncretic religion and then enforced it with Roman military might, Christianity in myriad manifestations has run roughshod over occidental society. For centuries, its book of fiction doomed multiple generations to stultifying ignorance. The renaissance mollified and challenged their dominance. The Enlightenment dealt it heavy blows, as has modern science (which it hates with a purple passion) and led to the establishment of an American republic officially free from religious domination.
That was a bitter pill for theists to swallow. They have never ceased to chafe under the limitations placed upon them by the Constitution.
By every stratagem and subterfuge available to them, they have sought to subvert that great document unceasingly. It has been such a pervasive campaign that one ex-president has publicly stated that an atheist cannot be a good citizen "because this is one nation under god."
If he weren't so abysmally ignorant, he would know that that unconstitutional addition to the pledge of allegiance was not added until about sixty years ago. Our founding fathers would have tossed it into the nearest waste basket!
Fanatical religion has never ceased to assault and seek to undo the freedoms our founding fathers took such great pains to bequeath to us. They have been on their zealous quest to undo and circumvent those precepts ever since their establishment, resorting to such ridiculous slogans as "faith based."
Not just the old, traditional Catholic and Protestant organizations. A plethora of new, and just as illusory and ridiculous cults and superstitions soon came on the scene. Many of them have become very widespread and powerful. They are just as, and in some cases even more so, dedicated to surreptitiously gaining control over the thinking and lives of the general population of this country!
It wasn't very long after our nation's founding that a deranged con-artist by the name of Joseph Smith came along and set up the travesty of Mormonism that has now become so mainstream that we have a viable presidential candidate from that organization whose holy book is so stupid as to be laughable even as a work of science fiction.
In the mid-eighteenth Century, the Millerites and their prophetic debacle came along. Like all extremes, they didn't go away when their prognostications were proved false. From their ranks emerged another deranged "leader" who probably suffered from partial-complex seizures (http://www.ellenwhiteexposed.com/egw79.htm) spouting prophecies and inane garbage and set up what is today known as The Seventh-Day Adventists. That led to The Church of God Seventh-Day, The Branch Davidians, Herbert Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God and an inestimable and growing number of COGs and ridiculous cults.
The Western world, and particularly the supposedly rationalist U.S.A., is awash in religion! I couldn't even begin to cover the "wooo, wooo" out there! Like "Scientology!"
As an anti-theist, I refuse to just sit here on my little lot in Cottonwood, Arizona and blow it all off. I have very few years left now, but while I still draw the breath of life, I will never cease to "cry aloud" the anti-theist message.
Every time I encounter a new book, a new article, a new website, a new blog, etc., trumpeting the anti-theist message, I want to shout for joy!
I will continue to seek out others of like mind and meet with them, just like those founding fathers gathered in taverns and lodges to sow and cultivate the seeds of freedom and rationality.
Back off Theists! You've had your nefarious run! A several centuries run of ignorance, deception and tyranny!
The truth will be proclaimed!
You will not stop us!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
THE MOTTO I LIVE BY
It's nearly forty years now since my former well-ordered life fell apart around me. All the comfortable beliefs I had deluded myself into believing suddenly lost their certainty. I was confused and shaken.
As I have stated before, I originally hung onto the certainty of my basic religious faith. I still thought the Bible was true, Jesus really was my savior and I was part of the "body of Christ." All that is now ancient history as far as my current life and mental attitude is concrned.
Today, during discussion at our new free thinkers group in Sedona, I hearkened back to a slogan I soon came up with and which has guided me inexorably to where I am today as a free thinking humanist atheist and anti-theist. I have expressed it in various ways over the years, but basically it comes down to the fact that I will always dare to "think the 'unthinkable,' speak (or write) the 'unspeakable,' conclude the 'impossible'." I could add other "ables," but that pretty well covers it.
I have been rewarded with clarity of thought and the peace of knowing I am the master of my own destiny. There's no "god" looking over my shoulder and taking notes of my every thought and action. Looming death, whatever its reality may be, holds no terrors for me. There is no fear of being "lost" and condemned to some ghastly chamber of horrors. Nor do I look forward to being that "heavenly pomeranian" I mention in my last blog. Day to day existence is a joyous experience of ever increasing knowledge and awareness.
No subject is sacred and off limits to my determination not to let any sacred cows go unchallenged. I know it infuriates many people for me to take that approach. How dare I? That's their problem. They don't have to read what I write or listen to what I say when I have the opportunity. I'm still going to write and speak up. And, I'm going to do so every chance I get.
As I have stated before, I originally hung onto the certainty of my basic religious faith. I still thought the Bible was true, Jesus really was my savior and I was part of the "body of Christ." All that is now ancient history as far as my current life and mental attitude is concrned.
Today, during discussion at our new free thinkers group in Sedona, I hearkened back to a slogan I soon came up with and which has guided me inexorably to where I am today as a free thinking humanist atheist and anti-theist. I have expressed it in various ways over the years, but basically it comes down to the fact that I will always dare to "think the 'unthinkable,' speak (or write) the 'unspeakable,' conclude the 'impossible'." I could add other "ables," but that pretty well covers it.
I have been rewarded with clarity of thought and the peace of knowing I am the master of my own destiny. There's no "god" looking over my shoulder and taking notes of my every thought and action. Looming death, whatever its reality may be, holds no terrors for me. There is no fear of being "lost" and condemned to some ghastly chamber of horrors. Nor do I look forward to being that "heavenly pomeranian" I mention in my last blog. Day to day existence is a joyous experience of ever increasing knowledge and awareness.
No subject is sacred and off limits to my determination not to let any sacred cows go unchallenged. I know it infuriates many people for me to take that approach. How dare I? That's their problem. They don't have to read what I write or listen to what I say when I have the opportunity. I'm still going to write and speak up. And, I'm going to do so every chance I get.
Monday, December 12, 2011
ANTI-THEISM ON THE MOVE
As a free-thinker, I'm tired of being marginalized and feeling like I'm relegated to a closet and the sidelines. As you may have noticed about a year ago now, I started lending my voice to the task of making clear and free thinking much more openly available. I started this blog.
I still had that isolated feeling here in Cottonwood, Arizona. There seemed to be few, if any, like minded people around. There was plenty of wooo, wooo in nearby Sedona. You could take your pick of any superstition that appealed to you from vortexes to psychic and aural readings.
Finding clear thinking science-minded fellow anti-theists seemed to be close to impossible. Through Meetup a few of us found each other and had our first meeting this afternoon at a nice home in Sedona. We'll hold a few more meetings to determine exactly where we want to go with our newly formed association. It's a start for Sedona and the Verde Valley.
I'm very encouraged to see more and more blogs by free thinkers and more and more determination on the part of us non-believers to no longer be the silent wall flowers off in the philosophical corners of the world. We're tired of being relegated to the back seats of society like negroes were relegated to the back seats of buses not too long ago. We're fed to the teeth with imbecilic myths having the limelight in society.
I've also found and have been reading an excellent book I found online at the Jovial Atheist website. Thomas Blaylock, Jr. is the author of this website and book. The book's title is: HONEST MAN'S PHILOSOPHY. It's a very thorough treatment of the subject of clear and honest thinking in every area of human existence. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in erradicating the myths of this world from their lives and minds. Go to this address: http://www.jovialatheist.com/hmpindex.html.
I still had that isolated feeling here in Cottonwood, Arizona. There seemed to be few, if any, like minded people around. There was plenty of wooo, wooo in nearby Sedona. You could take your pick of any superstition that appealed to you from vortexes to psychic and aural readings.
Finding clear thinking science-minded fellow anti-theists seemed to be close to impossible. Through Meetup a few of us found each other and had our first meeting this afternoon at a nice home in Sedona. We'll hold a few more meetings to determine exactly where we want to go with our newly formed association. It's a start for Sedona and the Verde Valley.
I'm very encouraged to see more and more blogs by free thinkers and more and more determination on the part of us non-believers to no longer be the silent wall flowers off in the philosophical corners of the world. We're tired of being relegated to the back seats of society like negroes were relegated to the back seats of buses not too long ago. We're fed to the teeth with imbecilic myths having the limelight in society.
I've also found and have been reading an excellent book I found online at the Jovial Atheist website. Thomas Blaylock, Jr. is the author of this website and book. The book's title is: HONEST MAN'S PHILOSOPHY. It's a very thorough treatment of the subject of clear and honest thinking in every area of human existence. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in erradicating the myths of this world from their lives and minds. Go to this address: http://www.jovialatheist.com/hmpindex.html.
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