I am a so called “neo atheist “, not only do I not believe in god, I believe the world would be a better place without the great lies known as religion. I believe that religion has been and always will be a way to control the masses rather than reason with them. I am a return missionary from the LDS church and left, not because of guilt over transgression but because I studied church history (as published by the church) and found that the official version taught to its members was full of falsification and clever editing. I stand for truth and believe that it can be found and expanded upon by the scientific method.
One of the banes of my existence are new earth creationists. Another wrench has just gotten thrown into one of their arguments, and science, as it always has, proves that an all seeing, all knowing magical being with all power isn’t needed to explain the order of the cosmos. I have had the chance to converse with a multitude of people all of whom believe that the world was created around six thousand years ago. One of their pillar arguments is the existence of life, claiming that a divine spark is needed to give matter….life. In the last few years, scientist have been able to play the role of god and create the building blocks of life in a test tube. They created RNA base pairs by and through chemical processes; these RNA strands were able to replicate and more importantly mutate (key ingredients of life).
Unfortunately, for the replication to occur, scientists had to assist the splitting of the RNA pairs by adding enzymes to their environment. Now scientists have been able to achieve synthetic life that self replicates. They did this through several complex procedures, and they used an already existing cell structure. While not creating life completely from scratch, we are so close we can taste it, and we are doing it without magic or god.
Professor Kleiner for some time now has presented us student atheists a challenge to explain morality in non theological bases. In the video by Sam that was just posted by Jon it talks about how some things are more morally acceptable than others and that there does exist a basic moral right. The problem I have with the video is that it doesn’t explain how humans have come to the conclusion that there are some things that are wrong and that there are some that are right.
To deal with these challenges and issues I turned towards evolution. The reason I did so is because if any state of mind exist it first (as shown by a plethora of evidence) must have evolved that way.
I was reading the New York Times and came across an article about those who “apostatize away from Scientology”. In the article it went into detail about the secret organization within the church that is similar to the LDS missionary program and it went into details about the infliction placed upon these individuals by the cult-like group. See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/us/07scientology.html?scp=2&sq=scientology&st=cse
Their stories forced me to look back on my own Exodus from the Mormon Church, and how I was treated in a similar fashion. As I was in the process of leaving I went through a stage where I didn’t believe that the church was true, but I thought that the organization was excellent. In my mindset as long as the church was doing good it was okay to be a part of it. This route seemed easiest because of the immense social pressure that is placed on being a peter priesthood Mormon boy (that and I was in the bishopric) . Upon further meditation I realized that the church controls every aspect of a person’s life: what to wear, what to eat, who to marry, how to have sex, what to study, how to vote . . . this list goes on and on.
The New York Times recently released an article stating that the state of Washington had a total of 36 legal assisted suicides since the passing of its legislation last year. I personally applaud Washington State for having the courage to allow people dignity and ease of pain. When I debate people on this subject they commonly refer to suicide as being murder of one’s self. The dogma of Dante’s Divine Comedy and its circle reserved in hell for those who leave life on their own terms has entered the collective consciousness of the religious right and made its way into politics. The best argument I have heard against religious claims came from a PBS documentary on the subject. Watch and share your thoughts and feelings on the sensitive issue.
I was troubled the other day by one of my friends who though unreligious had an abiding belief in demons and ghosts. I have found the best way to fell a tree is to strike at its roots and so I researched into the subject of demons and in more particular the great demon himself, Satan.
Known by many names: Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, The Great Serpent/Dragon , the Morning Star, The Fallen One, and the Prince of Darkness, has played a central role in the development of the major three religions and thus the history of the world. Satan’s roots began in the Torah and are of particular note in the Book of Job. Hebrews didn’t see Satan as an evil demigod but rather saw him as a prosecutor of the law. For all intents and purposes the Hebrew word from which Satan is derived literally means adversary or prosecutor. The Hebrews viewed Satan as an agent for God who held the power of good and evil. Just as prosecutors are agents of the state. He was merely fulfilling his duty as prosecutor when he accused Job of being pure only on account of being spoiled by God.
