On Public Prayer

Want a prayer at your high-school graduation (or other public function)? This is what the Bible has to say:

Matthew 6:5-7 (King James Version)

5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Some Thoughts About Religion

From the same website, someone posted some quotes about religion by some famous thinkers. I found them very interesting.

“But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?”
– Mark Twain

“You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
– Anne Lamott

“If god doesn’t like the way I live, Let him tell me, not you.”
– Unknown

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.”
– Philip K. Dick

“I’m not convinced that faith can move mountains, but I’ve seen what it can do to skyscrapers.”
– Unknown

“If God has spoken, why is the world not convinced?”
– Percy Bysshe Shelley

“No man believes that the Bible means what it says; he is always convinced that it says what he means.”
– George Bernard Shaw

“Faith is deciding to allow yourself to believe something your intellect would otherwise cause you to reject — otherwise there’s no need for faith.”
– Unknown

“When one person suffers a delusion, it is called insanity. When many suffer from a delusion, it is called religion.
– Robert M. Pirsig

“Believing is easier than thinking. Hence so many more believers than thinkers.”
– Bruce Calvert

"Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time! But He loves you."
– George Carlin

A Reasonable Person

The website blasphemy.ie is reporting on Ireland's new anti-blasphemy law. Among the many, many comments (most pro-blasphemy) was this one:

I don’t consider myself an atheist, but I’m sympathetic with atheism–up until it becomes a fundamentalist monolith. “Atheism is the only thing that makes sense and anybody who doesn’t see that is deluded.” That kind of fundamentalism is just as ignorant and ugly as any other kind of fundamentalism.

That being said, anti-blasphemy legislation seems to me to be about as effective and sensible as anti-ignorance and -ugliness legislation.

A nugget of Islamic wisdom tells us to see everything, doubt everything. Judicious and thoughtful doubt takes the form of examination of facts, which leads to knowledge. Atheism is, to put it mildly, extreme doubt. How could that be bad? Any theism that can’t tolerate close examination isn’t worthy of theists.

That doesn’t give atheists license to be mean, though. I don’t think that anyone is born an atheist; atheists are converts, and there’s nothing more zealous than a convert.

Be careful, and mind your manners. Be nice, try not to worry too much, and have a little harmless fun along the way. Think whatever you want, but remember that while uninformed ignorant statements are unfortunate, informed hurtful statements are far worse.

Attempting to legislate morality is invariably a bad idea, but freedom of speech comes with the responsibilty of acknowledging everybody else’s freedom of speech, even if (or especially if, I would argue) you disagree with them. Just be nice about it.

You have every right to disagree with my beliefs, but there’s no reason for you to insult my beliefs. I don’t think that you have the authority to insult my beliefs, but you do have the power to, and there’s a big difference. I think that the Irish government would do well to remember the distinction.

Why would you say “Fuck your god and fuck jesus” except in an effort to make me mad, hurt my feelings, and start a fight? That’s childish bullyism, and the sort of thing that fundamentalists thrive on. Atheist fundamentalism isn’t any more informed or admirable than any other kind of fundamentalism. Stop it, and be nice.

When we say or do something stupid, we know perfectly well that we’re saying or doing something stupid–we just go ahead and do it anyway. Religion–including atheism–encourages some people to be mean and stupid, but those are people inclined to meanness and stupidity in the first place. It also leads other people to be nice and smart.

Which one are you?

Which one you are is not at the whim of a judicial dictate; it’s in your hands.

As individuals, we need to be smarter, better, and kinder than our governments, because we’re the ones who have to live, work, and travel together every day.

Comment by Uisgea — January 1, 2010 @ 10:05 pm

Now that is a reasonable person.

An Interesting Description of Religion

"Twisty Faster", in her blog "I Blame the Patriarchy", while discussing gay marriage put forth this description of religion:

Bizarre as it may seem, many Americans mistake for truth certain fanciful narratives the central figure of which is an invisible, immortal male superdude who lives in a cloud palace and who is as obsessed with human reproductive material as he is with smiting infidels. Quite a large chunk of the populus are so besotted by this fantasy, they think the invisible superdude is actually real. They chit-chat with him, bargain with him, build fancy castles for him, use special gang signs with him, seek to appease his wrath, cajole him into intervening on their personal behalf, sacrifice the lives of the less fortunate in exchange for such filthy lucre as he sees fit to confer upon them, announce to the world that they believe in him so their peers won’t mistake them for amoral atheists, and reinterpret his myths in whatever manner will most benefit their own status in this super-fubar set-up.