Try Harder

Religion is a virus.

I run into a lot of Christians who would agree with that statement. “My faith is not a religion,” they say. In the 90s, Christians decided to play semantics to draw new converts who were traditionally critical of religion and church. This happened along with pastors trading in their suits and ties for Hawaiian shirts and the introduction of guitars and drums into mainstream church services. At this point, the church also dropped the tiny bit of intellectualism it had for a new, non-judgmental, post-modern emotionalism. Yes, this helped to draw in new members, but there remains a greater dearth of critical thinking in the church than ever before.

This movement toward the contemporary church model has left believers intellectually empty and defenseless against the renewed attacks on their faith. When I was a Christian, I rejected this contemporary movement and felt church was lacking something. I moved my membership to a traditional church in hopes that I could find more “meat” in Christian training. It helped even less. When I turned 30, the transition began for me. Until that time, I had been a devout Southern Baptist—having worked for the denomination for 10 years. The decision was made to truly examine my faith—to dig deep and understand as much as I could about the origins of Scripture. It wasn’t long before I realized how little could be substantiated. “Faith” was no longer enough to fill the gaps of evidence.

As time progressed, I ultimately rejected Christianity. Since that time, I have immersed myself in further study of the origins of Scripture, studying Islam and other religions, and catching up on philosophy and science—biology, DNA, mapping of genomes, the theory of evolution via natural selection, astronomy, physics, neuroscience, and so on. By playing the devil’s advocate, I was able to weed out my wrong beliefs.

Now, I find myself arguing with puny Christians—not only weak in their faith, but mind-numb and ignorant. Their arguments are sophomoric and reveal lack of introspection. By posting a simple anti-religion quote on Facebook, I can draw in the weakest of them. Their arguments—whether theological or pseudo-scientific—are unfounded, and quite frankly, embarrassing to read.

I have a word of advice for Christians—try harder. Play the devil’s advocate with yourself. Read material you wouldn’t otherwise read. Think critically. Question your faith. Stop living in a fog of ignorance. This is the only way you will grow as a person and live a full and fruitful life.

Christians and Morality

I've had ongoing conversations with Christians on Facebook and this blog in recent weeks about the origin of morality. On one hand they criticize society’s perceived moral relativism and the dangers of post-modern thought yet they question truth, facts, reality, rationality, and secular morality in attempts to convince me of their perspective. Either this is a profound paradox or Christians are simple ignorant of the world around them. I am quite certain it is the latter.

They claim the Hebrew god gave law to humanity yet he himself is not subject to it. Throughout the Bible, their god breaks many of the rules he sets forth. For instance, he tells the Israelites not to kill. I’ve heard plenty of preachers interpret this to mean, “Do not kill innocent people.” Yet he tells his people to slaughter innocent people—entire villages including children—throughout the Old Testament. This is the epitome of moral relativism.

Christians believe that the Americanized/Western interpretation of the gospels, Pauline doctrine, and Hebrew texts are the only place to find morality. In other words, to them, one cannot possess innate morality, but must read it in a book written by ancient Near East sheepherders or whoever. If I were to find my morality in the Bible, I would have to believe that I must kill homosexuals and disobedient children and that women must be submissive to men. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew god was jealous and ruthless. In the New Testament, Paul presented a form of morality based mainly on etiquette—what to wear and how to act. Meanwhile, Jesus presented a meek and mild doctrine that shunned violence and embraced the innocent. These three perspectives are clearly inconsistent and offer no practical morality whatsoever.

It is time for Christians to realize that morality is innate. There are numerous moral codes which predate theirs and indicate morality has been around a lot longer than 3,400 years—long before the mythical Moses. Science demonstrates that through natural selection we have developed morality. There is evidence in the animal kingdom that species are altruistic and possess an natural desire to preserve their kind. Over the millennia, natural selection has favored those species that protect and defend related beings in their pack, school, or hive. The Hebrews simply documented a natural phenomenon and cited a divine source.

There is No Faith in Atheism

As I argue with Christians, I grow ever more frustrated with them. In my discussions, a Christian will use the word “belief” to describe my atheist position and they say it requires a level of faith to not believe in the Hebrew god. Atheism is not a belief. Atheism claims nothing. Therefore, it does not require faith. It is simply a position based on lack of evidence for the opposing position. You and I both do not believe in the Easter bunny. Would one assert that we require a level of “faith” to disbelieve? No.

Science is the ruler by which we gauge reality. Scientists do not claim to know everything about the universe. They do not claim to have an answer as to what lies beyond the universe. They do not make claims as to whether there may or may not be an afterlife. There is no way to know these things.

I’ve compiled some basic questions and answers to demonstrate the difference between atheists and Christians. The questions will show that atheism does not require faith and is not a system of belief.

Christians:

1) Was the universe and everything in it created? Yes, by the Hebrew god because the Bible tells me so.

2) Is there life after death? Yes, because the Bible tells me so.

3) Are we born evil? Yes, because the Bible tells me a man and woman ate an apple from a tree 6,000 years ago.

4) Why are we here? To serve the Hebrew god.

Atheists:

1) Was the universe and everything in it created? We do not know. All scientific (verifiable) evidence points to the contrary, but we cannot say definitively yes or no.

2) Is there life after death? See previous answer.

3) Are we born evil? There is nothing to indicate that we are. Science demonstrates that humans are born with the desire to survive and are altruistic.

4) Why are we here? It’s a silly question and does not deserve an answer. We are the product of natural selection and essentially serve no purpose other than to survive.

Atheists base their lack of belief on facts—verifiable, scientific evidence. We make no assertions as to the existence of supernatural beings or events. Christians base their beliefs on a book of myths written over a course of two thousand years by undetermined authors. I prefer to build my life on fact and not fiction.