Since I've entered the blogosphere, I've met some of the most interesting and intelligent people of my life. I've re-examined my own political beliefs and feel like I'm finally getting a well-rounded take on current events. It's great. Hooray for the Internet!
Most of you know about the Dan Rather story and how he's still touting obviously forged documents about Bush's ANG service. 90% of the people I've talked to think these documents are forged and part of a political ploy (origin unknown). With absolutely no supporting evidence or confirmation of the source, Rather just keeps on dogmatically defending them. Multiple forensic document experts have reached a consensus that they are either obvious fakes or their authenticity could never be determined and should probably be ignored. I'm glad to see everyone thinking rationally.
What I DON'T get is why people can't apply this same fact and logic-driven thought to the rest of their lives...specifically religion. God, to me, is a concept that was somewhat useful when we were in the Dark Ages and made up crap to explain the unexplainable. Just a few years ago superstitious thought was actually taken seriously:
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From
IslandNet:
It's bad luck to walk under a ladder. This came from the early Christian belief that a leaning ladder formed a triangle with the wall and ground. You must never violate the Holy Trinity by walking through a triangle, lest you be considered in league with the devil. (And you all know what good Christians did to people they suspected of being in league with the devil.)
Beware of Friday the Thirteenth. Those who know about these things, inform us that Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden on a Friday, Noah's flood started on a Friday, and Christ was crucified on a Friday. Christians also noted that twelve witches plus one devil are present at Satanic ceremonies so Friday and 13 make a deadly combination.
Black cats are evil. In ancient Egypt, the Goddess Bast, was a black female cat. Christian priests wanted to wipe out all traces of other religions so convinced their ignorant followers to destroy the evil demons that were black cats. While they were at it, they destroyed the kindly little old ladies who cared for the cats believing them to be witches.
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Does anybody actually BELIEVE this crap? I know some of us do things like throwing spilled salt over our left shoulders into the face of the Devil out of habit; learned behaviors from our parents, but most people don't actually BELIEVE it does them any good.
I want to hasten the demise of religion because it's childish thinking as far as I'm concerned. No religion has any credible evidence that miracles were preformed or that events occured like their "divinely inspired authors" said. Most other people's individual miracles can be attributed to chance or the unremarkable power of people to change themselves. Do people actually think some scribe went around recording everything Jesus said? Don't you think more than a little creative license was used throughout the years to "quote" him? Isn't it conceivable that many concepts he supposedly espoused were actually written by priests for their own benefit?
Religion has ever been a tool of control over the masses. Peasants that could never expect to improve their lives here on earth were encouraged to build up treasures in the afterlife. Nice job, priests, quiet them down and tell them bedtime stories of streets of gold and mansions in Paradise. Not only that, but 99% of the time religious dogma was negative, more along the lines of fire and brimstone to frighten the people into compliance. People are afraid to die, afraid of what (doubtfully) will await them. Nobody wants to accept the obvious conclusion that nothing happens when you die, you just die. People would be a lot harder to control if they knew this was the only life they'll get.
I challenge you intellectuals out there to consider these points:
Do you really need a god to tell you what's right and wrong?
Do you adhere to religious doctrine because you actually believe what they're saying, or because you fear what might happen if you DON'T?
What credible evidence can you produce that things were written as they were actually stated, or forensic evidence that events actually occured as written?
We'd have so much more time to improve our own situations and advance the human race into the stars as it is intended if we weren't so hung up on childish thinking. We'd cast off the noose that mildly schizophrenic religious leaders have had around our collective necks for centuries. How much more could we improve our economy, help the less fortunate, and further our own creative interests if all that money being funneled into churches WASN'T. It seems so wasteful to me.
In conclusion, I think god's memos (the bible) are just as incredible as this drivel Dan Rather is spewing. Why won't people be intellectually honest enough to come to the same conclusion? Don't tell me "oh, the Old Testament's inaccuracies are superceded by the love of Jesus" or "the message is the important part, not line-by-line analysis". What a crock. If people are dedicating their lives to such a religious doctrine, you should either believe it all the way or not do it at all. We'd be better off if there were fewer religious people in this world.
