I saw the above meme on my Facebook wall yesterday (without the red X) and had to respond. Of course this is the classic Pascal's Wager which assumes if there is a God, he is a really stupid one that can be fooled by people hedging their bets, but my initial response was this:
“If there is a god who is just and loving it won't matter, if a god would send someone to eternal torture simply for not "loving" him, there is nothing in me that could cause me to love such a god or want to spend eternity with such a vile being.” Then I was called lost and blind, etc. Blind? Really? I'm the one who is blind? I had to get a bit more serious and responded with this: “For most of my life I believed as Steven, Allen and millions of others do, breaking free of that was the hardest thing I ever did, but I am so glad that I did. I have no intention of arguing or getting in a debate, but perhaps I can ask a few questions to remove the blinders of faith from your mind. If you are a loving and just being who created a life that is self aware would you not even more than a mother giving birth do everything to care for, nurture, and protect that life? Would you not be more real to them than the earth beneath their feet, the sun in their face, or the wind in their hair? Or would you remove yourself from them, except for communicating in ancient writings (and “feelings”) that you love them but they will tortured by fire forever if they don't love you back? And that brings the question of what is loving or just punishment? Certainly that is different for different crimes, but I know of NO crime where a just, let alone loving punishment would be the eternal torture of hell fire, let alone for someone simply not believing something such as they by birth are deserving of such a punishment if they don't believe. Such a belief is to me now deeply offensive and vile, I am ashamed that I ever believed it. Sadly I did. Do you really have a grasp of what that belief means? If not, I recommend a video called Burn Victims it should be very hard to watch, it should make you sick, it should, I hope it does. A couple years before this video was even made I had asked myself the question it asks and I knew that even if real, and even if it meant I myself would go to Hell, there was nothing in me that could love or serve a god who would send ANYONE to eternal, never ending torture for ANY reason. I hope you are moral, decent, just, loving, and compassionate enough to reach the same conclusion.” Please, my friends if you believe there is a “loving” god who would send anyone to eternal Hell for ANY reason, please wake up and realize how blind you are, and how far from anything remotely “loving” or “just” such a belief is. It is sick, deluded, cruel, and very blind for any compassionate, just, or loving being.
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Some recent events which have shaken the atheist community (I'll get to that in a moment) have oddly made me ask myself why does the atheist movement even exist, is it that people are angry at God, or is it something else?
I mean there is not (that I know of) a strong movement focused on denying that the Earth exists, or space, or gravity, or DNA, or many other things that there is clear evidence for. So is it that the Atheist movement exists simply because there is no clear evidence for God? That is part of it sure, but not I think nearly all of it. That alone I think is not sufficient to make atheism the strong vocal movement that it is. I mean if God isn't real, but people believe he is, so what, what's the harm? Here is the root of the harm. Because there is no clear evidence for God that means that ALL of religion (a very powerful, persuasive force that dominates human life privately, socially, politically, culturally, economically, basically at every level one can imagine) is based on myth, deception, to be blunt a lie. The quote above by Michael Ende also explains it very well. A belief that is not based on solid facts is a lie. The very idea of faith or belief is actually based on NOT having evidence, if you have evidence it isn't faith, it's knowledge. As the Bible says in Heb 11:1,6 Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen. 2 Cor 5:7 tells people to walk by faith not sight Jn 20:27-29 says that it is more blessed to believe without seeing. To believe without seeing, in fact to believe counter to what can be seen, is to believe a lie and to be easily manipulated. Even further while religion teaches in words that “thall shalt not lie”, it teaches people much louder by actions that they MUST lie (or withhold truth) to fit in and be accepted, or just to keep peace. I'll give a couple examples of how that happened in my life. First, as a child I in a very religious family I had been taught that sex was sinful and something NOT to be talked about. This message was so clear that I hid that I was being sexually abused, because I feared what might happen if it became known, far more than I did the abuse. This is why much child sexual abuse remains hidden in religious culture, it is why priests and other leaders can so easily get away with sexually abusing children. From that I was still intensely curious (as most all humans are) about the human body and sex, like most kids I could not get my questions answered or interest satisfied through family, church, or school, but while most young kids get their questions about sex and the body answered by other kids or pornography, neither of which are good sources, I was more fortunate in that my family regularly went to libraries (this was long before the Internet) Through library books I learned a lot, and much of what I learned did not agree with the beliefs of my parents or church. I longed to be able to be open and honest about this but knew I could not, so I kept it hidden, in essence I lied about what I believed that was different from what my family and church believed. I had to, to maintain a peaceful relationship with them. I hope you can agree that these lies that I (and millions of others) became ensnared in by religion are deeply harmful. My life would have certainly been far healthier if I had had confidence that I could have been open and forthright with what was happening in my life and what I believed, rather than hiding it. While it may not be so directly expressed often, I believe that exposing the harm of this sort of built in deception is a big part of the root of what atheism is really all about, and why it's important. And thus when one of the top leaders in the movement is caught in a lie (all too common in religion and politics) it really shakes the community up. This is what happened with Teresa MacBain. Teresa is a former Methodist Minister who lost her faith and came out as an atheist at the American Atheist Convention in 2012. It was a dramatic coming out and she captured the attention not only of the atheist community but of the press as well with TV appearances and articles in mainstream media including the New York Times. She quickly became a sought after speaker and a voice for the atheist movement, she went to work as Public Relations Director for American Atheists Inc, moved from that to become the Executive Director of Humanist of Florida Association, than moved again becoming the Director of the Humanist Community Project at Harvard all within 18 months and all while being the Executive Director of the Clergy Project! Now that has all become undone, because it has been revealed that she lied on her resume about her educational background, she does not have a Masters Degree in divinity as she had claimed. Consequentially she has been fired from her position at Harvard, resigned her position with the Clergy Project, has lost speaking engagements, and respect in the atheist community. Her star has fallen more quickly than it rose. My initial question was why all the ruckus, and I quickly came to her defense. Largely because I have heard people bragging about how they lied on their resumes to get their positions for many years. I will say that I have never directly lied on a resume, but neither have I applied for positions that I am not fully qualified for, using one. I was once basically given a position that I wasn't qualified or trained for based on other qualities I have, and I was in way over my head, one of the biggest disasters of my life. For other positions I have certainly done my best to make myself look my best on resumes, that is what they are for. That people lie on them is not a shock, that people pay a price when caught is not a shock either. For me the answer of why all the ruckus came with the realization that exposing lies and deception are deep at the hart of what the atheist and closely intertwined skeptic community is all about. It is painful to realize that someone rose to celebrity status very quickly at least partially based on deception. Now the question I think we must ask is how really best to respond to this and where do we (and Teresa) go from here? I have seen a couple reasons, there may be more, that people say Teresa can not be trusted in a leadership role in the atheist community. One is a claim that she still hasn't come totally clean, that she likely had to lie to get the position of ministry in the Methodist Church that she had before becoming an Atheist and who knows how far back this practice of deception goes? Teresa has a response to this which I feel it is important to share here, hopefully to help set the record straight. It is: -- Anyone who knows anything about the Methodist church knows that this isn't possible. The process for a pastor transferring from another denomination (which is what I did) is to go through a 1 yr (approximately) period of review and additional training. This is the program I attended. It's called "Course of Study". It's a 5 year intensive broken up into summer sessions. In Feb. you receive pre-course work. In July, you attend classes, 8 hrs a day for 30 days. Then you have post course work that is due later in the year. I completed 1 yr of this program. Several reasons exist as to why I couldn't complete the other years, but I won't go into that now. The Methodist church is very, very strict on it's assessment, review, and annual follow-up. Everything is checked, re-checked, and then evaluated annually. My falsehood began after I left the ministry. It had to do with education on my resume. That's it. I don't want to mis-lead anyone again with false information. Any former Methodist who reads that paragraph would immediately jump on you. (or at least send you emails to correct) I accept this explanation but given the history and role of deception in religion, I would still not be surprised or shocked if some forms of deception goes back a long ways in Teresa's life. After all as I have shown above religion is built on myth, deception and lies, it is built on “faith” which is the denial of what we can see, to accept what we can't, deception is at the very root of religion. Exposing this is I believe at the root of Atheism, but we must remember that it was also intertwined into the root of the lives of those who come out of religion including Teresa, myself, and millions of others. Falsehood, deception and it's entanglements are what those who come out of religion are struggling to escape from, if it was not all based on lies, deception, and manipulation, there would be no cause to break free from it and seek truth. From her own story Teresa was taught very early on as a child to not ask questions that challenged faith, that is at least being taught to not seek truth, it is also being taught not to be honest about having doubts and questions. That is what religion does to people. Another reason some say that she can't be trusted is that she only showed contrition after she got caught. This is true, but personally I know of no one that has ever volunteered that they have been lying without having been caught first. I have known of many even when caught who have stood their ground, double downed, made excuses, blamed others, etc. It is rare to see someone accept responsibility, even step at a time as more becomes known, in the way that Teresa has done, and I think she is to be commended for taking responsibility for her actions. My feelings on this have gone back and forth over the last few days, but as the dust settles what it comes down to for me is this. Did she do wrong? Yes absolutely. Should there be consequences for that? Yes. Was her rise to leadership all based on deception? Clearly not, that would not have happened without the skills and talent that she has developed over many years. To be frank it bothers me when I see people so willing to ostracize someone not for outright blatant evil, but for common human failings, like preachers that pound the pulpit screaming against the evils of some sin, I wonder what they may hiding. Lets remember that all humans are multifaceted, as we remember their failings, let us also remember their strengths. Will Teresa again have a prominent leadership role in the Atheist/Humanist community? I don't know, I hope so. But her star is not likely to rise as fast this time as it did the first. Why do I say “I hope so”? First because Atheists don't hold that humans are perfect, we know that we aren't. But at least on the Humanist side of the community we do hold that we can strive to become better, that we are of value and worth the effort. Stories of redemption, of becoming better, are powerful to all people, not just the religious. Teresa's story is such a story, from breaking free of the entanglement of religion to taking responsibility for her deception. Second, because in the short time that she has been part of this community Teresa has shown tremendous leadership, great skills, and a great ability to connect with people, it would be a waste to see that talent and skill lost to the leadership level of the atheist community. Which does bring up another point, one of degrees and leadership in the atheist community. As Sam Mulvey points out in an excellent must listen to response to the Teresa MacBain situation on Ask an Atheist starting at 39 minutes into the show. “If Atheists worship at an alter, it's the alter of secondary education.” I totally agree. For several years I was a nonbeliever before I came out and started getting active in the atheist community. It was not the reasoning and intellect of Ivy League educated leaders such as Richard Dawkins that persuaded me come out of my non-believing closet to join the Atheist community. It was the stories of people I could relate to that I felt a kinship and common background with that persuaded me that there where people like me involved in this movement. And that I needed and wanted to be part of it. People like Seth Andrews, Rich and Deanna Joy Lions, Jerry Dewitt, and yes absolutely Teresa MacBain. If the atheist movement is to help free tens to hundreds of millions of people from the snare of religious deception, to move from single digit percentages of the population embracing it, the reasoning and intellect of Ivy League educated leaders is important yes, but it's not what will have the biggest impact. It is the stories and people that people who are still trapped in religion can personally relate to that will make the biggest impact. The stories of people like Seth Andrews, Rich and Deanna Joy Lions, Jerry Dewitt, Teresa MacBain, stories from people like you, and people like me. The root of atheism is exposing deception, Teresa's has been exposed and she has responded contritely rather than defensively. I do not believe that she should be rejected for a failing that is common to humanity from paupers to presidents. The community is aware of this now, it has been exposed to the light, let us move forward, let us work on rebuilding trust, understanding that Teresa is a person who is no more perfect than any of us, but is also a person with skills and talents that many of us do not share and that the community has already greatly benefited from. Let us not ostracize her for being human. I believe that for Atheism to not just exist, but to thrive and more effectively root out and and expose the deception of religion, we must not only expose deception, we must also remember that even those who have participated in deception also have good qualities and strengths. We must hold them accountable AND embrace them for their good and bad as fellow travelers on the tumultuous journey of life. I saw a post on Facebook that said: "If someone has to set aside reason and logic in order to believe something, then no amount of reason and logic is going to change their belief." I get what they said but do not totally agree with this, which is why I came up with the revision you see imaged here. The reason I don't agree with the above statement from Facebook is that "setting something aside" implies intentional action. But most peoples beliefs are not arrived at because they "set aside" logic and reason or anything else. There are many reasons people believe things that are in fact unbelievable when you look at the belief through the lens of logic and reason. Key among these are:
It is for this reason that although it sounds completely backwards and idiotic on the surface, if we want a more logic based world rather than one ruled by false and often damaging beliefs that we have to appeal to peoples emotions first. Or as I have often heard in sales training "Facts tell, stories sell" But as the title of this post suggests rationalists often seem to fear emotion, or at least appealing to emotion to help spread rational thinking. (And yes I'll admit that sounds backwards) I know some people have criticized Seth Andrews of The Thinking Atheist for making videos that are "too slick and emotional". But I feel that Seth gets it, that we must appeal to peoples emotions if we are to free people from harmful dogma and false beliefs. I saw evidence of this again this morning as I watched a video of Mark Lynas on his conversion to supporting GMOs. Mark is an author and frequent speaker around the world on climate change science and policy, earlier in his career he was an outspoken opponent of GMO's but as he looked at the science he found that he was wrong. But now there is a challenge, his opposition to GMO's appealed to peoples emotions and fears that was very effective, and the facts aren't much changing that. Emotions are very strong, people will do and believe completely stupid and illogical things because of emotions. If we are to create a world where people understand that, and can step back and take the time to evaluate things more rationally, we have to appeal to their emotions first! And no, this post is NOT a good example of doing that! LOL! |
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