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5.19.2009

Liberating Self from Religion 2.0

As a followup to this post, I don't think ANY post on these theme of liberating yourself from religion could be complete without Mentioned Richard Dawkins. Read Richard Dawkins. I just finished his book The God Delusion and hearing such a massively well-scholared intelligent dissection of religion and the commitment to understanding truth restored my faith in humanity and mankind.

Some notes on Dawkins's work.
  1. Richawrd Dawkins. (anti-religion YAY!) To cap it all, Adam, the supposed perpetrator of
    the original sin, never existed in the first place: an awkward fact -
    excusably unknown to Paul but presumably known to an omnis-
    cient God (and Jesus, if you believe he was God?) - which
    fundamentally undermines the premise of the whole tortuously
    nasty theory. Oh, but of course, the story of Adam and Eve was
    only ever symbolic, wasn't it? Symbolic? So, in order to impress
    himself, Jesus had himself tortured and executed, in vicarious
    punishment for a symbolic sin committed by a non-existent
    individual? As I said, barking mad, as well as viciously unpleasant.
  2. George Carlin (in Richard Dawkins Book God Delusion). "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!" (lmao. great ridicule).
  3. GREAT Atheist Commandments (BEST!!)
    1. • Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to
      you.
      • In all things, strive to cause no harm.
      • Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and
      the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and
      respect.
      • Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but
      always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and
      honestly regretted.
      • Live life with a sense of joy and wonder.
      • Always seek to be learning something new.
      • Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and
      be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not
      conform to them.
      264 THR GOD DELUSION
      • Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always
      respect the right of others to disagree with you.
      • Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason
      and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by
      others.
      • Question everything.
  4. Dawkins' Atheist commandments GREAT!
    1. • Enjoy your own sex life (so long as it damages nobody else)
      and leave others to enjoy theirs in private whatever their
      • inclinations, which are none of your business.
      • Do not discriminate or oppress on the basis of sex, race or (as
      far as possible) species.
      • Do not indoctrinate your children. Teach them how to think
      for themselves, how to evaluate evidence, and how to disagree
      with you.
      • Value the future on a timescale longer than your own.
  5. Alfred Hitchcock (from Richard Dawkins) "It is said that Alfred Hitchcock, the great cinematic
    specialist in the art of frightening people, was once driving through
    Switzerland when he suddenly pointed out of the car window and
    said, 'That is the most frightening sight I have ever seen.' It was a
    priest in conversation with a little boy, his hand on the boy's
    shoulder. Hitchcock leaned out of the car window and shouted,
    'Run, little boy! Run for your life!' "
  6. Richard Dawkins -- "Religion has at one time or another been thought to fill four
    main roles in human life: explanation, exhortation, consolation and
    inspiration." (Science now completely Explains life. Religion provides no moral bearing on how to live; terrible group rapes and outdated commandments in religion. This is great because it shows that religion TRULY is obsolete!! A need for defining our own morality, however, IS VERY necessary and VERY present and that's why personal principles are essential!)....
  7. Richard Dawkins -- Consolation, according to the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, is the
    alleviation of sorrow or mental distress. I shall divide consolation
    into two types.
    1. Direct physical consolation. A man stuck for the night on a
    bare mountain may find comfort in a large, warm St Bernard
    dog, not forgetting, of course, the brandy barrel around its
    neck. A weeping child may be consoled by the embrace of
    strong arms wrapped around her and reassuring words
    whispered in her ear.
    2. Consolation by discovery of a previously unappreciated fact,
    or a previously undiscovered way of looking at existing
    facts. A woman whose husband has been killed in war may be
    consoled by the discovery that she is pregnant by him, or that
    he died a hero.
  8. (This is VERY interesting because to me, science, math, and the awe and mystery of mathematical precision and scientific technology found installed in Nature, in cellular technology, in science is the most inspiring. Again, this is MASSIVELY validating because for me the only thing religion has brought was the ANTI-THESIS OF CONSOLATION. Religion brought me being prosyletized in costa rica, religion brought me fear of fiery pits, screaming irate peope ranting things about trinities...religion brought discord and has never brought consolation! Why is that so many homeless people are connected with churhces? Because churches attract and manufuacture lost people! Science, in contrast, brought me deep truthful consolation. Science is something I can honestly absorb. I can pour over the "tenets" of the cellular respiration or the "tomes" of euclidian geometry and photosynthesis. Science and math are my source of explanation and consolation, and inspiration. And for exhoration, I combine and use a combination of science, logic, and my own principles! Seeing how much WELL-written (dawkins') material there is on anti-religion and how little well-written material on religion these days, restores my faith in humanity and mankind! :D
  9. Carl Sagan (Science as truth!) -- "Not explaining science
    seems to me perverse. When you're in love, you want to tell the
    world. This book is a personal statement, reflecting my lifelong love
    affair with science."

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