Quotes

Jesus` last words on the cross, `My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?` hardly seem like the words of a man who planned it that way. It doesn`t take Sherlock Holmes to figure there is something wrong here. - Donald Morgan

Theists believe that nothing created god

Ray Comfort says "Atheists believe that nobody created the universe".

Albert Ip says 'Theists believe that nothing created god".

Where should the source of our moral judgment be based?

I just finished watching a movie called Nothing But the Truth. It is about a female reporter faces a possible jail sentence for outing a CIA agent and refusing to reveal her source. [quote from IMDB]. It has prompted me to ask how much power should the government have? Among these: freedom of speech, national security and torture, which has priority over which?

We have a natural tendency to form group, a country IS a group. However, there are other groups that we are simultaneously belong to, e.g. friends, family, clubs, companies, etc just to name a few. Religious groups are another example. But most important of all, we are all homo sapiens. US of America has the first amendment to her constitution which protects individual's right. The issue tackled in the movie was the right of a reporter over the source of the information.

In order to protect free speech, enable an informed citizenship and ensure government is accountable, any reporter has the right to protect the source of information. USA high court has ruled that that right to protect the source of information was overridden by the national security. When government used national security as a mean to force the source of information from the reporter and when the reporter refused to provide such information, the reporter would be sent to jail - a form of torture (not necessarily physical or mental torture per sec, but nevertheless imposed great stress) to "force" the reporter to reveal the source.

Where should the source of our moral judgment be based? Who is right and who is wrong? Is the reporter too stupid to give up so much just to fight for a principle?

Pi

Pi is the mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter.
circumference= pi * diameter.

It is a mathematically interesting number and it is a known irrational number (a number which cannot be expressed as a fraction).

If there is any sacredness of this number, it won't be the approximation 22/7. However if you are interested in that kind of BS, a Patrick Mulcahy has written a small book "the Metaphyical Significance of Pi".

I hope this post can save you some time in case you are interested in Pi.

BTW, you can get pi to 1 million places here, a billion decimal places here.

If you like to have pi to 100 billion digits, click here.

Now, that's interesting.

Some theories of religion

Excerpt from Theological Incorrectness: Why Religious People Believe What They Shouldn't by D. Jason Slone:

Edward Tylor and James Frazer:

religion had evolved from simple to complex in form and substance. They theorized that it must have originated as ¡§animism¡¨ or ¡§magic¡¨ and then morphed progressively into polytheism, monotheism, and agnosticism. Agnosticism in turn, they theorized, would eventually be replaced by pure scientific atheism. Using data about primitive religions gathered from travel writings, folk tales, oral stories, and so forth, these scholars argued that religion was something like a "folk science." Primitive men and women appealed to religious agents as a way to explain why otherwise unexplainable things happened in their world.

Sigmund Freud:

religion was nothing but the by-product of deeply rooted psychological conflicts between individual desires (what we want to do) and social rules (what we are allowed to do). Using data gathered from clinical psychotherapy, Freud hypothesized that religion soothes psychological discomforts such as the dissonance one feels about human mortality, about our powerlessness over the forces of nature, about repressed sexual desires, and so forth. Religion, he claimed, fulfills psychological needs such as the desire for a permanent father figure to protect us from bad things, the desire to be relieved of guilt, and so forth.

Karl Marx:

religion fulfilled the function of maintaining the socioeconomic status quo for the wealthy and powerful people (the ¡§bourgeoisie¡¨), such as the owners of businesses, land, money, and other forms of capital, by "naturalizing" (i.e., explaining) economic differences through religious myths. Religion was, according to Marx, an important pillar of the cultural "superstructure" (the non-economic aspects of society) because it helped to maintain the basic economic disparities inherent in capitalism itself. Religion is very popular, he theorized, because it makes oppressed people feel better about their harsh lives by promising them rewards in an afterlife. "Religious distress", Marx wrote famously, "is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people."

Emile Durkheim:

Durkheim studied religious primitives, like the Australian Aborigines and the American Indians, because he believed they offered scholars a clear example of the earliest and therefore most basic form of religion, which he called "totemism". According to Durkheim¡¦s theory, human beings from birth live in social groups that constantly face the threat of internal disintegration (a la Freuds internal conflict). To prevent disintegration, the groups invent something to "cohere" them. One way that humans achieve group cohesion is to establish a group identity marker, a "totem", which represents the clan itself (e.g., the "coyote" clan, or the ¡§fox¡¨ clan, or, to use a more recent example, Russia is represented by the bear and the United States by the eagle). Then they elevate the totem to the level of a deity in icons and in rituals, and construct prohibitive rules, "taboos", against its desecration. The group worships the totem (hence "totemism"), which for all practical purposes means that the group worships itself. This enhances an individual's identification with the group and thereby creates group cohesion.

Max Weber:

among other things, that religious ideas function as "ideal types", and ideal types motivate human action in the world (toward the achievement of the ideal). For example, Jesus established an ethical ideal type in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1 - 7:27). Today, ideally, Christians strive to live up to this ideal.

Quotes

One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. - Arthur C. Clarke

I would add: It makes me feel sick when I understood that this tragedy was completely man-made and realised how religion has retarded human progress. I am amazed at the stupidity of the oppressed to support such religion.

The world is for us to appreciate once we shake off the shackle of religion. It is so much more beautiful than that prescribed by religion when human lives in unison with nature.

Another two videos of Tim Minchin

Quotes

I think flying planes into a building was a faith-based initiative. I think religion is a neurological disorder. - Bill Maher

Kalumburu’s struggle for a better future

This is the example of bad thing done by a church.

Kalumburu is a small aboriginal town, of about 500 people, formerly a Catholic mission.

the Benedictine order which settled there more than a century ago ruled like colonial administrators until the Federal Government finally forced them to relinquish control in the early 1980s. The mission is now a parish under the auspices of the Bishop of Broome.

Recently as the community grows, it went out of land for housing.

most of the land beyond the town boundaries is flood prone for many months of the year.

Except that is for a huge tract of high ground just across the road from the community, over which the Catholic Church has freehold and leasehold title.

The Church secured those titles when the mission finally surrendered management of the community in the early 1980s.

...

That land, one, belongs to the Indigenous people and should be handed back to them freehold.

But number two, the biggest argument and the strongest argument was the fact that during the wet season, Kalumburu is waterlogged or water locked, if you like, and the only land that is available for Kalumburu to expand is that land that the Catholic mission, Catholic Church, believes is theirs.

The community tried to contact the Bishop of Broome, but he refused to respond nor talk to the community.

More bad things done by the church in the transcript of the show.

Bad thing done by the church

I have a tag "bad things done in the name of religion". I thought it would be enough. However in tonight's 730 report of the Australia ABC, there is a story about how the church took a piece of high land in a flood-prone aboriginals small town, compete with a local shop which obliged to support ALL necessary basic living items while the church's shop cherry pick goods to sell without paying any tax. The church also runs the only petrol station and accommodation in the town. When I went to check out the details from ABC website, the information is not yet available. I will update this post once the more info is posted by ABC

Prompted by the story, I have also done some searches. Here is a story from The Observer on Sunday 17 August 2003 about how the church systemically protect the priests who committed sex abuse to young children. Priests committing such crime is not news anymore. The greatest shock to me was the discovery of a Vatican document dating back to 1962 instructing bishops to cover up the sex abuse.

We may blame people committing crime in the name of religion as wrongly interpreting the bible. Bad things done by the church is no excuse at all.

Update: please see this post.

Quotes

Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires. - Sigmund Freud

Jeshua Cottontail, the animal messiah

Why Religion is More Dangerous Than Handguns

The cause of harm to another person is, according to this post, a product of the willingness, justification, accessibility of a weapon and the lethality of the weapon.

The first two factors are we, modern society, should work on because no doubt the availability of highly lethal weapons will increase with better information flow.

Unfortunately, religion, when interpreted in some way, will encourage otherwise peaceful person to commit harm to other people because they believe *god* would reward them for what they do. Do harm in the name of religion increases the potential harm.

Read the original post.

Top Ten Things God Would Not Have Done If He Existed

If there were a creator...

How do you know that this universe was created for us?

Do you realise how pathetic it would be for a creator to alter the working order of the universe in order to answer the prayer of 1 of the 6.75 billion human who is one of the 1.5 million species on Earth, which is one of the eight planets of the Solar System which is one of 200 billion stars making up the Milky Way which is one of the 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe [ignoring the possibility of multiple universes]? [numbers are estimates from sources linked]

It would be mad to say that this creator would be so obsessed by human recognition to the point that s/he created a hell to punish those who do not! - me

Most religions have an arrogant assumption, that men is the reason the universe was created, so as to support the pathetic attention god gives human. While this assumption is dumb and awkward, the arrogant ignorance of the believers ensures a sensible discussion cannot be carried out. - me again

Is the Earth Flat?

"Anything that has no indication in the Koran is false." Oh, that is why the Earth is flat!

Imagining a world without God(s) - the video

Experience Counts or Not?

While I have written posts arguing that Experience *alone* is a poor teacher, when you have some questions needing answers, would you prefer to seek help from someone with no experience in the situation?

Example: do you want a surgeon who has never perform an opened heart operation to open your heart?

When dealing with sex hetero/homo, marriages and divorce, family planning issues such as contraception and abortion, saving lives such as the use of condom to prevent AIDS, how a priest, who claims to have no sex, can say anything on these subjects. Unfortunately, this seems to be one of the most consistent themes running throughout John Paul II's papacy. He is totally ignorance about his lack of real world knowledge, e.g. condom use in Africa will save million of lives.

Another side note - a lot of sexual abuses have happened in the past in churches all over the world. Is this a reflection of the result of the lack of proper sexual outlets of the priests?

The Religious Doctrines Of Atheism: Cannibalism

Well the linkage of atheism to cannibalism is .... I am lost of word.

I did a quick search and actually find something quite different. There IS a linkage between religion and cannibalism!

The concept of sacrificing something important to the gods or spirits was common in religions around the world. Usually, the more important the god or the request, the more important the sacrifice had to be. The most important thing which could be sacrificed was, usually, a human being. Typically, the person was sacrificed for the sake of the welfare of the entire community — to appease and angry god who had cursed the tribe, to plea for better crops, to ensure success in a coming battle, etc. [source]

Examples quoted:

For the Aztecs, consuming human flesh was a type of communion, establishing a sacred relationship between humans and gods. Because the people who were ritually sacrificed were "impersonators" of the gods, the Aztecs saw themselves as not consuming another human being, but as consuming a god. Such a role was regarded as an honorable and even coveted death — it had about the same status as a heroic death in battle. The sacrificial victim received a penitential liberation from this plane of existence, released to a new life with the gods.

In the bible, Lamentations 4.10, as a curse Zion and as the fury of god, "The hands of compassionate women Boiled their own children; They became food for them Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people." The god has caused cannibalism.

If you do not follow god's law, Leviticus 26.29 And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall you eat.

Here is a more detailed list from Skeptic's Annotated Bible:
Sometimes God forces people to eat other people, often their own children or other family members.

"I also will do this unto you... You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it." -- Leviticus 26:16

"And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat." -- Leviticus 26:29

"And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters." -- Deuteronomy 28:53

"And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them." -- Deuteronomy 28:57

"Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother. And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm." -- Isaiah 9:19-20

"And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine." -- Isaiah 49:26

"And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend." -- Jeremiah 19:9

"Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers." -- Ezekiel 5:10

"I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another." -- Zechariah 11:9

If god is all powerful and mighty, should god stop cannibalism instead of cursing cannibalism to happen to human?

ps In a 2008 news report, Cannibalism suspect said 'God' told him to kill.

Imagining a world without God(s)

Joel Schumacher woke this morning to a different kind of world. In this world mankind had accepted his own mortality and with this acceptance came the liberty of caring for humanity instead of spirituality.

What would happen next?

In Africa the Sunni’s and Shia’s lost their reason to kill each other. Muslims and Christians had no reason to Jihad, In Ireland the Protestants and Catholics found they had lost their differences, around the world it was the same.

What about the money which were once given to the church?

Billions of people who once gave money to their church or religious cause now pour money into local, national and worldwide funds to help the poor, the sick and less fortunate. The amount of money was staggering at first, and many organizations were not equipped to deal with it, but they grew quickly and served their purpose in ways previously not possible. Money flowed into scientific research prompting discoveries of such significant magnitude it completely changed everyone’s lives, Aids, Cancer, Alzheimer’s, Down syndrome, even aging its self had the money required to properly research and develop medications and even cures, healthcare for everyone is a reality but not paid for with taxpayer dollars but rather through donations. Not all those church dollars go to donations though and as the additional money floods our economy, stocks go up and the world economy recovers quickly and prospers.

Most importantly, how a world without god would help them, or YOU?

They give money, contribute to their communities in a tangible way, and try to learn how to see the world without wearing the glasses of judgment and damnation. It is a difficult task but the farther they get from their previous life the more excited they get about the new world. Safety envelopes them as they feel the freedom to entertain questions they previously thought would send them to hell.

Will this the world we like to live in?

Science

Open-mindedness

Quotes

I wonder on what basis anyone can say condoms make Aids worse. The Pope is either stupid, ignorant or wicked. If people take his words seriously he will be responsible for the deaths of thousands, perhaps millions of people. - Richard Dawkins

The word "wicked" was changed to "dim" in the Telegraph. Pharyngula received a correction from Dawkins about the misquote. Here I choose to use the intended word by Dawkins.

Why the creator has to be good?

In Can a Robot be Human?: 33 Perplexing Philosophy Puzzles , Peter Cave asks Why believe there is an all-powerful, all-good God rather than an all-powerful, all-bad Devil?.

Many people believe that God exists. They often rely on scriptures and religious teachers but some look for evidence and believe it is found in certain features of the world around them. My suggestion of Devil is a way of challenging the inference from worldly features to an all-good God. Introducing Devil should also remind us that the choice is not simply between a God with benevolence and no God. Those who believe in an all-powerful figure that created and designed the universe need to explain why they are convinced he is all good rather than all bad -- or, indeed,something in between. Is it not most likely that there are at least two distinct and powerful powers,one evil and one good? Zoroastrianism is typically taken as proclaiming such a duality. Is it the only sensible religion? Paradoxically, that could explain why hardly anyone believes in it. Mind you,maybe that is no paradox at all. After all, do faith and good sense readily combine?

Eat kids

God helps America

How could American people elect such idiot to lead their country?


America, you really need GOD to help you out with this one. Unfortunately, god does not exist!

Worse of all, we, all human, animals and living organisms, share the same Earth. You fuck up the Earth's equilibrium, we suffer too! For goodness sake, make your decision based on evidence, not those books written thousands of years ago by somebody in the middle east who know nothing of the progress we have made since.

Quotes

Things like this remind me why I am so opposed to religion. In general, I don't care what people believe, but when those beliefs are organized into religions and begin to impose themselves on others in harmful ways, that is when I call foul. And in my estimation, religion - for all the good many claim it offers, is a destructive force. - Trina Hoaks