Religion Continues To Spread Its Infection
Of all the evils of the world, Hitler, Terrorism, Scientology, Microsoft, Trans Fat and the likes, Religion tops the list and is accountable for more deeds of evil than the good it preaches. This Christmas, the infection continues to spread. I took this photograph of a group of seemingly-Christian teenage choir caroling at Northpoint Shopping Centre a moment ago. There are at least a dozen watching and I certainly hope they do not fall victim on such brainwashing the churches are doing.
I am against religion simply because of the harm this worldwide delusion brings to the world and how it advertises good when it actually condones bloodshed and killing of innocent lives, even those of children.
Posting comment, please wait…
NTT on Dec 24, 07 – 7:40 am
Hmm.. as Marx said, “Religion is the opiate of the people”..
arzhou (adrian) on Dec 24, 07 – 12:28 pm
As NTT said.
Aen on Dec 24, 07 – 1:40 pm
I don’t think religion as a form of drug is a valid benefit, it that was what NTT and arzhou was implying. Drugs, guns, they are all not very good things.
To fill a world with … religions of the Abrahamic kind, is like littering the streets with loaded guns. Do not be surprised if they are used.
– Richard Dawkins, “Religion’s Misguided Missiles” (September 15, 2001)
xizor2000 on Dec 24, 07 – 2:09 pm
Ahhh… Richard Dawkins. Why am I not surprised?
IMO, to fill the world with the likes of Richard Dawkins, is to blind oneself to the FACT that all religion may have their fair share of bad eggs, religion also has its fair share of contribution to the betterment of the human race. I wonder, what has Dawkins done for the human race, other than contributing his bias and hatred against Abrahamic faiths, in general?
arzhou (adrian) on Dec 24, 07 – 2:16 pm
xizor: everyone is entitled to their point of view. Similarly, there are religions that promote hatred against other religions and against non-believers as well. Everyside has its good and bad eggs. So lets not go there yar?
Aen: We are merely quoting an old Karl Marx maxim: basically he sees that the proletariat uses religion as a way to “escape” the hardships of life temporarily. In a way people take drugs so they can dun care about real life for the moment. But personally, to me as long as a person is happy i dun really care, you can believe in all the gods you want and be happy, that is fine by me. If you are happier not believing in god, that is also fine by me. If you believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, even better! :p
Aen on Dec 24, 07 – 2:59 pm
Xizor: Before you start jumping to conclusions of who contributes to the betterment of the human race, believers or non-believers and whether Professor Dawkins is befitting of the label of a contributor, try reading his book.
Coming back to contributions. There are of course lots of believers and religious people who are kind and benevolent and have contributed much to the world. But do you not think their contributions is based on compassion and not religious faith? Mother Teresa, Ghandi and all the good people did what they did because they wanted to, not because god tells them to. They contributed because the felt the world needed what they can provide, not because they fear hell nor punishment for failure to obey ancient writings.
You should try reading his book, Atheists have no problem reading the bible. So I guess Christians shouldn’t feel bitter about reading Dawkins.
Adrian: Maybe you don’t care but I do and many others do, like families of victims of honour killings and murders “in the name of god”. Do you know that the bible says that it is “OK” or even “encouraged” for a Christian to murder a non-believer?
arzhou (adrian) on Dec 24, 07 – 3:05 pm
hey hey, take a chill pill. Geez
I am just saying that if your friends are happy with their religion that its all good. I am in no way saying its ok to kill or attack people in the name of God or whatever he is called.
Entrepreneur on Dec 24, 07 – 3:24 pm
I’m a Christian. It’s hard not to take offense to statements like Christianity being an evil infectious disease. That’s why religion is such a “don’t talk about it” topic. Debates can easily escalate into vicious, hurtful, harmful personal attacks. So yes, I agree … religion, in this sense, is a hot potato better to be dropped than picked up.
In the meantime, I choose (as I believe you should since you believe in good as opposed to evil) to enjoy the message of peace, love, and goodness for all that the Christmas season brings.
xizor2000 on Dec 24, 07 – 4:30 pm
Arzhou: I’ll like to borrow Aen’s argument for a while. You said that there are religions that promote hatred against other religions and against non-believers as well, them similarly the ‘evils’ that the ‘religion’ perpetrate might as well just be the failings of one person. Consider Martin Luther, who started the Protestant movement. He is also the man who talked about slap the Jews and burning down their synagouges.
Aen: I have a problem with Dawkins, not with you. And personally I have never read any Christian article criticising him, but I have once read a TIME or NEWSWEEK article on a debate to form a not so favorable impression of the man.
Anyway, I can’t speak for Ghandi nor Mother Theresa, but I object to Mother Theresa as your example because that is not what I understand from an article regarding her journals. In the Yazhou Zhoukan article, it is said she went to Kolkata because Jesus told her to ‘go be my light’. So I am not inclined to agree that Mother Theresa in specific, contributed because he felt the world needed what they can provide, not because they fear hell nor punishment for failure to obey ancient writings. Above which, I am also not inclined to believe that alot of the betterment of the human race out there are driven by the will or compassion of one man.
Anyway, I do not intend to read Dawkin’s book, not so much that I have a problem with it, but I simply don’t have the time nor had any intention to make time for it. (Frankly, I sometimes couldn’t even find time to read the Bible.) If there are views in his book that had inspired you, perhaps you can share them in a new article.
Ed on Dec 24, 07 – 4:56 pm
Buy Chronicles of Mother Theresa and read it too, with her hand-written diary inserts. It is costing less than Dawkin’s book. Maybe that will clarify some of your misconception about Mother Theresa and her works.
Entrepreneur on Dec 24, 07 – 6:42 pm
I see you just choose which comments to put up …
Farinelli on Dec 24, 07 – 10:41 pm
Aen, I believe that the huge bulk of Christian bloggers are willing to and enjoy participating in a healthy debate about religion. What I believe angers Xizor, and what certainly disturbs me, are your vastly sweeping statements that appear to be capable of devastating the largest chess boards. Perhaps thinking twice about your content presentation and tone would earn you more positive comments.
Sicarii on Dec 24, 07 – 11:11 pm
Aen said: Do you know that the bible says that it is “OK” or even “encouraged” for a Christian to murder a non-believer?
Hm… I’d like you to point out that in the Bible for me if you please.
Aen on Dec 24, 07 – 11:12 pm
xizor: Mother Teresa died with doubts about her religion. http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/09/06/teresa.letters/
And i wouldn’t respect her as much if she did what she did because she was instructed, and I’m sure this was not the case.
Farinelli: Religious debates of any kind are unlikely to be healthy. Fighting disease is dirty work you know? Why would I start this blog post knowing I would get all sorts of attacks from angry Christians? I am no sucker for “positive comments” and my content presentation, as you call it, is truthful, sincere and well-supported by evidence in any sense.
Whether there is no god or yes, it is not something we should debate here. It has been done many times elsewhere with religion being ridiculed in every instance. I am not trying to make enemies, despite what you think. My purpose is to show the world that religion is stupid, dangerous and unnecessary. One can have morals, love and kindness even without religion.
Here one last quote.
Religion for the common man is true, for the wise it is false and for rulers, it is useful.
In any case I welcome and thank all comments made here. It is interesting to see how people are reacting. You get to see who are the stupid ones and smart ones.
Aen on Dec 24, 07 – 11:25 pm
@ Sicarri, here you go:
Isaiah 13:16
Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces Before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished.
Deuteronomy 13:6-10
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Farinelli on Dec 24, 07 – 11:45 pm
“Religion tops the list and is accountable for more deeds of evil than the good it preaches”
“victim on such brainwashing”
“the harm this worldwide delusion brings to the world”
“it advertises good when it actually condones bloodshed and killing of innocent lives”
“even those of children”
Here are five points in your original post that, barring the later comments, you made no attempt to justify or prove, except maybe the first one, which in the end led to the other four question marks. I would hardly call a post well-supported by evidence if it was made up of accusations without any explanation whatsoever.
Aen on Dec 24, 07 – 11:57 pm
Farinelli: I don’t have to. Evidence is everywhere. Quoting them would probably overload my database.
Sicarii on Dec 25, 07 – 12:00 am
Oh, dear, you take those to mean that Christians are encouraged to kill non-believers? My dear Aen, have you read those in some book taken out of context to prove a point, or did you take the time to read them in the Bible?
Because if you have never read them in the Bible, you probably should. Reading them in their context will shed a new light instead of what these authors will have you believe.
Many anti-Christian authors are good at taking their choice verses from out of the Bible to support their agenda, much like many false teachers today unfortunately.
Aen on Dec 25, 07 – 12:13 am
Oh yes the verses meant exactly that. If not, tell me what they mean actually.
And by the way these verses were told to me by a Christian friend whose father was a church minister and was born a Christian. He had read the bible from cover to cover.
Sicarii on Dec 25, 07 – 12:33 am
I’d prefer you read them for yourself, really.
Since you asked, I’ll give you a short one on what each context is:
Isaiah 13 is about God’s judgment on the Babylonians.
Deuteronomy 13 is a warning from God to Israel regarding idolatry. God is dealing with the Israelites here who have turned their hearts towards false gods and idolatry, against the God who brought them out of Egypt. It has nothing to do with Christians asked to kill non-believers at all.
Just as you would read every written word in its context, I suppose you should also apply this principle to what is written in the Bible instead of taking some quoted verses out of context as the basis for saying what you said.
Aen on Dec 25, 07 – 12:57 am
Are we expecting the next massacre of Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Scientologists, Athiests and all the non Christians soon? Unlikely. Even the Pope have no right to order that even if your god tells him to.
Aen on Dec 25, 07 – 1:02 am
And I don’t think killing babies and raping women is right even if god says it is.
xizor2000 on Dec 25, 07 – 1:08 am
那麼，特蕾莎修女究竟是有信仰，還是沒有信仰呢？世俗世界在質問：她幾十年來一次次寫著、禱告著，白紙黑字，證明她沒有看到聽到神，故而當然是「不信」的。信仰世界回答說：特蕾莎修女每天早上四點半起來禱告，在聽不到看不到的黑暗中，祈求神的回應，堅持幾十年直至生命終結。假如「不信」，倒頭呼呼大睡就是，還理他幹嗎。這是理性和信仰的經典對話。 (Sorry… too lazy to translate into English. But this is my reply to ‘Mother Teresa died with doubts about her religion.’)
Sicarii on Dec 25, 07 – 1:10 am
I’m waiting to see if you’ll retract what you’ve said about Christians being asked to kill non-believers. :)
I’ve showed you context, so perhaps you should do just that? Because you’ve provided false information that you need to be responsible for.
Aen on Dec 25, 07 – 1:19 am
Sadly your so-called context have no grounds. Merely showing it does not make it valid.
Aren’t those Babylonians non-believers?
Sicarii on Dec 25, 07 – 1:54 am
And you quoting out of context from an author has grounds? You made that statement without basis, so do not try to weasel your way out by pointing to other points.
You wanted context, I provided it. If merely showing it has no basis, then I believe you’ve already hardened your heart to not take into consideration what Christians will tell you — that Christians are to kill non-believers is simply not true.
Like I advised, read the Bible for yourself before you make claims that come from the claims of a man who took them out of context. And now that you cannot substantiate your own claim, you wish to weasel out. Nah ah, no chance of that, Aen.
You made a statement, either defend it well or admit that the statement was wrong. You’ve done neither.
Aen on Dec 25, 07 – 8:21 am
Good morning Sicarii. Your refusal to accept the teachings of your holy book startles me. That is the problem with Christians today. Either they only take the good bits out of the bible or twist the bad bits so they become good.
Rape, murder and slavery is rampant in the bible. It amazes me how many times your god orders the killing of innocent people even after the Ten Commandments said “Thou shall not kill”. For example, god kills 70,000 innocent people because David ordered a census of the people (1 Chronicles 21). god also orders the destruction of 60 cities so that the Israelites can live there. He orders the killing of all the men, women, and children of each city, and the looting of all of value (Deuteronomy 3). He orders another attack and the killing of “all the living creatures of the city: men and women, young, and old, as well as oxen sheep, and asses” (Joshua 6). In Judges 21, He orders the murder of all the people of Jabesh-gilead, except for the virgin girls who were taken to be forcibly raped and married. When they wanted more virgins, god told them to hide alongside the road and when they saw a girl they liked, kidnap her and forcibly rape her and make her your wife! Just about every other page in the Old Testament has God killing somebody! In 2 Kings 10:18-27, God orders the murder of all the worshipers of a different god in their very own church! In total god kills 371,186 people directly and orders another 1,862,265 people murdered.
The God of the Bible also allows slavery, including selling your own daughter as a sex slave (Exodus 21:1-11), child abuse (Judges 11:29-40 and Isaiah 13:16), and bashing babies against rocks (Hosea 13:16 & Psalms 137:9).
This type of criminal behavior should shock any moral person. Murder, rape, pillage, plunder, slavery, and child abuse can not be justified by saying that some god says it’s OK. If more people would actually sit down and read the Bible there would be a lot more atheists like myself.
And just in case you are thinking that the evil and immoral laws of the Old Testament are no longer in effect, perhaps you should read where Jesus makes it perfectly clear: “It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than for the smallest part of the letter of the law to become invalid.” (Luke 16:17 NAB)
I am certainly not weaseling out of anything and I certainly have no need to. The statements I made are the same statements as any other Atheist’s. It is stupid to pit an argument based on faith against one based evidence.
Go on, go on. I’m beginning to enjoy this.
Aen on Dec 25, 07 – 8:25 am
And again, murder, rape, slavery of any kind, to anyone, Babylonians, Jews or any you and me, IS WRONG.
Sicarii on Dec 25, 07 – 12:07 pm
Good morning, Aen.
I must thank you for giving me a good laugh this morning, really.
Uh, sorry, nope, I’m no immature Christian to have you go at me and intimidate the juices out, like most would, accusing Christians of only accepting the good bits while chucking the bad, or twist the bad into good. I’ve seen those arguments presented without merit dozens of times, so what you’ve presented is nothing new.
How about your good self? Perhaps you should examine yourself too?
You are only accepting the so-called bad bits while rejecting the good! No?
Yes, rape, murder and slavery is there in the Bible. The Bible is both a historical record of man and God’s message and relationship to man. Now you tell me if the history of man is by itself without blemish? Was there rape and murder and slavery in those days? Sure there was! How about today? Uh, duh, yes! I’ll even tell you that there’s even incest and adultery in there.
Perhaps you are shocked by the reality of human depravity as it is? Or are you just so high in some ivory tower you choose to believe that man by nature is good, and all those crimes could only come because of this ‘opiate of the masses’ called religion?
God’s acts are criminal behavior? Ha, ha, ha! I tell you, my friend, that if God chose to strike you or me down right this instant, He has every right to do so! You are using your morality to judge God, my friend. As the Creator God has every right to do as He pleases. Even the breaths you take now are God-given! It is by His grace and mercy that you’ll be able to reply to this reply of mine, and me to yours should you respond.
Really, you are throwing out the baby with the wash water. While you blind yourself with the so-called ‘bad’ in the Bible, you deny yourself the open eyes to see the obvious good — that without any merit on our parts as such wretched people, Christ Jesus came to take our sins away so that we are spared the wrath of God by His perfect sacrifice; that by Him alone we can be reunited with our Creator if we believe on His name.
Ephesians 2:8 (ESV) states “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”. By ourselves, mankind is depraved and sinful and can never reach God, yet our Creator reaches down to us that while we were yet sinners, Christ Jesus died to atone for our sins that we might again be with God if we believe upon His name. That’s the gift!
I’m glad you are beginning to enjoy this exchange. If nothing else, perhaps you can hear for yourself the Gospel, and if God so chooses, He shall work on your heart and let you see His goodness.
Shalom.
Aen on Dec 25, 07 – 2:20 pm
God can strike us down. God do as he pleases. My breaths are god-given. Jesus took away our sins…
The classic christian cop-out. You are just trying a deflective tactic here to justify yourself. Don’t do this, it just leads to rabid fundamentalism. Look at the situation at hand and consider it, even if it does not sit nicely with your picture of the world.
It disturbs me that you find serious matters such as this “laughable”.
a_x on Dec 26, 07 – 6:44 am
What I find it strange–and even, unfair–is while your post title “Religion Continues To Spread Its Infection”, you seem to merely focus on ‘Christianity”.
Aen on Dec 26, 07 – 7:39 am
My post was directed at all kinds of religion. I mentioned violence and that could very well mean Islam. I chose Christianity as my example because it is very popular here. There are so many of them, deluded.
And my exchange with Sicarii happened to focus on Christianity because he was defending his delusion while I was trying to get him out of it.
Sicarii on Dec 26, 07 – 2:12 pm
I’m sorry I have to lay the truth out for you — you are the one copping out, because you are just quoting verses out of context from the Bible and proclaiming them as truth. Anyone can do that.
That in itself is laughable.
Aen on Dec 26, 07 – 3:36 pm
Hold hold you are losing it dude. From the time you resorted to fundamentalism, this debate has reached its dead end and has ceased being intellectual.
I don’t expect you to become an Atheist. If religion floats your boat by all means embrace it. At least it’s safer, a Christian is less likely to get killed by an Atheist than the other way round.
Aen on Dec 27, 07 – 6:39 am
@ Entrepreneur
Your comments got caught by Akismet. Yea, this discussion has somehow died down. It’s still Christmas so if you liek some falling snow on your blog I wrote a plugin that does that.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/let-it-snow/
xizor2000 on Dec 27, 07 – 11:20 am
There was nothing intellectual in sweeping statements. Let me just repeat a few that you have failed to provide any single shred of evidence to support that.
“Religion tops the list and is accountable for more deeds of evil than the good it preaches”
“victim on such brainwashing”
“the harm this worldwide delusion brings to the world”
“it advertises good when it actually condones bloodshed and killing of innocent lives”
“even those of children”
“I don’t have to. Evidence is everywhere. Quoting them would probably overload my database.”
“At least it’s safer, a Christian is less likely to get killed by an Atheist than the other way round.”
You may want to insist you are being intellectual. By all means do so. I call this bigotry. You have already have your mind set on the issue. You are a fundamentalist of your own kind. And the world might be a better place if you, your likes and that of Christian fundamentalist, Al Qaeda and Taleban gathers in one big battle and eliminate one another. The world will be a much peaceful place after that.
Aen on Dec 27, 07 – 11:37 am
Fundamentalism and bigotry are almost always associated with religion than the lack of it. The very act of believing in and defending an imaginary friend in the sky is bigotry itself, considering the origin of the word meant “religious hypocrite”, where it may have come from the German bei and gott or the English by god.
So I’m actually an Abigot. Abigot, Atheist, Agnostic, it’s all the same. We don’t believe in imaginary friends.
xizor2000 on Dec 27, 07 – 3:07 pm
A bigot by any other name is a bigot still and regardless of it’s origins, the word means: a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.
Thanks for admitting to being one, albeit after calling yourself something else.
Aen on Dec 27, 07 – 3:24 pm
“Abigot” is not the same as “A bigot”. Note it’s one word and the lack of a space. An “atheist” is not “a theist”. When you put an A in front, it gives the word the opposite meaning.
If I’m not wrong, antonyms are taught to kids as early as in elementary education. Unless of course you only paid attention during bible class.
xizor2000 on Dec 30, 07 – 11:26 am
Well, the word abigot also doesn’t exist. But again, I don’t have the mass to come out with new words.
Rajesh on Jan 17, 08 – 12:50 am
Right on the mark , Aen …religion is a horrible virus indeed.
lol @ all the retards trying to use the bible(adult fairy tale book) as some kind of evidence.