Misjudging Your Community

One of the things I remember about life in the church was the feelings that acted to form and maintain the bonds between myself and the other members. Our community was created from strong sensations of loyalty, familiarity, and 'brotherly' love. I was proud of these fine qualities and promoted both their emotional and virtuous payoffs as badges of the religious faith I'd adopted and as evidence of the hand of God by way of manifest goodness in people's lives. As I grew from a tiny true believer into a young faithful it became clear to me that many expected that I would one day take on the path of leadership in the ministry. I was a natural orator, tall, booming voice, intellectually gifted, and most importantly I was a fanatic tempered only by my humanist sensibilities which Star Trek had fortunately sneakily provoked in my mind. Had I been asked about the potentially destructive nature of my community I would have been adamant that only anomalous violations of our divinely inspired and maintained collective peaceful nature was possible and any insistence otherwise would have been perceived and dismissed as defamatory attacks on the church and God. Cited historic atrocities were committed by the deceived or false Christians. Potential violence inherent in our spiritual culture? It could not possibly be so. It was unreasonable given what I 'knew' about God. It could not be true and, therefore, must not be true.

Earlier this month a blogger in Egypt began promoting a film now called "The Innocence of Muslims", an anti-Islamic movie. By this writing, only about a week later, there have been widespread riots throughout the 'Muslim' world. Attacks on Christians are common and there have been attacks on embassies of western nations, the US in particular. Government leaders and Islamic clergy have been unable to stem the violence despite calling on their followers to remember that their religion is one of peace and good order. Quoting the Quran and even appealing to a sense of general human compassion have been ignored nearly entirely while every minority within these regions live in fear as they witness the shameless barbarism that a cheap, poorly made movie has unleashed. Yes, Islam: The way of Peace. How is it that so many leaders within these Islamic communities are unable to issue any semblance of calm and rational perspective? Aren't they the teachers of the core truths? Aren't they aware of and in touch with the mind set of their own subscribers? It sure as fuck doesn't look that way.
I realize Sam Harris has fallen under serious criticism for his calls for Muslims to be openly profiled at security checks. Though I disagree with this violation of the core principles of modern constitutional law, both for being ineffectual and for the deteriorating effect on the very principles of human decency that we who oppose religious violence claim as our primary motivation, it should be remembered that such misplaced proposals arise from unpleasant realities that threaten to grow in destructive intensity as technology continues to proliferate weapons of mass destruction. Just as Harris' proposals to discriminate based on appearance are misplaced so too is the oft repeated view that Islam is not violent. History shows that all religions generate an ingrained mentality prone to a host of destructive behavior in its subjects which are far less often present apart from religious factors. Less often and less intense. Islam is not alone with its propensity towards violence, rather it is in good company with all religious systems. Isolated? The room is crammed shoulder to shoulder with dictators of divine code. When someone sneezes the others get upset. And globalization is only dumping more of these absolutist once-upon-a-time supreme rulers into an ever smaller turf. A real game of imaginary thrones.

The reason store burning mobs don't form over the release of poorly acted B movies in the 'Christian' world is not due to less emotional incitement indigenous to the culture but it is thanks to the weaker level of active belief in the central texts and traditions of the faith due entirely to the controls and benefits of the secular state. Centuries of torture and murder terrorizing those on the fringes of society was readily tolerated by ignorant desperate parishioners but a century of Christian enmasse gang warfare was simply too much to bear and, digging into our forgotten past we rediscovered our finer human qualities. These completely non-religious elements allowed us to elevate society where superstitions weighed it down. Islamic regions have not shared in this transformation, though they might be starting down the path, but this only explains why they are more prone to this particular display of inhumanity. From attempting to deny basic dignity, through equality regardless of sexual orientation or a woman's safe control over her own body, to wars raged against non-Christian nations, the west has simply moved further away from animalistic fury as we increase our distance from religious zealotry.

But the same excuses usher forth from our religious leaders when things get out of control. Clearly the disconnect is a universal constant stemming from a total ignorance of the true nature of the system they perpetuate. The cognitive dissonance is impressive. As cars burn, as children mourn their murdered parents clergy continue to be taken by surprise.
So this is a message to every member of every priesthood, everywhere around our shrinking planet, from someone who once thought just like you, saw things in the very same frame: The people you depend on to be good devotees are not what you think they are.
No sublime nature. No supreme decency from God.
They are humans. Disturbed humans. And you are the one fucking them up.

It's time to take responsibility.

Why Don't You Just Shut Up? Here's Why

Where has this Apostate dude gone?
Okay, I was gone for a few months but I'm not dead. Since my last post I have ramped up my efforts at really becoming familiar with the much expanding online Atheist, Humanist, Secularist, and Skeptic communities both online and tracking events in the real world. Not long before my first post I was not an open atheist. Back then only several trusted friends really knew and when I changed my status on Facebook one night everyone else began having different reactions. I was sometimes taken by surprise in happy or saddening ways especially as I utilised my social forums with no greater purchase than my religious acquaintances had. I am much less likely to be surprised at this point and understand more clearly what, in particular, drives me to write or speak out when so many others already do. So I am not the first to bluntly address religion but I believe I do bring my own unique view of the issues as they impact billions of lives around the world. My life is just one of countless that has felt the devastating hand of organised religion despite the fact that it was introduced and reinforced when I was young by my caring, loving parents. Let me be clear, my life has been a wonderful one and this is not to attack or lay blame at the feet of my family or larger community from my youth but to directly challenge the much larger cycle of harmful deceit that we have come to call faith.

The call for mutual respect is BULLSHIT, FYI
For generations now the various religious guilds have been going on about how everyone needs to be respectful of their beliefs and traditions. The message is a strong one often intoned on both ends of the political spectrum and carried aloft even in the modern day Sodom; Hollywood. As soon as someone speaks out about anything from the complete lack of evidence for the "historical" claims religious folk like to make, to the destructive hypocrisy carried out in the public sphere in the name of Spiritual Masters or gods, the devout scream "intolerance" and expect us to just shut our mouths.
How interesting. It may not be so insulting and pathetic a cry if at any point in history true believers had demonstrated even the occasion such respect once they crawled to power any place on the planet. Hell, they aren't even decent enough to do it now, as they cry discrimination and unfair against secular forces that are better known by the term "Constitutional Democracy".

• Marriage Equality
• Churches Promoting Political Candidates But Don't Pay Taxes
• Prayer In School
• Anti-Sex Education
• Religion In Science Class
• Anti-Women's Rights Over Her Body
• you get the point, on and on...

To true, literal believers mutual respect is not possible. They are called by God Almighty, or Divine Truth to change this world and your contrary ideas do not fit into this calling. Surely you and I are blind and they are imparted with the magical goggles of truth- at best. Often, once they realise that you are not ignorant of their agenda, they switch immediately over into the incredibly nasty 'you are of the devil' mode. You haven't made clear your opposition to devotees until at least one of them has called you a liar, deceiver, under the devil's spell, or (a most disturbing one I can attest) that you are demon possessed. Hey, what happened to the mutual respect?
Oh yeah, I was making you look like an ignorant fundamentalist...

Here's just a small sample of the loving respect we can expect from those who love god so much they are willing to respectfully shove their undoubted truth straight into the secular classroom of science. And notice the serious minority position in the flock is the one guy who seems to have any real understanding of... say, SCIENCE

If it makes them happy...  Happy?



Let me start into those atheists and agnostics who like to ignore the struggle for sanity and decency raging all around them while they relax and watch some good flicks or wander about thinking themselves above it all. A very prominent excuse that is given is the "happiness" card. You know the one, from the suit of bullshit and a value of zero. Yet, behold, it is played regularly and with assumed certainty. The question then becomes, what is happiness? If believing in fairy tales, responding to imagined voices, making important decisions based on a heap of bronze age stories, expecting muttered words to change the world, waiting on invisible messengers to heal serious sickness, etc etc etc is happiness to you than i agree, let the faithful stumble on without challenge to their individual and collective arrested development. But if that is how you really feel then why the hell are you dealing with the unpleasantries of the real world? The fact that those who toss this line are not currently suffering from having their head up religion's nasty ass only shows that these very delusions are inherently contrary to true happiness. We don't  call the homeless guy talking to a dead bird he carries in his worn out pocket happy, we call him seriously ill. Especially if he starts getting too close and carrying on too loudly.

What's the harm?
So your religious buddy isn't likely to blow stuff up in the name of the most high, what harm is there in unsubstantiated extreme beliefs? Gotta love this one. This form of tolerance comes not from a place of enlightened understanding but of superiority and arrogance. Who, in good conscience, would allow their friend or family to believe in invisible goats that whisper cosmic truths into their chosen ears so that they could share this knowledge to save us all from the destruction drawing nigh for the Earth? Apparently many non-believers. There is this unbecoming underlying attitude that the religiously minded are simply... well, simple. The non-believer feels pity that anyone should be so diminished mentally or emotionally as to think in religious terms. There is rarely, you see, any good to come from attempting to reason with the pathetic follower. After all, do we expect monkeys to speak proper English and wear suits? Besides the ones we elect. Though I find this attitude offencive it is only fair to point out that it is usually adopted without malicious intent by people who have grown up without fundamentalism forced on them or have really never experienced what it is like to be surrounded by a sea of religiosity.
Having experienced both and having been a fundamentalist for the first twenty-some odd years of my life I can only urge people to educate themselves about the reality of the phenomenon. As a believer I had zero doubts that I and my church served and were led by God almighty and was often a part of conversations we would hold shamelessly in our meetings about how all opposed points of view from non-believers were hopelessly ignorant from the darkness of sin or the evil of Satan. Regardless of what we said about coexisting with other religions, traditions, or ideas we always intended to work actively to attain our God's will for ALL OF MANKIND. Don't have faith? You still can't teach your kids in school about evolution, safe sex, or that women have the right to have abortions. In fact, the very fact that you didn't share our religious ideology only made it more important that we try to use any trick in the book to convert your children, particularly at school. To hem in your godless ways in the workplace. To take over your government and reform it to God's plan and lock out all of the undesirables possible.
The faithful simply don't talk to outsiders about it. Not you, easy go lucky non-believer. To you it's smiles, dinner, or watching our kids play together.
There is no limit where eternity is concerned. Father is dying? We'd try to send someone in to convert them as they lay suffering. Stories of nurses or doctors talking religion and hell to the captive dying behind the family's back was met with affirming 'amen's. Child just died? We send in the converters to find the vulnerable grievers when they most want to believe in an after life and heaven. Or should you become diminished in your old age rest assured they will be making the rounds, particularly if you are lonely.
Keep assuming that religious delusion is harmless. But I can tell you from inside knowledge that they will come for you, they will come for your children, your family, your friends. It causes pain, division, and will always try to strip away the most important gains of modern free society.

Let's not be so naive. Religious thought is very dangerous and in a very real way.