Haitus
I’ve ran into some internet connection issues that will keep me from updating both Twitter and this post for the rest of the week if not a little longer, be back soon.
I can be reached at revoxley501 at gmail dot com
Why Republicans Should be Pleased with the DOMA Ruling
Just a couple days ago, on July 8th 2010 a Federal Judge ruled that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional. If you aren’t familiar with DOMA and Section 3 you should know that it established an official definition for the word ‘marriage’ as the legal union only between one man and one woman, furthermore it required the word `spouse’ refer only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.
Judge Tauro came to his ruling for various reasons; the atmosphere at the time of DOMA’s passage in the senate was one where epithets and religious jargon were openly used in the chamber to describe the homosexual act leading him to believe that DOMA was intended to punish a group of people that were politically unpopular, nor did the law do anything to protect the family as was it’s stated cause, most importantly for the purposes of the points I intend to make is that Section 3 in particular is a violation of States Rights as guaranteed by the Constitution in the Tenth Amendment.
Christian Neglect of the Bible
In an October 2000 Gallup Poll it was determined that, out of those polled, only 37% read the Bible on a daily or weekly basis. In my own personal experience, less than half of the professing Christians I know have ever read the entire Bible from cover to cover and don’t ever intend on doing so.
These statistics are not new to me though. This information bugged me deeply when I was a Christian and even more-so now. In this post I intend to show you why.
Christians, by and large, believe that the Bible is “The Word of God”…or at least most of them will make that claim. In fact it is considered by most Christian denominations to be a cardinal doctrine of their faith, that the Bible is the infallible ‘Word of God’ and is without error. It absolutely amazes me that many people that identify as Christians who have not read the full text of the Bible or even spent a large amount of time in study of it often make this same claim. Why is that a problem? Shouldn’t this news make me, as an atheist, very happy?
It doesn’t make me happy at all for a number of reasons:
For one, it tells me that Christians are believing things without even knowing what those things are. One might believe that the Bible is 100% authoritative in all things, yet may not understand that this belief entails justifications of god’s prophets sending bears to slaughter children (2 Kings 2:23–24), mass racial genocides (Joshua 6:20–21, Deuteronomy 2:32–35, Deuteronomy 3:3–7, Numbers 31:7–18, 1 Samuel15:1–9), condoning of rape (Judges 21:1–23), and child sacrifice (Judges 11:30–39). I know that the majority of Christians have never heard of most of these stories from the Bible, yet they still hold to the idea that it is perfection and breathed from god’s lips — would knowledge of these stories and supposed “Truths” change their view of the Bible? For some it would have to.
Keep reading:
Honey and Flies – My Personal End to Bitterness
This is the first post in a series in which I intend to explain, philosophize, argue, and even convince myself of a new approach in my own personal life regarding my lack of religious faith.
For nearly two years now I've been an out atheist and as a result of a very painful process of losing my faith I have to force myself to embrace a Truth regarding myself – I've been bitter, angry, and sometimes hurtful toward other people. Some of them deserved it while others did not and I feel the need to repair my approach to humanity.
The fact is, despite my best efforts and the efforts of my peers, we are stuck here with religion and the religious – the vast majority of whom, due to the nature of faith, will hold on to their faith despite all of the good evidence you and I can provide to the contrary. Religion, as a whole, may one day disappear but not without many more years of scientific discovery and understanding so that all questions in which god can be a hypothetical answer to may be answered – if they ever are.
It's not that I've suddenly forgotten all of the dangers of religion or how it has held humanity behind for ages – I haven't. I simply can't justify the effects that my approach have had on myself and others in the last few years. Despite being the happiest I've ever been, there has still been this underlying bitterness…even a persecution complex (something I often accuse Christians of) in-so-much that I may often see persecution in places that it isn't actually occurring. Of course persecution absolutely does occur and yes I have absolutely been a victim of it – but my failure has been in giving those around me the benefit of the doubt.
Lessons of experience
Over the last few months I have found myself associated with two organizations, one of which I am a founding officer called C.O.F.F.E.R of Dodge County – a citizens organization dedicated to working with the local Board of Education to ensure that responsibility is used in the areas of education and finance. Secondarily I am now performing all of the web-admin duties and doing other volunteer work for Faithful Hearts Animal Shelter (501c3) – a local startup non-profit incorporation of individuals interested in building a permanent rescue for abandoned and abused animals in my local area (we desperately need it – but that's a whole different story, just know that my wife and I are pretty much animal freaks.)
A New Atheists Approach to Easter
Today as I type this billions of Christians all over the world are celebrating the "Holy Day" known as Easter, the celebration of the supposed resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Today, hundreds of thousands – perhaps even millions of atheists are delighting themselves in calling it Zombie Jesus Day, much like I did last year. This year, for me, the joke is old – I get it and all and of course it makes sense but I just don't find the same humor in it that I once did because I know that it offends some of my dear friends.
As a result of perhaps maturing another year I've chosen to make this day a different sort of holiday for me at least and I wonder if my atheist cohorts would decide to do the same.
A New Proposal
Rather than trolling message boards, Reddit, and Facebook all day today calling Christians out on their worship of a man that may never have existed I intend to make this day, and any other Christian holiday a day of reason – and I'm going to do so respectfully.
‘A’ Week – Letting the World Know
Next week will be the first official "A Week on Facebook" in which thousands of Atheists will be changing their profile picture to the well known Scarlet letter 'A'. The purpose for this is to show the world that we, as atheists, are here and regardless of what the world may believe about us, good without God.
I not only think this is a great opportunity to tell the world who we are and to renounce the myth that a deity is the provider of morality, it is also a wonderful time to come out of the closet and let your own friends and family know that you are an atheist if you have yet to do so. Of course I'd never encourage anyone to come out that may be hounded or threatened by their family, but if you are a person with a somewhat reasonable surrounding then perhaps you should consider taking advantage of this opportunity. If you aren't in a location or time at your life where it is safe to do so you have my sympathies – I've certainly been there as well.
I also want to encourage other minority groups to organize an event such as this one. I think something like this would be most beneficial to the GLBT community and I know that many atheists would be willing to show our support for GLBT rights and identity if it were done.
All the details of 'A' Week can be found at This Website or this Facebook Page.
I'll be participating and I've encouraged those on my Facebook Fan Page to do so as well, will you? Why or why not?
Live Debate with RagingRev
Saturday March, 20th 2010 at 11PM EST I will once again be a guest on ParaTrinity Radio. This episode will feature myself, an Atheist, as well as a Christian and a Wiccan and we will be discussing beliefs, god, religion, and all sorts of other things.
Last time I was on the program it was their most popularly downloaded program yet, and I’d like to break that record again with the new episode. We had lots of fun last time and since this is an unleashed debate it should be even better.
Here’s what hosts Mike and LE had to say about the upcoming show:
Saturday, March 20th, ParaTrinity Radio will have three guests, of three different religions, of three different beliefs on air to discuss god, ghosts, and more!
We will be talking to atheist – Matt Oxley (as heard on Feb. 20th), witch/wiccan – Marla Brooks (as heard in Jan. and March 13th), and lastly, Christian – Christopher Maggard (TriState Paranormal investigator) in a round table style discussion with some possible debates.
You will NOT want to miss this one! Saturday at 11pm in Studio B of www.asprn.com!
Links of Interest:
At 11PM EST on March 20th click This Link to get to the live broadcast of the program, there will be a live chat room during the show.
ParaTrinity Unleashed (Facebook Event for RSVP purposes, invite your friends please!)
Regarding Hope: The Atheist’s View
It is often said by believers of all faiths that to be without God is to be without a thing called Hope.
Hope, defined as the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best, is far from foreign to me. I’d even go so far as to say that my life is more filled with hope now than it ever was when I believed in the god of Christianity.
When I was a believer my hope was in my salvation, something I believed to have been provided by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. I had the hope that the things of this world would soon pass away and that there would be an eternity of God’s presence to endure. I had hope in the promise of a relationship with that god and in the idea that he wanted for me to experience his love and compassion despite my own depravity (and in the idea that he desired this same thing for all mankind.). I experienced the hope of an afterlife and hope in miracles while still living.
I know the hope that the Christian speaks of, I’ve experienced it, felt it, lived it…in fact I know from personal experience all of the elements that Christians or other religious folks may claim that the godless are not privy to, yet hope is by far one of the most prevalent elements of my life now – without god.
I have hope, I have lots of it. I feel that what I have now is far more tangible than what I had prior to my fall from grace.
The Effects of Evangelism on Christians in India
I’m Pissed.
You see, the other day I found a video showing Christian’s in India being beaten and stoned to death. According to this video the reason they are being beaten and stoned is solely because they are Christians. The video featuring the pastor of Cornerstone Church, Francis Chan, is located here.
*Warning: This video contains very disturbing and graphic images, if you are offended by violence, blood, or evangelism you should not watch this (nor should you read the Bible).
RagingRev featured on ParaTrinity Radio
Update, The podcast is now available for download here.
This Saturday, February 20th at 11PM EST, I am honored to be the special guest on a new e-radio show called ParaTrinity Radio.
ParaTrinity Radio is a podcast/live broadcast with hosts Mike and LE that focuses on the religious aspects of paranormal. It’s a show that really appeals to the ghosthead/paranormal research crowd as it greatly focuses on information and guests that have experience with haunting, “demonology”, and ghosts. My goal will be to bring a logical, reasonable, and scientifically sound view to the debate regarding god and the paranormal.
I intend to spend a portion of my air time talking about my past, as a young minister and exorcist (something you will rarely hear or see me discuss). I will also be giving my testimony (or extimony) of my transition from fervent Christian to atheist, something I think that can help those that are struggling with the reality of their own faith.
I really really hope that the skeptical crowd would be willing to show up for the live airing which has a chat room where you can interact with the hosts and I, ask questions, and interact with other listeners. Not only do I know that the show hosts are respectful of our point of view, I know that they are genuinely interested in hearing what I have to say and in seeing the listeners interact as well. I would love to see a large crowd show up, in fact I’d like to make this their biggest show yet – this show has only been airing since the beginning of the year and is still gaining it’s audience, I’d also like for that crowd to have intelligent and kind discussions with those in the live chat.
The Show will air live at ASPRN Studio B beginning at 11 PM EST on Saturday, February 20th, 2010! I hope that some of the Reddit atheists and other readers of my blog will show up!
If you would like to hear some of the previous shows they are available at the podcast site: Podomatic
PS: Leave a comment if you intend to be there…thanks.
