Sorry Texas

I seem to hear about a lot of boneheaded moves coming from the lone star state. The brothers and sisters on The Atheist Experience comment on the bad case of Christianity that is causing more than mild irritations with those of you in Texas that care about preserving our secular democracy.

Here's an example of the issue: Don McLeroy serves the public (kinda) by holding a seat on the Texas Board of Education (kinda), and like too many of his divinely inspired christian buddies, he seems to be letting his delusions shape his decisions in office. Rule of thumb Don: your religion is like your genetils, keep it to yourself unless invited to share. It seems McLeroy has taken a different approach:

"I was elected, I told people what I believed in, and what motivated me, and so what my goal is as an elected official is to speak up and do that."

Fantastic. Another Christian that thinks he needs to spread his illness. To children of course -- they're the most vulnerable. It's the same approach wild animals take when looking for the easiest victim: go for the young, or the sickly. I'm willing to bet that the fact of students being a captive audience played into this a bit; you know how the parties of God love a crowd that can't flee.

Just for fun, imagine if a military grade Atheist, or an outspoken Muslim, said what brother McLeroy did; the religious right would go megaton.

Source

Commandment #7

Yet another wasted opportunity to help humans along in their progress:

"Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy."

Really? This is it? This is the really important stuff that the claimed creator of the universe felt he had to command us to know? I have a long list of things people could do on a Sunday that are much more beneficial: Volunteer some time to charity, read a book, exercise, spend time with a loved one you don't see much, teach kids about critical thinking, work some overtime, etc. Just because the dudes that wrote this bible didn't want to do certain things on Sundays doesn't mean I have to sit around and praise a God; I could think of hundreds of better things to do.

What exactly is meant by "keep it holy"? How many different Christians believe different things about how to honor the seventh day? How are we sure Sunday is the real day of rest? The Jews that Christians stole their bible from seem to think Saturday is the day of rest, while Muslims claim Friday. Do we just assume all of the faiths are right, and we should have a three day chill period? This all seems very muddled, if the parties of God want to be taken seriously, they should at least re-edit their book and once again reform their dogmas to have a little more organization -- it would help their credibility along.

On a positive note, the punishment for breaking this command has been chilled a bit. Back in the day, if you didn't listen, you got killed. Thankfully we don't see that command being carried out as frequently as it may have been in the past.

That isn't to say that this commandment doesn't have terrible consequences on modern lives -- I can't buy booze on Sundays, thanks a ton guys!

Hitchens does the ten commandments

Relevant? Anti-Theist content? Brother Hitchens? It's certainly worth the watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_lM61aDyPg

Commandment #6

So it continues, here is number six. Yet another useless order:

"You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name."

Alright, this one is just a little less useless than the previous six; but still, not one single mention of morality in six orders. I think we could do better. No mention of murder, rape, theft, child abuse, etc. No advice about how to live a good life. No plan that will guide you to truth, or knowledge. Not one word about right action, and responsibility. Instead, we get orders barked at us about how we're supposed to fall in line.

Who gives a shit about us using the Lord's name in vain? Using John Stuart Mill's "Harm Principle" -- which seems to me to be a very reasonable benchmark -- we see that no one is harmed by us doing so. If there is no injury, why would it matter? Insecurity on God's part? What kind of God would be so crazy as to advise us against using his name in vain before advising us on basic human solidarity? This is more of the same: another nonsensical and petty command from an imaginary deity who has no sense of punishments that fit the claimed injuries.

Number seven isn't looking any better either.

More jihad!

Muslims declare jihad on... Switzerland? I await the excuses and contradictions of moderate explanation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1IWbu4ky0o

#5 is not looking any better...

The fifth commandment -- well, this particular version of the fifth commandment -- doesn't show much more promise than the previous four.

"but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments."

More of the same really -- another half-baked promise of love for those that will allow themselves to be broken by this revolting and immoral ideology. What this command is saying is something like:

"In trade for you surrendering your personal responsibilities, your mental faculties, your free will, and your dignity as an individual, I will give you and your children lots of love."

I'm going to have to pass, thank you very much. I rather enjoy my ability to make decisions, reason, and accept the consequences of my actions. I don't want to surrender the best parts of myself in order to gain the love of a bipolar half-wit who's opening commands are to love him, and only him. I'm not a serf, I won't be commanded about by anyone unless I choose to make it so; and I'll never allow an invisible man who murders babies to command me as his servant, as that man has demonstrated that he is not up to the task of morally guiding my actions.

Also, the whole "love" part of that commandment is a bit of a nonstarter. This god's love is, at times, not much different than willful neglect. I've noticed people that have this god's love don't seem to enjoy much of an advantage in life. I've seen this god's loved ones put out of a home for example, and that's just not something a person does to someone they claim to love. The least god could do would be to offer these beloved homeless people his couch for a night.

#4 and still going strong

Alright, after a small break I'm back with more heretical blabbering. I love living in a country that supports this kind of expression in word as well as in print; it tastes like freedom.

"You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me..."

Now, we've all had experience with an overly possessive girlfriend/boyfriend, what's our approach to dealing with this kind of nonsense?

Kick that shit to the curb.

I shouldn't have to instruct a grown woman/man on basic respect for other people, and the same goes for megalomaniacal deities. If you haven't learned to act right, that isn't my problem.

This commandment is very revealing in that god is acknowledging the terrible traits that many christians would have you believe he doesn't have; he is confirming that he's a absolute dictator with a real hair up his ass for questioning personalities and those who choose to walk without him. This is pretty far from the image presented by christians currently; I was led to believe god was a benevolent type, not Stalin on steroids.