Friday, July 13, 2007

Why religion sucks

So it's really of no surprise to anyone who actually reads this that I'm an atheist; I don't believe in a supreme being or any other sort of supernatural, superstitious nonsense. Sometimes I take rather angry swings at the church and the Bush administration for it's dogmatic politics and suppression of science. But why am I so angry? Time for another rant, so sit back and shut the fuck up for a bit :)

Religion is the ultimate form of ignorance; religious dogma dictates that there is no questioning, you simply take the ideology at face value and defend it violently. There is no critical thinking within any church; simple analysis of the bible shows how foolish it really is, how inconsistent, and how open to interpretation it can be. This subjectivity is exactly why there are many denominations; even the faithful can not agree on what the bible actually teaches.

Myself, I'm a very skeptical person; if you make a claim, esp. one which has some sort of "science" to it, you damn well better have some evidence. No evidence, no belief. To date, the church has provided absolutely 0 evidence of some god dancing around on the clouds and tossing lightning bolts. Instead, they put forth philosophical statements, ripe with logical fallacies, as to why there just has to be a creator. Really, it comes down to our basic inabilities to fully grasp reality on the micro and macro levels.

The micro level is often relegated to quantum mechanics; and believe me, there is some fucked up stuff going on down there. But really, beyond the atom, these affects become meaningless and have no real impact on reality. For example, does the entanglement of two ions affect your odds of winning the lottery? Some would say yes, and would start to fish for quantum phenomena which may help further their nonsense. Problem is, beyond the atom, the affects are inconsequential. Some fools such as the Deepak guy make a living off of misrepresenting reality; the church is the same way in that these types of extraordinary claims, such as that cleverly packaged toilet paper know as the Secret, require extraordinary evidence. To date, the church has provided nothing in terms of evidence save for their philosophical arguments. Unfortunately, philosophy doesn't really have an affect; you can believe all you want, it doesn't make it true.

The macro level is really where the church comes into play; the universe is so large, humans are so complex, that we just HAD to have been designed. The problem is, this non sequitur, or "it does not follow." Specifically, this is a slippery slope; if we accept that the universe is large and that humans are complex, we can easily fall down the slope to the conclusion that a creator had to have been responsible. Truth be told, there is no reason to believe that or to even consider it as a possibility (I have not).

Complex organisms deriving from more simple life forms (evolution) is much more logical, has a lot of evidence, and is accepted by mainstream scientists; it's the nutjobs who don't accept it and lend their "credentials" to back up their arguments. Unfortunately, their arguments are pseudoscience at best and outright lies at worst. There is a reason we all have DNA; it is a self replicating molecule and is what started it all. I can believe that I am special, that I am the creation of some divine being, but it doesn't make it true. I want the truth, regardless of what it may be.

The church represents the worst of the worst; they are responsible for wars, oppression, slavery, all of the bad things in this world. If it were up to the church, we'd all be worshiping on our flat earth in a geocentric, fixed universe. The church has provided NOTHING to us.

All diseases for which cures and treatments exist are courtesy of science.

The computer you are using to read this blog is brought to you by science.

The fact that you can go to a doctor or a hospital is courtesy of science; not only medicine, but I'm referring to the car, helicopter, plane, or ambulance which took your ass there.

I would challenge anyone to name something of value provided by the church. Witch hunts, stake burnings, child molestation, wars, exorcisms, and rhetoric, while all fun, are not candidates.

4 comments:

Reg Golb said...

How about ST. John's Hospital where your "butt" is going?

Richard Wolford said...

Good to know you have such a mastery of the English language and can form your thoughts so eloquently. Have fun at church, I'm sure it makes a difference.

Reg Golb said...

I see. So in addition to your obvious mastery of IT, or soon to be, you are also a literary critic. Allow me to rephrase.

I would like to accept your challenge and name one thing of value the church has provided.
HOSPITALS.

Since you only requested one, I felt obligated to reply.

Richard Wolford said...

Medicine and hospitals are not the creations of religion, they are the adoption of medicine with a religious tone. Goes along with the bullshit idea that prayer helps; debunked ages ago.