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Religion and Rationalism
essays, pieces, articles, stories, commentaries, discourses
Description: An essay arguing for the rational merits of Atheism and the humane virtue of tolerance.
Quote: "Upon the hundreds and hundreds of fallacies and errors, we find that religion itself is something deprived of both merit and science."
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Description: A brief piece offering humane alternatives to the rather heartless Christian doctrine.
Quote: "God, then, must be without love or care."
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Description: Every religion opposes certain progressive changes. They each oppose the rights of children and women, the equality of races, the end of wars, the abolishment of oppression and exploitation. To destroy religion is to move society forward.
Quote: "The destruction of religions is important to freeing humanity's soul, just as the destruction of states is essential to freeing humanity's body."
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Description: In the scriptures of the Bible, there are verses commanding you to kill children. There are parts where Moses allowed his soldiers to rape children and sections where cannibalism of children is encouraged.
Quote: "Religion was born from human ignorance, but it thrives on a few people being able to exploit the misery of others."
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Description: Requirements of the churches and religious organizations if they are to be respected.
Quote: "I challenge that the churches offer sympathy and kindliness to all people, whether they worships a different god, many gods, or no god at all."
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Description: A letter delivered to several Christian organizations, briefly discussing the virtue of Biblical morality.
Quote: "I'm sorry that we do not enslave Africans or animals (Exodus 21:2-6; Leviticus 25:44-46), sell our daughters (Exodus 21:7), kill witches (Exodus 22:18), kill heretics (Exodus 22:20), kill violators of the sabbath (Exodus 31:14-15, Exodus 35:2), kill children who curse their parents (Leviticus 20:9)..."
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Description: Showing that Creationist arguments have been hypothetically brought up and answered by Charles Darwin years ago.
Quote: "Thus, we have the most accurate method of perpetuating a religion: by impressing it upon the minds of children."
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Description: Demonstrating the heartless nature of this religion's moral code.
Quote: "The church has condoned the evils of the world. Attaching shackles to slaves, it has enslaved races, as condoned by scripture..."
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Description: Exposing the real ability among psychics and fortune tellers as being a myth and without a foundation.
Quote: "...vagueness is our tactic, but coupled with interpretation, we become unstoppable."
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Description: Dialogue between a scientist, a philosopher, and a Creationist who wants to know why there has not yet evolved an immortal creature.
Quote: "Creationist: Some of the evidence for evolution may be convincing, but it is not about putting together convincing pieces of evidence. It is about having a theory that works. Evolution does not work. Why not? Quite simply, evolution has produced no creatures that are immortal."
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Description: Brief dialogue about the fundamentalist mentality of those who believe in the Bible, as well as their damaged reasoning ability.
Quote: "What is the method by which we decipher truth from falsity? Reason."
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Description: Letter to politicians on the imprisonment of Younus Shaikh, the Pakistani doctor who was sentenced to death for blasphemy laws.
Quote: "He is the first to be sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan..."
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Description: All that lives will eventually die, and upon death, the mind becomes dirt and dust. Everything that your soul could possibly be is represented in the soil beneath your feat. Everyone returns to that same equality.
Quote: "In the end, everything alive will decompose into the same heap of primitive, organic material; everyone will be equalized to the position of fertilizer for the growing plants."
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Description: There are billions of people on this planet who are willing to demonstrate their faith in an almighty creator. And yet they have to go to such extreme lengths to put this same faith in everyone around them.
Quote: "Humane thinkers will have difficulty digesting any religious ideas. The greatest contradiction of religion is that it seeks to prove the undeniably powerful nature of whatever spiritual force they may happen to believe in."
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Faith
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992 Words
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April, 2003
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Description: Short essay on the reason why faith is an inaccurate method of discovering truth, in religion or other areas.
Quote: "I will say this of Faith: it has been the foundation of every religion, every cult, every sect, every religious terrorist organization that desired to gain advocates whose will greatly exceeded their intelligence."
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Description: Some thoughts on the origin of religion and the fallacy of its foundation.
Quote: "The religions are always different, but the mechanics always the same: purport a theory that appears to somewhat logically coherent and threaten the nonbelievers while rewarding the believers."
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Description: Islam everywhere has been known for its relationship with women, but it is rare to find a psychoanalysis. This presents a beginning into the psychological workings of a religious idea from the Middle East.
Quote: "These two trends, of women as to be used as objects, and men as inherently inferior to women, were born into Muhammad's religion -- and they thoroughly continued in its development."
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Description: An Islamic author rewrites a Freethinker's (Joseph McCabe) book to support their religion and my correspondence with them.
Quote: "... it is simply your vain attempt to rewrite history to the end of your dogmatic, heartless religion -- your actions just another confirming action of it."
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Description: Historical, logical, and other errors found within the first several chapters of the first book of the Bible.
Quote: "It is clear, in my mind, that not only is the Bible a tremendously foolish document, but it is outrightly dogmatic, contradicting, and corrupt of any moral value."
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Description: A letter to the NAACD, arguing that freedom of opinion is not synonymous with persecution of Christians.
Quote: "Despite the fact that over 85% of Americans call themselves Christians, you all seem to be enjoying your ignorance in some pathetic illusion so that you can feel persecuted."
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Description: A consideration of the way that literature has portrayed spirits, ghosts, and other fairytale members of the supernatural.
Quote: "The origin of the idea of the soul, of the spirits and the gods, all comes from the most human desire: immortality, freedom from fear of death."
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Description: Considerations on the revolutionary nature of thinking for yourself in a religious or philosophical arena.
Quote: "In our world, in the nations of this planet, the societies and government that compromise among each other in each region, there seems to be an almost universal taboo in the cultures that have formed."
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Description: The Christian religion has sanctioned Capitalism and slavery. It has blessed every relationship in which one small group is dominating one very large group.
Quote: "To keep the mind of the person focused on god and being saved, then, means keeping them away from thoughts of society and being liberated. Take Christ and his very real chains -- instead of taking reality and a very possible emancipation."
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Description: We each have a maximum amount of time that we may live, and we each only have our own lives to decide what has meaning or purpose to us. And we should approach such meaning rationally.
Quote: "For us to to find the truth about why we are living, we cannot turn to the skies, looking for imaginary beings with fantastic powers of force and knowledge; we must look to ourselves -- to our own existence."
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Description: Short list of arguments on behalf of Atheism and religious unorthodoxy.
Quote: "As far as God goes, I do not hold belief in God for the same reasons I do not hold belief in Santa Claus."
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Description: Socialism has fought for equality of all on this planet, while Atheism has destroyed the concept of fraternity and solidarity in a life after this. One tends the heart, the other the mind.
Quote: "Religion asks you to look to the sky, to interpret the clouds, and through them, to see something greater. Socialism asks you to look to the world today, to interpret the suffering of the people, and through them, to achieve something better for everyone."
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Description: Using logic and evidence to determine how religion finds its appeal among the masses.
Quote: "...if we are to understand the world and its workings - the physics, the mathematics, the chemistry - we best not dabble in the dogmatic scripture of past religions..."
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Description: A short piece delivered to a group of Christians, defending the argument that religion is founded by ignorance.
Quote: "...man formed his ignorance and conjured ghosts to his aid. Tyranny and vice would reign over the numerous theocracies that developed over the globe."
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Description: Some considerations of the idea that god can invoke his will personally on people, and command them to lead such powerful and amazing movements.
Quote: "The effective purpose of religion, or spirituality, has been to inspire in man a greater love of progress, a greater love of those around him, a heightened desire to improve the world."
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Description: If we are going to incorporate biblical and scriptural policy into law for homosexuality, why stop there? The Bible also wants us to prohibit divorce and legalize slavery.
Quote: "Should we fashion laws in this mold, outlawing divorce and forcing millions of couples into emotionally, sexually, or physically abusive relationships? Jesus would have it, but should we?"
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Description: Detailed history of the attitude and the action of religious zealots and their oppression of non-believers.
Quote: "The religious crusader will say that he is filled with the glory and rage of god, forcing him to do the will of his master."
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Description: Rational inquiry regarding the validity of such ideas as magic, spells, astrology, Tarot Cards, and others.
Quote: "These people didn't hold respect for each other -- but when it came to loving and devotion to the unseen, they were all humble and willing."
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Description: Arguments against the privilege of a tax-free status on private churches.
Quote: "Indeed, many churches may attempt to do good (boycotting the funerals of homosexuals, bombing abortion clinics, hiding Nazis, lynching African humans, etc., etc)..."
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Description: A valid argument for forcing churches to pay taxes, based on the idea that private organizations are required to contribute to the good of the whole.
Quote: "Men and women who profess to believe in a god, a goddess, or a multiple of them, are exercising their rights as living creatures. I can never argue against a person's right to believe what they will..."
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Description: A somewhat crass letter to the owner of a Christian website.
Quote: "This man, the Anti-Christ, who fights for equality of gender, of race, of species, this man who fights against the injustice of Christianity..."
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Description: To be a Catholic is not to adhere to a religious belief, but to a political one. It is not submission to the rule of a god, but submission to the rule of the pope.
Quote: "The Catholic cannot read all of the scripture attributed to their god, the version that they are allowed to hear is edited and modified, and finally, discussion of the matter at all is entirely prohibited."
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Description: Spinoff of the Russell essay Why I Am Not A Christian, exposing the moral code of the Bible.
Quote: "The practices of Christianity and its adherents have always been appalling to humane thinkers."
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