Backyard Skeptics

George has written me so much, I decided to dedicate a page just for his insightful articles!

10-24-08

10/21/08

10/18/08

9/2/08

This morning, I took "Did Man Create God" ( a great book by Dr Comings) to a McDonald's and there was a whole table with Korean Jehovah's Witnesses. They were intrigued with the book and several of them took turns "hitting on me".  I was polite but I didn't want their Awake magazine nor did I want to come to their church to argue with them.  I don't think I'm informed enough to do that. They were trying to tell me that everything that grew from the earth was god's work. I told them I thought it was Mother Nature. They mentioned satan and I said I was surprised they fell for the fairy tale idea of satan, which is hardly worthy of a children's book.
I told them that I lost faith when my family was killed at Auschwitz and my lack of faith was confirmed several times later,  and most recently, from the 911 disaster. I said, "Don't tell me about a "good book with bad advice" or a "good lord that allow evil things to happen" or "an almighty" who is silent and invisible.  And PLEASE don't tell me about something called heaven when there are no witnesses in these thousands of years since they started talking about it. How can you tell me what happens when you go there when no one has called from there or sent so much as a postcard?  There are no witnesses, Jehovah's or anyone else's.  And NO, I don't know who or what created the earth and maybe it was a god of some sort, but everything after that, all the stories, all the bibles, all the miracles, all the spirits, angels, ghosts and the idea of a messiah coming to make peace on our warlike earth, to me,  is the stuff of pure fairytale. She said, "You should ask these questions when our people knock on your door."  How can I ask questions from people who, to me, are living in a dream world?  I could never buy it when I was a child.  Now I certainly can't go for it as a cynical old man.  There is nothing you can prove to me by vague logic. Everything bad, you blame on something called satan or on "free will". You have an excuse for everything and a real proof for nothing. Good luck to you. Come back when you can show me something that is undeniably a miracle; like a brake job on your car without the touch of human hands or mending a broken window by prayer. Better yet, why don't you come to MY meeting and ask YOUR questions of the rational-thinking people who agree with me?  (What I really thought is - They'll cut your feeble arguments in little pieces and feed them to the birds, but I didn't say that.) They picked up their materials and replied, "Goodbye, sir".  And I said to myself, "What? I actually drove them off? I can't believe it."    

8/14/08

To my religious friends:   I think of you often. I wonder why you think the way you do.  Is it that your God WON'T appear to us or is it that he CAN'T.  Whichever one you choose, isn't it clear that after all these centuries, that it makes no difference? The end result is the same. If we have waited these 1000s of years and God has not appeared to us,  WON'T and CAN'T are the same thing.  Doesn't it occur to you that all the making of excuses for why doesn't ever show himself, is simply a smokescreeen?  Whatever reasons they give for God's being invisible or silent or non-intervening, isn't it suspicious, at least?   Without allowing yourself the benefit of hearing an opposing view, you haven't even been given the tools to think correctly.  Instead, you pray to something you think is there; worship something that you cannot see; swear to miracles that are not possible; and put your faith in old books that would put us in prison if we followed their instruction. In your world, you take an idea and call it "infallible" and then try to stuff the real world into its boundaries. It does not hold up to the light of day.  And you think you are going WHERE  after you die?  You better do it BEFORE you die because you might not get there if you don't.  Isn't religion amazing? It teaches you to believe in the incredible, but puts all manner of verification conveniently out of reach of the living.  You refuse to listen to any argument, so, like a child throwing a tantrum to get its way, you can think you are right, for the time being. I have news for you, though-  You have a big surprise coming some day.  Nothing is nothing.  You have yet to discover that simple idea.

8-9-08

The Orange County Register newspaper reports that Paul Crouch, President of TBN makes $419,500. His wife, Janice W. Couch makes $361,000 a year and his son, Paul F. Crouch Jr. makes $130,082 a year. The Crouches are among the highest paid chief executives of religious nonprofits. TBN is the world's largest religious broadcasting company. They pay a law office $164,200 a  year and are a 501 c-3 corporation, although they consider themselves a church. TBN preaches "prosperity evangelism" where they urge the public to give and say God will give generously back. In 2006, TBN took in $200.7 million, spent $141.1 million and stashed the other $59.6 million.  Their net assets are $839 million.  What the OCR article did not mention, was how any of the money was spent. 

8-4-08

The greatest puzzle in the history of mankind is it’s insistence on the triumph of  religious belief over truth, over science, over common sense and in spite of any evidence.  In OCR’s August 5^th, Opinion column a writer says that we haven’t even begun to see the explosive power and fury that will be unleashed because of gay marriage. Will our shy, ever-silent and invisible deity  reveal himself over the trifling issue of gay marriage?  When and where will this happen, so I can bring my camera?  So much turmoil on this earth could be ended instantly if God would appear and bless us with His infinite wisdom.  But, alas, He does not do this. Not wars, not  genocides, not plagues or disease, not immense criminal acts. not slavery, not cruel dictators, not anything has ever caused Him to appear to us.  So, the idea that the seas will boil (a letter which appeared recently in the OCR) and now, as to the threat of having His power and fury unleashed upon us because we allow gay marriage, I offer a sincere, “Ho hum”. I cannot think of anything less likely to occur or more outlandishly foolish to suggest.    

  6-8-08 

I wonder how we could make atheism an accepted thing, as if it was a religion like all the others, and that we could offer it as an alternative to people who are searching for the truth, and have some kind of ad on the religious page of the newspaper. But- We don't have legitimacy because we have no voice. We are all little groups, acting on our own, with no political clout, whatever. If people are supposed to be tolerant of other's beliefs, then they should be tolerant of those whose belief is that only of truth and evidentiary proof. There is no reason NOT to accept atheism, except for the bigotry of organized religion. It is hard enough for them to convince the public that what they are selling is the truth, without atheists claiming it is all lies and taking away their bread and butter. The trouble with atheism is that it takes away all the myths and doesn't replace it with anything. We don't give away "eternities of heavenly bliss" or free robes and sandals forever, and a free seat in some big arena somewhere where you can sing songs of praise to God forever, although it is not known why anyone would want to do that or believe that such an absurdity was possible. But, nevertheless, we don't offer them a "good deal" as the car salesmen do, if they join us, so we remain relative outcasts because we offer no advantage to make the switch. People are always looking for a bargain. Atheism doesn't have any, and Islam and Mormonism offer even more than Christianity.  People don't really care about truth. What they care about is what's in it for them. That's part of the reason why only 17% of the nation is atheist.  What can we offer them?  A lifetime, free of wasting your time going to church? of praying to something that doesn't exist? freedom to allow choice based on logic instead of whether or not a "soul" is present? freedom to accept anyone who is kind, instead of basing your friendships on your religious choice, freedom from hatred and intolerance? Look at the atheists. We have everyone represented among us. No one asks what church you belong to. No one judges you because you were a member of one religion or another. No one shuns you because they were taught to hate "people of your kind". No one tells me that I killed Christ. No one has a secret agenda that holds a part of them aside; a side they can't reveal or discuss because you are a different religion. To me, atheism is as close to perfection as one can get.  Why can't we show the rest of the world what truth and sincerity are? We have no axes to grind. We don't ask anyone to believe in something except truth and scientific fact.  We need no angels and miracles to give our life meaning.  We live day to day without the threat of hell or the promise of heaven to repress our thoughts and imagination.  And nothing happens to us that doesn't happen to anyone else. No bolts of lightening come out of the sky to punish us for not being religious. 

   5/29/08

What is a "devil" and what relationship does it have to atheists? Have you ever seen a devil? Where does he live? If he isn't visible, then how do you know he exists? Atheism has nothing to do with the devil. Only religiious people believe in such fairy tales. Atheism is not about believing in anything except the truth.  That's why the church hates atheists, because atheists challenge the church to all of its fictional stories and to the many errors in the bible. Simply stated, Atheists don't believe "miracles or the supernatural". If religion could prove God exists, there would be no atheists, but in the last 2,000 years, no one has succeeded. We are told to worship God, though no reason is given. Religious people think God is so good, but even in this past two weeks, why did he let 80,000 people die in Myannar and 70,000 in

?  What possible reason would a good  God have to kill so many innocent people?  Religion wants us to see the world as surrounded by devils and gods and miracles and dead souls wandering around and heaven and hell looming up at us. Why is this necessary? It's even against the law to teach such nonsense in public schools. I think religion is the taking of "nothing" and claiming it is "something". This is a brilliant idea. No one can prove anything. But everyone is so anxious to go to heaven that they line up to say, "I believe". Smart people, including atheists, only believe in the truth and the Golden Rule. They don't need any imaginary concepts to prop them up and help them live. Some atheists think that religion is actually a form of insanity. The need to "believe" has already been traced to a particular genome in the brain. Maybe someday, religious belief will be treatable by some drug.  

   5-10-08

 Watching Natl Geographics last night, it was about the Jews escape from

; the plagues, the crossing of the

, etc.  It was an attempt by modern-day scholars to find evidence and explanations for the burning bush, the plagues, the exodus of the Jews, the inundation of Pharoah's army in the

.  It was theorized that a translation error was made in that "Red Sea" was actually "Reed Sea", a swampland area in the Nile Delta; that the separation of water could have been the moving out of the water, prior to a tsunami that was caused by a distant specific volcanic eruption; that the burning bush was a gas leak in the ground that caused the bush to become charcoal, but retain its shape, and various other explanations for the miracles. The conclusion was that there such things, although possible, were highly improbable and that "not a shred of historical evidence" existed, of any of those things actually happening, except in the bible, and that the scientists' conclusion was, in all cases, that the miracles never occurred, but were simply the agrandizing of old myths, carried forward by tribal elders and made into more interesting stories by changing and inventing facts to enhance the story-telling. There were books kept by the Egyptians of their history and not one mentions the plagues, the release of the Jews, and the subsequent loss of the entire Egyptian army, as claimed by the bible. It would have been detailed somewhere other than the bible, if such disasters had occurred.  An American scientist explored the area in the Nile delta, where he thought the army might have fallen and actually found old bronze artifacts, but of every small piece of bronze found, not one single piece was ever found that was large enough or uncorroded enough to be identified and linked to anything. The conclusion of the scientists on the NatGeo program was that there was no proof that any of the stories related to the Jews in

were true. The only facts that were verified by Egyptian writings were that some Jews lived in

1500 years before Christ and that there were many Jews living in

in 400 AD. Everything in between is more than likely, pure, unsupported myth.    
 

4-22-08   

Once one becomes conscious of the fact that what we heard from our mother, that God is watching us and he remembers everything we do or say or think, and that we'd better be good "or else",  and this absurdity is drummed home by otherwise respectable and educated people who earn their living by "selling" religion to the public, we find ourselves in a world that believes something that, logically and scientifically, makes no sense at all. So called "miracles" stopped happening as human knowledge increased. Not only has "Eternal Life" never been proven, but in the 1,000s of years this childish idea has been around, there is not the slightest clue or evidence that it is anything more than a fairy tale. Where could it exist? What could be more perfect a "cover" for the impossible, than "you have to die first to go there"? How would you go there? As a child? As an adult? As a failing, aged person, as when you might have passed away? How would you communicate with the other "souls" who didn't speak your language? There are so many unanswered questions that defy any explanation, that a logical person would have to reject the entire idea as being impossible to imagine. And if there were a God, why is it that he doesn't answer prayers? Or step in and save the innocent? Or teach us how to live better lives? Certainly the bible is so flawed as to not be dependable; since it implores you to murder your children; to keeping slaves; to selling your daughter and so many other horrible acts that anyone who really believes in the bible, probably hasn't read it.  Many good things are done in the name of religion, but the bad things very much outweigh the good. Just the simple fact that every religion thinks that only "their believers will go to heaven" makes them intolerant of every other religion and the source of endless wars and stife in the world. Why do we need religion? What would happen to the world if there was no religion?  The Pope recently pointed his finger at the atheists for having caused millions of deaths, which he explained to mean the Communists. That doesn't nearly equal the damage done to the world by Christianity and its fervent adherents. The dark ages were Christianity's hey day and is said to have pushed back scientific progress, 500 years. The prohibitions against DNA studies alone, are estimated to have caused untold damage to scientific knowledge that might have substantially increased human life span, were it not for the pro-occupation with the fantasy that fetuses have "souls" imparted by God, at the instant of conception. Can anyone imagine such an idea actually being accepted by intelligent human beings? What is a "soul"? Who puts it "there" and where is "there"? Why haven't doctors ever located one? And if those ideas aren't offensive to the intelligence we are supposed to have, I offer you the argument that God does nothing to prevent crime or injury, neither to individuals, nor to entire nations, because he allows us the have "free will". Isn't that grand? So nothing, not prayer, not compassion, not good will, not pity, not anything will get God to do anything to stop or promote anything, now, later or ever, because we supposedly have "free will".  If a criminal wants to murder children, he has the free will to do so. If  the Muslims want to fly passenger planes into skyscrapers, they have the free will to do so. If the Nazis want to murder 6 million Jews, God does nothing. So what does God do that we pray for? What compassion does he show for "his children"?  After what amounts to a god-less life for all of us, believers or not, where we are told that God does not interfere in human events, thereby leaving us essentially "on our own" from birth to death, now the religious people want to believe that God will judge them at the time of their death and let them enter something called heaven?  Why would any trusting person believe that? The only thing we can depend upon is that God, if there is such a thing, will do what he has done throughout our lives, absolutely nothing. Not a blessed thing. Oh yes, when the believers finally discover that death means death and nothing else, they will come up with some other malarky, like "God has free will also, to judge you or not judge you, as he sees fit. Many people don't go to heaven or to hell either. They wander around in limbo, because God has decided, in his great knowlege, to do nothing. This is the "do nothing" theory. It has not become known yet, as no one has proven that God actually does that, since spirits can't be seen. If spirits will ever be seen, you can bet your life that some explanation will come forth as to God's lack of concern or action and the religious people will continue to praise God for what, we do not know, and continue to pledge their faith in his righteous "nothingness" and his failure to do anything, ever          .    

27-08  -   - a review of a book reviewer

Did you see that awful article by Paul Campos in the Register a couple of days ago, where he makes fun of Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, et al? What a bunch of religious double-talk. He said that If an angel of the Lord would appear in front of Dawkins,  that Dawkins would not believe that he even saw him because atheists do not believe in angels. So his eyesight would fail? He wouldn't believe what he saw with his own eyes? So all those angels that are walking around the streets are invisible to atheists? I think

is telling us that atheists would never believe in the truth, even if it was lie. I guess angels do that stufff all the time.  I just wasn't aware that it ever happened recently, or in the last few years, or actually at any time in the entire recorded history of mankind, but what do I know. That just proves to me how ignorant I must be; you know, the last to know, and all that. I guess

reads a different newspaper, like Angel Watch or something.  I just don't happen to suscribe. Can you imagine anything more crazy? 

must think angels are here all the time, just like vampires, like Santa Claus and like the tooth fairy. Everyone knows that, don't they? Except if you're over seven or eight years of age. Gosh. I'm convinced.

sure makes a point. I hope he sits on it.  That naughty Dawkins. Angels just don't get no respect.  Those bad old atheists. They don't believe nuthin.    

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