Invoking God's name

According to the Bible, Moses told his people that God told him to go in and take the Middianites land and to slaughter every man, woman, and child. In fact Moses became very angry when he found out his army did not kill all of them. So he said to kill every woman who had “known a man” and give those who had not “known a man” to his soldiers to do with as they pleased. This is shocking I know, but it happens time and again in the Bible. The Israelites claim God told them to take this or that land and so they go in, kill all the men, women, and children and take their land.
Our own government uses God’s name to justify its actions. When our country was expanding, our government decided it was our “God-given right” to steal half of Mexico so we could have two coast-lines. We called it Manifest Destiny.
We used religion to deculturalize the native Americans and Hispanics.
President Bush (#43) used religion often to stir up support for his war in Iraq, spewing statements such as, “democracy is God’s gift to the world.” During that same war General William Boyking, while making a public speech before a church congregation (in his military uniform), very blatantly said, “this is a religious war,” and, “our god is greater than their god.” Although this further fanned the flames of hatred for America in middle-eastern nations, he was never punished for this. Why?
Time and again politicians use religion for votes. Why do we accept that as okay? Why don’t we stand up and say “Shut up about religion!”

Angel wings

One day my son asked me, “Why do angels have wings?” I thought, “What a profound question!” It is so simple and yet so logical. All my life - all those years in Sunday school - and I never asked myself that question. If angels are spiritual beings, what need have they for wings? They don’t need to fight the laws of gravity. They don’t need to use air resistance to move about. It is absolute proof that the whole concept of angels was invented by humans who couldn't imagine anything flying without wings. I suppose that years of believing whatever the preacher said, whatever the Sunday school teacher said, whatever my parents said, was true, had dulled my logic and crippled my ability to see something so simple for myself. It took a small boy to show me that simple truth.

Santa Clause

What do people pray for when they pray. Have you ever really listened to what people pray for? It’s either a Santa Clause wish list, a desire for empowerment, or a wish to change the natural laws of the universe for their own purposes. I’ve heard women pray to Jesus in a tone and with verbiage that sounds as if Jesus is their secret lover.

America not founded on religion

The government of the United Sates is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.
-John Adams
These words were part of a treaty with Tripoli which was ratified by the Senate and supported by the 2nd president of the United States, President John Adams. The words were not actually written by Adams, however. They were written by his predecessor, President George Washington.

When people tell me that America was founded on Christianity, I always like to remind them that our country was founded on slavery and women not being able to vote. And when I ask if they would also like to return to those days, they fall silent.

Christianity in a nutshell

Here is the Christian story in a nutshell:
God created people and gave us the ability to choose right or wrong. We chose wrong (sin) so God then gave us the Old Testament laws. However these were too strict and we couldn’t keep those either, so God tells us that sacrificing animals will fix that and we can be forgiven of our sins. After years of sacrificing animals God says he has decided to let his son become a human and be killed by us so we won’t have to sacrifice animals anymore. Jesus will be the final sacrifice. However there’s is still a hitch. We have to actually believe that Jesus was the son of god in order to get this eternal happiness in heaven. If we don’t, we will be punished horribly for eternity.
Does that make sense to you? It doesn’t to me. It sounds like something humans made up over the years as they went along.

Someone once said to a Christian, “Tell me why you don’t believe in Zeus and I’ll tell you why I don’t believe in God.” Today’s religious believers scoff at ancient mythology as silly and unbelievable, but many of the stories in Bible are just as ridiculous; often sounding like something you would see in a cartoon.
A donkey that spoke human language.
Magicians throw down sticks that turn into snakes, so Moses throws down his staff and it too becomes a snake, eats the other snakes, and then turns back onto a staff.
A man wrestles with an angel (and wins).
Angels come down to Earth, have sex with some women and start a race of giants.
A young woman was made pregnant by a god.
Noah put two of EVERY creature on the earth in a boat.
Children teased a prophet, so a big bear came along and killed them.
Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom as they walked away so God turned her into salt.
Moses parted the Red Sea, then Elijah parted the Jordan River, and then Elisha also parted the Jordan River.
Etc., etc., etc.
So what’s the difference between today’s religions and ancient mythology? Nothing. It’s all just cartoon nonsense.

The Christian’s New Testament says, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” If that is true then one need only look at those times throughout history when religion has been given power within the government so we can investigate the true “fruits” of religion. Christianity gave us the dark ages, the inquisition, the crusades, witch burnings, and religious wars. The Muslim religion gave us some of the most underdeveloped, cruel, and repressive nations of the world. If not for religion our world would be eons ahead of where we are today intellectually, scientifically, psychologically, and economically. After thousands of years of religion, we should begin shedding this needless burden.