The ultimate irony: the religion that so often claims to have a monopoly on morality is based on appealing to people's desire to have a get-out-of-jail-free card for literally everything immoral they've ever done.
Billions of people claim to “know” God. How could they all be wrong? Simple. Just listen to them. If ten people claim to know your friend Jimmy, yet they all describe Jimmy in different, incompatible ways, then either they don’t know Jimmy, or Jimmy has been doing some lying.
This bird has two right wings. Basically, it ain't gonna fly.
This video is mainly addressed to people I would define as ultra right wing radical Christians in America. Some people tell me that Islam is worse, because at least the Christians aren't beheading people who don't respect their religion. The whole point of this video is "beware what you wish for". The reason certain Christians don't do such things is simply because they live in a secular society that won't allow such things, but they want that to change. They want the theocracy. They want people like me to be punished. They are the Taliban that is not allowed to act like the Taliban. This video is a cautionary comparison, and it is absolutely valid. Furthermore, far more Muslims have been killed by Christians, than the other way around, today and throughout history. It's just that we tend to label it differently.
I've often been told by Christians, "Hey, if you were in a Muslim country, making fun of religion, you'd be dead by now," (John Lennox has said stuff like this). Basically, that means "At least we Christians let you live." Um...thanks. Those are some mighty low standards you have there. I don't trust radicals on either side. I'm alive because the secular government won't allow you to kill me - not because there's a shortage of Christians who would be ready, willing, and able to do it. Of that, I have no doubt.
This is touted as a compelling reason Christianity is believable, but I find it sorely lacking. People convert, even antagonistic people. It happens all the time. Some people even call them traitors. Such conversions prove nothing. It's even a Hollywood trope, yet notice how none of the plots of those movies felt the need to invoke the supernatural to explain the protagonist's change.
It is interesting to note that Jesus didn't condemn homosexuality, but for some reason, Paul of Tarsus decided to make a point of it. That reason, some feel, is that Paul himself was a repressed homosexual. Think Ted Haggard. Some of the argument and evidence for this position is presented by Bishop Shelby Spong in this video: Spong on Paul
Traditional marriage or gay apocalypse. Pick one. Do you dare delve deep into the mind of Rick Perry? Be warned! When you emerge, you will never be the same.
When presented together, the two propositions in this video are obviously silly, yet only one of them is recognized as such. Why? Perhaps it has something to do with how our standards shift when we’re dealing with reality as opposed to dealing with something far more fantastical. Perhaps it also has something to do with having a well established political and social system of norms and traditions backing up and perpetuating one of those silly propositions, often presented to us by loved ones when we were vulnerable children, or emotionally compromised by something.
Why do people accept such silly beliefs, but then live as though they don’t actually believe those things? Perhaps it’s because servitude to a lifetime of running from the whip, whilst chasing the carrot, is too exhausting. I tend to think it’s just not real enough for them, and they’re lying to themselves, a skin-deep lie, because they want it to be true. Maybe they don’t believe as sincerely as their facade makes it seem. After all, if I believed my existence in eternity depends upon what I do in this fleeting instant of a life, then my every waking moment would be devoted to that eternity. Yet that’s not what we see when we look at most believers. We see people standing in line at the bank. We see people sitting in traffic, suffering occasional road rage. We see people not concerned with eternity. We see people concerned with reality.
Perhaps due to plain ignorance or emotional bias, many religious folks think and spout divine command theory as if it hadn’t been soundly defeated thousands of years ago. The funny result is that theists are often operating under the misapprehension that atheists cannot account for morality, when in actuality, it’s exactly the reverse.
If the Abrahamic God exists, then He needs to be told a few things. The things He needs to be told, in turn tells us volumes about His true nature: that God’s specific type of localized old world ignorance curiously coincides with the localized old world ignorance of those who told us of Him.
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