Disappearance

Why would the one true creator of the universe only reveal himself to Bronze-age societies in the Middle East several thousand years ago… and then never be heard from again?

Genius

"My mind is incapable of conceiving such a thing as a soul. I may be in error, and man may have a soul; but I simply do not believe it. What a soul may be is beyond my understanding." -- Thomas Edison [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison]

Message from God

On this day, God wants you to know… that He is like a unicorn: beautiful, powerful, magical, and almost certainly fictional.

Fundamental Rights

In the United States, we consider some rights “fundamental”: that is, so basic that everyone is assumed to have them all the time. One fundamental right we all enjoy: the freedom to practice whatever religion we like, or no religion at all. Another of our fundamental rights: the right to personal safety, to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights embed these rights in our society. Basic, fundamental rights like these form this country’s moral foundation.

Many Christians believe they draw their morals from the Christian Bible, and that as a society we should draw our morals from the Christian Bible. Does the Christian Bible guarantee freedom of religion? Does the Christian Bible guarantee freedom from cruel and unusual punishment?

Progression

Religions have been around as long as we have. Every human society in history has had religious or at least supernatural beliefs. We humans have imagined more than 4,000 gods over the years. In the early days, we thought gods and spirits inhabited everything: bears, trees, water, rocks. When we cut down the trees and swam in the water and didn't find any gods, gods' residences changed. Gods moved to high mountain tops. And when we climbed the mountains and didn't find any gods, their residences changed again. Gods moved from mountain tops to the sky, above what was visible from the earth. And now that we have explored space and once again found no gods, once again those gods have moved. Now gods live somewhere even more mysterious. Gods are everywhere and nowhere at once, or maybe they live inside us in undetectable spirit form.

Young Love

Let’s say it’s thousands of years ago, and Dick and Jane are engaged to be married. It’s the old days and they are forbidden to have sex until marriage. If they are caught having sex or if Jane gets pregnant before their wedding, Jane’s father will be angry and violent, and Jane and Dick will be publicly disgraced.

Jane gets pregnant before the wedding. What is the most likely cause of Jane’s pregnancy?

Thousands of years ago, it would have seemed very possible to people for Jane to be impregnated by a mystical spirit. Today, do people still think that actually happens? Can we now all agree on what causes women to become pregnant? How would you feel if your young daughter and her boyfriend claimed that a spirit had gotten her pregnant?

Not so good for me!

The Christian Bible (Hebrew Bible + "New" Testament) teaches that an all-powerful, loving diety in the sky created a plan for the universe before the foundation of time. This plan awards Christians, after their physical deaths, eternal life in paradise with their families and other loved ones. Notwithstanding how impossible that sounds, let’s assume for a moment it is true.

So far so good… for Christians. Those without a belief in Christ's divinity get burned alive forever. As Borat would say, “Not so good for them!”. The earth’s current population is over 6 billion people. Christians represent around 1/3rd; non-Christians like Borat represent around 2/3rds. If Christ somehow returns to the Earth today after a 2,000 year death-hiatus, 2+ billion Christians will be awarded eternal life in paradise. The remaining 4+ billion non-Christians will burn alive forever. 4+ billion men, women and children, from every corner of the earth, many of whom never heard about Christianity, will burn alive. Forever.

So many Christians I know pray for "end times" and for Christ’s improbable return from the sky/death. It seems to me that these people, in order to gain a reward, seek to hasten the eternal torture of more than 4 billion other people. Should that scare the $#!+ out of us? Or maybe I’m just not reading things right?