Bill Moyers: Freedom of and From Religion
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Category Archives: Religion
The Inevitable Triumph Of Reason Over Religion
But reason has an enemy…
Its name is religion. Religion has the ability to amplify the desire to be understood, but nearly nullifies the desire to understand others who are not like-minded. Religion retards intellectual growth, represses individual thought, is the adversary of science, the restraint against invention and the stalwart of what would otherwise advance our species into a peaceful existence, without want.
The Incredible Shrinking Apology…
Every day the pool of apologetics gets smaller while the ocean of evidence that counters religious doctrine, dogma and superstition grows deeper. Every day, by default, the fundamentally religious become more willfully ignorant.
Progress…
The voices of reason are getting louder, more prevalent and numerous. We are making slow and steady inroads into areas of our existence that, fifty years ago, would have seemed impossible.
Mightier Than The Sword…
But we will prevail, because if evolution has taught us anything, the desire to explore new ideas and learn new ways of doing things is almost unavoidable. From the time some of our ancestors started to write things down, other ancestors carried those words abroad, bringing new ideas and instructions for new technologies with them.
In politics, the concrete usually wins over the abstract [Because thinking is hard!]
. . . [M]ost people value [Christian privilege] as an abstract principle, they don’t make decisions based on abstractions. They tend to look at the concrete manifestations of those abstractions. . . . So while many people will say they support [Christian privilege], they are going to be angry if [women workers] access to their contraceptive services are taken away. The situation is similar to those older Tea [Bagee] supporters who say they support getting government out of health care as an abstract principle but will fight tooth and nail to retain their Medicare.
Paul Krugman: Severe [Reactionary] Syndrome
How did American [reactionism] end up so detached from, indeed at odds with, facts and rationality? For it was not always thus. . . .
The point is that today’s dismal [White-Wing Party] field — is there anyone who doesn’t consider it dismal? — is no accident. Economic [reactionaries] played a cynical game, and now they’re facing the blowback, a party that suffers from “severe” [reactionism] in the worst way. . . .
Quote: Baron d’Holbach
Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d’Holbach (08 December 1723 – 21 January 1789)
French-German Author, Philosopher, Encyclopedist,
Polemicist against organized religion, and Avowed Atheist
Religion is the art of intoxicating men with enthusiasm [this word in the eighteenth century meant religious fervor], to prevent them from dealing with the evils with which their governors oppress them. . . . The art of reigning has become nothing more than that of profiting from the errors abjection of mind and soul into which superstition has plunged the nations. . . . By means of threatening men with invisible powers, they [Church and state] force them to suffer in silence the miseries with which visible powers afflict them. They are made to hope that if they agree to being unhappy in this world, they will be happy in the next.
QUOTATION: “On Religion as a By-product of Fear” / Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008)
British Science Fiction Author, Inventor, Futurist, and Atheist
Author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, (1968)
Religion is a by-product of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn’t killing people in the name of god a pretty good definition of insanity?
Near Death Experiences Explained!
Words You Don’t See in the Media: ‘A Self-Proclaimed Christian’
[There is an] obvious double standard in how the news media talks about atheists versus religion people. For example, atheists tend to be described with adjectives… “self-proclaimed,” “self-identified,” “avowed,” etc.
Can you imagine what would happen if some of these qualifiers were applied to Christians? . . . There would [be] considerable outrage, and for good reason. But that isn’t going to happen because we do not see these qualifiers applied to Christians. . .[T]his is an example of Christian privilege at work.
QUOTATION: “Science Can Destroy Religion” / Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008)
British Science Fiction Author, Inventor, Futurist, and Atheist
Author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, (1968)
Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the nonexistence of Zeus or Thor – but they have few followers now.
Rachel Maddow: Conservative Republican Super-Lawyer Ted Olson / The Best Defense Ever of [Same-Sex] Marriage
Always Question Authority 