A Thought Experiment With Your Religious Friends

We are reading  The God Virus for the book club in February. On page 18, Darrel W. Ray describes an experiment. I think I’ve heard of it before, but I thought I’d share it with you because it shows how religion attacks the critical thinking skills of the mind. As Mr. Ray says, it leaves the skill intact for other religions but disables critical thinking about one’s own religion. It really is like a virus of the mind.

Here’s the experiment as explained in the book:

You have a serious conversation with a deeply christian friend. Your friend is intelligent, well educated and knowledgeable. You agree to record the session. The topic is islam. During the session, you discuss that mohammed was a self-appointed prophet and that he claimed he talked to allah and the angels. He wrote a book that he claimed was infallible, and he flew from Jerusalem to heaven on a horse.

During the conversation, you agree that mohammed was probably delusional to think he could talk to god. You agree that the koran was clearly written by mohammed and not allah. It is ludicrous for him to claim that he is the last prophet and that all others are false. Neither you nor your friend can believe that he flew to heaven, let alone on a horse. It all sounds too crazy, and you both agree it is difficult to see how someone could believe such a religion. At the end of the conversation, you say that muslims did not choose their religion; they were born into it. Anyone who was exposed to both christianity and islam would see that christianity is the true religion. Read the rest of this entry »

January 24, 2010 | Neece | Categories: Article Freethinkers Morgantown Book Club discussion | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

What Other Deities Were Born On Jesus’ Birthday?

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series History

funny-pictures-furball-christmasWas Jesus unique and special, born of a virgin on December 25th? The Anointed One, the Messiah? Was his message even all that original? Not at all. Back in the day, religions and cults mixed and borrowed freely from each other. The only thing special about Jesus, you could say, is how long his myth has been embraced as truth. Butch found this at American Atheists and I thought you’d enjoy it for the holiday season.

December 25 is close to the Winter Solstice which has been an important event for ages. It’s the longest night of the year. December 25 was the Roman Winter Solstice upon establishment of the Julian calendar. We now have the Gregorian calendar which put the Winter Solstice to December 21st – 22nd. Many cultures recognized this Longest Night with holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals about rebirth and other celebrations.

~

EDIT: I shared the following article and a few readers noted at HDC that there are no references or resources for any of this information. I fell into the trap of the Appeal to Authority. I had found it on what I considered to be a reputable site and didn’t think much about who wrote the article or what his sources were. I apologize.

Over the next day or so, I am going to edit this article to include some resources and references.

~

Horus c. 3000 BCE

–born of the virgin Isis-Merion December 25 in a cave/manger with his birth being announced by a star in the East and attended by three wise men.
–his earthly father was named “Seb” (“Joseph”).
–was of royal descent.
–at 12, he was a child teacher in the Temple, and at 30, he was baptized having disappeared for 18 years.
–baptized in the river Eridanus or Iarutana (Jordan) by “Anup the Baptizer” (“John the Baptist”), who was decapitated.
–had 12 disciples, two of who were his “witnesses” and were named “Anup” and “Aan” (the two “Johns”).
–performed miracles, exorcised demons and raised El-Azarus (“El-Osiris”), from the dead.
–walked on water.
–his personal epithet was “Iusa,” the “ever-becoming son” of “Ptah,” the “Father.” He was thus called “Holy Child.”
–delivered a “Sermon on the Mount” and his followers recounted the “Sayings of Iusa.”
–was transfigured on the Mount.
–crucified between two thieves, buried for three days in a tomb, and resurrected.
–he was also the “Way, the Truth, the Light,” “Messiah,” “God’s Anointed Son,” “the “Son of Man,” the “Good Shepherd,” the “Lamb of God,” the “Word made flesh,” the “Word of Truth,” etc.
–he was “the Fisher” and was associated with the Fish (“Ichthys”), Lamb and Lion.
–came to fulfill the Law.
–called “the KRST,” or “Anointed One.”
–was supposed to reign one thousand years. Read the rest of this entry »

October 21, 2009 | Neece | Categories: Article History religion | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Logical Fallacy: Cherry-Picking

This entry is part 5 of 12 in the series Logic and Critical Thinking

funny-pictures-cat-has-glassesCherry-Picking is when you count the hits and ignore the misses. It is used when only certain quotes, data, studies or research are used to support an argument while ignoring other valid and credible quotes, data, studies and research. In my personal experience, cherry-picking is rampant in the religious population.

Examples:

When christians speak of the bible, they invariably cherry-pick the parts that support whatever they are trying to get across. Homosexuality is a prime example (leviticus mentions it twice). Of course they don’t mind eating shellfish or wearing a poly-cotton blend shirt, which is expressly forbidden in subsequent chapters. We’ve all dealt with the hypocrisy of the old testament, especially the homosexuality issue. Instead I’m going to share a bit of the new testament, which most people use to show how kind and loving jesus was. I’ll stick to the gospels for this exercise, to make my point:

Here are a few examples of nice things that are in the bible.

  • Matthew 7:3-5: jesus says to avoid hypocrisy. Consider your own faults rather than criticizing others. Don’t tell your brother he’s got a mote in his eye when you have a beam in your own eye. (not an original idea, really, but it’s a good lesson)
  • Matthew 19:18-19: jesus talks about the commandments (notice he mentions 6 instead of 10, and the last one is not in the old testament. Also these are all secular commandments, not religious) Don’t murder, don’t cheat on your spouse, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your parents, love your neighbor as yourself. (these are basically good rules, also not original)
  • Luke 6:31: The Golden Rule. As you would have others treat you, treat them likewise. (not an original idea, either, but a good way to live)

Of course, most christians ignore the more hateful things and skip over them, or apologetically dismiss them using other logical fallacies. Here are just a few: Read the rest of this entry »

September 16, 2009 | Neece | Categories: Logic & Critical Thinking | Tags: , , , , , , , | No Comments »

A Field Trip to the Creation Museum With PZ Myers

This entry is part 4 of 12 in the series Other Events

This is somewhat late notice, but there is still plenty of time. Some members of Freethinkers Morgantown are planning a field trip to the creation museum (I think it’s outside of Cincinnati). Here is the notice that I received from Michael Pipkin on Monday (they will be going with PZ Myers):

Claire and I are thinking about attending the Creation Museum field trip with the Secular Student Alliance on August 7th. The event is on a Friday, so it would require taking a day off of work. I want to see if anyone else might be interested in going so we could carpool and share expenses.

PZ Myers will be acting as a “guide” and there will even be a special presentation that day, with one of the AIG “researchers” (I use that term very loosely) giving a lecture in which he will present the “Ultimate Proof of Creation”. Heh.

We are thinking about driving over Thursday evening and spending the night at a local motel so we don’t have to leave ludicrously early Friday morning. It’s about a 5 hour drive. The field trip ends at 3:00, so we would drive back that evening.

There are instructions at the first link above on how to register and get tickets for only $10 (regularly $22).

I think it would be a blast to part of the atheist horde that descends on Ken Ham’s abomination of a museum on that day. If anyone else is interested, you can reply here or send an e-mail directly to me at mpipkin@live.com.

Oh my goodness, it gets even better! On the day the trip is scheduled (Aug 7th), here are some of the events planned for the “museum”: Read the rest of this entry »

July 22, 2009 | Neece | Categories: Fun Other Events | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Codex Sinaiticus: The Oldest Bible Holds Surprises

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series History

Codex_Sinaiticus_open200The Codex Sinaiticus, which means ‘the Sinai Book’ holds a special place in history. And now the whole world has access to it for free. Here, let the website explain. This is from their about page:

Codex Sinaiticus, a manuscript of the Christian Bible written in the middle of the fourth century, contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament. The hand-written text is in Greek. The New Testament appears in the original vernacular language (koine) and the Old Testament in the version, known as the Septuagint, that was adopted by early Greek-speaking Christians. In the Codex, the text of both the Septuagint and the New Testament has been heavily annotated by a series of early correctors.

The significance of Codex Sinaiticus for the reconstruction of the Christian Bible’s original text, the history of the Bible and the history of Western book-making is immense.

First, the many corrections are quite telling, spanning the centuries. Letters, words and whole sentences are added or removed. The books are in a different order, and there are some books in there that have since been removed. The codex is dated to the middle of the 4th century. This is one of the earliest manuscripts. The only other is at the vatican, so therefore out of the reach of the public.

What is contained in the codex as described by the Codex Sinaiticus website:

As it survives today, Codex Sinaiticus comprises just over 400 large leaves of prepared animal skin, each of which measures 380mm high by 345mm wide. On these parchment leaves is written around half of the Old Testament and Apocrypha (the Septuagint), the whole of the New Testament, and two early Christian texts not found in modern Bibles. Most of the first part of the manuscript (containing most of the so-called historical books, from Genesis to 1 Chronicles) is now missing and presumed to be lost.

The Septuagint includes books which many Protestant Christian denominations place in the Apocrypha. Those present in the surviving part of the Septuagint in Codex Sinaiticus are 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, 1 & 4 Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach.

The number of the books in the New Testament in Codex Sinaiticus is the same as that in modern Bibles in the West, but the order is different. The Letter to the Hebrews is placed after Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians, and the Acts of the Apostles between the Pastoral and Catholic Epistles.

The two other early Christian texts are an Epistle by an unknown writer claiming to be the Apostle Barnabas, and ‘The Shepherd’, written by the early second-century Roman writer, Hermas.

I think this will prove extremely useful to the debate of the legitimacy of christianity. With this online resource, you can see the original manuscript and the transcription in one of several languages. For the first time, we are all able to access this historical work for ourselves. It’s amazing and awesome.

If you spend some time with the codex and find anything interesting, please feel free to share it with us.

(cross-posted from Heaving Dead Cats)

July 12, 2009 | Neece | Categories: History bible study | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment »
SEO Powered by Platinum SEO from Techblissonline