Labels

Faith is NOT Fact

I have an ex-Army friend whom I’m acquainted with on Facebook.  He’s a born again Christian and has always been a very sweet man but recently he’s been driving me mental.  I have nothing against religious people at all, you get lovely religious people and you get twattish religious people, as you do with any religion, agnostic or atheist.  But the thing that really drives me insane is when faith based religions try to pass their nonsense off as fact.
Faith is what you have when there is no evidence to suggest the thing you believe in is fact.  And that’s fine.  I want Darwin to believe in Father Christmas for a while and I’ll be telling him lies to convince him he does exist.  And if you want to believe in a God, well good on you, but I will tell you now, there is not one bit of evidence to suggest he, she or it exists.  The important thing is that you remain a good person.
Occasionally he’ll put up video casts by an American evangelist, Joshua Feuerstein.  The word ‘Cunt’ was designed for people like this.  There is very little difference between him and the dickheads currently beheading people in Syria.  He is hateful, blinkered and I’m very sad to report, influential.  And he doesn’t like Atheists.
In the time that I haven’t written this Webby, my ex-Army friend, has un-friended me on Facebook because I answered his “10 Questions for Every Atheist”, a questionnaire claiming “Some Questions Atheist Cannot Truly and Honestly REALLY Answer! Which leads to some interesting conclusions...”.  I am a little saddened (don’t worry, I will get over it!) because I do like to debate with religious folk.  I may ridicule them, particularly the extremists, but I’m quite accepting of ridicule myself.  I want to be sure that the thing I believe in is fact and I believe debate is healthy.  The burden of proof doesn’t lie with the Atheist, I believe in facts, and if those facts change in line with new research and scientific evidence then I’m quite prepared to change what I believe in.  And if a new massive telescope captures an image of a Charlton Heston-esque chap working in a shed building a new Earth or summat, then I’ll quite happily change to Christianity.  (Webby might re-friend me then.  I have heard from somewhere that ‘Forgiveness is the new F word’).
Here are the questionnaire complete with my answers:
1.                How Did You Become an Atheist?
I was born an Atheist.  Various people have tried to convince me that mystical beings exist, Santa, Superman, Jesus etc. but I’m aware of the boundaries between fantasy & reality. 
2.                What happens when we die?
Quite literally, nothing. 
3.                What if you’re wrong? And there is a Heaven? And there is a HELL!
What if I’m wrong and there are an infinite amount of other scenarios that happen, like I re-live my life as Elvis but I’m half goat and half fire extinguisher, and I put fires out with my powder squirting penis and vagina that also produces fire retardant Feta cheese?  And will God refuse my entry to Heaven simply because I didn’t believe in him?  What kind of a self obsessed bastard is he?
4.                Without God, where do you get your morality from?
I know the difference between right and wrong.  I have been taught it and beyond that I understand it.  I would trust the word of a policeman or a lawyer over that of a priest or the idiotic ramblings of the bible, quran or any holy book.
5.                If there is no God, can we do what we want? Are we free to murder and rape? While good deeds are unrewarded?
Are you a fucking retard?  According to the bible what is the punishment for disobeying the first commandment, ‘Thou shalt not have any other gods but me’? I’ll tell you, ‘Genocide. Entire cities with men, women, children and animals must be killed.  In some cases you can keep the girls alive for raping’.  In my world no, it’s not right to rape and murder, in the bible it is acceptable.[i]  Do you need a nonexistent imaginary monster to act as a parent to judge your actions?  JE-SUS CHRIST!
6.                If there is no god, how does your life have any meaning?
I am alive and therefore I am.  I love, laugh and wank, it’s all good. I see beauty all around me; I also see bad things, that’s the very nature of chaos, which the universe and all in it are.  We’re one big beautiful accident.
7.                Where did the universe come from?
It’s always been here, it always will be. 
8.                What about miracles? What about all the people who claim to have a connection with Jesus? What about those who claim to have seen saints or angels?
Have you never seen the works of Paul Daniels, David Blaine or that twat Dynamo?  Virtually monthly my misses claims to see Panthers, Hippos and 2 headed animals in the field opposite where I live.  It doesn’t mean I live opposite a weird safari park, it means her eyes are bad and her imagination is vivid.  Plus, there are a lot of ‘mentals’ in the world!
9.                What’s your view of Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris?
I’m sure they’re very nice people.  I do know a little about Dawkins but I’m unfamiliar with the other 2.  What does it matter and how is it relevant? I’m not in the business of hero worshipping, I’ll leave that to the religious people.
10.            If there is no God, then why does every society have a religion?
Every society also has Atheists.  Most societies have evolved roughly at the same speed.  Over the years, particularly in the last 300, we have developed technology and tools to allow us to better understand our world and universe to an extent where we don’t have to rely on fear to control our actions and attitudes.  Religion once served a purpose to tame the unruly masses but it should have been left behind when we stopped burning witches. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts