Tag Archives: logic

Evil squared

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There is a peculiar attribute of logic that is initially difficult to comprehend, and even more difficult to master: Negation. How is it that negating a statement twice makes it positive? And don’t get me started about negating a phrase with ‘or’. Eventually, though, we figure it out.

Or not. At least not when looking at religion: Evil, theologians say, is the negation of Good. Satan is evil – at least according to scripture. The epitome of evil.

And when evil people die, they’ll go to to hell where he tortures them.

Whoops… You see how difficult negation is? You just screwed up the negation. Satan would not torture evil people. Why would he? If he was truly evil, he’d torture good people.

Well, I guess there’s a reason why most holy scripture was written before people learned basic logic.

A Diabolic God

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There is a conundrum that many believers wrestle with: the existence of evil in the face of a benevolent god. When looked at from a different perspective findphonebase.ca , though, it’s not a conundrum at all.

Let us for a moment assume that believers have it right – a god exists. How then can we reconcile the evil that we see in the world with the assertion that god is benevolent?

We can’t. Does that mean that God doesn’t exist? Almost – but not necessarily. Another possibility remains, one that makes a whole lot more sense than what is commonly believed. Again, we are working under the assumption that God does exist. Now let us extend this assumption to Satan. Called the ‘Prince of Lies’, his character is described as evil, craving worship, and eternally envious of God’s glory.

Behold: Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, IS(IS), Taliban and all the other barbaric murderers in the name of god, including the christian murderous savages called Lord’s Resistance Army. It is inconceivable that they are fighting for a benevolent supreme being. Yet they would have you believe that they are fighting for the ‘religion of peace’ or spreading the ‘gospel of love’.

Now let us turn our gaze to North Korea. Here we have a whole people living under the harshest of conditions, who are forced to worship a hateful, self-centered egomaniac who craves the adulation of the people he tortures and enslaves. He has his country believe that he is their savior, that all the countries around them are the enemy, and that everyone but himself is evil.

In light of this example we have undeniable proof that you can make people believe anything if you are brutal and ruthless enough. This allows for a far more likely explanation for the evil we see in religion every day, one that makes sense:

If Satan exist today, it is far more likely that the religious people in truth are worshipping him; Satan, who like North Korea’s Kim, has you believe he is the benevolent supreme being.

But if this were true, why wouldn’t the benevolent God intervene? Because, like in Korea, Satan is the only supreme being. There is no benevolent god.

Just Satan. They are the same – he is God.

Now, it all makes sense. Scripture and organized religion are a tool to force people to worship him. Intense worship of this God, due to his nature, allows evil to spread. Evil in this world goes unchecked not because it is ‘natural’, but because it is part of the decidedly un-benevolent God, who occasionally hides his true face because he wants to be adored, and who sends his brutal savages to force you into his religion.

So, if you truly want to reconcile all the evil in this world with an existing God, it leaves this depressing conclusion as the most likely one.

And that’s probably one of the biggest complaints I have with faith: I think it says a lot about religion when a crazy conspiracy theory is more sane than what people actually believe.

Faithful Atheist

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Sometimes, a believer will assert that

it requires faith to be an atheist.

The first few times I heard it I thought that this was a tongue-in-cheek, somewhat tacit admission that they knew that their faith was somewhat tenuously grounded, something not to be examined too closely – like a mother’s claim that her baby was the most beautiful baby in the world and also unusually intelligent. It’s just something we say.

Now I know better. Believers really do think that it requires faith to not believe. Like an addict who needs a certain substance, believers have been made dependent on faith and need it to face the real world.

With the addict, the contradiction in the assertion is startlingly obvious: you don’t need drugs to stay clean. So perhaps we should build a bridge for believers that they can walk across to understand this point:

You don’t need drugs to not become high.
You don’t need a razor to not shave.
You don’t need a pen to not write a letter.
You don’t need a car to not park somewhere.

And you certainly don’t need faith to not believe something.

The Power of Prayer

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Matthew 21:22 says

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

We know this to be bull: when I still was a believer, I prayed that sweet, dark-haired, blue-eyed Susie would be mine – but she went with Pete, that idiot leather-jacketed jerk. I then prayed for a leather jacket. Nope. And no – that’s neither when nor why I eventually became an atheist.

But that verse is pretty much why Christians pray. Many believers take it literally. They especially believe this to be true in dire situations. Usually, the error of this belief should quickly reveal itself.

Yet, for millennia, it hasn’t.

Why not? Well, until recently, there was a simple Darwinian determinator built in: just like history is written by victors, only those who survive a dangerous situation can tell of the ‘powers of prayer’ – you literally have to live to tell. If you pray and die, it’s end of story. So we have many stories of those who pray and live, and none of those who pray and die (well, except for the Christians that were fed to the lions in Rome, but let’s disregard those).

Not even two two centuries ago, medically speaking, we were still savages. Then, when you prayed for your own (or someone else’s) life it didn’t make any difference if there also was a Doctor, Alchemist or Medicine Man present. Your chances of survival didn’t change with either.

Today, you’ll have a significant better chance to survive if you go to a medical doctor instead of just praying.

For anyone who has any sense this is more than just a correlation. The only thing that has changed is modern medicine – religions have remained the same for more than 1000 years. So it’s medicine that cures you, not prayer.

Next time you thank God for curing your illness, please consider also thanking those who actually saved you: your nurses, your doctors, and the researchers who made your cure possible.

Talking to God

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Some time ago, during the Brouhaha surrounding Dawkins’ comment on the professional integrity of a journalist who believes in the literal truth of an obviously allegorical event, the professor tweeted

A believes in fairies. B believes in winged horses. Criticize A and you’re rational. Criticize B and you’re a bigoted racist Islamophobe.

I’m still convinced that Dawkins was spot on. A few days ago, though, I noticed that reality is even stranger. I was walking down a street, encountering someone who was loudly arguing – with nobody. Belatedly, I noticed an earbud and a cable linking it to a phone. Somewhat relieved I walked past.

But the encounter got me thinking: At first I thought the guy was mad, talking to thin air. The phone altered by perception. That is rational. The reverse, though is completely irrational:

If you tell some one that you are talking to god, nobody bats an eye. Do the same while holding a phone, and they’ll put you in the looney bin.

Jesus the Wuss

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On a recent occasion, I attended dinner with a (distant) relative. She’s a full-on believer, and unfortunately equipped with the desire to spread the happy news of Jesus the Savior. Knowing this, I studiously tried to avoid the subject of belief. But, apparently, there is no rest for the assumed wicked. I wasn’t quite done pouring her some water when she fired her first broadside:

You know, Jesus just wants to save you

At the time I ignored her; I started pouring wine for me.

But in retrospect I have to admit: I don’t get it. Let’s consider “Jesus wants to save you”. That’s indeed awfully nice of him. But seeing that he’s supposedly omnipotent, why doesn’t he just do it? God didn’t sit around and tell the universe at large: “you know, I’d really love to create mankind” – no. According to scripture he just bam! did it. Mucho macho style. So he can do it. If Jesus loves me so much, and wants to save me, why the hesitation? Why all the dicking around for millennia with just talk and no walk? If I see someone drowning I (hopefully) won’t be standing around yelling ‘I’d love to save you’ – I’d take action. It’s the moral thing to do.

So if Jesus really wants to save me he should stop talking and start chalking.

Looking back in anger?

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When I was a pre-schooler, my grandmother used to tell me stories – lots of stories. Being born in the land of the Brothers Grimm does have its advantages. Some of the stories I found frightening, but most of them enthralled me and engaged my (hyperactive) imagination. As a kid, the distinction between real world and fantasy was arbitrary and flowing; one world bled into the other, both were equally real to me.

Over time, I learned to differentiate between the two. I learned that Hänsel and Gretel didn’t really exist, and that, sadly, neither do dragons.

Today, believers often ask me, “why do you hate God?” I find this question to be disingenuous at best. It seems that they mistake my argument for rationality as animosity towards their god, that I perhaps feel betrayed by the fact that he doesn’t exist. Nothing could be farther from the truth. When I found out that Gretel was a fictitious character, I didn’t start hating her. I accepted it as fact. Why would I feel betrayed? Moreover, how do you hate something that does not exist?

Between the Frog King, Rapunzel and Cinderella, I of course heard the stories of Noah, Adam and Eve, and Jesus. Which kid in my town hasn’t? Today I know that these tales are fiction. Fairies, Dragons and Gods don’t exist. I’m saddened by the fact that they don’t, because the world would be much more colorful if they did. But hate? Again – how could I hate something that does not exist?

No sane person would hate gods.

… or believe in them.

Sharia-conform blood diamonds

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Ah, unreason. The other name for faith, bigotry and hate. Consider this:

There is no doubt that the word ‘sharia’ carries huge challenges in relation to public relations. If you talk about anything [related to] ‘sharia’, the first vision people get is chopping off of people’s hands, having four wives and all sorts of unusual practices which, in today’s world, are not compatible with the values which we live by.

So far, everyone would agree. The problem: thus begins a staunch defense for Sharia law. How is that possible? There’s a reason we associate Sharia with chopped-off hands, misogyny and homophobia: because Sharia law is exactly that. This isn’t even a matter of contention – it’s documented in the Quran, Sunnah and Hadith, and actively fought by major Human Rights Organizations. Just like Christian or any other religious law, Sharia law is highly immoral. A pig’s a pig, no matter how much lipstick you put on it. It boggles the mind how grown, educated people manage to add One plus One, and arrive at Lalateen.

It’s fitting, then, that the person who uttered above quote is UK’s Minister of Unreason, Baroness Warsi. She attacks the problem of Sharia’s bad reputation from the wrong direction. Instead of trying to correct what’s wrong, she wants to make Sharia law more acceptable in the UK by tapping into Sharia-conform finance.
This comes from the same woman who is on the record as bemoaning that Islamophobia had “passed the dinner-table test” and become socially acceptable in the UK. Yet she sees no problem when expressedly barbaric, misogynic and homophobic Sharia law does pass the same test.

To be blunt: Sharia-conform financing is the ethical equivalent of purchasing blood diamonds. It’s advancing morally corrupt and unacceptable behavior. It’s unfathomable how Warsi can’t see it.

Now, Warsi admittedly isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. But is it really that much to ask of a member of a country’s government that they perform some gross error checking before speaking up? She’s starting to make american ex-governess Sarah Palin look good.

God the Politician?

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As entertaining as reading the discussion on God-awful (ha ha) christian flick ‘God’s not Dead’ is, it has also revealed two strange traits. Of course, the proponents for a film like GND can be expected to be rather fervent believers, so we get a natural pre-selection of commenters on that side of the spectrum.

Firstly, the most common retort to any criticism is ‘Why do you hate god’? Yeah, right. I never said their comments were smart.

But, strangely, whenever a discussion gets anywhere, it’s interrupted by a particularly puzzling non-sequitur from a religious person: “Oh, that’s a typically liberal view” – as if that means anything. I don’t get it. Is God supposed to have a political agenda? Are politically liberal Christians not religious? Is the validity of a religious argument decided by the political views of the one who brings it up?

I know that it helps believing in authority to accept the idea of Gods, and therefore a conservative mindset (not to mention inductive reasoning) makes it more likely that you are religious. Yet, if Jesus existed as described by the Bible, he is a radical leftist: a peacenik (‘turn the other cheek’) who wants you to give your second coat to the destitute and who is against big money (money lenders, i.e. banks).

So if God did exist and took political sides, it’d be bad news for the conservatives.

Can’t these people read?

The Jaws of God

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Bethany Hamilton is a true hero. At age 13, while relaxing on a surfboard, a 15 feet tiger shark attacked her, severing her left arm just below the shoulder. She almost bled out before she reached the hospital where the doctors saved her life.

This week, she won the Women’s Pipeline professional surfing championship. She has shown the world that you can overcome incredible odds, trauma and even loss of limb if you are strong enough.

Unfortunately, though – although this does not diminish her achievement – she’s not strong of reason. In her book Soul Surfer she wrote that the incident was a divine inspiration and that she did not die that fateful day because God had something else in mind for her.

Bethany, the doctors saved your life, not God. And your achievements are entirely yours, not Gods. Don’t diminish yourself.

You are the inspiration.