moral relativism

Relativism is “the doctrine that no ideas or beliefs are universally true but that all are, instead, 'relative' - that is, their validity depends on the circumstances in which they are applied” according to a Dictionary.com entry.

I think all people are moral relativists. Dr. Hector Avalos wrote in Yahweh Is a Moral Monster, a chapter in the book I am currently reading called The Christian Delusion, that “human beings are always the ultimate judges of morality even if we believe in God. After all, the very judgment that God is good is a human judgment. The judgment that what God commands is good is also a human judgment. So Christians are not doing anything different except mystifying and complicating morality. Christians are simply projecting what they call “good” onto a supernatural being. They offer us no evidence that their notion of good comes from outside of themselves. And that is where the danger lies. Basing a moral system on unverifiable supernatural beings only creates more violence and endangers our species.”

The idea of a supernatural being passing morality to humans complicates the world. When different groups claim their god is the one and only true god, without being able to provide evidence, disputes break out resulting in conflicts and wars. History confirms this over and over.

Continuing with Dr. Avalos, “...atheism offers a much better way to construct moral rules. We can construct them on the basis of verifiable common interests, known causes, and known consequences.” By eliminating the religious avenue all together, morality is simplified and can be agreed upon by rational thinking human beings. The God-concept complicates things. I'm not saying that religion hasn't served humanity in some sense. I think it has, but I also think humans need to move into a higher understanding of how life works for survival's sake. In this modern age of nuclear weaponry, wars carry with them the possibility of annihilation. Religion may have provided us with emotional and psychological support over thousands of years, but perhaps it has also taken us closer to Earth history's end.

Relinquishing our beliefs in unverifiable premises (god/s) and analyzing our human situation rationally seems to me to be a better common solution to the warring problems we humans have created through our many religious differences.

the way i view all religions

Sam Harris wrote in his 2006 book, Letter to a Christian Nation, the following…

“CONSIDER: every devout Muslim has the same reasons for being a Muslim that you have for being a Christian. And yet you do not find their reasons compelling. The Koran repeatedly declares that it is the perfect word of the creator of the universe. Muslims believe this as fully as you believe the Bible’s account of itself. There is a vast literature describing the life of Muhammad that, from the point of view of Islam, proves that he was the most recent Prophet of God. Muhammad also assured his followers that Jesus was not divine (Koran 5:71-75; 19:30-38) and that anyone who believes otherwise will spend eternity in hell. Muslims are certain that Muhammad’s opinion on this subject, as on all others, is infallible.

“Why don’t you lose any sleep over whether to convert to Islam? Can you prove that Allah is not the one, true God? Can you prove that the archangel Gabriel did not visit Muhammad in his cave? Of course not. But you need not prove any of these things to reject the beliefs of Muslims as absurd. The burden is upon them to prove that their beliefs about God and Muhammad are valid. They have not done this. They cannot do this. Muslims are simply not making claims about reality that can be corroborated. This is perfectly apparent to anyone who has not anesthetized himself with the dogma of Islam.

“The truth is, you know exactly what it is like to be an atheist with respect to the beliefs of Muslims. Isn’t it obvious that Muslims are fooling themselves? Isn’t it obvious that anyone who thinks that the Koran is the perfect word of the creator of the universe has not read the book critically? Isn’t it obvious that the doctrine of Islam represents a near-perfect barrier to honest inquiry? Yes, these things are obvious. Understand that the way you view Islam is precisely the way devout Muslims view Christianity. And it is the way I view all religions.”

(Letter to a Christian Nation, Sam Harris, pgs. 6-7)

are your beliefs true?

This recording of a man named Ken Pulliam gives a synopsis of how and why he left evangelical Christianity. His blog is one of my new favorites which can be found at Why I De-Converted from Evangelical Christianity. His process of stepping away from religion runs parallel to mine in many ways. Better yet, his qualifications seem to take a higher road. Apologetics was one of his specialties and never one of mine.

Social and psychological pressures are reasons why people continue in their faith. "What would others think or say if I showed doubt?" and "It makes me feel good" are typical reasons for why people stay in religion. Is that enough though? Not for some. Not for me.

What about the truth? I heard a man say recently that he would no longer have discussions with people about religious matters who would or could not answer these two questions affirmatively:

1) Do you care if your beliefs are true?

2) Do you care what effects your beliefs have on the world?

Beliefs are not healthy if they are not true. Life is difficult enough knowing the truth. It becomes dangerous when you think you have the truth and don't. That's why I'm on a course to find the truth about many different things in the here and now. Take a listen....

convoluted choices

I saw this article in my survey of the news this morning. Everything was fine for this newly married couple until the wife, the teacher requesting maternity leave, was forced to admit to having premarital sex with her now husband and father of their child. To the Southland Christian School principal this called for the termination of her job. Many people would agree and say, "what kind of an example would she be to her students when they find out? Fourth grade students know math and understand the nine month pregnancy cycle." At least I think they do in a Christian school setting. It's all about appearance, after all. Never mind the inability of humanity throughout history to actually achieve moral perfection.

What could this couple have done to avoid the job loss? A number of ideas come to mind.

#1) She could have aborted the baby and never revealed her pregnancy to her partner. Depending on how a person views abortion, this is a viable solution for many. Although keeping the secret from your partner may not be all that comfortable an idea to live with.

#2) If abortion was unacceptable to her, she could have planned to go back to work right after the delivery thus avoiding to have to ask for maternity leave and maybe she'd be able to fly under the radar of questioning by the Christian authorities in the school. I doubt highly that this would work though. People (maybe even her students) could figure out the math because that's what we do. Besides, maternity leave is an expected and reasonable benefit to receive today. So scratch that idea.

#3) Or perhaps she could have resigned her position, while keeping the baby and the future husband, and finding a teaching position in some secular school. I think a lot of women would vote for this choice if they had the foresight to comprehend the embarrassment and judgment that would be brought on her by those in "seats of judgment". I don't think most people have this type of foresight though. We want to believe better of others.

The truth of the matter is that she didn't choose any of these options. She chose to tell the TRUTH, and for that she gets fired! Is there something wrong with this picture? She loses her job for doing what her religion teaches her to do... tell the truth. Sounds strange, doesn't it? You might say, "she shouldn't have 'sinned' in the first place." Okay, but she did. Is there no remedy once the deed is done? Don't Christians call it "forgiveness"?

Religion does not know what to do with human beings' humanity. Religious belief systems will continue to push good, honest, human people out if they don't change their message. In the distant future we may see that the majority of people remaining in these types of religious institutions may well be the morally perfect worshiping alongside those forced to lie, which could be the same person I suppose. The arrogant and self righteous are content to believe that all the rest of the world is wrong and they are right. The distant future... the near future... maybe it's already upon us.

losing religion

Here's an article about the effects of leaving one's religion. I'm living this. The video is worth watching at the end, if you're interested in the process or in the people who go through the process. I personally was vulnerable at a certain point in time to be drawn back into religion. But that time period has passed for which I'm thankful.

Amazingly, not one person came after me, which in turn reinforced my belief that it was phony and that people don't really believe it themselves or don't have the power to do anything if they did believe it. I thought, "How's that for Christian love, compassion, and family values?" It spoke louder than anything else to the ineffectiveness of the Christian religion. I eventually got past the ideas of people failing me, but I never could get past the uncertainty of the Christian God's existence.

Some might say that I just didn't try hard enough or that I was rebellious or that I am angry or that I somehow misunderstood how it was supposed to work. I know what I went through in trying to find and believe in this god. Educating myself was key. Refusing face value pulpit declarations won me my freedom from religion.

My current course is to live life as if there is no personal deity directing me. There's a freedom in this new place that is not the same as the freedom experienced in religion. Religion always had strings attached, which is not freedom at all. Now there are none.

sex on steroids

Here's a video that will make you laugh and cringe at the same time.

The hypocrisy is probably what stands out to most normal people. Never mind the "everyday/twice a day" sex lies from Haggard's associates. If those stories are true then I was certainly ripped off in my youth. Maybe these men don't work hard enough in their daytime jobs. Maybe Christian teachings on sex have changed a whole lot since I was a younger woman. I never heard hot sex sermons from the pulpit of any of the churches I ever attended. There seems to be some sort of fantasy going on here.

Don't get me wrong. I think sex is great. Without it we could not survive as a race. At least not so far. The procreative and recreative byproducts of sex are unsurpassed in comparison to any other human activity. Sex is good. But male testosterone stories like this make women cringe. Ugh!

I can't help but think of Gale.

is it true?

Christopher Hitchens boldly declares and believes that Christianity is false, harmful, and immoral. Even though he's not my favorite atheist, I admire him for his unswerving delivery and commitment to message.

Does it sound harsh? If you've spent your whole life believing the opposite, sure it does. But is it true? That's what I want to know.