As I have always maintained, I do not care if believers worship a blue-eyed blonde semi-naked Jew nailed to a cross, a bearded dessert dwelling prophet, a fat cow, a golden snake or a thunder God. As long as they do not force their beliefs down my throat, teach it to children as FACTS in public schools, preach it to me in public space or seek to make their religion my state law, I do not care. However, when they do any of these, of course they are going to have their religion put under intellectual scrutiny and if found wanting, it shall be exposed and If funny, it shall be ridiculed. When people preach to me about a talking snake, talking donkey and a Noah’s ark, I reserve every right to ridicule such funny tales and be indignant that anyone should be allowed to teach such absurdities as facts in public schools.
Anyone is free to believe in a cow, snake, a blue-eyed blonde who turned into a Zombie, a long bearded paedophile prophet or a golden snake; it is none of my business so far they keep their beliefs to themselves.
However, it immediately becomes my business when I am forced to adhere to and pay for some ridiculous beliefs of others. I pay my tax as a dutiful citizen, yet those religious establishments are exempted from paying tax, they are sponsored on some ridiculous pilgrimages with taxpayers’ money! This is not even enough for them, as they are always trying to influence state policies and Laws based on their ludicrous beliefs, they even attempt to stop scientific progress especially in the area of Stem cell research all because of their religious belief in the existence of a soul!
I am often bombarded with protest messages on my Facebook wall and social media inbox about my anti-religion posts, I am using this post to answer 10 questions that keep popping up, and clarify why I speak out against religion. Now, I have a handy link for the next aggrieved person. Problem solved!
1- “Anti-Religion posts are disrespectful, as an LGBT activist, you should preach tolerance!”
About respect and tolerance, RESPECT is not given; it is earned. ALL beliefs must earn their place of respect
. Being a LGBT advocate/human rights activist does not just depend on a belief system but a FACT that LGBT rights are HUMAN RIGHTS and all human beings are born equal in rights and dignity.
I would definitely defend the right of anyone to practice their religion so far it is not harmful, does not violate my space, does not seek to impose state policy and have no special status in governance and they pay their taxes like every other corporation.
‘Holy books’ are shoved in my face everywhere I turned, I have a right to review these books and give my two cents, irrespective of whose Ox is gored. Anyone who is so qualified is free to dispute the scientific fact about sexual orientation, evolution or the principled beliefs, laws and various treaties on human rights.
RESPECT is earned not demanded, if I genuinely believe that a particular belief is ludicrous, of course I am not going to respect it because to respect something, you have to VALUE IT. I do not value irrationality.
I do not believe that –
- A woman should be treated as a property.
- A child should have a knife put on his neck by his own father who heard a voice from heavens commanding him to sacrifice his son as a test of his faith.
- All human beings are born with an ORIGINAL SIN allegedly committed by a white couple known as Adam and Eve. Therefore all humans are condemned to burn in hell forever unless they become born again by believing in a man named Jesus who came to die for a sin we never even committed and woke up again after 3 days to roam the earth like a Zombie!
Well, these are simply ridiculous, I do not RESPECT these, and I do not have to keep shut about it ESPECIALLY when the believers of these myths keep telling me to give my life to their zombie Christ or burn in hell forever.
2- “Atheists are antagonistic; they are as bad as religious fanatics!”
Atheists didn’t start the antagonism; atheists have never stoned anyone to death for believing in a God.
Religious believers are the ones who have been fighting wars and blowing people and buildings up in the name of their God. They are the ones who come knocking on my door to preach to me, they call me a fool for not believing a white bearded tyrant they call God created the world in seven days and in white he created my ancestors. This tyrant, loving father magnanimously sent his handsome blue-eyed blonde of a sexy son to come to earth and save me from a sin allegedly committed by a white couple who they say I descended from! And yeah, he turned his own son into a ZOMBIE all because he loved me even before I was born although he already sadistically created an eternally burning hell for those of us who refused to be fooled, what a sadist and BTW, I don’t like dictators, whether spiritual or physical. On a side note, I do think Jesus makes ZOMBIES look sexy, especially in that loincloth on the cross, which really could qualify as porno!
Abeg, COMRADE JESUS, save me from your followers, they rant in public places including inside a bank, and that was right here in London and of course it was a fanatic black man ranting about the good gospel, by the look of him, it seems the good gospel didn’t do him much good! Just the other day, another black man wouldn’t let me catch a wink of sleep in an interstate bus in Nigeria, with his praise worship and preaching all through the entire journey. I was not even spared a moment of peace in my hotel room as it turned out that many churches now rent the best hotels conference rooms for their Sunday services, hahaha, talk about tolerance!
Atheists do not go to people to convert them, it is usually the other way round, most importantly, ATHEISM is not a religion, you cannot convert people to atheism, people can voluntarily use their brain to come to a rational conclusion about their beliefs, embrace rationality or cling to faith. Sorry but blind faith is not good enough for some of us, however as long as your delusions do not infringe on human rights, you are welcome to your faith, belief or philosophy.
AS LONG AS these “HOLY BOOKS” remain in the NON FICTION SECTION and are sold, peddled and preached to us as NON FICTION and the TRUTH, every interested person has a right to openly analyse and criticize these so-called holy books. I really do not care if religious believers are offended by my rational criticism because it is not my problem that they cannot tolerate criticism of their religious beliefs. Their religious sensitivity is not a valid reason to CENSOR the expression of rational thoughts.
Christians often refer to other deities, especially African carved deities as DEAF and DUMB, they call the idols 
handmade gods that cannot hear, speak, see or act, as if their Rosary and crucifix are not handmade! I wonder how many of the Christians complaining about my anti religion posts ever stood up during one of such very common sermons condemning traditional Gods, to advise their Pastor to be tolerant of other deities, or do they all just look the other way and pat themselves on the back for choosing the MOST POWERFUL OF ALL GODS? How bigoted!
People have a right to belief and people have a right not to believe, since your precious bible and many of its believers call us non-believers fools, we have the right to point out how stupid the various myths in your precious holy books appear to rational mind. As difficult as this is for ‘faithers’ to belief, for some of us, BRAIN, not FAITH is all we need.
3- “The Christians have not written long paragraphs on fb trying to convince us to buy their beliefs. Yet the so called non-believers go on and on trying to sell us their ideology”.
REALLY? There are many religious posts and groups on Facebook and many other social networks. I have friends who talk about their God, love for Allah, their precious prophet Mohammed or how Jesus just saved them from an accident (never mind that the others that died were not considered worthy to be saved by their darling God, what egoism!). Such posts appear on my Newsfeed everyday but I do not feel a need to go to their page to ask them why they spew such nonsense. Their beliefs or whom they give thanks to is simply none of my business. If you don’t like what I post, do not read it. Social media including Facebook is like a restaurant, if you don’t like what I am serving, go eat somewhere else!
When people hold beliefs that are irrational and stupid and they preach it to the world as the TRUTH, other rational beings will continue to point out how ridiculous and stupid these beliefs are especially when believers are quick to judge non-believers.
Why must I respect the sensitivity of others who believe a gay person should be stoned to death because their holy books say so, or that women should be submissive and be treated as properties, or glorify a deity that encourages slavery and sanctioned that his so-called chosen people should commit genocide in his name?
4- “Live and Lets Live!”
“Live and Lets Liv
e”, my sentiments exactly. However, I have realized that many Religious people don’t do the “Live and Lets Live” thing; in fact, they want to legalize their religious dogmas! Therefore, I have decided to speak out for myself and other voiceless people who want to be heard. I peddle Logic, they peddle Faith, let’s see which one would save the world from Malaria, Cancer, Climate change, Rapists, Genocides, Animal cruelty, Discrimination and a whole lots of other evils!
Of course, if people chose to be lied to, that is their prerogative, although from a legal point, it also becomes the business of the law when the liar uses their lies to exploit or harm vulnerable people.
Exposing the lies people choose to believe becomes my prerogative when these lies encroach on my rights, personal life and state laws. Religion is like a penis, it is OK to have one, it is even OK to be proud of it. However, it is not OK to bring it out and flaunt it in public and it is definitely not OK to try to force it down my throat or down my child’s throat!
The mere fact that religious believers feel the need to come on my page to demand I respect their religious beliefs even though I think these beliefs are ridiculous, also confirms that they are under the false impression that RELIGION is above critical analysis and objective criticism. Thereby trying to CENSOR my speech because of their belief that RELIGION MUST BE RESPECTED. This is a false premise that no logical, civilized society should accept.
Religion can hardly be considered a sleeping dog; it is more of a barking bull than a sleeping dog, always eager to bite. I care about the ill effects of religion on my life and how people try to justify discrimination based on religious beliefs, so I won’t let this barking dog have a field day, I refuse to be a passive victim. Also, I only respect ideas that are worth respecting, therefore religion as an instrument of oppression does not pass the respect quotient.
5- Atheists are arrogant and think they are intellectually superior!
Atheists do not claim intellectual superiority. However if someone told me that the earth is flat and less than 6,000 years old, snakes and donkeys used to talk, a man walked on water and Noah floated an Ark with all species aboard… of course I am going to laugh out loud and point out the irrationalities inherent in these claims. If by so doing, the person feels stupid or thinks I am claiming intellectual superiority; well maybe the person should feel stupid and acknowledge that these ideas are ridiculous and irrational! You can’t blame me for being intelligent enough to point out ignorant claims. I cannot be held responsible for another person’s feeling of ignorance or inadequacies and I cannot, because I do not want anyone to feel intellectually inadequate, refuse to criticize ignorant claims that have been proved baseless.
However, I am intelligent enough to understand that REASON is lost on many believers, especially since if one could reason with Religious believers; there wouldn’t be any religious believers!
6- “You have a point but you are too harsh on believers!”
This could also read as “Yemisi is honest and direct but she is not diplomatic and does not show enough warmth or hug the haters enough, in fact she needs to show more love to the haters.”
Hmm… Ok, let me put this straight, I think this is the same reasoning that leads the society to blame the victims of criminals.
- Maybe if that woman had covered up and not wear that short dress, the rapist wouldn’t have been tempted to rape her.
- Maybe if that housewife had not raised her voice against her husband, the husband wouldn’t have beaten her black and blue.
- Maybe if Atheists keep their godless mouth shut, no one would be offended enough to leave threat messages on their walls.
Maybes, maybes, maybes… leading to
- Maybe if Homosexuals do not flaunt their love life in public, they wouldn’t be attacked on the street.
- Maybe if Transsexuals stopped being who they are, they wouldn’t be murdered.
- Maybe if atheists don’t proclaim their non-belief, they wouldn’t be called fools and jailed for blasphemy.
And on and on it goes.
I CANNOT SUGAR COAT INJUSTICE. ALWAYS SPEAK OUT AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS NO MATTER WHOSE OX IS GORED.
The truth is bitter but it must be told, I do not need to hug ignorance or haters to get them to respect my right and space. I presume first and foremost that people who comment on my posts are ADULTS; therefore I do not need to treat them with kids’ gloves or buy them candies. Also, there are established social ethics, people should not expect a hug after leaving homophobic, ignorant statements on my wall, of course I would give them an EDUCATION, if that education hurts their ego, it is their problem, not mine.
7- “For a human right activist, you have so much hate fuelled by your atheism!”
My Human Rights activism is borne out of my belief in humanity, not out of hatred of human rights violators. I can only do what I do so passionately because I believe in humanity and understand the meaning of love. I feel ‘Love’ enough to want a positive change, enough to speak out and enough to tell the haters just where to go chuck their ignorance and hate. Without love, I wouldn’t be a passionate human rights activist; I would simply be a human rights careerist going through the motions of defending rights learned at school.
My fierce attitude comes from my passion for the causes I undertake. I am happy that in the 15 years I have actively being defending human rights professionally and personally, I am yet to reach that stage where I would say” I USED TO BE FIERCE”. In all sincerity, I hope I never do get to that stage because all causes I am fierce about are worth dying for until the last of the injustice is erased.
8- “We are sick of your Blasphemy!”
Ever heard of CENSORSHIP?
Ever heard of that right we fought for called ‘Freedom of Expression’?
Do you understand that Freedom of Religion also means Freedom from Religion?
Asserting my atheism means talking about my NON-BELIEF in GOD(S).
I am not going to believers’ space to demand that they stop talking about their precious God, why should they demand that I must not talk about how improbable and ridiculous their God is or about the atrocities committed in their God’s name, in my own space?
Religion is one of many ideologies in the market place of ideas; it is not a copyright belonging to Christians, Muslims or other religious believers. Once this idea is peddled in a public place, and ‘Holy’ books published and distributed to members of the public, it becomes open to review like every other public ideas and ideologies. If you do not want your God critically analysed, learn to keep your God private. Simple!
I will ignore this non-existent being when-
- His adherents stop influencing state policies and Law in His name,
- They stop trying to put me in jail for 14 years because of my sexual orientation in His name
- They stop teaching their fictional tales to children in schools as non-fiction
- They stop trying to convert me to their religion
- They stop telling me I will burn in hell
Maybe then, I will consider leaving them alone to enjoy their imaginary Sky Daddy, until then… they have got mail!
Blaspheme is a word that should not exist. The fact that it exists at all sickens me. The fact that people go to jail for criticizing a religion makes me want to puke. The fact that 25,000 Muslims took to the streets in India and burned down Buddhists temples because as they claimed, a Buddhist mocked Islam on his Facebook page is sickening!
If believers want something to get sickened about, no, it is not the number of atheists, freethinkers, secularists and skeptics satirizing religion or ridiculing so called prophets and imaginary beings on Blasphemy Rights Day. The real sickness is the fact that some people think they are justified to harass, torture and go on a violent spree because their feelings was hurt when someone drew a picture of their beloved prophet or when I proclaim that I do not believe in their God. The vitriol of hate comes from the men who shot a girl for wanting to go to school and get an education! No, atheists are not the ones filled with hate!
What I hate is the fact that whether I believe in God or not, part of my taxpayers’ money goes to sponsori
ng annual holy pilgrimages. My country, Nigeria, which claims to be a democratic secular state, is in fact a member of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) even though the numbers of Christians and closeted pagans probably outnumbered Muslims in the country.
I hate that every opportunity, believers try to influence state laws and policies quoting from their ignorant religious beliefs. Now, this is a daily nightmare I face in a religious society.
Well, it is worth pointing out that I am not the one going on other people’s wall to tell them not to talk about their beliefs.
I do not get offended when people post on their wall that God just saved them from a disaster.
I do not foam in the mouth when believers post on their wall that atheists are fools.
I do not come running like a maniac to another person’s wall just because a friend commented on a religious post and the post appeared on my news feed.
No, I am not the one with the hate problem.
9- “You must have being hurt to turn into an atheist!”
What hurt? Yeah, another all-assuming person concluding that something terrible must have happened for one to turn one into an atheist! Another ignoramus telling an atheist that all it takes to become an atheist is for religious minded folks to hurt you and bang, you turn into an atheist! This is such a ridiculous assumption that I am tired of hearing. It is the same as assuming that a woman is a lesbian because she had been hurt or raped by men!
Now stare into your screen and read this very carefully:
MY ATHEISM IS NOT A RESULT OF HURT CAUSED ME BY RELIGIOUS MINDED FOLKS, IT IS BECAUSE I READ THE BIBLE AND THE BIBLE TURNED ME INTO A BABY EATING ATHEIST!
I read various holy books and these made me realized that humans from time immemorial, have been creating gods in their own vindictive, bigoted, egoistic, jealous and selfish image! Simply put, I outgrew the God delusion.
10- “Atheists are only interested in ridiculing religion!”
As an Atheist, I do not believe in the existence of a God. As a secularist, I am for the separation of State and religion. As an Anti-Theist, I am actively against THEISM for its lack of evidence and the way it encourages the growth of what I refer to as ‘The Cancer Called Religion’
I should be free to express myself in non-harmful ways and the religious believers should be free to express themselves in non-harmful ways. Freedom of expression is one of the tenets of democracy. I can carry placards saying I do not believe your God exist, and you can carry placards calling me a fool. As long as it is all about PEACEFUL demonstration, we are OK.
Hate speech is what we are against, never confuse freedom of speech with Hate speech, Free speech liberates, Hate Speech Kills, unfortunately many suicides victims of BULLYING are not alive to testify to this fact.
Anyway, why would I want to respect a God or belief that preaches about –
- A Talking Snake?
- An Original Sin passed down to generation unborn?
- A vindictive God who sanction genocide and order the wiping out of whole communities including children and animals simply because of a jealousy fit he had when these members of the communities refused to worship him and carved for themselves other Gods in golden image?
Why would I not laugh at a book that claims the planet earth is flat and stands on four corners of the universe?
And why won’t I laugh at these believers who still come knocking on my door to preach these ridiculous beliefs to me even after we have strong evidence that the planet is not flat, the first human was not white, Noah’s Ark could never have sailed and that not all living things lived within few miles of Noah’s house! It is funny, ridiculous, and so pathetic that some people still go around preaching this shit!
Of course, it is comedy gold and I shall laugh, but I shall also fight back when these ridiculous beliefs are the basis of my oppression.
I shall speak out because their book claims that as a woman, I am inferior and should not have same rights, I should be stoned to death for being bisexual and because of their religious beliefs, they passed a 14 years imprisonment law for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transsexuals and LGBT rights advocates in my country.
Yes, it is ridiculous, ignorant and wicked, so I shall speak out while laughing at their folly. This is the freedom of democracy; every idea is open to scrutiny in the market place of ideas. I criticize Capitalism and Disney films that promote gender stereotypes, why should I not criticize Religion. Is it not just another idea peddled in the market place of ideas therefore open to public scrutiny?
RELIGION has no criticism pass! Why any believer would want an immunity pass for their religion is befuddling, after all if you truly believe in something, defend it with LOGIC, not with Fatwas, bombs and Guns!
Faith is not Knowledge that is why it is called FAITH. Some of us prefer knowledge because Knowledge is what gets things done; Knowledge is responsible for many progressive developments and our civilization, not faith.
My position on religion was well stated by one of my favourite Atheist bloggers, Greta Christina in her blog post ‘The Armour of God , or The Top One Reason Religion Is Harmful.
“I’m not saying that religion is the root of all evil. I’m not arguing that a world without religion would be a blissful Utopia where everyone holds hands and chocolate flows in the streets. (And then we all die, because the chocolate is drowning us and we can’t swim because we’re holding hands.) I don’t know of any atheist who’d argue that. I know that the impulses driving evil are deeply rooted in human nature, and religion is far from the only thing to inspire it.
I’m saying that religion provides a uniquely stubborn justification for evil. I’m saying that religion is uniquely armored against criticism, questioning, and self-correction… and that this armor protects it against the reality checks that act, to a limited degree and in the long run, to keep evil in check. I’m saying that religion takes the human impulses to evil, and cuts the brake line, and sends them careening down a hill and into the center of town.Yes — even moderate religion. Not to nearly the same degree as extreme religion, of course. If all religion were moderate, ecumenical, separate from government, supportive of science, and accepting of non-belief… well, atheists would still disagree with it, but most of us wouldn’t much care.
But moderate religion still does harm. It still encourages people to believe in invisible beings, inaudible voices, intangible entities, undetectable forces, and events and judgments that happen after we die. And therefore, it still disables reality checks… making people more vulnerable to oppression, fraud, and abuse.”
Dear theist, I must also inform you that contrary to your frequent rant on how Atheists hate God, I DO NOT HATE GOD, I CANNOT HATE THAT WHICH DOES NOT EXIST!
I hate to break it to you but you’ve only succeeded in creating a lousy character you named God, it still does not mean this character actually exist.
Grow up theists, Superman, Batman, Let Luthor, Darkseid might elicit love and hate, it still does not mean they actually exist!
This atheist voice will not keep quiet because of your inability to tolerate logic; you really should consider flushing religion down the drain and save our planet from your delusion. 
That appears to be quite clear! Thanks, Yemisi.
Great post, thank you!!
It’s a shame Yemmy, thoughtful blog posts like this aren’t going to get you hits. It’s whining about faux harassment, accusing people of being misogynist assholes and whipping up what’s left of the FTB rabid commentariat that will do it for you. Sad isn’t it?
The more I read from theists (well at least the rather more voluble Abrahamic cults) the more I think that this whole relegion thing has evolved in order to make people think that their cherished bigotry is somehow virtuous. Like all bigots, they want to feel justified pursuing the unjustifiable, decent in their pursuit of indecency. Of course not all of the faithful are like that, it might actually be a minority that pursue their bigotry with such vim and vigour, but it is a vigour that sets the path, that distorts and makes ugly.
I enjoyed your eloquent prose, and clear explanations, though I’m afraid the audience that would most benefit from it will never be reached. Still, if one person asks themselves one question, it will have moved things in the right direction. Me I laughed, synpathised and cried. Loved it all,
@Lofty -- You are welcome, glad that was clear and useful.
@ Alverant -- Glad you enjoyed the post.
@theetar , It is not about the hits, it is about speaking out and creating awareness. If you liked the post, feel free to share it amongst audiences that are likely to benefit from it. Posts like these are basically for my Facebook friends/fans and followers, not necessarily for atheists bullies.
The success of my blog posts is not determined by the hits but by the positive impact it made to those who are likely to benefit from the subject matter of the post.
So thanks for your concern, but no thanks, it is not sad, I am quite happy this post is on my FTB space where people can actually link to it and also enjoy other good posts by awesome bloggers on the FTB network 🙂
usagichan:
That exactly is the spirit. One person asks the question and gets the other thinking. If we have the opportunities to raise questions, by all means, let’s utilize it. In some realms, it is even criminal to ask such questions. With my blog posts, I do my bit to ask the necessary questions and get as many people as I can to think and question what they were indoctrinated with. Every voice counts.
Beautifully written.
Beautifully articulated. Love the post; love the images. I’m glad you’d on board with FTB. On a related note, sorry it’s taken me so long to get here. I’ll be a frequent lurker though.
@rowanvt- Thanks!
@TGAP Dad -- Thanks. I am glad you got here and do feel free not just to lurk but also to leave a comment or two so i know you are still around! 🙂
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great. I don’t know who you are but certainly you are going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!
You rock sister!! Thanks for this.. its really great! Posted it also on my facebook wall… I am sure I
You rock sister!! Thanks for this… great post! I reposted on my fb wall .. sure I will piss off many believers.. and that is just fine! 🙂 … keep the “faith”!!
@Earl -Thanks and you are welcome. Pissing of believers can’t be a bad thing, since it often entails pointing out ignorance which could eventually lead to eliminating ignorance. 🙂
Brilliant, i get sick to death of these called religious people & they know nothing of what religion stands for. People can do good im all in favour of that. But when i hear god saved my life in this disaster i get very angry & i ask why didnt he save that babys life, why are you more important than that baby or that mother who died. I find religious people say some truly stupid things & do things totaly unchristian.
Hello, I am a Catholic. I have always thought that everyone should be treated with respect and equally. Unlike some others I am not against anyone who is different, whether it is because of race, gender, body type, religion, or sexuality. I believe we all have a right to choose what we do and who we are. I support people who are gay or transsexual and I have nothing against people who worship different gods or no God at all.
However, it must be done with respect. You do not have to follow God if you so choose but please respect those who do. As I read through this I felt I was being punched in the gut by the mindless hate and inaccuracies. I have long been victimized because of my religion even though I have done nothing to anyone else.
The funny thing is, this post, while hateful and hurtful, isn’t really atheism. Atheism is not believing in God at all. So if you don’t believe then you shouldn’t have to make such vigorous and hateful posts. If you think there is no God then you don’t have to say anything negative about people who follow religion. Why waste all the energy when you think there is no God? I always thought true atheism is where you don’t believe in God and thus you don’t even bother to make such vigorous hate towards those who follow Him.
I even have atheist friends and we get along just fine despite our differences of beliefs. That is because we respect and accept each other.You can believe what you want but don’t post such hurtful things. Like that image where t says “Religion is like a penis” is just rude. Oh, and ironically enough, atheists did start up a church for atheism. I’m still trying to figure out why.
I don’t care that you are atheist. At the end of the day we are all human beings and we need to accept each other despite our differences. I know people who follow God aren’t always in the right. Recently I heard about a camp in the Dominican Republic where kids are kidnapped -- and allowed by their parents -- to be brought to and are forced to stay until they become straight. This is wrong and not what God wants. It is just the acts of mindless fanatics. Anyone is capable of committing evil deeds whether they are religious or not and are capable of acting out wrongly in the idea of what they believe. I choose to continue to follow God and accept those who are or believe differently.
I know what I am writing will most likely be ignored -- I usually have been by people who are atheist or follow any kind of religion, including my own. I may even be targeted for hate and spammed for this post simply because I am Catholic. Well, fine. It may hurt but I won’t let it deter my faith nor will I try to deter your beliefs. People should follow what they wish in a respectable way and if they ever decide to follow another path they are welcome to do so. People who follow religion and people who don’t tend to look at it at ways which may be wrong and thus miss the meaning.
As for me, I choose to believe we all have the right to be who we are but it should be as good and respectable people. I believe that God loves us all and that his son, Jesus Christ (who was not blond haired and blue eyed -- in fact, his skin should have also been darker than the white skinned depictions he is given) died to save us all and opened the fates of Heaven when he ascended death. I believe he opened it up for all good people no matter who they are. Sure, someone as wicked as Adolf Hitler would end up in Hell. But if people maintain good lives and love and respect their fellow man and woman than they too could see the gates of Heaven. You wish to see all religion as a false truth that is no good. Very well, but please be respectable. I shall believe that God loves us all and will let those who are good into His Kingdom one day, including you. I forever choose to accept everyone no matter their differences in the hope of us all leading good lives.
And so, even though you may bash me for saying this, God bless you. I hope you lead a good and respectable life.
Sincerely,
Catholic Guy
So well said, truly refreshing. I would likely be a “moderate believer” that you may disagree with, I believe in some sort of higher power, however, I belief that, like the entire universe, we at not yet at the point of conceiving what that is exactly. With that said, a concept of this greater power, whatever it may be, most certainly did not come from the human race when it was several thousand years more ignorant than it is now. Therefore, any religious practices or beliefs that were developed by any other person other than myself, is not good, for me. For whom is it going to benefit for me to blindly believe and follow something made up by another man? Certainly not me.
No one should look to any other source more than their own reasoning and research to answer the most important question, “what is the meaning of life.”
I am just now seeing some of your older posts like this one and hope my following comment comes across as I mean it to… I really wish you’d publish a book or three, because believe me, I would buy them!
You express my own thoughts on issues relating to religion, humanism and feminism, so beautifully that I sometimes think you’re a mind reader. Well, not really because as a fellow atheist, I don’t buy into magical thinking…but you get my point I think!
I’m openly envious of your wordsmith skills. Please never stop!
@wordsgood -- Thanks 🙂 You can get my book ‘ Freedom To Love For ALL: Homosexuality is not Un-African’ on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1481864815). I hope to publish my first book on Religion and Atheism by the end of this year. I will keep you updated so you can get your copy. 🙂
Loved this. Shared to FB. Thank you for dumbing it down for everyone! lol
Very straight to the point.
You are free to believe whatever you chose because you were created with free will. However, in you denial of belief in Christianity it seems you only want everyone to believe as you do. Is that not also a form of bigotry. I chose to believe the bible, in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit because revealed His truth to me. That is my personal belief. I can not and would not try to force or convince to believe in that fact if you so choose not to. We do not and can not choose to believe in God. God reveals Himself to whomever he chooses to. I only hope some day your spiritual eyes will see the real truth about who God truly is and the awesomeness of his power. God cannot be understood with the natural intellect of mankind because He is spirit not natural.
First, I would like to address the two commenters, Catholic Guy and James. The best way to sum up my interpretation of this blog post and her style and choice of words is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. That’s how things stay balanced. If wind is pushing against you then you must push against it equally just to remain in the same position and you must push against it even harder than it is pushing against you to move in the opposite direction of the wind. I’ve only read three of this woman’s posts and I have to say that even though her feelings are displayed and you can clearly read her mind, heart and thoughts, I feel that she speaks for me as well. As a straight, white female who was born and lived in the U.S. for 32 of my 33 years, it would seem an odd statement to make. However, simply based on her secular thoughts alone, she lives in my head. Catholic Guy, you are the type of theist that she is saying she wished all theists could be. You believe what you believe and you practice is without pushing your ideas on others. She is commending you and others who live their life like you do. She has said numerous time that as an atheist she has absolutely no issue with your religious beliefs as long as your religious beliefs do not negatively impact her or others lives. It’s that simple. People didn’t voice their non-believer points of view so loudly or angrily until theists starting demanding and imposing, legally mind you, their views on others. The fact that in many Muslim countries being gay is legal grounds to have you publicly MURDERED is something that should anger people. Being that she isn’t heterosexual, she is at a very real risk of being jailed for 14 years. FOURTEEN YEARS simply because her sexual preference, which has absolutely no impact on anyone other than her and her sexual partner, isn’t in line with the beliefs of people in power in her country. The source of the beliefs: Religion/Faith. How is that ok? And you want her to not be angry? Not have any sort of emotion regarding the source of this injustice? Imagine if there was a new religion that sprang up and it was a belief that being bi-sexual was the only correct way and being heterosexual or only homosexual was a mortal sin and their ‘God’ called upon them to jail or murder those who didn’t conform with their religious beliefs. How happy or quite and non-reactional would you be if your President or King made a law to jail you for 14 years because you couldn’t ‘become’ bi-sexual? What if you were in a place where the punishment is public stoning to death or hundreds of lashings given to you 10 at a time over the length of a few years? Would you quietly accept this? Probably not, and you shouldn’t expect her to either. Her emotions are a reflection of how people’s religious beliefs have impacted her life. As a person who is not religious other people’s religious practices should have no affect on her. Yet, they do. Why? Because they are being brought to her doorstep, imposed on her through laws and threats of eternal damnation. That might upset someone. Just because you are not guilty of carelessly throwing your beliefs around, doesn’t mean that all people of faith aren’t. James, I don’t get the impression that she wants everyone to believe as her. She doesn’t feel the need to sugar coat her disdain when people of faith call her an idiot and blind when she can’t accept the stories of the Bible, Tora or Quran. She’s pushing back and speaking her mind. This is her space. She’s not approaching you at the grocery store or the mall and trying to spike up a faith convo. She’s not knocking on your doorstep with a friend or two in tow and small stack of books to hand out about ‘Why God is Not Real’. She’s not telling you to ‘not pray on it if you are having a low point in your life’. However, the opposite things are happening to her. They have happened to me as well. People of Faith want to remove a person’s right to birth control because it’s against their religious beliefs. Well People of No Faith aren’t standing on the opposite side of that argument demanding that all females of reproductive age must take birth control. It’s a choice. If birth control conflicts with your religion the way to fix that is simply not to take it. See? Removing a person’s choice because it goes against your thoughts is not right. The thing is, this is really happening. Premarital sex is against the Muslim religion. If you are caught doing so then you’re screwed if you’re a female. Most likely you’ll be killed. If not legally stoned to death, your family will most likely kill you because you have marred the family name. This is a reality. I have lived in an Islamic country for over a year now. It’s not all stereotyping and media hype. It’s actually really real and really happening here. Now, if you’re a male you’ll be lashed maybe, have a fine imposted, but nothing else. Why? Because it wasn’t your fault. The girl was willing and you are just a man who is unable to think rationally when sexually aroused. It’s not your fault. Wow! If you are a girl and start your period, in some countries you are deemed a disease for the duration of your period and are sent to spend your 5-8 days in a small shack where you free bleed with whichever other local females are menstruating at the same time. No beds, no couches, no electricity, no running water, no protection from the elements. Oh, there’s a bonus too. Men freely rape the menstruating females because there is nobody there to protect her. All of this because of someone’s religious beliefs. These girls don’t even get a say in this. Even if they don’t have the same religious views they still have to suffer through this treatment. In some countries publicly (or even to close family, think: Mom and Dad) stating that you are not a Muslim means you are now a target and can be killed, legally. I’ve read countless stories from in-the-closet exMuslims who are living a lie and unable to tell their own mother and father that they do not believe in Islam because they fear their family will kill them. Imagine being a 30 year old, living your life, working, contributing to society and family obligations all while having to live a double life because you know that simply stating that you don’t believe in Allah and the Prophet Mohammed that your family will disown you and think you are a disgrace and need to be eradicated before you spread your filthy thoughts to others. That’s gotta be rough. And to think that just because you are in a land where the majority religion is making the laws that you can be killed just for quietly not believing the same as them. What about girls in some African villages where FGM is practiced 100% of the time. I saw a documentary on FGM when I was looking for information about circumcision and the women, who had also been circumcised as children, said the reason for it is because if a woman is not circumcised and gives birth then the child will have the clitoris grow out of it’s nose and wrap around the head, eventually killing the child. They laughed about it. The problem here is they truly, 100%, believe this to be true. Why? Faith and because they were told this by their mothers, who were told this by their grandmothers, etc, etc. Is this true? 100% not. How do we know? Because millions of women with a fully intact clitoris give birth to babies every day. How many of those babies has had a clitoris grow out of it’s nose? None. A clitoris grow out of it’s nose and wrap around the top of the head killing the child? None. So we know that their reasoning is 100% false. Yet, they believe it fully. What about the girls in those areas who do not believe what their mothers are preaching to them? They STILL get held down and have their clitoris and vulva scraped off of their body with no pain relief and not as infants like male circumcision, but as young girls between 5 and 10. Think if that religion was in a powerful country and it was the main religion. Think if you happened to live there, but you didn’t follow the same faith. Now think if the people making the laws and the punishment for breaking those laws were followers of that religion. You’ve lived in this country for 20 years, you grew up there, it’s your homeland. The government passes a law that says all females must be circumcised before they begin menstruation, but not before preschool age. All women that have not had this done, must get it done or be forced to be sterilized so they may not give birth uncircumcised. The punishment for not doing so are: Uncircumcised children will be taken from the parent and the procedure performed. They will be placed in foster care while the parent(s) serve 2 years in jail. Women who have not been circumcised, but do end up pregnant and refuse to be circumcised before birth will be arrested, jailed for the remainder of the pregnancy and will have the circumcision while jailed, before the child’s birth. Women who somehow manager to slip through the gaps, but show up at the hospital to give birth will have the child permanently taken into state custody and the woman will be jailed for 15 years and either will be sterilized if she refuses to be circumcised or will be circumcised while serving her 15 year jail sentence.
That all seems crazy right? The sad part is, based on how the followers of religions that promote and even require female circumcision, this is exactly the type of thing that would be happening if there weren’t secular laws putting pressure on them not to. I don’t think you’d take to kindly to being told that you have to cut off part of your body to appease the masses when you don’t personally believe the same thing as they do.
My point is, she isn’t saying she hates you or your religion. She is saying do you and let me do me. Don’t impose your thoughts on me. Don’t try to punish me for not thinking like you. Don’t force feed young minds with scare tactics until they conform to your way of thinking. Let each person come to his or her own conclusion on faith at their own pace.
Just found the post. Really liked it. The cartoons and banners were a great touch. I just cant help myself but I have to respond to Catholic guy. He is the worst kind of christian. It’s like he didn’t even read the post, definitely didn’t understand. You went to great lengths explaining your reasons why respect isn’t freely given and his main point is “please show some respect” Is he kidding or just clueless. Then as a Catholic he gives us the definition of atheism and how atheists should act and why, when you don’t even believe how can you have vigorous hate, when you clearly explained where your anger, not hate came from. Again, the worst kind of christian. Then how he’s so cool and liberal and has “many athiest friends” and thinks gays are cool yet still gets “victimized” for his religious beliefs yet has never done anything to anyone Well Mr Catholic guy have you ever given money in the collection basket at your local church. It goes to support a criminal organization that knowingly hides paedophile priests from criminal prosecution. Sorry about the rant but Mr liberal Catholic who only believes in the nice and cool stuff of his religion and the bible should mabye think about starting his own sect of Catholicism and get away from the ones who have done things to others,hurtful vicious evil things.
awesome! first blog ive read on any topic.oh at last!!!!! some cinemas in england have refused to run any political or religious ads before movies….the church of england said it should be left for people to make up their own minds! as we can clearly see throughout the world, religious minds of all denominations are what cause the ignorance and pain our beautiful planet is in right now….ITS TIME TO LEAVE ‘GOD’ WHERE HE BELONGS>>>>>>>in an archaic cave with the ignorant!
my answer for the world……..
START TEACHING OUR BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN THE BEAUTIFUL TRUTH. if you don’t yet know what that is…..be a non retard and find out…there is no excuse these days for any child to be MENTALLY ABUSED by being exposed to some fairy tale that takes away the choice and responsibility that they,(if not you) are more than capable of using for the good of themselves, for others, and for the planet.
it’s time folks…..GOD IS OVER…..and the great thing is….the truth will “SET US ALL FREE”!
I hope that I get to live long enough to see religion or those who believe in it, take up only the minority of the population. I’m sure it will never fully go away, however I feel more hope than ever that we may get close to it and hopefully in my lifetime! That is if mankind doesn’t kill each other before that! I started a page on my blog that speaks my views against religion, hope you can check it out @ http://thehustleneverends.com/fuck-your-god/ !
First time I find such a clear and logic reasoning. Excellent job on nailing it down and putting the arguments together! I agree 100%. Keep up with a good job on educating the society and fighting for human rights! I wish there were more people like you on this Earth.
Anti-homosexual religions are WRONG!
An excerpt from a book in process based on and extrapolated via religious writings from time immemorial;
Our First Adam Origins~
“In the beginning, the gods made man, the first Adam…The worker race…The Homosexualsapien. Homo- meaning “mankind”; sexual- meaning of, relating to or involving sex and sapien- meaning of or relating to humans. Given these widely known and accepted meanings we can deduce that the origin of “homosexuality” in fact coincides with and was an accepted and integral part of the creation of man. Therefore, the colloquialism of “god made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve” is a false maxim generated through the needs of false gods.”