Hello Deaf Reaper.
I was impressed with your response so I figured I’d comment myself and add to the confusion.
Deaf Reaper said:
I have no belief in God. Why I am an Atheist? 1) There are just too many errors in the various bibles. Most biblical errors are catalogued and are easily available on the web, so no need to bother any readers with them here. The same can be said of all the unbelievable biblical claims.
Well have you ever tried to confront a True Believer with these ‘errors?’ I know I have over the years and amazingly enough the True Believer will explain them away with ad hoc reasoning. Somehow the True Believer will know which phrase or passage to take literally and which to take metaphorically. Thus the wriggling continues.
Deaf Reaper said:
2) Evidence is my teacher, as are thousands of years of war, murder, rape and torture in the name of religion.
Well, you haven’t lived thousands of years to be able to make that inference. If this is true then you only took somebody’s word that such and such is the direct result of religion. I think religion has nothing to do with war, murder, rape and torture – other than a political tool to incite the masses into doing the bidding of those in power. If you think religion causes those kinds of trouble, then in this post-secular age one would think war, murder, rape and torture would vanish. But this isn’t the case.
Deaf Reaper said:
3) I don’t believe, in this day and age, that a stage magician can really turn his wand into a live snake, or turn water into wine so why should we believe it when the same explainable effects appear in a so-called ‘sacred’ text? If it were not so tragic, Christian belief even after an explanation of a scientific, rational, logical, truthful nature to the contrary, would be humorous in the extreme.
Yes, but here is a stronger reason:
the testimony of a miracle can never establish the truth of any religion.
Deaf Reaper said:
4) I am wondering why are so many members of the Christian clergy in the world, a disproportionate above average percentage, are tried and convicted child molesters? Every few weeks in the world news media a new case comes to light, and it is a trend that does not appear to be diminishing - and these are only the perverts who are actually discovered and caught. It beggars belief. I doubt that there is anyone (apart perhaps from the Christian clergy) who would doubt that all pedophiles are, in fact, severely mentally ill. Why are they like this? Is it something to do with their religion? Is it their belief that they have a god given ticket of forgiveness? Given the above, it is also true that pedophiles reside on both sides of the religious fence - Atheist perverts are also a reality - I have no truck with either.
You’re addressing only those religions that practices celibacy, and that is a rather small percentage. So if a religion approved of its holy people having sexual relations, you’d have less beef with it?
Deaf Reaper said:
5) In fact religious believers would still be in a grossly weak minority. How frustrating that level of belief is not shared by ‘the Mother of Parliaments’. The Christian church in this country is becoming divided in what it actually believes. Be it the churches’ attitude towards homosexuality, the acceptance of female priests or even the maverick clergymen who profess to have no belief in God, there is nothing quite like shooting yourself in the foot! For example, the representatives of 40 independent UK ‘Christian’ schools are battling in the European Court of Human Rights for the right to administer corporal punishment to their pupils. Anyone who knows even a minuscule segment of Christian history will be surprised that it isn’t capital punishment that they are fighting for! It is yet another nail in their rapidly disappearing coffin of Christian belief.
If Christianity (in all forms) has withstood the winds of change and time for 2000 years, then it will adapt to the changing times of today and tomorrow. But adapt to what? Probably to a more liberal and cosmopolitan form…
Deaf Reaper said:
I am Mr. Average. I have a house, car, satellite TV, a microwave oven and most of the other consumer goodies. I enjoy normal pastimes and pursuits - reading, eating, driving, and watching the TV. Whilst admitting that I do, along with the rest of the human race, have a few faults, I don’t consider myself particularly immoral. And definitely not in the same league of immorality as promulgated in the Christian Holy Bible. In most aspects of my life I hope that I am a relatively reasonable person.
Hear hear!
Just today I was accosted by this Christian fundamentalist who thought I needed to hear the “Good news,” without my asking. Even so, I gave her the typical unbeliever treatment, about Epicurean approach to death, Mystery religions predating Christianity, skepticism of her brand of theology, a pseudo-socratic dialogue, the difference between Jesus Christ’s evangel and Paul’s dysangel and she was incapable of having a conversation with me without being condescending and patronizing. Once that started I gave her the boot.
But i confess that there are intelligent believers who are smart enough to recognize the fact that their religious tendencies are faint, subjective and paradoxical beliefs which are best developed privately.