Religion claims to have the copyright on morality. "You have no basis for morality. Without God, there is no reason to be moral. The Bible is THE source of morality."
I've heard this so many times, it's making me nauseous . Anyone who thinks this obviously hasn't read the Bible recently. The Bible condones genocide, infanticide, and the death penalty for picking up sticks on Shabbat. Need I say more?
Fortunately, believers don't really believe the Bible is a good source of ethics, or at least most of them don't actually do what it says. They tend to cherry pick through it and find verses like Micah 6:8 that promotes justice and mercy, completely ignoring the fact that their God killed the firstborn of Egypt, which included innocent babies, to prove that he was the greatest God around. Though they may not like to acknowledge the fact, overall, their morality has developed with the Moral Zeitgeist of the rest of the world. Nonetheless, they cling to an ancient book and ancient ideas about morality. This is a reason for alarm.
Morality is a worthy subject of investigation. So I've started a research project on it. I'll give updates here on my blog as I go along and post some of the insights I've gathered. I lean toward biology and evolution to give the most solid and evidenced arguments for morality. Any recommendations will be highly appreciated.
I'm an atheist blogger now! Check out the new atheist blogroll on the sidebar.
It feels good to have some company. As of now there are 692 atheist blogs.
Existential Angst is real. If you are feeling this for any reason, especially if from reading all these skeptical blogs... please see a real psychotherapist.
If you think a book is all you need then please read "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl.
Labels: resources
The Torah is an incredible book no matter which way you look at it. It has been on the hearts and minds of billions of people throughout thousands of years. This book has given people hope and encouragement and has been used by others to do some of the greatest atrocities of history. It was believed by nearly all of humankind for millennia to be divinely authored but that has been the subject of much debate in more recent years.
Many of the influential Biblical scholars that developed Biblical Criticism and the Documentary Hypothesis were not interested in disproving it's Divine authorship. They were out to discover the real bible, what it was before the ancient anonymous editors had defiled it. Their research led them to some personally disturbing findings but they persevered and let their reason and research take them where it would.
Over the past hundred years or so, the Documentary Hypothesis has come to dominate Biblical Scholarship. It is an elegant theory that answers age old questions as well as more recent ones raised from archeology, history etc.
In light of the Documentary Hypothesis and other recent Biblical scholarship it has become impossible to posit Divine authorship without a giant leap of faith and a conscious decision to ignore the evidence. The Documentary Hypothesis is not perfect and subject to much debate. We may perhaps never know for certain that the Bible is a composite document from authors JEPD etc. But the important thing is, we now have a very strong theory as to the authorship of the Bible and it will take some very hard work and boatloads of evidence to completely upset it.
Those that are still clinging to the belief that the Torah was in fact Divinely authored may claim to have evidence for their claim but it has not been forthcoming.
The problems for those that make the claim of Torah MiSinai are heaped up for all to see. Besides the inconsistencies and blatant contradictions, there are serious historical and moral issues with the Bible. Bereshit 1-11 have been clearly shown to be false by science and natural history. There has been no forthcoming evidence for major events like the Ten Plagues and the mass exodus of millions of slaves leaving Egypt through the desert into the land of Canaan. The list goes on. Chauvinism, genocide, brutality and plain old cruelty fill its pages. It is difficult for any 21st Century morally sensitive person to read it without flinching. Most believers today have faith in an all knowing, merciful and just God. Yet many insist on their God having written such a book. If I were a modern day believer I would be greatly comforted to know that it's highly unlikely that such falsehoods and cruelty were written by God.
There has been some dispute about me calling myself both a pantheist and an atheist. So please allow me to explain myself. I am not orthodox anything.
I am primarily a secular humanist. Secular humanism is a life stance focusing on the way human beings can lead good and happy lives. The happiness of human beings is my primary ideal.
Secondly, I am a scientific pantheist. This means I feel awe and reverence when meditating on the universe that this is a worthwhile practice. It also means that I am somewhat of an environmentalist.
Last but certainly not least, I am an atheist. Honestly, I do not particularly like this term because there are 4 billion+ people in this world that think atheists are all immoral devils. However, I am nearly certain that there is no God or gods. Some people will then say that really I am agnostic. Technically, they would be right. Essentially, I am an atheist. Also, I am especially happy to know that there is no evidence for all the gods envisioned by Christianity, Islam, Judaism and the rest of the worlds religions because they have a very mean, immoral God that wants to throw all non believers to hell.
Now dogmatic people will find me to be a bunch of contradictions. I am not dogmatic in the slightest. I believe in science, reason, evidence, and free inquiry. You may think I’m twisting through loops but it is really quite simple. I love humans, the universe is awesome, and there is no God.
Stands up for what's right. It gives me a lot of hope and encouragement to see people actually get out of the oppression of Orthodoxy. It's really hard but heck, if a former Rabbi can get out so can you. Read more about Rabbi David S. Gruber here.
I love watching debates so for those of you that do too and don't feel like looking everywhere for them, I've compiled a short list.
- Dawkins and McGrath
- Hitchens and Boteach
- D'souza and Dennet Part 1 You should be able to find the rest of it in the side bar "Related Videos"
- D'souza and Hitchens I think Hitchens was drunk... but maybe he always is...
- Hitchens and Sharpton
- Harris and Wolpe You should be able to find the rest of it in the side bar "Related Videos"
- Rational Responders and Kirk Cameron same as above.
Labels: resources
Were Mao and Stalin the most succesful murderers in history?
Find out here and here.
Hat tip to Anadder.
If you are thinking critically about religion or even just have some doubts as to it's trueness, then I have made this handy step by step guide of resources for those interested. This guide is particularly applicable to Orthodox Jews and partially to Fundamentalist Christians but the last few books are a great read for anyone.
1.) "How to read the Bible" by James Kugel. This is a great way to start because the author is an Orthodox Jew himself and his book is presented in a highly non-offensive way. He brings both sides and lets the reader make the choice to accept Biblical Scholarship or not.
2.)"A letter to my Rabbi" by Naftali Zeligman. A kind but questioning essay written as letter from a Orthodox student to his Rabbi.
3.)"Who wrote the Bible" by Richard Elliot Freedman. If you are interested in more about the Documentary Hypothesis then this is a good place to start. After reading this book you will have a basic understanding of the Bible from a scholarly outlook.
4.)"The End of Faith, Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason" by Sam Harris. The author is an outspoken atheist and has held many discussions about religion in general and especially dangerous religion like radical Islam. I've found this book to be the least abrasive.
5.) "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. A well known biologist and atheist. His credentials are sky high though he has been accused of taking the theory of evolution where no man has gone before. When I read this book, I flinched. I'm still churning over some of his ideas, especially regarding the education of children.
6.)"God is not Great, How Religion poisons everything." by Christopher Hitchens. If you thought the previous 2 books were rough then hold on to your seats because Hitchens' book is a no holds barred attack on religion. He is the only person I know of that can find the dirt on the holiest of people including Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama. I may not be as flaming of an "anti-theist" as he is but it's a great read nonetheless.
Check the resources label for more information.
Labels: resources
RJM and I are having a terrific discussion on this statement from RJM, "When you show me solid proof of any ANE nation or culture that had a transcendent, universal concept of a purely just and merciful God, a belief in a rationally order harmonious universe, a repudiation of icons, magic, superstition and ancestor/king worship, a self-critical and didactic religious history that challenged its beliefs and conduct rather than simply validating it, and a track record of enormous success in producing highly educated, intellectual and sincerely charitable human beings who were light years ahead of their time in almost every sense of the term "civilization", then I will drop my claim that the Torah cannot be reduced to a freak accident of ANE cultural evolution." Click here to follow the discussion. You'll have to scroll down a bit to get to the part where I join in.