This I Believe
I believe there is no god. I don’t care what you choose to call him: God, Allah, Yahweh, A Higher Power, etc. I believe in mathematics, science and physics. I believe all the fundamental characteristics of our Universe are readily expressed in the language of math, not mysticism. Thousands of years ago our ancestors looked at the night sky and saw mythical beasts, gods and warriors. Today we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that these are nothing more than patterns in the stars, galaxies and planets that our brains impose on the night sky. I believe that it is past time for us as a species to move beyond our beliefs in mythic creatures and imaginary, all-powerful, all-knowing beings in the sky. I believe our world has seen enough atrocities committed in the fervent belief in one god or another. I believe that the “Dark Ages” will never be truly over until we can throw off these belief structures that continually pollute our history. I am reasonably sure that some are praying for my mortal soul at this point and I am saddened. I believe that you should worry more about what is done in the name of your “god-man-deity-being” and the belief systems that you hold so dear and stop worrying about me and others like me. Delve into the science. Learn the Truth about evolution. Throw of the yoke of guilt over imagined “sins” and think. We have a massive frontal lobe in our brains and I believe it is time we start using them more and our beliefs in imaginary deities in the sky less. This I Believe.
Taken from my facebook wall about this post:
Amie Lawyer:
I wasn’t able to read all of this post, but most. Rick, I love you but you know I disagree. You and most every friend I have share this same belief, or lack of. The universe is absolutely expressed in mathmatics. Perfectly. For me the perfection of it only strengthens my belief. It seems like most people cant reconcile the mathmatics w/there being God. To me, one points to the other. And the crusades, killing in God’s name I will never agree with. To me, being a Christian means living a life of example. Living w/kindness and love and allowing others there own beliefs. I am here simply to say “I’ve experienced God’s love, and my life has changed dramatically. If you want to hear about, go ahead and ask. I will answer” For me, that’s how it works. I will never preach or force my faith on anyone. Or love anyone less because they don’t agree. If I cut out everyone in my life that doesn’t agree, I’d have very few people! I say none of this w/anger, simply enjoying the back and forth Facebook allows. Plus I know you enjoy a good debate! It’s a sign of intelligence. ♥♥♥
9:39am (7 hours ago) · LikeReply
Hippy Randall:
These types of arguments/debates tax me. I have a hard time arguing with someone who has intelligence and the facts but still chooses to believe otherwise. You are educated and I assume you know that the books of the bible in the New Testament were written LONG after Jesus was dead, assembled by a panel of bishops that were appointed by a non-christian Emperor and eventually translated and copied by scribes numerous times.
A couple quotes from Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion:
“Christianity, just as much as Islam, teaches children that unquestioned faith is a virtue. You don’t have to make the case for what you believe.”
“the presumptuousness whereby religious people know, without evidence, that the faith of their birth is the one true faith, all others being aberrations or downright false”
It does not make something true just because you believe it to be true. We are all familiar with the “Flying Spaghetti Monster” and “The Tooth Fairy” and “Santa Claus” but we don’t actually believe, beyond childhood, that these creatures actually exist.
I believe that the atoms that make up my body are actually infinitesimally small solar systems on which there is a small life that is contemplating the other atoms of my body as “stars” and wondering if there is something out there looking back. This belief, albeit an imagined one, does not make it so.
I am reminded of the old woman who said that a giant turtle held up the world. When asked what held up the turtle she replied “Why, another turtle.” Ad infinitum turtles all the way down. But believing this doesn’t, quite obviously, make it so.
George Carlin:
“Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man – living in the sky – who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time…But He loves you!”
4:29pm (27 minutes ago) · LikeReply
Hippy Randall:
From Dawkins’ The God Delusion:
Kurt Wise on Intelligent Design/Creationism:
One day, he could bear the strain no more, and he clinched the matter with a pair of scissors. He took a bible and went right through it, literally cutting out every verse that would have to go if the scientific world-view were true. At the end of this ruthlessly honest and labour-intensive exercise, there was so little left of his bible that,
“…try as I might, and even with the benefit of intact margins throughout the pages of Scripture, I found it impossible to pick up the Bible without it being rent in two. I had to make a decision between evolution and Scripture. Either the Scripture was true and evolution was wrong or evolution was true and I must toss out the Bible…It was there that night that I accepted the Word of God and rejected all that would ever counter it, including evolution. With that, in great sorrow, I tossed into the fire all my dreams and hopes in science.”
How terrible. This would be considered psychotic were it not such a widely held belief.
4:33pm (23 minutes ago) · LikeReply
more from facebook:
Amie Lawyer:
Way too many things to comment at once. I will say a few. Just simply how I feel about some points. Believing something doesn’t make it true. But the reverse is also true. Some things are true, whether you believe it or not. As I said to Rory once–”If I’m wrong, I have nothing to loose. If I die, and there is nothing, I will never know I was wrong. And I will have spent my life trying to be an example of love and forgiveness, kindness, charity. I’m ok w/that legacy.” I’m ok w/the possibility of being wrong. (You know I don’t think I am;) For me, and this may sound very uneducated, my beliefs are based on my experiences. As everyone’s reality is. I know what Ive been through and what kind of person Ive become. I also don’t close my mind off to everything as many people do. I can’t deny evolution exists. Survival of the fittest is real. We see it in nature all the time. Species evolve, they change. But I think somehow there is a way to reconcile God and science. I can’t tell you how, we don’t have all the info yet. There are so many questions unanswered still. To me, the perfection and precision we have discovered in the workings of our own body, let alone the universe, only seem to point even more strongly to God. It all seems too perfect, too intricate to be random. I also don’t envision God as some distant diety sitting on a cloud doling out punishment. I’ve always thought of the ten commandments as more of a guide. As in, the closer you become to God, the less you will desire to partake in these behaviors. I also believe in forgiveness. That if you are sorry, you are forgiven and it’s done. Gone. Not being held against you. It’s as if it never happened. Clean slate. I’m not going to quote scripture at you. I don’t need to. You’re educated and my quoting a book you find to be false doesn’t really have much impact. I know that I will never change your mind, nor will you ever change mine. That each of us is sitting here thinking “How can you be such a dumbass! The truth is so clear.” We will probably never agree. But I appreciate that your response wasn’t full of venom and disdain. That you gave me an honest and intelligent answer. And I’m aware that my response is based on what I feel to be true, what I’ve experienced and may seem foolish and uneducated. I’m ok with that too I’m happier as a Christian, and as my friend, I think you can at least appreciate that. ♥
5:27pm (7 minutes ago) · LikeReply
more from facebook:
Hippy Randall :
You are right in saying that neither of us will change the other’s mind. I am glad that you are happy, truly I am. Happiness, however does not require a belief in a god-deity. I am happy. I am even happy in the knowledge that like all other animals on this ball of rock I too will one day cease to exist. And hedging your bets is just a slippery slope, not a religion.
So if I take your argument and add some hyperbole and symbolism of my own I get:
I see there are presents under the tree and toys in the stocking, therefore there must be a big fat man, jolly man, in a red suit that snuck in surreptitiously and deposited these gifts while I was asleep, just for being “good”, even if I really wasn’t.
/end sarcasm
(but meant it)
6:26pm (2 seconds ago) · LikeReply
and lastly:
Amie Lawyer:
I’m glad you’re happy. I really am. And I’m thrilled you found someone to share your life with. But you had to go and be sarcastic after I just complimented you on not responding w/anger or venom! I’m just picking on you. That was said in jest. Even tho I meant it. Honestly I appreciate your intelligence and honest answers. I say we call it done, like you said–these debates are taxing. “Death is not the worst thing that life has to offer” can’t remember where that’s from. I think it may be one point we agree on. I am really excited for you and Holly. I don’t know her, but I trust if she loves you and you love her, she must be more than worthy.
6:39pm (3 minutes ago) · LikeReply