Fundamentalism Is A Danger To The World

The following is just part of a post by David French in The New York Times: 

Religion is one of the most dangerous forces on earth.

If you’ve ever encountered true fundamentalists, you know why. When you combine eternal stakes with absolute certainty, it produces the kind of people who are happy to be cruel in the name of God.

In fact, they can view their cruelty as a form of kindness. If they treat you with decency, doesn’t that make you comfortable in your sin? It’s important for them to take opportunities to confront people when you can — in other words, to tell people that they’re wrong, often in the most strident of ways. How else will they understand the gravity of their own sin?

To the fundamentalist, disagreement is proof of apostasy. But it can be even worse than that — if you’re wrong, then you might lead other people into error, and that makes you dangerous.

That’s one reason fundamentalists of all stripes are often such zealous censors. A fundamentalist can see every person who’s wrong as a kind of Patient Zero in a potential pandemic of paganism. And don’t think for a moment that fellow believers are spared the fundamentalists’ ire. They’re a chief target. They have no excuse for their errors, and they receive the most vitriol of all.

The same principle can be applied to secular fundamentalists. Perhaps you’ve met them — the people who define themselves through their individual politics, who show a kind of sneering contempt for dissent, and are very, very concerned with who is platformed and who is not.

Nothing I’m saying is original. I’m relaying an observation that’s been true since the first spark of faith in the human heart. There is a quiet, dark voice that whispers: “You are right. They are wrong. It is best for everyone if you rule.”

Young People Are Fleeing Religion In Large Numbers

These charts are from a scientific study published at PLOS/ONE. The top chart shows the percentage of young people who never attend church. The chart below that shows the percentage of young people who claim no religious affiliation.

It has been a fact that for several generations now there have been a smaller percentage of people accepting religion with each generation -- but there is an explosion of growth in young people fleeing religion today. Religious leaders, especially those on the right, want to blame this on secular teachings at "liberal" colleges, but as you can see, it is not just college students fleeing the church -- it is young people of all ages.

The truth is that young people today just can't accept the homophobic, misogynistic, and racist teachings they encounter far too often in churches today -- especially in the fundamentalist evangelical churches.

Our schools teach the Constitution and its guarantee of equality, but then on Sunday the church teaches something different -- that there are groups that don't deserve the same rights as other people. Today's youth are not stupid. They know that both cannot be true, and to their credit, ever larger numbers are opting to believe in equality.

5 Reasons Why The Evangelicals Are Losing Adherents

I was raised in a fundamentalist evangelical church, and even went to college to become an evangelical preacher. But, I eft that college, and the evangelical movement, because I could no longer believe in such a hard-hearted approach to life. My answer was atheism, but many others leaving the evangelical movement are still searching for a way to make christianity relevant to their lives.

One of those still searching is Benjamin L. Corey. Mr. Corey has written an excellent article on his own blog called Formerly Fundie. In it, he lists the 5 major reasons why he can no longer align himself with evangelicals. I think it could also be considered the major reasons why evangelicals are losing adherents (especially among young people).

Mr. Corey writes:

Since being hated by everyone is a spiritual gift of mine, here are the 5 reasons why I’ll never be returning to Evangelicalism as it is today in America:

5. Today’s Evangelicalism looks more like a political movement than Jesus.

Jesus was someone who avoided getting sucked into secular politics, but today’s Evangelicalism is married to it. In fact, one’s political views are often used as a litmus test for whether or not one is a “true” Evangelical. For those of us who want to give our lives to building God’s other-worldly Kingdom, today’s Evangelicalism isn’t something that is partnering with God and his mission to the world, but something that is a distraction from it.

Just try to have a regular conversation with the average Evangelical– chances are they’ll talk more about the political battles of the day than they’ll speak of Jesus, and that should be a major red flag to anyone who wants to pursue Jesus with reckless abandon. Without their political identity, many Evangelicals would not have a sense of identity at all. We’re called to follow Jesus– wherever that leads and whatever label that earns us– but Evangelicals today seem willing to follow Jesus so much as Jesus lines up with political ideology.

4. Today’s Evangelicalism is obsessed with power.

The invitation of Jesus is to become a “servant of all,” setting aside the need/desire for power so that one can busy themselves taking the lowliest of positions– that of a servant. Since Evangelicalism has become more of a political movement than something that is part of the Jesus movement, its focus has shifted from becoming a servant to gaining and maintaining power.

While I think many Evangelicals probably do want to help spread the way of Jesus, they have bought into the lie that this is done by taking power over culture instead of embracing power under culture (Boyd’s terms). When you combine the quest for power with political ideologies that are completely foreign to Christianity itself, they find themselves in a big mess– which is the state of American Evangelicalism today. Christianity started by the one who had all power becoming the one who totally emptied himself of power, and Jesus followers by definition are invited to do the same.

3. Today’s Evangelicalism seems generally unteachable and unwilling to wrestle with theology.

If there’s one thing that’s going to kill modern Evangelicalism, it’s unteachability. When I ultimately left that crowd, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the realization that far too many Evangelicals aren’t interested in learning anything that is new or different from what they think they already know– even if that new knowledge comes straight from the Bible itself.  This hit home for us at our last church where I was a teaching elder– the church ultimately imploded, and at our final meeting this issue stood loud and clear. During that meeting, one of the other elders turned to me and asked, “how can you teach people that there is no such thing as a rapture?” as if I had said that Jesus wasn’t truly divine or something.

My experience at that last church really brought the issue home for me: too many Evangelicals are willing to learn only if new learning will reenforce what they already believe. There’s little room for growth, reinterpretation, or the constant need for contextualization of the scriptures. For a movement that prides itself on following the scriptures, I’m repeatedly shocked at the unwillingness to see what the scriptures actually say and the willingness to malign those who attempt to point the movement back to the source.

Some great examples from 2014 were when I argued that the Bible doesn’t actually teach a hell where people are consciously tortured for all of eternity, when Matthew Vines came out with his book that argued the Bible doesn’t actually teach that being LGBT is a sin, and another dozen examples I could probably list. In these scenarios, when folks say, “let’s return to the Bible and see if it actually means what we thought it means,” one of the first responses one often gets is the comparison to Satan: “You’re asking the same question Satan asked: ‘hath God really said?‘”

I want to be part of a Christian tradition that is always willing to re-study the scriptures and willing to change and grow as a result. Unfortunately, I don’t see room for this in Evangelicalism– it doesn’t matter if one points to the historic Church or scripture itself– there’s almost no room for wrestling with theology unless it’s geared toward reenforcing a previously held belief.

2. Today’s Evangelicalism doesn’t seem to share Jesus’ heart for outsiders.

Out of all the aspects we see of Jesus in the New Testament, the most compelling to me is that I see an outsider who had a heart for other outsiders. Jesus was among the excluded, and lived a life where he was constantly inviting the others who were excluded to come in and have a seat at the table. It’s a theme I just finished writing a book about, and one that seems to leap off the pages when reading the New Testament with a fresh eye. Jesus was passionate about including people one would never think should be included.

Today’s Evangelicalism on the other hand, seems to be in a perpetual cycle of always redefining the lines– not to draw people in, but to keep even more people out. In this past year I think we’ve seen a year where the Evangelical establishment has worked hard to redefine those lines, and to make it clear that this is a very exclusive club. Instead of throwing a banquet and inviting in the outcasts (an image Jesus painted through one of his parables) it seems that Evangelicalism is more concerned with maintaining purity of the label than it is interested in inviting others to see and experience the “Good News” for which Evangelicalism is named after.

This, sadly, is not the way or example of Christ– it’s actually the opposite. Whatever movement I’m part of, I want it to be one that is constantly looking for ways to build bridges and invite people in– not one that looks for ways to build walls in order to keep people out.

1. Today’s Evangelicalism punishes people by withholding of relationships. 

This is perhaps the most deeply personal of my reasons, because the tremendous pain that comes with the loss of relationships is destructive on more levels than I can count. Since that moment where I was asked, “How can you teach people there’s no such thing as a rapture?” I’ve experienced what happens to Evangelicals who dare to question, who dare to read their Bibles, and who dare to actually apply some of Jesus’ teachings (such as the command to nonviolently love our enemies): the punishment of having all of my relationships taken away from me.

Whereas a year and a half ago I had a church family and a circle of friends in my local area, today we are completely isolated– all of the friends we had have now packed their bags and left. My daughter has come to me in tears asking, “why doesn’t ____ love us anymore?” and, “why doesn’t ____ want their kids to play with me anymore?” because punishing me by loss of relationships by default punished her by the loss of relationships. I’ve had to sit back and watch my wife shed those same tears (quite frequently), and ask those same exact questions. And, I’ve felt the pain with them– I may be widely read but in my local area, I have a total of one real-world friend left, and even he has admitted the he gets questioned by others as to why he’s friends with me.

Today’s Evangelicalism does this to folks who think outside Evangelical lines– it strips them of relationships, cuts them off, and severs ties. I can’t count the number of emails I get with folks sharing their stories in this regard– it is sadly all too commonplace.

Relationships should never be theological tools that are withed to gain theological conformity– and this is the top reason why I’ll never return even if I still share some of their theological beliefs. Stripping people of relationships is abusive, and I’m not interested in being part of any movement that does this.

(NOTE - The image above is from the Facebook page of Republican Jesus.)

Arizona Legislators Try Again To Legalize Bigotry

There was a time in this country when signs like the one to the left were commonplace, even in many states outside of the Deep South. It was a blatant bigotry, and fortunately it was finally outlawed across the country by the Civil Rights Act.

But bigots are a persistent lot, and they feel the need to have some group to discriminate against, and this is particularly true of Arizona fundamentalist Republicans. The Republican-dominated government in that state has already passed a law discriminating against Hispanics -- the infamous SB-1070. Most of that law was declared unconstitutional, but that hasn't stopped the GOP legislators from trying to legalize bigotry in their state (to satisfy the teabagger fundamentalist bigots in their party base). Only this time, they shifted their focus from Hispanics to the LGBT community -- and they tried to cover that bigotry with religion in an attempt to survive any court challenge.

This time the bill is SB-1062, and it gives "any individual, association, partnership, corporation, church, religious assembly or institution, or other business organization" the right to refuse to serve any customer on religious grounds. The law is aimed at lesbians and gays, and would protect businesses that refuse to serve the LGBT community a legal defense if they are sued for denying that service. The new bill would protect the business owners from being sued (even by the government) as long as they could establish the following:

1. That the person's action or refusal to act is motivated by a religious belief.
2. That the person's religious belief is sincerely held.
3. That the state action substantially burdens the exercise of the person's religious beliefs.

In short, this bill is an attempt to give bigots a way to get around anti-discrimination laws by giving them the right to claim such laws violate their right to freedom of religion -- the idea being that having to serve everyone would violate some of the person's religious principles.

The bill is supposedly aimed at letting businesses refuse service to the LGBT community, and that is the way it is being reported by the media. But as it is written, the bill could open the door to other kinds of discrimination. I have read the bill (and you can do so at this link), and it does not restrict itself to businesses wishing to deny service to the LGBT community.

The bill would undoubtably be used to let businesses discriminate against the LGBT community (and that by itself would be wrong), but it also would let businesses use religion as an excuse for other kinds of discrimination. It is possible that signs like the one above would again appear in our communities (since racism is still a problem in this country, along with many other kinds of bigotry).

It hasn't been very long at all in this country since people tried to use religion as an excuse to refuse service to Blacks (or other racial and ethnic minorities). Once the right to discriminate against the LGBT community has been established by this new bill, who is to say it won't be used by bigots to cover other kinds of bigotry. After all, it's not hard to find a biblical verse to justify nearly anything.

This is a bad bill, and it should never become law -- and if it does it should be declared unconstitutional by federal courts. The United States is based on the principle of equality under the law -- and writing discrimination into the legal code (even on a state level) is anti-democratic and anti-American.

I support the First Amendment right of freedom of religion (which includes the right to be free from religion). But anti-discrimination laws do not violate anyone's right to freely follow their religion. They can still believe, worship, and live as they please while not discriminating against anyone in a commercial business setting. Bigotry is just wrong -- even when it comes wrapped in a Bible (or Koran, or any other religious text).

Jesus & Fundamentalists - Not The Same

I am not a religious person, and I'm not even sure that Jesus was a real person. But I was raised in a fundamentalist church, and graduated from a religious university. And I know that the Jesus of the Bible was nothing like the right-wing fundamentalists who claim to be his followers. I don't know where they get their strange beliefs, but they certainly didn't come from the teachings of Jesus.

The Beast

I attended a public high school, so it took me a bit longer to realize the truth of what Marilyn Manson is saying. It was not until I went to a right-wing fundamentalist college that it became obvious to me that the right-wing fundamentalism I was witnessing was not a solution to any of this country's problems -- it was the biggest problem of all. It produced little except division and hatred. I became an atheist because I could no longer pay homage to that beast.

The GOP Is Extreme And "Out Of Touch"

I have posted about the poll results shown above already. It shows that most Americans (62%) believe the Republican Party is "out of touch" with the American people. That includes 65% of Independents and amazingly, 36% of Republican voters. In addition, 52% of the general public and 51% of Independents believe the party is too extreme.

This is not the only poll that has shown the GOP is not in sync with the views of most Americans. But the party seems to be ignoring all of this. They want to believe that they just need better candidates that can couch their views in kinder terms, and the people will come flocking to them once again. That is simply not true. It is not the rhetoric or the candidates (even though they have had some weak ones) that is turning off most people. It is what the Republicans claim they stand for -- their policies.

There was a time in the not-so-distant past that the Republican Party was composed of both moderates and conservatives -- but the far-right (the John Birchers) were considered anathema and not allowed in positions of power. Even during the Reagan administration, while the conservatives were in power, congressional Republicans were willing to compromise for the good of the country. That is not true any longer.

In an effort to return their party to power, the GOP opened their party to the far-right-wingers, the social fundamentalists, and the racists -- and much to the dismay of GOP moderates, those elements took over the Republican Party. And when they did, they moved the party's agenda and policies far to the right. It is this far-right outlook that the majority of Americans simply cannot accept.

And those policies are definitely on the far-right fringe of American politics. All you have to do to realize that is just look at what they now support. Here are just a few of the things the Republicans would like to do:

* They would like to privatize both Social Security and Medicare -- and if they can't do that, they would like to force benefit cuts in both programs.

* They want to keep the unneeded corporate subsidies (for corporations making record profits) and lower the tax rate for corporations (even though corporations are paying less in taxes now than they have in decades).

* They want to block any efforts to close loopholes or raise taxes on the rich (even though the rich are paying a smaller percentage in taxes than many in the middle class).

* They want to cut unemployment insurance and block job creation programs (even though there are still at least 12 million jobless workers).

* They want to completely defund Obamacare (leaving at least 30 million Americans with no health insurance).

* They oppose a timeline to leave Afghanistan, and many would like to start a new war by bombing or invading Iran.

* They would like to drastically cut funding for the EPA, allowing energy producers and other corporations to continue to pollute our precious water and air.

* They oppose any raise in the minimum wage (and many of them would like to completely abolish the minimum wage).

* They want to force creationist young-Earth religion into the science classrooms of our schools.

* They want to cut education funding much more (and many would even abolish the Department of Education).

* They want to give the government the right to tell a woman what she must do with her own body (forcing many back to the bloody and dangerous back-alley abortions).

* They want to deny the LGBT community the same rights that other Americans enjoy, including the right to marry.

* They want to cut food stamp programs for families and school lunch programs for children (even though one-fifth of America's children live in poverty, and poverty is growing).

* They want to continue to reward corporations that outsource American jobs with tax breaks for doing that.

* They want to de-regulate Wall Street and let them return to the same dangerous practices that triggered a crash and the recession.

* They want to keep wages low by weakening or destroying unions (even though those unions have done more than any other thing to create the middle class in America).

* They want to restrict the amount of people who can vote in American elections (especially those in areas dominated by minorities), to give themselves an unfair advantage in electoral politics.

I could go on for a while, but that list should be adequate to show just how extreme the Republican Party policies have become. They have sold out to the corporate interests, religious fundamentalists, and racists, and sadly, don't seem to care about that -- as long as those in power can keep getting elected. And their refusal to compromise on anything, even for the overall good of the country, shows they value their extremist ideology over their love of country.

Frankly, I don't understand how any decent person could vote Republican these days.

Children's Bible Myths

Another bit of humor from The Atheist Pig. It reminds me of the Bible stories I was taught as a child in a fundamentalist church -- things like Jesus valuing children of all colors equally, loving your neighbor as yourself, not judging other people, how hard it would be for a rich man to enter Heaven, and how helping the less fortunate was like helping Jesus. Imagine my surprise when I grew up and found out that same fundamentalist church taught the opposite of those things to their adult followers. Then they couldn't understand why I stopped believing in their myths.

Sour Grapes And Religious Racism

Fundamentalists are very upset that Americans have once again rejected their efforts to mix religion and politics, and oust the first African-American president. They have been loudly whining that god (who in their feeble minds is a right-wing Republican) will punish the United States for re-electing President Obama. This is racist nonsense, and these people should be ashamed of hiding their racism behind their religion.

A fellow blogger, Jack Cluth at What Would Jack Do?, has written an excellent post on this matter -- and I am reposting it here because I think it needs as wide a readership as possible. Mr. Cluth writes:

It’s become as tiresome as it is ignorant and pointless. Religious Conservatives whining about how Barack Obama’s defeat of Mitt Romney flies in the face of God’s will…as if they have a direct line to the Almighty and can divine His every thought and whim.

I understand that many on the Rabid Right are besides themselves with disappointment and disillusionment. I get that they feel strongly that they enjoy the imprimatur of Almighty God, and that they know in their heart of hearts that He’s a Conservative Republican. And they REALLY hate Barack Obama…never mind that the President has made it amply clear that he’s a Christian.

That Rev. Franklin Graham can with a straight face hold forth on how the President is destroying the country and attracting the wrath of God is both comical and arrogant. How voting for Barack Obama could possibly be construed as a rejection of God involves a flight of logic and reason that only Graham could explain. The pretentiousness in assuming that God is a registered Republican and that Liberals and Democrats are agents of Satan is beyond absurd. Graham’s pathetic rant is symptomatic of a philosophy shared by most of the Rabid Religious Right- that they and ONLY they have the ear and approval of the Almighty.

To say that I find this attitude as offensive as it is dismissive almost goes without saying. I can’t imagine how God (IF He or She exists) could care about partisan politics. If someone can show me Scripture that conclusively demonstrates that I’m mistaken and that God is in fact a Conservative, I’ll admit my mistakes and issue the necessary mea culpas. I know I won’t have to, though…because there IS no Scripture that does that.

Franklin Graham has become an exercise in self-parody, useful primarily for comic relief…and Lord knows he’s providing no small amount of that.

Why not just admit the truth, Reverend? You hate the idea of a Black man (and a Democrat) in the White House. You’re a racist who’s unable to admit it to yourself or your fellow Americans…and so you maintain the charade that Barack Obama’s re-election runs counter to the will of God.

Religious Conservatives like Graham at the very least owe America the courtesy of being honest about their racism and bigotry. Or are dishonesty and a lack of personal integrity now Christian values?

Fake Diamonds ?

Once again, The Atheist Pig is right on target.

A Real Christian

As you know if you've read this blog for very long, I am an atheist. And I have made attacks on the fundamentalist view of christianity. That is because I think it is wrong for any American to try and force his/her view of religion on others. because I speak out regularly on this subject, there are probably some that would think I would like to outlaw religion or ban it. That would be wrong.

I believe in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. That amendment guarantees religious freedom. That guarantee of religious freedom means all Americans have the right to believe (or not believe) in any religion, and no other person has a right to try and force them by law, violence, or any other method to accept any view (or lack of view) of any religion. It also means no person should be deprived of any of their rights due to their race, sex, sexual preference, or religious beliefs (or lack of religious beliefs).

Sadly, there are a large number of religious fundamentalists (mainly christian in this country) who do not believe in the First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom. They think they should be allowed to force their own religious beliefs on others by law, or violence, or any other means necessary. They claim to be obeying their god, but I think they are just bending their religion to justify their own bigotry.

But there are christians in America who respect both their religion and the Constitution. I respect those people and have no problem with their practicing their religion as they see fit. One of those people is former-President Jimmy Carter. He follows the teaching of his god without trying to deny the rights of his fellow citizens. I respect that (and I think most other atheists would agree). Here is some of what Mr. Carter has to say:


Homosexuality was well known in the ancient world, well before Christ was born and Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings about multiple things -– he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies.


I draw the line, maybe arbitrarily, in requiring by law that churches must marry people. I’m a Baptist, and I believe that each congregation is autonomous and can govern its own affairs. So if a local Baptist church wants to accept gay members on an equal basis, which my church does by the way, then that is fine. If a church decides not to, then government laws shouldn’t require them to.

The Movement Against Religious Freedom

“As a mother and a grandmother, I worry,” Diana Serafin said. “I learned that in 20 years with the rate of the birth population, we will be overtaken by Islam, and their goal is to get people in Congress and the Supreme Court to see that Shariah is implemented. My children and grandchildren will have to live under that.”

“I do believe everybody has a right to freedom of religion,” she said. “But Islam is not about a religion. It’s a political government, and it’s 100 percent against our Constitution.”

I wish I could say the attitude of this woman was an anomaly and did not represent the thoughts of many thousands of American right-wingers and religious fundamentalists -- but it's not true. There is a large and growing segment of our population who shares her views. They profess, as she does, to believe in religious freedom but they don't seem to understand what that phrase even means, especially as it relates to the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

To these fundamentalist christians, freedom of religion doesn't mean everyone should be free to worship (or not worship) as they please. It means these fundamentalist christians should be free to force their own view of religion on their neighbors and their countrymen, even if they must use hatred, intolerance and violence to accomplish that.

These people don't realize, or won't admit, that nearly any religion can be perverted to justify violence and intolerance. They are horrified when someone mentions Scott Roeder, Timothy McVeigh or many others who used christianity to justify their own terrorist actions. Most of them will be quick to say these terrorists don't represent their religion. And yet they are perfectly willing to use the actions of a few hundred fundamentalist moslems to slander and defile a respectful and nonviolent religion shared by over a billion people.

This has recently been brought to light by right-wing efforts to keep a moslem community center from being built a few blocks from the scene of the 9/11 disaster in New York City, but that is far from the only prejudice and intolerance being exhibited against moslems by fundamentalists and other right-wingers. In many cities across the country there have been too many instances of graffiti, destruction of property, arson and death threats against mosques and adherents of islam.

I am not a religious person, but that does not give me the right to physically attack or prevent in any way a person to worship as he/she pleases. The right to worship (or not worship) any religion (including islam) is guaranteed by the United States Constitution. It is time for all decent Americans to stand up and defend this religious freedom before it is destroyed by fundamentalist right-wing christians (or fundamentalists of any other religion).

It is just a fact that if moslems are denied the right to worship as they please, then that same right can be denied to any other person or religion. Who will be next after moslems and nonbelievers are eliminated? Will these fundamentalists then start to eliminate christian sects they disagree with?

You do not have to agree with the religious views (or lack of religious views) of another person, but the Constitution demands that you respect that person's right to worship or not worship as he/she pleases (and that person must respect your right to do the same). I just wish the right-wing fundamentalists would realize that the best way to protect your own religious freedom is to respect the religious freedom of others.

Even Texas Has Atheists

This is the new billboard put up on Interstate 35 in Austin by the Austin Coalition of Reason. Don Rhoades, a coordinator for the organization said, "We also want everyone to know that those who don't believe in a god are your neighbors. People like us can be found everywhere: among family members, friends and co-workers. One of us might even be in the pew next to you in church! So, in the same way that other people are open about their views, we think we should be free to express ours."

He's right. But this is Texas, solidly in the fundamentalist Bible Belt. It cost $7,344.00 to put up the sign, but I'll bet it doesn't last more than a couple of days before some "christian" defaces it with a two dollar can of spray paint (and he/she will think they're doing god's work).

I would like to be more positive and think the sign will be left alone in the belief that this is a free country and everyone has the right to free speech. But I have lived in Texas far too long to believe that. Texas fundies only believe in free speech for themselves -- everyone else must be forced to agree with those beliefs.

The sign will be defaced. It's only a question of how quickly.

Spiritually Transformed Fire Arm Of Jesus Christ

The good folks over at God's Own Party have an interesting and sort of frightening post about christianity and the United States military. It seems like there are a lot of fundamentalist non-commissioned officers in the military who, in direct violation of current military policy, are still intent on proselytizing among their troops and turning the conflict in Afghanistan into a religious war.

And feeding into this illegal and dangerous situation is an American manufacturer -- Trijicon, based in Wixom, Michigan. Trijicon makes high-powered rifle sights for the U.S. military. They have a contract to provide 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and another contract to provide sights for the Army. Unbelievably, since 2003 they have been inscribing abbreviations for Bible verses on the rifles (such as 2COR4:6 for Second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 6 in the New Testament of the Bible).

This has emboldened some NCOs into trying to force their own dominionist and fundamentalist beliefs on their troops (a clear violation of military policy which says the variety of religions or no religious belief among troops is to be respected -- proselytizing for any religion is not allowed). This is scary stuff -- how do you tell a person who has complete authority over you in a war zone that you want no part of his religion?

Some NCOs have even started calling the rifles that have Trijicon sights the "Spiritually Transformed Fire Arm of Jesus Christ", and when it runs out of bullets it becomes the "Spiritually Transformed club of Jesus Christ". They seem to forget that the same Jesus they supposedly revere urged his followers to turn the other cheek rather than strike back at their enemies. I guess they've created their own version of christianity, because they say the rifle's purpose is to kill all hajis (muslims) they can find.

This kind of ridiculous action makes Afghanistan more dangerous for the soldiers we have sent over there. Afghanistan was a muslim nation when we arrived there and will be a muslim nation when we finally leave. This is not supposed to be a religious war against muslims -- but an effort to help the muslims of that country fight and get rid of the terrorists that pose a danger to everyone.

When it is made into a christian against muslim fight, why should the non-terrorists in Afghanistan support and fight with us? How can they trust soldiers that want to either kill them or force them to be christian? This is the kind of nonsense that makes the war harder to fight and win (if winning is even possible even more).

The Trijicon company needs to be told to stop the christian inscriptions on military property, or lose their government contracts. Then the military leadership needs to step down hard on proselytizing in the military and efforts to make the conflict in Afghanistan into a religious war.

Anything less will just lead to disaster and many more dead American soldiers.

Job And Biblical Literal Truth

This is the weekend where christians celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is supposed to represent the action of a just and loving god -- the fact that god so loved mankind that he sent his son to die on the cross so their sins would be forgiven. Now I've never understood why this sacrifice had to be made before forgiveness could be given by god. After all, if he is truly all-powerful,why could he not just forgive anyway?

But that is not the point of this post. I was not always an atheist. I was born and raised in a fundamentalist christian sect, and even went to a fundie college to become a preacher at one time. But that didn't last long. All I really learned in those studies, was that I could not believe in both the literal truth of the Bible and the concept of a loving and just god. The two simply do not go together.

If every word of the Bible is literally true (and this is what fundamentalists profess to believe), then there are many times in the Bible where god is neither loving nor just, but instead looks fickle or just downright mean and vicious. Just a few examples are god choosing to favor Abel over Cain, even though both had given what they had, god striking a man dead just for trying to keep the Ark of the Covenant from falling, god killing the firstborn of Egypt and god commanding the Jews to completely exterminate all inhabitants of cities in the "promised land" (and in fact, promising them land already owned by others).

But the faith-breaker for me was the book of Job. After god brags about how pious Job is, satan says it is just because he is prosperous. Now a truly loving and all-powerful god could have laughed that off and went on, but he didn't. He let satan goad him into proving Job's piousness (although why an all-knowing and all-powerful god should have to prove anything is unexplainable in itself).

In order to basically win a bet with satan, god allows satan to take all of Job's wealth and possessions, kill his family (except his wife), and then finally cover his body with itching horrible boils. Job refuses to curse god even after all his tribulations, so god wins his bet. He goes on to reward Job with new possessions, children and wealth.

But Job's first family is STILL DEAD -- sacrificed to win a bet (or argument). That does not sound like a loving or just god to me. It sounds more like a vain and uncaring god. And yet, if every word in the Bible is literally true, then that is what happened.

Personally, I don't even want to believe in a god that could act in such a capricious way toward those who believe in him. And I really don't understand why anyone could believe in a god who would kill off a man's family just to test or prove his faith.