A new Christian tactic?

 

This is new.

I’ve been writing about secular history and atheism for about 15 years. When the Heathen’s books first hit the best seller list there wasn’t even an internet. It’s sold well all over the world, has been released in several languages with new translations coming out soon, and overall I do damned well with it.

Unless you’re talking to a Christian.

For the last couple weeks I’ve been getting e-mails and comments-on-site from a bunch of different Christians that are essentially saying the same thing: “You’re not doing well, no one is listening to you, and you may as well pack it in and go home.”

I’m used to the semi-weekly “You’re going to Hell” e-mail, as well as the regular belligerent “You have no idea what you’re talking about” comments. But this latest round seems to be trying to be more discouraging than contrary. I am seriously wondering if this is a new, contrived approach being advocated in Christian circles: ‘If you can’t prove your points well enough, try to dishearten the atheist until he shuts up and goes away.’

It’s definitely strange.

 

 

God Says Kill Horny Women

It took me a while to figure out why religions hate extramarital sex. For the longest time I just figured they were a bunch of up-tight prudes that couldn’t get laid and thus didn’t want anyone else to get laid either.  Granted, a lot of them these days do fit into that category, but I don’t think that’s how the whole thing started.

Like The Ten Commandments (stolen from Hammurabi), most of the religious prohibitions have a basis in reason. You don’t kill so that no one else is allowed to kill you. You don’t steal so no one steals from you.  Basic logic. In Judaism, Kosher tell you not to eat pork.  In Islam, pork is not Halal. But it’s not that their god hates pigs. Pork goes rancid quick, and people die.  (FYI, this is how Gautama, the original Buddha, died: Bad pork.)

Religions have a long track record of stealing common-sense solutions and saying that their god told them about it.  In reality the priests, rabbis, and imams were just putting into law the things that trial-and-error had taught them were bad. Rather than explaining to the unwashed masses why pork was bad, they told them that God said it was bad. No further explanation was needed, and far fewer people died of scrofula or tape worms.

But why they came out so vehemently against premarital sex eluded me, though. I mean, yes, there is always the chance of getting a variety of social diseases, but at the time they banned it there wasn’t  a great understanding of the cause-and-effect of these diseases.  (Given that the symptoms tended to appear long after the act.)  Then it hit me: the churches don’t want a bunch of illegitimate babies showing up on their doorsteps every morning. It’s too expensive, and if sex was allowed to run rampant they’d be up to their ears in kids in no time. The solution: Control sex. (Cuz that always works well…)

As with the pork, they didn’t bother to educate people about unwanted pregnancy.  Seeing a need to keep population in check, they just went ahead and told the people that God had commanded them not to have sex outside of marriage. As women were the ones likely to get pregnant, the prohibition on sex was made far, far harsher for them.

While this whole thing may seem blatantly obvious, there’s a cruel side to it that’s been rearing its ugly head a lot lately. Because it was ‘God’ that said not to have sex, it’s been mandatory for all ‘good’ people to enforce ‘His’ will on Earth.  While it would be great if this were restricted to snide comments and bad Sex-Ed videos, the headlines of late have been painting a much bleaker picture. It’s not getting better. In fact, the right-wing nutbars have been out in force of late, working hard to make sure no woman anywhere is enjoying a healthy sex life:

 

Jewish gender segregation campaign turns violent

Clashes erupted on Monday between police and several hundred ultra-Orthodox Jews from a town near Jerusalem who are campaigning for men and women to be segregated, an AFP journalist said.

 

Egyptian Female Protesters Forced To Take ‘Virginity Tests’

“When we went to the military prison, me and the girls, we were placed in a room with two doors and a window. The two doors were wide open,” she said in March. “The girl takes off all her clothes to be searched while there were cameras outside filming to fabricate prostitution charges against us later on,” she added.

 

My message to the self-righteous ‘true believers’  world-wide is simple: Science has already solved this problem for you. Unlike the rabbis, imams, and priests that want to murder any women who gets laid, science has actually managed to negate the pregnancy problem without killing those involved. IUDs, condoms, the Pill, vasectomies, tubal ligation, and a dozen other solutions are already out there, keeping the population under control. I recommend you stop killing people, go back to your places of worship, and leave these people the hell alone.

[A note for all those who are going to write me and say “These people are not TRUE Jews/Muslims/Christians”: Yes, they are.  The edict to kill a promiscuous woman is in each of these faiths, and is clearly spelled out in their holy books. If you as a Jew/Muslim/Christian are not out there killing them, then it’s you that’s not abiding by the holy text.  These guys are spot on to what the Torah, Bible, and Qu’ran have to say about it.]

Don’t Wish Me a Merry Christmas

A note to all the ‘reason-for-the-season’ Christians that have been bugging me of late.  Aside from all the pagan crap that’s gone into this holiday (as explained in The Heathen’s Guide to Christmas), there’s also this little tidbit I want to share for those who insist that I should be OK with people saying “Merry Christmas” to me:

The word ‘CHRISTMAS’ means ‘Christ’s Mass’, and is a Roman Catholic holy day whereon the mass is said in remembrance of Jesus’ birth. If you happen to be Catholic and you actually are going to mass on December 25, you might encourage people at that mass to be ‘merry’. But the vast majority of the people I hear from are not Catholics. (including the guy who said it should OK to say Merry Christmas)

‘CHRISTMAS’ is a Catholic term. When a non-Catholic says it, it makes no sense. When they say it to someone who they know will never sit through a Catholic mass to begin with, it’s even sillier.

This whole thing gets even more inane when you know you’re saying it to someone who doesn’t practice your religion. It’s exactly the same as insisting that you should have to say ‘Happy Rosh Hashana’, ‘Merry Makar Sankranti’, and ‘Have a nifty Nisf Sha’ban’. It’s not your religion, so why would you care about it?

More importantly, why would anyone try to force you to partake in their ceremonies if you’re not a  member of their faith?

 

Amazon Atheist

The Heathen’s Guide to World Religions has sold thousands of copies in dozens of countries, been translated into Italian, French, and Spanish, and generated hundreds of fan letters from around the world.

Somehow this amounts to only three reviews on Amazon.

If you’ve read this book, please write a quick review on Amazon (or anywhere, really, but Amazon is important). Authors live or die by reader reviews, and I’ve been told that it looks bad for a book that’s been this successful to only have 3 reviews. So, for the thousands out there who liked i, here’s your chance: Please consider clicking below and posting your thoughts on The Heathen’s Guide for Amazon users to read.

Thanks, folks. Much appreciate. (If you got this link as a Tweet or on FB, please repost/retweet it for me)

Wm. Hopper,

author, The Heathen’s Guide series.

Here’s the Amazon link:

 

An Atheists Open Letter to God’s Followers

Below are five points that I have always wanted to say to religious folk, but never find an appropriate time to do so.

First: Your religion is not unique. Any belief system that gains universal acceptance would bring about world peace. It’s people like you vying for the chance to be that one, great religion that are causing the problems.

Second: Please stop saying that you have a monopoly on love. You don’t. The caring and compassion of atheists, agnostics, and others may not be done in the name of your prophet, but it is equally valid and important in this world.

Third: Military success is no indication of God’s favor. I know this because every religion that exists today has had their asses handed to them at one point or another, in fairly equal proportions.

Fourth: People who disagree with you are not inherently evil. They just don’t believe you. But they feed their kids, go to work, and live their lives as honestly and decently as any Muslim, Christian or Jew. They just do so without the need for prayers or rituals.

Fifth: We’re all in this together. Believing in a god doesn’t make you ‘an enemy of atheism’. It makes you another person on harsh planet, trying to make ends meet. All atheism asks of you is that, instead of always picking up your Bible or Qur’an, you’d reach for a hammer or a shovel once in a while; Something you can use to help improve this world instead of tearing us apart with rhetoric. To the atheist, no person is inherently ‘unclean’ or ‘unworthy’. We’re all just people, each trying to do the best we can, and hopefully making the world a bit better by the time we leave it. That doesn’t take a God. You just have to be able care about and work with the people around you… no matter what god they believe in.

Written by Wm. Hopper, author of
“The Heathen’s Guide to World Religions”

Not for Sheep

Filed under Atheism · Tagged with evil, hate, kindness, love, Morality, Morals, peace, religion, religious right, Word of God, Yahweh