Typical reasons for rejection of religious myths include:
- The fundamental doctrines of some religions are considered by some to be illogical, contrary to experience, or unsupported by sufficient evidence, and are rejected for those reasons.[8]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_belief#cite_note-russell-8>Even some believers may have difficulty accepting particular religious assertions or doctrines. Some people believe the body of evidence available to humans to be insufficient to justify certain religious beliefs. They may thus disagree with religious interpretations of ethics and human purpose, or various creation myths <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_myth>. This reason has perhaps been aggravated by the protestations of some fundamentalist Christians <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist_Christianity>. - Some religions include beliefs that certain groups of people are inferior or sinful and deserve contempt, persecution, or even death, and that non-believers will be punished for their unbelief in an after-life. For example, some Muslims <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim> believe that women are inferior to men. Some Christians<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian>share this belief. At the time of the American Civil War <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War>, many Southerners used passages from the Bible<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible>to justify slavery <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery>. The Christian religion has been used as a reason to persecute and to deny the rights of homosexuals, on the basis that God disapproves of homosexuality, and by implication homosexuals [1] <http://www.godhatesfags.com>. Adherents to a religion may feel antipathy to unbelievers.[9]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_belief#cite_note-9>There are countless examples of people of one religion or sect using religion as an excuse to murder people with different religious beliefs. To mention just a few, there was the slaughter of the Huguenots<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenot>by French Catholics <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholics> in the Sixteenth century; Hindus <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu> and Muslims<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim>killing each other when Pakistan <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan> separated from India in 1947; the persecution and killing of Shiite<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiite>Muslims by Sunni <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni> Muslims in Iraq and the murder of Protestants <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant> by Catholics <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholics> and vice versa in Ireland <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland>, (both of these examples in the late Twentieth century); and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli-Palestinian_conflict>that continues today. According to some critics of religion, these beliefs can encourage completely unnecessary conflicts and in some cases even wars. Many atheists <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist> believe that, because of this, religion is incompatible with world peace, freedom, civil rights, equality, and good government. On the other hand, most religions perceive atheism as a threat and will vigorously and violently defend themselves against religious sterilization, making the attempt to remove public religious practices a source of strife. - Some people may be unable to accept the values that a specific religion promotes (e.g., Islamic attitudes towards women) and will therefore not join that religion. They may also be unable to accept the fact that those who do not believe will go to hell or be damned, especially if said nonbelievers are close to the person. More recently, charges of speciesism <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciesism> against religions, both East and West,[10]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_belief#cite_note-10>have posed a curiously re-discovered intellectually challenge: does one reject speciesist religions or merely the speciesist interpretations by speciesist affiliates who do not fully comprehend the breadth and depth of religious teachings? In other words, are religious teachings that describe the moral fallibility of human life more true because speciesism, a newly recognized sin, is evident even among religious affiliates? - The maintenance of his life and the achievement of self-esteem require of man the fullest exercise of his reason—but morality, men are taught, rests on and requires faith. Faith is the commitment of one’s consciousness to beliefs for which one has no sensory evidence or rational proof. When a man rejects reason as his standard of judgment, only one alternative standard remains to him: his feelings. A mystic is a man who treats his feelings as tools of cognition. Faith is the equation of feeling with knowledge. To practice the “virtue” of faith, one must be willing to suspend one’s sight and one’s judgment; one must be willing to live with the unintelligible, with that which cannot be conceptualized or integrated into the rest of one’s knowledge, and to induce a trance like illusion of understanding. One must be willing to repress one’s critical faculty and hold it as one’s guilt; one must be willing to drown any questions that rise in protest—to strangle any trust of reason convulsively seeking to assert its proper function as the protector of one’s life and cognitive integrity. Man’s need of self-esteem entails the need for a sense of control over reality—but no control is possible in a universe which, by one’s own concession, contains the supernatural, the miraculous and the causeless, a universe in which one is at the mercy of ghosts and demons, in which one must deal, not with the unknown, but with the unknowable; no control is possible if man proposes, but a ghost disposes; no control is possible if the universe is a haunted house. His life and self-esteem require that the object and concern of man’s consciousness be reality and this earth—but morality, men are taught, consists of scorning this earth and the world available to sensory perception, and of contemplating, instead, a “different” and “higher” reality, a realm inaccessible to reason and incommunicable in language, but attainable by revelation, by special dialectical processes, by that superior state of intellectual lucidity known to Zen-Buddhists as “No-Mind,” or by death. His life and self-esteem require that man take pride in his power to think, pride in his power to live—but morality, men are taught, holds pride, and specifically intellectual pride, as the gravest of sins. Virtue begins, men are taught, with humility: with the recognition of the helplessness, the smallness, the impotence of one’s mind. His life and self-esteem require of man loyalty to his values, loyalty to his mind and its judgments, loyalty to his life—but the essence of morality, men are taught, consists of self-sacrifice: the sacrifice of one’s mind to some higher authority, and the sacrifice of one’s values to whoever may claim to require it. A sacrifice, it is necessary to remember, means the surrender of a higher value in favor of a lower value or of a nonvalue. If one gives up that which one does not value in order to obtain that which one does value—or if one gives up a lesser value in order to obtain a greater one—this is not a sacrifice, but a gain. Remember further that all of a man’s values exist in a hierarchy; he values some things more than others; and, to the extent that he is rational, the hierarchical order of his values is rational: that is, he values things in proportion to their importance in serving his life and well-being. That which is inimical to his life and well-being, that which is inimical to his nature and needs as a living being, he disvalues. Conversely, one of the characteristics of mental illness is a distorted value structure; the neurotic does not value things according to their objective merit, in relation to his nature and needs; he frequently values the very things that will lead him to self-destruction. Judged by objective standards, he is engaged in a chronic process of self-sacrifice. But if sacrifice is a virtue, it is not the neurotic but the rational man who must be “cured.” He must learn to do violence to his own rational judgment—to reverse the order of his value hierarchy—to surrender that which his mind has chosen as the good—to turn against and invalidate his own consciousness.[<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_belief#cite_note-11> On Tuesday, April 22, 2014 4:06:10 PM UTC-5, KeithInTampa wrote: > > > > > On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 4:37 PM, plainolamerican > <[email protected]<javascript:> > > wrote: > >> Plain ol.... your opinions on this are duly noted and your choice to >> stick your ass in the air while your head is on or near the sand is duly >> noted. You remind me of Chamberlain just prior to WWII. >> --- >> not that old whine again. >> >> I have no idea what your problem is to deal with existing problems based >> on the founding ideals and principals of your Nation. >> --- >> the separation of church and state works for me ... but obviously not for >> religious myth believers. >> >> You continually harp about religion yet I am sure you don't work during >> the Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, MLK holidays >> --- >> wrong again. >> >> >> (I have seen you use that very word..HOLIDAYS...which is indeed a purely >> Christian invention). I'll even bet that you accept holiday >> pay/bonuses/overtime compensation if you did work a HOLY DAY. >> --- >> the concept of holy was created in the imaginations of man ... just like >> gods and religions. >> >> The fact that you are hypocritical in your daily activities is bleeding >> into your ridiculous posts where you take no stand, post no opinion and >> deride those that have one. >> --- >> I've made my position very clear ... the religious must be marginalized >> in our secular government. they are a violent lot. >> >> >> Most people posting have indeed picked a side, made a choice and or >> decided who they think their friends are... it is obvious from your posts >> that you are incapable of taking a position other than that of a negative >> simmering hate. >> --- >> the hate of the religious can be seen from every angle. >> >> You have my heartfelt sympathies and my prayers that someday you can >> believe in something that you are not ashamed to share. >> --- >> sharing freedom from violent, persecuting religious animals is worth the >> effort. >> >> On Tuesday, April 22, 2014 2:43:44 PM UTC-5, THE ANNOINTED ONE wrote: >>> >>> Plain ol.... your opinions on this are duly noted and your choice to >>> stick your ass in the air while your head is on or near the sand is duly >>> noted. You remind me of Chamberlain just prior to WWII. >>> >>> I have no idea what your problem is to deal with existing problems based >>> on the founding ideals and principals of your Nation. >>> >>> You continually harp about religion yet I am sure you don't work during >>> the Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, MLK holidays (I have seen you use that >>> very word..HOLIDAYS...which is indeed a purely Christian invention). I'll >>> even bet that you accept holiday pay/bonuses/overtime compensation if you >>> did work a HOLY DAY. >>> >>> The fact that you are hypocritical in your daily activities is bleeding >>> into your ridiculous posts where you take no stand, post no opinion and >>> deride those that have one. Most people posting have indeed picked a side, >>> made a choice and or decided who they think their friends are... it is >>> obvious from your posts that you are incapable of taking a position other >>> than that of a negative simmering hate. >>> >>> You have my heartfelt sympathies and my prayers that someday you can >>> believe in something that you are not ashamed to share. >>> >>> On Monday, April 21, 2014 1:26:10 PM UTC-6, Travis wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> "Garbage Bag Gertie" >>>> BareNakedIslam posted: " Like many participants in the Boston >>>> Marathon on Monday, Leanne Scorzoni will be running to honor the victims >>>> of >>>> last year’s bombing. But Scorzoni will also be running in a hijab: she >>>> converted to Islam after the attack, and wants her participation to em" >>>> >>>> New post on *BARE NAKED ISLAM* >>>> <http://www.barenakedislam.com/?author=1> BOSTON MARATHON: Woman who >>>> converted to Islam in honor of the Boston bombings is running the race >>>> this >>>> year wearing a Muslim >>>> headbag<http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/04/21/boston-marathon-woman-who-converted-to-islam-in-honor-of-the-boston-bombings-is-running-the-race-this-year-wearing-a-muslim-headbag/> >>>> by >>>> BareNakedIslam <http://www.barenakedislam.com/?author=1> >>>> >>>> Like many participants in the Boston Marathon on Monday, Leanne >>>> Scorzoni will be running to honor the victims of last year’s bombing. But >>>> Scorzoni will also be running in a hijab: she converted to Islam after the >>>> attack, and wants her participation to emphasize that Boston’s Muslim >>>> community was also hurt by the bombings. (Gee, […] >>>> >>>> Read more of this >>>> post<http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/04/21/boston-marathon-woman-who-converted-to-islam-in-honor-of-the-boston-bombings-is-running-the-race-this-year-wearing-a-muslim-headbag/> >>>> *BareNakedIslam <http://www.barenakedislam.com/?author=1>* | April >>>> 21, 2014 at 2:23 pm | Categories: >>>> EnemyWithin-American<http://www.barenakedislam.com/?taxonomy=category&term=enemywithin-american>| >>>> URL: >>>> http://wp.me/p276zM-13wE >>>> >>>> >>>> Comment<http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/04/21/boston-marathon-woman-who-converted-to-islam-in-honor-of-the-boston-bombings-is-running-the-race-this-year-wearing-a-muslim-headbag/#respond> >>>> >>>> See all >>>> comments<http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/04/21/boston-marathon-woman-who-converted-to-islam-in-honor-of-the-boston-bombings-is-running-the-race-this-year-wearing-a-muslim-headbag/#comments> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Unsubscribe<https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=7f89380f46003915c34c2cdd2b126a38&email=bovinescatologists%40gmail.com&b=DDDlLTRoL%2CQSR1gDkPx.Y%26U51z%5DPWPn%3F.liw%2Clpyt51tZLrbMM>to >>>> no longer receive posts from BARE NAKED ISLAM. >>>> Change your email settings at Manage >>>> Subscriptions<https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=7f89380f46003915c34c2cdd2b126a38&email=bovinescatologists%40gmail.com>. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> *Trouble clicking?* Copy and paste this URL into your browser: >>>> http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/04/21/boston-marathon- >>>> woman-who-converted-to-islam-in-honor-of-the-boston- >>>> bombings-is-running-the-race-this-year-wearing-a-muslim-headbag/ >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >> -- >> Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. >> For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum >> >> * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ >> * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. >> * Read the latest breaking news, and more. >> >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "PoliticalForum" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected] <javascript:>. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
