«   |   »

A World Without Religion

by Ben Hoffman

Isn’t it time we stopped believing in these children’s fairy tails and started embracing science? Religion is responsible for most of the pain and suffering in the world. We were attacked in 2001 by right-wing religious fanatics.

“I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty. […] Only He can relieve me of this duty Who called me to it. It was in the hand of Providence to snuff me out by the bomb that exploded only one and a half meters from me on July 20, and thus to terminate my life’s work. That the Almighty protected me on that day I consider a renewed affirmation of the task entrusted to me…”
~ Adolf Hitler

Hitler referenced God in every one of his speeches. He used religion to gain power and to reign terror throughout the world.

Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
~ Steven Weinberg

Posted on December 26, 2011 at 3:33 PM in Economy, Education, Environment, Military, Politics, Religion, Science, U.S. News, World News   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL

27 Comments to “A World Without Religion”

    
  1. samuelprime
    December 26, 2011 at 5:36 PM

    It’s really more to do with human nature than religion per se. For example, consider what people have done under belief systems that are atheist or non-religious, such as communism: what Stalin did, what Mao Zedong did, the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot, etc, under whom tens of millions were killed and persecuted. And in such a short span of time compared with what religions have done. That is why although I agree that much has been done under religion, equally evil things have been committed without it — and by systems that opposed it. Some religions are much worse and dangerous than others, some have a much stronger political angle than others. It is really human nature. Have we not evolved from a savage ancestry?

    Reply
    • Frank
      December 26, 2011 at 10:22 PM

      Agreed!

      Atheistic communism regimes, aka God-free utopias, aka religionless paradises have killed more than any other cause. Between Mao and Stalin alone, they killed nearly 100 Million. I can give you more stats if you like. How many have been killed “in the name of God?” I’ll give you a breakdown of stats for non-religious murders if you give me a breakdown of “killed in God’s name.”

      Also, just because Hitler referenced God in his speeches means nothing. Which god? He was a devout pagan/occultist. He sought after theosophic “ascended masters” and Norse gods like thor and odin. Just because someone mentions “God” in a speech doesn’t mean anything.

      It’s like when Bush claims to be A Christian due to a walk with Billy Graham, a walk that Billy Graham claimed to have never had with Bush. Or when Obama says he’s a Christian, yet says all faiths are a way to “God.” to paraphrase you Mr. Hoffman “it’s a case of them (politicans) telling people what they want to hear.

      PS, Karl Marx had it wrong. Religion is not the opiate of the masses, Television is.

      PPS, Ben, you must have just wanted to hear from me and other Christians again. I’m touched. 🙂 (-: you are an interesting guy.

      PPSS, if it’s not television, it’s Black Friday deals.

      Reply
    • Ben Hoffman
      December 26, 2011 at 10:37 PM

      Dictators almost always commit atrocities, but non-religious dictators aren’t killing in the name of atheism. They’re killing because they’re assholes with power.

      But all one needs to do is look at all the suicide bombings in the past few decades to recognize the dangers of religion. They’re are almost all done in the name of God – Allah, in the case of the Muslims.

      Reply
      • Frank
        December 26, 2011 at 10:50 PM

        I have no doubt Hitler manipulated Christianity for his own ends, and those “Christians” that went along with it, will be held to account for it.

        This is the same slippery slope we’re on here in America with Repubs using Christianity and Christians in a simialr power grab. We can’t just vote for the guy because he said “God” in his speech 45 times!

        We Christians need to exercise discernment, on that I will concede.

        Agreed on the a-holes in power, but they still kill in the name of something, whether it be a “god” that’s supernatural, or a god that is oneself. Hitler made a god of himself, and killed in his name.

        Allah is not the same god as the Biblical God, despite what folks want you to believe. And certainly, you’ll likely agree, not all Muslims want to kill people. They’re not all sharpening a scimitar 25 hours a day because they hate us. Most just want to raise their families undisturbed.

      • Ben Hoffman
        December 26, 2011 at 11:05 PM

        Allah is indeed the same imaginary god as the Christian imaginary god. They both describe him as the god of Abraham. Both Christians and Muslims stole the idea from the Jews.

      • Frank
        December 26, 2011 at 11:34 PM

        Ben, allow me a moment to clarify this. I’m not sure how deeply you’ve explored religion. I myself am no expert. But this is my understanding of how Allah (or God as described in the Quran) differs from God as described in the Bible. Even though they both (and the Jews) claim abraham as an ancestor.

        Allah, as described in the Quran, is capricious. He doesn’t keep his promises always. He doesn’t always judge fairly. A Good Muslim, whose life is FULL of good works and no bad deeds can be judged by Allah to go to Heaven, based upon His good works. Unless, Allah is in a bad mood that day. He could send this good muslim to hell, just for well, the hell of it.

        The God of the Bible on the other hand, makes promises and keeps them. He also judges us on whether or not we accept Jesus Christ as savior. The only thing the Biblical God will send anyone to hell for is rejecting His Son’s work on the cross.

        He’s not going to send someone to Hell for having an abortion, or being gay, or stealing. Indeed, those are sins, but He has given us a way to be forgiven of those in Jesus, if we accept Him. Then, He will help us not do those any more.

        To summarize, as I understand it, the Quran says that people can be sent to hell for any reason, especially sins. There’s no certainty.

        Whereas the Bible says people only go to hell for rejecting Jesus and what He’s done. In this knowledge, there’s joy and peace and certainty.

      • Ben Hoffman
        December 26, 2011 at 11:45 PM

        Frank, they’re all just fables written a couple thousand years ago. The fact that people take the stories literally is crazy.

  2. letemdangle
    December 26, 2011 at 9:10 PM

    When will we stop using religion as an excuse for what people do?

    Reply
  3. Frank
    December 26, 2011 at 10:43 PM

    Here’s my stats for non-religious killings. I can give you links if you’d like.

    Please provide a breakdown of your stats for those killed by religion. No fair combining them either, like Hindus, Catholics and Muslims killed X people. Or religion killed X. Rather, let’s see Muslims – X. Hindus – X, “Christians” – X.

    I broke mine out.

    I’m especially interested in your take on how many people “Christians” have killed. Go ahead, all time over 2000 years. What do you have?

    Hitler, about 12 million people.

    6 Million Jews
    500,000–1.2 million Serbs (killed by Croat Nazis)
    200,000–800,000 Roma & Sinti (Gypsies)
    200,000–300,000 people with disabilities (or you could say those not as “developed” or people who were dependent)
    80,000–200,000 Freemasons
    100,000 communists
    10,000–25,000 homosexual men
    2,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses

    Atheistic Communism, and other dictatorships, broken down by regime.

    Chairman Mao – 50 to 70 million
    Stalin – 23 million, i’ve heard up to 30.
    Leopold II of Belgium (Congo) 8 Million
    Japan (Civilians in WWII. I don’t know if this counts the Nanking massacre) 5 million
    Turkey (Armenians, and others) – about 2.5 million
    North Korea’s communist regime – more than 1.2 million

    And for the sake of argument, “convenience” has killed more than any other cause EVER.

    By my crude estimates, 1.5 billion have been murdered through abortion. This is based on a rough estimate of 50 million a year since Roe v Wade was legalized.

    My justification for calling out abortion is this:

    Nothing differentiates a human fetus from a human outside the womb except:

    1) level of development/dependency
    2) size
    3) Location

    Please justify abortion, if you dare, but explain how a fetus differs from you or I besides the above, and thus warrants a death sentence. And don’t tell me that 1 billion pregnancies endangered the mother.

    If you justify abortion, then you should explain why we don’t kill people for their development level, or size once outside the womb, based upon their convenience. Say for example, “special needs people” or “little people”, or the slow guy in front of me in the buffet line.

    Oh wait, we DID do that, it was called “eugenics” and Hitler was quite the fan of that. In fact, sadly, some of the USA eugenics policies influenced the madman.

    Interesting.

    So, where are we with religion’s killings?

    Reply
    • Ben Hoffman
      December 26, 2011 at 10:48 PM

      Now you’re getting into crazy right-wing abortion talk, and you can take that elsewhere if you don’t mind.

      Reply
      • Frank
        December 26, 2011 at 10:55 PM

        Well, get me the other stats then.

        If you’re up for a challenge, let’s talk about abortion some other time. My take is that abortion is the new eugenics program, that’s why all the clinics are in poor areas, and (presumably targeting minorities). There’s nothing rightwing about it.

        Still, let’s move on from this topic of abortion, so you can get me the other stats, though I would love to hear you address all those points.

        Later my friend!

      • Ben Hoffman
        December 26, 2011 at 11:03 PM

        Have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, poor people have more abortions because they don’t have the means or don’t want to take care of children? Most abortions are performed on black women, many who abuse drugs. Children who are born to drug addicted parents often have mental and physical defects. So you wind up with more people who can’t earn a living and often resort to a life of crime. And you want to force that on people because of some imaginary being in the sky? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

      • Frank
        December 26, 2011 at 11:20 PM

        Thanks for proviong my point,

        “Most abortions are performed on black women”.

        Is that not, genocide? The targeted destruction of a people group?

        How do we know it’s all drugs and birth defects?

        Forget for a moment that I am a Christian and as such oppose abortion for that reason alone.

        Should I not oppose abortion because it appears that it is related to eliminating a people group, African Americans? That it’s a repackaged, re-propagandized attempt at eugenics? Eugenics was a choice just as abortion is.

        Even if my theory is untrue, it creates a really bad perception.

      • Ben Hoffman
        December 26, 2011 at 11:27 PM

        Is that not, genocide? The targeted destruction of a people group?

        I believe they make that decision themselves so no, it’s not “genocide.” No one is “targeting” them. See, that’s the problem. There are no honest arguments for banning abortion. It’s either based on religion (lies) or propaganda (lies).

      • Frank
        December 26, 2011 at 11:47 PM

        The reasons for getting an abortion are also propaganda. Yes, people are making the choice themselves, but it’s achoice based on lies.

        It’s still genocide/eugenics.

        margaret sanger, founder of planned parenthood is criticized

        “based primarily upon her racial views and support of eugenics” (from her wiki article)

        Also from her wiki:

        “As part of her efforts to promote birth control, Sanger found common cause with proponents of eugenics, believing that they both sought to “assist the race toward the elimination of the unfit.”

        “Sanger believed that lighter-skinned races were superior to darker-skinned races, but would not tolerate bigotry among her staff, nor any refusal to work within interracial projects”

        Also see blackgenocide . Org

      • Ben Hoffman
        December 27, 2011 at 12:33 AM

        See also crazy right-winger. 🙂

  4. Frank
    December 26, 2011 at 11:53 PM

    A link, besides the black genocide . Org

    Good piece on eugenics and abortion.

    http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/nvp/eugenics.html

    Reply
  5. Maui Jim
    December 27, 2011 at 12:37 AM

    Reblogged this on THE SURF REPORT and commented:
    Jesus would side you bro… he opposed the religious folly of his day the same kind today and yesterday. You are right on the money regarding “religious people” it is about a relationship with Jesus that is if you have enough faith in his teachings and who he claimed to be. The trick is cutting through all the daily religious spin to motivate people this way or that. For me I had to studying scripture to cut through all the crap. Once I figured out that it was not about me I got a new prospective on life. There are a lot of Christ followers today, yes including myself that stood in your shoes until they finally took the time to study and understand what Jesus was about. His two greatest commands are to love God and Love your neighbor. It is your call either way life is not easy. Merry Christmas!

    Reply
  6. samuelprime
    December 27, 2011 at 1:23 PM

    I’d give Ben credit for allowing all these contrary views on his blog. Even if we don’t agree at least it is being done amicably. It’s a good read to get different perspectives. And by the way, I don’t remember atheists are in the habit of doing things — good or bad — ‘in the name of atheism’ or otherwise: they just do them.

    Reply
  7. Tango33
    March 4, 2012 at 1:02 PM

    If you step back from all different ways of looking at this topic and look at it as a whole its a simple concept. As inteletual beings it makes sence that we look to associate a blame and reason for things like terrorism. Religion is a common answer, and as a soldier who has served on combat tours can attest first hand to this.

    Unfortunately its not that easy, because it must also be asked why was I there killing terrorists, becuase of my ”regime” or my ”religion”? No.

    The true culprit in all of the attrocities in the world is free will and choice. The terrorists on 9/11 may have been motivated by ”religious teachings” of there recruiters, but at the end they chose to commit the act.

    I chose to go to asfghanistan, and I choose when to pull the trigger.

    People choose to belive in religion.

    People choose to get abortions.

    People choose to kill, rape, mame, lie, influence.

    Abortion may be a convienent choice, but so is religion.

    Human nature is the true enemy of humanity if that makes any sence, becuase we choose to destroy ourselves and blame eachother for it.

    Reply
  8. Michelle Gregory
    May 10, 2012 at 8:56 PM

    When a woman is raped and becomes pregnant is it the thought that if she has an abortion sh is bound to hell?

    Reply
  9. Michelle Gregory
    May 10, 2012 at 9:01 PM

    My sister was raped at 17 and had to have an abortion thats when her life really turned to hell due to all the “good People”.

    Reply
    

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: