Project Reason

Why no religion makes sense to me

2013-06-11T14:16:22-08:00

Technically, you could say that even Christianity is about Karma, you do the right thing and good things happen to you, you do the wrong things and not so good things happen to you.

The problem with the idea of karma is that technically we all deserve everything that happens to us, it’s our karma, which means that the people doing those otherwise horrible things to us never get bad karma for doing those things to us!

If one is to take the idea of karma to it’s logical end, no matter what we do, we have automatically burned all of our karma. And nobody goes to hell after all this, no matter what they do.

Another tenet of many religions that have come our way is the idea of not killing, One of the ten commandments is not to murder.

Even a vegan is causing a being to suffer in order to be relived of the suffering of getting hungry when they eat a plant (which they are killing). The only way to follow this commandment is to not eat food, ever.

Another very large problem that I don’t think many people really sit and think about when they think about religion is the idea of grace, which is to say that Krishna ate some butter and by doing so he ate all the sin of the world, or Jesus “died for our sins”. Now come on. What does it mean to “Die for a sin”, it actually sounds like something that would give someone very bad karma, maybe the way the universe actually works is that if you forgive something, you have to endure it until you stop forgiving it which means that nobody is ever forgiven and we all burn in hell forever, however if we forgive, we still all burn in hell forever.

Hmm… it does say in the Bible that heaven and earth shall one day pass… it never said anything about hell passing.

Just some thoughts on religion. Actually, I think religion has developed some of the scariest ideas that have ever been, causing many people who are just doing very basic and kind things to be absolutely terrified that they were ever born, because it doesn’t really make much sense (as in my example of hell if you forgive, hell to the other if you don’t forgive (the other being you from someone elses perspective).

In both scenarios we all go to hell forever.

Seeking Atheist’s Views On Patriotism

2013-06-11T03:04:09-08:00

As an American Atheist, I am wondering about everyones take on patriotism. Indeed, it appears to walk in the realm of a religion of its own sort. I’m not sure if Mr. Harris ever approached this topic, but I am interested in my fellow atheist’s viewpoints. Thanks!

Three disproofs of omniscience

2013-05-31T17:09:00-08:00

I searched the web a bit and realized that there aren’t any disproofs for omniscience. I invented all three of these, and was checking to see if anyone else came up with them and I found them no where. One of them I invented 20 years ago. I think these arguments should be distributed.

1.) No being can hear all the numbers because they never end. If a being was able to process all numbers infinitely fast, there would be an error because they cannot all be processed. So the numbers can only be processed at speeds less than infinitely fast. Any number a being reaches will be infinitelessimally small compared to the amount of numbers that extent indefinately, which creates something of a Zeno problem, no matter how high up you count (no matter how much knowledge you have), you will always have an amount of knowledge approaching zero compared to what’s out there.
One thing to understand about counting integers is that not only are there and infinite amount of finite numbers, but there are also an infinite amount of infinite numbers. I have never heard of a religion that states that only one being lives forever and the rest are finite. This means that with two infinite beings you can assure through the infinity of numbers that both beings can count numbers the other will never count. This is not only a proof that a being cannot know all things, it is a proof that a being cannot know all things that can be known.

2.) In order to know everything, you must know what it’s like to be ignorant of something that you know you can learn about, otherwise you cannot know what it’s like to be ignorant of something and you cannot be omniscient. Actually you have to know what it’s like to not learn anything or know anything and you have to know what it’s like to learn everything and know everything which creates a contradiction.

3.) There are three ways to know every reason why you know everything you know. The first is to know that all of those reasons are external to you. If all of those reasons are external to you, then you know no reason why YOU know something because you will not be able to perceive an internal self, only an external sequence of cause and effect which will not allow you to be consciously aware of you and there will be no sentience. The second way is to know everything you know because you create it all, if everything comes from you than you will not be able to perceive something outside of yourself with which to distinguish yourself from and this will again make sentience impossible. The third way is for some of your knowledge to be caused internally and some to be caused externally, but as you continue to chase these down on one side or the other hoping to reach the true reason you will converge on the points that don’t allow sentience to process information.

Those are my three disproofs of omniscience and they can be reworded to disprove omnipresence and omnipotence as well.

Syrian Teen executed in front of parents and a crowd of onlookers for being “athiest”.

2013-06-10T06:17:45-08:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/10/syrian-boy-executed-atheist_n_3413661.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the boy had been arguing with someone about the existence of God, and was heard to say: “Even if the Prophet Mohammad returns, I will not become a believer.”

But other sources suggested that the comment was misheard, and that the boy was actually arguing with another customer over giving him a free coffee, saying “Even if the Prophet returns, I will not give you a free coffee.”

Qataa was reportedly abducted and tortured for 24 hours, before being dragged into the middle of a crowded street and executed in front of his mother. Eyewitness told the Observatory they did not believe the men were Syrian.

The Observatory said in a statement: “People gathered around him and a member of the fighting brigade said: ‘Generous citizens of Aleppo, disbelieving in God is polytheism and cursing the prophet is a polytheism. Whoever curses even once will be punished like this’.

“He then fired two bullets from an automatic rifle in view of the crowd and in front of the boy’s mother and father, and got into a car and left.”

“The observatory cannot ignore these crimes, which only serve the enemies of the revolution and the enemies of humanity,” the Observatory’s founder Rami Abdulrahman said.

Epicurean revival

2013-03-03T13:55:02-08:00

I recently founded the International Society of Friends of Epicurus. There are several Gardens of Epicurus that meet more or less weekly (two in Greece, one in Sydney Australia—- Gardens are the name of our philosophical schools or communities), plus individual members in many cities that are beginning to form communities, mainly online.

The hope by creating the Society is to facilitate the growth of Epicureanism. I believe very strongly that we should encourage the growth of philosophical schools, like they existed in antiquity when they were mainstream, in order to ensure that the public discourse on morals and ethics will not continue to degenerate into all kinds of supernatural claims. Epicurean ethics focus on tangible human pain and suffering and on tangible human pleasure and happiness, rather than fantasies (or fears) about the afterlife.

Please feel free to visit the webpage to learn more:

http://societyofepicurus.com/

Just some basic trivia on the philosopher Epicurus:

. He was among the first to propose the theory of the atom ... 2,300 years ago
. He proposed the idea of the social contract, which is basic to much of contemporary secular law and non-violent politics
. Epicurus was one of the first philosophical materialists who taught a complete ethical system
. Epicureanism is a secular humanist philosophy for human happiness that focuses on the analyzed life, on simple living, on self-sufficiency (autarchy) and on forming strong, wholesome, egalitarian interpersonal bonds
. Thomas Jefferson was an Epicurean. So was Christopher Hitchens.

An atheist redefines the Almighty

2013-05-31T12:35:05-08:00

The dictionary says the ‘Almighty’ means God. Period. To the typical atheist the word God is loaded with Biblical folktales and superstition - things that never happened. False histories. False ideas about life after death, supernatural events, miracles, imaginary beings etc. etc.

Can a word like ‘Almighty’ be fished out of mythology, brushed off, dried off, and given a scientific meaning?

Suppose what we call reality is reduced to the smallest units we can imagine. Electrons? Photons? Quarks? Vibrating strings of energy? The physical or chemical or electrical activity in a brain we call consciousness or thoughts?

Suppose reality (nature, existence) is seen at this super-microscopic level. For me, the Almighty is that which transforms this butterfly’s dream into the ensemble that normal healthy minds call reality.

Keep in mind I’m using the word to mean something like - that which pulls everything together and makes it coherent - a word with a scientific meaning.

Do we already have a scientific word for that? Consciousness?

Hello, I am a Christian and I want to ask all the atheist and non-believers something…..

2009-08-22T21:34:27-08:00

Whenever I hear any kind of a debate between believers and non-believers, I keep hearing the same tired arguements. Was the talking snake an actual snake that talked or wasn’t it? Did universe always exist or there was “the cause”? Can God microwave a burrito so hot that he can’t grab it by his bare hands? And so on and so forth.

I want to ask something very different and something an atheist is yet to give a satisfactory answer.

What is your solution to world peace?

Christians, if you’re reading this, do not answer. I specifically want to ask non-believers this. A non-believer can speak for the entire atheism or just for himself, depending on the personal preference.

(Bonus question: why do people harm each other?)

Atheists Can Now Go To Heaven (video)

2013-05-25T06:01:55-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHzHLxE4mgU&list=UU1yBKRuGpC1tSM73A0ZjYjQ&index=4

Ron

Is intellectualism and irreligion the future of the world?

2013-05-20T21:08:06-08:00

Hi I was just wondering if anybody shares the idea that at one point in the future irreligion will be the future of the world due to the fact that now society is focusing more on education and how science has logical explanations for major questions like how did the world start and why are different species as perfect and as fitting as they are to their environment?

Argument from Bacon

2013-05-16T12:50:02-08:00

Because who doesn’t like bacon?