There are many reasons why I'm an atheist and no doubt in the course of time I'll tread my way through them all. A key reason is because of the way some believers of theistic religions, in particular Christianity and Islam, use 'scripture' to, in my opinion, justify their deep bigotry. While fundamentalists will always espouse the most intolerant views, even a moderate level of belief can foster discrimination.
Fancy Sydney Bishops declining to an invitation to the Lambeth Conference because the U.S Episcopalians have ordained a gay Bishop and some have blessed gay unions. These U.S Bishops should be cheered for their progressive and tolerant outlook that would no doubt do religion's image some good. The U.S Episcopalians have largely been terrific in this area for some time, producing forward thinking leaders such as John Shelby Spong whose books have attempted to coax Christians to cast off such discrimination and have highlighted the threat of fundamentalism for decades. All we need is a Spong of Islam and maybe reason has a chance of winning the day. So it's a shame that Sydney's Bishops have to be so narrow minded and continue to tacitly support bigotry from behind that ever present shield, the Bible.
But on to something else:
A few weeks back, my wife found a $1,000,000 note in an elevator. The discovery was no doubt a tad exciting even though we all know there's no way to cash it in. The picture on it's front was that old criminal legend Ned Kelly and it's likeness to what one might imagine a real $1,000,000 note was quite striking. But when you turn it to the back there's a problem:
So this note had a message to preach, and that message is that she was going to Hell. Even though she's a good person in every way and wouldn't ever set out to deliberately hurt a soul (except me in a fight), she could still expect to face fire and damnation at the end of her life for maybe 'looking with lust', or god forbid using 'God's name in vain'.God Damn I thought!!!! (oops!) Can't they just let others be? Why must they attempt to guilt us, or scare us into religion, and how is that a good way to be inducted anyhow? It's on Hellfire where I agree with Dawkins the most. Those poor children raised within these religions will grow to believe that their thoughts can land them in Hell and an eternity of pain. Is this not child abuse?
The note held a web address which I visited, and can I just say that you won't find me at Evangelism Boot Camp this year.
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