Atheism vs Religion
Click to viewYou guys know who Richard Dawkins is? He's a renown atheist who, in 2006, wrote the book "The God Delusion" as mentioned in the video, a study of his beliefs versus traditionally accepted religious ones. For the record, I happen to own this book and think it kicks ass. It challenges many things that people take for granted (religious or not), as well as popular defenses used on such a debate (like the infamous science-is-nada-without-God quote by Einstein, since hey, if EINSTEIN believes in God, then z0mg, he must know something). I'd recommend this book only to atheists, agnostics and religious people with an open mind.
Now on the video itself... I'm not American, so I dunno what exactly the deal is with this O' Reilly person, but I have been pointed to a few other videos featuring him in the past and... dude, does he EVER let his guest speaker actually SPEAK? Dawkins was lucky he was allowed to form a full sentence every now and then.
Now I understand people tend to be a little snappy about their religious beliefs like Mr. O'Reilly here, and the very fact that I'm posting something like this may offend some of you, but I'll quote Dawkins's book on this (far from verbatim):
Why are people always encouraged to question everything another person says or does EXCEPT for their religious beliefs? It seems like a lot of people are open to debate on their taste in shoes, films, politics, lifestyle, but the moment someone tries to breach the subject of religion all Hell breaks loose. "HAY MAN! NO Makin' fun of my GOD plzmmmkaythx!! >(" Well shoot, why WOULDN'T I make fun of your God? You (you used as a generic term) make fun of the fact that I don't believe in one and you don't see ME getting my panties in a twist. Why are people so touchy about that subject? If they really, truly believe in God/Allah/Buddha/whathaveyou is my skepticism honestly going to change something? If it does, then I'm sorry to say that your so-called beliefs were not as firmly rooted as you thought.
Let's go over a few quotes from the video. I'm going to go with the Christian interpretation of God in my following rant, not as a personal attack, but because Christianity is the only religion I have ever known and been a part of up till my 15th year of age. So at least when talking about the Christian version of God, I have a small idea of what I'm talking about and don't run the risk of saying something that is pure bullshit.
1. "It had to come from somewhere... It JUST happened."
Well gee Mr. O'Reilly, wasn't there a time where the greatest scientific minds on the face of the planet thought that the planet was, in fact, flat? Mind you, said minds were also Christian in their majority, but they all accepted the fact that the earth is round come a few centuries later. Science tends to have an "I don't know yet" attitude to things that non-believers embrace as well, simply because science is ever-changing and ever-developing. We know things today that would've been thought impossible in the past and guess what; a lot of them explain 'miracles' commonly found in the Bible. The seven plagues, the holy light in Jerusalem, the burning bush etc. Who's to say we won't discover 'where it all came from' in a few years?
O'Reilly says here that 'When you get it, maybe I'll listen'. Wow, here's a man with STRONG beliefs, right there. So you'll believe in something until there's another theory out there that sounds more plausible? What kind of faith is that? If you truly believe in God, then have the balls to say that 'THIS is what I believe, and no scientific explanation, no matter how plausible, is going to change that for me', you prick. Then I would at least respect you.
2. "Jesus was a real guy."
Believe it or not, I'd honestly LOVE to believe that Jesus truly existed. Christianity aside, if he really did exist, that man kicked major ass. He was smart, compassionate, and had the guts to go against what everyone else said despite the fear of crucifixion over his head. He was a fucking rebel and I would've loved to hear him preach the kind of stuff he did.
However, ye olde 'There's proof of Jesus' existence' argument is starting to become less and less valid. A plain google search will show you that historians are starting to doubt whether he really did exist or not. I guess the seed of doubt was planted in me back when we did RE in school and we were told that Jesus was actually born on 4 BC. Wtf? It was attributed to an error in calculations, but I think it was actually edited in later years because it had to tie with the time Herod was actually ALIVE.
3. "Being humble is a Christian virtue."
Do I even need to dignify that with a response? Mmm-hmmm, yeah, cause EVERY self-proclaimed Christian out there is 'humble'. 'Specially you, Mr. O'Reilly.
4. "...until that time, I'm sticking with Judaeo-Christian philosophy and my religion of Roman Catholicism because it helps ME, as a person."
Well now, that must've been the only thing O'Reilly said that night that had me agreed.
My biggest pet-peeve about organized religion is that people tend to use it as a 'holier than thou' weapon rather than a 'it helps me as a person' weapon. Isn't that what the point of religion truly is? I dunno, is it just me who thinks that religion should be something to give people strength, courage, consolation, or an imaginary shoulder to weep upon in their darkest hours? In my last few years/months as a Christian, this was the doctrine I'd adopted. That religion and God and Jesus are there to help me become a better person than the one I am now, and are there to help me when I have no-one else to turn to. They're not points to be manipulated in an argument on how I'm going to prove I'm better than you just cause I wear a friggin' cross around my neck (more on the cross by the genius Bill Hicks ^^ Fuck, I loved that man).
5. "You mean true for you is different from true for anybody else?"
Mr. Dawkins, you're made of WIN ^_____^ There's nothing I can say that will make that argument pwn more than it already does.
6. "I saw Apollo, man; he's down there and he's not looking good."
Er... was that an attempt at a witty response?
Of COURSE you can't prove that Zeus, or Vishnu, or God is actually there, and you know that, so you slithered away from answering. Can you prove that the TaxiDriver God (TM) I believe in doesn't exist? Cause I'm tellin' ya, I believe in that son-of-a-bitch and he hates me with a vengeance. I can believe that there's a dude up there who uses every cab driver down on earth like a puppet to annoy the hell out of me, and there's NOTHING you can do or say that can disprove his existence. Same goes for God. Hell, we got satellites all over the place. Why can't we see God in his heavenly kingdom up in the sky?
7. "And I believe atheism has [been a bane to society]. And I will point to the worst mass-murderers in modern times Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot. All confirmed atheists."
And I will point to you to to another set of religious mass-murderers. Bush, Hussein, and yeah the friggin' Crusades. Why are you so quick to dismiss one of the lowest points of human history?
This doesn't even need to be debated. Like Dawkins said, none of those people started a war because they were atheists. They started a war cause they were crazy megalomaniacs who wouldn't hesitate to step of a pile of dead bodies to get where they wanted. Cruelty is a human trait; not the trait of a believer/non-believer.
8. "I'm throwing in the Founding Fathers of the United States."
I assume this man doesn't know, or chooses to forget what Thomas Paine went through because he was an atheist.
9. "If people follow Jesus, then the country's gonna be better."
Sooooo... Ancient Greece, Egypt and China who didn't believe in Jesus and yet built the foundations of modern civilization as we know it were what? Immoral?
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In conclusion, people like O'Reilly should really get it through their thick skulls that we (referring to atheists) don't give a shit about any religion, and as such, are not out to get Christians or anyone as long as they leave us be. We're not the spawn of Satan, people.
We don't BELIEVE in Satan.