Children discuss Jesus with the vicar

Children think of possibilities that elude grownups. Amazing creative insights come from the mouths of babes. They lack false modesty and have no restrictions on their ability to formulate ideas. Unfortunately, indoctrination weakens and possibly dulls forever this profound quality of the child mind. If adults really respected children they would treat every one of their questions with the greatest of care. The Vicar doesn’t have any answers, yet he valiantly goes on with his script and looks for an excuse to depart his small dining companions. Chalk one up for the children.

This video is cut from the popular British sitcom, Outnumbered

Awkward Questions About Jesus

At almost 300,000 views and counting (as of April 14th, 2010) this clip appears to be the most popular Outnumbered clip on YouTube. Perhaps that’s because of the slightly provocative title I gave it, or maybe just because it’s downright hilarious.

It is interesting that of the two Outnumbered clips I posted, this one has caused far more debate over the validity of religion. I guess that’s because of Ben’s rather forthright questioning of the vicar. Even though most of the questions are rather silly, I think the fact that you very rarely see these type of confrontational questions asked of the clergy, it can appear to be a little shocking to some people which, judging from some of the comments I have seen, appears to be the case.

Some have also taken offence to “using children” in this manner, but I think they are way off the mark. It’s the use of children that gives the scene authenticity, given that there are likely very few children who haven’t asked some awkward questions about religion or Christianity at one time or another.

Of all the questions in the clip, I think the one that Karen asks is the most interesting—why couldn’t Jesus find another way to tell people to be “a bit better otherwise something bad’s going to happen” (like writing to them). As I have discussed elsewhere on this blog, one of the major problems with the fundamentalist’s take on the Doctrine of Salvation is the sheer randomness of any one person’s chances of both hearing about Jesus and his death on the cross and not being told that it’s nonsense and just a story made up by people of a different religion.

For example, if you were a Muslim who had been been living in down town Mecca all your life before the advent of shortwave radio, there is not a hope in hell (pun intended) that you have had a chance of hearing the “Good News” of Jesus Christ, and yet you are supposedly “without excuse” when you die completely ignorant of the existence of the New Testament. Posted by: http://rationaldreaming.com/videos/awkward-questions-about-jesus/comment-page-1/#comment-432

From the Wiki page for Outnumbered:

Outnumbered is a British Comedy Award winning and BAFTA nominated British sitcom that has aired on BBC One since 2007.[1] It stars Hugh Dennis andClaire Skinner as a father and mother who are outnumbered by their three children played by Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez.

Produced by Hat Trick Productions, Outnumbered is written, directed and produced by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, although parts of the show are semi-improvised.[2]

The programme has been critically acclaimed for its semi-improvisational scripting and realistic portrayal of children and family life.”[3] Ratings have been average for its time slot, but the series has won a number of awards from the Comedy.co.uk awards, the Royal Television Society, the British Comedy Awards and the Broadcasting Press Guild.[4] All three series are available on DVD and a fourth has been commissioned for a 2011 broadcast. An American adaptation is currently being planned.[5]

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How powerful is childhood religious indoctrination?

Joseph Smith dictating the Book of Mormon by r...

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Mormonism would cease to exist in just a few generations if it were not for the indoctrination of hapless gulible children. The foundation of the LDS faith rests on the Mormon Bible, which is a transparent rip off of the St James bible, as Mark Twain recounts in his book Roughing It. Not even a modest skeptic could swallow the imagineerings of the Mormon bible. Yet there are millions of true believers and that is undeniable fact.

Mark Twain Meets The Mormons

Copied from “Roughing It – A Personal Narrative” as he tried to figure out the Mormons during his two day stop over in Great Salt Lake City on his way to silver mines of Nevada.


All men have heard of the Mormon Bible, but few, except the elect have seen it or at least taken the trouble to read it. I brought away a copy from Salt Lake. The book is a curiosity to me. It is such a pretentious affair and yet so slow, so sleepy, such an insipid mess of inspiration. It is chloroform in print.

If Joseph Smith composed this book, the act was a miracle. Keeping awake while he did it, was at any rate. If he, according to tradtion, merely translated it from certain ancient and myteriously engraved plates of copper, which he declares he found under a stone, in an out of the way locality, the work of translating it was equally a miracle for the same reason.

The book seems to be merely a prosey detail of imaginary history with the Old Testament for a model followed by a tedious plegiarism of the New Testament. The author labored to give his words and phrases the quaint old fashioned sound and structure of our King James translation of the scriptures. The result is a mongrel, half modern glibbness and half ancient simplicity and gravity. The latter is awkward and constrained, the former natural, but grotesque by the contrast. Whenever he found his speech growing too modern, which was about every sentence or two, he ladeled in a few such scriptural phrases as, “exceeding sore,” “and it came to pass,” etc. and made things satisfactory again. “And it came to pass,” was his pet. If he had left that out, his bible would have been only a pamphlet.

The title page goes as follows: “The Book of Mormon, an account written by the hand of Mormon upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi. Wherefore, it is an abridgement of the record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites – Written to the Lamanites, who are a remnan of the house of Israel; and also to Jew and Gentile. Written by way of commandment and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation – written and sealed up and hid up unto the Lord that they might not be destroyed, to come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof – sealed by the hand of Moroni and hid up unto the Lord, to come forth in due time by way of the Gentile – the interpretation thereof by the gift of God.

An abridgement taken from the Book of Ether, also, which is a record of the people of Jared, who were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, when they were building a tower to get to heaven – (hid up is good, and so is wherefore, though why, wherefore? Any other word would have answered as well, though in truth it would not have sounded so scriptural.)”

Next comes the testimony of three witnesses. “Be it know unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people unto whom this work shall come, that we, through the grace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record which is a record of the people of Nephi and also of the Lamanites, their brethren and also of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been spoken. And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for His voice hath declared it unto us. Wherefore we know of a surety that the work it true. And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates and they have been shown unto us by the power of God and not of man. And we declare with words of soberness that an angel of God came down from heaven and he brought and laid before our eyes that we beheld and saw the plates and the engravings thereon. And we know that it by the grace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ that we beheld and bear record that these things are true. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it. Wherefore to be obedient unto the commandments of God we bear testimony to these things. And we know that if we are faithful in Christ we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men and be found spotless before the judgement seat of Christ and shall dwell with Him eternally in the heavens. And the honor be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, which is one god, Amen. Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris.”

Some people have to have a world of evidence before they can come anywhere in the neighborhood of believing anything, but for me when a man tells me that he has seen the engravings which are upon the plates and not only that, but an angel was there at the time and saw them see him and probably took his receipt for it, I am very far on the road to conviction no matter whether I have ever heard of that man before or not, and even if I do not know the name of the angel or his nationality either.

 

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i-am-a-post-mormon – Dustin Patzer speaks about leaving the LDS

Justin found his way out of the LDS trap. The steps he took will work just as well to spring the trap of Catholicism, Pentacostalism, or any of the other thousands of sects. The first step is to listen to the nagging doubts you have and resolve to take action. The first thing you learn is that all religious traps have the same mechanisms to keep their adherents enslaved. They all make the same claim to ultimate exclusive truth and discount all competitors. You were probably snared as an innocent child before you had any intellectual guardians at the gate to your young mind. You were taken advantage of, pure and simple.

Once you realize the truth of your situation you can look objectively at the dogma you are subjected to and see that it just does not make any sense at all. The bible is not a sacred book. The bible is an invention of thousands of men with agendas. In Justin’s case the notion that golden plates were discovered buried in a field is outlandish on it’s face.

Sample some of the other videos produced by this project. Maybe one day you will have the opportunity to tell your story.


Recommended reading

Religionists often remark that they do not see a way to live without religion. Apparently they are unaware that approximately 2 billion people around the world live lives free of religious control. It is not difficult and now a new book by Eric Maisel tells you how it is done. Here are the reviews from leading freethinkers and authors:

 

“Eric Maisel is clearly the atheist’s Wizard of Oz to have created a book with such brains, so much heart, and a lion’s share of real courage.”
— Dale McGowan, PhD, editor of Parenting Beyond Belief and 2008 Harvard Humanist of the Year

“Millions of people lead happy, moral, loving, meaningful lives without believing in a god, and Eric Maisel explains in exquisite rational and compassionate detail how we do it.”
— Dan Barker, author of Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist and copresident of the Freedom from Religion Foundation

“I find Maisel’s writings more witty than Hitchens, more polished and articulate than Harris, and more informative and entertaining than Dawkins. A 5-star read from cover to cover!”
— David Mills, author of Atheist Universe

The Atheist’s Way offers a meaningful approach to life that is sublime, eloquent, and inspiring. This book is a true breath of fresh air.”
— Phil Zuckerman, PhD, author of Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us about Contentment

“Maisel provides a foundation for making meaning and living purposefully without supernatural intervention. A book to be relished by atheists, skeptics, humanists, freethinkers, and unbelievers everywhere.”
— Donna Druchunas, writer on Skepchick.org

“How do you bravely face the world as it is and create meaning for yourself without the crutch of a divine benefactor? Eric Maisel’s wise suggestions, musings, and insights are a wonderful resource for your quest.”
— John Allen Paulos, author of Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don’t Add Up

“Eric Maisel has given us a lovely, thoughtful book about belief outside of the narrow confines of organized religion. The Atheist’s Way offers an uplifting positive answer for anyone interested in how to live life without gods, superstitions or fairytales.”
— Nica Lalli, author of Nothing: Something to Believe In

“With this book, Eric Maisel does what none of the New Atheists have succeeded at doing: elaborating what atheists do believe.”
— Hemant Mehta, author of I Sold My Soul on eBay

Product Description

In The Atheist’s Way, Eric Maisel teaches you how to make rich personal meaning despite the absence of beneficent gods and the indifference of the universe to human concerns. Exploding the myth that there is any meaning to find or to seek, Dr. Maisel explains why the paradigm shift from seeking meaning to making meaning is this century’s most pressing intellectual goal.
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Lebanese Youth to Bring Down Confessional System

Coat of arms of Lebanon

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Protests sweeping the Middle East have given new impetus to Lebanese youths who have launched their own revolt on Facebook in a bid — albeit improbable — to bring down Lebanon’s confessional system.

Using slogans popularized by protesters in Tunisia and Egypt, several pages urging the Lebanese to bring down the Mediterranean country’s confessional “regime” or calling for a “day of wrath” against confessionalism, corruption and poverty have appeared recently on the social networking site.

“Lebanese youths, rise up against the oppression of this regime,” writes Mahmoud al-Khatib on www.facebook.com/lebrevolution, which has attracted more than 10,000 friends.

But observers and those behind the initiative say they are well aware that changing the system, in which most government and other posts are attributed according to religion rather than merit, will be a hard-won battle.

“The Lebanese are always boasting about their freedom and democracy as compared to other Arab countries,” said Hassan Chouman, a 24-year-old computer analyst in favor of change.

“But Arab countries each have one dictator whereas we have at least seven or eight,” he added, referring to the political leaders that rule in Lebanon and who represent the country’s various Christian and Muslim communities.

Contrary to other countries in the Middle East, Lebanon’s system of government is rooted in a 1943 power-sharing agreement adopted after the country won its independence from France.

Aimed at maintaining a balance between the 18 religious sects, the agreement calls for the president to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister to be a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shiite Muslim.

Other government jobs are also allocated according to religious affiliation.

“In Lebanon, competence doesn’t stand for much,” said Ghassan al-Azzi, political science professor at Lebanese University. “The leader of each community appoints members of his clan to top posts which renders our public administration rotten.”

And changing such a system is a bigger challenge than bringing down a dictator, he said.

“Here in Lebanon, if you hold street protests, it is not clear who it would target, which institution, which group. There is nothing tangible,” Azzi added.

Religion plays such a major part in all aspects of Lebanese society that even secular politicians are forced to join the system if they wish to survive, he noted.

One Facebook message put it bluntly: “This movement is bound to fail unless each confession brings down its own leader,” it said.

Antoine Messarra, a member of the Constitutional Council, said change will not come through a revolution in Lebanon but rather step by step, through education and better ties between the state and its citizens.

“We shouldn’t settle for promises but must address the problem methodically,” he said.

But for some, the current wave of upheaval in the Arab world is reason to hope that change is possible, despite deep divisions in the country pitting a pro-Western camp against a Hezbollah bloc backed by Iran and Syria.

“The lesson to be drawn from the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia is that we must put aside all our differences in favor of a common objective,” said Abu Reem, 39, administrator of the Facebook page titled “the Lebanese people want to bring down the confessional system.”

He said an open meeting would be held on March 6 in Beirut to plot out the next move after his page garnered more than 10,000 admirers.

“Nothing is impossible, even if it’s a long road ahead,” Abu Reem said.(AFP)

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Children’s Rights and the Parental Authority to Instill a Specific Value System

Essays in Philosophy

Volume 7
Issue 1 Liberalism, Feminism, Multiculturalism Article 10

January 2006

Jeffrey Morgan
University College of the Fraser Valley

http://commons.pacificu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1226&context=eip

The following is an excerpt of the Jeffrey Morgan paper.

Further, whether or not a child is initiated into a specific value system, it is possible to encourage him to be reasonable regarding his values. This is part of the work of Rawls’ concept of “burdens  of judgment” (1993). The Muslim child could be raised with specific Islamic values—rejecting the  consumption of pork and alcohol, accepting the values of modesty in dress, and the importance of  Zakat and Hajj—but nevertheless be aware that other, equally reflective, people live differently.11  Supporting such reflective open-mindedness effectively puts limits on the degree to which the  parent can indoctrinate her children.

Finally, it should be noted that children develop gradually, and that it is possible to be sensitive to  the emerging identity of one’s child, while steering the child in one direction rather than others. For  example, a parent may wish for his son a career in professional ice hockey, and may scaffold his  son’s experiences to attain this end. He enrolls his son in minor hockey leagues, skating lessons,  and other physical development activities. The father may attempt to instill in his son a love for the  game, and the sense that playing hockey represents a worthwhile form of life with the potential for  fame, glory and wealth. Nevertheless, such a program need not be so heavy handed that the father  is insensitive to his son’s growing interest in other activities, such as philosophy, painting or  poetry.12

My view is that the parent who holds a specific worldview or value system is wrong to instill that  value system in her child. However, children who are raised to accept value pluralism, who are  taught the importance of reasonableness and of burdens of judgment, and whose parents are  sensitive to their child’s developing identity, are unlikely to become so close-minded as to be at risk  of losing their future autonomy. This still allows the parent ample opportunity to encourage the  child to acquire many values, both moral and otherwise, including some of the values implicit in  specific religious or cultural traditions.

Noggle may be correct that children have a right to be taught values, but they do not have a right to  be taught a doctrinaire system of values that is morally controversial and difficult to reject. Indeed,  it is plausible to suggest that children have a right not to be indoctrinated, and that children have an  interest in being protected from value systems, especially from value systems that are reinforced by  relationships of love and dependence. We must, consequently, reject the alleged rights of cultural or  religious groups to perpetuate themselves through direct initiation of children.

Conclusion

In general, Noggle’s general approach to clarifying parent-child relationships is imaginative, clever,  persuasive and promising. His argument is that parent-child relationships are a special class of  fiduciary relationships, but differ from the standard case inasmuch as the standard case has no  analogue to parental authority.

I have not challenged this assertion, nor have I challenged Noggle’s  claim that parental authority can be justified under the model of fiduciary relationships. Further, I  have not challenged Noggle’s application of Rawlsian ideas to parent-child relationships; implicitly,  I have accepted both his metaphor of a parental veil of ignorance and his development of the  hierarchy of goods based on the centrality of primary goods. Moreover, I have not even challenged  Noggle’s claim that membership in cultural or religious traditions may well be a secondary good,  although I have reservations about the generality of this claim, since it appears that many—perhaps  all—cultural or religious traditions have serious costs associated with them. However, I have  challenged Noggle’s claim that his model of parental authority supports a parental right to instill  parochial values in children.

So if cultural and religious membership is a secondary good, and thereby worth passing on to  children, and if there is no parental right to instill the values of specific religious or cultural  tradition, then we must pass on these values in less direct ways. Archard’s approach to transmitting  cultural and religious values indirectly does provide at least one possible approach to parental  authority that allows some transmission but does not permit the direct approach favored by Noggle.  However, Archard’s approach will seem rather weak to many parents who want to promote their  cultural values in their children.

Where does this leave us with respect to the question of liberalism and multiculturalism with which  we began? My view is that there are serious costs of allowing that parents have the legitimate  authority to pass on their worldviews to their child. My objections are that moral agency does not  presuppose anything as strong as the acquisition of a worldview, and that there are serious costs to  the acquisition of most traditional worldviews. Multiculturalism, then, must survive without the  parental authority to instill value systems or worldviews in their child. That said, I think that  parents can—and should—instill values in their child, but that these values: (a) ought not to  constitute a system, (b) ought to be presented in the context of a thorough value pluralism, (c)  ought to include values of reasonableness and the burdens of judgment, and (d) ought to be  presented with awareness of the child’s emerging identity. I believe that these conditions can be  met, but that they put strong limits on the degree to which the child can be subject to value systems  or worldviews constitutive of distinctive cultures.

Jeffrey Morgan

University College of the Fraser Valley

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The effects of early religious training

Praying for... Santa?
Image by BenSpark via Flickr

The effects of early religious training: Implications for…

Authors:
Hanna, Fred J.
Myer, Rick A.
Source:
Counseling & Values; Oct94, Vol. 39 Issue 1, p32, 10p
Document Type:
Article
Subject Terms:
*CHILDREN
RELIGION
RELIGIOUS life
Abstract:
Examines the impact of teaching children religion at an early age. Comparison of the concept of god taught to children to the God of theology and philosophy; Analysis of the God of childhood; Conceptualization of God by children.
Full Text Word Count:
4208
ISSN:
01607960
Accession Number:
9705070609
Persistent link to this record (Permalink):
Cut and Paste:
<A href=”http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org.public.phoenixpubliclibrary.org:2048/webcheck.jsp?atz=http://search.ebscohost.com.public.phoenixpubliclibrary.org:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=9705070609&site=ehost-live&scope=site”>The effects of early religious training: Implications for…</A>
Database:

Section: PRACTICE

THE EFFECTS OF EARLY RELIGIOUS

TRAINING: IMPLICATIONS FOR

COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT

The simplistic conception of god commonly taught to children is distinguished from the God of theology and philosophy. There is evidence that children feel a considerable amount of anxiety in connection with their deity. A thorough analysis of the god of childhood reveals that many children believe in and internalize an authoritative being who is both good and evil, kind and abusive. Modeling of this being can continue into adulthood and may have a continuing effect on cognition and behavior. Implications for counseling and development are discussed.

Religious development across the life span is an important issue in counseling (Worthington, 1989) and one’s conception of God is an important aspect of that development. When this development becomes stalled at the childhood level, however, it may have negative effects that continue into adulthood. Caught between trying to explain the goodness of God and the concept of judgment, teachers use simplistic representations rather than theological works to teach children about God. The nature of childhood cognition (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969) further limits understanding to these simplistic interpretations (Nye & Carlson, 1984; O’Neil & Donovan, 1970).

“The religion of childhood is of a very special order” (Allport, 1950, p. 31) both cognitively and developmentally. Nelsen and Kroliczak (1984) found that “children continue to associate right and wrong behavior with God” (p. 267). Difficulties with respect to authority, contradictory behaviors, and control issues may arise for adults dependent on a simplistic conception of God. An investigation of this issue might explain much in the way of the cognition and behavior of adults who have not passed through more sophisficated stages of development (see Loevinger, 1976, 1985).

This article is divided into three sections: (a) analysis of the child’s conception of God, (b) cognitive, emotional, and developmental effects, and (c) implications for counseling. For the sake of clarity, God will be referred to in the masculine because that is how it has been commonly presented. Also, because the conception of God presented is not that of classical theology or the philosophy of religion, it will be referred to in small letters to differentiate this article from such treatises. We will use a time-honored method of philosophical analysis called reductio ad absurdurn (Angeles, 1981) to follow the logical progression of applying a simplistic concept of God to an adult framework of understanding. In using this method, we encourage a close examination of the traditional teaching methods used when instructing children about the concept of God. Our goal is to promote healthy and mature religious development. <more on line>

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/detail?accno=EJ497261

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You cannot end the religious indoctrination of vulnerable children

I was driving through Hamburg when I seen this...
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People argue that parents and religious entities will not cease the practice of preying on vulnerable children to maintain their tribes. Religious indoctrination of children has been going on for centuries and is a universal phenomenon. Like child battering, it is a syndrome protected by an extensive protective meme complex. Parents were most likely indoctrinated, making them excellent practitioners of childhood religious grooming. They know all the techniques and evasions to use on their own kids. Likewise, adults who were physically punished will strenuously defend this cruel treatment and turn around and physically punish their own children.

Changing the status quo may be difficult, but let’s not diminish the power of an idea whose time has come. Women’s advocates met a lot of nay saying when they set out to end violence against women in the home and sexism in the work force. The battles are not completely over, but the status of women has greatly improved over the last several decades.
One factor that has helped is the strategy of encouraging intervention by compassionate witnesses who can see what is happening to a battered wife. The same thing will happen with children who are being forced into a religious practice. An older sibling or a rogue cousin, friend, aunt or uncle, who sees the light, will quietly take the child aside and explain that god is pretend in the same way that Superman, the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause are pretend. After reading them some stories from a book about myths, the child will have some intellectual ammunition. Kids as young as 7 or 8 figure out on their own that the entire religious edifice is a giant house of cards. However, they soon learn not to voice their opinions on what they have been told.
Once the seed of skepticism is planted it becomes harder and harder to maintain a facade of religious belief and the reality that religion is merely a social control mechanism becomes really evident. Just spend some time reading the personal narratives of people who have escaped the trap. Without doubt they all describe a moment of absolute clarity when it all made sense why the answers to their questions were so evasive or stood on such false logical ground. Why there were so many roadblocks to autonomy and self determination placed in their path.
Atheist and Humanist public educational campaigns in public spaces such as public transportation and billboards are also a tactic to reach young children.  The goal is to explain there is an alternative to what they are being sold. Secular people have a moral imperative to spread the truth about childhood religious indoctrination, because no one else will and secularists represent the largest body of people who have examined religion with a jaundiced eye. Secularists possess the knowledge to push back against the fallout that is sure to come. Survey after survey shows that atheists know more about religion than believers.
The taboo against intervening in “sacred” family matters broke down over wife battering, and it will succumb again to advocates working to end child religious grooming. The current practice is grossly unethical and unwise because it can produce mental problems in certain susceptible youngsters. For some children the brutal horror story that lies at the heart of Christianity gives them nightmares. Islam still retains male chauvinism and rigid patriarchy that destroys the self esteem of girls and women not to mention making them sexual slaves.  Fortunately most progressive churches have banished the gruesome crucifixion statues to a dusty warehouse. For shame they ever hung those revolting objects in their auditoriums.
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Have our minds become wrecks?

“I am satisfied the good sense of the people is the strongest army our government can ever have, and that it will not fail them.” –Thomas Jefferson to William Carmichael, 1786. ME 6:31

“We believed that men, enjoying in ease and security the full fruits of their own industry, enlisted by all their interests on the side of law and order, habituated to think for themselves and to follow their reason as their guide, would be more easily and safely governed than with minds nourished in error and vitiated and debased… by ignorance, indigence and oppression.” –Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 1823. ME 15:441

“This blessed country of free inquiry and belief has surrendered its creed and conscience to neither kings nor priests.” –Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waterhouse, 1822. ME 15:385

“Truth and reason are eternal. They have prevailed. And they will eternally prevail; however, in times and places they may be overborne for a while by violence, military, civil, or ecclesiastical.” –Thomas Jefferson to Rev. Samuel Knox, 1810. ME 12:360

“Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck.” –Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822. ME 15:409

“I have so much confidence in the good sense of man, and his qualifications for self-government, that I am never afraid of the issue where reason is left free to exert her force.” –Thomas Jefferson to Comte Diodati, 1789. Papers 15:326

Flash forward

However, religious entities have historically fought vigorously against reason. To succeed they developed many direct and indirect tactics to discredit reason.

Blogger Ebon Musings writes how religion fights rational thought:

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
–Proverbs 3:5 (KJV)

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…”
–2 Corinthians 10:5 (KJV)

“The Bible is preserved, reliable, and true because of the nature of its Author. It should be believed over observation and evidence.”
–Kurt Wise, Faith, Form, and Time, p.26. Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville, TN, 2002.

“Should a conflict arise between the witness of the Holy Spirit to the fundamental truth of the Christian faith and beliefs based on argument and evidence, then it is the former which must take precedence over the latter, not vice versa.”
–William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, p. 36. Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, 1994 (revised edition).

“If the conclusions contradict the Word of God, the conclusions are wrong, no matter how many scientific facts may appear to back them.”
–Tom Porch and Brad Batdorf, Biology for Christian Schools (3rd edition). BJU Press, 2004. Available online at BJU Press.

“By definition, no apparent, perceived or claimed evidence in any field, including history and chronology, can be valid if it contradicts the Scriptural record.”
–From Answers in Genesis’ “Statement of Faith” (available online at http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/about/faith.asp)

“To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it…”
–Ignatius of Loyola, “Spiritual Exercises” (available online at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/ignatius/exercises.html)

“After ten years (in prison in Siberia), [Dostoevsky] emerged from exile with unshakable Christian convictions, as expressed in one famous passage, ‘If anyone proved to me that Christ was outside the truth… then I would prefer to remain with Christ than with the truth.’”
–Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p. 141. Zondervan Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1995.

The last, most pernicious and most powerful meme used by religions to control the thoughts of their followers is the belief that a person’s faith takes priority over the facts of the external world when it comes to deciding what is true. This belief lies at the heart of most religions and could justifiably be considered the defining characteristic that sets them apart from all other systems of thought. And although not all religious individuals or groups would state this as plainly as the above quotes illuminate, it is present nevertheless.

Consider the message that these statements convey. The first three, from Christian apologists Kurt Wise and William Lane Craig and a biology textbook used in some Christian schools, state that the authors’ version of Christianity should be believed over any evidence a believer might see or any arguments they might hear – in short, that facts, reason and logic are ultimately unimportant when it comes to deciding what is true. The fourth quote, from the creationist organization Answers in Genesis, declares that any evidence that contradicts their interpretation of the Bible is by definition invalid – as if the very concept of truth, in these creationists’ minds, was redefined to read, “Truth, noun: See ‘Bible’”. And the last two excerpts go even farther: the quote from Ignatius of Loyola instructs believers to disregard even the evidence of their own eyes if it contradicts what they have been taught to believe, while the one from Dostoevsky states that he would not give up his religious beliefs even if they could be shown to be false. This message is cleverly reinforced in the Bible and other holy books by stories such as Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac, Daniel in the lion’s den, or David and Goliath – all of which convey the message that the impossible can and will happen if only one keeps the faith and does not doubt God.

And this distorted dogmatic way of slavish thinking is dutifully passed from parent to child down through the generations. Should there be any doubt that this is the source of so much bigotry, stupidity, and ignorance in our society? Imagine any other group of people deliberately disabusing children from using evidence and logic in their lives. There would be loud protests and demands that it stop. But religion, that is different. Almost any harmful practice the clerics care to foist on children gets a pass.

We are a country ruled by citizens that the founders envisioned as educated and engaged. Is that what we see now when kids cannot identify the three branches of our government, but can name the judges on American Idol? Why did civics get cut from the curriculum in so many schools? Who allowed unregulated sham home schools to sequester one million kids and subject them to lies about our history and gross distortions of science, principally evolution, but geology, anthropology and many others.

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Recommended Reading

Jeff Sharlet
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They both feed on emotional appeals and they both employ propaganda that distorts history,  and plays up to the native fears and prejudice of the uneducated. They both distort reality with deliberate lies. Christian nationalism in the USA (and possibly in Australia and Canada) has morphed into Christian fascism in recent decades. Christian fascists are implementing a bold plan using childhood indoctrination to raise a fifth column in the USA that will seize power during a crisis. In light of the recent near collapse of the financial markets and the huge losses families have suffered, the willingness to blame fascists is hard to resist. Especially since the unceasing drum beat from the extremists on the right has been all about destroying the government. America seethes with anger and hatred in all quarters.

By Jeff Sharlet

“We keep trying to explain away American fundamentalism. Those of us not engaged personally or emotionally in the biggest political and cultural movement of our times—those on the sidelines of history—keep trying to come up with theories with which to discredit the evident allure of this punishing yet oddly comforting idea of a deity, this strange god. His invisible hand is everywhere, say His citizen-theologians, caressing and fixing every outcome: Little League games, job searches, test scores, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, the success or failure of terrorist attacks (also known as “signs”), victory or defeat in battle, at the ballot box, in bed. Those unable to feel His soothing touch at moments such as these snort at the notion of a god with the patience or the prurience to monitor every tick and twitch of desire, a supreme being able to make a lion and a lamb cuddle but unable to abide two men kissing. A divine love that speaks through hurricanes. Who would worship such a god? His followers must be dupes, or saps, or fools, their faith illiterate, insane, or misinformed, their strength fleeting, hollow, an aberration. A burp in American history. An unpleasant odor that will pass.

Harpers, Through a Glass Darkly How the Christian Right is Reimagining American History

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/12/0081322

Other books:

American Fascists The Christian Right and The War on America, by Chris Hedges

Kingdom Coming by Michelle Goldberg

American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion,  Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury by Kevin Philips

Roads to Dominion, Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States, by Sara Diamond

The Fundamentals of Extremism, The Christian Right in America, Ed. Kimberly Blaker

My Amazon Wish List:

Reports on the web include:

www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm#_edn14

www.theocracywatch.org/

www.publiceye.org/magazine/v19n3/clarkson_dominionism.html

www.theocracywatch.org/chris_hedges_nov24_04.htm

www.talk2action.org/story/2008/1/5/155457/0298

www.harpers.org/archive/2006/12/0081322

http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v19n3/clarkson_dominionism.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7422542 Is America Too Damn Religious, NPR

Blogs:

www.endhereditaryreligion.com

Progressive Blogs

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