Majority of Americans Worship a god that Condones Slavary!

My god doesn't condone slavary!!

                The main response given by christians when we tell them what their holy book actually says. The specifics of this particular topic are for another day. Today I'll go over a simpler topic. 

                What number of Americans belief in what, if anything. Below is a super high tech pie chart that shows a general distribution of religious, or non-religious, American citizens.

               Like I mentioned previously, this chart is a general breakdown of where Americans stand. Of course there are subsections of all but the atheist slice of the pie. Under the Christian category: Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, Baptist, and all other denominations. Other religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Jewdism, Islam. The subsections listed under "Unaffiliated" would be Agnostic, secular believers, Not sure. The one category that I separated is from the unaffiliated from the original survey, is Atheism.

              The study has been published HERE for all of you to check out.

What 1.6% really means?

             

            

             The screenshot above was taken at 1:04 am EST on January 19, 2014 from HERE. Lets take that number and break it down with the study from pewforum.org.

1. Christian: 250,738,311 people
2. Unaffiliated: 44,714,637 people
3. Other Religions: 14,917,343 people
4. Atheist: 5,078,244 people

             To be completely honest I was shocked by the low number of Americans that identify as atheist. I am a legitimate minority; however, it will not compare to the mistreatment of people with differences that they can not hide, like skin color.

            Although slavary in American has gone, the idea of racial equality is still a  damaging, drawn out fight to the end. Organizations like the KKK and the Aryan brotherhood will fight for many years to come, to keep segregation and the promotion of only white, christian people in power.

           Regardless of color, however, any person that has come out against the church or denounced their faith, has been killed, raped, tortured, imprisioned, and even stripped of any official honors and/or reputation. All simply because they didn't accept the belief of a god(s). Which, to this day, have yet to be proven.

            Although the blood lust for the godless has moslty subsided in the Western World, anyone that comes out to friends, family, and collegues as an atheist still faces extreme consequences when compared to even today's social standards. Families torn apart because of an illogical, unrational belief in an immoral god has been snuffed out by logic, reason, knowledge, skepticism, and empathy.

            Even with a stagaringly low number of the population identifing as atheist, the number IS growing and will continue to grow as the path to truth is found by more intellectually honest and newly skeptical believers. Together we can build the community of secular huminism where a god is shoved out and proper scientific work and human rights issues resolved.

           Although we wish religions to no longer exist, we do not fight to make religions illegal. We do not push to prevent people from worshipping their personal god(s). We do not want to kill people for believing in unsubstantiated claims. We want you to maintain your religious freedom. But bear in mind, the Freedom of Religion is not an invitation to use your dogma as a stance for making judgments on behalf of your fellow Americans. You need to make the decision that is divorced from your religious preference and jointed with the movement to improve human life by secular and proven means.

My Reaction to "Mortality" by Christopher Hitchens

My First Thoughts

                Once I finished reading "Mortality," I had a hard time accepting that Hitchens is no longer alive. His words flowed off the page with his voice, fresh from YouTube videos, in my mind. It was almost as if he had been dictating them right there in the room with me.

                I have never read a piece of non-fiction so compelling and affirming of one's intellectual strength even while physically deteriorating. Like that of a novel, I could almost feel the mental exhaustion brought on by his cancer and the side effects of treatments. His ability to string words on the page were, as he mentioned in the book, no different from his spoken works in his debates and lectures.

               The descriptions of his dispair triggered by the news that he did not qualify for what was once a promising and effective treatment that may have given him months or even years longer with his loved ones. This happened on multiple occasions, which were catalysts for the contemplation of giving in to the life draining procedures and medications so the suffering would end.

                 Christopher's ability to acknowledge and work through his depressive state of mind and share it with us compels the reader, even more, to continue that 5 minute quick read to 10 minutes. All the while never giving in to the uselessness of deities and their dogmatic, fundamentalist followers.
            
                 Although there were plenty of theist aquaintences that expressed their condolences and offered prayer for his wellness and, still, salvation. I have an appreciation for the sedement behind the gestures and apluad them for trying, in there true belief in some type of salvation, to offer one last chance to send a fellow man's soul to heaven and avoid the tourture of some damnation.
          
                This is not, necesarily, a condoning or endorsment in the belief of a deity. I still feel an equally strong passion against such gestures. To take advantage of a man at, what may very well be, his weakest, most vulnerable time of his life in an attempt to win one more fool into your delusional based cult. It is, all the more, a sick and vile trick to use the "conversion of a dying atheist evangelist" PR move to get more people to give you their minds and hard earned money. I shall never condone the actions of the "pious" leaders of the megachurches in this case.

                 My feelings on the matter really are not unique, as some of your religious friends and family may tell you. There are over 600 plus people in The Clergy Project, a non-prohet community made by the leaders of your very congregation. These are pastors, preachers, imams, and rabbi's that have made their living as a religious leader, yet have lost their faith and don't have a safe and finacially stable way to leave the position. These are people that you love and pray for.

               Yet they are trapped in the profession of "fictional story teller" and if they truely expressed their deconversion or non-belief to his/her "unconditionally loving" congregation, they would be shunned, fired, and lose their homes. They continue to struggle; it takes not weeks, but years of a painful and, sometimes, depressiong journey from faith. Many atheists have fought, tooth and nail, in favor of confirming our former beliefs. Atheists have nearly commited suicide from the depression.

               We don't choose to not believe, it is a passive realization that there exists no subsantial evidence and no rational arguement. We spend many years, after the acceptence of our atheism, hiding the fact that we no longer fall prey to the immoral actions of a god that may not even exist. Simply because we fear our "fellow christians" would divorce, disown, distrust, and threaten us. The people that we would take a bullet for, are the ones we feared the most.

              I hope that some of what I said makes you begin to question your faith. That you begin to see your religion, and the rest of the world, through the eyes of an openly honest skeptic.

             If you want to check out The Clergy Project to join or help out a clergyman in the closet, simply head to The Clergy Project website. to find out more.

American Tax Dollars Wasted For a Trip to Meet the Pope!

What Does It Matter That the President Spends American Money to Visit the Pope?!

             When I get upset that the President and the Secretary of State spend millions of our federal tax dollars on a trip to see the Pope, no body around me really understands. This is because they have been okay with our government legitamizing the Pope as a world leader, rather than condemning them.

             For government funds to be appropriated to the endorsement of Catholicism/Christianity as our "Offcial Stance" on whether a religion should have international power and persuasion is unconstitutional.

             This is no surprise to atheists. As the Oval Office does not acknowledge the 2% of Americians who are classified skeptical, logical, atheist, secularist, humans rights activism. We are very aware that the powers at be, currently, do not mind to violate the Treaty of Tripoli and the United States Constituion. I not only mention the president. There are  many senators and representatives, that blatanly state that their campaigns and decisions are all commanded by God. Or that we should follow Jesus' command. I have, also, seen elected officials state that this is a "Christian Nation."

             The people you're trusting to make the best decisions, on behalf of the portion of the nation they represent, are appealing to their religion; mostly, it's christians. The absolute anti-patriotic "backing" to their campaigns is disgusting to me as an Army vet. I was never deployed, but I still took the same oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign AND DOMESTIC. These lawmakers and lobyists with religious based agendas are domestic enemies to our constitution and are attempting to takeover the country with their god.

              One can not fathom the level of ignorance behind posts and comments on social media that are made daily. Seeing comments like the one below make me wonder whether people don't know this country was founded to be secular or are being intellectually dishonest to get their religion in control.

               Any American that believes the removal of legislation in this country, that showed their religion special treatment, is an attack on their god(s). I don't know what holy spirits you've been drinking, guy, but your religion is having it's filthy fingers removed from our government. I hope that one day we can snuff out your silly superstition.

              Before you start babbling on about this country needing god(s) or a god being on our side, why should I give a shit what your god and its novel have to say? What if the government were to adopt Mormanism as the official country religion and mandated that all americans purchase and wear "magical underwear?" There would be a lot of catholics, pentecostals, bapists, and all other denominations that disagree with the Morman denomination. Many of those Christians would protest and say that the government's religion is the wrong one.

              Get your head out of your ass and keep your god(s) out of my American government.
          

This is what you can expect to see.

Mostly, this is so I can be held accountable.

I want to post at least once or twice a week. More would be great, but I want to get into a groove. It is my new year's resolution to be more active in the atheist community and that includes my blog.

I want to make 2 types of posts.

The first would be a mixture of current events and issues, at first it will be most likely about my home state Ohio, but eventually I will branch out.

I also want to, periodically, write a personal review of a book I read from the "Atheist's Booklist" that I find from various other bloggers. I have read "Mortality" by Christopher Hitchens and have just literally started "god is not Great" also by Christopher Hitchens. I want to give my honest opinion of these titles, as well as many more in the future. It's not necessarily going to be a review, but more like a "here's what I learned" and "how i feel about this specific topic and his view point on it." I am very aware of his passing in 2011 and after reading mortality, I can honestly say that there would be even greater works and more human rights momentum if he were still around today.

Enough "praising", for lack of a more clever and cheeky term, time for a serious note. I am very passionate about very few things, moderately passionate about all else.

This is your only Warning!

I will use harsh and possibly offensive language and phrasing at times. I will do my best to prepare you guys at the top of the post if I go into a heated rant or something, with a "reader's discretion is advised" label or something to that affect.

That's about it for today, thanks for reading!

In the Beginning, there were... Definitions!!!

Start with a Few Definitions

Theism vs. Atheism

Theism and Atheism are philosophical positions of belief of the claims: 

• Claim 1 - "A god (or gods) exist."
• Claim 2 - "No god (or gods) exist." 

If you accept Claim 1, you are defined as a Theist. If you accept Claim 2, you are an Atheist. These are positive claims that carry the Burden of Proof, which we'll get more in depth with later.

If you DO NOT accept Claim 1, you are an Atheist. Generally, if you DO NOT accept Claim 2, you would be considered a Theist; however, an Atheist may also deny acceptance of Claim 2.

How can an Atheist deny the acceptance of both claims? Well, that's where Gnosticism comes into play. Gnosticism is the philosophical position of having knowledge or knowing. An agnostic is not the "twilight zone" of belief, it is a label given to Theists and Atheists dependent on there position of the above two claims.

If you accept one of the two claims above you are gnostic theist or gnostic atheist. In other words, you are claiming to know that a god (or gods) exists or does not exist. If you deny the claims, you are an agnostic theist or atheist.

I am an agnostic atheist. Meaning, I do not claim to know one or both to be true or false, therefore I do not accept the claims to be true and I do not claim that either are false.

If you do not accept the claim that a god (or gods) exist, isn't that the same as saying they do not exist?

Short answer: No. The fact that I also DO NOT accept the claim that a god (or gods) do not exist does not mean I must accept the claim that a god (or gods) DO exist. Thus, explaining how an atheist can deny acceptance of both claims.

For more clarification on this matter, check out the ironchariots.org page on Atheist vs. Agnostic.

"When did you decide that God doesn't exist?"

This was a real question asked of me by a theist friend of mine (yes a theist and an atheist can co-exist peacefully). As I stated earlier, I do not claim that a god (or gods) do not exist, I simply do not accept the claim that a god (or gods) exist. (By the way, typing the word exist over and over again makes me think that the word 'exist' is spelled wrong. That may just be me. Thank Les Earnest for spell check).

I grew up in a secular home. My mother is anti religion, but believes that if you are a good person you will go to heaven after you die. My father is a christian, but hasn't claimed, or more accurately picked, a denomination. My aunt, my mother's sister, is a "devout" Pentecostal christian. I mention my aunt, because every once in a while she would take my brother, sister, and I to church with her and we would sit in Sunday school. It was never against our will, but I never believed in God until I was 15. I was "saved" and "baptized", respectively, within a month of each other.

For the next few years I gradually increased the time I spent praying and studying the Bible. I had gotten to the point where I claimed that God existed and "He told me" to become a preacher. As I prayed and studied, I started to apply my natural skepticism to the bible and the existence of God. The more a read and the more I prayed, the more questions I had and the more religiously skeptic I became.

Since the preachers and pastors were "told by God" what verses to develop their sermons on, I decided to read the parts of the bible that I never heard anyone talk about. Oh boy was my faith in for a wake up call. I learned about all the immoral "laws" and events "justified" by God and I was not happy. I had so much wanted believe that the bible was a good and moral source to live life by. I lived in denial for a while longer, ignoring these parts of the bible, saying things like, "Well, what it REALLY means to say is..." and "You're not interpreting it they way God meant it to be."

Eventually, I stopped putting up with the hypocritical drama that takes place amongst church goers and stayed away. I continued to study the bible and pray that God would give me "a sign", which I now refer to as substantial evidence, of "His" existence. I stopped referring to myself as a christian and began to "secretly" search for proof of God's existence, hoping to convince others and, more importantly, myself. I gave up when I realized that if substantial evidence of a god (or gods) had existed, I wouldn't have to have searched so hard for so long.

Around 18 years old, I decided that I didn't believe that a god (or gods) exist. I was finally free from the guilt that was assigned to me by an organization that has been responsible for genocide, organized crime, and the intense resistance to the discovery of truth by the scientific community.

I was inspired to start this blog, and soon my podcast, by a show I found on YouTube, The Atheist Experience.


If you would like to contact me with an argument or evidence for or against the existence of a god (or gods) E-mail Me!

www.hypersmash.com