Religion is a Mental Illness

"We keep being told, ‘RESPECT FAITH. '

Well, I actually don't. Because I don't think that lying to children is a respectable occupation.”

-- Christopher Hitchens

If you see something apparently involving suspension of the laws of nature, shall we say: the Sun is standing still so Joshua can win his battle? Or the raising of Jarius' daughter, or even my favorite miracle, the turning of the water into wine at Cana, attribute to the Hellonistic influence that still persisted in Palestine at that time. You still have to ask yourself a question: Which is more probable? That the laws of Physics or nature have been suspended, by the way in my favor, or that I'm under misapprehension?

Everyone has to ask themselves that question. That's if they saw it themselves. If they take it as a report, issued and filtered through dozens of other non-eye witnesses and corrupt text down the years, then I would think anyone who says they think of the resurrection as a historic fact is advertising a willingness to believe in absolutely anything.

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What does Christianity say? Ah, those laws can be suspended, and in your favor too, if you make the right prayers and propitiations and sacrifices. It can be that a virgin can conceive, a dead body can walk again, your leprosy can be cured, the blind can see. NONSENSE!

It's not moral lo lie to children! It's not moral to lie to ignorant uneducated people and tell them that if they will only believe nonsense they can be saved. It's immoral!

The totalitarian concept of the afterlife. The hideous idea doesn't even occur in the New Testament, excuse me, doesn't occur even in the violent, rape and genocide filled books of the Jewish bible. There's no punishment of the dead. When god has destroyed your tribe and had your virgins and your children murdered in front of you, and had your flocks and herds scattered and so on, and you also fall down to a bronze sword, he's done with you. The earth can close over you. That's it. You tangled with the wrong tribe, the one he favored.

Not until gentle Jesus, meek and mild, are you told: -- If you don't make the right propitiations you can depart into everlasting fire -- One of the most wicked ideas ever preached, and one that's ruined the lives and peace of mind of many, many children preached to them by vicious, child hating old men and women, in the name of this ghastly cult, which we're met here to discuss tonight. I don't need 2 minutes to finish with this religion. But thanks.

I have a moral challenge on this point: Answer me if you think the morality comes from the supernatural, and will require celestial dictatorship permission for it. Name me a moral action committed by a believer, or a moral statement or an ethical statement uttered by one that could not been made or uttered by a non-believer.

I've asked this in a number of venues and forums now, I'm gonna keep on asking it. I've not yet had an answer.

If I were to ask anyone in this room, however: Could they name a wicked action performed or a vile statement made by someone, attributable only to their religious faith, there isn't a single person here who would have to hesitate for a second in discovering what that was, and saying it.

Why is it incompatible with knowledge and science is for this reason: We calculate that the human species, Homo sapiens, has been around now, Carl Sagan thought perhaps 200.000 years, I would say for simplicity 100.000, not more nor less. In order to believe the Christian message you have to believe this: For those hundred thousand years people were born, died, usually, many of them in child birth, either the mother or the child, at life expectancy perhaps 20 years, 25, died of microorganisms they didn't know existed. Genesis doesn't mention them because the people who write Genesis don't know there are microorganisms.

Earthquakes would have been terrifying. Tsunamis, volcanoes, mysterious events. War, famine superimposed on this. You can all fill out this picture for yourselves, I'm sure. That was our life.

For tens of thousands of years, on and on it went. Maybe a gradual upward curve of a sort. We seem to have made some progress very painfully, and with infinite suffering and labor, and with our solidarity still intact.

Now, here's what you have to believe: You have to believe that Heaven watched that for 98,000 years, and after 98,000 years decided 2,000 yrs ago, it may be time to intervene. And the best way of doing that would be to have a filthy human sacrifice in a very remote part of Palestine. And the news of this has still not penetrated to the rest of the world and I don't think will be believed when it does.

And isn't believed by me, and can't be believed by a thinking person.

Thank you.