Being the brand new atheist that I am, I sometimes hear an educated atheist say something that means more to me than anything I have ever heard a pastor say. This is one of those times. In response to a woman's thoughts on cosmic justice he lays it on the table and dissects every single part. It takes that fairness christians think their getting and exposes it for what it really is.

Here's the link to their podcast episode 7.7 Start listening from 48:16 thru 53:24. This part of the podcast is not explicit but many other parts are for those who care about that.

This is from The Non Prophets, one of my favorite new podcasts.

TRANSCRIPT
VCurious [wrote]: "I don't want to live in a world where those with power impose their evil intent on the masses and not face any type of consequence. Without God people can easily escape human justice. I can't buy into that."

Matt Dillahunty [response]: The kind of world you *want* to live in has no bearing on what kind of world you *do* live in. If this is your principle objection to world-views that don't include some cosmic justice then, if you'll forgive the condescending remark, you really don't understand what you're talking about.

Life isn't fair and the desire for justice that you express is one of the key foundations of most every religion. We're all aware that sometimes good goes unrewarded and evil goes unpunished, so some justice-seekers invent a security blanket to ensure that they aren't mired in depression. It allows them to avoid facing the harshness of an indifferent reality. Whether it's heaven & hell or karma dictating infinite rebirths, it serves the same purpose.

Some of us prefer to actually face reality. Some of us realize that there is no good reason to believe that the universe is anything other than indifferent to our existence and our perceptions of good and evil. Some of us realize that dealing with reality on reality's terms is the only way to make any real improvement in the situation.

Life isn't fair and that's actually comforting, if you think about it. If life *were* fair that would imply that you actually deserve the bad things that happen to you and that those who benefit from evil deeds are similarly deserving.

The realization that there's no reason to expect justice is what ensures that we take steps to impose justice. The realization that good isn't always rewarded is what drives us to reward it when we see it. The realization that evil isn't always punished is what drives us to work together, as a cooperative society, to deal with our problems, collectively and individually, in a way that encourages real change and that, hopefully, minimizes harmful actions. Realizing that justice isn't guaranteed allows us to appreciate it when it happens and work toward ensuring it on a more regular basis.

Your particular god-concept view of justice represents the height of irresponsibility and injustice. Your chosen religion has us born as reprobates, guilty before we've taken a single breath, responsible for things we've never done. It offers instant, undeserved, forgiveness for the most horrible of crimes and punishes people whose only "crime" is disbelief - forever. It advocates slavery, denigrates women, curses homosexuals, orders the stoning of unruly children, sanctions wars of extermination, condones human sacrifice and poisons every mind it touches. It includes only one unforgivable crime: disbelief. Is that just?

This "justice" you so admire, is no such thing. It is divine edict, arbitrary, capricious and ultimately unjust and immoral.

Yes, I realize that there "are pedophiles out there who have escaped our flawed justice system?" Do you realize that your system says that they're all eligible for an eternal paradise? How does that address your objection? Under the rules of Christianity, the pedophile who escapes justice here can also escape your ultimate justice. Under the rules of Christianity, he may live forever in paradise while someone who spent their entire life doing good, helping others and contributing in a generally positive way to the one-and-only life we're sure to get, is ultimately judged unworthy of that reward.

Don't kid yourself. You haven't accepted a cosmic sense of justice that alleviates the problem - you've accepted one that you believe alleviates the problem FOR YOU. It is a selfish justification that shows no regard for real matters of justice. It is the height of arrogance and your desire to feel special because "someone up there" thinks you're special. Well, according to the paradigm you advocate, he thinks that *anyone* willing to worship him is special - with no regard for justice or character.

Go, read Romans. No one makes this point clearer than Paul. The "law" was established with full knowledge that no one would be able to fulfill it, it was established to demonstrate this inability and damn us further - and then a loophole was established to let some people through, regardless of their standing with the law.

Your religion has made you a slave. It has made you uncaring. It has made you support immorality and injustice while claiming that arbitrary edicts and loopholes count as either. It is a reprehensible lie that poisons the mind and prevents you from understanding reality.

When the scales drop away from your eyes, as they have for many of us...we'll be here, and you'll realize that you're not alone and not to blame.

Typical believers view God as something that watches over them, like a parent watching their kid through a window playing in the back yard. Most believers think God has a hand in their daily lives, helping them make the right choices. Almost all believers think God answers prayer, which is why they spend so must time praying. All believers think God made the universe, but they rarely consider the universe outside Earth's atmosphere.

So what happens when I tell you that the universe is so big you can't even understand it, you're not able to comprehend it's size? Does your mind play tricks on you and try to convince you that God is powerful enough control the universe? Do you make your God as powerful as he needs to be for you to believe in him? Let's take for instance this image of the Omega Centauri. This is a tiny image through a tiny pinhole of the universe. And it contains hundred of thousands of stars. You can't actually see the stars with your naked eye, but you can see the cluster of them which is Omega Centauri.



When scientists refer to the universe they use phrases like millions of billions of stars. Millions of Billions, not only can you not convince me of God here on Earth but take into account the Million of Billions of stars, those star's planets and those planet's moons and you don't have a chance. There isn't anything that made this, their isn't anything controlling this and the universe will still be here when humans no longer exist.

Here's the original article with higher quality images of Omega Centauri. Want to be reminded daily of just how small you really are?

Tags: Omega Centauri

In their latest podcast the guys over at Amercian Freethought, John Snider and David Driscoll, discuss Pi and a letter I sent them about publishing this site.

They do a great job of answering my questions (they previously answered in private) which many of you may have also thought about asking.

If you are an atheist and want to share your thoughts, please don't be afraid. Nothing worth having comes easy.

This is a great article for those of you who are just beginning to get your bearings in atheism and those of you who have preconceived notions about atheism.

My favorite misconception of religious people is that morals come from the Bible.

Los Angeles Times Original Article Link

It appears that many people need protection of their First Amendment rights from the very government that is suppose to provide them. We currently have too many people in power that think their personal beliefs are the ones that should be followed. I wonder how many of these people even know what our rights are?

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
You will find this Article in The Treaty of Tripoli (1796) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_tripoli

The Fox News Original Article Link

I've done more research on the candidates this year than I ever have. This one video of Obama seriously makes me think he's the man this country needs. He doesn't plan to change the Constitution to meet his own personal religious beliefs like Huckabee plans to do.

I could have given my own explanation but I found an excellent video to use that I completely agree with. I even learned a few things.

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXT8vP4TshY

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gese3ucXdY8

I could have given my own explanation but I found an excellent video to use that I completely agree with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuQNcxwF9pc

Two great videos about the mythology of Jesus.

The bible was written 40 years after Jesus's supposed death and people remembered in great detail. Seriously?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LeH49SVPj8I&feature=user
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq0q4k_o11U&feature=related

I found these online while looking up how to change my water heater's heater element. OK, I got distracted.

http://opposingdigits.com/vlog/?p=1176

I've watched them all and they are completely inline with my own thoughts on God.

It's amazing to see a video that has been online for a year or years with information that I thought of on my own after becoming an atheist.

Sometimes I watch these videos and am amazed at how close they come to saying exactly what I've written on my own.

I just watched this totally ridiculous video on YouTube. The gentlemen in the video is using commonality to defend his point.

Having the majority of people refer to something incorrectly does not change it's definition.

He says "Atheism is a belief plain and simple. It takes as much FAITH to believe a god does not exist as it does to believe that a god does exist."
This statement is completely false. If you're not an Atheist then you really don't understand how we think and he proves that he doesn't.

He continues the video as if his prior sentence is true. Since it's not there is no value to be had in the remainder of his comments.

You wouldn't trust a plumber with advice about how to fix your electrical. Why would you believe a theist knows how an atheist thinks? It's fair to say that you shouldn't.

I've been both. A theist and now an atheist. I work on both Macs and PCs and it's obvious to me when someone makes comments that are completely false about Macs.
This follows that same rule. When a PC user (who doesn't use a Mac) makes claims about Macs that are false he only proves his ignorance to people who use both.

The theist in the video does not understand both sides. But he does have the right to express his opinion, even when it displays his own ignorance.

You can't understand what it's like to be poor if you were born rich. I'm trying to make the point that you can't trust what he's saying because he doesn't understand both sides.
He only understand how the other side looks from his point of view.

My point of view differs in the fact that I'm very familiar with both sides and I understand them completely.

This was my first time online to look up Atheism. Seriously.

A good question would be if I was surrounded by so many religious people how did I come to this conclusion. It started with the death of James Kim. Why if I and millions of people were praying for this one man who at the time was in full health did he die? It's because God is imaginary. I'm a research fanatic so I turned my interest towards religion. I learned many things I didn't know and some I had already begun thinking about. I learned of Richard Dawkins and his book The God Delusion. I was unwilling to fight for a belief in God (that never made sense to me) over everything that made reasonable sense to me. So after giving it some serious thought I decided I didn't believe in God, but not just the God I had been believing in, all Gods. After giving it a little more thought I decided I didn't believe in anything supernatural or superstitious like luck and fait. So am I agnostic pretending to be atheist? No.

I've found some seriously compelling information on the fact that God does not exist. I don't need convincing nor am I trying to convince myself. I find it interesting to find information that I hadn't even thought about but fully supports God doesn't exists. This by no means what convinced me nor is it comprehensive, it's just more research.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zDHJ4ztnldQ
http://godisimaginary.com
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o

I learned something very important about my belief and my faith. I learned that I had a belief in God and I changed my belief but I never had faith in God or the Bible. So it's not possible to say that I lost or gave up my Faith when I never had any. I merely had a belief in something and after research I changed my belief.

So I continue to read about atheism. My atheism has sparked my interest in Darwinism. Since I no longer believe we were put on earth in our current form we must have evolved from something whether it be primates or something else. What little I've learned already has been amazing. There are amazing arguments that evolution exists whether we came from God or single cell organisms. I'm beginning to believe in the Big Bang Theory. The world is a different place when you realize this is the only life you will ever have.