Atheist Bites
Read my webcomic: http://kanirabaxter.comicgenesis.com/
Visit the BionicDance store: http://www.zazzle.com/bionicdance/
Twitter: / bionicdance
"The A-Word" Podcast: http://theaword.podomatic.com/
What people ACTUALLY believe is what matters to how they'll behave; their scripture is NOT the important part. And showing them that their belief is not warranted--by attacking their faith and replacing it with knowledge instead--is what will eliminate religion. It's that simple.
-Kate Fahr
And the people who believe no less ridiculous things, but pick-and-choose the nicer parts of their dogma, are still religious, still members of that same religion; they're just less nasty, is all. I still oppose them, it's just less urgent than against the violent fanatics.
I advocate NUANCE over tarring everybody in a religion with the same brush. And I hope you do too.
-Kate Fahr
If the people and the scripture disagree, it's the PEOPLE I'm going to care about and pay attention to. They're the ones that can hurt, help, hope, and heal.
Scripture is just bad sci-fi/fantasy; people are thinking, feeling beings that can affect other thinking, feeling beings. Which would YOU concentrate on?
-Kate Fahr
The point is that religious dogma ISN'T true--or at least isn't proved so with evidence--and requires faith to believe and follow. As such, dogma can also be rationalized to be better or worse than its actual content; dogma doesn't matter NEARLY as much as human interpretation of it. And human action regarding it.
THAT'S what really matters.
-Kate Fahr
Faith--the religious, belief-without-proof kind of faith--leads us to act on incomplete, wrong, or even wholly made-up information; I'd like to think the dangers of that are self-evident.
Imagine if people built a nuclear reactor on faith instead of facts. Imagine a doctor performing surgery based on what FELT right instead of on research. And so on.
So why should we assume that a deity exists--and expects certain behaviors of us, and built the world in specific ways--without some pretty damned iron clad information to that effect?
Faith is bad because it encourages us to be satisfied with not enough information.
-Kate Fahr
Conscience is subjective. It dwells in us, in our brains. It is not objective because it is NOT independent of our minds. It is not universal, it does not exist outside of subjective perspective. That's the only relevant criterion here.
When we enforce our morality, we are enforcing our personal, subjective perspective, REGARDLESS of whether it is our conscience, our opinion, or whatever else you want to call it. The point is that it is NOT universal and does NOT exist outside our brains.
-Kate Fahr
Shoulds are subjective, shoulds are opinions. I can only tell you that there are moral rules that I would personally like to see enforced...and thankfully, many agree with me. But "should"...? A universal "should" to which we must all bow even if we disagree? Such a thing does not exist.
-Kate Fahr
Thinking does not equal truth, nor does it equal logic or reason; keep in mind that imagination is ALSO thought.
-Kate Fahr
If the number of gods you believe in is less than one, you're an atheist, no matter what else you might be.
-Kate Fahr