“By simple common sense I don’t believe in God, in none.”
03
Feb
10
Chaplin
03
Feb
10
Sagan
“You see, the religious people — most of them — really think this planet is an experiment. That’s what their beliefs come down to. Some god or other is always fixing and poking, messing around with tradesmen’s wives, giving tablets on mountains, commanding you to mutilate your children, telling people what words they can say and what words they can’t say, making people feel guilty about enjoying themselves, and like that. Why can’t the gods leave well enough alone? All this intervention speaks of incompetence. If God didn’t want Lot’s wife to look back, why didn’t he make her obedient, so she’d do what her husband told her? Or if he hadn’t made Lot such a shithead, maybe she would’ve listened to him more. If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why didn’t he start the universe out in the first place so it would come out the way he wants? Why’s he constantly repairing and complaining? No, there’s one thing the Bible makes clear: The biblical God is a sloppy manufacturer. He’s not good at design, he’s not good at execution. He’d be out of business if there was any competition.”“Such reports persist and proliferate because they sell. And they sell, I think, because there are so many of us who want so badly to be jolted out of our humdrum lives, to rekindle that sense of wonder we remember from childhood, and also, for a few of the stories, to be able, really and truly, to believe–in Someone older, smarter, and wiser who is looking out for us. Faith is clearly not enough for many people. They crave hard evidence, scientific proof. They long for the scientific seal of approval, but are unwilling to put up with the rigorous standards of evidence that impart credibility to that seal.”
26
Jan
10
Dawkins
“My last vestige of ‘hands off religion’ respect disappeared in the smoke and choking dust of September 11th 2001, followed by the ‘National Day of Prayer,’ when prelates and pastors did their tremulous Martin Luther King impersonations and urged people of mutually incompatible faiths to hold hands, united in homage to the very force that caused the problem in the first place.”
–Richard Dawkins
23
Jan
10
Twain
“This is a strange place, an extraordinary place, and interesting. There is nothing resembling it at home. The people are all insane, the other animals are all insane, the earth is insane, Nature itself is insane. Man is a marvelous curiosity. When he is at his very, very best he is a sort of low grade nickel-plated angel; at his worst he is unspeakable, unimaginable; and first and last and all the time he is a sarcasm. Yet he blandly and in all sincerity calls himself the “noblest work of God.” This is the truth I am telling you. And this is not a new idea with him, he has talked it through all the ages, and believed it. Believed it, and found nobody among all his race to laugh at it.
Moreover — if I may put another strain upon you — he thinks he is the Creator’s pet. He believes the Creator is proud of him; he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes, and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to Him, and thinks He listens. Isn’t it a quaint idea? Fills his prayers with crude and bald and florid flatteries of Him, and thinks He sits and purrs over these extravagancies and enjoys them. He prays for help, and favor, and protection, every day; and does it with hopefulness and confidence, too, although no prayer of his has ever been answered. The daily affront, the daily defeat, do not discourage him, he goes on praying just the same….
One of his principle religions is called the Christian. A sketch of it will interest you. It sets forth in detail in a book containing two million words, called the Old and New Testaments. Also it has another name — The Word of God….
It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.
This Bible is built mainly out of the fragments of older Bibles that had their day and crumbled to ruin. So it noticeably lacks in originality, necessarily. Its three or four most imposing and impressive events all happened in earlier Bibles; all its best precepts and rules of conduct came also from those Bibles….
That innocent Bible tells about the Creation. Of what — the universe? Yes, the universe. In six days!
God did it. He did not call it the universe — that name is modern. His whole attention was upon this world. He constructed it in five days — and then? It took him only one day to make twenty million suns and eighty million planets!
What were they for — according to this idea? To furnish light for this little toy-world. That was his whole purpose; he had no other….
The best minds will tell you that when a man has begotten a child he is morally bound to tenderly care for it, protect it from hurt, shield it from disease, clothe it, feed it, bear with its waywardness, lay no hand upon it save in kindness and for its own good, and never in any case inflict upon it a wanton cruelty. God’s treatment of his earthly children, every day and every night, is the exact opposite of all that, yet those best minds warmly justify these crimes, condone them, excuse them, and indignantly refuse to regard them as crimes at all, when he commits them….
God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden, and eventually assassinated them. All for disobeying a command which he had no right to utter. But he did not stop there, as you will see. He has one code of morals for himself, and quite another for his children. He requires his children to deal justly — and gently — with offenders, and forgive them seventy-and-seven times; whereas he deals neither justly nor gently with anyone, and he did not forgive the ignorant and thoughtless first pair of juveniles even their first small offense and say, “You may go free this time, and I will give you another chance.”
On the contrary! He elected to punish their children, all through the ages to the end of time, for a trifling offense committed by others before they were born. He is punishing them yet…”
–Mark Twain, ‘Letters From the Earth.’
Yes, PORN. I’m going there. The Christian hatred of pornography is non-nonsensical and overtly designed to control its constituency. The religious rhetoric about pornography is particularly annoying to me personally, so here’s my attempt to debunk it.
Christians have long fought the battle against porn. Brothels, strip clubs and pornography have always existed, Greco-Roman ruins have crude drawings of sexual positions carved into ancient rock – these are still visible even today:
In Japan, as early as the 12th and 13th century, pornography was even published and disseminated into society openly – these were called ‘pillow books’, and they displayed explicit illustrations of sex. (Example below)
Porn is nothing new. Since the inception of Christianity two-thousand years ago, the religious have kicked and screamed about this expression of sexuality – calling it a ‘perversion’, and condemning it whole-heartedly. Even now, Christians are instructed that porn is a sin, and that it is a type of sexual impropriety to view it in any form, or even to masturbate. To the Christian, masturbation and porn are wrong because it is sexuality outside of marriage.
The problem with this assertion is the brain – visual stimuli (for the exception of the blind) is critical to sexual arousal. Quite literally, the Christian vilifies this basic neurological function when to comes to pornography, and then in the next breath, claims that it is ‘holy’ in the marriage bed. The arousal you feel when you watch pornography is exactly the same as what you feel when you have sex with your spouse. It is a blatant self-contradiction; your instinct is evil, unless you allow it when we tell you to.
There are generally a handful of counter-arguments that are used in response to this reasoning, first:
#1 Porn is addictive
This is a ridiculous blanket statement – but it is partially true. 10% of people who watch porn admit that they have an addiction, and while there are probably more involved statistical figures, it’s probably safe to guess that 15-17% of porn viewers have a sexual addiction. All addictions, in all mediums, are not healthy or wise.
Just because something can be addictive, however, does not mean that it is for all people. To imply that porn is naturally addictive, or unavoidably addictive is completely false. To claim that porn has a ‘dangerous’ potential to create addicts is also a nonsensical argument – anything can become an addiction. The ‘potential’ of addiction exists in everything; in food, in sex, in drink, in pleasure, in pain, in sleep – in short, if the goal is to eliminate all things that could be addictive, you would need to end your own existence to do so.
In addition to TPD, I run a website called boozeblogger.com . It is a website that has cocktail recipes, drink reviews and various other shit that revolves around alcohol. Quite literally, I promote drinking. Some individuals are diseased with alcoholism – it ruins their lives, and it ruins the lives of those who love them. Alcoholics will often get drunk, get behind the wheel, and kill others. Does this mean that it’s wrong for me to enjoy a glass of scotch in my house? No, the ethics of drinking are relative – so are the ethics of porn. Good for some, bad for others.
#2 Porn is degrading to women / humanity
This is another use of the false universal statement – I cannot deny (nor would I wish to) the kind of degrading and sick shit that exists within the adult entertainment industry. Take this example that I lifted from deadspin.com , (on the subject of sexual addiction):
“I’ll usually open a few different browser tabs and hit the sites I like best. By now, I’m so far gone in my addiction that your average penis-in-vagina scenes, even by the grimy gonzo standards of internet porn, may as well be Victorian courting rituals. My favorite message board features only the most hardcore, exploitative, gang-bangiest, piss-drinkingest, public-floggingest scenes you could imagine, and then some. A few months back I horrifyingly noticed myself jerking off to video of a Japanese girl being penetrated with cockroaches. A real girl, not animated. Chuck Klosterman once wrote that some of the more extreme online stuff is about as sexy as watching someone get hit in the face with a frying pan, and he’s right, though I don’t usually get to the invertebrate smut until the fourth or fifth hour of my sessions.”
Clearly, this individual has an addiction to degrading pornography. There is a very real aspect of violent and disparaging pornography that centers completely upon the submission and mistreatment of individuals. This is obviously classified as potentially harmful – if you’re compulsively beating off to rape-porn, it’s not that far-fetched to imagine that you’d want to emulate that action in real life.
Just because this exists, however, does not mean it is the case for all porn at all times – and the notion of inherent sexism or human degradation in the industry is completely false. In fact, one of the fastest growing trends in the porn industry is female-run companies and websites . Not only are women contributing and changing the adult industry, but the ‘female friendly’ genre is growing rapidly. Porn isn’t just for men, it isn’t naturally demeaning to women, and sexuality (when practiced comfortably and mutually) is not degrading.
#3 Porn destroys relationships/marriage
No, sexual addiction and dishonesty end relationships, not porn use. Many couples use pornography together as they age to gain more arousal physically – in what way would this be any different than the use of Viagra or other types of medicines? If porn is openly discussed and understood in the relationship (and both partners reach an acceptable consensus), the taboo no longer exists – and can serve a valuable service to the longevity of a couple.
The Christian arguments that make these claims are truly laughable. www.xxxchurch.com, for instance, says this:
“Studies have shown (Editor’s note: these ’studies’ had no citations) that ninety-nine percent of all masturbation involves lust and mental fantasy, which disconnects you from real relationships with real people.”
Suppose you’re masturbating about a past experience with your spouse – are you pushing away from them then? Notice the key factor of this ’study’ is not the ‘mental lust’ of masturbation, but the idea that masturbation tears you away from people. No proof, no evidence, no citation – and the reason there aren’t any sources is because science has already spoken soundly on the topic:
“Although people’s attitudes about masturbation differ widely, there is no evidence that masturbation is in any way physically, psychologically, or emotionally harmful.
Masturbation allows a healthy way to express and explore one’s sexuality and to release sexual tension without the associated risks of sexual intercourse, according to many healthcare providers. They also agree that masturbation is a natural, normal, and healthy way of self-exploration and sexual expression.
It is increasingly recognized among mental health professionals that masturbation can relieve depression and lead to a higher sense of self worth. Masturbation can also be particularly useful in relationships in which one partner wants more sexual activity than the other, in which case masturbation provides a balancing effect” {1}
Yes, masturbation disconnects you from real people – and religion is the great unifier of the masses. What a fucking joke.
#4 Porn is a deadly and dangerous industry
I love the double-standards of the religious – porn stars endanger their bodies because of the threat of diseases, and thus dishonor God, but they have no problem with professional sports. As I can say from personal experience, competitive sports (even at the amateur level) take a permanent toll upon the body. Because of my choice to play hockey, I am now stricken with chronic neck, back and shoulder pain. I endured two concussions, broken bones and lacerations on my wrists, nose and face that have scarred over the years. At the professional level of sports, men are often left maimed (and some have been killed) in the course of providing entertainment. Why are pro sports acceptable to the religious, but not porn?
This is not to downplay the threat of disease in the adult industry – but safety procedures in porn have advanced greatly; mandatory blood tests and condom use (even for clean performers) are becoming standard operating procedure. I won’t make the case that sex with multiple partners for a living is always safe – it isn’t, but it’s no more dangerous than any other hazardous profession. I don’t rain down moral sanctimony on Hazmat truck drivers because they ‘endanger’ themselves for a living. They are adults – and they are free to make their own decisions. It’s not valid to claim that porn viewers are responsible for the dangers porn stars face because they create the demand for the product – if that’s a crime, you sin every time you flip on a light switch: someone at the power company will have to do something dangerous because of you. It’s a weak argument that appeals to the pathos. It has no depth.
#5 Porn perverts the mind
While doing some basic google searching, I found some articles with made up statistics that try to link porn to violence. This is total gem here:
“Most serial killers (some even say 100%!!!) are ravenous porn addicts.”
Of course, there’s no data behind this assertion, but the sentiment persists in the religious psyche. Porn turns good people into monsters. Again, I return to the alcohol metaphor – it is neither good or bad by itself – it can be used and it can be abused. Pornography isn’t a protagonist, it is sought out by the individual. Porn isn’t a meandering predator that pounces on the innocent. People willingly seek it out. Some contend that porn is like cocaine – that it naturally leads into a deeper addiction, but again, the facts contradict this statement. The average porn-viewing session lasts only 15 minutes , and at the very statistically worst,85- 90% of viewers aren’t addicts.
We can witness the massive hypocrisy of the Christian again in this regard – they denounce porn with fire and brimstone, but quite throughly enjoy the display of human violence. Video games, movies and T.V shows that glorify killing and death in (dare I say?) pornographic detail are not an issue to the average Christian. Why is the enactment of taking a life acceptable, but the physical expression of love is not?
In conclusion, there’s much more to this dialog, but I feel like this is a pretty comprehensive post on this topic. Christians, do you want to be gnostics? Will you, like the generations of the past, ignore science and reason and choose to vilify the natural instincts of the brain? Will you shame the healthy actions of the body in some fucked up attempt for holiness? Regardless, I will not heed to the shame of tradition. Sex is wonderful, and to deny the beauty of the sexual instincts of mankind is barbaric – but I should expect nothing else from religion.
