Freethinker's corner

 

This is a story about two completely disparate individuals. Neither are real, but after all this is a story. Not to say, that the conclusions about these fictional individuals are in any way fictional.

Mrs. Sutty, 70ish, has always worked hard at anything she has ever attempted. If she has ever failed, it surely wasn’t  for want of trying. She has always volunteered at the local hospital, helping in any way she can. Of late she has spent more time at the hospital, you see, her husband of forty years passed away just before last Thanksgiving.Working at the hospital keeps her mind off of her loss

Arnold grew up in a harsh environment. His father left the family while he was a mere toddler, his mother, struggling as a cashier at the local supermarket and nights as a barmaid did the best she could, but has never had much time to spend with Arnold. By the time Arnold is sixteen he has served in the juvenile detention facility twice. Once for robbing a drive thru, the second time for beating an old man senseless for three dollars and change. Finally when at age 43, he was on death row for killing a family while they slept. He didn’t rob them, he killed them because the father had cut him off in traffic that day.

While waiting on death row, Arnold, at the urging of a priest accepts the Lord as savior. It is apparent from his tears that his devotion is serious.

Mrs. Sutty never got interested in religion, never believed it. With the exception of the death of her mate, she has always been a decent out-going member of the community.

Yes I know you’ve heard this before, but it bares repeating: Guess which one the church says will burn in ever-lasting fire, and which will sit beside God in heaven.

 

John 3:18 – He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Isn’t religion great?

 

The celebration of Easter did not begin with Christianity but began many hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. As with many holidays, Easter was incorporated into the Christian faith and is of Pagan origin.

 

 

 

http://www.trap17.com/index.php/what-easter-bunny_t30767.html

http://www.zenzibar.com/Articles/easter.asp

 

 

Bunnies, and Easter egg decorating did not originate in the Christian version of Easter.

Originally, the crucifixion was the crossifixion of the Sun, and it’s resurrection as the season of fertility returned to the Earth.  

All religions use a form of mental conditioning very much like hypnosis to mind wash their followers. If the leaders of these cults are successful their victims will experience euphoria along with a host of possible hallucinations. This disruption of thought processes is camouflaged by using the label "spiritual connection".

Individuals under the control of these "spiritual connections" are unaware that their whole thought process has been compromised. No matter the evidence, no matter the logic of any argument, anything that opposes the programmed message instilled by their religious leader is rejected. On those things that do not oppose their indoctrinated programming they can and do use reason. This is why even though on the matters of their religion they appear crazed, they seem otherwise reasonable people.

 http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/johnson2.htm

 

All over this nation millions of Christians say "let us pray" every day. To these people prayer is a path through which something can be done to affect things which are to transpire. For some it is believed fervently. The individuals who believe fervently sometimes end up on the six-o’clock news. These are the families that forgo medical treatment for a family member and instead that family member is prayed over. Ending up on the six o’clock news has always meant that the family member has died of the illness, usually an easily treated illness, it has never been for the purposes of reporting a spontaneous and miraculous recovery.

http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2006/04/nothing-fails-like-prayer.html

I support the freedom to pray. Even today students in school can bend their heads and pray before every test. (It is only organized prayer, paid for with taxpayer monies that is forbidden). Prayer can fill a person with a calmness, an assuredness, that all is as it should be. These gentle people are no threat to anyone.

Some people however, begin to receive answers to their prayers in the form of voices in their heads, or decide for God, what God wants. They go off and sometimes become a menace to society in an attempt to carry out what they fervently believe is God’s will. As an example: An abortion clinic bomber.

The problem with prayer is that unless you are certifiably insane you do not hear God’s voice in your head. You have to try to reason out what it is that is God’s will. To do so many consult a book that is millennia years old. This book, ancient and open to interpretation, is totally disconnected from today’s modern world. So, once again, you are forced to guess what it is that this "good" book says. Sometimes what a person decides the scriptures mean may determine whether someone lives or someone dies.

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/04/relying_on_prayer_instead_of_medicine_pa.php

Darwin’s 200th birthday occurs Thursday February 12th. Also the 150th anniversary of his seminal work," On the Origin of Species", occurs November 24th of this year. This book generated much controversy when it was published as it contradicted the creation myths that prevailed at the time. Despite the overwhelming voluminous evidence supported by science, political and religious challenges continue to this day. Preceding it’s publication Darwin himself was hesitant for he knew what its implications would bring.

I for one am glad he decided to go ahead with it’s publication. One of the most important scientific advancements of mankind.