Opining Opus

I obviously can't prove god's non-existence nor am I set out to do so. If I remember my highschool science I don't think you can prove a negative assumption, I believe you set out to prove a positive assumption and how likely it is to be true. This would imply that the burden of proof really lies with theists no? Ahhh, but then, I've been told by many it's not an assertion of fact, it's one of faith. They are sure that god exists yes, but if so, why would you need faith? This is absurd by the definition of faith. Anyway, what I'm set out to do here is to show how unlikely it is that god exists, and given the facts of science etc, it's highly unlikely. So here's some basic questions for the theists then:

1. It's often said that the deceased are in a better place, that god called them home, well, why then aren't all Christians in a much bigger hurry to get there?

2. There are so many problems with an omnipotent and all-knowing god do I really need to ask the hundreds of questions this implies? This alone shows the absurdity of it all. For example, if god wishes to be known, why can't he just show everyone? What is god's plan? How many times have you heard, it's god's will? Wouldn't he know in advance so how can there be any planning involved? And if god knows, what's the point in praying, it's already in the plan. And further to events like 09/11, why are we after BIn Laden anyway, wasn't this part of god's plan? didn't he send them to a better place?

3. I've already touched upon how a loving god can be so cruel, here's another that's been said many times before I ... if god could help Moses part the Red Sea, why didn't he open the gates to the concentration camps?

4. Does anyone actually believe that Noah put 2 kinds of every animal on an Ark while god flooded and killed everyone else? What did he do with all the ummmm, errrr, well, crap so to speak? What did the carnivorous animals eat?

5. I'll reiterate the prayer option there from above, what's the point in prayer? How can a finite being here on earth tell anything to an all-knowing, omnipotent deity that he/she doesn't know already?

6. My favorite and one of the things that actually started me on this path ... did Adam and Eve have navels?

If anyone has some answers I'm all ears?

Sikh Student wants right to wear religious dagger in school

I just couldn't make some of this stuff up now could I. The lad (or his parents) wants to wear the dagger to school, known as a kirpan, as it's part of his faith. The school board have said no but it was actually a parents group who brought it up in the first place and rightly so. The parents of the boy have hired a human rights lawyer to take it as far as they feel required. Am I the only one amazed at not only the audacity of this but the absolute foolishness of it all?

I've got a coupla problems with the whole story. The most obvious one since I'm in the blogger here is the religious angle. I don't have a huge problem if you want to practice your religion, I think there are boundaries to that too but in this instance, it's the practice of a completely ceremonial part of a religion that could have dangerous consequences. My second problem is more Archie Bunkerish but let's get real. You come from a country where there's some cultural and religious clashes amongst it's own citizens. Shouldn't you be leaving some of that behind when you migrate to a new country? I think there are some serious problems with the Canadian policy of Multiculturism and this is just one example gone awry. Perhaps that's another windmill to tilt at for another day. Excuse this commercial break, back to more opining.

Next up if something doesn't strike my fancy, some questions for the believers, perhaps someone could even think of some answers ...

"Though shalt not kill, well, except in God's name"

I was going to get into a long history and list of wars and atrocities waged in god's name but to list the atrocities in the name of god or gods would entail more space than this page would allow wouldn't it. If you don't think that's true then I can't help you out here. All people of a particular faith generally believe that their god is good and benevolent. I'm completely at a loss as to how this obvious contradiction can be resolved within a belief system. There are many passages in the Bible that advocate war and immense cruelty. The biblical deity commanded men to invade other nations and kill all whom lived there, to engage in religious persecution, and to stone to death those who followed other gods. When we contemplate the magnitude of suffering that's gone on not only thru out history but in the world today, and an all-knowing all seeing god that must by defintion know of it, he would indeed in fact be intensely cruel no? I see no other conclusion.

The mathematician Blaise Pascal was brought to my attention by a couple of fellows I went to school with and how he thought of god logically. It's known as the argument of the wager or sometimes Pascal's Pensees although I think the later refers to many other works of Pascals as well. It goes as follows:

If I wager for and God is -- infinite gain;
If I wager for and God is not -- no loss.
If I wager against and God is -- infinite loss;
If I wager against and God is not -- neither loss nor gain.

Pascal's argument is you might as well believe since that leads to infinite gain and all other path's lead to no loss or gain or worse, infinite loss. It has obvious appeal as it presents the argument in a logical sequence and then the results, there need be no other thinking involved, or is there? Upon close examination the question then becomes, is there any harm (or loss) if you wager for god and god is not. Pascal says there's no loss and I've struggled with the truth of that statement. I've stated here that religion can and does present a positive influence on some people's lives. I haven't really gotten into the untold death and destruction it's caused thru out history however. I like to look at it using an analogy these same school friends of mine used to talk about in University, would you rather be ignorant and happy or know and be somewhat saddened by the truth? I don't know if there's a right answer for that one and alot would depend on the circumstances too. For example, would you rather live your life happy with your spouse or actually be party to the truth that your spouse was unfaithful if this was the case? I don't think you neccessarily have be saddened by the truth either though and that's what I don't understand about some Christians. They assume that atheists are somehow sad in their non-belief and there's a hint of pity. Me, I'm pretty damn thrilled to be alive.

As an aside on ole Blaise Pascal there ... at one point in his life he became increasingly isolated from the world. He claimed to have some sort of vision and renounced learning to devout his life to god. When he had the slightest thought of vanity he wore a girdle of nails driving them into his flesh to be more like Jesus crucified. Sounds like he was pretty sane eh?

The Mormons are under a bit more scrutiny lately because of the Olympics being in Salt Lake City, Utah. The land of milk and cookies (I ain't kidding) is more or less Mormom and the Mormon religion touches all aspects of Utah society and government. The Mormons can boast one of the fastest growing religions in the world with over 11 million members. So who are the Mormons ya may ask? Well, didn't ya? The Mormons are as white bread as ya come, they don't drink alcohol, tea or coffee, and despite the 6 o'clock news most of them don't advocate more than one wife. They do have secretive temple rites and yes, they want you to be a Mormom too.

The Mormoms were founded by a farmer in upstate New York named Joseph Smith. In 1823, young Joseph retreated to the woods to find god and was greated by the angel Moroni. Moroni told Joe that gold plates were buried nearby that explained the history of Christ's people in America as the one true religion. Smith found the plates on nearby Hill Cumorah and translated the test into the first "Book of Mormon". Smith was the only one to read the plates before returning them to the angel Moroni. Smith's relevations continued for another 20 years including the relevation of Polygamy as the word of god but that's been more or less shunned by a majority of Mormoms today. The Mormons were run out of of most states until Brigham Young replaced Smith as church leader and lead the first settlers to what we know as Utah today.

The Mormons were heritical to other Christian religions and were condemned by Catholic and other churches leaders alike. I mean, c'mon, that's a pretty tall story and it sounds just like a cult doesn't it? At least it sounds like a any definition of a cult, Joe leads followers to his vision as the one true religion? Says he finds gold plates and translates them into a bible for the religion? Hmmmmm, well, let's replace Joe with Moses and what have we got there? Oh, pretty much the exact same story ain't it? Moses has vision of angel who tells him of plates with 10 ummm "rules"? That's right, all of Christianity is based on the exact same story. Draw your own conclusions.

Lots of people do derive great comfort from religion. I think it feeds a need to believe in something. Sometimes it would be to ease a fear of dieing or just to believe that this isn't honestly all there is. And I'm convinced that there's untold millions who would believe anything at all no matter how far fetched.

So who's ever seen Miss Cleo on TV? She's one of these call in psychics and the gentlemen that owns this particular one (not sure how many others) is a multimillionaire. So obviously he's gotten rich knowing what I just mentioned, the need for people to believe in anything at all. I find myself saddened by this truth and I think everyone should be. There's more on Cleo there too, she's being sued by several folks for false advertising amongst other things. The funny part is Miss Cleo is really an actress hired to present the image out front. Obviously she couldn't answer the thousands of calls and there's a whole switchboard full of people who offer up psychic readings to the gullible. I'm begining to thing the gullible number way more than we'd like to imagine. Next up, The Mormons

"Promise a young man that death is not the end and he will willingly cause disaster" Richard Dawkins

Continuing my September 11th and religion opining here. I was just going to post a section of Richards Dawkin's article Religion's Misguided Missiles but to do so would not do it justice and by not reading the entire selection it may be misleading. Please read the complete article at the link above as it's well worth it. He describes how religion can make life worthless and by promising life after death can very well be a very dangerous idea indeed. I not too dumb to realize that the notion can also provide great comfort to those who require something to believe that this isn't all their is. That there's some great reward awaiting or some bliss resulting from suffering in this existence. My advice is kinda hooky and not really new ... live your life, be happy, be kind to those you know, this is all there is and for me, that's enough.