Ohhhhh, I could've gone ALL DAY addressing this question. But I had a better idea: write about my beefs. It would reach a larger audience than that tiny campus walk path.
I want to be clear, I have a beef with
Faith. I don't have a beef with just Christianity, but ALL religions.
While this question was directed to me directly about Christianity, I
shall answer by discussing Christianity but I will include other
religions to show that my beef with religion is justified all across
the board.
Faith is absolutely the most dishonest
position can take. Faith is pretending to know something you cannot
know; it is a twisted glorification of willful ignorance; it is an
absolute conviction without reason; it is merely playing pretend and self-delusion,
wishful thinking of what a individual wants to believe whether or not
it is true. Truth does not matter, all that matters is if you believe or not.
These videos demonstrate a clear case why faith is the most dishonest position anyone can possibly take.
I'd like to take a small snip from this presentation by AronRa;
If we were arguing for scientific terms, I would have to cite peer-review studies. Since faith is a religious term, I'll have to turn to religious authorities, beginning with the most familiar Scripture in Western society.Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.2 Corinthians 4:18 - So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.2 Corinthians 5:7 - We live by faith, not by sightJohn 20:29 - Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”Romans 4:17 - As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.Romans 1:20 - For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.Things hoped for, but not seen. Looking at things that are not seen. Not seeing what is seen. And this list ends with everybody’s favorite combination of logical fallacies; the circular argument of arriving back to an assumed conclusion.Now that we are expected to see what is not there. Not only that, we are blessed if we make ourselves see what cannot be seen. This is not a reasonable request. These are not reasonable responses. We are encouraged to believe without reason, in fact we are blessed if we believe the most outrageous illogical inconsistent contradictory claims without any evidence at all. Because only accurate information has practical application, and it should be that positive claims require positive evidence and extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Our beliefs should be tentative and subject to obligated change if the evidence demands. We should have some way to correct the flaws in our current perception and thus improve our understanding – THAT would be reasonable. Because if we love truth at all, then what should matter most is that we not allow ourselves to be deceived. But faith is the very opposite, it requires that we literally “make belief” that we ignore what we really do see and pretend something is there when it apparently isn't. It means that we fool ourselves.
It means we fool ourselves.
Faith is an asserted conviction that is not based on reason, it is defended against all reason.
Here's a great example: Ever had a best friend or close family member who was married, but their spouse was clearly cheating on them? You knew it, everyone knew it, and yet despite how many times you told your friend/family they still refused to listen and stay true to their spouse. Why? Because other than facing reality, they rather would believe that their significant other was still faithful to them SIMPLY because they wanted to believe it was true. Well, sorry, but belief doesn't change a damn thing, no matter how much you want it to be otherwise. They may live in denial for the rest of their days, or they may decide to finally one day to stop kidding themselves, admit the truth, and dump the cheater.
If you haven't had something like that happen to your friends or family member, here is another story.
In Fresno, California a group of Christians gathered outside a Cathedral under a tree. Under this tree, they say they experienced the "tears of God." Whenever they placed their hands on the tree, the tree would sprinkle water on them. These Christians truly believed this was a miracle, a sign of God's work on Earth.
However, when some skeptical sourpuss comes along, and investigates the source of this mystery water. What did he find? Turns out that trees like this all across the country sprinkle water like this, and they do it whether you place your hands on the tree and say a pray, or even if you say nothing at all. Turns out there are these tiny bugs that eat the tree sap and then expell it from their abdomens.
These people are literally getting pissed on.
When this scientific revelation was revealed to them, were the believer's embarrassed? Where they accepting of the revealed facts? Nope. Rather they were undaunted and still believed, because they prefer to interpret this as an "act of God." Reread that last sentence again!
There's a saying in the South: "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining." In other words, don't take me for a fool. Soooooo.... how big of a fool do you have to be to KNOW you are getting pissed on, and you're still praising the rain?
This is what faith does. This is why faith is dishonest.
Faith can make otherwise rational people believe things that only narrow-minded lunatics would.
This clip was taken from the show Conspiracy Road Trip: Creationism, where comedian Andrew Maxwell takes five British creationists to the west coast of America to try to convince them that evolution rather than creationism explains how we all got here. Take a look and pay attention on what happens when creationist Browyn (the girl with the short dark hair) SEES THE EVIDENCE for human evolution through the fossil record.
Ignoring the part where Abdul, the Muslim creationist, says he "has never seen a case of natural selection causing one species to evolve into another" despite we can actual OBSERVE species-to-species transitions through a process called Speciation, lets cut to the the core of the problem in this video. Here is the transcript for Browyn.
Faith can make otherwise rational people believe things that only narrow-minded lunatics would.
This clip was taken from the show Conspiracy Road Trip: Creationism, where comedian Andrew Maxwell takes five British creationists to the west coast of America to try to convince them that evolution rather than creationism explains how we all got here. Take a look and pay attention on what happens when creationist Browyn (the girl with the short dark hair) SEES THE EVIDENCE for human evolution through the fossil record.
Ignoring the part where Abdul, the Muslim creationist, says he "has never seen a case of natural selection causing one species to evolve into another" despite we can actual OBSERVE species-to-species transitions through a process called Speciation, lets cut to the the core of the problem in this video. Here is the transcript for Browyn.
JoJo: What would change your mind? Honestly?
Browyn: Nothing. And I know, that sounds so narrow minded.
JoJo: It doesn't sound--
Browyn: It is! I don't want to be the person who is like 'okay, just come on this trip for 10 days and nothing you show me will change my mind.' That is like like [hand motion]. But at the same time, I just can't. I really can't even tell you, because of the faith that I have. If I started to accept all of this, then I have to go and accept that everything else is a load of crap. And I don't accept that."
THERE IT IS! "BECAUSE OF THE FAITH THAT I HAVE."
Even with the physical evidence laid out right in front of her, Browyn and creationists like her refuse to change their minds and accept the facts. Why? Because their faith demands that they deny reality and embrace a fantasy. This is not just willful ignorance, this is dimension, a deliberately induced delusion.
This is why Faith is always the main cause for the movement to bastardize knowledge and education. Look back to when the Faithful arrested Galileo for daring to come forward with his discoveries that contradicted Scripture.
Even with the physical evidence laid out right in front of her, Browyn and creationists like her refuse to change their minds and accept the facts. Why? Because their faith demands that they deny reality and embrace a fantasy. This is not just willful ignorance, this is dimension, a deliberately induced delusion.
This is why Faith is always the main cause for the movement to bastardize knowledge and education. Look back to when the Faithful arrested Galileo for daring to come forward with his discoveries that contradicted Scripture.
At the trial of Galileo in 1615,
Cardinal Bellarmino said,
“To
assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to
claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin.” - Cardinal Bellarmino
Faith is not only outright dishonest, it is also dangerous.
Faith takes away reason and accountability. In other words, faith makes people never have to accept responsibility for their actions. Commit mass crimes upon your neighbors or endanger all humankind, only because the faithful truly believed with a capital T that they were doing the work of the Lord. And it doesn't matter to them if everything goes fuck up, because they refuse to admit the possibility that they might be wrong.
Faith takes away reason and accountability. In other words, faith makes people never have to accept responsibility for their actions. Commit mass crimes upon your neighbors or endanger all humankind, only because the faithful truly believed with a capital T that they were doing the work of the Lord. And it doesn't matter to them if everything goes fuck up, because they refuse to admit the possibility that they might be wrong.
I can name thousands of historical crimes committed by faith-based religions. But to demonstrate that this is not some "old news" and faith "used" to make good people do bad things, here are few modern examples.
It is sad on how many parents who have neglected using their children in honor of their religion, often by allowing children to die of easily treatable diseases. Childrenshealthcare.org is an organization on a mission to end child abuse or neglect related to religion, cultural practices, or quackery. They have documented many cases where children (who could've been saved) died because of their parent's faith.
It is also disturbing how many people who proudly promise to murder their own families if they mistake the voices in their head for the voice of god. It is alarming to see how many people have already done so. That is the worst part of faith – not being able to separate your conviction of revelation from the illusions of delusion.
It is sad on how many parents who have neglected using their children in honor of their religion, often by allowing children to die of easily treatable diseases. Childrenshealthcare.org is an organization on a mission to end child abuse or neglect related to religion, cultural practices, or quackery. They have documented many cases where children (who could've been saved) died because of their parent's faith.
It is also disturbing how many people who proudly promise to murder their own families if they mistake the voices in their head for the voice of god. It is alarming to see how many people have already done so. That is the worst part of faith – not being able to separate your conviction of revelation from the illusions of delusion.
These people are throwing away their life-saving medications ONLY because they prefer to rely on the unsupported unproven "power of God."
Now let show faith in action with a small mix of politics.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. – Seneca the Younger
I will keep it contemporary, because a lot of people unfortunately have a short memory span or are otherwise uninterested in history (that's a shame). But I think it is common knowledge that religious people have used religion to get rich and keep the poor under their thumbs.
Despite Jesus instructing rich people to sell all their riches, the "devout" still believe that the poor MUST suffer and the rich must stay rich.
How despicable is it for a rich religious guy to place the blame on the poor for the position they are in. Like I said, the FAITH robs you of accountability as well as complete dismissal of the facts. When O'Reilly was pointed out the vast majority of that program goes to elderly people, people who are disabled, 46 percent are children and most people are working families... instead, Bill O'Reilly claimed that they were all drug users and Jesus loves the rich guys so the rich guys should stay rich and get richer (despite the fact that Jesus told the rich guys to get rid of ALL their riches).
It's sad that certain people do not see human beings as human beings. No value or humanity anywhere in their views. Instead, to certain people like Stuart Varney, they see people through economical lenses and people are not people, they are just numbers. (Skip to 3:52 of this video to get directly to the point)
Even the popular Pope Francis (which I admit is making a good impression) still operates in a palace full of immense riches. Yes I know he does not drive in rich cars and has dissed trickled down economics, but never the less, these guys salesmen. The sell faith. As I explained, faith is the most dishonest position a person can accept.
While certain people will use their economic lenses to see people only as numbers, religions are just as guilty. Religions are not concerned at all with the people, they are only concerned with their souls and wallets. People can die all the time, and it doesn't matter to the faithful because their lives were of little to no worth.
Like I said earlier, it is sad whenever a parent neglects their children in honor of their religion, often by allowing children to die of easily treatable diseases. But it doesn't matter to the faithful, because it was the "Lord's plan" and their kid is with the angels now.
The lives of the sick and suffering are of no concern, the priests got to save their souls. This is why Catholic Bishops ONLY sent Bibles and Rosary beads to the Philippines after the devastation by the typhoon.
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2013/11/philippine-catholic-bishops-are-sending.html
I wish I could just let it be and not have to bother speaking out about faith, I really wish I could. Just let people believe what they want to believe. Unfortunately, the reasons I gave above, and the fruits of faith on taking humankind down a continuous cycle of self-destruction, putting themselves and others in harms way, the only humane and right thing I can do is speak out.
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