Q:A while back you said that Islam wasn't a race (which is true!), remember that post? And you added that Islam was very unnerving to you, or something like that. Mind telling me what it was you happened to read about that made you think that? I've read extensively (many years and sources) about Islam and honestly is doesn't seem any worse than Christianity. In fact, they don't seem that different to me at all.

catbuttcat

Hi!

The post you are referring to was actually written by Meg on The Thinking Atheist’s facebook page (for those who are curious, you can read the post HERE on my site or on facebook HERE - scroll down to February 6th).  It was strongly worded and was written in response to the five year old little girl who was raped and beaten by her own father.

I didn’t comment on the post other than saying I agreed with Meg - that people defending Islam because it was “racist” to speak out against it are despicable. 

I agree with you.  Islam as a myth is no worse than Christianity… both have their own horrors and taken to an extreme either one can be used to justify atrocities.  Both are extremely misogynistic.  Both promote immoral behaviors (think murder, rape, stoning, abandoning one’s family, etc.).  Both demand complete adherence or suffer the wrath of god.

People often use the “kill the infidels” lines from the Qur’an to show just “how much worse” Islam is… but the Bible okays killing people that work on the sabbath and stoning blasphemers to death as well.  So really?  Not much of a difference.

Now I await the inevitable flow of Muslims that appear anytime I post something related to Islam and/or Christians that appear anytime I compare the awful things in Islam to the awful things in Christianity.  It’s very odd.  Everyone pretty much ignores me except on this topic.  :-/ 

Thanks for the question Jess! ~JJ

Let me tell you a secret:  They’re both myths. Want to know something great about secular parenting?  A child who has not been indoctrinated into a religion can easily recognize this. Daedalus and Icarus escape with wings, Moses escapes by parting a sea, Eurydice (almost) escapes the Underworld with Orpheus’ music.   Interestingly, Greek myths tend to use human ingenuity and wit to thwart the villain’s plans (with occasional intervention by the gods).  Bible stories almost exclusively rely on a daddy figure to sort things out - nothing can be accomplished without the god’s okay and help. Personally, I find the Greek myths WAY more appealing in a literary sense and as an educational tool.  But, they’ve been adapted and edited thousands of times and I would guess only the best stories ended up in the books.  Perhaps several hundred years from now, future generations will have edited texts of “Bible Myths” to entertain them as well. Here’s hoping.  ~JJ
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Let me tell you a secret:  They’re both myths.

Want to know something great about secular parenting?  A child who has not been indoctrinated into a religion can easily recognize this.

Daedalus and Icarus escape with wings, Moses escapes by parting a sea, Eurydice (almost) escapes the Underworld with Orpheus’ music.  

Interestingly, Greek myths tend to use human ingenuity and wit to thwart the villain’s plans (with occasional intervention by the gods).  Bible stories almost exclusively rely on a daddy figure to sort things out - nothing can be accomplished without the god’s okay and help.

Personally, I find the Greek myths WAY more appealing in a literary sense and as an educational tool.  But, they’ve been adapted and edited thousands of times and I would guess only the best stories ended up in the books.  Perhaps several hundred years from now, future generations will have edited texts of “Bible Myths” to entertain them as well.

Here’s hoping.  ~JJ

Resurrection?

My son:  Isn’t it weird that we’re dead and then we come to life and then we’re dead again?

Me:  Huh?  What do you mean?

My son:  We’re dead.  And then we come to life.  And then we die again.

Me:  What do you mean we’re dead and then come to life?

My son:  When we’re an egg.  We’re… like… dead.  But then we COME TO LIFE.  It’s pretty cool.

Me:  OH.  Yes, I suppose it is kinda like that, isn’t it?

My son:  We’re like those Bible stories!  What’s that word again?  When you’re dead but then you come to life? 

Me:  Resurrected?

My son:  Yeah!  We’re resurrected!

Me:  I don’t think that quite fits the definition, but I like where you’re going with it.  I believe to be resurrected you have to be alive, then dead, then alive again.

My son:  Oh!  Like when we die and then we come back to life as grass?

Me:  Hm.  I’m going to have to ponder that one for a bit.

Q:When I was questioning my "faith" (was never too religious, but you know) I read the bible hoping there would be some sort of epiphany. Then I was like "OH, GOODNESS, WHY" and became an atheist. :D

axioa

ME TOO!  I joined a Bible study group at a Catholic church down the street from my apartment.  It was me and 8 little old Catholic ladies (some of whom would bring along their knitting).  We would talk and pray and read and discuss…

The more I read, however, the less there was to discuss.  It was more “what the hell?” than “praise the Lord.” 

When you argue for a return to “the Biblical definition of marriage”


…you are either grossly and disgustingly misinformed about your own holy book or you are an unbelievably cruel and vile human being.

When you argue for a return to “the Biblical definition of marriage” you are arguing for forcing victims of rape to marry their rapist (Deuteronomy 22:28-29), stoning non-virgin women to death if their husband demands it (Deuteronomy 22: 20-21), forcing slaves (yup!  slaves!)  to marry each other – oh, but YOU get to keep the wife and kids when you let the man go (Exodus 21:4), selling your daughter into slavery, and giving her master the opportunity to marry her (Exodus 22: 7-8), forcing widows to marry and be impregnated by their brother-in-law (Gen. 38:6-10), and encouraging men to leave their wife and family to follow Jesus (Mark 10:28-30).


So… I guess you’re right.  These modern-day “perversions” of allowing people to have consensual sex with whomever they choose, allowing people to marry whomever they choose, and divorce if they want or need to really undermines the institution of Biblical marriage.  ~JJ

Great Bible Stories for Children

Scene: Searching through a bookshelf full of kid’s books at Grandma’s house for something good to read before bed.

My 7-year-old son: Hey!  How about this one!?  (He pulls “Great Bible Stories for Children” off the shelf and grins at me mischievously.)  

Me:  Fine.  Find a good one.

My son flips through the pages until he comes to a picture of an old man holding his arms up to the sky while a little boy lays tied to a pile of wood on a stone alter beside him.

My son:  This does NOT look like a children’s story.

Me:  Nope.  This is about Abraham and Isaac.  Do you want me to read it?  It’s an awful one…

My son:  Read it.

Me:

When Isaac was about fifteen years old God gave Abraham a test of his obedience and faithfulness.  God spoke to Abraham: “Take Isaac, your only son, and go to a mountain in the land of Moriah.  Offer Isaac to me as a burnt offering sacrifice.

My son:  WHAT?!  God tells him to sacrifice - that means kill, right? -  and BURN him??  BURN HIM?!

Me:  Yup.

My son:  That’s gross.

Me:  I agree.  Do you want me to keep going?

My son (grimacing): Yeah.  I guess. 

How sad Abraham was to receive this command from God.

My son:  Oh yeah, HE’S sad.  What about Isaac?

But Abraham listened, because it was God who had spoken, and he trusted God.

My son:  So the guy just said “Sure!  I’ll kill and burn my son!  No problem!??”

Me:  Do you want me to read this, or not?

My son:  Yes.  Sorry.

At the place God had told Abraham about, he and Isaac built the alter.  The placed wood on top of it.  Then Abraham fastened Isaac’s hands and feet and laid him on the wood.

My son:  HE TIED HIM UP???!!!   Sorry, sorry.  Keep going.

After that came the awful moment.  Abraham took a knife and lifted it up to kill his only son, Isaac.  But at that very moment a messenger of God spoke: “Abraham!  Abraham!  Do not touch Isaac.  Now I know how much you love God and want to serve him.  You have not kept back your only son from him.”  

My son:  What’s ‘a messenger of God?’

Me:  An angel, I think.

My son:  So, wait.  He tied up his kid.

Me:  Yes.

My son: He was going to cut him with a knife, kill him, and BURN him.

Me: Yes.

My son: And now an angel says “Great!  Good for you!”

Me: That’s it exactly.

My son:  This is NOT a ‘Great Bible Story for Children.’  ~JJ

I’m almost positive Kim posted this video last week, but I can’t find it again in order to reblog from her.  It’s powerful.  I remember reading in horror many of the Bible stories mentioned in the video when I started to really question religion six years ago.  To this day, I cannot fathom how anyone that has actually studied the Bible could possibly say and believe “God is Love.”   ~JJ

Source: youtu.be