Religion Survives Because Humans Live in Vast Bubbles of Ignorance

Reducing your own bubble requires determination, effort, and courage

It’s inevitable actually: when we are born, we know nothing about the cosmos, and as we grow up, we get so many signals from adults around us about what to believe: about what is true. Religion especially relies on massive ignorance to maintain its position and status in the world. Christianity probably deserves a Gold Medal for its Bubble of Ignorance. 
 
Major features of the Christian Bubble
 
Number 1: Devout Christians don’t know the origins of their faith.

Video: Calvinism and the Problem of Evil:

Video 1: My livestream on Calvinism and the problem of evil.

I did a livestream reaction-video today on the problem of evil. There are some sound issues with this video, but my sound seems to have been mostly recorded, it is just quiet. The reason for its quietness is that there was a lot of background noise: cars passing, heavy rain, renovations—or, in the American dialect: remodelling—and so I had to have the gain on my cardioid Blue Yeti mic down really low, so as to exclude most of this background noise. The heat and the humidity, here in Ireland—as I am sure that my friend from North of the Border, Ignorant Amos, might confirm—is quite severe today, and so I had to have my windows open despite all of the background noise going on. However, I did not stand close enough to the microphone, and so the sound of my voice is really low. It was my first stream using OBS, and I think that it was ok for a first attempt.

Sound issues aside, one of the points that I keep returning to is that I consider Systematic Theology to be a System of Lies. In my view, “Systematic Theology” is merely an attempt by theologians to force the Biblical Text into its being univocal … when it is anything but.

I refer to Captain Cassidy McGillicudy, quite a lot, as I particularly like her style of counterapologetic. I don’t think that Captain Cassidy has much of a presence on YouTube which is why I particularly like to discuss her ideas on YouTube. I have binge-read most of what she has written over a period of more than a decade. Captain Cassidy, as I read her, is much more interested in persuading her readers that Christianity is harmful, rather than persuading her readers that Christianity is false. That Christianity is false, really should be a given, in this day and age. A religion invented to swindle mostly illiterate Mediterranean peasants, 2,000 years ago, really should not be swindling and fooling people today, in the age of the internet and Artificial Intelligence. As John Loftus puts it:

‘2,000 years is enough!’

. Pondering, though, the ways in which Christianity may be harmful, to my lights, is a much more interesting discussion, than pondering the myriad ways in which Christianity is false. Cassidy excels at this. To this end, allow me to recommend 24 Reasons to Abandon Christianity (2022) by Charles Bufe. From what I remember from this book, and I read it but recently, Bufe mostly argues from Christianity’s being harmful rather than arguing from Christianity’s being false.

As John Loftus writes in a chapter in one of his anthologies—I just looked up my Kindle edition of God and Horrendous Suffering (2021), and it does not appear to be this one—the harm caused by Christianity is itself an argument from evil against the existence of an all-powerful, all-seeing and omnibenevolent god. Another humorous quip of Loftus’s is:

‘God’s hiring practices are abysmal!’

Leaving Home

[Dr. Valerie Tarico posted this on 05/25/2007. Enjoy!]

Greetings! John has graciously asked me to join this community of thinkers and scholars, and I am honored to say yes. In a world torn by religous tribalism, what could be more important than re-examining the traditions that have inextricably blended wisdom and community with bigotry and violence.

I will begin, as others have, by posting my deconversion story. Out of a sheer overwhelming lack of time, I am cheating: copying out of my book,The Dark Side: How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth, rather than beginning the narrative again from scratch.

Leaving Home.

When I first started having misgivings about my faith, I did what any good Evangelical would: I prayed. I was fifteen at the time, earnest and devout. An eldest daughter with a caretaker’s heart and responsibilities. A good student surrounded by a good family, good friends, and a good church community. Even so, the cognitive changes that beset teenagers—increased ability to introspect, to think critically, and to envision the possible—were giving me trouble.

Honest Sermons on the Gospel of Mark: Chapter 8

This is a mediocre blend of magic folklore and cult promotion

It would seem that the author of Mark’s gospel was obsessed with Jesus’ magical powers to make food appear out of nowhere. In chapter 6 we saw that Mark’s holy hero fed five thousand people, somehow making five loaves of bread and two fish turn into enough food to satisfy them all. And now, at the opening of chapter 8, he produces enough food to feed four thousand. It would also seem that Mark had no trouble disclosing just how stupid the disciples were. Jesus proposes feeding this second huge crowd, “…they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way…” (vv. 2-3)

The Best Cure for Christianity Is Reading the Bible, Essay No. 1

Are the devout in love with Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians?  

 

When enthusiastic Christians decide they’d better read the Bible cover-to-cover—although it seems not to be a popular hobby—they must surely find themselves stumped: “Why am I doing this?”  Maybe this first occurs when they come across the story of Lot in Genesis 19. Lot is a stranger in Sodom, and an angry mob is banging on his door—curious about other strangers he has welcomed to his dwelling—and he tries to calm them down by offering his two daughters for them to molest. At the end of the story, these daughters get Lot drunk on two successive nights and seduce him—and become pregnant. There is no hint here whatever that god was displeased or angry. Why is such a story included in the supposedly Holy Bible?

Why Do Christians Keep on Being Christian?

There is so much wrong with their version of reality

 
Of course, there’s something seductive, irresistible, about believing you’re on splendid terms with the creator of the Cosmos. How great it is to be able to communicate—through meditation and prayer—with the force that guides the affairs of the world. But it’s an uphill battle to maintain that this is not delusional. It’s the gimmick that clergy of so many different religions have convinced their followers to embrace. Christianity is especially guilty.

AI Review of "Is Atheism a Religious Faith? A Definitive Answer"

Out of the blue AI reviewed this paper of mine at The Secular Web.

Here is the review:

Overview

John W. Loftus's work, "Is Atheism a Religious Faith? A Definitive Answer," seeks to delineate the distinction between atheism and religious faith. Loftus articulates that atheism, fundamentally, is a non-belief system, devoid of the doctrines and supernatural tenets that characterize religious faiths. By arguing that atheism does not constitute a "faith position," the author challenges religious apologists who claim that atheists employ faith analogous to believers. This examination unfolds across several philosophical arguments, referencing prominent thinkers and previous works to underscore that thorough, empirical evidence is requisite for belief, contradicting faith-based assertions devoid of evidence.

Wall Street Journal on AI

There is hope!?