Out to Lunch - Generation Atheist

Sadly, Laura, the blog's main editor, seems to be unavailable right now and has been for awhile. All submissions go to her so new submissions won't appear till she is available again and unfortunately I have no idea when that will be.

In the mean time if you have something you wish to voice, an article, an opinion piece, a poem or whatever, if you email it to me instead, I can guarantee they will show up on the blog in due time.


Mike K.
Regular Contributor

Religion Incorporated -- By Rohit J

God should feel snubbed. He should feel insulted. Every single year, Forbes forgets to include him in the list of billionaires. His entire corporation, be it his son or its different employees and departments, has garnered an inordinate amount of money. God is the most successful corporate Chairman of all time. Religion is one of the most successful corporations of all time.

God has sold so many products during his lifetime. The amount of bling he has sold is ridiculous. So many shiny crosses and stars and ohms and crescent moons have been sold on chains. He clearly hurts the balance sheets for Zales and Kay Jewelers and Jarred’s with the amount of jewelry he has sold. The Christian department is the clear front runner, but the Jew department is right there in second. Through the pope and other religious figures, God has great salesmen to sell his shiny bling.

I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag -- By Rohit J

Every American-raised child can relate to this morning ritual. We all stand up, mumble a few words, and then continue our daily lives. 

This act is harmless enough, or is it?

The pledge of allegiance needs to be removed from the public school setting. No child should be indoctrinated into pledging one’s self to a nation. No child should be forced to admit the existence of a god. But most importantly, no child should have to face scorn form their peers for having a different, but valid, ideology.

He's Irish, he's an ex-Catholic and he's funny. What more could you want?

Thanks to Poppy for the link.

Dating, Courtship, and Purity: How a Stone Age Religious Text Shaped My Approach to Sex -- by Libby Anne

Read more by Libby Anne at lovejoyfeminism.blogspot.com

I was taught to save my kisses for the man I would someday marry. My first kiss would be at the alter. I was not allowed to date in high school, because dating was practice for divorce. I, in contrast, was to wait until I was ready to marry, and then get to know a like minded young man through a courtship guided by my father. I was taught that as a woman, marriage, homemaking, and motherhood was my highest calling, and that sex within marriage was a sacred bond not to be profaned by unholy premarital sexual contact, or even premarital kissing. I was raised a fundamentalist Christian in a purity driven culture which based its teachings about sex, dating, and courtship on the teachings of the Bible. 

As a woman, I was taught to guard my purity jealously. My purity would be the greatest gift I could ever give my husband, and that moment when I would assure him on the wedding night that I was a virgin and had saved myself, my all, for him would be one of the best moments of my life. I was told that if I had sex before marriage, I would be forever haunted by regrets and my husband would never trust me. There would always be something wrong between us. If I came to the marriage a virgin, in contrast, unsullied by any other male, I would be set up for a perfect, godly marriage. In fact, I was taught that I would even regret dating or courting anyone else before my husband. During each relationship, I would give away a piece of my heart that I could never get back, and could never give to my husband. 

I was told that sex (within marriage, of course) was the most amazing thing ever. After saving ourselves for each other, I was told, the sex my husband and I would have would be out of this world. It would be like nothing I could imagine. Sex was sacred, holy, and amazing. I imagined some sort of holy lightening bolt that would fill during the act of sex, overwhelming us with pleasure. This would be worth waiting for. 

An update on my super-serious undercover mission

I just found this on the website of the 'Christian Youth Celebration' I'm attending in September:


"The Mix has moved to a new time of 5pm, followed by 6.30pm after hours in the crypt."


Um, the crypt? This thing just got ten times creepier.  

Being Good Without God -- by William Bell

What does a believer think of when they describe their own beliefs about god?  The most obvious answers are God represents love, at least in the Judeo-Christian belief system.  Many believers think that without the loving benevolent father and the eternal hell fire alternative they would be eating babies, raping, and pillaging.

This is based on the assumption that God created humans basically in a state of immorality and without divine discouragement (threat of hell) humans would not sustain any form of culture and human society would fall apart.           

            

But this is in fact not true, and in my view if we are in a truly moral society then someone is being altruistic they are doing it out of the goodness of their heart not because they are afraid of punishment.  It could not even be considered altruism because it is meant to contribute to reaching a selfish cause (going to heaven not hell).

However this makes sense based on evolutionary predictions.  We are selfish animals and we have a deep instinct to survive, therefore once affected by a meme such as a religious belief, like the good-bad afterlife complex we will do whatever we can to make it so we survive that afterlife in good condition.