The Swiss Cheese Analogy

My father has recently rediscovered my copy of "The God Delusion" by the esteemed Richard Dawkins. Now none of this is particualarly odd, nor is Richard Dawkins' excellent deconstruction of faith in which he tears the foundations of religion apart with reasoning and logic expressed in a clear concise manner.

It strikes me as extremely absurd that people can spend their entire lives believing the rubbish which is spewed from the propaganda mills of the religious, without so much as thinking about it or questioning the many gaps and fallacies which are so glaringly obvious in their holy texts and tradional rites. These gaps, or holes, are so consistent throughout religions, not only the christian brands or the islamic brands but all religions that religion itself comes to resemble a block of swiss cheese, it only takes one to notice that if they are buying by the cubic decimetre they are being gibbed out of their money due to all of the holes and air pockets within the cheese. Religion is full of holes, and not at all what it seems, although swiss cheese is beautiful and tastes fantastic, it is riddled with holes which in religions case represent lies, contentious points, miscopied articles, poor tying together of the stories and ammendments over the generations of authors or if you are a theologist: contributors.

Theology-
Now I am wandering on a dangerous tangent and to be honest I can't be fucked pulling this post back onto topic. Does theology not strike you as an entirely worthless study from a belief and a truth perspective. If it were studied solely to understand the psychology of the sheep mentality, mass delusion or belief neuropsychology then it would be understandable, if it were studied for the purposes of history and historical significance only on the value of it';s massive destructive impact on society and the course of many world events then again it would be worthwhile. However, I contend that the study of theology for the purposes of proving or disproving a divine prediciment or creator, or a religions validity in story is entirely and utterly pointless. For those wishing to prove there is a God, studying a book written by mortals is not going to help, for those wishing to disprove the same, basing your counter proof on the fallacy in the first place is hardly an ideal point to come from. People need to look at people who are theologians et cetera and ask, what the fuck is the point, because seriously in either case it is a complete waste of time the religioushites(tm) will never believe there book is not true, or will make excuses in either case and the theologists will never prove that God exists without some form of critical scientific approach.

The harm that theology can do was made extremely apparent to me when listening to the newly elected opposition leader of Australia on the topic of reducing carbon emmisions, "I am not a theological opponent to nuclear energy." Now that is a very vague wishy washy statement isn't it oh and on second thoughts, take a double-take WTF does that mean????

A message of hope

It seems I am writing with increasing turbidity on the issues of religion. I feel this is a result of my current unemployed and uni-hollidaying status. I need to go out and challenge some more churches and lead a ransacking of the premiers office. I need to experience the world.

This afternoon I was alerted to a tv series called Takin' Over the Asylum, in which david tennant plays a role. I was watching the first episode and the main characters grandmother was going on about religion and how if he didnay marry he would be sending her and his mother to hell, and that God wants us to suffer...et cetera ad infinitum.

It reminded me that while this is clearly some seriously warped logic there are in fact a vast number of people who will believe this is fact and spew it forth as fact over and over, and yes you are right we see it happening everywhere religion rears its ugly head. We see people of faith when questioned how they could possibly believe in this rubbish and in fact how they can even support its existence they answer with the snide, but the bible says, you must believe to understand - welll DUH!!

It reminds me of my favourite little phrase:
"An asylum for the so called sane" (c)

Which as it happens was the alternative name for this blog when it was first being conceived not all that long ago. I would like to thank you my loyall apostles and all of my readers for returning here for a regular fix of larceny and drivel, it has meant an aweful lot to me, thank you and happy winter/summer solstice!

And don't for one second think that this is the end of my posting for the year, no it is just the start, so see if you can dredge up some more support for Life the Universe and so on, invite your friends over for a barbecue and a perusal of my blog and please save some ham for me, I am rather fond.

Cheers 'n' beers

Stuffed

I am so pumped I have forgotten everything

In march 2010 I will be making my way down the East coast of Australia to the Rise of Atheism Convention in Melbourne. I am so so so so so so so so excited, please excuse the repitition. Not only is Richard Dawkins speaking, but so too is PZ Meyers and many other idols of mine [note that my idols are in existence].

I have been so overcome with excitement and aprehension that I have forgotten to book flights, or workout how the hell, my girlfriend - if she comes - and I are going to make it to the hotel.

I am also extremely happy to be able to cover the precedings at this prestigious event right here on Life the Universe and Everything in Between, as will many other Australian atheist bloggers. I am quite keen to arrange a dinner meeting with some distinguished bloggers such as sean the blogonaut and so on.

Wish me luck.

Ps. I know it a bit early for the erection, but I really can't wait.

Substitution

I have recently been thinking about the wonders of substituting words for "God" and "Jesus/Jesus Christ" to affect the meaning of biblical quotes and comon phrases.

Common phrases:
"God Bless You" - Fucking Bless You
"Let us pray to God" - Let us pray to snob
"God's sake" - Self evident

I then wondered if this could be better effected by using it to rewrite the bible so that is what I am going to undertake to do, for a far more comedic effect.

"All paths of religion lead to to God" - All paths of religion lead to delusion/jail/eternal death

This one doesn't even need changing so I am including it here for the irony:
"Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action." -The Bible, 1 John 3:18 NRSV

And the closer:::
"You were united to your wife by the Lord. In God's wise plan, when you married, the two of you became one person in his sight."

-You were united to your wife by the stench. In ass wise plan, when you married, the two of you became one person in plain sight.

Ok ok, I know it needs a lot of work but if I could just get my hands on a word document of the whole kit and caboodle and spend some time thinking, rather than just thrashing out garbage then I think I could really make something out of this. Lemme know what you're thinking on this one folks.

It speaks for itself

I am amazed at the catcalls of coward and the sheer intolerance, does this not remind you of someone who is scared shitless that their lies may have finally been called? That their fallacy may be revealed and people stop buying their bullshit?

It certainly makes me want to be in america now with a big fucking gorilla on a crucifix and an effigy of jesus sucking his own balls. But the reason I'm not is that I am broke and that I am scared shitless I'd be shot. So I think in no way is anyone in America who is campaigning for civil rights and free speech a coward. They are the brave.

Thanks to John P for the link to this video and bringing my attention to the issue.

Apostasy challenge

This was my entry for blasphemy day.com  for the apostasy challenge. Do enjoy.

Apathy Abounds

This afternoon as I practised my false shuffle sin front of a punk rock documentary with a wild american bias, and a lot of bullshit I wondered why people don;t act up like they used to. Why we are all to scared to protest properly and why we don't have the balls to follow through with our convictions?

Also this afternoon earlier I had watched "This is England" a captivating film about skin heads and nationalists in the 70's and 80's in England. It also prompted these thoughts.

It strikes me that people are scared of being in trouble, scared of being arrested. But moreso it strikes me that people are conditioned to believe that everything is fine. This thought hit me as my girlfriend said to me
"I bet you wish you were there that you lived then, that would really have suitedd you at least there was stuff worth protesting"

Naturally this threw me.

There are wars being fought, people being tortured, racism is rife, prejudice has hardly died down, governments are corrupt and religions are molesting every mind they lay eyes on. Sorry...I think there is still plenty worth fighting full leather against adn protesting. It is just our general lethargy and societal apathy holding us back. We need another sweeping movement, something with the gusto of english punk. Sorry americans but most of your answers were originally weak with the exceptions of the Ramones and several others. And nowadays you have a lot of good punk bands with the same attitude, it only takes one of them to start a riot and we are back in business.

Atheists stand up for critical thinking and broadcast your opinions, we need to fucking fight proper and fight hard.

Ps. The man in the purple is me.

So with fervor I grin

It seems it is all to late when we start walking down the street and grinning at people wildly. People get confused, they think your crazy, they think fuck better steer clear of that man. It is a great method for parting a crowd and an even better one for making religioushites(tm) feel really awkward.

When I am at work I find this method fantastic for passing the time, and never hesitate to employ it when someone is wearing a crucifix.

There are many other methods of having fun, without harming anyone and still getting a great deal of satisfaction out of their discomfort. Lets have a look at my favourite little bar bet:

You set up a coin on a matchbox like so, with two matches balancing.


          / l
__..../.._l
l______l

The matchbox at the bottom = l___l
The coin = .....
The matches = l           /
                       l  and  /

The 1st match is held pinched in the closed match drawer the other match is balanced so that their heads touch

You bet someone they cant take the coin out without knocking over either match, or touching the matches at all.

When they can't bet them double or nothing you can do it, take out a lighter and light the match heads,
they will burn together and then lift up off the coin without tipping over or you touching them, take the coin out and collect your money.

This one needs a little bit of practice to know when to remove the coin for the required effect:
ie if you want it to look spectacular let it burn for a long time and lift up fully before removing the coin
whereas if you want to be able to do it again, then take the match out as soon as it starts lifting, and blow out the matches, they wont even noticed it lifted, then give them a go and they will most likely pull it to early.

Love yas all.

It's christmas eve and I've only wrapped two fuckin' presents...

It's christmas eve and I've only wrapped two fuckin' presents...

Yes my friends it is that time of the year again when all of the silly shit really hotfoots itself to the front of the queue. It is the time for carols that make either no sense or even less sense to start blaring down our shopping centres, for proselytisors to knock on your door and ask if you've heard about a baby that was born around this time and whether you know the true meaning of christmans.

Naturally this time of year gets on my nerves, not the gift giving and the joviality of it all, but the pretence. The pretence that we are doing something worthwhile, that people actually like carolls or the presents they receive, with the possible exception of the good ones.

What is the true meaning of christmas they say, to me it is that finally for one short period of our lives we have some semblence of true altruism....it is nothing to do with religion or pagan practices, it is nothing to do with giving and expecting gifts it is all about creating the impression that we care, and it does in that sense feel good.

Merry Crimmy everyone and I wish you all a very warm bible bonfire, why not take the silly season literally eh.