On Religion -- Age of REASON

[A-1 (imported)]

Age of Reason.

Thomas Paine, 1794

Yes, that is RIGHT! Truly there IS nothing new under the sun...

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.

It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. He takes up the trade of a priest for the sake of gain, and in order to qualify himself for that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we conceive any thing more destructive to morality than this?

Read the whole text CLICK HERE. (http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/reason1.html)

Then comment after reading...

Your friend and mine...

[amahl_shukup (imported)]

"The Age of Reason" is one of the works I frequently recommend to people as they go about detaching (or extricating) themselves from the clutches of the church. It's a journey I made a few years ago and I encourage others from time to time as they also become disenchanted with it. Thomas Paine wrote that in exile, as I recall, when he was living in Paris; the original manuscript got lost or destroyed (I can't recall the details right now) and he had to rewrite it from scratch. Paine is taught in school (or was when I was a kid, I don't think they teach much of anything these days), but only his Revolutionary War pamphlets and essays dealing with politics...this work was never mentioned in school, I had to dig it out myself. If you can wade through the archaic language there are nuggets of truth in this work.

Another work I often recommend is "The Truth About Jesus" by M.M. Mangasarian, and it's available free online from Infidels dot org right here:

http://www.infidels.org/library/histori ... jesus.html

It is also a bit archaic in its language, having been written early in the 20th Century (also, English was his second language), but it's very well worth it.

I felt compelled to respond to this entry, since we are entering the season of celebrating a mythological character whom millions of people believe was real and that he will come again to rule the world. I would rather people begin to look to themselves for whatever "salvation" they feel they need. Were it up to me, I would banish all religion, from Islam to Christianity to Communism (yep it's a religion too if you think about it), but alas, it is NOT up to me.

So Merry Solstice to all, and to all a good night.

[augman7518 (imported)]

I have said it before and will say it again.The oldest profession is not prostitution,it is relegion.They both have to do with sex and money.At least with a prostitute one gets what one pays for,with a church they want your money and try tell one what ones sex life will consist of.Some of them will even try tell you what days are clean.People cgo along with this and I used to Now I and a recovering Catholic

[sag111 (imported)]

Sorry you all feel that way I will keep you in my prayers

[A-1 (imported)]

Sorry you all feel that way I will keep you in my prayers

Please, pray for organized religion, too. They need all the help that they can get, especially on Judgment Day...

[transward (imported)]

A writer on this subject who should be much better known is Robert Ingersoll, the great American orator of the last half of the 19th century.

I enclose a quote of his:

"Churches are becoming political organizations....

It probably will not be long until the churches will divide as sharply upon political, as upon theological questions; and when that day comes, if there are not liberals enough to hold the balance of power, this Government will be destroyed. The liberty of man is not safe in the hands of any church. Wherever the Bible and sword are in partnership, man is a slave.

All laws for the purpose of making man worship God, are born of the same spirit that kindled the fires of the auto da fe, and lovingly built the dungeons of the Inquisition. All laws defining and punishing blasphemy -- making it a crime to give your honest ideas about the Bible, or to laugh at the ignorance of the ancient Jews, or to enjoy yourself on the Sabbath, or to give your opinion of Jehovah, were passed by impudent bigots, and should be at once repealed by honest men. An infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures. Certainly he ought not so to act that laws become necessary to keep him from being laughed at. No one thinks of protecting Shakespeare from ridicule, by the threat of fine and imprisonment. It strikes me that God might write a book that would not necessarily excite the laughter of his children. In fact, I think it would be safe to say that a real God could produce a work that would excite the admiration of mankind. Surely politicians could be better employed than in passing laws to protect the literary reputation of the Jewish God."

-- Robert Green Ingersoll, proving himself a prophet, of sorts, while discrediting prophesy itself! quoted from, Some Mistakes of Moses, Section III, "The Politicians," in Works, Dresden Edition, Volume 2

and a link to his writings onlin

e: http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/

robert_ingersoll/

I highly recommend this, one of America's greatest intellects, and a man who was widely thought capable of becoming president, had he been willing to hide his agnosticism.

(One of America’s oldest Trans support groups is named for him, Ingersoll Gender Center of Seattle)

Transward

[amahl_shukup (imported)]

Sorry you all feel that way I will keep you in my prayers

Thanks, if that makes you feel better, by all means do so. I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who said that if a man believes in no god or in 20 gods, it made no difference to him. For me... there is no Jesus, and I am his prophet.