{"id":972,"date":"2013-12-11T15:01:24","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T20:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/dangeroustalk\/?p=972"},"modified":"2015-03-16T09:35:42","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T13:35:42","slug":"eliminating-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/dangeroustalk\/2013\/12\/11\/eliminating-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Eliminating Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dt-logo\"<\/a>A religious believer recently expressed the view that \u201cNew Atheists\u201d seek to eliminate religion. The way it was phrased made me think that the religious believer thought that atheists were planning some kind of Nazi style eugenics to hunt down and murder all religious believers. This of course is ridiculous and yet many religious believers think that this is what \u201cNew Atheism\u201d is all about.<\/p>\n

First off, I object to the phrase \u201cNew Atheism.\u201d There is nothing new about being a vocal critic of religious bullshit. There is nothing new about standing up against the injustices committed by the religious in the name of their deity and with the use of their holy books as justification. \u201cNew Atheism\u201d isn\u2019t some kind of atheist fundamentalism either. It is just a label used by the media to demonize atheism. In the same sense, there is also no such thing as \u201cmilitant atheism.\u201d There are not gun wielding atheists ranting and raving about shooting religious believers. The most strident atheists just write blogs and books and criticize religious holy books in a completely non-violent manner.<\/p>\n

That brings me to my next bone of contention. Second, none of the so-called \u201cNew Atheists\u201d have advocated for the elimination of religion by force or violence. Any Christian who believes that is confusing atheism with\u2026 Christianity! Yeah, I went there. Christianity has actually hunted down, tortured, and murdered non-Christians and even other Christians for not believing the exact same thing they do. That happened. In contrast, \u201cThere is no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too reasonable.\u201d \u2013 Sam Harris<\/p>\n

What atheists like me advocate is not eliminating religion through violence, but rather eliminating the influence of religion through education. As it turns out, religious believers tend to be somewhat ignorant of their own religions and of other world religions. Hell, many are just ignorant in general. Just last week, I had a Christian tell me that there is more evidence for a historical Jesus than there is for Abe Lincoln. I pointed out that we actually have a photo of Abe Lincoln, but the religious believer didn\u2019t seem that impressed. I don\u2019t know, I kind\u2019a think a photograph of someone constitutes \u201cmore\u201d evidence than the anonymous scribbling\u2019s of people who wrote at least 30 years later and who largely contradict each other. Plus, I am sure Lincolns bones are still in the ground while Jesus\u2019s bones have been magically whisked away to Heaven.<\/p>\n

My point here is that many religious believers believe some pretty ridiculous stuff that has been shown to be\u2026 less than accurate. Many insist that prayer works and yet when prayer has been tested under scientifically controlled conditions prayer has not dramatically improved the situation. In some cases, it did improve the situation slightly and in other cases, it actually made things worse. Mostly, prayer didn\u2019t do much of anything one way or the other. Still, every few years some religious group will try to test it again in order to try to prove what has already been shown to be false multiple times.<\/p>\n

Education, as it seems, is more than just presenting facts. Apparently, we have to get religious believers into a state of mind where they can think critically about those facts and analyze them for themselves. No, I am not advocating torturing them and forcing them to get into that frame of mind. I am talking about just continuing to point out the ridiculousness of their beliefs until they finally realize it for themselves.<\/p>\n

Then there are the naysayers who claim that religion will always exist or that religion isn\u2019t going anywhere so why bother fighting against it. Well, that\u2019s a pretty negative attitude. There is no doubt in my mind that there will always be people who believe ridiculous things on insufficient evidence. So what? There are still people who believe that Elvis is alive and well and working at a nearby Seven-Eleven. No matter how much evidence I present to someone that Astrology is bullshit, there will always be people who rely on their horoscopes to guide them through their lives.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t expect religion to be eliminated, but I do hope that we can get to the point when people will laugh at the religious assertions religious believers make and actually demand evidence. Then we won\u2019t have government officials using ancient holy books to justify modern legislation. Churches will be little shacks with neon signs offering confessions for $10 and prayers for $5. For $25, you might even get yourself a sermon. Religion will be the Astrology of the future.<\/p>\n

Will this happen tomorrow? Probably not, but it will happen. The theological arc of history bends toward atheism and in the last few decades, that arc has bent quite a bit. The internet is changing everything and atheists are beginning to organize. The question isn\u2019t if religion will become the Astrology of the future, but when will it become the Astrology of the future? I think that day may be sooner than people think and I will continue to work toward that day.<\/p>\n

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