The Histories Of Alexander The Great And Jesus

Many Christian apologists deny that there are no contemporaneous or primary sources for the Jesus found in the Bible. Others will accept this reality but claim that many other historical figures also have weak historical support. Alexander the Great is one of their favorites in making the comparison. Is this a fair comparison? The following says "no."

While the historical sources for Alexander the Great have conflicting information about him and existing contemporary writings are rare, no respected source denies his existence: 

• Despite these problems with the sources, the existence of Alexander is a reasonable belief because he has wide and independent attestation from all types of sources and not just those of his own followers. Some of these sources date from his own time and are attested archaeologically, not just from later accounts. So, we don’t just have to depend on later historians such as Plutarch and Arrian. For example, reliefs at the Shrine of the Bark at Luxor in Egypt mention Alexander by name and depict him artistically during his lifetime (ca. 330-325 BCE). That would confirm his presence in Egypt mentioned by all major ancient sources. (see link for more)

Childhood Indoctrination: The Evil

I have posted many times on the harm of indoctrinating children into any religion (link). In essence, calling subjective experience/intuition evidence of a god to a young impressional mind blunts the reasoning ability of the child and makes the victim malleable to harmful ideology (link). 

Please take a half-hour of your time and click on the link below for a video exposing the thinking and actions of Christian apologists regarding how and why they poison young minds into unsupported and harmful dogma.

Brainwashing of children exposed

Bodily Autonomy Is THE Basic Human Right

ANOTHER PERSON'S BODY IS NOT YOURS

I have written several blog posts on the issue of abortion and bodily autonomy (link). As with many moral issues, reasonable people can disagree. The following links are the best I could find discussing this issue. 

I will not be posting on this issue again. My strong conclusion is that, since the case is made and supported that bodily autonomy is THE basic right, pro-choice is both the most moral and practical stance regarding abortion:

Seven Myths That Undermine Individual Rights And Freedoms

United Nations stance on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice

The Right's Bad Faith Argument About Bodily Autonomy

Whose Rights Are Most Right?

Abortion Facts

Abortion opposition primarily comes from conservative Catholics and evangelical Christians. However, there is no agreement within Christianity, or most other religions, regarding the issue. (link) The Old and New Testaments don't mention it. (link) There is no objective evidence for anything supernatural, let alone a god. (link) Thus, secular morality from biology and socialization should be used only. (link)

There is no agreement on when *life begins or when personhood begins. (link)(link) 

• *Life began within the ancient history of the Earth and has been an evolving and continuous process. Thus, the eggs and eggs/sperm produced by animals are not dead tissue. All life on Earth today came from the same source. (link)

The US government/Constitution is secular, with a strong separation of religion and government.

Bodily autonomy is a universally-recognized principle but it is ignored by abortion opponents. (link)

Are Atheists More Intelligent Than Christians?

There have been several decades of research claiming to support the hypothesis that atheists are more intelligent than Christians. However, there is a growing consensus that this research is not measuring intelligence, which is controversial in itself, but greater dependence on intuition rather than logic and reason in thinking and decision-making by the religious (link)(link). In addition, there is criticism of the methods used and the interpretation of the results in these, and other, studies of intelligence (link).

Given the above, some are concluding that appropriate cognitive training may help in changing the way the religious think (link). Seems like support for the teaching of critical thinking skills to me. Albert Einstein agreed: 

"The measure of intelligence is the ability to change."

Science Enlightens The Darkness

The Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries with global influences and effects. It included a range of ideas centered on the value of human happiness, the pursuit of knowledge obtained by means of reason and the evidence of the senses, and ideals such as liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state (Wikipedia.com). It helped combat the excesses of the church, establish science as a source of knowledge, and defend human rights against tyranny. It also gave us modern schooling, medicine, republics, representative democracy, and much more (Historyhit.com).
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The fruits of the Enlightenment are the main cultural forces in the USA against the Republican Party and conservative Christianity today. THEY HAVE TO WIN!!!

Children Are Not The Property Of Parents

To listen to conservative parents one would think that they have the right to indoctrinate their children into the same beliefs that they have (link). Such thinking is child abuse. Children are not the "property" of their parents (link)(link), in spite of the historical treatment of them as such (link).

Kirk Cameron: He Never Grew Up

"In this video, I talk about Kirk Cameron's rise to fame on "Growing Pains" and his conversion to evangelical Christianity. I also talk about his debates with Ray Comfort against renowned atheists, and what he's up to now. I review an interview he had with TP USA founder Charlie Kirk on freedom of religion."

Click on the link below for the results of never looking outside of your gullible beliefs:

Kirk Cameron Lost The Wheels And Kept On Driving

"That's Very Christian Of You"

In our Christian-saturated culture, it is assumed that when someone does a good deed he/she is "acting Christian." The Bible and Christian media support this common meme (here, for example). The truth is three-fold:

• Yes, there are some good sayings in the New Testament. However, there is NOTHING in Jesus' sayings that are good that can't be found in other religious and/or secular sources. In other words, they are not unique to Christianity.
• Many of the sayings of Jesus found in the Bible are downright evil. 
• The Old Testament is full of evil acts by God.

50 Reasons to be Ashamed (and not a fan) of Jesus

The Christian God is Evil

PragerU Rebutted On Church And State

Dennis Prager and his pseudo-university are a major source of disinformation about government and Christianity. Click on the link below for a clear debunking of his thinking regarding the matter:

PragerU Doesn't Like Separation of Church and State

Christianity: Education Or Indoctrination?

"As an apologist, J Warner Wallace uses his background as a former detective to give himself an air of credibility. This causes him to overreach and present on topics he doesn't have the first clue about. He most notably does this by pretending that cold case detectives are qualified to be ancient historians and textual critics - but he also delves into other topics from time to time. In this case, he gives a weird presentation on education (in what looks like a staged classroom to no discernable audience) more or less insinuating that Moses, Jesus, and Christianity are responsible for education as we know it in the world today. He shows an absolute lack of understanding of history and basic educational methodology, but unfortunately, much of what he says can ring true on an intuitive and be appealing to a lot of Christians. Even worse, his message reinforces a terrible fundamentalist misconception of what education should be in the first place." Click on this link for the video. 

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the following 1000 years were controlled by Christianity and were called The Dark Ages for a reason. Things did improve with The Enlightenment, but Christianity still had a cultural grip on education and politics, as can be seen within European Colonialization. The colonialization of the USA reveals the total Christian control of education until just before the Revolutionary War, when my Alma Mater, The University of Pennsylvania, was established as the first non-sectarian college and the first university. Unfortunately, Christian control of education continues to be a troubling fact at all levels of education in the USA.

Claims Of Jesus' Resurrection Don't Need Proof?

Virtually all Christian apologetics reveal a misunderstanding or distortion of science and evidence. No greater example of this are the efforts to claim that the stories of Jesus' resurrection are true. Click on the link below to follow an interesting and concise rebuttal of an attempt to support the claim, even though it, admittedly, can't be proven: 

Why You Can't Prove Jesus' Resurrection 

John Lennon's "Imagine"

Whenever I hear this song I smile inside. Some of the messages could be taken out of parts of the New Testament but most serious Christians ignore such and criticize them:

(click on image to expand)

Why The United Nations Is A Failure

"The Doctrines of Christian Discovery (DoCD) originate with 15th century Papal Bulls that were issued by the Vatican and implemented by Monarchies, sanctioning the brutal Conquest and Colonization of non-Christians who were deemed “enemies of Christ” in Africa and the Americas. These Papal Bulls were a continuation of what had been going on since at least the 8th century from Charlemagne, through the Crusades, the Inquisition, the war on witches, to the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula. In 1823, the “Doctrine of Discovery” was first articulated as a legal formulation in U.S. Supreme Court case, Johnson v. M’Intosh in 1823. As this case fundamentally defines international property law today, it continues to be used by multi-national corporations and Nation-States in their extraction of resources in indigenous territories around the world. The global scale with which the DoCD expressed itself in the “Age of Discovery”—first in Africa, then the Americas, and beyond—created a unified Christendom, which became the opposing force against the great global plurality of cultures. This Doctrine governs United States and international law today and has been cited as recently as 2005 in the decision City Of Sherrill V. Oneida Indian Nation Of N.Y."

How many of you have even heard of this "Doctrine" before? Not me, growing up Catholic. Yes, Manifest Destiny was carrying out this same horror but to know the history behind it is mind-blowing. No wonder the United Nations is a failure: it's like herding cats!!

Click on the link below for more:

What is the Doctrine of Discovery?

Christianity's "Fatal Error"?

"The problem of instruction is Christianity's biggest problem. Is the Bible perfect, literal, and inerrant? Or are there mistakes in the Bible? How was the Bible written and who wrote the Old Testament and New Testament? Why is it so hard to understand and correctly interpret? If an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipresent God crafted such an important message for his children, we should expect it to be omni-coherent. Instead, we have altered copies of manuscripts - a convoluted anonymous mess riddled with scientific blunders, historical inaccuracies and anachronisms, internal contradictions, and failed prophecies. Let's explore the Bible and how it was written to see exactly why the Problem of Instruction is Christianity's Fatal Error."

Click on this link for further explanation regarding why the author regards this issue to be THE "Fatal Error" of Christianity:

Pro-Life Folks Ignore It After Birth

"It was heralded as a game-changer for America's social safety net. It dramatically reduced child poverty. But, last month, the enhanced Child Tax Credit — a kind of "Social Security for kids" — expired, and millions of American children sank back into poverty."

A society's morality is based on how it treats the least among it. Children should be placed at the front of the line. Click on the link below for an expose of how bad the USA has become:

Why America Has Been So Stingy In Fighting Child Poverty

Christians: A Warning

I apologize. I was wrong. You Christians were right all along. Finally knowing the truth, I feel obligated to give you the reasons why you should not associate with atheist infidels/heathens: 

H/T Michael Wooldridge (Religion is Cancer FB Group)

Two Lessons For Christian Apologists

One of my pet peeves with Christian apologists is that they just will not honestly engage with atheists. They consistently have their scripts and they will not seriously entertain what we are saying, particularly around the fact that there is no objective evidence to support their claims. Click on the links below from this week's The Atheist Experience YouTube show/podcast and listen to two open-minded, inquisitive Christians:

51:53 Christian-NY | An Example Of Being Convinced For Bad Reasons

1:24:03 Carlton-NT | Larger Storms Indicate End Times Are Near

Math Isn't Evidence of God

 I have written several posts debunking religious apologists' arguments from ignorance/God of the Gaps. Among them is the argument from mathematics. Click on the link below for a 10-minute video presenting another rebuttal to such:

Why Math isn't Evidence of God

Sex Transitioning And Conservative Science Distortion

Sexual transitioning is one prominent area in which conservatives misrepresent scientific findings to promote their unfounded ideology. Click on the link below for a video example of how to handle honest inquiry regarding the subject that can be extrapolated into other areas of conservative science deception (educate yourself, Ben Shapiro):

"At What Age Should Kids Be Allowed Hormones?"