Lying: Essentially the ONLY Tool Of The Republican Party

Lie: 

(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

There is NO equivalency between the two major US political parties and their promoters and supporters regarding communication of truth:

• Trump's false or misleading claims totaled 30,573 over 4 years (link)
• Telling lies has become the norm for today's Republican Party (link)
• Lies, conspiracy theories, and the Republican Party (link)
• 27 Donald Trump election lies listed in his Georgia indictment (link)
• The modern GOP is built on lies (link)
• Fact-checkers find that Republicans lie up to 3 times more than Democrats (link)
• Fact-checkers are shown to be unbiased in their findings (link)(link)(link)
• The recent Republican debate was full of lies and misleading statements (link)
• The US Constitution is clear about the separation of religion and government but Republicans lie about such and attempt to force harmful and false religious dogma into our secular laws (link)
• In general, Republicans reject the findings of science if such interfere with their unsupported ideology.

The Elephant In The Room

Religious apologists love to cite research showing a correlation between being religious and happiness and health. However, is it being religious or being actively associated with a congregation of like-minded people? Evidence points to the latter. (link) Research on humanistic social activities may give a clearer picture here. (link) 

In addition, the following links point to the reality of social inequality and high religiosity being correlated with societal dysfunction:

High Religiosity and Societal Dysfunction

Nordic Exceptionalism

Happiest Countries Non-Religious

Happiest US States Non-Religious

Well-known Negative Effects of Religion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_in_the_room

Survey About Atheists And Nonreligious People

"The U.S. Secular Survey was the largest and most comprehensive data collection project about atheists and nonreligious people ever conducted."

A must-read to understand the atheist experience within our religious culture.

Click on the link below:

Reality Check: Being Nonreligious in America

Religion, What's The Harm?

One of the major blind spots for the religious is the lack of awareness of the harm of religion. A frequent retort against folks like me who "attack" religion because of its harm is, "What's the harm?"

The article below was written about 6 years ago but I like it for its succinctness and directness against those who honestly think there is no harm from their brand of religion (link below). Oh, the first one is the worst of the lot, in my opinion.

40 harmful effects of Christianity

Religious Anti-Vaccine

When I was growing up, it seemed that the majority of those who rejected vaccines were New Age/Alternatives to Medicine proponents. Today, the media seems to be focusing on particular religious communities. The following are links addressing the religious objections to vaccines, and there are patterns.

• What the world's religions teach about immunization: "In multiple cases, ostensibly religious reasons to decline immunization actually reflected concerns about vaccine safety or personal beliefs among a social network of people organized around a faith community, rather than theologically based objections per se." (link)

• "No major religions prohibit vaccinations, and some consider it an obligation because of the potential to save lives. Many religions, however, provide that each individual has the right to decide whether or not to use vaccines according to his or her own moral conscience.[1] Regardless, some parents either fake religious adherence[2] or invent fake religions to provide exemption.[3]" (Link)

• North America was the only high-income region where people who follow a religion were much more likely to say they side with that belief system over science whenever disagreements arise. That finding was driven primarily by the US, where measles has been spreading among religious communities in states that have allowed religious vaccine exemptions: “'There are hugely important lessons to be learned about how to bring religious groups in who may be skeptical or may really question the value of science,' he added. 'But without them, you can see outbreaks [of vaccine-preventable diseases] will continue to happen.'” (Link)

• A look at what is happening, and why, within Catholicism. (Link)

Here are some educational materials against concerns over vaccines that may be helpful. (Link)

Exorcism And The Rise In Demonic Possession

"Why is the demand for exorcism on the rise? We discuss the belief in demonic possession, the concurrent rise of anti-science attitudes, the cultural role of religious psychology, and the evolutionary origins of demons."

Keep in mind that the Catholic Church is the most progressive religion regarding respect for science and they hold on to this harmful dogma.

Counter Apologetics: CA64 Exorcism And The Rise In Demonic Possession

A Basic Harm From Christianity

Christianity focuses on the "afterlife" and looks at the welfare of life in the real world as secondary to such. This podcasts mainly talks about how this priority harms the fight against climate change but generalizes to other negative effects as well. The lesson? If one is a magical thinker in one area, it tends to poison opinion in other areas.

Christianity vs. Climate Change

Pro-Life Harm At The Other End

Anyone who is a science-based thinker knows that the so-called "Pro-Life" movement is really "Pro-birth", with less attention to life after birth for those who are less fortunate.  However, there is less attention to prolonging life when the humane action is allowing death when the situation is hopeless or prolonging life leads to unnecessary suffering.  This article is an example of such.

(http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article210389519.html)

Religion Is A Mind Disease

"Growing up in church impairs your ability to ask better questions and detect logical inconsistencies in the answers you get, and on a large enough scale that has far-reaching consequences for the fate of a nation, and maybe even the world. You are taught from birth to accept so many incompatible ideas that eventually it breaks your irony meter."

How Faith Breaks Your Thinker

The Psychology of Religion

Thoughts And Prayers Are Useless And Harmful

"Another problem with conveying one’s 'thoughts and prayers' to victims is that it absolves you of your personal responsibility to work to change things that give rise to tragedies. Prayer is not an answer. It is a buck-passing exercise. You want to help cancer victims, take action to find a cure for cancer (support science and modern medical research). You want to save young people from dying in futile and endless wars, don’t support warmongers and fear-mongers and support those who engage in peaceful means to resolve differences. And so on. 'Thoughts and prayers' are an insipid excuse for inaction."

~Jay Feldman

Religion Does Not Deserve Respect

"I do not respect religion. It is a systematic refutation of reason, and fortification and arming of superstition. Beliefs based on faith are by definition not based on evidence or reason. They are absurd, and I cannot respect absurdity. Religion keeps people immature. The good things that have "come from religion" are actually good things that human beings are quite capable of doing for each other *without* any inspiration or prodding from magical spooks or their earthly emissaries. If they were not constantly told that they're no damn good, religious people would be able to mature beyond Kohlberg's lowest stage of moral development, the stage of doing good only to avoid a punishment and to gain a reward. So, even in the good things that religious people do, their religion soils and demeans the motives that they *could* be doing those good things for. Still, I can *treat people respectfully* regardless of what I think of their beliefs, and I try hard every day to do that."

~ Richard Wade

An Outstanding Counter-Apologetic To Religion

"People are afraid of death, of being alone, of living in a dangerous and uncaring universe, and of not knowing what is the right thing to do. They think that only religion can help them cope with these anxieties and solve these problems. But relying on religion may actually prevent them from maturing emotionally and intellectually so that they could find better ways to resolve their fears and solve their problems."

Interview – Richard Wade (Part 2)

Child Abuse

Really, would this make sense if you were an adult and were told this for the first time?  Is it not child abuse?

Welcome to this world 

 

(www.infantgoldresearch.org)

An Historical Look At Obedience To Authority

Adam Lee has posted in AlterNet an analysis of the history of obedience to authority, and its negative effects.

All Religion Is Harmful And False

Before the presentation below showing the harm from religion, it is important to mention up-front that no claim on reality by any religion has been accepted by science, for example, this and this. Click here to see how Christianity is false.

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Following are just a few links in support of the harm of religion:

Religion poisons everything

The harmful influence of religion on society

Divisions created by religion are deep

The painful impact of conservative religion

The Christian Right

A History of Christian Nationalism

Conservative Christianity's effect on the mind

Is religion compatible with liberal democracy?

Does Christianity harm children?

Religion makes children more selfish

And, last but not least, Richard Carrier's take on it. If you think that liberal religion contains no harm, the last part of this link will cure you of that myth:

What’s the Harm? Why Religious Belief Is Always Bad

Billy Graham Started It All

We just ended several days of over-the-top adulation of Billy Graham.  Just as with Mother Teresa, the truth is hidden under the media hype.  For example, Billy Graham was the person who essentially initiated the present National Day of Prayer, which is clearly unconstitutional. (link)  This lead to the mainstreaming of conservative evangelical Christianity:

He made the new wave of evangelical politics possible, and essentially agreed with all the harm from such. (link) "What harm?" you say. Well for starters, profound psychological harms. (link)

In spite of the harms from evangelical Christianity, the man clearly wanted a theocracy under such. (link)

While he was more honest and decent than many other preachers, his "legacy" is evil covered by dogma and slickness. He was the BIGGEST religious placebo in history, and exhibit A of why religion poisons everything.

Fundamentalistic Religions On Sex and Gender

One does not have to go far to come in contact with fundamentalist religions' refusal to accept modern science's evidence that sex and gender are NOT binary but on spectrums that are complex.

This is a clear statement from the AMA, the premier medical doctor organization in the USA, refuting the ignorant dogma of such groups

.

I Have Reached My Limits

Historically, I have never declared myself a member of any political party and I have voted for Democrats and Republicans about equally (no party has all the answers). However, presently, I must state the following:

The Republicans have allowed their party to

1) be hijacked by the radical NRA

2) be hijacked by the deluded, ignorant and dogmatic Evangelical Christians.

3) elect a president who had revealed that he will not defend against an attack on our democratic voting process (not to mention his long list of character flaws).

Yes, Many People Do get Solace From Christianity, However, - - -

"As a secular parent, I believe that we need to talk more openly about the potential harm Christianity can do to kids – not just the potential good. We mustn’t shy away from such skeptical scrutiny for fear of offending people."

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-secular-life/201408/does-christianity-harm-children?utm_content=bufferff5f2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Pastry As Speech Is An Unprecedented Legal Claim

"In prior decisions, Colorado held that bakers could refuse to write anti-gay messages on cakes. In the case now before the Supreme Court, baker Jack Phillips refused even to discuss making a cake for a same-sex couple. Phillips did not object to writing particular words – he flatly objected to selling any cake for the occasion."

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article190063034.html#storylink=cpy

A great deal has been written about this case, however, this article looks specifically at the actions of the cake baker:

Pastry as speech? Where does it end?
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