I Heart Matt Dillahunty

I've been busy with a few things lately, and haven't had time to write anything. I would like to share this with you, though. It's a response given by Matt Dillahunty to an email he received. The email basically said "I have a friend who's a Christian who claims that his religion lives up to a standard of evidence sufficient to be considered historically accurate, both through the bible and through extra-biblical references. Is this true?" This was Dillahunty's reply.

The short answer to your question is no. The long answer is that he's like millions of other christians who are completely ignorant about what their bible says, about the history of the biblical canon, about the history of their religion, about what evidence actually exists, about what historians have to say, about what sort of evidence historians consider sufficient to justify claims of existance, and about what sort of evidence one would need to have in order to rationally justifiably believe that a miracle has occurred.
The facts are these; there are no contemporary extrabiblical accounts of any events specific to the life of Jesus. that means no independant sources from any eye witnesses with regards to his birth, life, miracles, ministry, death, or proposed resurrection.
The gospels are anonymous, we have no original manuscripts, they do not agree on details, they do not agree with recorded history, and the consensus of new testament scholarship is that none of them were written by eye witnesses. The bible has stories about eye witnesses but we don't have a single comment from anyone claiming to be an eye witness.
The process of canonization included books that doctrinally agreed with those in power, and eliminated and attempted to destroy books that were considered heretical by those in power... Yet those same books were considered [divinely] inspired by other sects. Books like Revelation barely made it into the bible, as many considered them to be uninspired, books like the Shephard of Hermas and the Apocalypse of Peter which had traditionally been considered divinely inspired were excluded. Paul's epistles, some of which are of questionable authorship were the first books of the new testament to be written, and that was decades after the purported life of Jesus. The gospels were written many years later, perhaps many decades later, by unknown authors. Historians from the late first and second century do mention christians, and some refer to Jesus, but none of these were eye witnesses, and most of them couldn't even have spoken to someone who could have claimed to be an eye witness.
So, we have the bible. a collection of stories by largely unknown authors who are unlikely to be eyewitnesses and we don't have originals of their work. We have copies of copies of copies of translations of copies of copies. Anonymous books recording an oral tradition passed down decades or centuries after the purported events in a time when myths, superstitions, and god-men claims were plentiful. During a time when fact-checking and literacy were rare, and when doctrinal wars prompted forged documents (paul even mentions this in the bible,) in order to prop up competing theoligies as unorthodox or heretical.
For my money, that means none of it is believable. Contrast this, for example, with claims of alien abductions. You can, if you like, actually speak to people who claim to have been abducted by aliens. If you look around, you'll find groups of people who tell consistant stories and might even claim to have been abducted together. There are countless reports of UFO sightings, often by groups of people or in rare cases by dozens or hundreds in a particular town or area. These reports have been ongoing for decades, reported by countless new sources, in addition to specialized periodicals. Many of these people sincerely believe their story. Do you? Does your friend?
I don't, because there isn't sufficient evidence, yet the quantity and quality of evidence for these claims is vastly superior to any miracle claims reported in the bible. We have more evidence and we're not 2000 years removed from the events, and we still don't believe, and we find the most fervent believers to be a little crazy. Yet somehow, millions of largely ignorant, well meaning, nice people sincerely believe third-hand reports of miracles from thousands of years ago, and they don't just believe - they strongly believe. They consider it not only absurd for others to disbelieve, but also their sacred duty to convince others at a minimum, and legislate their beliefs on others - or worse. and yet we somehow don't consider these people to be a little crazy. Instead, we give them special treatment, and their majority status shifts the public perception about those of us who actually embrace reality, to the point where we are the ones denegrated. Your friend's probably read Josh Mcdowell and Lee Strobel, and has never actually studied what real historians, scholars, philosophers, scientists, or any other critical examiner has to say about their religion. That's... the longer answer.

Jerks!

Now, I realise I used more profanity than usual in my last post. After reading it over, I probably could have used other words to describe how I felt - but I didn't. The stuff got me a little mad while I was writing it out, and I swear when I'm mad. If profanity offends you, navigate away from the page now, please, because I'm really, really pissed off.

Now I've received a couple fucked up emails at religiotsblog@live.ca from random people who stumble upon this blog like a drunk tripping over a fire hydrant, but none of them have actually gotten to me. When I say "couple," I literally mean two. Two emails from religiots telling me I'm going to hell, blah blah blah, all that kind of predictable bullshit. Do I give a fuck about those two? No! Why? Because they're fucking stupid!

WEHN YUO TYPE LEIK YOU HAEV PARKINSNONS DISAESE I DNONT GIEV A FUCK WHAT YUORE SAYING

THIS one, though... The third installment of doucheisms, actually annoyed me. For the most part, it was intelligently written, with a couple glaring exceptions. First of all, this man, we'll call him.... Darwin, for hilarity, assumed I was American. They only have the internet in the USA, after all.

I'm not going to post the email itself, nor will I post the address it was sent from. I'm assuming that it's a shit eating troll, and that the addy was made up for the sole purpose of trolling, or eating shit. (Yeah, I know that doesn't make sense. I don't care.)

Douchey Darwin did, however, bring up a valid point. So, until I've finished checking up on what I can and can't post, I've removed all the pictures and a couple of the links from my previous posts.

Oh, but I'm putting this picture in. I have permission from the artist, the artist is me.




Click the pic to enlarge.

Earthquake! Quick! Grab the SuperBible!

Unless you've been in a coma for the past couple weeks, you've heard about the devastation in Haiti. The haitians are dying, starving, living outdoors, struggling from day to day. Oh, and there was an earthquake that made all of that shit even worse. Over a hundred thousand people have died, people are missing, the country is in ruins. Haiti was already the poorest country in the western hemisphere, so seeing them hit with a natural disaster of this magnitude is frustratingly heartbreaking.

The aid they're receiving, however, is incredible. Money and manpower are flowing in from quite literally all over the globe, it's looking like people have really come together in the wake of this disaster to lend a helping hand. Through something as simple as a text message it's possible to donate money to the cause, and the reaction to this system from the public is phenomenal.

There are, of course, these types of people.

Oh, so... the earthquake... was punishment? Did I understand him correctly? I mean, he's saying that the Haitian people "made a deal with the devil," so they've been cursed.

I don't think I need to explain why Robertson is a douche.

The moronic radical rants of a senile psychopath aside, (say that ten times, fast) I also read about this, and it had my teeth grinding. A group of Religiots in Albuquerque have decided that it'd be a good idea to send Solar-powered Super-bibles to the Haitians. They're saying that these Holy Gadgets will bring "hope and comfort that comes from knowing God has not forgotten them through this tragedy." I know I'm not the only one thinking it, but I'll write it out anyway.

So, if there's a god, and he's watching out for us because he loves us, cares for us, and wants us to be happy - why did he decide to grab haiti and shake the shit out of it, murdering 100,000 people?

Now, as for this religious group "Faith Comes by Hearing," if you want to help Haiti out, that's cool. I've got an idea - I just thought of it right now, actually, it's kinda neat. You can take my idea if you want. It's alright, I don't mind. I mean, it might not even be my idea, someone else may have had it before me.

SEND THEM SOME FUCKING MONEY!

Solar powered bibles aren't going to pull their families out from underneath the rubble. Prayer isn't going to feed them. Faith isn't going to bring them clean water, and hope doesn't build new homes. Take the money you spent on those Brain-Wash-O-Matics and give that to them instead.

Thanks for your time.







Is god willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?
-Epicurus

A lawyer, a Priest, and an Irishman go into a bar...

If you haven't read about it yet, It's now illegal to speak in Ireland. There really isn't anything, anything, that it's legal to say - without facing a £25,000 fine. January 1st, 2010 brought more than the clinking of glasses and cries of "Happy New Year!" to the people of Ireland - it also brought the inception of a new law; The Blasphemy Law. The law defines blasphemy as saying or publishing anything that is abusive, or insulting to any religion.

Saying anything contradictory to any religion? Well, shit. I guess aside from the basic "Hello, how are you?" they just won't be able to speak in Ireland. There really isn't much you could say that wouldn't be contradictory to at least one religion. If I lived in Ireland, and people actually read this shit, then I could be fined. I don't live in Ireland, however, and barely anybody reads this; so here we go - a short tribute to the Irish Blashphemy Law.

There is no God, and in my opinion belief in such an idea is both dangerous and childish; clinging on to the idea of "life after death" in order to make the notion of death more tolerable. An excuse and a shield for extremists and violent psychopaths to use while they cause terror and distress. An easy way out in the attempt to understand the philosophical questions that have been present for millennia. A way for manipulative cunning con-artists to take money from those who would believe their lies and false promises. An oil slick on the road to both scientific and social progression.
The law put in place by the Irish government is a massive step in the wrong direction. Medieval ideals such as this have no place in the 21st century, and I am personally scared to death for any people in Ireland who will face punishment under it. It's an affront to the very idea of freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, and an open condemnation of free thinking people all over their country. It opens the door, or at the very least a metaphorical window, for like-minded people in other countries to think that such a law could be possible where they live, too.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, now that the holiday season is over I should be posting again regularily. I'm sure all six people who read this are thrilled.