Freethought Views Archive 1999-2006
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Don't Tell me what God Thinks - Carol Tavris Ph. D.: June 2007
Reprinted from Redbook, June 1993
First, I want to make this clear: I respect people who have an abiding religious philosophy that guides their lives - whether they're Baptists, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Methodists, Hindus, Muslims, or Protestants. My gripe is with extremists in any religion who presume to tell me, and everyone else, what God wants. Here's just a sampling: |
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And no nation has ever gone into battle without claiming that it was only doing what God wanted. The motto of the Crusade of 1096 was Deus vult - God wills it. God seems to have willed every war on behalf of every cause ever since. "Who says I am not under the special protection of God?" said Adolf Hitler. |
From India to Eastern Europe to the Middle East, we are witnessing renewed barbarities in the name of religious righteousness. In the United States, "stealth candidates" of the Christian right wing - so called because they hide their religious agenda from voters during campaigns - "know" that God wants them to get evolutionary theory and sex education out of schools and prayer in… |
Of course, there are many Jews who would trade land for peace…Catholics who are pressing for women priests, Muslims who are appalled by the fatwa, and people of every faith who oppose…wars. All of them consider themselves religious, too. But…we need to be skeptical of those who claim to have a direct line to the Almighty. We need to notice that when religious extremists invoke with smug certainty positions they claim are the will of God, these positions conveniently support their own secular views and agendas. |
As women, we should be especially concerned about the way religious extremism serves to keep us "in our place." The Catholic theologian Uta Ranke-Heinemann, in her book, Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven, shows that it is what men want - not God - that has shaped church doctrine over the centuries. |
Anyone who studies the history of any religion will find that not one has remained constant in its understanding of "God's will." For example, despite what many Catholics today think, Church teachings about abortion have changed over time. Until this century, the Church held that the abortions of an "unformed" embryo was not murder. (An embryo was said to be "formed" at 4 days if it was male and at 80 days if it was female.) Individuals may decide to support or oppose abortion, but they don't get to claim they know God's opinion on the matter. |
The public should be especially wary of politicians who tell us they know God's opinion. The great principle on which this nation was founded is the separation of church and state, the celebration of religious diversity, and tolerance of all beliefs - not the imposition of one group's beliefs on everybody else. That principle is rare among the nations of the earth, and we must cherish it. |
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Carol Tavris Ph. D.: June 2007 |
Hiding Atheism - Phill Sthal: Febuauary 2004
It's always interesting to check my inbox after each Freethinker column I write. A recent case, following my article 'Evolution or Confusion' was no exception. |
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Apart from the usual erroneous claims that invalidate most of these responses (e.g. inability to separate theory from speculation, inability - or unwillingness - to recognize the evidence for evolution) another claim that struck me was that I "hid my atheism." The complainant basically asked why I didn't just come out and say point blank that I supported an atheistic weltanschauung. |
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I don't know what rock this e-mailer's been under, but I've never "hidden" my atheism. Not in Barbados when I often went toe to toe - in their press - with various religionists, including local fundies, padres and mullahs. And certainly not in Baltimore when I lived there from 1992-2000 and penned numerous letters to The Baltimore Sun. |
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Certainly not here in Colorado Springs, either. This writer who took me to task for "not having the balls to admit my atheism" (never mind the bottom inset indicating my recent atheist book!) evidently missed my article on Mind Viruses and Memes (May 9-15, 2002). Therein I showed how and why religion acts as a mind virus, including appropriating the machinery of the mind to its own purposes. (Just as a physical virus does with the cells of the human body.) |
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I also clearly stated: "While it can't be scientifically proven that a god doesn't exist, the burden of proof is on the believer to support his insistence on adding to reality." |
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Of course, the reason any alleged deity can't be disproven is that one can't logically prove a negative, anyway. |
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In another article, 'Why Materialism?' (Nov. 14-20, 2002), I noted the redundancy of the entire supernatural hypothesis including god. I further pointed out the beauty of Materialism is that it's "minimalist by definition," and dispenses with "unverifiable presences and immaterial macguffins that would otherwise induce intellects to be squandered on the meaningless pursuit of phantasmagorias." |
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In the article 'Religiosity and the Brain' (Feb. 14-20, 2002), I noted how religious language itself is so much irrational gibberish, mostly amounting to meaningless noise, as opposed to information-based signals. |
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I showed that language constructs like soul, God, devil, heaven, etc. all demonstrate lingual confections that bear no counterparts in four-dimensional reality. We have no more obligation to listen and respect such blathering than the words of a drunkard in the throes of delirium tremens. Or a paranoid schizophrenic who insists his mother-in-law is an alien out to get him. |
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So, where's the reticence to proclaim or defend atheism? Must it be spelled out in each piece? Highlighted in black and white marquee letters? I think not. It may, however, be the case that many have so much denial operating in their brains when they read my articles, they tend to ignore what's staring them between the eyes. |
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But let me say I'm proud to be an atheist, and to me, atheism is the ultimate aspiration and goal of the freethinker. To put away ALL childish things, entities and fantasies and live in the real world devoid of metaphysical props and crutches. As Joseph Lewis said: |
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"The human race has suffered for centuries from the mental disorder known as religion, and Atheism is the only physician that will be able to effect a permanent cure." |
Who Owns the Public Square - by Jan Brazil: December 2004
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Each year we go through the same holiday controversy as Christians insist on placing the sacred symbol of their religion - the nativity scene - on public property. They ignore the fact that the public square (a general term meaning any city, state or federal government property) is owned by the taxpaying public, and churches do not pay taxes. |
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This arrogant takeover is especially resented by non-churchgoing taxpayers because they are twice-taxed to support these Christians: first by being required to pay the property tax for their churches and their religious schools - schools that teach doctrines offensive to non-believers; and second, by having to subsidize the tax-exemption that churches and religious organizations all enjoy. Currently some churches have openly violated this exemption agreement by engaging in prohibited political activity to advance their religious doctrines. |
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Despite having multitudes of churches in which the nativity crèche could be displayed, the recipients of all that largesse now want to challenge those same taxpayers by taking over our public places to display that special symbol of their faith. They seem to think this is their just due because they believe that "Jesus is the reason for the season." They are wrong. The Winter Solstice was a Pagan Holiday that was essentially co-opted by the new sect of Christians for tactical purposes. Pagans had been celebrating the Winter Solstice - the date when days begin to lengthen - for centuries before this. Christians merely chose that date (which happened to be December 25 by the Julian calendar in use at the time) to celebrate their Savior's birth so they could do so undetected. It also helped that the birthday of Mithra, another savior-god in vogue at the time, was celebrated on that same date, so Christians could blend in without fear of reprisal. |
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Many non-Christians still celebrate the Winter Solstice, currently the 21st or 22nd of December, as their seasonal Holiday. The Hindu festival of Diwali, which also pre-dates Christianity, occurs during this period, as does Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Light. The African American community celebrates its heritage and reinforces positive community values by observing the holiday of Kwanza during the days between Christmas and New Year's. Almost everyone celebrates New Year's Eve and Day, joyful occasions that mark the beginning of the new year. |
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We are all social creatures who take delight in brightening up the dreary winter months by celebrating our diverse holidays at this time of year. Even people with no religious belief enjoy the festive lights, the gatherings of family and friends, the exchanging of gifts and the general gaiety of the season. |
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The term "Happy Holidays" encompasses all these celebrants, regardless of their reason for celebrating. Recognizing this, and realizing that the area of the State capitol building used for the annual Holiday display has been bought and paid for by all these citizens, the mayor of Denver proposed replacing the traditional "Merry Christmas" greeting with this more inclusive welcome. The resulting protests from enraged Christians could be heard far and wide, forcing the mayor to abandon his noble idea. |
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Christians do not have exclusive ownership of the public square. Their lack of "Goodwill Toward Men" violates what many see as the true "reason for the season." |