If you really think about it, we're all atheists about most gods...

... I just take it one god further.

Okay, I can't take credit for that wonderful line... that's from my man, Richard Dawkins. But take a minute to think about it... really think about it. There are about at least 2 dozen mainstream religions (no, scientology isn't one of them) and 1000s of variations amongst them (christianity itself has over 40,000 denominations, each one claiming that they have it right over the others). Most of these religions are mutually exclusive and in direct contrast from each other. Some are mono-theistic (like christianity and islam) and some are poly-theistic (like hinduism). Some are ancient and forgotten (like the greek gods, Thor and Zues), some are funny (like scientology), some are just plain stupid (like the new Jedi-church and it's worship of jedis... like star wars jedis).

So, no matter who you are or what you believe in, there's no one in the world that can possibly believe in all of these, right? So even the most devout catholic is very much atheistic (not agnostic... as in, "hmm, I wonder if the other gods are true", but extremely atheistic, as in "my god is the only true god and all of these other fools have it wrong") about all of the other gods except his/hers. So why is it so hard to understand true atheists (or anti-theists like me) who just simply take it one god further?

This point and the other more important point about no religion = no morals is very well covered in this new 9 minute video, which is actually just an abridged version of Dawkins' book, The God Delusion. But the points in here are worth sitting down and thinking about. I personally believe that if every person, believer or not, were to sit down and with an open mind watched this video, there's a very high chance that they would walk out with a different perspective of their religious beliefs. Open mind and honesty to themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIErAz-ZO-I&feature=plcp

I hope a few people will at least see the video from this link and I would done my part towards cosmic karma :)

Creationism - funny story or dangerous seed in the minds of kids?

For those that don't know, I was raised Catholic and therefore bought into every bit of the creationism story right from my childhood. I was taught that by my parents and then my school and then my church. I was absolutely convinced that god personally took the time to create the entire universe and everything in it and he perfected it all in 6 days. I wasn't smart enough as a kid to question the gaping holes of this theory, even when I was, I should shamefully admit, a teenager and a young adult.

It wasn't until I really started thinking for myself without all of these external forces (parents, teachers or church) that I was able to see the bullshit behind all of this. That's the power of religion that's thrust upon kids; it's like a drug that you can't live without unless you go through complete withdrawal. It is about this point that I want to talk about in this post... the dangers of polluting a young mind with fictional stories cleverly disguised as religious dogmas. It is a powerful force that takes a very strong mind to break free from, yet extremely dangerous to an infatuated, gullible and naive mind of a kid.

Recently Bill Nye, popularly known as "The Science Guy" and a prominent proponent of atheism in our country, especially in our schools, published a short video on this very subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHbYJfwFgOU

Most moderate (read not-so-religious) parents may let a few of these fictional stories slip past their kids thinking no harm can come out of it, but it's important to realize that there's no such thing as a temporary lie; some kids may never grow up to be scientifically inquisitive because of some of the BS that they've been fed as as child. Please, be responsible parents... keep the creationist BS away from kids and teach them some real science.