Indoctrination | The Armchair Antichrist

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Sunshine and Lollipops

On April 5, 2010, In Christianity, Religious Arguments, Religious Stupidity, By The Armchair Antichrist

I’ve heard that atheism is a religion. But, there’s also this ‘Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a way of life’ thing too which is just as absurd as the first statement. The fact that I have to write posts to correct these mistakes is a testament to the strength of the indoctrination that people who make these inane statements have received or given to themselves.

I’m sorry to be the one to burst your bubble, but Christianity is not merely a ‘way of life’ or a ‘personal relationship with Jesus’. It is a pervasive cultural phenomenon grounded in a set of supernatural beliefs and rituals with a whole social infrastructure behind it. So, yes it is a religion. If it was merely a way of life then it need not have all those supernatural beliefs and rituals (e.g. baptism).

Straight edge is an example of a ‘way of life’. It merely prescribes life without drugs, alcohol and for some even promiscuous sex. There is no mention of God or any deity because it isn’t necessary. If it takes faith to be a Christian then it cannot be just a ‘way of life’. It is much much more than that. At the very least Christianity includes the belief that there is a God who will send you to hell if you disobey him or even not believe in his existence. How this kind of perverse coercion can fit into the description of a ‘way of life’ is beyond me.

There is an easy way to test if you have a ‘way of life’ or a religion. If you have a holy book which you believe was written by God that holds infallible knowledge you have a religion. If you believe that there is an otherworldly being who watches your every move and cares about what you eat, who you are friends with and other mundane things you have a religion. Lastly, if you believe that you have a personal relationship with said otherwordly being you have a religion. However, if you have answered ‘no’ to the above you just might have a ‘way of life’.

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Tagged with: Atheism • christian • Christianity • deity • god • holy book • indoctrination • infallible • jesus • Religion • supernatural

To Hell and Back

On November 15, 2009, In Christianity, Heaven and Hell, Nature of God, University, By The Armchair Antichrist

A few days ago I went to a presentation by “The Embassy (http://www NULL.the-embassy NULL.org/)” a student ministry at a nearby university. The topic of discussion was Hell. Here was what I found out about the event on their website beforehand:

Skeptics Welcome:

Nov. 09/09 – Go To Hell
The concept of Hell is hard to swallow – that a large number of people will spend their afterlife in a place of eternal torment and unquenchable fire. At The Embassy, we want to take a good, hard look at where this idea came from, expose the myths associated with it, and make some suggestions that might just surprise you – whether you’ve been attending church your whole life or have spent an equally long time avoiding it.

And judging by this material I had the impression that this group would be more progressive and rational than other church groups. On the flyer it said that “the concept of Hell is hard to swallow” and I jokingly commented that they would try to make me swallow it. Unfortunately, that was exactly what happened.

When I walked into the small auditorium I was surprised to see band equipment on the stage. I believed that this was going to be a thoughtful discussion. However, I was surprised once more when I had to endure three terrible Christian rock songs before they got to the substance of the discussion. This involved me sitting down while the faithful stood up, some with their arms in the air (maybe even waving them like they just didn’t care).

The first speaker talked about what Hell might be like. He quoted some theologians and apologists and came to the conclusion that we don’t exactly what kind of place Hell is, but it is not a place you want to be. What I thought was going to be a thoughtful discussion was actually a sermon. I was being preached to. This part wasn’t all that bad. The speaker did assume that the Bible was the true word of God and that Hell existed, but I couldn’t have expected much more from a church group.

It was the next part that really surprised me. The main pastor came up on stage and talked about why Hell exists in the first place. He said that God created Hell for Satan and the other fallen angels who rebelled, but made no connection to human afterlife.

He also said that heaven would not be heaven if all the bad people could get in. And he said that these bad people would be getting what they wanted anyways, to be away from God. However, he still maintained that God was still omnipresent because only the compassionate part of his nature would be missing in Hell (also known as a cop-out).

Furthermore, the pastor said that qualifying for heaven has nothing to do with the amount good things or bad things you did. He said that all that was required was belief in Jesus Christ. But, it is never answered what happens to people who have never heard the Gospel. It is also never explained how a belief in a deity has to do with being a good person.

In addition, he ends up contradicting some of the statements he made earlier about it being easy to imagine Hitler, Osama Bin Laden and other evil people being in Hell because he labelled them as evil solely by their actions. It is very arguable that Hitler who was Christian is in heaven. It is even arguable that Bin Laden is in heaven because for all we know he may have been a believer in Christ.

During the sermon we could text questions to the pastor to be answered at the end. Two of my questions came up at the end. The first one was: What if you don’t believe in the concept of Hell? They basically answered me as a Christian and said that the Bible makes it clear that Hell exists. But, I guess that’s the basis of Christian apologetics: assumptions and more assumptions.

My second question (more of a comment) was: An omnipotent God is capable of infinite rehabilitation especially a loving one. And for this they answered me as if I was a Catholic and which consisted of the concept of Purgatory being attacked.

The pastor also said that when you force your will on a person it is the same as rape. So, sending people to Hell in the first place doesn’t count as imposing on someone? And he also made the point that some people might not want to reform. This logically implies that given the option of heaven or hell that some people would actually choose Hell (which is both a very disgusting and fallacious suggestion).

At the end of the sermon, the conclusion they came up to was “God is not loving in spite of Hell, but because of Hell.” By that time I was already thoroughly annoyed, but I still had to endure some Christian rock music as I exited the auditorium. Overall, I felt I was deceived into believing I would hear some rational discussion. Instead, it just ended up being like any other sermon; it was meant for indoctrination, not education.

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Tagged with: apologetics • apologist • christian • god • hell • indoctrination • ministry • omnipotent • purgatory • sermon • theologian • University

Wasting My Time?

On September 5, 2009, In Answers to Stupid People, Religion, By The Armchair Antichrist

Recently, somebody commented on my blog saying that I was wasting my time arguing against a God that I don’t believe in. But, am I really wasting my time? No, I don’t think so. If I can convince just one person to think more deeply about what they believe in and practice more skepticism I feel that I have done a good service. And if more people waste less time and money on religion and use it on more fruitful endeavors and use rational thinking and inquiry instead of dogmatic faith, I feel the world will improve tremendously.

I am not here trying to take away your freedom to worship. That will not solve anything. But, I feel that religion is a virulent plague on our societies and our minds. Therefore, I will speak out against its doctrine and explicit brain-washing all the while using my freedom of expression. However, you will not find any hate speech on this blog. I try to be as polite as possible.

Many moderate theists will say that they are good citizens and do no harm to anyone. That is false. The indoctrination of children into a religion is no less than child abuse. Telling a child that if they sin they will go to hell and endure endless pain and suffering is serious mental abuse. And telling them that there is an omniscient being that watches them 24 hours a day can be mentally harmful also.

Furthermore, moderates provide a smokescreen for fundamentalism. For example, when Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran gave Salman Rushdie a death sentence for writing a blasphemous novel, the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury agreed that the problem was blasphemy. These “moderate” Christians actually agreed with an Islamic extremist. One is a lesser evil and the other a greater evil, but both are evil nonetheless.

The answer to the problem of extremist religion is not more moderate religion. The answer to this problem is more skepticism, rational thinking and inquiry and the eradication of dogmatic and fascist religion.

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