The Devil made you do it

Chapter 3 of my brother the Atheists book starts with a discussion of the cop out a lot of people in the world take when it comes to personal responsibility. “I sinned because Satan deceived me”; “I killed that group of Jewish people to fulfill my jihad as outlined by Mohammed”; “I shot at those Muslim’s because they’re on land given to me by God”; “I decided to molest those boys because that’s what I learned in Catholic school”. Ok, that last one was a cheap shot – I might want to leave the cheap shots to my brother the Atheist. But you get the point. Do we really do things without knowing we’re doing it? When I lie, is it really a surprise to me? What about when I commit another sin? If someone cheats on their diet is it because they didn’t have self control, or did some other worldly being temp them? I’m one who believes people make their own decisions – right or wrong. For Christians it’s called free will. For everyone it’s called having a brain and thinking for yourself. Even if someone tells you to do something, you still have to act. His chapter on this starts light and funny, and then gets into a scary story related to why he wrote the book in the first place. It’s an awesome example of misguided Christianity, or a person deciding to justify their behavior by blaming Satan. C’mon, do these people really still exist? I guess so. When I think about it we all probably do it to some degree – it’s a form of self defense so we don’t have to admit that we’re basically evil beings on this planet with our own agenda’s. No matter how hard we try we’re still sinful beings.

Where have I been?

Sorry faithful readers – travel took me away from the blog for a little while. But I’m back and better than ever! I got a chance to reread the book, and I've decided that while my brother the Atheist is angry towards organized religion, and organized Christian religion in particular, he’s really quite funny. When you pull back the layers and emotion, he’s a crack up! I talked to a friend the other day in the grocery store about the book and she commented that parts made her laugh so hard she “wet herself” a little bit! This bit of information is important for two reasons:

1. It made me realize that she not only is a good enough friend to tell be she peed in her pants when reading the book, but also that it’s really quite funny.
2. The book is growing in popularity – she’s not someone who I gave a copy of the book to. Rather she heard about it through another friend, ordered the book and has been reading it.

So we've got some good momentum going on with word of mouth communications. My friend has been reading the book in church which will lead to more readers as she’s asked questions about it. And as more people read and respond I’m hopeful the world will take notice of this first publish work of art from my brother the atheist. Have you purchased your copy yet? If not get to Amazon and get one today!

Why No Cartoons of Mohammad or Allah?

In my brother the Atheist’s book, “the why do I have toenails?” he’s got several pithy comments about Christianity. He’s got quite a few cartoons about old and new testament historical figures and stories. But in all of his discussions he doesn't bother to take on Islam – not even one cartoon making light of the extremists he’s concerned about. I find it interesting that while he’s railing on all things Christian, he skips Muslim’s completely. Heck, the Dane’s published a cartoon of Mohammad (http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=12146&offer=&hidebodyad=true), and several newspapers got together to defend the artist. If all religions are dangerous, as stated in his book, then why not take on the Muslim’s that are touting fear and killing based on their religious beliefs? Mock Mohammad! Question the church leaders in Muslim countries for not stopping the madness! Ask hard questions about why they believe that Mohammad had a vision, the way he asks how anyone can believe that Joseph Smith had a vision. Why leave this large (and growing) religion off the table? I’m OK with asking questions, questioning beliefs, and disagreeing with my beliefs. But the more I dig into this book the more I think the subtitle should be “How to be the best non-Christian you can be”, vs “How to be the best Atheist you can be”.

And since we’re asking the question about Muslim’s, what about Scientologist's and L. Ron Hubbard? He was a wacky sci-fi writer who came up with a religion on his own. Something about space ships coming to earth and dropping people off near a volcano (sorry to paraphrase, but you can visit http://www.holysmoke.org/cos/what-cos.htm or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology for more details). Doesn't this sound like something you can really make fun of? South Park mocked them quite a bit (one of my brother the Atheists favorite shows). I’m sure other people have taken shots at them. But not this book. Why?

So after rereading the first couple of chapters I'm starting to conclude that my brother the Atheist might not believe in any supreme being, but he's really mad at Christianity. I'll need to look deeper into this as I read and talk to him, to gauge what this is all about. Although it's reminding me of the anger some people felt when George Bush was elected last time - there was this weird anger at all republicans and people who voted for him. Not disappointment in not having John Kerry win, or frustration with the process, but an out and out anger at people (including little George) over the results. Is there a link here, or is this a coincidence?

How did organized religion begin?

There's a great song from the '80's by XTC called 'Dear God' (it's been covered by Sarah McLachlan and others). It starts as a rant about humankind and how we've let the world go to pot. Then it changes course and becomes a rant at God - ending with the singer singing that he doesn't believe in God. In the chorus there's a line that has always struck me as very poignant - Did you make mankind after we made you? Interesting question, especially for a non-believer (like my brother the Atheist). Before I was a believer it's something I pondered quite often. When you look at all of the wacky religions out there that are clearly man made (Scientology comes to mind, along with any religion that asks you to cut off your own genitalia, kill your parents, eat garbage from a dumpster, live under the sea, etc), so many are easy to define as having a Deity that was created by the worshipers. But for the big 3 (Christianity, Judaism and Islam), how did they originate? Of course I believe that Christianity and Judaism are real in the sense that God communicated with man after creating the world. And I know the roots of Islam are in the old testament with Mohamed having a revelation from God. But somehow we all got organized and moved our beliefs forward, while Greeks and Romans, Norse and Egyptians all lost their faith... why? Why did these 3 take off? I know I'm leaving off Hinduism and a few others. But focusing on these 3 you've got 5000+ years of history - what the heck else has lasted some statically for 5000 years? It's almost a basic part of society. Doesn't that help (logically) with the relevance of Judeo-Christian beliefs? Surely if it was all made up people wouldn't be as passionate over the years to keep them alive and thriving. Whole empires have risen and fallen during the centuries, yet these 3 religions stay strong... it's interesting to me.

Does this work both ways?

In my brother the Atheist's introduction and throughout his book he talks about his negative perception of Christians spreading the word of God... why do they do this? Why don't they leave us all alone? Who cares about God? Please don't pray in public or say grace over dinner in a public place! Don't trash my beliefs - just leave me alone! It goes on and on. Yet in the introduction he's fast to say he's not trying to convert anyone away from their belief system, just to explain his own. But then he says "Of course, part of explaining my beliefs is to tell you why I think you're wrong and why I think your religion is false and deceitful". Hmmm... seems like he's using the same techniques he's opposed to to drive his own beliefs into the readers mind. I mean why is it OK for someone to use this technique and not for someone else to use the same technique? Hypocrisy is a strong word - so maybe it's not that. Maybe he's not aware that he's basically doing the same things in this book that he despises Christians for doing? I see that a lot these days from politicians, "news media", left/right leaning people, etc. More and more are angry and mean spirited in their disagreements. Something happened in the 90's where people stopped disagreeing and instead decided to belittle each other when they didn't land on the same page. It's amazing how many news shows (Fox News, MSNBC, CNN) trash other shows for something and then do the same exact thing. Have you ever watched O'Reilly and Olberman? These guys are the same - except one is left leaning and one is right leaning. But both spout gunt across the airwaves.

And yes, I used the word Christians previously because after reading through the book I really think the issues discussed are all related to Christians and not other faiths. I don't see much commentary on Scientology, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc... not even much commentary on Judaism. It's pretty slanted as a negative discussion about Christians. I've got to dig deeper into this, but the main point I'm getting from the introduction is that Christianity is made up, my brother the Atheist is mad that anyone would believe in Christianity, and therefore he's going to spend the next 200 pages making light of people's beliefs while sharing his own, and pointing to several examples of Christians who have gone out of their way to misrepresent the truth OR have upset him with their methods. I have to reread the book to get a better grip on some of the points, but this is my initial view. Of course, after you read the book feel free to tell me if I'm off base.

A little angrier than expected - and so am I!

Well, the book was a surprise to me. It's angrier than I expected. Some of it is funny, and some asks good questions. Of course there are differences from what I believe throughout the book - but that's OK. I'm not one to think everyone needs to think like me (although I am the smartest man I know - just ask my wife!), so that's OK. I was surprised by some of what I'd consider mean-spirited-ness in the book. But the more I reflect on what his experience with Christians has been it seems to support why my brother the Atheist has a real issue with Christians. So many Christians seem to miss the boat on the whole evangelism thing. Yes, you should spread the word of God. Yes, you should share your beliefs. I'm in total agreement here. No, you should not SCARE anyone into believing what you believe. No, you should not HARASS anyone if they don't believe what you believe. No, you should not become a BAD EXAMPLE and forget that Jesus is about loving everyone... man, Christians and others who feel like it's a contest to get someone to "be saved" drive me crazy! Notches on your belt; points of light; saved souls; you're not being judged by how many names you come home with after being out in the world. You're being judged by being true to your beliefs and faith. You're being judged by being Godly in your daily walk. You're being judged by your willingness to follow Christ. I can tell from his book that the Christians he's run into where some bizarre number crunching zealots who pushed and pushed him and his wife until they get tired of the rhetoric. When they politely said "no thanks" the backlash began. It reminds me of the old time track people used to leave for me before I was saved - the one with the picture of Hell on the back and the warning to repent today "lest ye be cast into the burning lake for eternity". While I believe in Hell and Heaven, what's the point in scaring someone or pissing them off (that's going to make my wife happy)? Man, what's wrong with people? It reminds me of Michelle's favorite bumper sticker (seen a lot in Colorado Springs near Focus on the Family) - "Lord, protect me from your followers". How real is that? Dudes on TV (Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart, Jerry Falwell, Benny Hin, John Ankerberg, etc) that make our lives harder. They say wacky stuff, say they're the spokes person for all of us, and then we're left to clean up their messes. Just shut up and let us be real people to real people and maybe through relationship non-Christians will see we're pretty much like them. Sometimes confused, sometimes not good, sometimes scared, sometimes we don't have all of the answers (again not me - refer to the smartest man comment)... most of us are normal people with normal problems and normal issues. Where people after all. And all people are flawed. I'd love to actually live my life showing the world what kind of a man I am, and then when asked I can tell them what I believe. Heck, I might even share it with someone as I'm building a relationship with them. But forcing my beliefs on someone is not going to be well received. I don't like tomatoes. Never have. No amount of pressure from some dude on the street selling tomato's is going to change my mind. However if a friend, or brother, or my wife says "try a tomato", it carries some weight and I just might try it (of course tomatoes are a bad example since they're pretty slimy inside - but hopefully you get my very simple point). Well, I could rant all day about this but I'm going to take a break, maybe I'll have a beer, and then I'll write a little more about the book and my thoughts.

The book has arrived!

That's right - after the long wait it's finally here. You can order it through Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434830241) or through my brother the Atheists' website (http://toenailsbook.com/). It's a fast read (200 pages) but it's chock full of interesting thoughts and ideas. I read it last week and am reading it again to process through it a little more. I'm going to start with my impressions under a separate entry - hopefully others will read the book and comment or at least reply to my entries. A little teaser - he is definitely not a believer in Christianity or Judaism. Read the next entry for more...