10. Messiah Story
Reason: The Messiah Story Has Been Around For Thousands Of Years
It should be noted that the idea of a divine savior of the human race is
practically as old as the human race itself, and has resurfaced
continually, echoing throughout our culture for thousands of years. That
it continues to be a theme of popular works today is no surprise, but
there exists a bitter debate over whether many or most of the major
elements of the story of Jesus Christ were co-opted from other
sources—some that originated hundreds or even thousands of years before
Jesus.
The general assertion by the skeptical is that all of these
elements—the virgin birth, significance of the solstices, the miracles,
disciples, baptism, crucifixion, resurrection—along with many even more
specific elements like Heaven and Hell, the soul, holy communion and
others, were all seen before in multiple ancient pagan religions.
Many Christians contend that these similarities are a distortion, or
the result of ancient records being taken out of context or simply being
inaccurate; atheists similarly will point out that practically all
ancient records are of questionable accuracy to some degree, including
those non-Christian references to the historicity of Jesus.
Modern scholars can only agree on two things about Jesus: that he was
baptized, and that he was crucified on the order of Pontius Pilate. All
of the other details are disputed by some group of scholars or another,
and an examination of the ancient pagan religions predating Jesus—those
surrounding Horus, Mithra, Dionysus, Krishna and many others—yields an
astounding number of similarities that cannot be explained away as
coincidence. These stories seem to be a part of ancient Mediterranean
culture, which leads us to the fact that . . .
9. Mythology
Reason: “Mythology” Used To Be Religion
When we think of the Greek, Roman, Norse and other mythologies that we
studied in school, most of us probably consider them to have the same
level of actual historical significance, or value to our modern culture,
as The Lord Of The Rings. That is not to say that they
have little or no value—these mythologies were an important part of the
development of human intellect and understanding of the world, of which
we had very little at the time of their inception.
From an atheist point of view, it can be argued that we still had
very little understanding of the the way our world works two thousand
years ago, and that the application of different aspects of pagan myth
to the Christian gospels makes sense—many ancient mythologies borrowed
from each other, as we know from our study of the very similar Roman and
Greek mythologies and all of their various analogues (Zeus and Jupiter,
Venus and Aphrodite, etc.) of the same deity archetypes. These ancient
mythologies weren’t myths to the people who created them—they were
religion, their way of explaining the world and its mechanics. Mount Olympus
was simply the highest mountain in Greece, and to the ancient Greeks it
was their version of Heaven, and Zeus their version of God.
This holds true for all ancient and pagan belief systems, which also
illustrates the point that Christianity did not bring religion, the
concept of salvation, or even monotheism to the world—these things had
been in place for centuries. Christianity, Islam and other such belief
systems (and there are many similarities there as well) can be seen simply as the myths that have somehow survived to this day.
8. Modern Values
Reason: The Bible Doesn’t Line Up With Modern Values
The Bible is, obviously, an extremely old text with dozens of
interpretations throughout the centuries. The term Christian itself is a
rather a blanket term for a dizzying array
of belief systems, very few of whom are in complete agreement as to how
the Bible should be interpreted—or even in what context specific
passages should be taken.
Atheists do have trouble reconciling that the Word Of God, infallible
as it should be, would be so open to such wildly varying
interpretations—but what they have more trouble with are the passages in
the Bible that clearly have absolutely no bearing on any sane, modern
system of beliefs and morals. Most are aware of the passages that
provide for the keeping of slaves, the wanton murder of homosexuals and adulterers, the selling of children and other such things which have no place in civilized society, let alone in texts that are considered to be holy.
Yes, these things were common 2,000 years ago, but that’s the
point—that these do not appear to be the suggestions and guidance of an
all-knowing and loving God, but rather of men—not prophets, just men,
who were very much of their time. An omnipotent God would have
demonstrated an understanding of basic human rights long before we
humans got around to realizing, for instance, that slavery is wrong.
This limited understanding of historical context works backwards as well
as you will see in this next item:
7. Historical Text
Reason: The Bible Doesn’t Work As A Historical Text
The above-referenced debate as to whether Jesus was actually a
historical person (he almost certainly was) notwithstanding, there are
myriad problems to be found when attempting to reconcile the Bible’s
account of ancient history with the known historical record. Again,
these are inaccuracies which would not be expected from an omnipotent
being, but would absolutely be expected from a 2,000 year old author
with a limited historical and scientific frame of reference.
Take, for example, the story of Noah and the Great Flood, a
significant event that, even if it were not worldwide but localized to
one region, would have made the historical records of many ancient
civilizations. Many Christian scholars believe that it was localized,
not a global flood, which explains its absence from the ancient record.
The Bible itself says:
“6 The LORD regretted that he had made mankind on the earth, and he felt highly offended. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-everything from mankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.” … 11 The earth was ruined in the sight of God; the earth was filled with violence.”
This clearly did not happen—but it was also far from the first “Great Flood”
story of the ancient world, another mythological element that has
echoed across cultures for millennia. And while it’s easy to argue for
the validity of parables and metaphors as a means to understanding human
nature and morality, the opposite case can also be made; that it has
become unnecessary for us as a species. We have developed into civilized
people that understand the concept of morality simply being good for
our continued survival.
6. Conflict
Reason: Religion Is Behind Many Conflicts, Large And Small
If religiosity is the key to the understanding of human nature and our
place in the Universe (or wherever we are), then this is particularly
troubling to the skeptic. Yes, “Why does God let bad things happen?” is a
well-worn and simplistic argument, but the fact of the existence of
numerous bloody religious conflicts throughout history—including those between differing sects of Christianity—combined
with the aforementioned Biblical references to the many types of
offenders that should be put to death, cannot simply be waved away. Not
only is killing for any reason obviously morally wrong, but there’s a
direct conflict with the First Commandment, the Christian doctrine of turning the other cheek, and the simple truth that religion and politics—that other great cause of violent conflict—should not be mixed.
The very phrase “King James Bible” is suspicious to the skeptic, as
it implies government involvement in the interpretation of religious
doctrine, and even the founders of the US thought enough of the issue to
include the tenet of separation of church and state within the
establishing documents of the nation. But the ability of faith to
transform a political moderate into a radical cannot be overstated—and
the ability of governments to use said faith to their own ends is easy
to see, as it continues to this day.
Many in the US think of religious radicals as those of other
religions—alien religions with weird beliefs that make their followers
do crazy things, but the truth is that there are radicals of practically
every religious affiliation—and that there is no killer more determined
than the one who believes with all their heart that God wants them to kill.
5. Favored
Reason: The Religious Are Not Favored
This raises another question: the religiously devoted are certain of the
truth of their religion, but there are hundreds, thousands of religions
all over the world, and they cannot all be right—unless they are really
all just metaphors, different interpretations of a truth that may be
beyond our intellectual grasp. So the question is: if one religion is
correct, why is it not the only religion? Why are its followers not
favored by God? Why is there such widespread disagreement?
There simply is no answer, because there is no one religion that is
favored in any measurable way; not by rate of new converts, happiness or
comfort of the converted, protection from disease or physical harm,
anything. And the notion of a God that must “remain hidden”, that cannot
interfere with the lives or fates of his followers, negates the entire
concept of prayer—while also raising questions about why God spoke to so
many people in Biblical times.
It’s somewhat of a well-known notion that the devoutly religious,
when set upon by severe misfortune, will simply think of it as “God’s
will”, which we’ll discuss a little more later. But to the skeptic, it
follows that an all-knowing God who loves all of his children—and is
admittedly “jealous”—would be pleased with those who know the truth, and
likely very displeased with the millions of his children who erroneously follow false religions. If this is the case, it is in no way apparent, but it is painfully apparent that…
4. Moral Soundness
Reason: The Religious Are Not More Morally Sound Than Others
In fact, religious beliefs are decidedly not an indicator of strong
moral values, and vice versa. Among atheists, it is a common
misconception that Christians and other religious types are
closed-minded, superstitious and judgmental; among the religious, it is a
common misconception that the non-religious are depraved, morally
reprehensible perverts. Thoughtful people of both types understand that
such generalizations fail to hold up in reality, and that morality and
religious inclinations (or lack thereof) can be two very separate
things.
Indeed, even those who do not believe in a deity should still be able
to agree that the core values of most religions—respect for one’s
fellow human beings, striving to be a good and worthwhile member of
society, an agreement not to steal, cheat or murder—are basic human
values that it is the responsibility of every parent on Earth to instill
in their children. This does not, however, necessitate the existence of
a Creator who enforces these values upon us; nor does the atheist
assertion of a lack of said creator imply that we do not have a duty to
lead moral lives.
Many agnostics and those who don’t accept the literal truth of
religious texts while still holding up the value of religion as a moral
guide miss this point. Atheists will counter that there can and must be
morality without religion, that we as humans no longer need these
parables and metaphors that may have helped to guide us in our early
development, but have outlived their usefulness to (reasonably)
enlightened, thinking beings.
3. Science
Reason: Science Is Starting To Answer All Of The Big Questions
The big questions: how did we get here, where did we come from, where
are going—have been with us for our entire existence, and we are finally
reaching a point in our development where we are beginning to be able
to address and even answer
some of them. Not in the way our ancestors did, but with new tools and
information that have only been recently available to us.
The field of physics, and recently quantum mechanics, has revealed
things to us about the world we live in that could not have been known
even half a century ago—things like the nature of matter
and the structure of cells and proteins—which was about the time that
the double-helix model of DNA was accurately hypothesized by James D.
Watson and Francis Crick, and the “code” with which we are programmed
became known to us.
And while the religious may argue that these things are aspects of
God’s design, the skeptic may counter that though there may very well be
a design, it does not automatically follow that it is the design of a
Creator deity. For what the majority of the devout fail to realize is
that…
2. Spirituality
Reason: There Can Be Spirituality Absent Religion
Not only is there a strong sense of the spiritual among most of those
who are atheist, but many of them feel that it is the need for spiritual
oneness—the longing that is innate to most of us to be a part of a more
significant whole—that is most cruelly exploited by religion. For while
the skeptic contends that we were not all created by a God, that does
not mean that we all didn’t come from the same place.
Indeed, in purely practical terms, we did—from the universal
singularity before all of time and space, before our Universe began, the
same “place”—if it can truly be called that—that everything, living and
non-living, past, present and future, originated in. This is what Carl
Sagan understood when he penned the above quote; that there is no
difference between any of us, and manufacturing differences where there
are none serve only to isolate and divide.
This need for oneness, for return to a singularity, is a part of
human nature that is so very easily manipulated, as those who claim to
offer it to us are doubtless aware. But there is no one path to it, no
one way; and likewise, no way to absolve ourselves of the one absolute
imperative of human existence. This is perhaps the concept that troubles
the non-religious the most, because…
1. Responsibility
Reason: Religion Helps Us Avoid Responsibility
If every aspect of our existence is a part of God’s plan; if everything
that has ever happened or will ever happen is God’s will; if we exist
only for God, then the need for us to be responsible to and for
ourselves is negated.
Even the most heinous crimes against humanity—against ourselves, from
the murder of a single child to the Holocaust—can be ascribed to God’s
will. But what does that mean for us? In the most practical terms, it
means that we are not responsible for our actions. That if a parent
abandons a child, a rich man becomes richer off the backs of the poor, a
corporation causes irreparable damage to the environment, or a
government exterminates thousands of its own innocent citizens, it was
all a part of God’s plan. It was inevitable; it could not have been
avoided. There is nothing to learn. We are not responsible.
This, of course, can lead into a much longer discussion about destiny
versus free will, but thinking people—both religious and
non-religious—can and must agree that it is the purpose of the human
race to never stop learning, and never stop growing. It’s more than a
belief system, and it remains relevant regardless of what you believe or
don’t believe—indeed, whether God exists or not. It’s why we’re here,
and it’s our responsibility.
By Mike Floorwalker