Jewish Atheist

Whatever will induce a person to destroy him or herself, along with countless other innocent people, in exchange for an immediate trip to an imagined paradise, merely on the say-so of another deluded psychotic…such a thing is vile and poisonous and contrary to every principle of human dignity and well-being. Whatever the correct name for this culture of fantasy and death, this perversion, this sickness, it is definitely not “religion.”

I, along with Dawkins and many others, would just like more-balanced coverage. Ultimately, I would like to see religion accorded the importance it deserves, which, to us Humanists, is little or zilch.

It’s just a story. Abraham and Isaac never did anything for humanity. My favorite name-out-of-a-hat alternative is Julius Rosenwald. Nobody knows anything about him, yet he was a great, generous Jew who did much more for humanity than Abraham and Isaac put together, since he was one of the major philanthropists of the 20th century.

Many of us Humanists are tired of being non-people. I for one would like to see the Immunity Idol taken from the hands of the priests, rabbis, and “radical Shiite clerics” (is that a job description?). I would like to see religion subjected to the same verifiability criteria as other things that people claim to be true.

Humanists should use sites like meetup.com, organizations like the Brights and Center for Inquiry, Facebook, and other ways to find each other and generate a “community of believers.”

Like religious folks, we come in all shapes and sizes. Unlike them, we’re looking for answers in entirely different places. We’re good people trying to live good lives without God. But first, we have to shake hands and get acquainted.

Let’s say, in a country that thinks no deeper than advertising slogans, a competent candidate presents himself for president. In a society where identity and gender politics have run amok, an articulate, competent person can rise to national prominence if they are the right gender and color, and this fellow certainly is: he is — get this — not even African-American.

The real issue is: does the politician really believe? It doesn’t matter whether it’s some Mormon fantasy or some Christian or Jewish or Islamic or Hindu fantasy. If they believe it’s truth, then they should not be in charge of the affairs of state.

To the extent that people embrace religion, they have actively given up on salvation through human action in this world. They show that they’ve given up on themselves and other people by putting things in God’s hands, praying/begging God for favors, and preparing for an afterlife.