Jewish Atheist

“Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”
Mark Twain
On Blasphemy Day 2009, I thought it appropriate to re-publish the following manifesto, for those who first happen upon the site.
A cartoon shows two people standing on a front porch, showing the homeowner a handful of pamphlets, which are blank. One of them explains, “We’re atheists.”
To […]

We are not, as the worshippers call us, “nonbelievers” or “unbelievers.” We do believe in something: we believe in human power and rational thinking. We believe in courage and freedom, dignity and justice — not because God says they are good, but because history and experience have shown that they are the paths to a better life here on earth. And because we believe that this is the only life we have, we are obliged to do our utmost to make it better for ourselves and our fellow human beings.

I have been an atheist my whole life. Like some other CFI members, I believe we are engaged in a war for the minds of humanity, a war which may already be lost.

When GM is transformed from the inside, the change will be reflected in the cars they market. They will be ahead of the competition in innovation (because good ideas won’t be suppressed) and quality (ditto). Maybe they’ll win back a generation of buyers who don’t remember the bad old days. I’m sticking with Acura.

Right now there is a LOT of interest in the Jewish All-powerful Imaginary Friend, what with the High Holidays coming up. In countless synagogues and homes all over the world, Jews will do all kinds of weird things – not change clothes, not shave, fast, berate themselves, prattle about the ridiculous story of the Binding of Isaac, and beg the Imaginary Friend to treat them nicely.

The shortage I’m worried about is a paucity of skepticism. Billions of people remain enslaved to traditional religious dogma and the literal truth of phantasmagoric ancient texrts, billions more to (usually crappy) political regimes, doctrines and leaders. Most of the rest — most women, in my experience — are gauzily attached to outrageous New Age bullshit, relentlessly debunked but thriving nevertheless.

Each generation of politicians is committed to maintaining the insane wars started by his predecessors, including the drug war. I say: Let the Afghan poppies bloom! The country could become rich. Heroin has its uses, which will never be discovered under the present idelogical regime. Who the hell is the American government to decide what substances people can put in their bodies, as long as they harm no one else? The drug war costs $40 billion a year and 5,000-10,000 lives in America alone, AND IT SUPPORTS TERRORISTS. It drives other nations’ drug policies AND IT SUPPORTS TERRORISTS. Hypocritical politicians who smoked pot in their youth must take the Vow of Hypocrisy and never bring up what is now the Third Rail of Politics — the war on drugs.

So she begins the 24th year doing what she does best: promoting herself. Twenty-four years. There are among us oldsters those who remember The Time When There Was No Oprah. But we’ll soon be gone, and soon no one will know a Time When There Was No Oprah.

To destroy the enemy, you must understand him. In this case, the enemy is war. The question is, how can a man (and it is usually a man) be convinced to kill a stranger for no personal reason?

I do not deny the Kennedy family’s many humanitarian activities. But those who entered politics did so with the supposition that they were better informed and empowered than Americans themselves to make decisions about every aspect of life. They are our self-appointed rulers, and the press is pretty much their PR organization.