100 Facts

Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Published:
May 23, 2012
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Introduction
Rationality & Reason
Atheism................................1
Openly Atheist.....................2
Critical Thinking...................3
Secular Humanism...............4
Epistemology.......................5
Epicurean Paradox...............6
Russells Teapot...................7
Pascals Wager....................8
Logical Fallacies...................9
Disinformation...................10
Science
Scientific Theory................11
Scientific Method...............12
The Big Bang.....................13
Charles Darwin..................20
Albert Einstein...................21
Alan Turing........................22
Richard Feynman...............23
Carl Sagan.........................24
Stephen Hawking...............25
Money
Saving................................26
Donating............................27
Lending..............................28
Drugs
Alcohol...............................29
Cigarettes..........................30
Marijuana...........................31
Shroooms...........................32
Sex
Earth..................................14
Masturbation......................33
Evolution............................16
Pornography......................34
Dinosaurs...........................17
Health Benefits..................35
Stem Cells..........................18
Condoms............................36
Scientists
Galileo Galilei.....................19
Anal Sex.............................37
Conception.........................38
Sublime
Sacred Texts
Purpose..............................39
The Bible............................65
Morals................................40
The Quran.........................66
Ethics.................................41
Book of Shadows...............67
Privacy...............................42
Lies and Deceit
Religious Icons
Priests................................68
God....................................43
Mother Teresa....................70
Abortion.............................44
The Pope............................71
Abstinence.........................46
Jesus Christ........................72
Homosexuality...................47
Virgin Mary........................73
Papal Infallibility................48
Nicene Creed.....................49
The Catechism...................50
Creationism.......................51
Apologetics........................52
Sin......................................53
Female Priests...................54
Cults and Sects

Scientology........................55
Jonestown..........................56
Branch Davidians...............57
Solar Temple......................58
Heavens Gate...................59
Religions
Religious Holidays
Christmas...........................74
Easter................................75
Lent....................................76
Hanukkah...........................77
Holiday...............................78
Hocus Pocus
Soul....................................79
Heaven & Hell....................80
Miracles.............................81
Faith...................................82
Prayer................................83
Speaking in Tongues..........84
Transubstantiation.............85
Buddhism...........................60
Exorcism............................86
Catholicism........................61
Beastly Number.................87
Christianity........................62
Satanism............................88
Watchtower.......................63
Purgatory...........................89
Lindy Hop...........................64
Angels & Demons..............90

Homeopathy......................91
Destructive Behavior
Religion and Politics
Child Abuse........................92
Church & State................100
Genital Mutilation..............93
Catholics & Nazis.............101
Alexandrian Library............94
Fundamentalism..............102
Book Banning.....................95
Marriage..........................103
Holy Wars..........................96
Manhattan Declaration....104
Death Penalty....................97
Honor Killing......................98
Introduction
Why question beliefs? Why come to your own conclusions?

Unjustified beliefs, while seemingly harmless, can promote
widespread ignorance, hatred, malice, and violence. For example,
Muslims believe their god deems bikinis an improprietous no-no.
For this, 215 people were murdered in riots, sparked by the 2002
Miss World Pageant, which was to be hosted in Nigeria's Abuja.
Unquestioned beliefs stifle progress and place humanity in peril.
Galileo's celestial observations of physical reality contradicted
literal biblical interpretation. Unjustly persecuted, his findings
were suppressed under penalty of death. Squelching freedom to
express or consider uncomfortable ideas attacks the acquisition
and distribution of knowledge. We have learned that asteroids,
gamma rays, megacaldera, halogenated hydrocarbons, methane
destabilization, ice ages, and over-exploiting resources could
extinguish all life on Earth. Praying will not abate these threats.
Time is our most precious commodity; arresting advancement or
dissemination of knowledge is an intolerable transgression.
Yet science does not answer everything. The scientific
method is a tool to discover how the Universe works. Science
continually refines insights based on new findings; whereas,
belief requires discarding new information to preserve faith.
This book contains commentary on many topics that religious

people preach from misunderstanding. This cognitive gap must
be filled for it is inherently harmful to believe falsehoods, worse
still to pass ignorance on to the next generation. It is axiomatic
that the propagation of lies is detrimental to survival.
Religion snakes into science classes, marries politics, and guides
formulation of laws. Adherents bombard their beliefs upon others
in many ways (gods in constitutions, gods on currency, gods in
anthems, swearing on bibles, and crosses on motorways), protect
child molesters, are anti-homosexual, cause third-world conflicts,
condemn condoms, and promote misogyny. Such evil must stop.
Keep this book with you. Keep a copy on your laptop. Distribute it
to friends. Use it to refute the Bible. Refer to it when friends and
family members ask questions. Understand arguments, learn
about logical fallacies, and grow as a good, kind, and moral freethinking individual. Also, visit reddit.com/r/debatereligion.
There are over 7 billion people on the planet. What does our
global population imply about food, land, and oil? Learn about the
exponential. Educate and improve yourself. Discover hobbies,
make friends, see the world, study science, and endeavour to
contribute something meaningful to humanity.
Question everything you read in this book.
May 23, 2012
Rationality & Reason
Atheism
Atheism is a lack of belief in any god; no more, no less. Morals

can be driven by a desire to do good in the world. Goading people
into doing good deeds by threat of eternal suffering is boorish.
Abstaining from murder allows survival by forming alliances. Also:
Friendship Treating people with kindness and respect sets
a positive example. Killing other people seriously hampers
long-term friendships and other relationships.
Kindness is good If a god told an atheist to sacrifice her
child, she would tell that god to go rip itself with a solarpowered chain saw while standing a quarter-mile from the
Sun's searing surface. Theists might kill the kid.
Death is final Murder devalues human life; socially welladjusted people value others due to empathetic responses,
which are not the exclusive domain of god belief.
In stark contrast, organized religions have justified murder,
torture, genocide, infanticide, and slavery. If anything, propensity
towards violence increases in proportion to the fundamentalism
of a person's religious faith.
Openly Atheist
Telling your parents that you no longer share their religious

beliefs might have unexpected consequences. Wait until you:
are at least 18 years old;
have arranged alternate housing;
can afford food, rent, and clothing; and
are capable of financing your education.
Make a chart that compares possible outcomes. For example:
Tell Parents
Pro / Con
Keep Quiet
Pro / Con
No Church
Pro
Church boredom
Con
No prayer
Pro
Family prayer
Con
Good feelings
Pro
Bad feelings
Con
Autonomy
Pro
Dependence
Con
Disowned
Con
Food
Pro
Evicted
Con
Shelter
Pro
Violence / Bullying
Con
Safety
Pro
Revoked Internet
Con
Internet use
Pro
Grounded
Con
Freedom
Pro
No money
Con
Education
Pro
Lose friends
Con
Keep friends
Pro
Maltreatment
Con
Fairness
Pro
Pro: 4 / Con: 8
Pro: 8 / Con: 4
Your chart will likely be quite different. While you depend on your
parents financially, it is probably best to keep your views secret.
Critical Thinking
Thinking critically means understanding whether an opinion or

argument makes logical sense. There is a difference between
critiquing the Bible and applying empirical evidence to highlight
parts of the Bible that are false.
Critical thinking requires reason over emotion, recognizing and
acknowledging factual evidence, finding the best explanation (not
necessarily the most comfortable), and asking questions. It also
means changing your viewpoint when shown to be wrong.
Always approach subjects with an open-mind. If you believe with
absolute certainty that you are right, leaving no room for doubt,
then you have stopped thinking critically. Faith-based thinking is
the opposite of open-minded: it purges rationality from thoughts;
it favors anecdotes over double-blind, empirical studies based on
quantifiable, statistical significance. When you believe something
on faith alone, you have shuttered your mind to other answers.
There is probably no god means there is neither empirical
evidence nor any logical reason to believe any gods exist.
Carl Sagan urged people to independently confirm facts, debate,
avoid arguing from authority, consider many ideas, quantify,
ensure an entire argument works, pick the simpler of two nearly
equivalent ideas, and explore theories that can be falsified.
Secular Humanism
In 1980, the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism

published its Secular Humanist Declaration based on the
following ideals:
Education Advocate transmission of knowledge; encourage moral growth.
Moral Education Abandon religious indoctrination of minors.
Reason Cultivate human intelligence through inquiry, logic, and evidence.
Free Inquiry Oppose tyranny of the mind.
Ideal of Freedom Make democratic decisions by majority rule.
Science and Technology Resist unthinking efforts to limit advances.
Evolution Teach only scientific truths within science classes.
Separate Church and State Deny legislation of ecclesiastical, insular law.
Religious Skepticism Necessitate scientific evidence for divine claims.
Critical Intelligence Ethics Formulate ethics independently of religion.
Christians purport Secular Humanism is a religion based on the

use of faith in the Humanist Manifesto, even though faith can
mean complete trust or confidence in something. Equivocation
aside, the manifesto clarifies that divine faith is irrational:
Reason and intelligence are the most effective instruments that
humankind possesses. There is no substitute: neither faith nor passion
suffices in itself.
Humanists are so threatening that Art Buchwald once satirized:

Some [Secular Humanists] could be your best friends without your
knowing they are Humanists. They could come into your house, play
with your children, eat your food, and even watch football on television
with you, and youd never know that they have read Catcher in the Rye,
Brave New World, and Huckleberry Finn.
Epistemology
The philosophical study of knowledge asks profound questions:

What is knowledge?
What is required for knowledge?
What is the extent of our knowledge?
Justified true beliefs can be problematic: Imagine a woman who
pops pills that cause irrational fears. She worries that she has
cancer, then she believes it. Coincidentally, she develops cancer.
Her belief now holds true, but her knowledge is not justified.
To know that she has cancer, the woman must be diagnosed.
To solve this problem, Robert Nozick reasoned that knowledge
has four conditions. For a subject (S) to know a proposition (P):
P is true.
S believes P.
If P were not true, S would not believe P.
If P were true, S would believe P.
Debates between atheists and non-atheists hinge on criteria for
truth. Many atheists require empirical evidence to establish the
truth of a proposition: they dismiss coincidence as evidence.
Epicurean Paradox
The problem of evil, also known as the Riddle of Epicurus, states:

If God is willing to prevent evil, but is not able to
Then He is not omnipotent.
If He is able, but not willing
Then He is malevolent.
If He is both able and willing
Then whence cometh evil?
If He is neither able nor willing
Then why call Him God?
A strong rebuttal is Plantinga's Free Will Defense, which some

philosophizing theologians mistakenly believe is irrefutable.
Briefly: creatures must decide themselves their behaviours and
beliefs. Therefore, omnipotent, omniscient gods can only create
worlds where mortals choose their morals. This addresses moral
evils, but not natural evils (such as plagues). Plantinga notes the
possibility that free, non-human persons cause natural evils.
The problem of evil is not so simple. The evidential problem of
evil, proposed by William Rowe, states that the kinds, amounts,
and distributions of evil are evidence against almighty Lords.
Refutations to this are difficult because they cannot merely
describe logically possible scenarios where absolutely good gods
co-exist in a Universe shot and besmirched with evil. Arguments
must account for evils that actually happen.
Russells Teapot
Bertrand Russell, who was intentionally raised agnostic, was

strongly influenced by Exodus 23:2: You shall not follow the
masses in doing evil. The passage concludes, nor shall you
testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order
to pervert justice.
Would that everyone wholly subscribe to such tenets! Sadly such
biblical diamonds are lost betwixt the mire of passages such as
Jeremiah 50:21: Pursue, kill, and completely destroy them, as I
have commanded you.
Fortunately, Russell subscribed to a positive, enriching world
view. In 1952, Russell wrote a passage similar to the following:
If I were to suggest that orbiting the Sun between the Earth and Mars
there exists a remarkably tiny comet containing a pink sapphire vein,
nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were to add
that the comet is too small to be detected even by our most powerful
telescopes. But if I were to insist that, since my assertion cannot be
disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason
to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If,
however, the existence of such a comet were affirmed in ancient books,
taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of
children, hesitation to believe in its existence would be deemed
eccentric and the doubter, undoubtedly, ushered into psychiatric care.
Be wary of the lure of widespread belief for it easily ensnares.
Pascals Wager
Blaise Pascal argued the following:

If you erroneously believe in God, you lose nothing; whereas, if you
correctly believe in God, you gain everything. But if you correctly
disbelieve in God, you gain nothing; whereas, if you erroneously
disbelieve in God, you lose everything.
The Atheist's Wager retorts:

In your life, try to improve the world, whether you believe in god or not.
If no god exists, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by
people whose lives you touched. If there is a benevolent god, he will
judge you on your merits and not your belief in him.
Either way, an eternally happy afterlife is rather unlikely:

1. The set of all possible gods and the subset of wrathful,
omnipotent, jealous gods are also infinite; those wrathful
gods punish disbelievers eternally.
2. The odds of worshipping the One True God approach
zero as the number of possible (wrathful) gods approaches
infinity.
3. Therefore, even if some gods promote a happy afterlife,
the odds of being accepted by those that do is essentially
zero, regardless of religious beliefs.
Checkmate, theists.
Logical Fallacies
When people discuss religion, creationism, the Bible, and

miracles, they lean on fallacious arguments. Logical fallacies do
not support an argument and must be discounted immediately.
Appeal to Authority The Pope sanctioned child molesting,
therefore it must be okay. (Quoting Andrew Wiles on Fermat's
Last Theorem would not be fallacious.)
Appeal to the People Almost every Christian believes the
Earth is flat, therefore the Earth is flat.
Anecdotal Evidence Woah! She turned me into a newt! (A
newt?) I got better. Never forget the Salem witch trials.
Ad Hominem Darwin was a bad person, therefore natural
selection and evolution must be wrong.
Circular Reasoning God created the Bible because the
Bible said God created it.
[citation needed]
False Dichotomy There is only Heaven or Hell. (Or neither

exist, or you will be reincarnated, etc.)
Slippery Slope You enjoy sex, thus you will rape cats.
There many others (too many for one page), and all of them
demonstrate incorrect reasoning, independently of spiritual faith.
Disinformation
Some common Catholic Church (and mafia) customs include:

Hear, see, and speak no evil Never discuss evidence.
Deny everything Pretend the event never happened.
Invoke enigmas State that the situation, number of people
involved, and circumstances make the truth impossible to
discover.
Internal affairs Church situations are above the law and
should be resolved without impartial police investigations.
Fall-back Dont admit to child abuse; admit to being alone
with the child, instead.
Silence critics Use financial might to arrest, detain, or
blackmail people who oppose your views.
Defame critics Use financial might to destroy a critics
physical health, finances, or emotions.
Lie Introduce new information designed to mislead others.
Vanish If someone has crucial information, have them
vacation somewhere remote.
10
Science
Scientific Theory
Scientific Theory, hypothesis, and theory are closely related

terms that are easily confused. The word blue, for example, can
mean either sad or a color. If I said my eyes were blue, unless
you enjoyed puns, you probably would not think that my eyes
were sad. Mixing two definitions is called equivocation.
Equivocation can be difficult to notice. For example, faith that a
chair will support weight is using the word faith in the sense of,
Based on my knowledge of physics and my previous
experiences, I believe...; whereas, the word faith can also mean,
Even though there is no evidence, and I'm lying through my
teeth, I believe... Do not confuse the two definitions. Having
faith in the physical attributes of a chair and faith in a god
are not equivalent definitions of faith.
A Scientific Theory, such as the Theory of Evolution, is different
than a theory that is a hunch or a guess. A Scientific Theory has
been tested, often many times (in many ways) by many different
people, and observations have been consistently verified.
Scientific Theories are also reviewed by peers to make sure that
scientists are accurately reporting their results and that their
experiments are conducted using scientifically valid methods.
Scientific Theories also allow us to make and test predictions.
11
Scientific Method
Our universe is a closed system of natural laws and forces;

nothing exists beyond this universe that affects it. This premise
leads to questions and tests to discover the hypothesis that most
closely describes observable reality. An example of the Scientific
Method might go like this:
Question What happens when hands are dunked into liquid
nitrogen?
Hypothesis The hands will freeze and then shatter.
Experiment Dip a room-temperature hand replica into
th
liquid nitrogen for 1/10 of a second.

Observation Temperature differences caused the liquid to
boil, forming a flesh-protecting air barrier.
Conclusion It is possible to rapidly dip a hand into liquid
nitrogen without it freezing. But don't: it's dangerous.
Scientists avoid bias by trying to prove their theories incorrect. If
they cannot show that the hypothesis is incorrect, then they have
demonstrated that their idea is most likely true. The experiments
must be repeatable so that scientists can test each others
claims. This helps ensure no mistakes (deliberate or otherwise)
are made.
12
The Big Bang
The Big Bang is an event of epic proportions that began the

instant our Universe came into existence. Evidence supporting
the Big Bang is staggeringly overwhelming. But what caused it?
A Universe without cause is an uncomfortable idea. Even if we
attribute the cause to a god, we must ask: What created that
god? If the god had no cause, then the uncomfortable idea (of an
uncaused cause) remains. So why not save a step and remove
that god?
Perhaps the Big Bang began from a quantum process. Maybe this
Universe is only one of many. Or maybe the Big Bang was the
inevitable consequence of the laws of physics? There are ideas
that explain how the Universe began, naturally, without invoking
godly intervention.
We're alive in an expanding Universe with vast numbers of stars,
untold galaxies, breathtaking beauty, and unimaginable wonders.
As time tallies forth, galaxies continue to speed away from each
other. Eventually distant galaxies will spread out faster than the
speed of light, disappearing from view forever.
All observable evidence for the Big Bang will be gone.
13
Earth
The Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, contrary to the

unsubstantiated beliefs of Young-Earth Creationists.
British naturalist, William Smith, realized that two layers of rock
with similar fossils are probably the same age. His nephew, John
Phillips, used this realization to conclude that the Earth was at
least 96 million years old.
Next up, William Thomson calculated how long the Earth would
have taken to cool to its current temperature. His calculations
yielded an age between 10 and 100 million years old, but
neither Thomson nor anybody else knew about radioactivity.
Radioactivity was discovered in 1896 and soon it was found that
radioactivity gives off heat. This meant that the Earth could stay
warm long after its formation. Scientists have since confirmed
that much of Earths internal heat comes from radioactive decay.
Radioactive decay also led to another way to measure age. When
an element (such as uranium) undergoes radioactive decay, it
becomes a different element (such as lead), which is called the
daughter element. By measuring the amounts of the radioactive
element compared to the amounts of its daughter element, we
can determine the age of rocks.
14
The process of using radioactive decay to determine an object's

age is called radiometric dating and has been used to determine
the Earths age.
We can also apply radiometric dating to meteorites.
The Sun burns hydrogen, fusing it into helium through nuclear
fusion. We can use the ratio of hydrogen to helium to determine
the age of the Sun. Not surprisingly, the Sun is about 4.57
billion years old: only slightly older than the Earth. There are
other ways we can determine the age of the Sun.
That the age of the Earth and Sun are chronologically consistent
(with respect to cosmological theories and actual observations of
solar system formationthe Hubble Space Telescope has taken
pictures of protoplanetary disks) gives us confidence that:
the age estimate is correct;
radiometric dating is accurate.
15
Evolution
People who do not understand evolution think that present-day

species evolved from one another; they ask questions such as:
If we evolved from monkeys, why are there monkeys?
We didn't evolve from monkeys. Evolutionary biology describes
common descent. Great apes (bonobos, chimpanzees, and
gorillas) and humans are more like distant relatives with common
great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents (except
many times greater). Our ancient ancestors no longer exist, but
their offspring thrive today.
Ask not, Do you believe in evolution? Evolution is as factual as
gravity. The question is: Do you understand evolution?
Evolution has been observed (e.g., in Escherichia coli).
Transitional fossils have been unearthed.
Natural selection is the opposite of random chance.
Humans have two fewer chromosomes (46) than great apes (48);
a common ancestor must have had either 46 or 48 chromosomes.
It was predicted using evolutionary theory that, in humans,
two sets of chromosomes must have fused. Years after its
prediction, human chromosome 2 was discovered to have fused.
16
Dinosaurs
The terrible lizards were animals that dominated the Earth for
over 160 million years. Around 65 million years ago, they went
extinct. Their extinction let mammals diversify quite quickly,
leading to humans. Humans never co-existed with dinosaurs.
Also around 65 million years ago, a giant asteroid slammed into
Earth. Most scientists agree that the asteroid that exterminated
the dinosaurs left its mark as the Chicxulub impact crater in the
Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.
Scientists have even measured the crater's gravitational data to
study the angle of impact. Genius.
In the United States, the Creation Museum, which depicts a
fictional, if not imaginative, telling of the Biblical account of
Genesisin all its refutable glorycost $27 million to build. The
museum displays a literal interpretation of Genesis, with humans
and dinosaurs frolicking together.
That was 27 million dollars spent on the active promotion of lies.
What a heart-wrenching waste of time and resources. That
money should have been spent sheltering the homeless, feeding
the less fortunate, advancing medicine, or any number of ways to
improve our plight, not aggravate it.
17
Stem Cells
Embryonic stem cells are unspecialized cells from which all other
cells (skin cells, blood cells, etc.) in our body develop. Stem cells
are obtained from blastocysts, aborted fetuses, umbilical cords,
placentas, and genetically reprogrammed adult cells (iPSCs).
Research into how stem cells work will give us insights into how
to cure diseases and fix the human body. A few rare diseases that
could have their secrets unlocked include:
Cancer
Alzheimer's
Parkinson's
Diabetes
Arthritis
Banning stem cell research is another way the Catholic Church
has suppressed the advancement of knowledge. Stem cells are
not special, nor are blastocysts. Opponents of stem cell research
rallied against it, saying that the research was unethical because
it required cells from aborted fetuses. There are other ways to
obtain stem cells, yet opponents continue to use the same tired,
ignorant, and invalid arguments.
18
Scientists
Galileo Galilei
In 1633, Galileo was sentenced to house arrest (for the remainder

of his life) by the Catholic Church for daring to suggest an idea.
Yes, an idea. An idea that the Church didnt like: that the Earth
revolves around the Sun. This idea is called heliocentrism. They
locked him up and banned reprinting his works; they forced him
to recant his position or face torture. The Catholic Church
suppresses information because the truth would allow people to
conclude that their teachings are false.
In 1741, the Pope graciously allowed publication of Galileos
complete scientific works. That they had to get permission is
appalling. By 1835, official opposition to heliocentrism was
dropped. Through Galileo's work, rationality and reason were
thrust into public consciousness once more.
The Catholic Church made a half-assed apology in late 1992.
The Pontifical Academy even planned to build a statue of Galileo
within the Vatican. A month later the plans were halted. Probably
because they needed the money to shuttle fiddly priests around,
or perhaps to buy bigger hard-drives for their child pr0n stash.
19
Charles Darwin
This mans visage is on British currency. His ideas of natural

selection and evolution influenced the direction of modern
medicine, reshaped how we think of ourselves, and helped
expunge the literal Biblical interpretations from modern society.
You have probably heard that Darwin recanted evolution on his
deathbed. Even if this was true:
It changes nothing. If Jane Goodall, for example, changed her
mind about chimps and gorillas, it would not alter the fact
that chimpanzees use tools and gorillas use sign language.
When dying, a person's mental state is uncertain. A dying
brain is likely to hallucinate, or become clouded. Noting his
words in such a state would be like noting his words while he
was trippin' on 'shrooms.
The story was fabricated by Lady Hope, who was not with Darwin
when he died. Accounts of his death, as written by those who
were actually present, do not mention recanting. His children,
who were there, refuted the recantation and conversion story.
Darwin's The Descent of Man remains highly recommended
reading.
20
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein proposed a revolutionary idea about space, time,

and light. He even hammered on intolerant atheists.
He once wrote:
A man who is convinced of the truth of his religion is indeed never
tolerant. At the least, he is to feel pity for the adherent of another
religion but usually it does not stop there. The faithful adherent of a
religion will try first of all to convince those that believe in another
religion and usually he goes on to hatred if he is not successful.
However, hatred then leads to persecution when the might of the
majority is behind it.
He also wrote:
I was barked at by numerous dogs who are earning their food guarding
ignorance and superstition for the benefit of those who profit from it.
Then there are the fanatical atheists whose intolerance is of the same
kind as the intolerance of the religious fanatics and comes from the
same source. They are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their
chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle.
And he wrote:
I am convinced that some political and social activities and practices of
the Catholic organizations are detrimental and even dangerous for the
community as a whole, here and everywhere. I mention here only the
fight against birth control at a time when overpopulation in various
countries has become a serious threat to the health of people and a
grave obstacle to any attempt to organize peace on this planet.
21
Alan Turing
Alan Turing was instrumental in saving the British from the

Germans. He was the Father of computer science, a codebreaker,
a mathematician, and the victim of religious prejudice for being
homosexual. It is bitterly unjust that a man so important to the
freedom of his fellow citizens should have had their laws used
against him. Laws he so ardently sought to protect.
Such is the power of religious propaganda and dogma. Some
religions teach that there is no middle ground: no room for
exceptions. This strict regime of right versus wrong is too
inflexible, too archaic for a progressive civilization. Stealing is
usually wrong (like taking money from your parents without their
express permission), but sometimes stealing can be the only
action (like lifting documents from a priests office that provide
evidence of rampant corruption and child abuse).
Turing was given a choice: go to jail or suffer chemical castration.
He chose the latter, to his physical detriment. Two years after his
sentence, Turing was found dead from cyanide poisoning, most
likely having taken his own life by biting into a poisoned apple.
The Prime Minister apologized in 2009. A symbolic gesture not for
Alan Turing, but to admit that the religion-influenced society was
wrong in persecuting homosexuals.
22
Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman harbored an immense guilt for his contributions

to building the atomic bomb. He helped build the device because
he believed in the liberating forces fighting for freedom; he
believed that if the Allies created massively destructive weapons,
they would stand against oppression, slavery, and genocide.
Some people unjustly link atheism and communism. Atheists lack
a god belief because there is no empirical evidence for any gods;
similarly, the scientific method requires empirical evidence.
On the relationship between atheism, communism, and
democracy, Richard Feynman spoke out on May 2, 1956:
I would like to remark, in passing, since the word atheism is so closely
connected with communism, that the communist views are the
antithesis of the scientific, in the sense that in communism the answers
are given to all the questionspolitical questions as well as moral ones
without discussion and without doubt.
The scientific viewpoint is the exact opposite of this; that is, all
questions must be doubted and discussed; we must argue everything
outobserve things, check them, and so change them. The democratic
government is much closer to this idea, because there is discussion and
a chance of modification.
Watch Feynman's videos on The Pleasure of Finding Things Out.
23
Carl Sagan
We are fortunate that this renown astronomer lived in an era

where he could freely express his ideas without fear of being
burned alive. His poignant words have the cold, sharp, refreshing
splash of clarity and honest insight:
I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience.
And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning,
science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of
being true.
Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with
prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however
vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has
there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of
science?
Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of
confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and
courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we
cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us and we
risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan
who comes along.
One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled
long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no
longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured
us. it is simply too painful to acknowledgeeven to ourselvesthat
we've been so credulous. (So the old bamboozles tend to persist as the
new bamboozles rise.)
24
Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking has been misrepresented to support the

baseless position that certain gods exist. Even though this is an
Appeal to Authority fallacy, his book The Grand Design clarifies
that he does not believe in a personal god. Hawking also regards
Heaven as mythical:
I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm
not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to
do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when
its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down
computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
In 2010, Hawking contrasted religion and science by noting their

fundamental differences. Religion is based on authority (imposed
dogma and faith), while science is based on observation (reason
and rationality). Science will trounce religion, he declared,
because it works.
Without medical science, Hawking would have succumbed to
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
And yet countless numbers of people have died from disease.
How many of those people could have reshaped the world for the
better had they lived a full life? Now consider how much money is
wasted on religious propaganda that could be used to advance
medical science.
Religion affronts all of humanity in many ways.
25
Money
Saving
Tithing money to churches grows the reach and influence of an

organization that can finance its own nation state. And yet
Churches find it necessary to pass around a collection plate,
begging for more.
Start saving your hard-earned coin and invest in your own future,
secure your own financial security. Be your own boss. If (or
when!) financial hardship hits, you will have your own foresight to
thank.
A 10% tithe equates to about $100 a week for the average
person. When investing that same amount at a moderate interest
rate of 5%, a 22-year savings account will equal approximately
$204,000. And $89,000 of that is money the bank payed you.
Now 22 years is a long time, but if you start investing at 18, you
will have a golden nest-egg ready to hatch by 40.
26
Donating
Some Churches will squander your money lobbying government

to further their own agenda, while paying no tax. Instead of
donating money to a church (which spends a percentage of your
money on worthy causes, and the rest proselytizing), give directly
to secular and humanitarian groups having low managerial
overhead, and no secondary agenda. Notable groups include:
Doctors Without Borders (also Mdecins Sans Frontires)
The Nature Conservatory and World Wildlife Fund
Amnesty International
United Nations Children's Fund
No matter how you choose to spend your money, avoid giving it
to churches or anyone else with an expensive administrative
process. Encourage your parents to read about other noble
causes and support those instead. Where possible, donate
directly to the people who need help. Sometimes you need look
no further than your own neighborhood.
27
Lending
Not facts, per se, but golden guidelines for handling money:
Beggars. Those who ask for money do not have your best
interests in mind.
Strangers. Never lend large sums of money to strangers.
Friends. Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; for loan oft
loses both itself and friend.
Lawyers. Have a lawyer read contracts that involve large
sums of money before you sign anything.
Contracts. Use signed contracts when dealing with large
sums of money.
Overseas. Never wire large sums of money overseas;
without a direct way to wire money, there is no direct way to
get that money back.
Scams. Anything that promises over 20% return is likely a
scam. Find other ways to make or invest your money.
Advice. Listen to a trusted friends advice before making
large monetary decisions.
28
Drugs
Alcohol
Chugging alcohol can be fatal. When someone sips too much

Ethanol Entertainment, call emergency services immediately. It is
no rumor that adults prefer meeting stomach-pumped teenagers
in the hospital than dead ones on their kitchen floor.
Clues when someone needs a ride in the meat-wagon:
confusion;
vector spewing;
violent, or dangerous anger;
skin changes: pale, blue tinge, or cold and clammy;
seizures (major or minor uncontrolled trembling); and
shallow breathing (fewer than 12 breaths per minute).
Short-term alcohol effects can cause fetal damage during
pregnancy. Long-term toxic effects of excessive alcohol abuse
include disease, strokes, sleep disorders, weight gain, kidney
stones, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, and higher susceptibility
to infection, colds, and cancer.
29
Cigarettes
Random cigarette facts:

Urea, the main substance in urine, is added for flavor.
Smoking while aroused removes blood from the penis.
Nicotine might reduce arousal in women.
Smoking takes 14 years off your life, on average.
4.5 trillion cigarette butts become litter every year.
1.1 billion people smoke cigarettes.
Like alcohol, smoking cigarettes while pregnant causes birth
defects such as mental and physical disability, slower growth,
and increases the chance of miscarriages.
Yeah, yeah, you already know all this crap. And you dont care.
If you must light up, at least respect that other people do not
want their health to deteriorate because of second-hand smoke.
Keep your distance and avoid smoking near children.
30
Marijuana
Marijuana is also called cannabis, 420, grass, hash, herb, weed,

wacky tabacky, pot, dank, dope, doobie, killer, El diablo, Mary
Jane, rainy day women, swag, buds, trees, and tweeds.
It is a psychoactive drug and used for medicinal purposes. It is
great for pain relief, and counters the nauseating effects of
chemotherapy. The Journal of the American Medical Association
concludes that occasional and low cumulative marijuana use is
not associated with negative effects on lung capacity.
To be clear: it is stupid to ingest any form of marijuana (or
alcohol) before or while operating heavy machinery.
To be even more clear: smoking anything, be it marijuana or
cigarettes, can lead to cancer (such as testicular cancer).
Be wary! Consuming 1,500 pounds of marijuana in 15 minutes
could result in an overdose. (Normally, marijuana cannot kill you.)
Many drugs are highly addictive and will cut your life short. If
you want to experiment with hard drugs (which is insanely stupid
because they probably have detrimental long-term effects on the
only thing that prevents stupidity: your brain), only do so with
someone trustworthy and experienced.
31
Shroooms
Catholic missionaries wanted to prevent pagans from worshipping

other gods, so they suppressed the use of mushrooms. Mostly
because the Spanish Catholics believed mushrooms allowed
Aztecs to communicate with devils. Probably a translation error.
In converting people to Catholicism, the Spanish influenced
people to switch from shrooms to eating symbolic Jesus-fleshwafers.
From the Shroomery (an unbiased source, obviously):
There are no known long term physical effects from ingestion of
mushrooms containing psilocybin and psilocin.
Mushrooms (the magic variety) are fungi that, after consumption,

cause a person to experience illusions through the senses.
Common hallucinogens include psilocybe cubensis, psilocybe
subaeruginascens, and amanita muscaria. The active chemicals
in psilocybin mushrooms are psilocybin and psilocin, while the
active chemical in the amanita muscaria is muscimol. These fungi
are considered powerful hallucinogens capable of creating lifealtering mental experiences.
When Tamarins and Komondors color out neapolitan Faraday
cages, walk lengthways as vacuums next ontological mayhem
mourning. Tramp-o-smear, tramp-o-smear, kingsail! Oooh...
32
Sex
Masturbation
Masturbation is giving yourself physical pleasure, often (but not

always) to achieve orgasm.
For males:
Stroke your penis.
For females:
Rub your clitoris.
Other than taking up your time (doing something fun), there are
few drawbacks to masturbation. You palms will not grow hairy,
you will not go blind, nor will any other ridiculous claims occur.
Masturbation is perfectly healthy (but not to excess).
Nope, there is nothing wrong with masturbation. Be back later.
Meanwhile, back in 2006, a McGill University study measured the
sexual arousal rates of both men and women. On average, men
and women take about 10 minutes to reach maximum arousal.
Note: In the first version of this book, this page perpetuated an
outdated, inaccurate stereotype about female arousal. While
intended as humorous sarcasm, it promoted a sexist attitude.
33
Pornography
Pornography (also shortened to porn or pr0n) is visual material,

such as streaming video, that illustrates sexual activity.
Pro-tip: Use your web browser's private browsing feature.
There is nothing wrong when consenting adults make porn. Be
aware that the porn stars are portraying fictional situations. They
may also have prepared their bodies for certain sexual acts prior
to being filmed (see also: anal sex). Before recreating (Internetinspired) sex acts with your partner, always ask for your partner's
permission. If they say no, then respect that decision.
Never coerce or manipulate someone into doing something that
they are not comfortable doing. Non-consensual sex is rape,
punishable by jail time. You may withdraw consent anytime. False
accusations of rape are equally as immoral and unethical as rape.
Learn about accidental rape.
Too long? Didn't read?
Do not use alcohol to lower a person's inhibitions.
Do not secretly place drugs in another person's drink.
If you were raped, you did nothing wrong; tell someone.
34
Health Benefits
Sexual intercourse offers more than weight loss and healthy

teeth. A few great reasons not to abstain:
Longevity Two orgasms per week lowers risk of death.
Emotions Absorbed semen is a natural antidepressant.
Rejuvenation Orgasmic oxytocin helps cell regeneration.
Confidence More love equates to higher self-esteem.
Cancer Sex reduces prostate and breast cancer risk.
Pain relief Endorphins and morphine are close cousins.
Estrogen The more she has sex, the more she wants it.
Sleep Fall asleep faster and deeper; awake refreshed.
A wide-awake, well-rounded, emotionally steady, confident
individual busting with zeal is zero bad. Have frequent sex, but be
responsible: use condoms and contraceptives.
If you have sex with multiple partners, get checked for sexually
transmitted diseases on a regular basis.
35
Condoms
Contrary to Monty Pythons ear-worming tune, not every sperm is

sacred. Condoms, when used properly, significantly reduce the
chances that a man will impregnate a woman while they are
having vaginal intercourse. They also reduce the risk of giving or
receiving sexually transmitted diseases.
The Catholic Church incorrectly believes that the indiscriminate
use of condoms encourages promiscuity, and does not endorse
their use to combat AIDS. We already know that people are going
to be promiscuous with or without condoms because orgasms
feel great! Condom use encourages people to plan pregnancies,
form deeper bonds through more acts of intimacy, and allows sex
to be much more pleasurable without the worry of pregnancy (or
spreading disease) hanging over the lovers.
If you cannot afford condoms, or the idea of free condoms sounds
better than paying for protected sex, visit any of these locations:
pregnancy planning centres;
STI and STD health clinics;
county health departments; and
campus health centres.
36
Anal Sex
Anal sex (sodomy) is a morally bereft act performed by Catholic

priests on little children against their will.
Between two consenting adults, anal sex can be a pleasurable
sexual experience, an expression of trust, and a little bit kinky.
(Once in the stink, keep it out of the pink: avoid E. coli infection!)
When improperly performed, anal sex can be dangerous. A ripped
rectum is a rather embarrassing way to be hospitalized and can
lead to serious bacterial infections. Inside tips to get you going:
Be clean Shower or bathe before getting dirty.
Lube it Smear water-based lubricant on the anus. Use more
lube than you think is necessary. And a bit more.
Suit up Put on a condom. Gasp!
Stretch Before inserting anything big into a butt, insert
something small, such as a finger. This will help relax the
sphincter and give you a stinky finger.
Stop! If the person receiving whispers, says, moans, or
screams for you to stop, you stop. Exit slowly. Respect.
Warning: There might be some poop when exiting the exit.
37
Conception
Embryogenesis is the name given to the process that begins with

sperm bumping into an egg and ends when a fetus is formed.
There are many observable stages to embryogenesis: day 1 is
fertilisation, day 2 is cleavage, day 3 is compaction, day 4 is
differentiation, day 5 is cavitation, and so on.
Some people believe that human life gets a soul at conception.
Except for when Saint Alphonsus Liguori, in the 18th century,
pulled from his derriere the idea that a fetus receives a soul
around 40 days after conception, and thus abortion was
acceptable within during that period.
When exactly does a blastocyst, zygote, or fetus receive a soul?
One can easily state human life begins at conception, or the soul
is bestowed sometime in the first 40 days, or babies are assigned
a soul at birth. To the inquisitive, rational mind the question of
when is imperative. The Catholic Church will not, and arguably
can not, be specific about when the soul is bestowed.
Even if Catholics fingered the soul-bestowing moment during
pregnancy, the soul is a metaphysical concept, and conveniently
said to be beyond scientific inspection.
38
Sublime
Purpose
Genetics urge all animals to meet, greet, and mate. This is true of
birds, mammals, reptiles, spiders and people who believe that
religion is just fairytales and fan fiction.
However, life is not all storm clouds and meadow muffins: we
make our own purpose. We can choose to make more happiness
in the world; choose to contribute to humanitys progress. We can
look at morality in terms of how much happiness we create, or
how much pain and suffering we can wipe from existence.
Renown astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson shared his purpose:
I remain unconvinced that anything other than rapid decomposition is
the fate of my body and mind after death. I've accomplished enough in
life so that I do not fear death. In fact, I've left instructions for my
epitapha quote from the educator, Horace Mann: Be Ashamed to Die,
Until You Have Scored Some Victory for Humanity. That's the creed I
live by. And will die by.
This set of ethics, philosophy, and morality is called Secular

Humanism. Secular humanists act in ways that promote the
happiness and well-being of everyone. They believe that there is
no god to save humanity, so humanity must save itself.
That is a noble purpose.
39
Morals
Morals are the concepts, standards, and rules we choose to

follow. Morals depend on how a person interprets what it means
to be a decent, well-rounded, and good individual. The notion of
decency, or goodness, is influenced by experience, parents,
peers, culture, and society.
This means that everybody has different moral standards. Yet, to
function as a just, rational, and decent society, most people
adhere to a few common morals:
respect the lives, liberties, and values of others; and
treat all people equally, regardless of differences.
Modern research indicates that no single part of the brain is
responsible for moral decisions. Moral judgements stem from
different parts of the brain collaborating together.
When societies learn morality from biblical texts that extol
torture, persecution, and genocide, the resulting population veers
towards war, exploitation, slavery, famine, and inequality.
40
Ethics
Ethics (moral philosophy) concerns categorizing, discussing, and

offering ideas about acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
Utilitarianism holds that correct (or good) actions maximize
happiness. Ethics includes meta-ethics, normative ethics, and
applied ethics. Questions to help clarify their differences:
Meta-ethics What does good mean?
Normative ethics What actions should we take?
Applied ethics Are gods necessary for objective morality?
Theists argue that morality is meaningless without a god and,
consequently, atheists have no moral foundation. Even if we
pretend that gods do exist, the position is unfounded. Morals can
be asserted through contractarianism many ways, including:
Self-defense needs neither rationalization nor justification.
Community defenses and benefits surpass nomadic exile.
Agreeing to societal rules rewards communal privileges.
Further, societal rules defined by secular ethics improve over
time; whereas, morality based on biblical texts does not.
41
Privacy
The expression Ive got nothing to hide is deeply encumbered

with flawed reasoning. The expression presumes that privacy is
about hiding a wrong, but privacy is not about hiding illegal acts.
Privacy means not installing a public video camera above your
toilet, or keeping birthday present purchases secret. A curt retort
to if you've nothing to hide is that's none of your beeswax.
Without privacy, governments will abuse knowledge, rather than
serve its people. The nothing to hide argument invites:
Surveillance Privacy erosion gives governments the ability
to learn anything about us.
Aggregation Small pieces of information can form a big
picture about your life.
Exclusion Who may audit how the information is used?
Exploitation Will information collected for one purpose be
used for another purpose (without permission)?
Distortion Who guarantees the data will not be changed?
Corruption Vindictive, malfeasant politicians retaliate.
42
Lies and Deceit
God
Atheists do not hate god any more than Christians hate unicorns.
A question atheists ask, though, is: Of the thousands of gods that
humans have ever believed, why must one specific god exist
while the gods of other societies must not? (See: Pascals Wager.)
Historically, gods may have become so culturally pervasive due
to societal cohesion, rather than scripture.
Early societies had two main threats: internal lawlessness and
external warfare. Religion motivated individuals to put societal
needs first, including self-sacrifice for the greater good. The idea
that religion evolved because it was useful for social structure
hinges on natural selection for groups as well as individualsa
controversial concept.
Around 1750 BCE, the first known creation myth, Enma Eli, was
carved into stone tablets by Babylonians, using cuniform writing.
Their mythology tells of our origins in tales of Aps and Tiamat,
which predates biblical origins tales by 500 years or so.
Proving that Aps does not exist is the same as proving that God
does not exist. Fortunately, proving the existence of either God or
Aps is the burden of those who say they exist.
43
Abortion
An abortion is a pregnancy that is terminated before the fetus

can survive outside the womb. For a large part of its history, the
Catholic Church did not regard early term abortions as sinful.
In the book Freakonomics, the authors showed that giving women
the ability to choose when to bring a baby into the world results
in lower crime rates. The reason is that young adults (in their
twenties) in lower socioeconomic classes are more likely to
commit crimes. When women of this class have abortions, they
reduce the number of potential criminals. Twenty years after the
legalization of abortion, crime waves that were predicted never
materialized.
Some religious people claim abortions are unacceptable for
biblical reasons; some religions preach that miscarriages are
abortions. In both cases, rational thought and reason is ignored in
favor of superstition and fallacious appeals to tradition. Consider
these circumstances:
Rape A woman who is raped should not be forced to carry
the rapist's spawn to term. (Women get raped by both
strangers and people they know, including family.)
44
Genetic disorders If the zygote shows signs of genetic

deformity, it seems cruel to prevent a woman from ending the
pregnancy. Kinder to allow her to attempt to conceive a
healthier, viable offspring. (Sometimes, though, defects
cannot be detected until too far into the pregnancy.)
Safety Criminalizing abortion will not prevent women from
getting abortions. It will make abortions more dangerous.
Complications Pregnancies can endanger the woman's life;
sometimes the only way to save her is by terminating the
pregnancy.
As of 2010, statistically speaking, 24 weeks is the earliest age a
fetus from a preterm birth has a greater than 50% chance of
rd
th
survival. An infant born in the 23 or 24 week of gestation has a

16% chance of survival and 64% chance of serious disability
(such as brain damage and blindness).
th
Amillia Taylor is reported as being born (on October 24 , 2006)

after 21 weeks and 6 days. However, when her gestation period
is calculated using the more common methodher mother's last
menstrual periodshe is no longer a statistical anomaly. Amillia
was born after 23 weeks and 6 days of gestation; she is healthy.
The earliest premature baby in the world was born after 21 weeks
and 5 days in gestation. James Elgin Gill survived and is healthy.
Amillia and James were exceptional babies.
45
Abstinence
Abstinence means, among other things, choosing to avoid sexual

intercourse. It is the assertion that the only way to protect
yourself from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and
pregnancy is to refrain from sex. Mitigate your life's risks.
Proponents of abstinence argue abstaining from vaginal
intercourse. As a result, many Catholic teens experiment with
everything except vaginal intercourse: oral sex, anal sex, mutual
masturbation, dry humping, burtreynolds, and other sexual acts.
Sexual acts can result in the transmission of diseases.
Abstinence-only education incorrectly teaches that condoms and
contraceptives do not work, or increase risk. This makes it easier
to justify the dangerously misguided view that abstinence is the
only solution. Erroneously teaching that contraceptives and
condoms are risky results in people not properly protecting
themselves from exposure to sexually transmitted diseases.
It is natural and expected that people will have sex. Without
practical sex education, women are at risk of becoming pregnant
and both partners risk contracting STIs. Learn about condoms
and contraceptives. Use them as instructed when having sexual
intercourse or sexual relations.
46
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is the emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction

with a person (or people) of the same physical sex. When a
woman is primarily attracted to other women, she is considered a
lesbian. Most men get sexually aroused watching two women
make out. When a man is attracted to other men, he is
considered gay, although sometimes gay can refer to lesbians,
too. In the past, the word gay meant happy or joyful. Straight
women are equally aroused by all human sexual activity, and
sometimes by watching monkey sex.
Homosexuality is as much a choice as being born with red hair is
the baby's choice. Homosexuality is biological: any discrimination
must be considered and denounced as bigotry and hate speech.
In Leviticus (the Old Testament), the Bible states that shrimp and
homosexuality are abominations, the latter worthy of death:
Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind... both of
them have committed abomination.
Leviticus 11:9-12 Shrimp is an abomination.
Leviticus 11:21 Insects have four legs.
The Bible can be a destructive source of morality because it is
contradictory, unethical, hypocritical, and promotes ignorance.
47
Papal Infallibility
Papal infallibility means that under certain conditions the Roman

Pontiff (the Pope) cannot err when teaching about faith or morals.
This is called speaking ex cathedra and its conditions include:
The Pope must speak as the pastor and teacher of all
Christians (cum omnium Christianorun pastoris et doctoris
munere fungens).
The teaching must define a doctrine of faith or morals
(doctrinam de fide vel moribus).
The doctrine must be accepted by the universal Church
(universa Ecclesia tenendam).
The Roman Pontiff must define the proposed doctrine for
acceptance by the whole Church (definitive actu proclamat).
Whether any ex cathedra statements exist is debatable. The
Immaculate Conception and the Assumption have been cited as
ex cathedra statements. Regardless, the Church attempted to
cover this nonsense with Canon Law 749 3, which states:
No doctrine is understood as defined infallibly unless this is manifestly
evident.
To be true, a doctrine must first be declared infallible before its

infallibility is manifestly evident, which is circular reasoning.
48
Nicene Creed
A creed is a formal statement of beliefs lies shared by a religious

community, which includes belief in ghosts, spirits, or zombies.
The Nicene Creed concludes with the following passage:
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to
come.
Upon death, the human body gradually decomposes as follows:

Day 1 to 2 Body temperature drops; muscular tissues become rigid.
Day 1 to 2 Small carrion insects join in, looking to feast upon flesh.
Day 2 to 4 Cell structure begins decaying; stomach bacteria proliferate.
Day 2 to 4 Maggots and gas rupture the skin, starting a rapid decay cycle.
While alive, the heart circulates blood. The blood grabs oxygen
from the lungs and nutrients from the stomach then distributes
those items to other organs, which prevent decay from starting.
Humans replenish stomach nutrients by eating plants (that
absorb energetic sunlight). Once decomposition starts, reversal
(resurrection) is only possible by adding energy to fix problems
caused by decay and death. Of the following ideas regarding
rebooting an inanimate corpse, consider what is more likely:
1. Of all creatures throughout space and time, one particular human was
infused with supernatural maggot-zapping, flesh-repairing go-go juice.
2. Spontaneous reanimation of the dead violates physical laws, making the
resurrection story of Jesus Christ (and others) more fairytale than fact.
Divine resurrection never happened; the creed is unfounded.
49
The Catechism
Traditionally, catechisms are manuals written in a question-andanswer format, wielded by the religious to indoctrinate people
through rote memorization, often to force beliefs upon children.
Indoctrination deters questions and critical thought while it
implants unproven, fallacious, and prejudiced beliefs:
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as
acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that homosexual
acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law.
Under no circumstances can they be approved.
Belief is learned by either proof (providing decisive evidence) or

indoctrination (exerting psychological pressure). Psychologically,
young children tend to believe their parents are authorities on
everything from egg prices to life's meaning. Parents must be
cautioned against imposing religious beliefs on their children.
Embedded within Religious Upbringing Reconsidered is this gem:
We have put to sleep a central part of the childs personality the ability
to think rationally in a certain area. Put dramatically: there is always
hope so long as the mind remains free, however much our behaviour
may be forced or our feelings conditioned. But if we occupy the inner
citadel of thought and language, then it is difficult to see how a person
can develop or regain rationality except by a very lengthy and arduous
course of treatment. Indoctrinating takes over his personality in a much
more radical way than anything we do by way of force or conditioning.
Indoctrination is difficult to justify under any circumstances.
50
Creationism
Creationism is the belief that an omnipotent being is responsible

for setting into motion the events that directed humanity, or even
life itself, to where it is today.
Creationists pretend that their beliefs are valid by wrapping them
in a thin veil of pseudo-scientific nonsense and attempt to pass it
off as valid scientific theory. They now call it Intelligent Design
and, quite loosely, it states that complex things (such as the
human eye) cannot be explained by natural selection because all
the parts that make up this fully working complex thing need to
be in place at the same time. Complexity and design are not the
same thing. The Nike swoosh logo is simple and designed,
while a winding river path is complex but not designed.
The only true part is that evolution does not create all the parts
of complex things simultaneously and instantaneously. Evolution
recycles existing parts by adapting them for new purposes.
Sometimes these parts become slightly more complex in their
new role.
The Designer of Intelligent Design is not necessarily a god but
could be an advanced alien civilization. This then raises the
infinite regression, What designed the designer?
51
Apologetics
Christian Apologetics attempt to rationalize and defend Christian

faith and the Bible. Given that it is morally wrong to:
deliberately slaughter men, women, and children;
hold women captive for slavery, sex, or both;
force people to cannibalize friends and family;
practice any kind of human sacrifice; and
torture people because of their beliefs.
Then whomever claims to have committed such atrocities (god or
human) is as reprehensible as the acts themselves. Consider:
Genesis 7:23 Every living thing on the face of the Earth was wiped out.
Numbers 31:17-18 Save for yourselves every girl who has never slept
with a man.
Jeremiah 19:9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters.
Judges 11:30-39 I will sacrifice [my daughter] as a burnt offering.
Revelation 14:10-11 They will be tormented with burning sulphur...
Defending these acts demands calling into question the morals of

the defenders. Yet innumerable hours of thought have gone into
justifying such acts. Eventually the Church capitulated, declaring
that the cruel Old Testament laws were no longer binding on
Christians because laws did not lead to salvation. So it goes.
52
Sin
Religious sins are supposedly unchanging, universal rules

dictated by gods. Yet these inflexible rules have flexed over time.
(For example, not raising a child Catholic was once considered
sinful.) The concept of sin must therefore be based on human
advancement and adaptation, rather than godly pronouncement.
The seven deadly sins are said to be:
Lust Scratch this off the list. Humans are animals, animals
have a natural desire for sex. Thought-sex is healthy.
Gluttony It is okay to indulge every once in a while, but try
not to be wasteful.
Greed Wealthy Catholics, anyone?
Sloth Some people sleep in because they are up late.
Wrath Even Mister Rogers said that it's okay to be angry.
Envy Rarely accomplishes anything positive; breathe deep,
move on.
Pride Boasting is somewhat arrogant, but if you think you
created something worthwhile, there's no harm in smiling.
53
Female Priests
Corinthians 14:34-35 reads, Let your women keep silent in the

churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be
submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn
something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is
shameful for women to speak in church.
This progressive attitude and traditional interpretation of the
Bible has kept women out of priesthood for centuries. Some
people still think that women are not permitted to be priests (or
ministers) because, according to Genesis, they were not created
for that purpose. Others insist that it should not happen because
it has not yet happened. Try to wrap your mind around that
illogical buckshot. Perhaps they were smoking weed when coming
up with such iron-clad reasoning.
Or perhaps the Catholic Church is a male dominated patriarchy
unwilling to yield its financial power to the gender that would be
most likely to protect youth from harm? Thats not to say that all
men want to molest little children and all women are pure of
heart. There are male ordained Catholic priests who believe all
forms of child abuse should be stopped. It would certainly be nice
if more of them shared the names of known child rapists with the
police; and nicer still if whomever is appointed to protect the
children wasn't also guilty of manufacturing child pornography.
54
Cults and Sects
Scientology
Next to the Catholic Church, this is perhaps the biggest swindle in

the entire world, possibly the galaxy. Operation Clambake notes:
The Church of Scientology is a vicious and dangerous cult that
masquerades as a religion. Its purpose is to make money. It practices a
variety of mind-control techniques on people lured into its midst to gain
control over their money and their lives. Its aim is to take from them
every penny that they have and can ever borrow and to also enslave
them to further its wicked ends.
The Church of Scientology must be stopped, dismantled, and

forgotten. (The people perpetuating its crimes are also its
victims.) Approach Scientologists with caution and distrust.
They will lie about you, frame you for crimes, lock your finances
up in artificial legal battles, bribe or coerce police officers and
judges, turn your family and friends against you, listen in on your
telephone calls, spy on you, commit fraud, steal private
documents, blackmail you, threaten your life, and possibly kill
you. They have mastered manipulation and brainwashing.
Read about Paulette Cooper's experience for details.
Cult and religious power must be restricted or eliminated.
55
Jonestown
The Peoples Temple, founded in 1955 by an Indianapolis

preacher named James Warren Jones (who lacked formal
theological training and thought himself a prophet) asked his
congregation to move with him to Guyana, in South America. By
1977, his cult of 1200 people lived under his socio-communistic
regime in Jonestown.
Concerned cult member relatives asked the United States
government to investigate and intervene.
In late 1978, U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan visited Jonestown, but
violent threats ended his trip early. While boarding the plane,
Jonestown guards shot at Ryan, killing him and four others; a few
people escaped the slaughter. Once Jones learned of the escape,
he convinced cult members that the government would retaliate
by taking away and then torturing their children and seniors.
Jones foresaw they had no recourse but suicide.
Parents subsequently fed their children a mix of tranquilizers,
sedatives, and cyanide. Most adults followed suit, concluding with
918 deaths, including those who were shot.
56
Branch Davidians
Eschatology, resembling Ragnark in Norse mythology, is a

concern of people who think that history's final events are in
motion: death, judgement, heaven, and hell. While lacking
rational justification, eschatology permeates Bah', Buddhist,
Christian, Hindu, Islamic, and Jewish faiths. This has resulted in at
least one unfortunate event: the Waco Siege.
In early 1993, agents from the United States Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms decided to search the Branch Davidian
ranch called the Mount Carmel Center. A gun-fight ensued, which
was followed by a deadly 50-day siege that was started by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Vernon Wayne Howell (renamed David Koresh) was the sect
leader of the Branch Davidians: a Protestant sect that formed
from the Davidian Seventh Day Adventists. Adventists believe the
remains of a long-dead carpenter will reanimate to create an
Earth free from sin. Koresh believed this prophecy would be
fulfilled near Waco, Texas; he believed that he was a prophet of
the Christian god and used his belief to manipulate his followers.
A fire destroyed the compound ending the siege, culminating in
76 deaths, including 17 people under the age of 17.
57
Solar Temple
The mentally deranged Joseph Di Mambro wanted to help

humanity prepare for the second coming of Jesus, the solar godking. The cult members combined Protestant Christianity, New
Age philosphy, and adapted Freemason rituals.
In October of 1994, three month old Emmanuel Dutoit was
stabbed to death with a wooden stake. The murder is thought to
have been ordered because Di Mambro identified the baby as the
biblical Anti-Christ.
Shortly thereafter, the suicides and murders of cult members
began. Between 1994 and 1997, around 74 deaths took place.
Farewell letters stated that through death the victims would
escape from hypocrisy and oppression. Oh, and Joseph, lunatic
that he was, somehow managed to convince those whom he
brainwashed that their final destination was Siriusthe nights
brightest star.
58
Heavens Gate
Marshall Applewhite believed himself to be directly related to

Jesus. He and his cult members were convinced that the Earth
was about to be recycled, and that the only way to survive was to
leave it immediately. You can find recordings of their nutty
psychobabble saved on YouTube.
Applewhite claimed that a space craft was trailing comet HaleBopp. In late March of 1997, he urged his followers to commit
suicide so that their souls could board the craft. They were truly
brainwashed into believing they had to leave Earth as quickly as
possible.
Including Applewhites, 39 deaths were counted, poisoned by
cyanide and arsenic.
59
Religions
Buddhism
Buddhism is more a philosophy than religion and has some good

things going for it. Siddhrtha Gautama (Buddha) reputedly said
that you should not believe in anything simply because it is:
often repeated, as in oral tradition;
tradition, handed down for many generations;
in scripture (the Bible, Qurn, or Buddhist texts);
conjecture, like a guess or estimate;
taught by a teacher; or
thought to be common sense.
Rather, Buddha suggested that when you find anything that
agrees with reason and is conducive to the benefit of one and all,
then accept it and live up to it. Whether you prescribe to the rest
of Buddhism, or not, these principles are sound.
Buddhism declares that part of life is suffering, and all suffering
can be overcome through the mind. Buddhism encourages
constant evaluation and development of morality, focus, and
wisdomthat life's struggles can be overcome.
60
Catholicism
Catholicism is founded on fear. The pulpits support indoctrinated

preachers as they threaten congregations with eternal damnation
for sin. There are some problems with this:
Sin is hogwash.
There is no Hell, no Heaven, and no Purgatory.
Humans have no soul that can be damned for all eternity.
Threatening people is morally and ethically wrong.
Thousands of Catholic priests rape, beat, fondle, manipulate, and
scar children. The Pope, with his audacious, arrogant, and
hypocritical prowess oversaw the Vatican as it remained
unhelpful during child abuse investigations.
This is not a religion. It is a scandalous cult intent on controlling
the masses to serve its own diabolical, perverse desires. It is a
repulsive, wrathful, acrimonious, chronic, abhorrent, detestable,
scatological, callous, and endemic immoral atrocity that evokes
visions of Holocaust brutality.
An investigative report is available online:
http://www.childabusecommission.com/rpt/pdfs
61
Christianity
Many Christians buy into the idea of eternal suffering, which

keeps adherents docile and obedient. Worse, Christianity
terrorizes children with horrors that await them after death.
Knowingly lying to children ranks among the most deplorable
acts, fourth in line after sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.
Kindergarten children should be told the truth, instead:
Jesus loves me! Some say so.
We all have one life to live,
Where's the proof? Well, I don't know!
While the Sun has heat to give.
Teaching children through a song,
On the Earth, from far and wide,
Brainwashing sung all day long!
Evolution's on your side.
Christ is dated, don't you know?
Stardust starts where life begins,
My young mind's empirical.
Gravity pulls it all in.
Once was blind, but now I see:
Planets form, it takes no skill.
Faith is priestly fantasy.
Nature's rules are quite a thrill.
Toss religion, it's no good,
Asteroids are hard to see,
Let's explore your neighborhood!
When they strike they are deadly.
Twinkling starlight, I am glad,
We don't need to ever pray,
For the time that we have had.
Wasting time is not the way.
Light I see from you today,
Science works, it sets us free
Travelled such a long, long way.
To research reality.
Egotistical is the belief that the creator of the universe is vitally

concerned with your sex life. Arrogant is the belief that a god
created the entire universe for one religious affiliation of one
species out of millions on one planet out of billions.
62
Watchtower
Jehovah Witnesses engage in detrimental behaviors:

Anti-Homosexuality Alan Turing helped protect freedom.
End Times If the world will end soon, why recycle?
The Anointed Believing societal laws can be trumped by
the word of God places believers beyond critique.
Anti-Abortion Women must have the right to decide when
it is appropriate to bring a new life into the world.
Anti-Masturbation Women can learn to orgasm by
masturbating; masturbation helps control premature
ejaculation in men. Both lead to healthy sex lives.
Abhor Unnatural Sex Oral sex, anal sex, mutual
masturbation, 69, doggy-style, reverse cowgirl, Hawaiian
muscle rubs, bondage play, and other sexual activities are
perfectly normal. As long as the act is mutually acceptable,
and does no permanent physical or psychological harm, who
cares what goes on behind closed doors?
Anti-Transfusion Doctors save lives through blood
transfusions, but Jehovah would rather you die than try to
sustain life by taking in blood.
63
Lindy Hop
In the beginning (the late 1920s), there was a man named

Frankie Manning. Frankie said unto his friends: dance. Jazz music
had swung through the United States. The Lindy Hop was the
buzz of the towns. People were happy, except for one thing...
At the large dance halls, such as the Savoy Ballroom, there were
ropes that divided the black dancers from the white dancers. The
trouble with dancers is that they are often young and rebellious.
The white women wanted to dance with everyone. Studs. The
black men wanted to dance with everyone. Sluts. The white men
couldnt dance. The black women stood around looking hot. The
trouble was that these people didnt see ethnicity. They heard
only the music; in their hearts they only wanted to swing-out with
another person. Skin color didnt matter; so why the ropes?
Quite quickly, the ropes were jumped. Black and white people
danced with one another: the walls of segregation started to
splinter. Since then, Lindy Hop has enlivened social scenes,
introduced prospective lovers, financially supported musicians,
given people a fun reason to exercise, formed compassionate
communities, taught humility, put smiles on faces around the
world, and held fundraisers for worthy causes. Lindy Hoppers also
rebelled against Nazis.
64
Sacred Texts
The Bible
It is a curious coincidence that gods publish scripture using only

the technology available to the ancients: first by word of mouth,
then by the printing press. The Bible originated as follows:
1. Ancient humans swap myths.
2. People plagiarize ancient stories, claiming divine origins.
3. Stories are circulated by oral tradition.
4. Scribes write hearsay versions, from memory.
5. Scriptures are hand-copied, errors are introduced.
6. Some scriptures are assembled into the Torah.
7. The first Bible is crafted from Jewish texts and new scriptures.
8. The Bible is hand-copied from Greek, more errors introduced.
9. Leaders add or remove texts, then destroy previous versions.
10. New version is hand-copied, introducing more errors.
11. Printing press prevents further copying errors.
12. Bible is organized into chapters and verses.
65
The Quran
This book, the primary religious literature of Islam, is blindly

believed by Muslims to be the incontrovertible word of Allh.
The Qurn does not explicitly condemn slavery nor does it offer
helpful suggestions of abolish it. Moreover, the book declares that
sexual relations are permitted between masters and their slaves.
Defenders of this trite will note that the contemptible behavior
was widely acceptable practise among early Muslims. The Qurn
also gives permission for men to keep female concubine-slaves.
That millions of people could not see a grave injustice does not
mean god-written rights of slavery were ever a correct moral
choice. Religious myopia is the gateway to immoral actions.
Here are glaring problems:
1. Islamic faith is so socially entrenched that believers are
uncomfortable even addressing the aberration of slavery. If
slavery is wrong it means that their god passed along a
controvertible oopsie.
2. Moral lessons from an omniscient being should have
predicted emancipation and explicitly advocated for it.
The Qurn is no more the word of Allh than this book.
66
Book of Shadows
Around 1950, the first Book of Shadows was written by a Wiccan.

The book contains religious text and magic ritual instructions.
Traditionally, each group of witches has their own Book of
Shadows. Of pinnacle importance is the Wiccan Rede (advice for
witchcraft), which states:
An it harm none, do what ye will.
Translated into Swedish Chef-speak:

Du vhetefer yuoo vunt, es lung es yuoo coose-a nu herm.
Translated into concise English:

Harm nothing; enjoy life.
Wicca is harmless fantasy when not taken seriously. Yet, like

other cults and religions, the potential for bad consequences
abounds. Wiccans believe magic can affect quantum probabilities
and other nonsense. When job hunting, someone could conjure
an intricate spell to improve the likelihood of finding work. Time
spent casting the spell would be better spent looking elsewhere
for jobs because incantations will have no effect.
A woman might try to decrease her chances of getting pregnant
through special enchantments. The results could be a trip to the
abortion clinic or 18 years of doting on an unplanned child.
Magic has no effect on reality, no matter how fun it is to believe.
67
Religious Icons
Priests
With much revulsion and contempt, the Catholic Church has

provided the most abominable example of religions incongruity
and hypocrisy. Sodomy is called a sin (probably owing to its
homosexual implications), yet hundreds of Catholic priests have
been observed to perform it on children.
Think carefully. Where was God in all this? Where was the God
who is angry at homosexuals but allows priests to sodomize
under-aged boys until those children bleed?
Or how about expecting children to eat their own vomit, mixed
with mould? Or neglecting children until starvation drives them to
eat ointment used for treating boils? Or supplying nought but
newspaper and rags for girls during menstruation? Or forcing
child labor under brutal conditions? Or brainwashing them with
religious excrement to the detriment of a solid education?
Every time religious propaganda is taught to children, precious
time is taken from their education about the real, natural world.
Degenerates must expect wrath when an organization claims to
be a moral authority, yet is found to have inflicted unfathomable
amounts of abuse, suffering, and mental stagnation on children.
68
From the CICA Report Vol. III Confidential Committee:

Form of Sexual Abuse
Reports
Inappropriate fondling
102
Enforced nakedness
52
Vaginal rape
27
Forced masturbation
22
Attempted rape
15
Kissing
14
Vaginal penetration by objects
10
Digital penetration
Oral/genital contact
Indecent exposure
Anal rape
Other
Total
274
Table 1: Forms & Reported Frequency of Reported Female Sexual Abuse
Form of Sexual Abuse

Inappropriate fondling
Reports
183
Masturbation of abuser by child
89
Use of violence
88
Anal rape
68
Masturbation of child by abuser
50
Oral/genital contact
30
Non-contact abuse
25
Attempted rape
14
Kissing
12
Digital penetration
Total
6
565
Table 2: Forms & Reported Frequency of Reported Male Sexual Abuse
69
Mother Teresa
In her 1979 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Agnes

Bojaxhiu said:
These are things that break peace, but I feel the greatest destroyer of
peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing - direct
murder by the mother herself.
And also, we are doing another thing which is very beautiful - we are
teaching our beggars, our leprosy patients, our slum dwellers, our
people of the street, natural family planning.
The Home for Dying Destitutes in Calcutta, India does not

attempt to save lives. It is a morose haven for the sick to suffer
and die according to rules invented by the Catholic Church. No
doctors, no nurses, and no friends are permitted entry. Only
untrained nuns and those who suffer may enter.
Agnes genuinely wanted to alleviate suffering, yet at the same
time believed that suffering was necessary. These are polar
agendas. Agnes wanted people to live in impoverished conditions
so that she could identify with them. Her ultimate goal, therefore,
was not to alleviate poverty, but to encourage it. One such
encouragement was to condemn condoms.
Spreading suffering is no more saintly than it is moral and ethical.
Even witches declare that harming others is a no-no.
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The Pope
Roman Catholic Church doctrine, proclaimed by Pope Paul VI in

1968, forbade contraceptives. HIV infections skyrocketed in the
1980s and 1990s, killing millions. When Pope John Paul II visited
Uganda in 1993, he chose to accept the epidemic rather than
change the Vatican's moral doctrine; the death toll is sickening.
Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) continues to speak out
against condom usage, even though study (2012), after study
(2011), after study (2010), after study (2009), after study (2008),
after study (2007), after study (1997), after study (1994), after
study (1993) concludes that condom use can significantly reduce
HIV transmission. The Pope's stance has resulted in deaths of
holocaust proportions; the stance is a crime against humanity.
This alone is reason enough to abolish the Catholic Church, but
there's more. In 2001, Cardinal Ratzinger obstructed justice by
reminding bishops of Crimen Sollicitationis. This act sheltered
pedophiles, silenced victims by secrecy, and bypassed police
authorities by asserting the Church's right to private inquiries.
Evasion of civil criminal prosecution continued into 2011.
Ratzinger also wrote that the Church must make claims and
demands on public law, chipping the wall of separation between
Church and State. A wall Thomas Jefferson established in writing
religion is a matter which lies solely between Man and his God.
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Jesus Christ
The New Testament is filled with myths, legends, internal

contradictions, and historical irregularities. It contains so many
falsehoods that no meaningful verification about Jesus of
Nazareth (including his existence) can be extracted from the
texts. Nearly all biblical scholars agree he existed. Yet the idea
that Jesus never existed has been long ignored by such scholars
due to conflicting theological interests and lack of incentive.
The only known accounts of Jesus' birth are in the Bible gospels of
Matthew and Luke. The texts disagree with the actual date.
The gospels were written around 70 CE. Before 70 CE, no Jesus of
Nazareth was mentioned in the works of contemporary historians
and writers. Also, the first copies of the gospel of Mark didn't
include the resurrection: it was added much later.
If Jesus existed, scriptures show that he was much like Mohandas
Gandhi, preaching non-violent civil disobedience and love.
Effectively, Jesus is described as a revolutionist.
72
Virgin Mary
Here is what one book has to say about Marym:

While well never be perfect like Mary, our pursuit of Christ should lead
us to saintliness like hers: rooted in humility, trust, service and love.
There is no such thing as a perfect human. The idea of perfection

is like the notion of beauty. Everyone has opinions about what is
beautiful. A perfect human would live for ten thousand years
without serious ailment or injury, ace every school test ever
given, be physically symmetrical from head to toe, and have six
fully functional fingers on both hands and six fully functional toes
on both feet. The concept of perfection is itself flawed.
Beyond biblical accounts, and a few other early Christian sources,
there is no independently verifiable information about any aspect
of her life.
The story of Marys perfection (her humility, trust, service, and
love) is vulgar. Mary was impregnated, possibly against her will,
and was praised because she accepted and endured her fate with
humility. Hearken, ye women: accept being raped for it is the will
of God.
73
Religious Holidays
Christmas
Pagans enjoyed winter solstice. The Christians thought that the

Pagans should worship Christ, instead. So Christians borrowed
from Pagan festivals, rewrote some history books, and then
converted many Pagans to Christianity. Probably under threat of
persecution, purgatory, or threat of being burnt alive.
Fundamentally, winter celebrations are frivolous fun. People are
free to believe whatever they like (so long as it does no harm).
The trouble starts when governments give preferential treatment
to one religion over another. This means that neither Christmas
decor nor any other religious artifacts may be put on government
property.
This is a difficult idea for fundamentalist Christians to accept
because it involves two concepts. The first is called fairness
and the second is called preferential treatment. That is, to be
equitable, no religion may be given special attention.
74
Easter
Easter is yet another Christian theft of ideas from other cultures

to ease indoctrinating non-Christians. The word Easter is actually
linked to the Pagan goddess Eostre, and the celebration of warm
sunshine and newborn babies. Originally, rabbits and hares were
a symbol of fertility, due to how quickly they reproduced. Thus
the Easter Bunny was conceived.
There was no resurrection. Miracles have never been proven
under any scientific test, and break the laws of known physics.
Apologetics argue that miracles are the work of God, but that
presupposes that God exists. There is insufficient evidence that
any gods exist. Miracles cannot be used as evidence because it
leads to a circular argument: God creates miracles; miracles
prove God exists. And blue balls are blue because they are blue.
The history of Easter eggs extends back to the ancient Egyptians
and Persians, who also enjoyed coloring and then eating eggs
during spring. Christians thought they would make a marvellous
representation of Christs tomb.
Easter itself is only mentioned in the King James translation of
The Holy Bible (Acts 12:4), which is a mistranslation of Passover.
75
Lent
Lent begins a Catholic holiday that allows adherents to forget the

horrible actions they took during the previous year by abstaining
from something for forty days. They call it penance. For example,
Catholics could give up chewing bubble gum, or not watch
television. It was inspired by the forty days Jesus allegedly spent
fasting in the desert, where neither chewing gum nor television
were available.
Frustrated Catholics could even give up masturbation for Lent. (It
is funny because Catholics aren't supposed to masturbate. Some
say jokes are not funny if you have to explain them.)
Ash Wednesday is the first day of lent where people foolishly
smear ashes on their forehead. Biblical cherry-picking allows
them to keep the symbolic ash part, but ignore dressing up in
sackcloth. Priests (or ministers) also taint the session with
negative thinking:
Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.
The human body is a complex chemical machine. Some people

around the world (foundations like Methuselah) do not see
returning to dust as thy only conclusion. Rather, they see death
as a disease to be cured.
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Hanukkah
The eight candles lit for Hanukkah are said to represent miracles,
the most notable being about some long-lasting oil. The royal
Hasmonean family wanted to celebrate the Maccabean victory by
lighting a menorah. They had enough oil to last only one day.
Allegedly, and miraculously, eight days later, the oil finally ran
out.
Bollocks and ballyhoo.
One rational explanation for longer lasting candle light is slower
burning wicks. Another is that there was actually more oil than
the tale tells. Yet another explanation is that they did not let the
candles burn all night. One more solution is that rabbis lied.
The military success and glorification of the Maccabeans posed a
threat to Roman rule (think riots). By making up a miracle, public
attention was shifted from rabble rousing to piety.
77
Holiday
When ignorant Kansas State Board of Education members

mandated equal teaching time for evolution and intelligent
design, Bobby Henderson wrote the Board a satirical letter
suggesting that his theory of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM)
also receive equal educational time. His interpretation of life's
origins gave rise to FSM worshippers, who call themselves
Pastafarians.
Pastafarians celebrate the winter holiday season with a holiday
called Holiday. Without a specific date or specific requirements,
Holiday allows each Pastafarian to celebrate it when and however
desired. (Some even celebrate Pastover and Ramendan.)
The non-denominational greeting of Happy Holidays that is
quickly replacing non-secular greetings in popular culture gives
weight and credence to the Pastafarian movement.
Once touched by His Noodly Appendage, you will understand.
78
Hocus Pocus
Soul
There is no such thing as the soul in the sense of an abstract,

metaphysical concept. Believers will note that the soul is
immaterial: its existence is not subject to empirical methods.
(Otherwise, it is tempting to ask: Exactly when during evolution
were humans bestowed a soul?)
If an immaterial soul influences (or is somehow intertwined with)
our bodies, it must exhibit a change in the electrons that
comprise us (otherwise it cannot affect us and we should discard
the concept of souls altogether). The Dirac Equation describes
how electrons behave at normal energy levels and has been
verified in every related experiment. If souls exist, then the
equation is wrong and we must throw our knowledge of physics
out the window. (Who needs cell phones and satellites, anyway?)
The soul introduces complexity: How does the soul physically
influence us? Do its interactions preserve conservation of
information? What is its relationship to Lorentz invariance? These
are for theists to answer, for they posit the existence of the soul.
Ockhams razor suggests we should lean towards simplicity. The
natural world is simpler to describe without metaphysical souls.
79
Heaven & Hell
There are no such things as Heaven and Hell. They are religious
inventions to keep people indoctrinated.
You can motivate donkeys to move by dangling a carrot in front
of them, or hitting their rump with a stick. Heaven is the ultimate
carrot and Hell is the supreme stick.
These ideas allow religious leaders to influence people who reject
their teachings, reward those who follow them, and lend the
illusion of importance to their teachings. The promise of Heaven
and the threat of Hell is how followers are retained. Many
religions base morality entirely around acceptance of and
entrance to Heaven.
In contrast, secularism prompts people to help others with the
goal of reducing suffering.
80
Miracles
There is no such thing as a miracle in the sense of a surprising

event considered the work of a divine agency (as opposed to an
event explicable by natural or scientific laws).
Miracles are falsehoods, covered in a transparent layer of
misconception and ignorance, recounted to glorify religious
tenets. Miracles can also be pranks (such as faith healing), or
tricks, to fool (or frighten) people into obedience through threat
of supernatural powers. Even though our universe is filled with
mysteries, we should neither accept those mysteries as miracles,
nor end questioning the origins of those mysteries. Every mystery
humans have ever solved has been shown to be governed by
natural, scientific laws.
When we investigate the real cause to a mystery, we learn
something astounding about this spectacular universe. Leaps in
knowledge are not preceded with bombastic exclamations of
Eureka! but with interrobanged head-scratches partnered to the
immemorial acronym... WTF
Attributing events to divine intervention retards humanity. Duh.
81
Faith
The Oxford Concise English Dictionary defines faith as follows:

1. complete trust or confidence; and
2. strong belief in a religion based on spiritual conviction rather
than proof.
Scientists trust empirical evidence; the two definitions are exact
opposites. Lumping evidence-based belief with beliefs based on
spiritual conviction together as faith-based is dishonest.
Disbelief in supernatural entities is not an act of faith. It is a
rational position held by the extensive evidence that natural
forces created the universe. We cannot prove the Earth will
continue to rotate tomorrow, but the historical, empirical, and
statistical evidence justifies the belief that it will.
Accepting ideas on faith curtails important questions, dissuades
people from dissecting the universe, and can influence people to
take actions they otherwise would not. The Salem Witch Trials
involved people who accepted witchcraft accusations as true,
rather than demanding substantiated empirical evidence that
supported those accusations.
Faith is no more a virtue than lies and threats are virtues.
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Prayer
Praying to a god has three possible outcomes: yes, no, and not
now. These are also the answers of Magic 8-Balls. Unlike gods, a
Magic 8-Ball can be wrong because an answer is actually shown
immediately. If a Magic 8-Ball never revealed its answer, its
prayer-answering ability would be god-like.
The efficacy of prayer has never been demonstrated under
scrutiny, and yet billions believe that prayers affect the world.
Praying does produce two measurable effects, though: it
disparages a person's locus of control and it wastes time.
That time could be spent playing an instrument, exercising,
understanding nature, exchanging ideas, or collaborating with
others. You could help build homes, volunteer at homeless
shelters, or start a double-blind study on prayer's inefficacy.
When Japan was hit by a tsunami, many people prayed for them.
It was a lazy, inconsiderate, ignorant, and insulting response.
Devastated cities need reconstruction, food, and medicine. All of
which take time, effort, and funding. Moreover, encouraging
donations, rather than prayers, is a better way to spend time.
Consider donating money to the Japanese Red Cross right now!
83
Speaking in Tongues
Languages let you express your thoughts so that other people

can understand you. Read the following sentence aloud:
Our universe exists without meddling, omnipotent, omniscient entities.
Now read it aloud again. Putting aside that repetition is a form of

brainwashing, chances are that you made very similar sounds
both times. When people speak in tongues, the phrase, Our
universe exists without meddling, omnipotent, omniscient
entities, in their supposedly supernatural language wont sound
the same twice. The reason is because they are making it up, just
like everyone else who claims to talk in meaningful gibberish.
Try it: record them on your cell phone and play it back.
Peer pressure is interesting. If everybody around you is doing
something, it becomes socially awkward to buck the trend. The
Emperor's New Clothes is a great tale of such an incident. It took
a young boy to courageously tell the Emperor of the tailor's joke:
the Emperor was riding completely nude through the city streets.
At that point, everyone started laughing and pointing at the
Emperor. (Not a nice thing to do, mind you!)
Speaking in tongues is a lie to yourself and a lie to others.
84
Transubstantiation
Transubstantiation is a longer spelling of the word fiction.

Some people believe that the delicacies consumed during the
communion ritual are not merely a symbolic representation of the
body and blood of Jesus, but literally (and magically!) transform
into his body parts upon ingestion.
Empirical evidence supports the fact that no change whatsoever
takes place. Surprised? The shape, color, flavor, odor, texture,
and constitution of the goodies never literally change to the body
and blood of anything.
Also, Penn and Teller have turned water into wine, without divine
intervention.
Theologians moved the goalpost to suggest that the words were
spoken figuratively. After sifting through the Bible (John 6:35 and
6:53), it is clarified that eating his skin means coming to him, and
sipping his juices means believing in him. After all, empirically
testing transubstantiation means opinions would have to change
if it turned out to be scientifically impossible (which it is).
85
Exorcism
The Roman Catholic Church is the butt of jokes. They still possess
ritual books to expel evil spirits from a possessed person, place,
or thing. Ooga-booga-boo!
The case of the dutifully Catholic Anneliese Michel is one that
Catholics would like to bury. Her story became the plot for a few
movies about exorcisms. Michel suffered from epileptic seizures
and hallucinations, which meant Satan possessed her, of course.
She died on July 1, 1976 from malnutrition and dehydration, after
having endured around ten months of partial-starvation while the
exorcism was performed. At least one doctor claimed medical
intervention could have spared her life up to a week before her
untimely death.
Her parents were found guilty of manslaughter. It is interesting to
note that a Carmelite nun, based on a vision, told the parents
that their daughters body was still intact: proof of supernatural
meddling. The undisputed official reports stated the body, upon
exhumation, bore signs of consistent deterioration.
Your move, Satan.
86
Beastly Number
Numbers have neither inherent meaning nor are they the domain
of any immaterial mythical creature (such as the Antichrist or the
Devil). Consider these tasty morsels from Wikipedia:
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that The Beast for which 666 stands
symbolizes many unified governments, harmonizing with the symbolic
depiction of past governments (denoted as "kings") in the Book of
Daniel as wild beasts.
Some researchers have reportedly found the number of the Beast in the
Greek word Maometis.
Some Protestant Bible commentators and some Protestant Reformers
have equated the "beast" of Revelation chapter 13 with the Papacy.
Some scholars contend that the number 666 is a code for the Roman
Emperor Nero.
In the Old Testament, both 1 Kings 10:14 and 2 Chronicles 9:13 state
that Solomon collected "six hundred threescore and six" talents of gold
each year.
The number 666 probably refers to 7:06pm, though, which is the

best time to eat rice pudding: right after an early supper. Its
definition hinges on mainstream social awareness. Since humans
gave it meaning, humans can redefine its meaning.
Henceforth, 666 means puddin time!
87
Satanism
Atheists are sometimes said to be Satanists. However, atheists

reject Satan just as they reject all gods, demons, and imaginary
animals. Only people who actually believe in Satan can qualify as
Satanists. (Those people also happen to believe in gods.)
Modern public practice of Satanism began in 1966, when the
Church of Satan was founded by Howard Stanton Levey (later
Anton LaVey). Surprisingly, the two major trends were Theistic
and Atheistic Satanism. We can chuckle at Theistic Satanists for
their worship of Satan as a real supernatural deity. The Atheistic
flavors idolize Satan in a symbolic sense.
LaVeyan Satanism, the most well-known worship, is based on
individualism, self-control, and revenge mentality. Adherents
consider themselves truth-seekers, skeptics, and adversaries of
religion. Peter Gilmore, a Church of Satan leader, notes:
Satanists do not believe in the supernatural, in neither God nor the
Devil. To the Satanist, he is his own God. [...] Satan is not a conscious
entity to be worshipped, rather a reservoir of power inside each human
to be tapped at will. Thus any concept of sacrifice is rejected as a
Christian aberrationin Satanism theres no deity to which one can
sacrifice.
They also believe in magic, which seats them decisively on the

couch of hypocritical loopy-loos.
88
Purgatory
Purgatory is a scare tactic (a temporary punishment) used by the

Catholic Church to encourage obedience in its congregations,
disciples, and young adults. Neither the concept nor place of
purgatory have any merit. Rather than debunk it for the insipid
poppycock that it is, here are some practical tips to save the
environment and money:
Vinegar Mix one part vinegar to one part water and you
have a general purpose cleaner. It is an inexpensive
disinfectant and deodorizer. Great for bathrooms and
kitchens. Keep it away from grout and marble.
Lemon juice This natural acid dissolves soap scum, gives
shine to brass and copper, removes hard water deposits
(bathtub rings!), smells great, and can clear up garbage
disposal indigestion.
Baking soda King of the deodorizers, great abrasive
cleaner, and makes volcanoes when mixed with vinegar.
Purgatory cannot compare to the purifying power of vinegar.
89
Angels & Demons
Angels, fairies, demons, and devils all do not exist.

Malevolent supernatural beings causing catastrophe is a fail-safe
the pious crutch upon to discourage investigation into anything
that might reveal flaws, or inconsistencies, in dogmatic religious
drama. Demons, like angels, are a lazy way to hide the truth or
deter questions, which can have deadly consequences (such as
human sacrifices, cannibalism, and burning faggots).
It is incredulous that in modern times people still believe in the
devil. There is a web page that states:
Satan is not a mere force, a symbolic figure of evil, or the figment of
[the] imagination. He is a real personage. There is no evidence
whatsoever that we should understand him as some sort of illusion or
symbol of evil.
The premises that lead to the conclusion that Satan exists are an
embarrassment to the idea of empirical evidence, and laugh in
the face of rational thought. Beyond overly active imaginations,
no evidence proves the existence of demons, devils, spiritually
possessed aardvarks, vampires that twinkle in daylight, or covert
creatures that fart wetly in dark closets.
Encourage honesty and honor by being honest and honorable to
children, instead of continuing to spread baseless lies.
90
Homeopathy
The homeopathy scam is the snake oil of modern day snake oils.
Medicine works by allowing beneficial molecular compounds to
interact with and change cells in your body. Homeopathy is the
delusion that by mixing fewer helpful molecules into liquid, it
somehow makes the remedy more effective. A recommended
dilution for homeopathic remedies is 10
-60
helpful molecules for
each litre of water. Learn about Avogadro's number to discover

why such a ratio means that the medicine will have no effect on
anything whatsoever.
Proponents claim that even when the last helpful molecule is
gone, a memory of the substance is retained. If true, every
substance encountered by a water molecule might impart an
essence that would have potent (and possibly dangerous)
medicinal effects when ingested. Plus, it would mean that water
remembers fish poop. Charming, but completely untrue.
In another instance of belief without empirical evidence, belief
that homeopathy can cure is a deadly position to take. Just ask
Gloria Thomas, Luca Monsellato, or possibly Steve Jobs. Oh wait,
you can't. They're all dead.
It is incomprehensible that laws do not prevent homeopathic
shams. For your own safety, don't buy it.
91
Destructive Behavior
Child Abuse
Child abuse is the emotional, physical, or sexual mistreatment of

children. This could include neglect or improper care.
Catholic priests, for example, are known to molest children, yet
rather than admit to it and seek professional psychiatric care
(because rape, unlike homosexuality, is morally and ethically
wrong), those reprehensible priests ask the Pope to cover up their
despicable, deplorable actions. For a time, the papacy instituted
a policy of reporting incidents to secular authorities, however this
was almost never followed in practice.
Popes have an impeccable record of not reporting child abuse,
often only reporting the abuse years afterwards, and generally
only if it is believed that the rapist will otherwise be exposed. This
makes the Popeand anyone else who has harbored or helped
assailants escape legal prosecutionequivalent to child abuser
by association. As guilty and spineless as rapists themselves.
Never trust anyone who belongs to a community that hides the
truth about such foul, harmful, menacing deeds. If they can hide
the truth about these heinous of crimes, how easy would it be for
them to lie about other, lesser matters?
92
Genital Mutilation
For guys, the tip (or head) of the penis is the hot spot of male
pleasure, with many sensitive nerve endings craving attention.
Stimulate the penis, especially the head, and an orgasm results.
Then sleep. Nearly all males are born with the head of their penis
surrounded by protective flesh called the foreskin. When aroused,
the foreskin pulls back, exposing the tip of the penis.
For gals, the clitoris (or clit) is the hot spot of female pleasure,
with many, many sensitive nerve endings desiring attention.
Stimulate the clitoris and an orgasm often results. Then cuddling.
The end of the clitoris is usually tiny (cribbage peg-sized), which
can make it difficult to find at first. Nearly all females are born
with the clitoris covered by the clitoral hood (for protection).
Arousal tends to poke the clitoris a little bit beyond its hood.
Orgasms are amazing because humans evolved that way. If sex
was extremely painful or damaging, we wouldnt do it as often.
Less sex means fewer pregnancies, which leads to extinction.
Some religions require slicing off the foreskin at birth; other
religions require cutting off the clitoris at birth. Removing the
clitoris makes it practically impossible for a woman to experience
sexual pleasure through orgasms. Removing the foreskin makes
the head of the penis less sensitive. Both of these actions are
forms of genital mutilation.
93
Alexandrian Library
Libraries embody architecture and composition: they physically

represent the idea that attaining knowledge leads to
enlightenment, equality, and ethics. The ashen destruction of the
Great Library of Alexandria was a terrible strike against progress,
with the suspects including a Roman (Julius Caesar), a Christian
(Theophilus of Alexandria), and a Moslem (Caliph Omar). Books,
knowledge, and freedom of communication are tools of the
oppressed. Regardless of what transpired so long ago, libraries
remain with us today.
The Internet and World Wide Web have become the symbolic
successors to the Great Library of Alexandria: havens of logic and
reason for those who seek it. Like Alexandria, people oppose the
electronic world, seeking to suffocate, subvert, and silence its
spread of knowledge, idealism, justice, and reality.
Such opposition must not spread. When a government censors
the Internet, or seizes web pages, it infringes upon the rights of
its citizens, and is a futile assault on the practical application of a
distributed global network.
Where rationality and reason prosper, there will always be refuge
for knowledge and the freedom of information.
94
Book Banning
Sometimes religious zealots ban books. Common reasons to ban

books include:
they contain ideas a community fears;
a community misinterprets the content; or
they are inked with worthless hate speech.
Of these reasons, banning a book because of hate speech is a
good idea, as World War II exemplified. When a book is banned,
however, there should be open discourse and a public review of
the discussion that led to the banning decision. Quote passages
from the book to highlight the rationale.
Banning books because they contain ideas or situations that are
uncomfortable to hear, or disagree with your unfounded, ignorant
spiritual beliefs, on the other hand, are woefully insufficient
reasons.
In this information age, attempts to hide or suppress information
becomes more famous or widespread. Perhaps fundies will
prevent people from reading this book due to the following idea:
Eradicate religious delusions by involving children in exciting and
fun science experiments on Sundays; shirk Sunday school.
95
Holy Wars
To be considered a Holy War, a conflict must achieve a religious

goal, be authorized by a religious leader, or offer participants a
spiritual reward. Holy Wars, which mobilize to subjugate heretics,
reclaim religious lands, and avenge blasphemous acts include:
First Jewish-Roman War (66 73 CE)
Muslim Conquests (632 732 CE)
Crusades (1095 1291 CE)
Inquisitions (1184 c.1860 CE)
EthiopianAdal War (1529 1559 CE)
French Wars of Religion (1562 1598 CE)
Thirty Years' War (1618 1648 CE)
Muslim Rebellion in Chinese Central Asia (1864 1877 CE)
Indo-Pakistani Wars (1947, 1965, 1999 CE)
Lebanese Civil War (1975 1990 CE)
IsraeliPalestinian Conflict (1948 2011 CE)
Callously, Adolf Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf:
So glaube ich heute im Sinne des allmchtigen Schpfers zu handeln: Indem

ich mich des Juden erwehre, kmpfe ich fr das Werk des Herrn.
While not a Holy War, religious beliefs influenced the terrible

events that transpired during WWII, including the holocaust. The
loathsome sentiment of Martin Luther's 1543 antisemitic work On
the Jews and Their Lies is echoed in that Mein Kampf passage:
So today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the
Almighty Creator: by resisting the Jew, I am fighting for the Lord's work.
96
Death Penalty
Texas is big, religious, and has government-sanctioned death.

Bibles describe situations where taking a person's life is just
punishment. When communities glean morality from a book that
glorifies revenge, they become indiscriminate, amoral zombies.
In 1991, Todd Willingham, not the most honorable man, was
sentenced to die for burning his house and three children.
Critically, in 2004, just four days before Willinghams scheduled
death by injection, renown arson expert and chemist Dr. Gerald
Hurst submitted a report regarding the evidence:
The fire investigation report of the Texas State Fire Marshals Office in
this case is a remarkable document. On first reading, a contemporary
fire origin and cause analyst might well wonder how anyone could make
so many critical errors in interpreting the evidence. However, when the
report is looked at in the context of its time and in light of a few key
advances that have been made in the fire investigation field in the last
dozen years, it becomes obvious that the report more or less simply
reflects the shortcomings in the state of the art prior to the beginning of
serious efforts to introduce standards and to test old theories that had
previously been accepted on faith.
The original evidence for arson was invalid. Todd Willingham was
innocent. Yet Governor Rick Perry denied a stay of execution. At
6:20pm on February 17th, 2004, the United States government
and the Texas Governor knowingly authorized the murder of an
innocent man. On faith and superstition.
97
Honor Killing
The United Nations documents the practice of predominately

male family members murdering women to defend misconceived
notions of family honor in Bangladesh, Turkey, Jordan, Israel,
India, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Brazil,
Ecuador, Uganda, and Morocco. This shameful practice is
prevalent in, but not limited to, countries with a Muslim majority.
Renown Islamic leaders condemn honor killings and insist the
violent acts have no religious basis. Scriptures teach otherwise.
a adth are ascribed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad (a
supposed messenger of God known in Arabic as Allh) and are
tools to understand the Qurn, which is the central religious text
of Islam. Hadths cite many honor killing examples, such as:
a al-Bukhr (002:023-413) A man and a woman committed adultery.
The Prophet ordered them to be stoned to death.
a al-Bukhr (006:060-079) The Prophet ordered two adulterers to be
stoned to death.
a Muslim (017-4206) A woman from Ghamid and said: Allh's
Messenger, I have committed adultery, so purify me. And she was put in a
ditch up to her chest and the Prophet commanded people to stone her.
Muslims who practice honor killing are directly motivated or

influenced by hadths. The executions take place because people
abide by strict Islamic ethical codes. To claim that such murders
have no religious motivation insults the memory of the victims.
98
Religion and Politics
Fascism is a political authoritarian ideology that aims to revitalize

a nation by uniting people through arbitrary connections (such as
ancestry or culture). Unification is attempted by removing foreign
influences through eugenics and genocide.
Genetic research unavailable during the fascist regimes of Hitler
and Mussolini has since shown that the scientific concept of
genome variation is incongruent with the cultural concept of
ethnicity or race. Genetically speaking, we are a single race.
Prevent repeating history by recognizing fascist manifestations:
Rampant Sexism abortion opposition, homophobia, anti-gay legislation
Enemy Identification race, ethnicity, religion, terrorists, political views
Disdain for Intellectuals and Arts academia censorship
Disdain for Human Rights torture, execution, incarcerations
Military Supremacy disproportionate government funding
National Security Obsession motivation by fear
Disciplinary Obsession national police force, diminished civil liberties
Entangled Religion and Government manipulation, religious rhetoric
Fraudulent Elections smear campaigns, assassination, electoral control
Cronyism and Corruption friends appointing friends in government
Repressed Labour Power abolishment or suppression of unions
Protected Corporations elite power, industrial aristocracy
Controlled Mass Media censorship, sympathetic executives
Nationalist Propaganda mottos, slogans, symbols, songs
99
Church & State
Separation of Church and State refers to laws that specifically

prohibit the establishment of any government-sponsored religion
or imposing a specific religion upon the members of that country.
Religious campaigners vigorously insist that the majority should
have privileged access to draft laws or influence government.
They also decry government attempts to regulate or influence
religious policies. The Separation of Church and State protects
both sides from each other: the government cannot meddle in
private religious affairs, and the population's minority is
protected from religion's antiquated belief systems.
Notable lawful statements about separation include:
The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion,
or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free
exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a
qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense,
founded on the Christian religion,as it has in itself no character of
enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen,and as
the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any
Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising
from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the
harmony existing between the two countries.
100
Catholics & Nazis
The Catholic Church is not all bad. While the Catholic Church has
been accused of encouraging antisemitism, prominent members
of the Jewish community have contradicted these criticisms. Still
other Jewish historians found that the Catholic Church gave
millions of dollars to assist Jews during World War II.
Historian John Toland noted:
The Church, under the Popes guidance... saved the lives of more Jews
than all other churches, religious institutions and rescue organizations
combined.
A set of magnificent, inspiring, and noble actions: a sparkling

reminder of how people ought to behave. A sword and shield set
upon the dark dragon of genocide and persecution. While
tempting to note that such rare gems are found in a river of filth,
corruption, dishonesty, temporal waste, and moral decrepitude,
let us refrain.
A good deed is a good deed and truly stands alone.
101
Fundamentalism
Members of the Christian Right are fundamentally misinformed

on subjects such as education, creationism, evolution, sex,
separation of Church and State, abortion, stem cell research, and
the founding of the United States of America as a Christian
Nation.
Fundamentalists are a pristine example of people who choose to
ignore the findings that the scientific method has allowed us to
discover about the natural world. For example, some 40% of
Americans believe Earth is less than 10,000 years old.
For irrefutable evidence that the Earth is older than 10,000 years,
look up on a clear night sky. Revel in the stars and the light of the
Milky Way galaxy.
Light from the nearest galaxy takes well over two million years to
reach Earth. If God created the universe with light already in
transit, then the Catholic God is deceitful (see Romans 1:20, and
3:4). Every other argument fundamentalists or creationists use to
explain the distant starlight problem has been refuted.
102
Marriage
The fact that discrimination based on sexual orientation is

without logic will have swept the world within the next decade.
Most modern government constitutions, or amendments, make
equality for all citizens a fundamental law:
No law shall be decreed or enforced that inhibits the privileges or
protections of any citizen.
Ignoring their own laws, many countries prohibit same-sex

marriage for religious reasons. Any governments that guarantee
equality while offering marriage benefits (such as reduced taxes)
must make the institution of marriage available to everyone.
Organizations that receive government benefits (including tax
exemptions, funding, or use of military resources) may not
discriminate based on religious belief, gender, sexual orientation,
skin color, or any other excuse.
The reasoning here is painfully straightforward:
1. Governments must treat all citizens equally.
2. Governments may only support non-prejudicial organizations.
3. Therefore, Churches must marry homosexuals or forgo
government support (that is, pay taxes).
103
Manhattan Declaration
Over 525,000 signed the Manhattan Declaration, released in

2009. The Declaration offers a brash misrepresentation of reality:
Christian women stood at the vanguard of the suffrage movement.
Womens rights activist Elizabath Cady Stanton was a skeptical

woman, followed more for her logic than religion. Lucretia Mott
opposed historic Christian doctrine and befriended atheists.
Margaret Fuller was a Protestant transcendentalist who fought
for womens rights on rebellious, not religious grounds. Lucy
Stone said of Christianity: A wall of Bible, brimstone, church,
and corruption has hitherto hemmed women into nothingness.
Matilda Joslyn Gage published a book about how Christianity
oppresses women. By the 1880s, Susan Brownell Anthony,
chastised
by
Christian
religious
groups,
became
agnostic.
Ernestine Rose, a major womens rights advocate, was an

atheist who questioned God at the age of five.
Womens Suffrage vanguards found Christianity contemptible.
The Manhattan Declaration promotes homophobia (call on the
entire
Christian
community
to
resist
sexual
immorality),
arrogance (human beings created in the divine image), and

bigotry (place orphaned children in good homes rather than
comply with a legal mandate that it place children in same-sex
households in violation of Catholic moral teaching).
104

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Seeking Italian, Spanish, Arabic, French, German,

Lies and Deceit

Cults and Sects

Angels & Demons..............90

Religion and Politics

Church & State................100

Catholics & Nazis.............101

Why question beliefs? Why come to your own conclusions?

This book contains commentary on many topics that religious

Rationality & Reason

Atheism is a lack of belief in any god; no more, no less. Morals

Telling your parents that you no longer share their religious

Thinking critically means understanding whether an opinion or

In 1980, the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism

Christians purport Secular Humanism is a religion based on the

Humanists are so threatening that Art Buchwald once satirized:

The philosophical study of knowledge asks profound questions:

The problem of evil, also known as the Riddle of Epicurus, states:

A strong rebuttal is Plantinga's Free Will Defense, which some

Bertrand Russell, who was intentionally raised agnostic, was

Be wary of the lure of widespread belief for it easily ensnares.

Blaise Pascal argued the following:

The Atheist's Wager retorts:

Either way, an eternally happy afterlife is rather unlikely:

When people discuss religion, creationism, the Bible, and

False Dichotomy There is only Heaven or Hell. (Or neither

Some common Catholic Church (and mafia) customs include:

Scientific Theory, hypothesis, and theory are closely related

Our universe is a closed system of natural laws and forces;

liquid nitrogen for 1/10 of a second.

The Big Bang

The Big Bang is an event of epic proportions that began the

The Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, contrary to the

The process of using radioactive decay to determine an object's

People who do not understand evolution think that present-day

In 1633, Galileo was sentenced to house arrest (for the remainder

This mans visage is on British currency. His ideas of natural

Albert Einstein proposed a revolutionary idea about space, time,

Alan Turing was instrumental in saving the British from the

Richard Feynman harbored an immense guilt for his contributions

Watch Feynman's videos on The Pleasure of Finding Things Out.

We are fortunate that this renown astronomer lived in an era

Stephen Hawking has been misrepresented to support the

In 2010, Hawking contrasted religion and science by noting their

Tithing money to churches grows the reach and influence of an

Some Churches will squander your money lobbying government

Chugging alcohol can be fatal. When someone sips too much

Random cigarette facts:

Marijuana is also called cannabis, 420, grass, hash, herb, weed,

Catholic missionaries wanted to prevent pagans from worshipping

Mushrooms (the magic variety) are fungi that, after consumption,

Masturbation is giving yourself physical pleasure, often (but not

Pornography (also shortened to porn or pr0n) is visual material,

Sexual intercourse offers more than weight loss and healthy

Contrary to Monty Pythons ear-worming tune, not every sperm is

Anal sex (sodomy) is a morally bereft act performed by Catholic

Embryogenesis is the name given to the process that begins with

This set of ethics, philosophy, and morality is called Secular

Morals are the concepts, standards, and rules we choose to