What Happens At Death And After Death And Pascal's Wager

Edward Current's videos are great. I know I've stated it here before many times, but just in case you are new here, I suggest checking them out. Funny, and of course, full of irony and sarcasm.

Most of the time he pretends to be a Christian. He has coined the phrase "Checkmate atheists" when making a feeble or nonsensical point on why God exists and why atheists are wrong.

His most current "creation" is an animation called A Christian Meets A The Invisible Pink Unicorn:

Not only does he get in a lot about what science knows about the creation of life, the universe, and consciousness, but he also throws in Pascal's Wager For Atheism. Without stating Pascal's Wager, Current's dying man, knowing the end is near and that there is nothing afterward, has major regrets that he lived a life that restricted him from doing things that he would have liked to experience (none harmful by the way), and implying he did things he didn't want to do because of his beliefs.

I know the cartoon was an extreme example of restrictions due to religion, as most people do what they want when it comes to important decisions, that may include having to tell white lies, or not full disclosing things, and most people do much of what they want when it comes to sex (and I do stress "most people").

Of course, things like guilt (not religious guilt but innate guilt which we evolved) and empathy prevents many of us from say cheating on our spouses, murder, rape, and theft.

My question to believers is do you think that your belief in God and/or your religion ever restrict what you really want to do, and do you think you would act differently if you realized God was made up by man and life after death isn't a very high possibility?

I made a video asking the same type of question in a more sarcastic way previously:


For Edward Current's Youtube Channel, click here.

Dear Tom

I just read another misinformed Op-ed piece about atheists that was linked by Internet Infidels News Wire. Since the piece doesn't allow for online comments, I decided to go the email route.

I'll update if I get a return email. The title of my reply was "Atheism Is Not A Choice." Though it was not the main issue of the piece, it was the thing that the author inferred that pushed me to the edge of emailing him.

Dear Tom:

I just read your post "What are the atheists afraid of?," and wanted to educate you a bit.

First off, many atheists know more about the bible than many believers. I suggest you visit http://exchristian.net/

Atheism is not a choice out of laziness. Most become atheists through a lengthy process of asking questions, seeking answers, and examination of evidence.
It usually takes years. And most atheists will say instead of "there is no God", "there is no evidence for God or any other supernatural being."

I say there is no evidence for God, but I can't disprove God, just like I can't disprove Leprechauns or a giant invisible monster who lives under my bed and does nothing.

Being an ethnic Jew myself (my blog: http://www.baconeatingatheistjew.blogspot.com/ ), I know full well why religious signs and scenes have no place in the public square, the government, or schools. I felt very uncomfortable growing up (in Canada) in public school when we had to do the Christian prayer. I felt like an outcast. We've since removed Christians prayers from public schools. But more to the point, there is a huge problem favoring one religion or belief over another. The worst example was Nazi Germany, where Hitler played on the fact that most Germans were Catholics, and at the time stressed how the Jews killed Jesus (in public well attended Passion Plays). It made Hitler's propaganda against Jews more easy to swallow by the masses.

Most of the teachings you attribute to Jesus (I'm fairy certain Jesus never existed btw) are fine and dandy. They are just innate morals that are put on paper and attributed to a magic man. That is why the notion of Judeo-Christian morality is pretty laughable. Jews and Christians were practicing Judeo-Christian morality long before Judaism and Christianity were invented, in fact, one could say that Australian Bushmen practice Judeo-Christian morality, and have been ever since they evolved into human beings (which predates Christianity by over 100,000 years).

However, some of Jesus teachings (and especially the interpretations of his teachings) go against scientific fact, and/or are outright bigoted. That is why they have no place to be on display outside of homes or places of worship. I'm all for freedom of religion, but in order to have true freedom of religion, the government needs to have freedom from religion. This is what makes the West better than theocracies found in many Muslim countries, some where churches are not even allowed.

I think your 3% number when it comes to atheists in America is on the very low side. In Canada, a recent study stated that 23% of Canadians are now Godless. And we watch the same TV and read the same books as you guys.


Merry Christmas ( I have no problem with the term, it is like Happy Halloween to me),

The Atheist Jew

PS, for some eye opening info on the theory that Jesus never existed go to http://www.bidstrup.com/bible.htm

UPDATE: Tom emailed me back

Sorry but their (sic) is no possible way that a person like you can "educate" me . You are a lost soul. Just like many of your ilk and their diatribes, you lack the courage to even sign your name. That shows a serious lack of belief and committment (sic).

My prompt reply:

Atheism is a lack of belief (no commitment is needed). As for not signing my name, I don't sign my name because I deal with many crazies, so it is more for my protection, though one day I think I will go ahead and put my name out there. Many atheists have absolutely no problem putting their name out there. Because I'm a Jewish one, I sometimes get threats from Muslims and Judeophobic freaks.

Don't sell yourself short. Even the most wilfully ignorant person on the planet can be educated.

Sincerely,

The Atheist Jew

The Atheist Jew's Christmas

I didn't buy any presents.
I won't be getting any presents.
And I like it like that.

I did go my wife's company Christmas party last Saturday (my wife doesn't own the company, she just works there). They do grace every year, and have the audacity to mention JC by name during grace.

I stood when told to stand for grace, but when told to bow my head down, I looked around the room as I always do when religion is being forced on the masses. I only saw one other dude looking at everyone too. The good thing about looking around is that if you are caught by a believer, the believer can't do anything about it, can't even mention it, because the obvious question would be "why did the believer see me not closing my eyes to pray to the invisible sky monkey when they should have been praying?"

I did notice the company general manager though. He had his head bowed down, but he was looking at the speech he was about to deliver. Is he an atheist or did he just push Jesus aside for something he felt was more important at the time?

I'm assuming there were no other Jews there. I'm just extrapolating from the fact that I never recognize any Jewish names when my wife talks about her work mates, and the fact that in my town, I am probably the house in a 10 mile radius that doesn't have Christmas lights.

Something I do find interesting is that the Jehovah Witnesses who work at the company diss Christmas parties for religious reasons. I'm too lazy right now to look up the exact reason why.

More From Ronen On Why Masturbation Is Evil

Unfortunately, Ronen took off the original video he made on masturbation and homosexuality. But he did take the time to make a video response to my post on his video:



Regarding homosexuality, he takes the Fundie way out and deny facts. A religious person he considers very smart saying homosexuality is an illness is good enough for him. Forget science. I'm sure the genius he looks up to as forgotten science too.

Interesting that he quotes the Jewish version of the Catholic edict that every sperm is sacred. I didn't think the Jewish God was that adamantly against masturbation that he favours incest over it. You learn something new every day.

Of course, me and Ronen look at world from different perspectives. I live in a world where there is no evidence for a soul, but Ronen states, "the soul is borrowing the body." Well, I guess the soul is the entity compelling us to masturbate. So again, blame God. And also blame God for making our arms long enough to access our penis so easily. If God didn't want us to masturbate, he should have put our penises in the middle of our back. Then I could go to my wife and say, "I have an itch, can you take care of it for me?, I can't reach it, and it is driving me crazy."

Sit ups and push ups just don't take my aggression away as a good yanking does. After sit ups, I'm still on "full." I didn't call it an exercise by the way. He sort of twisted that.

I can talk slow and be as mellow as possible, but I don't think man was made to walk around on "full" for any lengthy periods of time.

And I'm not going to get into the "married men don't need to masturbate" discussion right now, especially while I'm on "full." I don't want to say things that will come back to haunt me:)

Fortune Cookies

I had Chinese food for the first time in quite a while yesterday. Waking up this morning, I was struck with two revelations. One is that Chinese food makes my stomach hurt and the second one is that I don't read fortune cookies anymore. I don't mind eating the odd fortune cookie, but recently I've just stopped even reading the nonsense.
I used to read them, but now that I've morphed from strong agnostic to atheist, I don't even get any entertainment value out of them anymore. I'm not sure how many atheists are like me when it comes to fortune cookies. Is it just me? Do I need to lighten up?



Oh, and I don't read horoscopes anymore either. I definitely read the ones in the newspaper up to my early 30's. I even remember hoping it was right at times. Again, I know we have a evolved a susceptibility to accept supernatural explanations, so I guess I'm only human that way:)