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Are the Churches Incorrigible? Are They Any Better Today?
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Are the Churches Incorrigible? Are They Any Better Today?
As a lifelong atheist, I would like to bring this question up for debate:
Can America's present-day churches be reformed for the better? When I look around me today, I honestly can't see much difference between the present-day religious bigots and the past atrocities committed in the name of God throughout history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fT662iSUJg

To start us off, let us take a look at some of these headlines:

Islamic militants kill 30 in Nigeria school attack.

Islamic States Reject UN's Attempt to Protect Women; it Violates Sharia Law.

The Boy Killed For An Off-Hand Remark About Mohammed- Sharia Spreads in Syria.


In the above examples, the perpetrators of these atrocities are acting in allegiance to their bible. Religions, as I understand them, are all primitive, for each faith's adherents conduct their daily lives according to scriptural, doctrinaire dogma that was written way back before anyone knew anything about science and reason, and so instead they made up fantasy stories about gods and miracles to explain life's mysteries. Adhering to Allah's thousands-of-years-old instructions, the perpetrators reject rights for women because their bible tells them to. This is hardly disparate to the Christian Dominionist leaders of today, such as Phylis Schlafly, who fought long and hard against the Equal Rights Amendment for women. Back in the 1970s, conservative Christians quoted the Holy Bible as their reason for opposing gender equality. Just read this passage from Corinthians:

[/i]“Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.”[i]

Schlafly and her colleagues firmly believed that women's place was in the home, and she was to be loyal to her husband at all times. The now-failed Equal Rights Amendment did the exact opposite of this: It allowed equal job opportunity for women, and even made them eligible to the draft. Sadly, the amendment's plain idea that women are equal to men is precisely why the Christian extremists viewed it with such depravity. How it is that people can choose a thousands-of-years-old book of fiction over reason and common sense today is well beyond me.

And today we even have Pat Robertson slandering atheists, homosexuals and non-Christians on national television. The other televangelists are no different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvTqV4jui...0A&index=3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YahBpd4pQRk

Now we can compare today's Taliban and Christian Dominionist Church to the past atrocities performed in the name of religion.

The best example is the Spanish Inquisition. Born from the Catholic Church, the terrorist organization tried and tortured people in the name of Catholic orthodoxy. They often waterboarded their victims, and put them in strappados.

Speaking of the Catholic Church, who could forget the numerous pedophile scandals with the Vatican? And the fighting between the Protestants and the Catholics in northern Ireland continues to this day.

So are religions any better or more moral today than they have been these past few hundred years? It's hard to tell. I realize I am only looking at religious extremists. Do you know any good church goers today who are decent people?

Anyway, that is all something to think about.
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Are the Churches Incorrigible? Are They Any Better Today? - by Michael Schubert - July 25, 2013 at 1:58 am

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