A Church's Best Friend

[Michael Schubert]

The other day, a fellow forum member started a thread where he asked "Why are atheists so disrespectful?". This, of course, started quite an uproar on the forum, which is to be expected, of course. An ignorant statement such as that is pretty inflammatory.

But the thread was also coincidental for me. It reminded me of a an old saying that Mr. Marilyn Manson pointed out: "The devil is the church's best friend because he's kept them in business". That is, Christians and other sectarian churches always need someone to hate. Psychologist Darrell Ray writes in the God Virus:

A great deal of religious literature is a response to heresy. Most religions claim their literature was handed down by a god, but the god seems to be very concerned with all the heresies of the particular day and time when the scriptures were written. Reading the religious literature of any period in history is a study in the religious protection strategy of the day.

This is precisely why the author of the other day's thread is attacking atheists for being "disrespectful": atheists pose a threat to his rigid ideology of "you're with theists or against them". It also explains why many people have to get baptized in their girlfriend's or boyfriend's church in order for their fiance's parents to welcome them into the family. I have even had discussions with theists who say "atheists are the enemy to god" and they do not closely associate with them for this reason alone. They all want to partition themselves off into a little group where everyone outside of that group is bad and everyone inside that little group is good. Fundamentalist theists have a vested interest in dissenters in the same way the military industrial complex has a vested interest in war and doctors have a vested interest in you getting sick.

This polarizing, nationalistic mindset can have drastic consequences. Look at all the right-wing mega churches who are always protesting against and bombing abortion clinics. Look at the sociopaths in the Dominionist movement like Pat Robertson and others who want the Christians to run all welfare institutions, including the public schools and the military. Nationalistic thinking is precisely why Slobodan Milosevic murdered all the Muslims in Serbia.

So here is why atheists are so "disrespectful": We're defending ourselves from dogma.

[StrongWaters]

Do you agree that light cannot be seen? Light reveals what it hits, so in this sense, the Bible is a mirror. The same is true for the written word of our DNA. DNA is evidence for God's creative work in us.

See this thread: http://atheistforums.org/thread-22448.html

[LostLocke]

Do you agree that light cannot be seen? Light reveals what it hits....

BZZZZZT
Wrong.

You have it ass backwards.

The object itself is what is "hidden", it's the light reflecting off that object that we are actually seeing when we look at said object.

[StrongWaters]

Do you agree that light cannot be seen? Light reveals what it hits....

BZZZZZT
Wrong.

You have it ass backwards.

The object itself is what is "hidden", it's the light reflecting off that object that we are actually seeing when we look at said object.

Exactly what I said. Light reveals what it hits. I am glad you understand. If you could see light, then all you would see is a wash of light between you and everything else.

Each of us are revealed by the light. This was my answer to the thread topic.

[LostLocke]

Exactly what I said. Light reveals what it hits. I am glad you understand. If you could see light, then all you would see is a wash of light between you and everything else.

We can see light.....

[StrongWaters]

Exactly what I said. Light reveals what it hits. I am glad you understand. If you could see light, then all you would see is a wash of light between you and everything else.

We can see light.....

Light is not a duality as science states. It is not simply particle and wave. It is particle, wave and consciousness (Spirit). Without the observer, there is no collapsing wave function. Light reveals what it hits. The observer collapses the wave function from superposition to particle. You don't see air because the wave length of light is larger than that of air. When water is in the air in the form of fog, you see water particles. If there is no particle, there is no light seen (collapsed). Light revels the information (word) just as DNA reveals the form it expresses.

Is the acorn the oak tree, or is the oak tree the acorn? Neither. It is the Word in the Seed expressing both. Information is in formed. When it expresses, it forms out. Inside the acorn, there is an oak tree. The oak tree then makes more acorns. Your sight is the same. The whole is contained in the part. The parts are the whole. What you see is already inside you as information. Light simply renders it to form. Music is the same.

[freedomfromforum]

It's like this...

The church is the closet door that hides the boogy man from the child's sight.
When the closet door is removed, it is seen that there never was a boogy man.

[LostLocke]

Light is not a duality as science states.

Light being or not being a duality never came up, and has nothing to do with anything here.

You don't see air because the wave length of light is larger than that of air.

*sigh* You do see air. At least indirectly.
Look up during the day on Earth you see blue.
Look up during the day on the moon you see black.

It's not the wavelength size, it's the fact that the light photons are not reflecting off anything and into your eyes that cause you not to "see" something. This is why in clear air lasers are invisible, you can see the source and the target, but not the beam itself.

[StrongWaters]

Light is not a duality as science states.

Light being or not being a duality never came up, and has nothing to do with anything here.

You don't see air because the wave length of light is larger than that of air.

*sigh* You do see air. At least indirectly.
Look up during the day on Earth you see blue.
Look up during the day on the moon you see black.

It's not the wavelength size, it's the fact that the light photons are not reflecting off anything and into your eyes that cause you not to "see" something. This is why in clear air lasers are invisible, you can see the source and the target, but not the beam itself.

This is due to particles larger than light in the air refracting the light. Also, moisture in the atmosphere, which is not possible apart from the particles in the air. If the air were free from particles, we would not have our vision hampered. On a clear night, you see the sky clearly. In the day, the light refracts off of moisture and particles in the air.

[Esquilax]

You don't see air because the wave length of light is larger than that of air.

Liquid oxygen: visible air. Tada!