Ever since I renounced my religious beliefs over 17 years ago, I have been of the opinion that the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, and any other religious so called sacred texts should be filed in the library or anywhere else in the section labeled mythology. America's academic community has been giving the Bible in particular way too much undeserved attention.
It is an insult to a rationalist such as myself that in today's society in order for you to be heard regarding matters of religion you now have to have a doctorate in philosophy and biblical studies. You don't need to learn Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic to see through the false nature of the Bible and similar texts or so called divine origin.
All it took me in order for me to reject my former beliefs was a thorough reading of the bible in its entirety. I read it from the book of Genesis all the way through to the book of revelations not once but four times. And just to make sure I was not missing something I read it in its entirety in Spanish as well noticing differences in translations from the English versions. The more I read the more absurd the biblical tales became, and the more disgusted I became with myself for having given four years of my life practicing and promoting those implausible and ridiculous beliefs.
I have always had trouble with authority in the sense that I would not tolerate my civil rights being violated nor bow down to any form of tyranny. I have always said that before I would ever let myself be subjugated by any authority, I would prefer death. Living life under oppression is a life that in my view is not even worth living. But fundamental Christianity is just that; a life in oppression. You are subservient to an imaginary deity who demands obedience and worship.
The more I delved into the Old Testament the more it became apparent to me that this deity was no god but rather a monster. The bible is chock full of atrocities committed by God against humanity and most of the time for something as trivial as stealing a scarf, where the offender alone was not punished for the crime but his entire tribe as well. In short the sin was always disobedience in some form of another. But God was not content to punish just the offender but his entire tribe all the way to the 3rd and 4th generation of his family. Exodus 34:7
I think by giving the Bible in particular precedence in our secular universities and institutions of higher learning such precedence all we are doing is validating it as worth consideration. You don't need a college degree to see that the bible not only is not true, but can't be true. The various fields of scientific studies has proven the bible false a hundred times over. Archaeology has proven it false as well, and so have many other disciplines of knowledge.
It's time people stop giving this book so much damn attention and they put it where it belongs; right alongside all of the other ancient books that propagated beliefs in bunk and superstition. The bible is written by fallible men and is not inspired by no deity, it is an ancient superstition like all the other religious beliefs that preceded it, and is not even worthy of all the time an energy that has been put into it in serious studies conducted by academics.
Giving the Bible this prestigious place in academic circles inadvertently validates it instead of debunking it. Our government has and continues to assist Christianity in maintaining its prominent place in our society by allowing its influence to corrupt even our governments and our laws and policies. It's high time that our government puts its foot down and starts making the church subservient to the laws of the land. They should make the church pay taxes like everyone else and take away their so called "non-profit organization" status. If you as an individual or institution want to worship and believe in superstitions then be my guest. But you should keep your damn beliefs from infringing on my rights as an unbeliever.
Separation of church and state should be enforced to the fullest in every aspect of our society, there should be no exceptions regardless of religious affiliations. In my state the clergy can violate parking laws with the permission of the state by putting up their church business plaque on their windshield. They don't pay grocery taxes since they carry a tax exempt card with them and all they have to say is that its for church purposes etc. They are not obligated by the IRS to report their finances and it's because of laws like these that we see such abuses committed by the church and many of its representatives. It's high time that the church be treated like the rest of us, and that these exceptions be taken away from them.
No comments:
Post a Comment