No More, Daddy

No father, judged sane by a jury, would be forgiven for murdering his eight children with the argument "They were ignoring and disobeying me. They were bad children. They were headed for a bad end." Why then, is God tolerated? In the Old Testament, the Heavenly Father slaughtered every human on the planet save for a select handful. It's right there in the book. God has erased the entire population, killed first-born sons, ripped fetuses from wombs, mandated the stoning deaths of alduterers, obstreperous children, heretics and homosexuals; He's turned wives into salt, burned cities to the ground, allowed his chosen people to be enslaved and decimated for centuries, and, in the case of Job, tortured an innocent man who did nothing but show him dedication and reverence.

Folks who believe the Bible is the most superior authority on morality and ethics need to actually read that motherfucker. Other than the Qu'ran, the Bible is peerless in its depravity and perversion. And I'm just talking about GOD; let's not even worry what the PEOPLE in that book do.

I will never understand how folks who read the Bible don't just shudder, put it down, and look for something better, like Fox News. I mean, let's take a look at God's Ten Commandments. These are the promulgations that were given to the people of Abraham straight from the hand of the Lord Himself:

1. You shall have no gods before me.
2. You shall make no graven images.
3. You shall not take my name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.

These have absolutely nothing at all to do with morality or ethics. These are specifically related to Judeo-Christian mythology. When people talk about how the Ten Commandments aren't actually religious, just a uniform list of non-denominational goodness, remind them that the first FORTY PERCENT do not pertain to anything but Yahweh. These have no place in our courthouses, schools or any other public building.

5. Honor your father and mother.
6. Don't murder.
7. Don't commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Don't lie.

These are good ones. And, unlike the first four, they have nothing at all to do with God. These are core values, and have existed since primates could walk on two legs. They haven't always been followed in the strictest sense, but we can certainly agree that they are almost universally accepted around the world, regardless of a society's place in history, location, population, religiosity, or lack thereof. No religion can take credit for these ideas. No spirituality came to the conclusion, in a void, that these were prized attributes. These ideals, if they were generated, have been generated by almost every culture on earth, totally independent of each other, and, in the main, ignorant of the Abrahamic God

10. Don't covet anything that your neighbor has.

This is common sense. The more you lust over your neighbor's twenty foot, jet-black, pimped-out, rim-spinnin, forty-yards-to-the-gallon, dick wagon, Hummer H9, the unhappier you'll be. This goes double for his sweet-ass wife bent over in the garden planting marijuana while listening to her 60 G iPod and knocking back glasses of Louis XV. Worry about yourself.

The only Commandments that can be truly credited to the Bible are the first four, and, as we've seen, they're totally pointless if one hasn't been brainwashed by the hypocrisy to begin with.

The Ten Commandments had no place in the founding of our country, either. God is never once mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, or our Constitution. The men who tore America away from Britain were deists at the most, and, perhaps, agnostics and athiests in actuality.

This country has no formal allegiance to God. His appearance on our money and in our Pledge of Allegiance did not occur until the nineteen-forties and -fifties. The phrase on the back of a dollar bill "Novus Ordo Seclorum" means "New Secular Order." Our founders had high hopes of a country whose politics and public life were uncorrupted by the vicious taint of any religion. I have to believe they'd be crushingly disappointed with where we've ended up.

This is a Christian nation today, October 6th, 2006. It was a Christian nation yesterday, and last week, and the past decade. But it hasn't always been like this. Once, we were contumelious upstarts, putting our country together with the dregs and descendants of Victorian Europe. Toms Jefferson and Paine had nothing but outright, public contempt for Christianity. Many of their contemporaries were in total agreement. And yet, here we are.

God is useless. He is a vindictive, mind-altering monster twisting the thoughts of folks who could otherwise be well-adjusted, helpful citizens of our global community. Christians like to comment on the love and tolerance that Jesus preached. I'd like to point out that the only hate that is still condoned is the hatred masquerading as religion. All one has to do to defend an irrational prejudice these days is contend that one's spiritual teachings predicate discrimination against Jews, homosexuals, blacks, women who have abortions, athiests, Democrats, Asians, Hispanics or any other group desired. These viewpoints will be protected as long as religions are allowed to to create unsubstantiated claims predicated on the mandates of invisible rulers that are constantly in contention with one another.

Religion is stupid. The only reason Americans are predominately Christian is because they were born here. The only reason Muslims are Muslims is because they were born in Islamic countries. Jews inherit their Judaism. The Abrahamic faiths make no sense whatsoever; they are products of geography, family and superstition. Politics, sexuality, psychology, economics, sociology - all these things are open to informed debate. Why is religion such a heavily guarded, closed-off arena of public life? Because it is ludicrous. Religion cannot be defended because it generates no testable data.

Religion has no place in our lives. It makes no positive contribution that couldn't be made without the mention of God. Morality and ethics are completely divorced from mainstream religion. Every place on earth, from the most posh, hillside mansions to the most forsaken, poverty-stricken shitholes imaginable share common ideals. These have existed since time out of mind. There is no God. There is only life.

Stop worshipping the asshole who would have seen you drowned in New Orleans, raped by a priest, blown up in Iraq, chewed to pieces by cancer or crucified next to his son; all without a single reason or validation for your suffering.

Wake up and resist.