Why the discussion of religion is so important.

I often get blowback for my "attacks" on religion.

Those attacks of course are often simply a post about the lack of historic evidence or the ignorance of accepting things without a factual basis to support their existence.

However as I often suggest there is probably no more important topic to openly discuss, argue, and examine than the impact of religion in the world today.

For instance the case can be made that much of terrorism is fueled by religious fanaticism.

It also holds true that much of our current prejudices stem from a religious origin.

The same is of course true of sexism, after all patriarchal ideals are pervasive throughout the Old Testament.

And perhaps most currently impactful is that blind faith also opens one up to the kinds of manipulations that served the Russians so well when they interfered in our last presidential election.

Yes, I am suggesting that religious faith is a large part of the reason that we have Donald Trump as our president.

So yes, openly discussing religion is quite, quite important.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Rabbis warn that a university education is "dangerous" for young women.

Courtesy of the Independent:  

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbis have banned women from going to university, The Independent has learned. 

The strict Satmar sect issued the decree, seen by The Independent, warning that university education for women is “dangerous”. Written in Yiddish, the decree warns: “It has lately become the new trend that girls and married women are pursuing degrees in special education. Some attend classes and others online. And so we’d like to let their parents know that it is against the Torah. 

“We will be very strict about this. No girls attending our school are allowed to study and get a degree. It is dangerous. Girls who will not abide will be forced to leave our school. Also, we will not give any jobs or teaching position in the school to girls who’ve been to college or have a degree. 

"We have to keep our school safe and we can’t allow any secular influences in our holy environment. It is against the base upon which our Mosed was built.”

The day that becoming more educated threatens your belief system, that is the day that you need to change your belief system.

You know I spend a lot of time going after Christianity here on IM.

But the main reason that I single out that particular religion is because it is the one whose negative effects we feel the most strongly here in America, and that one that negatively impacts our politics and education.

Trust me when I say I have the same disdain for ALL religions which argue against both men and women learning more about the world and universe which surrounds us.

And that certainly includes Judaism Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Mormonism, and even some forms of Buddhism. (Yes, I realize there are other religions, but I don't have all day to list them all.)

If I have any belief at all it is that as human beings it is our right and our responsibility to learn as much as we can and to help push forward the limits of human understanding.

If any religion interferes with that, then it is undermining who we are as sentient beings.

Overwhelming majority of women getting abortions are Christians. Let's file this under "Things we kinda already knew."

Courtesy of Reverb Press:  

When it comes to anti-choice activists interfering with women’s reproductive rights, there’s no denying that it’s mostly Christian groups trying to get Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers shut down. From the Pro-Life Action League to the National Pro-Life Religious Council, there’s an undeniable link between Christianity and anti-choice activism. That’s what makes a recent survey, sponsored by a self-proclaimed pro-life group, so ironic. 

The newly released research, conducted by Christian research group LifeWay at the behest of pro-life group Care Net, paints a very different picture of those seeking abortions than you might imagine. The study interviewed 1,038 women who had received an abortion. Surprisingly, a full 70 percent of these women were Christian.

The study’s results were broken down by religious beliefs, and Christianity was further divided into four distinct categories — Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and non-denominational. The two groups with the highest reported abortion rates were Protestants (26 percent of respondents) and Catholic (27 percent of respondents).

I have two favorite parts of this report.

First that Atheists only account for 4% of abortions which should be shoved in the face of every one of those smug fundamentalist who call us sinners and accuse us of lacking morality.

Second that this study was paid for by a pro-life group who certainly expected a different result to emerge.

The study goes on to point out that 43% of those Christians who had an abortion go to church at least once a month, and 20% go weekly. So these are not just women who picked the label Christianity out of a hat, they are died in the wool church going believers.

Which leads to only one conclusion. When it comes to baby murdering none of us can hold a candle to Christians.

Now whose turn is it to be smug?

Child abuse, plain and simple.

“A child is not a Christian child, not a Muslim child, but a child of Christian parents or a child of Muslim parents. This latter nomenclature, by the way, would be an excellent piece of consciousness-raising for the children themselves. A child who is told she is a 'child of Muslim parents' will immediately realize that religion is something for her to choose -or reject- when she becomes old enough to do so.” ― Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

New survey shows that Evangelicals are the most likely to cheat on their spouse.

Courtesy of New York Daily News:

A new survey from Ashley Madison, a website for married people looking for something on the side, found that the religious affiliations of cheaters lines up with the breakdown of religion in the U.S., meaning the majority of them identify as Christian. 

In fact, a quarter of the survey participants self-identify as evangelical, making it the most common faith among the unfaithful. 

Here is the actual breakdown:

Evangelical 25.1% 

Catholic 22.75% 

Protestant 22.7% 

Agnostic 2% 

Mormon 1.6% 

Muslim 1.5% 

Jewish 1.4% 

Atheist 1.4% 

Jehovah's Witness .5% 

Hindu .3% 

Now this IS America so it is perfectly reasonable that the majority of respondents would be of some Christian denomination or another, you know of course unless being a Christian meant you were the moral superior of those who were NOT Christians, but who believes that?

 I mean it's not like I'm doing the Snoopy dance around my desk right now in celebration of the fact that Atheists are more trustworthy marriage partner than just about any other group except Jehovah's Witnesses and Hindus, or anything.

That would be juvenile.

Though perfectly justified.

The Godless commit less crime, have longer marriages, and are better educated. That last one is a gimme.

Courtesy of Knox News:  

The godless commit less crime, have longer marriages and are more highly educated than almost any other group in America. 

According to Federal Bureau of Prisons data, the number of responding people in prison acknowledging they were Catholic was 39 percent; Protestant, 35 percent; Muslim, 7 percent; Jewish, 2 percent; and godless, 0.2 percent (20 percent did not respond). 

Since the number of godless is estimated to be 10 percent of the general population, all things being equal you would expect their prison population to be 10 percent. 

If, as many people assume, the godless do not lead moral lives, you would expect the number to be greater than 10 percent. The fact that the actual number is 50 times less than expected can lead to only one of two conclusions: either the godless commit less crime than the religious or they’re too smart to get caught very often. 

According to a Barna Research Group report, fundamentalist Christians have the highest divorce rate, followed by Jews and Baptists. The godless are tied with Catholics and Lutherans for the lowest divorce rate. It seems that some groups that claim to follow the Bible most strictly are not putting their money where their mouths are. The godless who are thought to be without morals seem to take their vows more seriously. 

According to a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life Survey, the least-educated Americans are Jehovah’s Witnesses, followed by black Protestants and fundamentalist Christians. The most highly educated are reformed Jews, followed by Unitarian Universalists and the godless. 

In fact, a review of worldwide studies found that criminality and religion go hand in hand. The countries with the most religious people have the highest crime rates, highest sexually transmitted diseases and the highest teen pregnancy rates. 

This is also true in the United States. The more religious a state’s population, the higher the crime, STD and teen pregnancy rates. The report does say that the religious are happier than the secular but posits that the ostracism of the latter may be a major cause. 

In spite of this easily obtained information, the groups with the highest crime rate, the poorest marriages and the lowest education continually strive to force their beliefs on the nonreligious. And the politicians pander to them. Why else would they pass laws to put religion in the schools and on courthouse facades? And then they wonder why the godless could possibly be upset.

There is literally NOTHING that pisses me off more than some smug Bible thumper claiming moral superiority based on the fact that they have turned off their critical thinking skills and accepted a child's fairy tale as fact.

And then if THAT were not enough, they feel compelled to spread their anti-intellectual virus all over the world, supplanting indigenous religions, and destroying ancient cultures at will.

As I have said before I would leave people alone in whatever delusion they subscribe IF they were willing to keep it to themselves and out of our science, our education system, and our politics.

The bottom line is that the moral superiority argument does not pass the smell test and without that WHAT could possibly be the reason for judging the non-religious as less trustworthy and ethical than those who supplicate themselves to a god, a goddess, or a pantheon of deities?

I'm sorry  what's that? Yeah that's what I thought.

I just thought this needed to be said, though it SHOULD be obvious to all.

Now do you get it Fox News? Rush? Sarah?

Religious tolerance does NOT mean only protecting the rights of Christians.  It means making ALL people, of ALL faiths, feel included in this great country of ours.

I am pretty sure that is what Jesus would have wanted.