Posted inBooks God

God offers up whatever religions think will sell

God is a human invention. Notions about God evolve with the times, changing with cultural and societal circumstances.These are some central themes of Robert Wright's "The Evolution of God," a fascinating book that I've about two-thirds through. He further illuminates a lot of misgivings I've had about religion.Like, how religious leaders -- whether of East or West, a guru or the Pope -- basically are selling salvation. Not for money, usually, but in exchange for buying into a belief system. For example, in his section on Christianity Wright talks about how the earliest descriptions of Jesus' teachings didn't say anything…
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Posted inReligions

Indian rationalist denies God on his death bed

Way to go, Mr. Premanand. You're sticking with your non-faith and irreligion even though you're critically ill. I applauded your statement from a hospital bed in Podanur, India -- making clear that no, you're not having a death bed conversion to godliness. Here's an excerpt:I wish to clarify that as on today the twentieth of September, 2009 I remain a staunch rationalist and wish to place on record the following:a. I continue to be a rationalist of full conviction.b. I do not believe in any supernatural power. All the powers that we encounter are in the realm of nature and…
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Posted inReligions

Christian has advice for atheists

Thanks to science blogger P.Z. Myers, I've read some advice for atheists from a Christian who wants unbelievers to be nicer and more reasonable. Not surprisingly, the advice isn't reasonable. What a shock -- nonsense coming from someone religious. I love Myers' feisty style. He makes me seem like a churchless wuss. 1. Stop being so smug.Make me.Look, you start an argument, you don't get to whine at your opponent to be humble about his ideas before you've even taken a stab at criticizing them. Show me a reason not to be smug about atheism, and reason, and science, and the…
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Posted inReality

Primal awe: the mystery of existence

I don't need concepts like "religion," "spirituality," and "mysticism" to feel a sense of awe. All I need to do is contemplate the ultimate mystery these words point to.Existence. The fact that the cosmos is. And I am. As I've noted before, the primal mystery of existence is the black hole of all knowledge, experience, understanding, and whatever. It makes notions like enlightenment, theory of everything, self-realization, ultimate reality, perfect truth, and the like go zap! -- sucked into a cosmic void of not-knowing that erases false claims of knowing-it-all.How could it be possible to fathom the "it" of existence? Where is…
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Posted inHumor

Goatonapole is my new favorite revelation

Recently I got an email alerting me to a revelation: Goat on a Pole. Praise Goat. And Pole. For I have learned there is nothing else to know, no greater mystery to decipher, no image of reality better worth contemplating.From the Holy Goatonapole web site:"Goatonapole is the philosophy of being that holds that there is a Goat and a Pole and that the Goat is on the Pole. In the relation of Goat and Pole we Goatonapolists find an eternal thread of unfathomable cosmic significance, a point of reference in which all opposites dissolve into a unity of infinite breadth,…
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Posted inUncategorized

Open Thread 7

Here's another Open Thread (previous OTs are still open, of course). Leave a comment about anything you want to talk about. From now on comments on other posts need to be related to the subject of the post, or they will be candidates for deletion. So an Open Thread is the place for miscellany and whatever. Feel free. Just observe the comment policies (click on "comment policy" above).
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Posted inGod Spiritual practice/meditation

After God, a richer life awaits

So what's to be done after giving up a belief in God? (Or any other metaphysics founded on blind faith rather than demonstrable evidence.)First, pat yourself on the back -- or any other place that feels good -- and offer up some congratulations from you to you. "Great job, me. I've made the right choice: to embrace honesty rather than deception."But just as smokers often need a nicotine patch to help them break an unhealthy habit, going cold turkey off of God can be tough. After all, believing in the Big Guy Upstairs has been fulfilling, perhaps for a long…
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Posted inGod Reality

Shake up your unexamined worldview — it’s fun!

I used to cling to a quasi-fundamentalist view of the cosmos. Now, I don't. I've come to enjoy a deliciously exciting sensation of feeling rigidly settled ways of looking at the world transform into a more naturally fluid vision of reality. "Naturally," because if there's one thing we can be sure of, it's that we can't be sure we know everything about anything. So I love someone who comes along with a Paradigm Shaker which busts up worldviews that are widely accepted without good reason.Don Cupitt, for example. I read his book "After God" a few years ago. I liked…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

“True Sant Mat” blog: a fresh look at mystic teachings

Sant Mat gets discussed quite a bit here because I was a member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (a contemporary Sant Mat movement) for many years, along with other regular Church of the Churchless commenters.I'm more familiar with Sant Mat than any other religion, spiritual system, or mystical path. So when Osho Robbins emailed me with news that he was starting a "True Sant Mat" blog, naturally I was curious.And, upon request, gave him some advice about how to set the blog up, since we're both using the TypePad blogging service. Osho's goal is to discuss the real teachings behind…
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Posted inGod

Metaphors can’t prove God is real

Religious people are fond of metaphors. Which isn't surprising. A metaphor compares or describes one thing in terms of something else."God's love is like that of a mother for her child."OK, nice sentiment. But this is a different type of logical statement from the example Wikipedia cites for a metaphor, Shakespeare's "All the world's a stage..."We know the world exists. We also know what a stage is. We also know about mothers and children. "God's love," though, where the heck is it?Non-existent, at least in terms of any sort of objective reality supported by demonstrable evidence. So something unreal is…
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Posted inReligions

Religion related to social dysfunction

Many religious people believe that faith in God (or some other divine entity) makes for a better society -- more moral, law-abiding, productive, and so on.Well, like lots of beliefs, this one is highly questionable. In a recent issue of Newsweek, Sharon Begley wrote in her "(Un)wired for God" article:In brief, the number of American non-believers has doubled since 1990, a 2008 Pew survey found, and increased even more in some other advanced democracies. What's curious is not so much the overall decline of belief (which has caused the Vatican to lament the de-Christianization of Europe) as the pattern. In…
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Posted inComments

Commenting policies

I've put together a page describing Church of the Churchless commenting policies. (Link also at left of top bar above). Please read, and have fun in the comment playground -- just obey the rules.
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Posted inUncategorized

Commenting policies

You're welcome -- even more, encouraged -- to leave comments on Church of the Churchless posts. Some of the most interesting writing on this blog comes from other people, not me, Brian the Blogger. All I ask is that comments be in accord with the following policies. Otherwise a comment probably will be deleted or edited. (1) No personal attacks on me or other commenters. Challenge the message, not the messenger. Best: You're wrong, because... Semi-OK: You're a fool, because... Not-OK: You're a fool. (2) No extreme obscenity. Write as if you were in a congenial coffeehouse discussion group, not…
Posted inComments Religions

With religion and the Internet, be skeptical

Sometimes I wonder whether, as a churchless blogger, it makes sense for me to spend so much time in comment conversations about posts that I've written.Recently I came to a fuller realization that yes, it does make sense, and why this is so.There's an interesting correlation between religion and the Internet: both are full of often-anonymous sources making claims that lack persuasive supporting evidence.So when someone leaves a comment on a web site or blog -- such as this one -- it's an opportunity to practice bullshit detection skills that will come in handy when assessing the validity of a…
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Posted inReality

Science is real — you are too (but in a different way)

Thanks to Pharyngula, I got turned on to a "Science is Real" video by They Might be Giants. l love it when cartoonish characters make so much sense -- more than a lot of real people. "What's real?" is a terrific question. There's no end to possible answers. It seems to me, though, that some things almost certainly are really real about reality.For us human beings -- every species is different in this regard -- there's a shared reality. If there wasn't you woudn't be able to read these words that I've written, and I wouldn't be sitting in a…
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Posted inTaoism/Tai Chi

Erotic dream stimulates philosophical thoughts

In the almost-five-year history of this churchless blog, erotic dreams is a subject that hasn't come up for much discussion. Time to make up for the omission.I don't have erotic dreams very often. But last night featured an interesting and pleasurable brief one -- nicely PG rated for open sharing.I was walking down the side of a road. Glancing down, I saw an youngish attractive dark-haired woman lying on her back, arms by her sides, eyes open, completely relaxed. Moment of decision. In a flash my mind chose between (1) continuing on my way, and (2) stopping to kiss her.…
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Posted inUncategorized

Open Thread 6

Here's another Open Thread (previous OTs are still open, of course). Leave a comment about anything you want to talk about. From now on comments on other posts need to be related to the subject of the post, or they will be candidates for deletion. So an Open Thread is the place for miscellany and whatever. Feel free. No personal attacks on other commenters (or me), please: criticize a message, not the messenger.
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Posted inHumor

God will fuck you up…or maybe not

Hey, it's Labor Day. Which, rather paradoxically, is a national holiday in the United States where the goal for most people is to do as little as possible -- since the long hot lazy days of summer are coming to an end. So I'm going to take it easy on my churchless blogging today, simply sharing some multimedia that tackles in cartoonish and musical fashion an important question: WIll God fuck you up? One of my favorite comic strips, Pearls Before Swine, seems to argue in the negative in this August 30 offering (I say "seems" because it's tough to…
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Posted inBooks

“The Untethered Soul” gets a 3/4 churchless thumbs up

Let's start mildly negative with this book review so I can end up strongly positive. I can understand why the author, Michael A. Singer, wanted this blurb prominently displayed on the cover, but I was turned off by it:"Read this book carefully and you will get more than a glimpse of eternity."     --Deepak ChopraI haven't been impressed by Chopra's own writings, though some of what he says resonates with me. So I was afraid that "The Untethered Soul" was going to be as New Age'y as Chopra's blurb implied.More than a glimpse of eternity? Gag me with a skeptical spoon.…
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