Posted inMystics Religions

Militants kill 305 Sufis in the name of God. Religions are crazy.

All terrorist attacks are despicable and difficult to comprehend. But when Muslim militants killed 305 Sufis, members of their own religion whose supposed crime is viewing Islam differently -- that's freaking insane.  Back in my true believing days, before I saw the atheist light, for several years I became a huge fan of Rumi. I bought just about every English language book about Rumi and his teachings. Rumi was a Sufi. So this helps explain my outrage at the killings in the Sinai Peninsula.  Here's some excerpts from a New York Times story, "Who Are Sufi Muslims and Why Do…
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Posted inReligions

America versus the Godless Civilized World: we’re crazily religious

I just finished reading a disturbing chapter in Kurt Andersen's book, "Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire." Disturbing, because in America Versus the Godless Civilized World: Why Are We So Exceptional?, Andersen presents facts about our zealous religiosity that sent chills up my atheist spine. These facts weren't totally new to me. But they were conveyed in a way that made it clearer than ever how religiously wacko the United States is -- not only compared to other advanced countries, but even countries with a reputation for religious mania. Here's some quotes from the chapter: According to a Gallup Poll in 1968,…
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Posted inReligions Spiritual practice/meditation

Pros and cons of faith, nicely expressed

To have faith, or not to have faith. This is a big question. I was pleased to see a thoughtful comment interchange between Spence Tepper and Appreciative Reader on a recent post of mine, "The most amazing thing about religions is that everybody believes they're right." Here's how Spence Tepper views faith: quite positively. Hi Appreciative Reader!Great comments. Thank you for posting a moment of rational thought here.I suggest that everyone, Atheist, blind adherent, "Faithful", or Mystic, has a built in psychological tendency to believe they are generally right. Who doesn't think they are right?And if we are wrong, we…
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Posted inReligions

The most amazing thing about religions is that everyone believes they’re right

Religious people believe in the miraculous. Atheist me finds a different sort of miracle embedded in religiosity: the fact that almost everyone who embraces a particular religion is highly confident, if not absolutely certain, that their particular faith is The True One.  Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, and followers of many other creeds (including the Eastern mystical/spiritual teaching I followed for many years, Sant Mat) -- with just a few exceptions each devotee considers that somehow they've been fortunate enough to find the truth about an ultimate divine reality, while billions of people who believe otherwise are sadly deluded. This…
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Posted inReligions Spiritual practice/meditation

Non-religious people believe in weird stuff also

This isn't a big shocker, really. But it was still surprising to read that people who don't believe in God actually are more likely to hold other unfounded beliefs, like aliens visiting Earth. So says psychologist Clay Routledge in a New York Times piece, "Don't Believe in God? Maybe You'll Try U.F.O.s." People who do not frequently attend church are twice as likely to believe in ghosts as those who are regular churchgoers. The less religious people are, the more likely they are to endorse empirically unsupported ideas about U.F.O.s, intelligent aliens monitoring the lives of humans and related conspiracies…
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Posted inBooks Politics Religions

Trump administration’s push for religious liberty rooted in “Fantasyland”

The United States is a Fantasyland. And not just any old Fantasyland -- people in this country probably have the most fantastical beliefs of any country in the world.  This is the core message of Kurt Andersen's marvelous book, "Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire, a 500-Year History." It's more that 400 pages, but if you want a short overview, check out an Atlantic piece, "How America Lost Its Mind." I've only read the first part of the book. But already it's offered up fresh insights into a familiar topic on this blog, the ridiculousness of giving subjective religious beliefs way…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

All religions are not alike. Radha Soami sects are wrong about “shabd.”

I'm always (well, usually) glad to admit when I've been wrong about something. So I'm pleased to say that during my true believing days, which stretched into over 30 years, I was decidedly wrong about the world's major religions having a common denominator. Namely, an all-pervading conscious spiritual energy known in India as shabd. Various "Radha Soami" sects claim it is possible to return to God by connecting one's individual soul-consciousness with this universal divine-consciousness -- which manifests as inner sound and light.  Wikipedia says: Shabd is referring to spiritual current which can be perceived in meditation as inner light and…
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Posted inReality Religions

Tempting as it is to pray, health problems should be managed without God

I've got some semi-serious health problems. Meaning, they aren't fatal or debilitating. But they're damn annoying. The details aren't necessary to know for the purposes of this post, though I've blogged about what I'm going through here.  It's been interesting to see how my atheist mind has been dealing with the stress I've been feeling. Back in 2006 I wrote a couple of posts on the subject of turning to God during difficult times. The first was "Atheists in foxholes do exist." It concluded with: Religious belief or faith is almost always individualistic. That’s a paradox, considering that humility and loss…
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Posted inMorality Religions

Morality has nothing to do with religion

Here's another atheist-themed letter to the editor that my wife, Laurel, has been sending in monthly to our local newspaper, the Salem Statesman Journal.  She makes some great points. Laurel's letters usually generate quite a few comments. This one has 18 so far. Such as: "Thank you Laurel. Pompous, so-called 'Christians' make judgements that are not backed by facts. Their faith does not equal truth. Life is not black and white. We are a diverse world, so get over yourselves." Absolutely! Read on for the letter. Not all moral advances in society come from the religious In a letter by…
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Posted inReligions Taoism/Tai Chi Vedanta/Advaita

Indian and Greek thought are both dualistic. Chinese thought isn’t.

Oneness has a lot of appeal. It's simple. Nothing is simpler than one. (Well, maybe nothing is simpler, but since there is no way to know what nothing is like, since it doesn't exist, who knows?) Also, oneness has a lot in common with love. Love brings us together, which is a big step toward being one. Duality, on the other hand (a good phrase to use when talking about duality), posits two things that are inherently different. Like most people, I've had the idea that Eastern forms of spirituality are more into oneness that Western forms are. The cartoon…
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Posted inReligions Science

Compared to science, religion knows nothing about reality

Here's another of my wife's monthly letters to the editor of the Salem (Oregon) Statesman Journal newspaper. Her April offering was titled "Reader prefers science over religion" on the opinion page.  Me too. As we were driving around today, talking about this and that, including the ridiculousness of religiosity, Laurel mentioned that nothing in the Bible or any other holy book has led to any new understanding of reality in the way science does all the time. Meaning, one would think that the prophets, sages, gurus, enlightened beings, divine sons/daughters of God, or whoever would have been privy to some…
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Posted inReligions

Memes like “God promises life after death” explain popularity of religion

We usually think that religions require people to believe in certain things. Like God, heaven, life after death. But what if religiosity is more akin to a tune you just can't get out of your head than a consciously arrived-at system of beliefs? Memes, according to Wikipedia, are "ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme." They propagate and evolve much like genes do: through natural selection. Here's how Wikipedia says memes operate in the area of religion. Aaron Lynch attributed the…
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Posted inReligions

My wife, Laurel, is on an atheist letter-to-the-editor writing mission. Every month she submits another letter to our local newspaper, the Salem (Oregon) Statesman Journal.  Here's her March letter (click on the link to read the online comments). Nicely done, Laurel.  Question those who flaunt "religious arrogance" Could religious beliefs survive if children were not indoctrinated into religion from an early age by their families and cultures, and instead were allowed to decide whether religions make sense when they are old enough to examine the evidence and logic? Why do almost all religious believers believe in the religion their parents or…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

HBOs “The Young Pope” reminds me of some Indian gurus

Last night my wife, Laurel, and I watched the first episode of the HBO series, The Young Pope. It was weirdly realistic while also being strangely fantastical. The official trailer will give you a feel for the Young Pope, masterfully played by Jude Law. Laurel, being a retired psychotherapist, didn't have any trouble diagnosing the newly elevated Pope Pius XIII: psychopath. The Young Pope is controlling, manipulative, hypocritical, and charismatic. In other words, he is like lots of other religious leaders in both the West and East. They prey on the misguided faith of their followers. They profit from being…
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Posted inBooks Religions

Why we ignore facts and embrace falsehoods, both in religion and science

The title of "Denying to the Grave: Why We Ignore the Facts that Will Save Us" pretty much sold me on the book.  Even though the authors focus on medical myths, often the same factors that lead people to embrace health falsehoods are responsible for unfactual religious beliefs. On page 5 we get a list of "healthcare beliefs that fly directly in the face of scientific evidence and that are supported by at least a substantial minority of people." Vaccination is harmful. Guns in the house will protect residents from armed intruders. Food containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are dangerous…
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Posted inMorality Religions

Religious superstition is a great threat to the world

Today our local newspaper, the Salem Statesman Journal, published my wife's "Good Without God" letter to the editor. Naturally I feel that Laurel makes a lot of sense, fellow scientifically-minded atheist that she is.  After her letter, I'll share the earlier letter from Dale Kirby that stimulated Laurel's response. Another person, Larry Nelson, also took issue with Kirby. I've shared his letter as well.  I can't resist adding comments on my own, in red.  First, here's my wife's letter. Dale Kirby’s Nov. 30 letter claimed there is a “war” against religious freedom in our country. Naturally, there isn't. Unless you…
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Posted inPolitics Religions

Government shouldn’t be guided by irrational religious concepts

It's a pleasure to share a churchless opinion piece by my wife, Laurel. It was published yesterday in our town's alternative paper, Salem Weekly. Laurel was impelled to write this after going into the belly of the beast -- attending a large Franklin Graham (son of Billy Graham) religious rally at the state capitol grounds here in Salem.  Government shouldn't be guided by irrational conceptsby Laurel Hines Recently evangelist Franklin Graham visited Salem to urge Christians to vote their “Christian values.” But does basing government on religious beliefs supported by a book written in pre-modern times make sense? The Bible condones…
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Posted inDeath/Rebirth Religions

Role of religion in Orlando gay nightclub shootings

Over on my other blog, HinesSight, I've talked about how tough it is to figure out how to stop more mass shootings in this gun-crazed natiom.  The main problem is that the United States has both way more guns than any other industrialized country, and also way more gun deaths. While it's obvious that the two are connected -- more guns means more gun deaths -- it won't be possible to make those guns disappear.  Religion seemingly also played a role in Omar Mateen's attack on a gay nightclub. He pledged allegiance to ISIS during a 911 phone call in…
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Posted inHumor Religions

“Liberal Redneck” Trae Crowder is one funny irreligious guy

Trae Crowder is a comedian who says some damn funny stuff in his "Liberal Redneck" You Tube videos.  But his mocking has a serious side to it, because often he's making fun of small-minded dogmatic religious believers.  Here's four short Liberal Redneck videos that I liked a lot. Being familiar with a southern accent, United States style, I had no problem understanding Crowder. Other English speakers might have some difficulty grasping what he's saying. Even if you don't get every word, though, give him a watch. This Liberal Redneck has an engaging style and outlook on life.      …
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Posted inReality Religions

2016 Portland Atheist Festival: Laurel Hines rocks the stage

Yesterday my wife, Laurel, and I made a non-religious pilgrimage northward up I-5, where we (and three other faithless Salem friends) took part in the first-ever Portland Atheist Festival. Laurel volunteered to walk around with an "Atheists rock!!" sign and handouts. Which, not surprisingly, she handed out to people who wandered over to check out the booths in downtown Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square.   This video shows Laurel taking part in a "coming out" feature of the festival, as described in an Oregonian story, "Upcoming Atheist Festival hopes to coax non-believers out of the closet."  This Thursday, one person after…
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