The Beauty In Being
A Freethinker
Janet Voska
From: "Janet Voska"
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Positive_Atheism_Letters_Section
Date: Wednesday, July 05, 2000 10:19 AM
I gave up my efforts to believe in Christianity when I realized this "God" had no power, that "He" was just a jealous, cranky, vindictive, psychopathic despot who demanded obedience without any pay-off to his subjects other than a bone-weary existence fraught with pain, guilt misery and peril. Thousands of years of praying, rejoicing and worshipping "Him" has done nothing to enlighten the human condition and has quenched the human spirit for knowledge and freedom and has placed the world's burden's on the weak, vulnerable shoulders of "His" creatures. (Old Testament)
"His" only begotten "Son", a poor illiterate peasant -- most likely born illegitimate into the dreariest of suppressed, outcast Jewry -- was a "saviour" to the oppressed because he taught them how to be oblivious to intractable misery through passivity. It worked, of course, and what "Good News" it was to the poor, the ill, the socially condemned. They could find joy in their tormented lives and life without options suddenly became life with freedom in the passive power of acceptance in their status of "god's" children. They were now connected to the realm of "love" and "power" beyond the yoke of the "Law" and the Romans. (New Testament)
Now about the "Holy Ghost" -- the spirit who would breathe life into the "unsaved" and bring all souls into the truth -- what a screw-up! Just look at Christianity's history and hang your head in shame (if you are a "Believer"). A history of intrigue, murder, mayhem and constant adjustments to make the unpalatable palatable for the subjects of an all-powerful "Kingdom of the Cloth" (my moniker for the realm of "God's" spokesmen here on Earth).
Surely humanity can do better than this "God". And so it has when free-thinking men and women have followed their consciences and fought and died for their innate curiosity and used their intellect (and emotions) to improve their lives and the lives of their fellow man (not to mention their fierce independence in discovering the answers to so many "mysteries" of science, medicine and technology and even coming up with new questions). Without sounding too dramatic, have not the greatest strides in human development come from men and women who have refused to buckle under to the church and challenged the status quo? Yes, the church finally capitulated to enlightenment in some areas when denial would fly in the face of undeniable facts and public opinion, but it was brought forward with heels dragging in the dirt.
One may claim the many "martyrs" of Christianity who died for their beliefs, but alas, many of them to the furtherance of the "Word" -- which seems a shame, to die for such an ill-found premise.
I can't help but mention America. The Church came to this country, hung on the shirttails of freethinkers and blatantly capitalistic immigrants, and not a few English prisoners sent here to be out of the Crown's hair, so to speak, and to this day continues to believe this nation was built on Christianity.
I have been general in my statements because to those who have been curious enough to question, challenge, investigate and conclude on their own through study, observation and discernment, have most likely come to these same conclusions.
I no longer argue with "believers". They have too much to lose through honest inquiry: their world view (simplistic), their loyalties (often misguided) their values (questionable) their morals (some very confusing) their very souls, (open to doubt) in fact.
The beauty in being a freethinker is the freedom to think along any path your questioning little mind may conjure up without fear.
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