Just read It? No thanks... in Sane Wailings

This is a personal peeve of mine and I am sure many atheists will agree with me.

One thing that I find very amusing when when the 'faithful' request that I pick up the bible and just read it. Apparently that is the only thing stopping me from understanding their point of view. Just read it an all will be well. Whatever.

It never really occurs to these that I already have read it, as have most atheists. Not only did I read the bible, but I read the Quaran and various other religious texts while takes courses about them while attending University. I took three religious studies courses just for schedule filler and reading these books never made me a believer. Reading them actually convinced me that I was right to walk away from all this mythological bullshit.

According to Issac Asimov, reading the bible is the quickest way to become an atheist. He's right because the more you actually read, the more evident it becomes that it's not a gospel but a piece of fiction that was not created by an almighty being.

When we actually think about it; what does religion really bring to our society? Hatred towards others who are different race, gender or sexual orientation and violence towards those who don't agree with your fairy tales. These texts were written in a barbaric time in our history so to hold them up as a 21st standard is shameful and completely unnecessary.

The truth is every alleged 'scripture' is merely the attempts of human beings to make sense of their existence. Nothing more, nothing less. Every holy book reflects the limitations of the cultural milieu and the time period in which they were written. Non-believers people understand that while fundamentalists refuse to hear reason and evidence that contradict their stories that have been told was the truth as long as they could remember. Systematically brainwashed to follow a cult that robs them of their will and some money at the same time.

We have never needed the bible to justify love but no better tool has been invented to justify hate. Those who believe these absurd stories have gone on to commit horrid atrocities and crimes against humanity. History teaches us that no other cause has brought more death upon the world than religion.

Despite their lack of understanding, many atheists have read the Bible and found it lacking as a moral or philosophical guide to life. It's central figure is a bloody, psychotic despot who even when he supposedly makes peace with his creation, promises to come back later and destroy it by fire, as he (supposedly) once did by water.

That's not to say the Bible is without it's redeeming parts but they are leavened with other parts that reflect the dark shadow of those who wrote them. Modern societies have grown ethically through the centuries and because of that, many of them are distancing themselves from religion.

We consider genocide a war crime. Women are not worth half a man. Slavery is wrong and it is not a sin to love someone of any gender. These are just a few examples of how society is distancing itself from the hate that is locked within the bible.

So to those who keep telling me to read the alleged 'good book'? Try reading it yourself and I mean go through every page this time. Read every line of that bullshit because we could use some more atheists and according to Asimov and Penn Jillette, nothing gets you there faster than reading the damn bible.

Peter