Thursday, August 27, 2009
Ted Kennedy, 1932-2009
Some expert on post-mortem etiquette once said that if you can’t say anything good about someone who has passed on, you shouldn’t say anything at all.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Azeusism vs Atheism
In Greek mythology, Zeus was the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of sky and thunder. He was the Greek equivalent of today’s generic Judeo-Christian “God.”
When Christianity began to gain in popularity during the first and second centuries, Greek mythology still held sway in The Roman Empire. So, the early converts to Christianity could have been called Azeusists. Azeuzists refused to believe in Zeus. Atheists refuse to believe in a generic God.
Conservative Romans, understandably, looked upon Azeusists with disdain, just as the religious conservatives of today regard atheists with contempt. Secularism and atheism are wrongly blamed for all manner of atrocities, from Hitler and the holocaust to the horrors of Soviet-style communism. No doubt the early Christian Azeusists had to endure similar abuse from the conventional “believers” in the first and second centuries.
The truth, of course, is that both Nazism and communism are brazenly irrational ideologies rooted in the philosophical traditions of emotionalism, subjectivism and collectivism. Their essence is every bit as anti-reason as any God-based religion. To blame atheism for their atrocities is to ignore the actual source of those evil ideologies. Azeusism is not the basis of Christianity (or Judaism) any more than atheism was the basis of Nazism and communism. The absence of a belief in a particular God says nothing fundamental about the actual content of a belief system.
Christians (and Jews) need to realize that, in terms of unconventional radicalism, their early adherents shared something in common with the atheists of today. Christians rejected Greek mythology in the name of Jesus.
Rational atheists reject all mythology in the name of reason.
When Christianity began to gain in popularity during the first and second centuries, Greek mythology still held sway in The Roman Empire. So, the early converts to Christianity could have been called Azeusists. Azeuzists refused to believe in Zeus. Atheists refuse to believe in a generic God.
Conservative Romans, understandably, looked upon Azeusists with disdain, just as the religious conservatives of today regard atheists with contempt. Secularism and atheism are wrongly blamed for all manner of atrocities, from Hitler and the holocaust to the horrors of Soviet-style communism. No doubt the early Christian Azeusists had to endure similar abuse from the conventional “believers” in the first and second centuries.
The truth, of course, is that both Nazism and communism are brazenly irrational ideologies rooted in the philosophical traditions of emotionalism, subjectivism and collectivism. Their essence is every bit as anti-reason as any God-based religion. To blame atheism for their atrocities is to ignore the actual source of those evil ideologies. Azeusism is not the basis of Christianity (or Judaism) any more than atheism was the basis of Nazism and communism. The absence of a belief in a particular God says nothing fundamental about the actual content of a belief system.
Christians (and Jews) need to realize that, in terms of unconventional radicalism, their early adherents shared something in common with the atheists of today. Christians rejected Greek mythology in the name of Jesus.
Rational atheists reject all mythology in the name of reason.
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