Ralph,
Now, I'm pretty much a nobody in the writing world.
None of my books have been published, and- while my website seems to be providing more exposure than my FREAKING AGENT- I
have no illusions about my opinions getting "out there". Still, I get a fair amount of hatemail from Christians, and
I respond to each and every one of them, (I've even posted a few of the funnier responses on the site).
Our brief dialog back and forth BY NO MEANS falls under
the category of hatemail, but some of your arguments are very, very contrived, and that's why I'll continue to reply. I
certainly don't wanna bore/bother/offend you, and I don't ever want you to think that you're doing that to me. I LOVE
talking to people; I LOVE seeing other people's points of view- it's one of the main ways I learn about the world.
As such, lemme' go point by point on a couple of things.
You wrote: "Anything can be misused.
It's not the use, but the abuse."
While true, this statement is a broad and frequently cited
justification for religion which I don't agree with. Yes, I suppose "anything" can be misused, but faith based belief
structures are FAR more vulnerable to said abuses than fact based ones. Why? Because of emotion.
You see, proponents of the supernatural get to live in a world
where ANYTHING is possible, and thus, the hardships of the human condition are escapable. Born with a debilitating birth
defect? No problem, Jesus can heal you. And even if he doesn't, you'll have a perfect spiritual body in the afterlife.
Lose a son on the battlefield? No problem, you'll get to see your courageous boy again in Valhalla. Poor?
Starving? Homeless? No problem, Karma will see to it that you get a better shot next reincarnation. Gonna
die? No problem, death is not the end.
Sounds pretty great, huh? Yep. That's why it's
such an easy sale. There are so many religions in the world, and so many ways to interpret each of them, that nobody
ever has to be left out. In this country, the generations coming up are a lot more educated and a lot less superstitious than
the ones before, but that's not a problem either, as a whole host of new dogmas have sprung up to accommodate the more rational
believer.
Where we once had prophets predicting the future by spilling
the intestines of an animal, we now have psychics like John Edwards and Silva Brown, who can do the same things without seeming
hokey or medieval. Where we once used meridians and charkas to magically manipulate chi, (and still do), we now
have homeopathic remedies that can trump medical science if only you eat this particular root, or wear this
particular kind of magnetic bracelet on your wrist. Where we once had deities, we now have extraterrestrials.
None of these things require critical thinking skills to accept,
none of these things require years of hard science study to understand. All you have to do is believe, and the world
becomes a much better place- a place of hope and wonder and miracles.
Who WOULDN'T wanna live in such a world?!? I know I
would, which is why it took me so long to face my own doubts. I was a Christian for all of my childhood and adolescent
years, and I spent most of my adulthood as an agnostic, (I couldn't blindly accept the inherent contradictions and
blatant mythology of religion, but I needed to believe that SOMETHING was out there). You can read more about this personal
journey in the article, "Why I'm an Atheist", but the point is, there came a time when I had to stop needing "truth",
and start relying on "fact".
The loss of my faith was a disparaging ordeal, but I wasn't
able to let it go because I'm tough or brave or jaded. I was able to let it go because I simply didn't have a choice.
As it stands, I can no more "choose" to genuinely believe in God, then you could "choose" to genuinely believe in Santa Clause,
or Thor, or fire-breathing dragons.
(Interesting tidbit on the latter one: I recently saw
a movie called "Reign of Fire" with Mathew Machonnehey, and that film put a biological spin on the existence of fire-breathing
dragons, where they could spit a flammable nitrogen based venom that ignited when exposed to open air. Cool, huh?
Total horseshit if you know anything about exothermic chemical reactions, but I thought it was admirable that the producers
went the scientific route.)
Anyway, I'm getting WAY off track here, so lemme' try and
"Reign" things in, (pardon the pun)...
Again, religion is a great and comforting perspective, and
so, emotion plays heavily into it. If I was to say to you, "Ralph, everything you've devoted your life's study to is
mythology, and its only value is purely anthropological." -How would that make you feel? Would you get angry?
Would you laugh? Would you dismiss me as a stupid kid that doesn't know enough about life to tell you anything?
Or would you merely pity me as a lost soul?
Maybe you'd do all of that, maybe you'd do none of it, but
most people will fight to defend their beliefs, going so far as to kill any who dare question them.
Now, let's turn the tables. If you came up to me and
said, "Mike, the forces of molecular attraction are not valid.", or, "Mike, evolution never happened, and it's not happening
now.", or, "Mike, Carbon 14 dating is hogwash.", would I react the same way? Realistically, yes, because I have tons
empirical data on my side. But, theoretically, I would abandon ANY of those principles in a heartbeat if you could provide
sufficient evidence that I was wrong. No emotion, no fight, no deaths- I would simply go with the facts. That's just
how I think, and more, I don't have anything to lose. There's no emotional attachment to my view of the universe
because my ultimate salvation is not at stake.
This is my life: here, right now, in this house, typing on
this laptop. One day I will die, and that'll be the end of me. I've accepted that, so I don't feel the need to
tenaciously hold on to something like the Big Bang theory. If contradictory evidence pops up, (which it has), I incorporate
the new stuff, smile at the wonders of human intellect, and then go on about my merry way. I'm not losing eternal life,
I'm not suddenly confronted with the meaninglessness of our species, nor are my most cherished fairytales being taken away.
I'm just learning, and I will continue to learn until my brain stops working.
Granted, this is easier for me because I live in a wealthy
country, and because I'm healthy, and because I've got a steady source of income to provide me with food and clothing and
everything else I need to survive. Yes, I have shitty job that I hate going to, and yes, I haven't yet made it as a
writer, but that's life.
Some kid growing up in Somalia without the comforts you and
I take for granted, would have a much harder time embracing this mindset because his/her existence is one of constant misery
and strife. Guess what, that's life too. But religion provides an alternative to that reality, it gives people
hope that the pain won't last forever, and THAT'S why it's so powerful. THAT'S why people cling to it so blindly.
THAT'S why it's so easily abused.
See the difference? Moving on...
"I have no use for religious fanatics of any variety, and
certainly deplore the cruelties of things like the Crusades and the Inquisition, just as I deplore the meanness and stupidity
of those people at Abu Gharib."
Ya know what, Ralph? Everybody says that, but that doesn't
stop them from embracing their own crusades. Right now, in this country, we've got elected officials trying to force
their beliefs on everybody else by doing things like putting the ten commandments up outside a government building, or outlawing
gay marriages, or putting the kybosh on stem cell research, or trying to outlaw abortion.
Some might say that these are moral issues, but where do said
morals come from? The answer is largely religious fanaticism. Lemme' tell ya something, the "sanctity of human
life" argument doesn't sway me one little bit. We're not that great, Ralph. We've overpopulated the global ecosystem
at the expense of other species, we've poisoned ourselves and this (God given?) planet, we're constantly destroying one another
for coveted resources, and we make no bones about genocide in the name of what's "right". Yet, we have the audacity
to cloak these things in the banner of morality, when, in fact, we do them for the basest reason of all: self-preservation.
And I'll tell you another thing, THIS is the nature of the
world your God created. Whether you're looking at us, or the animal kingdom as a whole, we do what we do for
ourselves. We may justify it with deities, or politics, or liberation- but the real motivation never changes.
Now, whenever I spout off the above little rant, I'm often
countered with the accusation that I'm immoral- that, without a set of rules from a higher power, I would kill and rape and
steal without regard for those I hurt. That's as insulting as it is arrogant.
I don't kill people because I have no need to kill people,
no desire to kill people. Perhaps if I was that Somalian kid I mentioned earlier, I would. But, at this point
in time, I have it good. By the same token, I don't rape or steal because I don't need to, and because I don't want
that done to me. There are certain evolutionary principles that dictate order among co-existing individuals and co-existing
species, and- while we humans have seen fit to break most of those principles- we're still bound by them, and we enforce societal
parameters to insure as much.
That's a broad outlook, so let's narrow it down and use ME
as an example. I'm a total asshole on my website. Why? Because I can be, and because the way I tell my stories
is amusing to my targeted audience, and because I enjoy doing it.
In real life though, I try never to be cruel or vicious to
anyone. I try to treat other people how I like to be treated, and I consciously labor NOT to be predatory. I've
never hit a women nor a child, I've never committed rape nor murder, I've never abused an animal, (the cat story is a total
exaggeration), I don't do drugs, I don't drink and drive, [anymore],
I don't cheat on my taxes, and I don't force my beliefs on anyone who didn't ask first.
Why do I live like that? Knowing I have the intelligence
to get away with, say, stealing from my company if I wanted? Because I choose to, and because that's
the best way for me- in my situation- to forge a satisfying existence. I enjoy teaching people, I enjoy making them
smile, making them laugh, making them happy- but not because I fear I'll go to Hell if I don't.
I don't believe in good or evil because they're concepts based
on individual perspective, (a point I elaborated on in my "Why I'm an Atheist" post), but I DO believe in harmony and chaos,
and I choose harmony- for the most part- because chaos hurts not only me, but also those I need to continue being
me.
The best reason to be "moral", isn't because a supernatural
father figure deems it so. No, the best reason to be "moral" is that it's the only way we can continue to help ourselves
and each other.
It's as simple as that. If you need religion to make
it true, well, so be it. But religion carries with it a host of varying dogmas that nobody can agree on, and that hurts
the cause of harmony. Sure, a lot of "good" has been done in the name of Christ, or Allah, or Aphrodite- but the pitfalls
far outweigh the benefits.
What you call "religious fanaticism", I call the status quo
taken just beyond the widely acceptable. We didn't think twice about slaughtering the American Indians who owned this
country before we did. Why? Because they were "dirt worshipping heathens", and, more depressingly, they were simply
in our way.
Moving on...
"Humans are capable of great depths of depravity as well as
great heights of enlightenment."
Very true, but it seems to me that religion falls under the
first category, while science falls under the latter. The last hundred years have seen a greater expansion of human
"enlightenment" than all our previous millennia on this planet. We've gone to the moon, we've cured countless diseases,
we've helped unite all peoples through technology, and we've even mapped the human genome, (thus furthering our understanding
of God's design- from your perspective).
We didn't accomplish these things through religion, (which
is stagnant). We accomplished them through science, (which is ever-changing, ever-expanding, and self-correcting).
Does science have all the answers? HELL NO!!! But then, science is comfortable saying, "I don't know." Science
doesn't make up supernatural explanations for things that are beyond it. Science simply accepts its limitations, and
then works to overcome them.
I don't know whether or not you have children, but, let's
say you have a daughter... If she gets hurt in a car accident, where're ya gonna take her? To church, where Jesus
can work a miracle? Or to the hospital, where medical technology can stop her from bleeding to death? I'm guessing
you're gonna take her to the hospital, because- despite whatever stock you've invested in a deity- you KNOW science works,
while you can only have faith that religion will pull her through.
Granted, you might go immediately to the hospital chapel and
start praying, but prayer isn't what's gonna save your little girl. Applied surgical knowledge is.
An easy counterpoint to this is, (and I'm paraphrasing here),
"God helps those who help themselves." Well, if that's the case, what do we need him for?
Man, FUCK God! If he's out there, we'll find him eventually,
but he's not doing all that much down here on earth. An all powerful deity doesn't need his own worshippers' technology
to take care of things. He could do it himself, and with far less hub bub.
Again, moving on...
"It all depends on the inner nature, no matter what religion-
or lack of any- one professes."
Uh huh... Yeah, well, I'm not exactly sure what you
were trying to say with this carbon copy brand of hippie spiritual nonsense, but, our "inner nature" is self-preservation.
Remember that the next time some random drunk throws a punch at your head, or the next time you walk into a convenience
store where a criminal has the clerk at gunpoint, or the next time you take shrapnel from a fundamentalist setting
off a bomb in an abortion clinic.
I know I'm being hard on you, Pastor, but there's a reason
for it, and I'm getting to that now. You concluded with:
"Christianity at least recognizes a God of love, who bids
us love one another. Can't go wrong with that. We just need to do it."
Dude, what the hell kinda communion wine are you drinking?!?
Christianity is based on the Judeo-Christian bible, which is full of loveless acts carried out in God's name. If
you want me to stoop to quoting scriptures, I will. In fact, I'll ruin your shit with The Word.
I didn't come to think the way I do by being ignorant; I came to think the way I do because I was desperate for salvation,
hungry for salvation, and this is where I ended up through genuine searching.
And another thing, you "can't go wrong with that"?!?
Oh, really?!? Well then, I guess neither current events nor antiquity taught you anything, since proponents
of the supernatural have been "going wrong with that" for the tenure of human history. I can cite examples of that too,
if needs must.
I'm sure you're quite the theologian, but- like so many- you
read what you WANT to read, interpret what you WANT to interpret, and I understand that need.
By his own decree, yours is a vengeful and jealous God,
and the reason my mom probably emailed you in the first place, was because I quoted her a passage from Isaiah in
which God flat out SAID he created all things, including evil. Loving superbeings don't create evil.
Regardless, I've just wasted an entire hour of a Saturday
night I could've otherwise spent hanging out with my buddies, so I'll probably post this composition on my website.
Like I said, I don't consider this dialog a hatemail, but you sure have employed the requisite rhetoric. Don't
worry, I'll also post our previous correspondences to put things in the proper context.
If you don't reply, well, I'll understand. No hard feelings.
But, if you do, don't bore me with the usual drivel. Honestly, Ralph, I've heard it all before. Don't start out
with, "You seem like a very angry young man.", or, "I see your mind is already made up, so there's no need for me to respond."
You're not a dumbass, Ralph. I gather that from the
way you write. But, neither am I, so please extend to me the same courtesy I've extended to you. My rebuttal was
point by point... address it as such, ADDRESS THE ARGUMENTS!!! Don't try to discredit me with a personal attack,
because, not only will you lose, you'll come off as a coward. And don't quote scripture either, for that holds no weight
with me or most of the people who read my site. The present version of the bible contradicts itself constantly,
and I can cite those contradictions- chapter and verse- with the same prowess that an Old West gunslinger would've demonstrated
when drawing his pistol.
The ball's in your court, my friend. You're dealing
with the wolves now, (not the sheep), so don't lob up a meatball. Trust me, I'll knock it outta the park....
-Mike
P.S. Just to clarify, any response you send (along with
your previous ones) will appear exactly as you wrote it.
***
That's how I left it. I actually forgot about the email
itself shorty after I wrote it, and thus didn't get around to sending it off to Heller until TWO IN THE FREAKING MORNING.
Looking at it now, I think I could've made some better arguements, but the "covenent dialog" I've agreed upon prevents me
from going back to change things, (that wouldn't be fair to Pastor Heller, now, would it?), so you get to read my responses,
and his, as they were presented.
It's been two days now, and no reponse, but I have a feeling
that I haven't heard the last from Ralph. He might be putting his ducks in a row to wage an impressive counter-offensive,
(which is my sincerest hope), or he might just not read email on the weekends.
Whatever the case, this will be an ongoing thread if he responds.
All posts will appear here.
Check back, bitches!
