The Story of Bob by David M. Payne

A little rambly at times but this piece is incisive and shows many of the problems with consuming the Opiate of the Masses.

Someone's comments:

'Parody and satire can be a most effective way of pricking the balloon of irrational doctrine. Reaching the mind of the believer is a daunting task at the best of times, but exposing absurdity is often achieved by presenting it in the context of a different kind of absurdity�one designed to force re-examination of those beliefs. Religious dogma is usually an insult to the thinking person�s intelligence, whether it be creationism, original sin through eating an apple, or the claim that the appearance of one man at a single time and place is the sole source of universal salvation. Parody and satire are themselves a form of reciprocal insult to jolt the believer into seeing his ideas in a different light and bring home the irrationality of it all. Clever pieces of parody like �The Story of Bob� (and they have to be clever, and well-written) can sometimes do more to effect that jolt than even a good academic book on the subject. The truth is, we need both.

I enjoyed David�s wit and ingenious repetition of motifs, and I applaud his treatment of the �Isms��those modern bedevilments of atheism which the believer likes to throw in our faces. Nicely neutralized and deflated in a couple of paragraphs. And yes, the �call to Bob.� Too bad it weren�t that easy, we could all go home and do something else. It would all be so funny, if it didn�t reveal the truly tragic situation the human race has managed to mire itself in as part of a process of evolution that really has no intelligent mind behind it. Rather, evolution, in its own mindless wisdom, has thrown up its own intelligence to create the needed direction. In David�s Story of Bob, that force is 'the freethinkers.'"


If you're grounded by SARS, you can also try this:

Historical Jesus or Jesus Myth: The Jesus Puzzle

More stolen stuff:

The Age of Reason

"Today, parents, churches and even some schools teach our children irrational views on the history and age of the earth, the development and diversity of life. Sending them to university to obtain any kind of science degree while believing that the world is less than 10,000 years old, or that evolution is an atheist plot, is like sending them to study obstetrics or gynecology still believing that the stork brings babies... People are cast adrift from the one secure basis of knowledge and laid open to superstition and outlandish ideas, to an emotional dependence on otherworldly delusions. Dogma based on ancient petrified writings discourages the development of our own wisdom to determine proper ethical behavior. It fosters prejudice and discrimination against homosexuals; it works to deny women the right to control their own bodies and life choices; it endangers a wide range of human rights. Proscription against the practice of birth control as being a contravention of "God�s law" threatens to dig the grave of the planet through overpopulation. Belief in angels and devils and supernatural forces fosters superstition, mental instability, the undermining of scientific and rational views of the world. Faith systems which regard this life as of lesser importance, an antechamber to some other, unseen and undetectable dimension, outlooks which denigrate the life and world and bodies we live in as evil, fraught with dangers and temptations which jeopardize our eternal fates�such things cannot help but impede the improvement of our existing world and the progress we could be making in social and intellectual advancement. Not to mention the development of a healthy human spirit.

When beliefs and attitudes toward the world are not based on evidence and scientific investigation they can never be universal. Not all people and societies will come up with the same irrational beliefs. This variety of irrationalities sows division, conflict, even war and terrorism. It fosters prejudice and racism (since specific races tend to have specific religious beliefs). Science and rationality, on the other hand, are the great levelers, the great unifiers. Natural laws demonstrable in the laboratory, views based on logic and reason, will be true anywhere in the world, in any society."


INGERSOLL'S VOW

Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899) was a famous attorney and orator whose brilliant lectures drew thousands. As a political figure, he came close to achieving the Republican party's nomination for governor of Illinois, but prejudice and intolerance denied him the opportunity because he was an atheist.

When I became convinced that the universe is natural�that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world�not even in infinite space.

I was free�free to think, to express my thoughts�free to live to my own ideal�free to use all my faculties, all my senses�free to spread imagination's wings�free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope�free to judge and determine for myself�free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the "inspired" books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past�free from popes and priests�free from all the "called" and "set apart"�free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies�free from the fear of eternal pain�free from the winged monsters of the night�free from devils, ghosts, and gods.

For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought�no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings�no chains for my limbs�no lashes for my back�no fires for my flesh�no master's frown or threat�no following another's steps�no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.

And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain�for the freedom of labor and thought�to those who proudly mounted scaffold's stairs�to those whose flesh was scarred and torn�to those by fire consumed�to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still.


Most people, however, are already entrenched in one school of thought or another, though, so all this might not have any effect. It's rather sad to talk to people who won't even give alternate truths a thought, and carry on the way they are blindly - indeed deliberately, because they are addicted to this drug. "I'm happier with faith, so there". Right. I could be happier with marijuana, but does that mean I should consume it? (I don't think soft drugs are all that bad, but for the sake of argument I'll assume that I am)

It's good to try to spread the gospel of truth though, nonetheless.