Question* the New Atheists

To be honest, I’m quite disappointed.  I left Christianity last Spring, and then proceeded to read, read, read on everything from Pantheism to Secular Humanism to Agnosticism to Atheism to Skepticism. 

One thing is for sure: in my angrier moments, I’d like to take a few of the “New Atheist” preachers into a boxing ring and have a good mutual thrashing.  You know, I left Christianity due to its racism, sexism, narrow-mindedness, intolerance, etc.  Then I find that Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Chris Hitchens, AC Grayling, etc are the same doggie doo-doo, different pile.  This goes for all the bored white males wasting time on all the atheist websites, Facebook groups, forums, etc.  I’m glad that I don’t have a chance to meet any of them face-to-face, because I’d probably end up getting carried away, then carted away in a police paddy-wagon.  When you’ve read and heard what they have to say, one can often conclude that the New Atheists are WORSE than the arrogant Evangelicals.  Sometimes I’m thinking now that they may even be secretly taking lessons on How to Be A Shudbag from Evangelical leaders. 

Where does that leave me?  In Nowheresville, that’s where.  Anyways, whatever.  I’d rather be alone and have peace of mind, than associate with a bunch of hotheads who figure they’ve cracked the code for the mysteries of the universe. 

What’s more, is that these wadcakes are often obnoxious Right Wingers like the Evangelicals they imitate.  Where the hell is the nonreligious Left or others who emphasise social justice?  Sleeping?  Extinct?  *&#%( . . .

Anyways, that’s my venting for the day.  On better days, when I’m out of my funk, I think I could have a debate with “clowns to the left of me,  jokers to the right”**, the “clowns” being Evangelicals and “jokers” being New Atheists . . .

Cheers,

Brandr

in the sky

with diamonds

* Originally I wrote “Fuck the New Atheists”, but after a bit of thought, I figured no one in their right mind would like to waste either their sexuality or their fist-fighting energy on these jokers.

**Stealers Wheels, “Stuck In The Middle With You” lyrics

Pope Says Atheists Can Go to Heaven

So happy that the Pope says that I and all of you non-Christian reprobates can now make it to Heaven!  I just hope that there will be a section roped off for Atheists and Agnostics, because I certainly don´t want to be listening all the time to the Fundamentalists (of whatever religion)!   Check it out: ¨Pope Francis has struck a surprisingly conciliatory tone towards atheists and agnostics, saying that God will “forgive” them as long as they behave morally and live according to their consciences.¨ (http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/09/11/pope-francis-to-atheists-god-forgives-those-who-obey-their-conscience/).  With Richard Dawkins recently becoming more conciliatory towards Christians (http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/09/13/richard-dawkins-confession-prominent-atheist-says-bible-study-important-admits-he-is-a-cultural-anglican/), I´m guessing that he may have cut a secret deal with the Vatican!  ; )

Cheers,

Brandr

 

I Woke Up Praying Today

I woke up praying today. I used to be a hardcore Evangelical Christian for 30+ years, until recently. I caught myself and thought, “Who the hell am I praying to? I’m not supposed to believe in God!” Then I replied to myself, “Just do whatever you want. You are a rebel by nature. So you can even revolt against your own new found atheism sometimes.” Anyways, after reading books on Atheism, Agnosticism, Freethought, Humanism, etc, I found they have many good points, but honestly, it doesn’t cover all the necessary issues of life and spiritual needs. OTOH, I’m so wary of New Age & the Human Potential movements with Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, Dalai Lama et al. I want my life to follow REALITY, not everyone’s “visions”, “revelations”, and other various sundrious ridiculousnesses. Looks like this spiritual journey is going to take a lot of time and effort ; ) . . .

Cheers,

Brandr

The Spiritual Journey Is Dangerous

Wow!

At this point in life, the spiritual journey looks like a mine field.  I have recently left Evangelical Christianity along with Biblical Literalism for many reasons: the history of Christian hatred in a religion that supposedly preaches love, gross errors and contradictions in the Bible which I had either glossed over or ignored, leading my life down many unnecessary dead ends, causing friction with unbelievers, and sheer boredom of thinking a bunch of narrow-minded authorities had THE answer to my questions.  Now that that´s over, I´ve embarked on a new journey, exploring various writings on Atheism, Agnosticism, Freethinking, Skepticism and Naturalist Pantheism.

I don´t know if this is an irrational fear, but I´m very nervous about jumping ¨from the frying pan into the fire¨, i.e., getting involved in an equally or more ridiculous religious philosophy.  With all their attractions, the down side of Atheism is that it only solves half the problem: that the Christian god doesn´t exist.  Yeah, so what?  And what next?  Where do I go in figuring out moral questions?  What is now the ultimate base for the existence of humanity and the rest of the cosmos?  Where do I direct my spiritual seeking energies without going down the rabbit hole of superstition again?  And frankly, the New Atheists often look as scary to me as the Old Fundamentalists of Christendom.  They make a blanket statement that ALL religion is THE problem of humanity, when there are so many problems, for example, Money Worship, disdain for the natural environment, Western imperialism, etc.  Secularists are just as ¨good¨ at abusing nature and fellow humans as the religiosos are.

Agnosticism looks appealing in that it humbly admits, as Socrates did, that ¨I know that I don´t know¨.  On the other hand, in its wishy-washiness, Agnosticism does not have that critical edge of being able to assess religions, superstitions and truth claims.  While I believe that we´ll never really know full truth, at least we can know enough to make important decisions about life. Agnosticism almost becomes an excuse for laziness. Or, worse, Agnostics stand back while watching the religious make really stupid mistakes, fearful of speaking out, and actually having no basis to do so.

Natural Pantheism, which Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion called a ¨Sexed-Up Atheism¨, is a reverence for Nature, seeing it as divine-like. Classical Pantheists actually believe that the universe IS God, but Natural Pantheists give no personality or force-like characteristics to nature. Instead, Nature is the basis of existence, and should be honoured as such. There is no belief in spirits, or another parallel world, as in Gnosticism. This is it, what you and I see, feel, smell, taste and hear.

I´ve been attracted to Natural Pantheism recently and admired some of the articles online. However, there is a fine line here: it appears very easy for a NP to slide down the slippery slope of the metaphysics of other religions the ¨New Age¨ or the Human Potential Movement. Frankly, I´m not interested in crystals, seances, channeling, out-of-body experiences, guardian angels, manifesting, controlling the Force or Qi or Manna, or any other ridiculousness. In fact, I will join the Skeptics in publically critiquing this crap which passes for spirituality. Nor am I curious about reincarnation, resurrection, Heaven or Hell, hearing voices, healing and miracles, etc.

In addition, the REAL religions that dominate our society go under other names: Capitalism, i.e., Money-Worship, Techno-Worship, Progress, etc. Basically it´s the ¨American Dream¨ which has sucked in the entire planet. Yes, this is really a religion. Money, technology and progress seem to promise us limitlessness. We can have what we want, when we want. New technologies, as Marshall McLuhan once said, overcome our physical restrictions, that is, they extend our faculties. Cars are extensions of our feet. Phones extend our voices. Google endows us with omniscient-like qualities, the ability to ¨know all¨. These forms of belief and action are in fact even more dangerous that formal religions or New Age. Altogether, both the money-worshipping secularists and their religious counterparts are destroying nature as they continue to expand the Western Empire not only geographically, but to every sphere of human existence.

Any spirituality that´s worth its salt will oppose Empire and provide alternatives. This is the part I have rarely seen. Most religions, philosophies and spiritualities, including New Atheism, seem to also support money-making and techno-worship. However, to me, true spirituality would do no harm to the environment that sustains us. Nor harm to other humans. Truth opposes the deceit of capitalism and its twin offspring of science and technology.

While I´m all for the scientific method, and for scientific explanations of the universe, most of what science has been used for is to rape Mother Nature and increase the stock prices of the capitalists. This is something the New Atheists need to answer, instead of limiting their critiques to easy targets. And the rest of us need to find a spirituality that honours the universe without falling into superstition and cult-like tendencies. And at the same time defend nature and humans from the continued onslaught of the capitalists who screw the planet with impunity.

Back to my main idea: spirituality is dangerous. On the one hand, you could slip down one side of the slope into superstition and creepy rituals. With all your friends pushing the writings of Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, the Dalai Lama, etc, and the innumerable flakey New Agers who are ready to take your reverencing of Mother Nature and pull you down into strange superstitious practices. I was thinking of starting a Naturalist Pantheist group in my neighbourhood, but the fear of the flakes coming out of the woodwork and hijacking any effort I make discourages me at times. On the other hand, the other slippery slope is to forget spirituality, to abandon Mother Nature and just live for the same empty values as the rest of society, bowing at the altar of money and technology. Or to simply join the Freethinkers and Skeptics who spend their time sitting on their asses and scolding the religiosos, which equally appears to be a waste of time and energy.

What to do? I´m the kind of person who, like Will and Jaden Smith´s characters in the recent movie After Earth, face and eradicate my fears. And boldly moves ahead. To face off against the Money, Technology and Progress (MTP) Worshippers, the religiosos and the New Age flakes, and the divisive, troublemaking extremists in the Green and Social Justice Movements. And to seek a spirituality that respects Mother Nature, upholds a set of ethics that far surpasses the Evangelical Christians, and works toward the Common Good.

Time to dream on . . . and get moving.

Cheers,

The Seeker

Make Nature, Not Science, Your ¨Religion¨

Outside Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China, while on our honeymoon

I just noticed a pic on Facebook:

My question about this is: Shouldn´t all of us also be skeptical about science? After all, most scientists are paid for by huge American and other Western corporations. Therefore, their research is biased toward what will make money for the corporation and their stockholders. ¨Independent¨ science is a myth.

Better to make Nature our ¨religion¨. At least Nature is observable and can tell us about the nature of reality. While we may not have all the money scientists have at their disposal to do high-level research, at least we can understand reality more to some extent through our observation and experience.

While I´m all for the Scientist Method, we have to be rich to use it effectively. And if we simply believe the published research of scientists, we are putting our faith in people who claim to be ¨experts¨, and who may be intentionally or unintentionally deceiving people. For example, I have seen environmental destruction all over the US, Canada and China. My own observation ¨warms¨ up my mind to accept the scientific findings regarding Climate Change and predictions of increasing ecologically crises.

As some people here in Vancouver, BC, Unceded Salish Territories, used to say on their bumper stickers, while ironically polluting Mother Earth with their fricking vehicles: ¨Nature is my Church¨. She´s mine too, but at the same time, I´m not going to adopt a bunch of superstitious beliefs and rituals from New Age gurus and anyone else, usually trying to make a buck off spirituality! I remain agnostic on God/the gods and the claims of all religions. And yet, I´m always seeking, seeking, seeking ; )

Cheers,

Brandr

Drop me a line at
thorsblade888 AT gmail.com

Wild Wall outside Beijing

Topics I’d Like to Blog About

 

Here’s a list of topics I’d like to write or lecture on now and in the future:

Babies & Child Rearing 

– the joys and tears of raising a baby and a teen

Books

– book reviews, ideas, etc.

Christianity

– its strengths and weaknesses

– its history, esp the 2 streams: social justice & Empire/oppression

– its mythology that Evangelicals and other Bible literalists deny

Climate Change / Environmental Risks

– how the planet is getting fracked up, and how Mother Nature will take her revenge

Culture

– especially Chinese, Western, First Nations, etc.

Empire

– the globalised Empire, handed down from the British, Americans, etc.

Fatherhood

First Nations

Marriage

Movies

– reviews, ideas, etc.

Music

– rock, heavy metal, folk, rap, world music, etc.

Politics

– especially how that Fascism is spreading throughout the world in our post-Cold War times

Spirituality

– Agnosticism, Pantheism, Atheism, indigenous spirituality around the world

Violence Vs. Non-Violent Resistance

– the Gandhi/MLK Jr Approach Vs. the Malcolm X/Che Guevara Approach

 

I’ll add to the list as I go along . . .

Cheers,

Brandr

Email me at

thorsblade888 AT gmail.com

Pondering Life

Here I am at the local library.  My baby is sleeping in his stroller.  A Cantonese lady beside me is chattering on her cell phone as she watches Chinese historical drama on the computer.  My old friend comes chatting with me before he heads off to his father’s funeral.  I’m dying of thirst.  Ah, that chocolate-vanilla mix of almond juice in my thermos is so refreshing.

I’ve been missing blogging.  I was trying to think about writing well-prepared posts before I published them, instead of incoherent rants and chaotic meanderings that leave the reader in the land of Confucius.  However, life’s been busy, and I might as well GOYA (get off your ass) and express myself.

Life is sometimes cool.

Sometimes like Heaven.

Sometimes like Guantamano Bay.

If you open yourself up,

life can take you places you’d never imagined.

I have a good family life now, after experiencing the trauma of divorce in the late 2000s.  New family, new life.  It took me six years to reach this point, but by the grace of Beyond, I did it.  Thank You, Beyond.

Oh yeah, if you’re wondering what “Beyond” is, I’ll let you in on my little secret:

“Beyond” is like the “Higher Power” of Alcoholics Anonymous.  It is a belief that there is something greater than humanity.

I decided in the last couple months to unshackle my belief system.  After toying with horoscopes, the concept of reincarnation and the paranormal as a kid, I converted to Evangelical Christianity as a 13 year old, Grade 8 high school student.  I faithfully attended church for 30+ years, giving 10% tithes of my salary, and following what the pastors told me.  I eventually ended up as a missionary in “Communist” China for a few years.  The messy family break-up and the abduction of my child are what forced me me to return to Canada.

In many ways, that whole experience helped shake me out of my Evangelical worldview, slowly but surely, painful moment by painful moment.  Of course, I had many joys and exhilarating experiences amidst the hard times too.  But I have become disillusioned by Western society on the whole, and by my Evangelical sub-group in particular.  Having experienced so many cultures and worldviews, I became suspicious of the Western monopoly on “reality-as-we-know-it”.

I’m always hanging around Chinese people, here in the Greater Vancouver area of the Canadian province of BC.  It’s funny, but modern Chinese culture is like a mirror image of Western culture.  At their worst, both “cultures” (although I realise that they are both amalgamations of thousands of cultures) are arrogant and chauvinistic, xenophobic and bullying, historically revisionist and culturally/economically/politically dominant.  At their best, they offer creativity, innovation, openmindedness, inquiry, curiosity, etc.  One of the most obvious features is that they are all so sure of themselves.

Self-assurance is the mark of a dominant culture that has quashed smaller cultures and worldviews.  The “Han” Chinese have it in spades.  But I cannot blame them, because they’re just throwing the arrogance we Westerners have back in our faces.

Back to faith.  Basically, reality is reality.  Research will eventually tell us the truth, as long as we have the time, resources and appropriate “leads”.  Unfortunately for me, I believed in Christianity without doing much research.  I met a heart-felt need as I was struggling with my parents’ separation and our woe-beladen broken family.

In a way, I don’t regret it.  I learned a lot.  It actually gave me some tools with which to critically analyse Western culture.  Evangelicals call it “the world”.  It was a good thing to be taught to be suspicious of “the world”.  Little did I know, but these same Evangelicals and their faith ancestors were the very ones who built “the world” as we know it today.  They built the Matrix.  At their core, they don’t worship the “Beyond”.  They worship the material, money and what it can buy.  They, along with the rest of us Westerners, are stuck in the dominant economic view of life and the world.  The Golden Calf is the true idol that occupies the minds of Christians and non-Christians alike in the West.  And don’t laugh, non-Westerners: you too have bought into this mythology.  Money is your god also.

Mammon-worship has become global in recent years.  The irony is that so many cultures are asserting their national and religious identity, but they are Westernising at an alarming pace.  Because Westernisation = globalisation.  The West colonised the planet, and although it seems that Westerners are decreasingly in the “driver’s seat”, the world culture that is evolving is Western culture.

Why do so many people worldwide want to become Christians?  The answer: economics.  If the West is the best, they damn well want a piece of the action, a taste of the same success.

No matter that it destroys the environment that sustains humanity and all the other creatures.  No matter that it actually destroys our very souls.  Money-worship knows no bounds, except when Mother Earth starts fighting back, as she has been in recent years.

Where is God in all of this?  I don’t know.  If He is all-powerful, plus 100% good, where is He?  I just watched The Dark Knight Rises yesterday on DVD.  Batman himself couldn’t bare to see his city destroyed.  He knew he had the power to do something, and he did it.  Is God any worse than Batman?  Again, I don’t know.

I don’t know if there is a God.  Or gods.  Or a “Force” like in Star Wars.  If there is a God, then I’d say He’s pretty remote from His creation.  Maybe the Deists are right: like a clockmaker, God wound up the planet and let it go.

Even if there is no God, there still is life that pulsates in every living creature.  The earth is alive.  There is something “Beyond” human beings.  We are not “it”.  We pretend to rule the planet, but we’re doing a pretty lousy job of it.  To worship ourselves is to worship assholes.  I’m sorry, there’s no way around this statement.  We create gods in our own image, but in the end, our economics, politics and social structure all reflect a deep self-worship.

I don’t have all the answers.  As I learn more, and live more, and experience more, I have more and more questions.  No matter.  That’s what life is all about:

THE JOURNEY . . . .

In the beginning was Communication

It spoke.  Eventually, we listened.

We rallied, we ranted, we raged and repented.

We bounced, we baited, we travelled.

We walked the path

The path of eternity

That brings us back,

Inevitably,

To where we started,

Though with new eyes,

And hopefully, new hearts  . . .

Love y’all,

Brandr

Feel free to drop me a note at:

thorsblade888 AT gmail.com