As I have always maintained, I do not care if believers worship a blue-eyed blonde semi naked Jew on a cross, a bearded dessert
dwelling prophet, a fat cow, a golden snake or a thunder God, as long as they
do not force their beliefs down my throat, teach it to children as FACT in
public schools, preach it to me in public space or seek to make their religion
my state law, I do not care. But when they do any of these, of course they are
going to have their religion put under intellectual scrutiny and if found
wanting, it shall be exposed and If funny, it shall be ridiculed. When people
preach to me about a talking snake, talking donkey and a Noah’s ark, I reserve
every right to ridicule such funny tales and be indignant that anyone should be allowed to
teach such absurdities as facts in public schools.
Anyone is free to believe in a cow, snake, a
blue eyed blonde who turned into a Zombie, a long bearded pedophile prophet or
a golden snake; it is none of my business so far they keep their beliefs to
themselves. However it immediately becomes my business when I am forced to
adhere to and pay for some ridiculous beliefs of others. I pay my tax as a
dutiful citizen, yet those religious establishments are exempted from paying
tax, they are sponsored on some ridiculous pilgrimages with tax payers’ money!
This is not even enough for them, as they are always trying to influence state
policies and Laws based on their ludicrous beliefs, they even attempt to stop
scientific progress especially in the area of Stem cell research all because of
their religious belief in the existence of a soul!
I often get bombarded with protest messages on my facebook wall and
social media inbox about my anti-religion posts, I am using this post to
answer 10 questions that keep popping up, and also clarify why I speak out against religion. Now, I have a handy link for the next aggrieved person! Problem solved!
1-
Anti-Religion
posts are disrespectful, as an LGBT activist, you should preach tolerance!
About respect and tolerance, RESPECT is not
given, but EARNED. ALL beliefs must earn their PLACE OF RESPECT. Being a LGBT advocate / HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
does not just depend on a belief system but a FACT that LGBT rights are HUMAN
RIGHTS and all human beings are born equal in rights and dignity.
I would definitely defend the right of anyone
to practice their religion so far it is not harmful, does not violate my space,
does not seek to impose state policy and have no SPECIAL STATUS in governance
and they PAY THEIR TAXES like every other corporation!
The holy books are public books that are
shoved in my face everywhere I turned, I have a right to review these books and
give my two cents, irrespective of whose OX is gored.
Anyone
who is so qualified is free to dispute the scientific fact about sexual
orientation, evolution or the principled beliefs, laws and various treaties on
human rights.
RESPECT is earned not demanded, if I
genuinely believed that a particular belief is ludicrous, of course I am not
going to respect it because to respect something, you have to VALUE IT. I do
not value irrationality. I don't believe a woman should be treated as a
property, a child should have a knife put on his neck by his own father who
heard a voice from heavens that he should sacrifice his son as a test of his
faith or that all human beings are born with an ORIGINAL SIN allegedly
committed by a white couple known as Adam and Eve, therefore all humans are
condemned to burn in hell forever unless they become born again by believing in
a man named Jesus who came to die for a sin we never even committed and woke up
again after 3 days to roam the earth like a Zombie! Well, these are simply ridiculous, I do not
RESPECT these and I do not have to keep shut about it ESPECIALLY when the
believers of these myths keep telling me to give my life to their ZOMBIE CHRIST
or die in hell.
2- Atheists are antagonistic; they are as bad as religious fanatics!
Atheists didn't start the antagonism; atheists have never stoned anyone to death for believing in a god!
The
believers are the ones who have been fighting wars and blowing people and
buildings up in the name of their God. They
are the ones who come knocking on my door to preach to me, they call me a fool
for not believing a white bearded tyrant they call God created the world in
seven days and in white he created my ancestors, and this tyrant loving father magnanimously sent his handsome blue eyed blonde of a sexy son to come to earth
and save me from a sin allegedly committed by a white couple who they say I
descended from! And yeah, he turned his
own son into a ZOMBIE all because he loved me even before I was born although
he already sadistically created an eternally burning hell for those of us who
refused to be fooled, what a sadist and btw, I don't like dictators, whether
spiritual or physical. On a side note, I do think Jesus makes ZOMBIES
look sexy, especially in that loin cloth on the cross, which really could
qualify as porno!!!
Abeg, COMRADE JESUS, save me from your
followers, they rant in public places including inside a bank, and that was
right here in London and of course it was a fanatic black man ranting about the
good gospel, by the look of him, it seems the good gospel didn't do him much
good! And just few days ago, another wouldn’t let me catch a wink of sleep in
an interstate bus with his praise worship and preaching all through the entire
journey, hahaha, talk about tolerance!
Atheists do not go to people to convert them,
it is usually the other way round, most importantly, ATHEISM is not a religion,
you cannot convert people to atheism, people can voluntarily use their brain to
come to a rational conclusion about their beliefs, embrace rationality or cling
to faith, sorry BUT blind faith is not good enough for some of us, however you
are welcome to your faith, belief or philosophy.
AS LONG AS these "HOLY BOOKS" remain
in the NON FICTION SECTION and are sold, peddled and preached to us as
NON FICTION and the TRUTH, every interested person has a right to openly
analyze and criticize these so called holy books. I really do not care if
religious believers are offended by my rational criticism because it is not my
problem that they cannot tolerate criticism of their religious
beliefs. Their religious sensitivity is not a valid reason to CENSOR the
expression of rational thoughts.
Christians often refer to other deities,
especially African carved deities as DEAF and DUMB, they call the idols
handmade gods that cannot hear, speak, see or act, as if their Rosary and
crucifix are not handmade! I wonder how many of the Christians complaining
about my anti religion posts ever stood up during one of such VERY COMMON
sermons condemning traditional Gods, to advise their PASTOR to be tolerant of
other deities, or do they all just look the other way and pat themselves on the
back for choosing the MOST POWERFUL OF ALL GODS? How bigoted!
People have a right to belief and people also
have a right not to believe, since your precious bible and many of its
believers call us non believers A FOOL, we have the right to point out how
stupid the various myths in your precious holy books appear to rational mind.
And as difficult as this is for ‘faithers’ to belief, for some of us, A BRAIN, NOT FAITH IS ALL WE
NEED!
3- “The Christians have not written long paragraphs on fb trying to convince us to buy their beliefs. Yet the so called non-believers go on and on trying to sell us their ideology”.
REALLY? There are many religious posts and
groups on Facebook and many other social networks. I have friends who talk
about their God, love for Allah, their precious prophet Mohammed or how Jesus
just saved them from an accident (never mind that the others that died were
not considered worthy to be saved by their darling God, what egoism!). Such
posts appear on my Newsfeeds everyday but I do not feel a need to go to their
page to ask them why they sprout such nonsense. Their beliefs or who they give
thanks to is simply none of my business. If you don't like what I post, do not
read it, Facebook is like a restaurant, if you don’t like what I am serving, go
eat somewhere else!
When
people hold beliefs that are irrational and stupid and they preach it to the
world as the TRUTH, other rational beings will continue to point out how
ridiculous and stupid these beliefs are especially when believers are quick to
judge non believers!
Why must I respect the sensitivity of others
who believe a gay person should be stoned to death because their holy books say
so, or that women should be submissive and be treated as properties, or glorify
a deity that encourages slavery and sanctioned that his so called chosen people
should commit genocide in his name?
4- “Live and Lets Live!”
“Live and Lets Live”, my sentiments exactly.
However, I have realized that many Religious people don't do the "Live and
Lets Live" thing; in fact, they want to legalize their religious dogmas!
So I have decided to SPEAK OUT for myself and other voiceless people who want
to be heard. I peddle Logic, they peddle Faith, let’s see which one would save
the world from Malaria, Cancer, Climate change, Rapists, Genocides, Animal cruelty,
Discrimination and a whole lots of other evils!
Of
course if people chose to be lied to, that is their prerogative, although from
a legal point, it also becomes the business of the law when the LIAR uses their
lies to exploit or harm vulnerable people.
EXPOSING
the lies people choose to believe becomes my prerogative when these lies
encroach on my rights, personal life and state laws. Religion is
like a penis, it is OK to have one, it is even OK to be proud of it, BUT it is
not OK to bring it out and flaunt it in public AND it is definitely not OK to
try to force it down my throat or down my child’s throat!
And
the mere fact that religious believers feel the need to come on my page to
demand I RESPECT their religious beliefs even though I think these beliefs are
ridiculous, also confirms that they are under the false impression that
RELIGION is above critical analysis and objective criticism, thereby trying to
CENSOR my speech because of their belief that RELIGION MUST BE RESPECTED. This
is a false premise that no logical, civilized society should accept.
Religion
can hardly be considered a sleeping dog; it is more of a barking bull than a sleeping dog, always
eager to bite. I care about the ill effects of religion on my life and how
people try to justify discrimination based on religious beliefs, so I won’t let
this barking dog have a field day, I refuse to be a passive
victim. ALSO, I only respect ideas that
are worth respecting therefore religion as an instrument of oppression does not
pass the respect quotient.
5- Atheists are arrogant and think they are intellectually superior!
Atheists
do not claim intellectual superiority, however if a person comes to me and say
the earth is flat and less than 6,000 years old, that snakes and donkeys used
to talk, a man walked on water and Noah floated an Ark with all species aboard…
of course I am going to laugh out loud and point out the IRRATIONALITIES
inherent in these claims. If by so doing, the person feels stupid or thinks I
am claiming intellectual superiority, well maybe the person should feel stupid
and acknowledge that these ideas are ridiculous and irrational! You can’t blame
me for being intelligent enough to point out ignorant claims. I cannot be held
responsible for another person's feeling of ignorance or inadequacies and I
cannot, because I do not want anyone to feel intellectually inadequate, refuse
to criticize ignorant claims that have been proved to be baseless.
However,
I am intelligent enough to understand that REASON is lost on many believers,
especially since if one could REASON with Religious believers, THERE WOULDN'T
be any religious believers!
6- You have a point but you are too harsh on believers!
This
could also read as "Yemisi is
honest and direct but she is not diplomatic and does not show enough warmth nor
hug the haters enough, in fact she needs to show more love to the haters."
Hmm…
Ok, let me put this straight, I think this is the same reasoning that leads the
society to blame the victims of criminals.
- Maybe if that woman had covered up and not wear that short dress, the rapist wouldn't have been tempted to rape her.
- Maybe if that housewife had not raised her voice against her husband, the husband wouldn't have beaten her black and blue.
- Maybe if Atheists keep their godless mouth shut, no one would be offended enough to leave threat messages on their walls.
Maybes,
maybes, maybes… leading to
- Maybe if Homosexuals do not flaunt their lovelife in public, they wouldn't be attacked on the street.
- Maybe if Transsexuals stopped being who they are, they wouldn't be murdered .
- Maybe if atheist don’t proclaim their non belief,, they wouldn’t be called fools and jailed for blasphemy.
And on and on it goes. I CANNOT
SUGAR COAT INJUSTICE, ALWAYS SPEAK OUT AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS NO MATTER WHOSE OX IS GORED.
The
truth is bitter but it must be told, I do not need to hug ignorance or haters
so as to get them to respect my right and space. I presume first and foremost that people who
comment on my posts are ADULTS; therefore I do not need to treat them with kids’
gloves or buy them candies. Also, there
are established social ethics, people should not expect a hug after leaving homophobic, ignorant statements on my wall, of course I would
give them an EDUCATION, if that education hurts their ego, well that is their
problem.
7- For a human right activist, you have so much hate fuelled by your atheism!
My
Human Rights activism is borne out of my belief in humanity, not out of hatred
of human rights violators. I can only do what I do so passionately because I
believe in humanity and understand the meaning of love. I feel ‘Love’ enough to
want a positive change, enough to speak out and enough to tell the haters just
where to go chuck their ignorance and hate. Without love, I wouldn't be a
passionate human rights activist; I would simply be a human rights careerist
going through the motions of defending rights learned at school.
My
fierce attitude comes from my passion for the causes I undertake and I am happy
that in the 15 years I have actively being defending human rights
professionally and personally, I am yet to reach that stage where I would
say" I USED TO BE FIERCE", in all sincerity, I hope I never do get to
that stage because all causes I am fierce about are worth dying for till the
last of the injustice is erased.
8- We are sick of your Blasphemy!
Ever heard of CENSORSHIP? Ever heard of that
right we fought for called 'Freedom of Expression'? Do you understand
that Freedom of Religion also means Freedom from Religion? Asserting my atheism
means talking about my NON BELIEF in GOD(s).
I am
not going to believers’ space to demand that they stop talking about their
precious God, why should they demand that I must not talk about how improbable and ridiculous
their God is or about the atrocities committed in their God's name in my own space?
Religion is one of many ideologies in the
market place of ideas, it is not a copyright belonging to Christians, Muslims or other
religious believers. Once this idea is peddled in a public place, and 'Holy' books
published and distributed to members of the public, it becomes open to review like every other public ideas
and ideologies. If you don't want your God critically analyzed, learn to
keep your God private. Simple!
I will ignore this nonexistent being when his
Adherents stop influencing state policies and Law in His name, when they stop
trying to put me in jail for 14 years because of my sexual orientation in His
name, when they stop teaching their fictional tales to children in schools as
NON Fiction, when they stop trying to convert me to their religion, when they
stop telling me I will burn in hell… maybe then I will consider leaving them
alone to enjoy their imaginary Sky Daddy, until then… they have got mail!
Blaspheme
is a word that should not exist, and the fact that it exists at all is what
sickens me, the fact that people go to jail for criticizing a religion makes me
want to puke, the fact that 25,000 Muslims took to the streets in India and
burned down Buddhists temples because as they claimed, a Buddhist mocked Islam
on his facebook page is sickening!
If believers want something to get sickened about, no, it is not the number of
atheists, freethinkers, secularists and skeptics satirizing religion or
ridiculing so called prophets and imaginary beings on Blasphemy Rights Day, the real sickness is the fact that some people
think they are justified to harass, torture and go on a violent spree because
their feelings was hurt when someone drew a picture of their beloved prophet or
when I proclaim that I do not believe in
their God. The vitriol of hate comes
from the men who shot a girl for wanting to go to school and get an education!
No, atheists are not the ones filled with hate!
What
I hate is the fact that whether I believe in God or not, part of my tax payers
money goes to sponsoring annual holy pilgrimages, my country which claims to be
a democratic secular state is in fact a member of the Organization of Islamic
Countries (OIC) even though the numbers of Christians and closeted pagans probably
outnumbered Muslims in the country. I hate that every opportunity, believers
try to influence state laws and policies quoting from their idiotic religious
beliefs. Now, this is a daily nightmare I face in a religious society.
Well,
it is worth pointing out that I am not the one going on other people's wall to
tell them not to talk about their beliefs,
- I do not get offended when people post on their wall that God just saved them from a disaster.
- I do not foam in the mouth when believers post on their wall that atheists are fools.
- I do not come running like a maniac to another person's wall just because a friend commented on a religious post and the post appeared on my news feed.
9- You must have suffered hurt to turn into an atheist!
What hurt? Yeah, another all assuming person
concluding that something terrible must have happened for one to turn one into
an atheist! Another ignoramus telling an atheist that all it takes to become an
atheist is for religious minded folks to hurt you and bang, you turn into an
atheist! This is such a ridiculous
assumption which I am tired of hearing. It is the same as assuming that a woman
is a lesbian because she had been hurt or raped by men!
Now
stare into your screen and read this-
MY ATHEISM
IS NOT A RESULT OF HURT CAUSED ME BY RELIGIOUS MINDED FOLKS, IT IS BECAUSE I
READ THE BIBLE AND THE BIBLE TURNED ME INTO AN ATHEIST. THE VARIOUS HOLY BOOKS
MADE ME REALISED THAT HUMANS FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL, HAVE BEEN CREATING GODS IN
THEIR OWN VINDICTIC, BIGOTED, EGOISTIC, JEALOUS AND SELFISH IMAGE!
10- Atheists are only interested in ridiculing religion!
As
an Atheist I do not believe in the existence of a God, as a secularist, I am for the separation of State and religion
and as an Anti-Theist, I am actively against THEISM for its lack of evidence
and the way it encourages the growth of
what I refer to as 'The Cancer Called Religion'
Anyway,
why would I want to respect a God or belief that preaches about a Talking
Snake, an Original Sin passed down to generation unborn, a vindictive God who
sanction genocide and order the wiping out of whole communities including
children and animals simply because of a jealousy fit he had when these members
of the communities refused to worship him and carved for themselves other Gods
in golden image? Why would I not laugh at a book that claims the planet earth
is flat and stands on four corners of the universe?
And
why won’t I laugh at these believers who still come knocking on my door to
preach these ridiculous beliefs to me even after we have strong evidence
that the planet is not flat, the first human was not white, Noah’s Ark could
never have sailed and that not all living things lived within few miles of
Noah’s house! It is funny, ridiculous and so pathetic that some people still go
around preaching this shit!
Of
course it is comedy gold and I shall laugh, but I shall also fight back when
these ridiculous beliefs are the basis of my oppression. I shall speak out because their book claims that as a
woman, I am inferior and should not have same rights, I should
be stoned to death for being bisexual and because of their religious beliefs, they want to pass a 14 years
imprisonment law for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transsexuals and LGBT rights advocates in my country.
Yes, it is ridiculous, ignorant and wicked, so i shall speak out while laughing at their folly. That is
the freedom of democracy; every idea is open to scrutiny in the market place of
ideas. I criticize Capitalism and Disney films that promote gender stereotypes,
why should I not criticize Religion? Is it not just another idea peddled in the
market place of ideas therefore open to public scrutiny?
RELIGION
has no criticism pass! And why would any believer wants an immunity pass for
their religion, after all if you truly believe in something, defend it with
LOGIC, not with Fatwas, bombs and Guns!
Faith is not Knowledge that is why it is called FAITH. Some of us prefer KNOWLEDGE because Knowledge is what gets things done; Knowledge is responsible for many development and our civilization not faith.
Faith is not Knowledge that is why it is called FAITH. Some of us prefer KNOWLEDGE because Knowledge is what gets things done; Knowledge is responsible for many development and our civilization not faith.
My position on religion was well stated by one of my
favourite Atheist blogger, Greta Christina in her blog post 'The Armour of God , or The Top One Reason Religion Is Harmful.
“I'm not
saying that religion is the root of all evil. I'm not arguing that a world without
religion would be a blissful Utopia where everyone holds hands and chocolate
flows in the streets. (And then we all die, because the chocolate is drowning
us and we can't swim because we're holding hands.) I don't know of any atheist
who'd argue that. I know that the impulses driving evil are deeply rooted in
human nature, and religion is far from the only thing to inspire it.
I'm saying that religion provides a uniquely stubborn justification for evil. I'm saying that religion is uniquely armored against criticism, questioning, and self-correction... and that this armor protects it against the reality checks that act, to a limited degree and in the long run, to keep evil in check. I'm saying that religion takes the human impulses to evil, and cuts the brake line, and sends them careening down a hill and into the center of town.
Yes -- even
moderate religion. Not to nearly the same degree as extreme religion, of
course. If all religion were moderate, ecumenical, separate from government,
supportive of science, and accepting of non-belief... well, atheists would
still disagree with it, but most of us wouldn't much care.
But moderate
religion still does harm. It still encourages people to believe in invisible
beings, inaudible voices, intangible entities, undetectable forces, and events
and judgments that happen after we die. And therefore, it still disables
reality checks... making people more vulnerable to oppression, fraud, and
abuse.”
Dear
theist, I must also inform you that contrary to your frequent rant on how Atheists hate God, I DO NOT HATE GOD, I CANNOT HATE THAT WHICH DOES NOT EXIST!
I hate to break it to you but you've only succeeded in creating a lousy
character you named God, it still does not mean this character actually exist.
Grow up theists, Superman, Batman, Let Luthor, Darkseid might elicit love and hate, it still
does not mean they actually exist!
This
atheist voice will not keep quite because of your inability to tolerate logic;
you really should consider flushing religion down the drain and save our
planet!
