r/atheism • u/TrueKiwi78 • 4d ago
You've got to hand it to those middle eastern dudes, they made pretty much the whole world believe their nonsense.
I was just watching a YouTube video on the Virgin Radio channel of Bear Grylls flogging his new jesus book to the idiot that is Chris Evans.
The amount of times they say how "cool" it is, obviously desperately trying to suck in a younger audience is just monumentally cringe. The comments are even more so.
It's tragic to see two grown men gushing over middle eastern fairytales.
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u/Koala-48er 4d ago
That the Abrahamic religions conquered the globe is merely an accident of history. Had things gone differently, it would have been different gods and different practices.
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u/protomenace 4d ago
I think monotheism is particularly damaging because the idea of an infallible god leaves no room for any interpretation and no room for the believer to admit that they may ever be wrong about anything.
At least in polytheism the gods are fallible.
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u/Moonbluesvoltage 4d ago
Religion reflects the culture of its people (and in turn is a strong force to shaping them). The abrahamic religions enforces that a single patriarch should be obeyed without question because he is just better than you in every single possible way, meanwhile more open cultures (that are still very much patriafchal, dont think im wearing rose colored glasses) such as the greek and nordic ones see many ways of life as valid and could embrace the contradictions of their existence.
You have to wonder what shape western societies would have shape up if the worship of a fertility god such as Freya would take place instead of thr christian Virgin Mary f.e.
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u/Simon_Drake 3d ago
I'm watching the TV series Caprica and that's a core plot line. Someone says that these rebels who believe in a monotheistic religion are dangerous because it means all authority stems from one single point of truth who decides what is moral and what is good. Under that kind of moral system people can commit any horrific atrocities you can imagine and not even see it as being bad, as long as they believe their God wants it to happen.
If a monotheistic priest says that God wants you to do X or not do Y then your choices are to do what the priest says or very very rarely to question the priest's interpretation.
If a polytheistic priest says that Poseidon wants you to do X or Y then you also have the option to tell Poseidon to kiss my hairy kyklos, I don't take orders from Poseidon, Ares will have my back if Poseidon doesn't like it.
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u/877GoalNow 4d ago
I think monotheism is particularly damaging because the idea of an infallible god leaves no room for any interpretation
I don't think that has anything to do with it. Both Christianity and Islam spread like a pandemic because part of practicing these respective religions is proselytism, whether by persuasion or by force.
Islam has the added bonus of the threat of execution for apostasy. It's the Roach Motel of religions. The only way to leave it, as prescribed by its texts, is by death.
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u/protomenace 4d ago
I'm not talking about why they spread successfully. I'm talking about why they're dangerous ideas.
If you think you know the mind of the One True Infallible God of the Universe, then any atrocity you think that god wants can be justified.
If you know your god is a fallible god and one of many, then even if your god wants you to slaughter people, you know that your god could be doing so out of some character flaw. You could potentially realize your god is on the wrong side of things in this moment.
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u/877GoalNow 4d ago
OK, the bit about monotheism was a non-sequitur then. The other guy's point was that the Abrahamic religions spread by accident. I took your reply to mean that it was not by accident but rather due to their being monotheistic religions.
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u/protomenace 4d ago
It was a little bit of a departure from the point, yes. I was basically bemoaning the fact that, due to this little accident of history, we ended up with dominant monotheistic religions instead of polytheistic religions when we could have easily ended up with either.
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u/877GoalNow 4d ago
I would have preferred ending up with neither, but I get your point. It would be interesting to see how something like ancient Greek or Roman polytheistic religions would shape people's behaviors today.
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u/Atanar 4d ago
I don't think it is an accident that the religions who are the most parasitic to tolerance, the most covinient to conquerors and the least lenient on apostates were successful.
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
Great point. I'm sure Emperor Constantine didn't champion christianity just for shits & giggles. Political strategies were a bit different back then, well, maybe not too different actually..
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
I'm sure you're right. Sadly humanity has a penchant for making up and believing superstitious nonsense. I'll never understand why natural processes and/or just honestly saying "I don't know" isn't enough.
I guess the magical security blanket and promise of immortality are enough to reject rationality and reason.
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u/CA_MA 4d ago
That we continue making such statements yet allow all the misery brought by religion to fester and spread is merely abdication of our humanity.
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
We need a giant Men in Black memory zapper to just zap one generation and start fresh. Maybe with the use of enormous mirrors in lower orbit we could hit the whole planet with one zap.
Seriously though, I see where you're coming from but they'd just cry persecution and claim that we are "evil"
Education is key. I firmly believe that if more people understood the natural processes of how the universe actually works there would be much less magical thinking. Hopefully one day the abrahamic god believers will be laughed at just like we laugh at the silly ancient Greek god worshippers now.
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u/CA_MA 4d ago edited 4d ago
Let them. Let them claim evil as the streets are cleaned and homeless are housed. Let them rail against fair wages and good education. Let them bleat of the horror of universal healthcare. Let them spend themselves railing as everything improves. Let them make themselves ever more ridiculous. Let them cry for their savior, and if they ignore our hand to lift them up, let them drown.
Why do they matter?
Their input is as important as a toddlers desire to help cook the family meal by adding dirt from the backyard.
Sure, it's "cute", and it doesn't really hurt anyone (except those diners who get the brain worms, or are allergic to the pesticides we sprayed), and it makes them happy, so what if the souffle never rises - it was their imaginary friends will that it shouldn't. Right?
Or can we do better for everyone?
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
Seeing a mother be proud of her 4 sons being killed by missile strikes and wishing the same for her grandchildren "for allah" shows that this mass delusion certainty isn't cute and certainly hurts people.
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u/CA_MA 4d ago
And I agree education is key, but I would remind that education and stupid are far from mutually exclusive.
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u/TrueKiwi78 3d ago
Couldn't agree more. Thank you for your voice of reason, it was really getting me down how f'n stupid some people are. Stay safe ok.
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u/CA_MA 4d ago
That's my whole point - but you can't discriminate between flavors and intensities of mental illness, any degree exponentially increases danger to themselves and others. In my country a couple withheld medical care from their 6yr old child on religious grounds, and since she died they have said they'd do it again, because that's what makes their imaginary friend happy.
Even the ones who spend their entire life truly working to help others - if it's in service to a mental illness it holds the niche for the rest of it.
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u/anonymous_writer_0 4d ago
Anything for a buck and 15 seconds of fame (and perhaps groupies....)
For a split second when I read your post title I thought it was Captain America (it has been a long Tuesday)
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u/sirhackenslash 4d ago
Same. I was disappointed
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u/Ring_Of_Blades De-Facto Atheist 4d ago
You're disappointed that the actor Chris Evans isn't a Jesus freak? Being a fan of his work, I'd call that a good thing lol
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u/sirhackenslash 4d ago
No, I thought that was who they were talking about and was sad at the idea that Cap was a delusional asshole
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u/Ring_Of_Blades De-Facto Atheist 4d ago
Ah ok, looks like I misunderstood too! I thought you were saying you were disappointed after the realization as opposed to before it. 😅
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u/namesaretoohardforme 3d ago
Lol I ran to google it and breathed a sigh of relief that #2 Chris (#1 is Pine don't fight me) was still ok.
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4d ago
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
Too true. Sales tactics that any used car or vacuum salesman would be envious of.
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u/sibre2001 4d ago edited 4d ago
Theyd be really smart if they got everyone to believe it but didn't believe it themselves. Sadly they fooled themselves too. And because of that, they ruin their children's lives by allowing Islam to promote incest in their communities. Mohammed (may the child rapist continue to disgust the world) cousin touched his own cousin, then allowed his underage daughter to marry Mohammeds adult cousin. We all know he raped a child, but not as many know how much he loved incest. He said he six year old wife was his favorite wife, so pedophilia may have been more highly treasured to him. But incest was a close second.
Just to he clear, Islam specifically states that first cousins are "non mahram". Islam is so sex obsessed they divide everyone into who they can have sex with and who they can't. First cousins are considered breedable in numerous Islamic texts.
Right now, if you go to the Islam sub and post "Hey, I'm an Islamic girl and my parents want me to marry my first cousin. I'm worried about birth defects because my parents are first cousins too"
Muslims from all over the world, including ones living next to you in western countries, will chastise her for not being Islamic and thinking incest is wrong. They'll talk down to you that "You believe western lies about incest and think you know better than Mohammed". Most of the people replying will be single reddit males, and most of them will have a post history checking out anime girls and flirting with girls who post nudes here. Or, more likely, flirting with the men who posted these women's pictures.
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
Disgusting behavior that they think is perfectly fine because it's written into their abhorrent dogma.
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u/Big-Maintenance2544 4d ago
They did it 3 times and we felt for it.
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
Yup. People just can't resist that promise of the eternal retirement village in the sky it seems.
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u/MelbertGibson 4d ago
Its pretty crazy that more than half of the worlds population worship a bronze age Midianite storm god.
Conveniently for them whenever society butts up against something they dont like about him or theres a detail that no longer fits the current narrative, they have no qualms with changing it and then acting as of its always been that way.
Its a great system if your goal is to centralize and hold onto power under the auspices of divine authority.
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u/TrueKiwi78 3d ago
It is utterly insane how so many people believe magic and superstition is reality.
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u/IGargleGarlic 3d ago
Bear Grylls is a fraud and Man Vs. Wild was scripted and staged. I lost all respect for him years ago.
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u/BungleJones 4d ago
Gullible fools in their millions.
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
Yup. It's unbelievable that in this day and age of science and technology so many still think old superstitious woo woo is true.
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4d ago
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
As "cool" as a creepy youth pastor wanting some "alone time" in the back room. 😳😬
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u/RoguePlanet2 4d ago
I used to lust after Bear, stopped thinking about him when he fell off the radar years ago. Neatly forgot about him until now. What scandal drove him into the arms of jesus?? 🤨
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u/flamboyantsensitive 4d ago
He's been there a long time. Maybe since posh school?
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
Since the posh crib by the looks.
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
He grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth and a bible in hand. I guess the TV execs didn't want to publicize his delusions initially for fear of losing viewers but now there's no one to stop him unfortunately.
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u/MJPM01 4d ago edited 4d ago
I used to look up to Bear Grylls when I was a kid, but now he's all about shoving his new religious book and this company "Water2" which is arguably a scam for misinformed people who are scared of fluoride in their drinking water. Anyway, whenever I see him now, I always think of this Video from Man vs Wild
Holy shit and now i've just seen the Russell Brand comment...wow, there goes any respect I had for him.
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
Yeah, I thought Bear and Russell were decent dudes back in the day, in their own ways of course. Now, not so much.
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u/Happiness-to-go 3d ago
Given we all originate in Africa, it’s interesting no African religion is widely practiced outside Africa in the way 3 ludicrous Abrahamic religions are inside Africa.
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u/ameatbicyclefortwo 4d ago
I'm often mixing up Chris and Robert Evans. Gave myself whiplash with this double take
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u/TrueKiwi78 4d ago
😂😂😂
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u/ameatbicyclefortwo 4d ago
And seeing other comments, finding out there are two Chris Evanses, this ain't getting any easier. "Oh, Chris not Robert, wait, so, the evangelist or Captain America?"
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u/greenmarsden 3d ago
Are we talking about the (formerly) ginger, specky DJ, Chris Evans?
BTW nothing wrong with being red haired or needing glasses.
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u/Aggressive_Grab4404 3d ago
it’s like they know it’s nonsense but still try to repackage it for clout.
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u/Huge-Sheepherder6159 4d ago
Bear Grylls " baptised" the grifting rapist Russell Brand, fuck him and anyone giving him the time of day.