About PersephoneK

PersephoneK writes about anything and everything that moves her, but usually she can be found skeptically discussing Liberty, Atheism/Agnosticism/Christian Apostasy, Workplace/Government reform, poker, history, politics, economics, science, sports, movies, music, television, and pop culture. Pretty much anything that crosses her mind is free game. She loves heated debate, has thoughts, and want to share them with you.

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Tearing Down the Two Party System Benefits All

PoliticalPartiesLogosAs a Minnesota Native, I disagreed with almost everything the late Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone tried to do as a politician.  But I, along with many of his colleagues on both sides of the isle, respected him for his principled stances on issues he passionately believed in.  He was an ideologue who made no apologies for it.  He wasn’t afraid to stand against his own party if it meant doing what he believed was the right thing, and the thing he believed his constituents elected him to do.  In that way, he reminds me of former US Representative (Texas) Ron Paul, the defacto spiritual leader of the modern libertarian movement.

We need more Paul Wellstones and Ron Pauls in politics.

I don’t mean we necessarily need more who think exactly like them, or who agree with their specific ideology, but we need more politicians who are less concerned with the games of politics than they are with doing things they believe are right.  We need politicians who stand up for powerful principals instead of clinging to party loyalty.  Ironically, I think we have more people like that on Capitol Hill now more than ever before in my lifetime.  It takes a lot for me to admit that, as those who know me know I’m generally cynical about politics, and politicians in general.  Even more ironically, those same “trouble-making” politicians have been accused (unfairly in my view) of the very political games many Americans are tired of, and causing the latest government shutdown which ended essentially in a stalemate today.

While political games will always be part of the system, the games played in the latest shutdown spectacle were different than business as usual in the Beltway.  Much different.  In a way that might not seem obvious, they signal one of the greatest problems with the American political system.  Its not what you think I’m going to say…. The shutdown more than anything else highlights the problem with the two-party system.  Specifically, the two party system makes principled rebellion a dirty word when in fact it should be celebrated.  That is, after all, why this country exists in the first place.  If we broke free of the two party duopoly, I think two seemingly contradictory things would begin to be more common in Washington politics: Principled (Ideological) Stances and Cooperation.  Let me try to explain why.

An unpleasant fact of politics is that it takes money to win elections.  The only real way to get money in our modern system is by being affiliated with a political party.  Parties are basically election machines.  Once a candidate has its support, all of the components of that machine work together to fundraise, promote, and otherwise support that candidate.  The bigger the political stage (i.e. Presidential election vs local city mayor), the more the machine grinds away for the candidate, and the more important it is for the candidate to have a party affiliation.  In short, the candidate can’t do it alone without the Party.  Its no surprise then, that Party loyalty has become the primary factor in most political gamesmanship in Washington.  Whether they say it or not, politicians generally put Party first.  To do otherwise is potential (likely) career suicide.

Yet, during the latest shutdown a curious thing happened.  Several “Tea Party” Republicans defied the Republican establishment and stood on principle.  They’ve been demonized heavily by the media, (TeaBaggers anyone?), other Republicans, and many of my more politically vocal Facebook friends (LOL!), but in truth, they did exactly what they were elected to do.  Each of those Republicans had run their election campaigns primarily on the idea that the Affordable Care Act (ACA aka “ObamaCare”) was a terrible law that should be killed.  Of course, almost every other (if not all) Republican(s) also think ObamaCare is a terrible law, and have tried to kill it from the beginning.  Unfortunately for them, they did not have the majorities necessary to defeat the bill from passing in the first place, or to change portions of it once passed.  That’s how many of the Tea Party Republicans got their seats in Congress and the Senate.  Although polling has consistently shown that the American public does not like ObamaCare, with the popularity level peaking around 40% in 2012, it has remained the primary platform for the Democrats and President Obama in particular during his administration.  With the Democratic majorities, they were able to ram the unpopular bill through and pass it into law.  Once passed, they fortified their commitment to keeping it largely in tact.  And they’ve had the political upperhand to do so, especially since the Republican Party is so divided between the “established” faction and the Tea Party faction.

So, in this latest battle, what we have are Democrats united on a law that most Americans hate, and having the power to remain so without compromise, partially because they control the Senate, and the Executive Branch (aka the President), but also because the Republican Party, which controls the House is divided into two camps.  One camp, the majority of the Republican Party (the Establishment), believes in maintaining power at all costs, and the other camp (Tea Party) is willing to lose all power (Polling has shown the entire Republican Party has been largely blamed for the shutdown) because they believe it is the right thing to do.

You may disagree with me, but all other things being equal, I would rather stand with a minority that has integrity than a majority that cares more about keeping its political power in place.

What does this have to do with the two party system being a problem? My point with all of this is not about whether or not I think ObamaCare is a good law or whether or not the Tea Party has the right plan for America.  This shutdown situation could have just as easily happened with any other contentious issue, where the political players are aligned in a similar way.  When one party has such tremendous power it can push unpopular laws through, and then hold that power over the other minority power.

For some proponents of government, maybe even for a majority of Americans, this might seem like a good thing.  It means that Washington politicians are seemingly doing what we want them to do.  They’re “getting things done.”  They’re passing laws left and right.  Americans were largely unhappy with the shutdown because they feel politicians should be cooperating and compromising.  I agree that politicians should pass necessary laws.  I agree that to do so they must often compromise (unless they have absolute majority) and cooperate.  They must build relationships.  What the two party system does is corrupt those goals.  It allows two behemoths to have overall power over the American people despite most Americans not being aligned entirely with one Party’s platform over the other.  The crack in the Republican party that lead to the shutdown ironically probably would not have done so if there were more cracks in both parties that called themselves something else entirely… In short, if there were many parties instead of two, it would be less possible for a small faction to shutdown the government in the first place because it would have never gotten to that point.

Most Americans may lean one way or the other, but they are not Party loyalists.  Those they elect are by necessity, but they are not.  A recent Gallup poll says that 60% of Americans think a third party is needed and that the current system does not reflect their ideals.  The two party system forces Americans to choose between two groups that may preach very different messages, but in practice behave exactly the same.  They serve to maintain their own power, not to serve the ideals their platforms espouse.  At least until a “radical faction” breaks away, stands on principle (does what they say they will do) and gains the ire of both established groups.  From my perspective, this group of politicians willing to risk their political careers because they believe its the right thing to do is what we need more of in Washington, and it makes me tremendously sad that they are getting labeled as “shameful” or “despicable” or even laughably the “radical right wing.”  By breaking the two party system apart these smaller voices would simultaneously lose their power, forcing compromise, and more accurately reflect the American people’s ideals in the right proportions.

Imagine for a moment that instead of two entrenched parties, there were many parties in Washington (more than three ideally).  If no single party had a greater than 50% majority hold I envision a few things resulting.

  1. Parties could stand for one or two principals instead of having to fit numerous agendas on their platforms.  Americans would know exactly what the primary focus of a politician is.  In that way, party loyalty would be tightly entwined with the principals the party stands for.  Americans would have more choices that more accurately reflect their own ideals and beliefs on how best to most the country forward.  Would you prefer to live in a world where you could only pick between vanilla and chocolate?  As a lover of combinations of flavors, I would find that terrible.  Vanilla with chocolate syrup please!  Remember when there were only four channels on TV?  Hell on earth.  Why do we allow that system to survive in something as important as politics?  Politics is how we decide how we want to live our lives as a society.  It is the method we use to determine the freedoms we have and don’t have, and the repercussions for defiance of the laws we deem important.  Politics is surely more important than ice cream flavors or TV channels.  Isn’t it?  I can’t even imagine the ideas that could be generated if the two parties lost their duopoly control on the system.  Thirty-one flavors for all with never-ending refinement depending on demand!

  2. Compromise between parties would be essential to pass laws in a multi-party system.  If no single monstrously large party had a true majority, in order to pass laws politicians would be forced to build relationships with other party members on issues they are in agreement.  You would find all kinds combinations of alliances on different issues.  As a libertarian, I often find myself agreeing more often with Republicans on fiscal policy (though they don’t usually live up to their rhetoric), but agreeing with Democrats on social issues (but not usually the details of social policy).  While I have agreed largely with Tea Party republicans on their ideas about taxes and financial reforms, I disagree with them largely on social issues like abortion and gay marriage, to name a few (although one can be against gay marriage but for a law supporting gay marriage — a nuance lost in our current duopoly).  Essentially, none of the two major parties reflects my ideals in any serious way.  I’m not an anomaly.

  3. Laws would be harder to pass and there would be fewer of them.  To some people this may be a terrible prospect.  After all, that’s what we send our Representatives and Senators to Washington to do, right?  Pass laws!!!  I found this article calling the 113th Congress the worst ever because they failed to do anything by passing only 22 laws (as of August 2013).  I personally see that as a victory.  The worst situation is when one party controls all branches of government.  This is when tyranny of the majority happens, and is not what the writers of the constitution envisioned for the democratic process of our Constitutional Republic.  My perspective is that each and every law that is passed should be done so as a solemn last resort, and after only careful consideration of what it will and should do, and the consequences that will result.  Laws almost always mean limits on liberty, both personal and economic.  Very rarely are laws repealed once enacted, and each new law forces Americans to alter their lives in very real and serious ways.  There should be public debate and transparency with each law considered.  They should never be passed frivolously, and always only* according to the Constitution.  They should never be passed because one party has a majority and does so anyway in defiance of the public’s wishes.   This couldn’t happen in a multi-party system.  Additionally, the public should have full access to the reasoning behind the law and the possible unintended consequences of its enactment.  If politicians were forced to focus on fewer laws, I believe that would be a step in the right direction for engaging the American people on exactly what they’re doing on our dime.  As a bonus wish, I’d also require all bills to be single issue focused (aka no “pork”) and short (Have you read the Constitution… the longest Amendment is the 12th and has 403 words, the equivalent of little more than ½ a page single spaced in Word with 12 point font.  ObamaCare had reportedly 2700 pages!), and all laws should have a sunset date (of no more than 5 years from enactment)*.

Unfortunately, changing the two party system is an uphill battle. The current party system exists not because it was what the Founders envisioned (President Washington belonged to no party), but because of a systematic power-grab of the two major parties over 150 years of politics.  Throughout our nation’s history, parties have changed both in name and in their ideals, but in the modern age, change seems unlikely to gain a foothold primarily because of laws that exist in many states and federally that make it all but impossible for third (or more) parties to gain any traction in elections.  The issues are complex and vast, and vary from state to state, but in summary, a third party gaining traction in a national election has little to do with their ideas not aligning with a large number of voters and more to do with the two big parties liking the system to stay that way.

The current election system is, to put it bluntly, rigged to prop up the parties in power, and squash all attempts to add other voices to the political dialogue.  As a result, most Americans find themselves picking the lesser of two evils during elections, or trying to pick the candidate they align on with most issues.  Rarely do Americans pick a third party.  The main reason for that is they “want their vote to count.”  This pattern only perpetuates the cycle of Republicans and Democrats maintaining control, further entrenching them into our psyche, and defining the dialogue.  Its no secret that I consider myself libertarian (small ‘l’) or classical liberal.  I didn’t really know what that was until less than ten years ago.  Up until the last election, I found myself falling into the trap as well.  I didn’t want to waste my vote, so I picked the candidate that I thought was “kinda close” on the issues that I felt were most important.  During the last election, I finally decided that I couldn’t do that any longer.  I’d rather have my vote wasted than vote for a candidate that I find impossible to live with.  So for the first time ever, I did not vote for a major party candidate.  Obviously, my guy lost, but I slept easy at night knowing I followed my conscience.  I would love if more Americans didn’t have to choose the lesser of two evils in order for their voice to be heard.  Paul Wellstone once said, “I would just feel like a shill if I didn’t vote for what I thought was right. I just couldn’t do it.”  If we could tear down the two party duopoly, I think we’d finally get to the point where most Americans wouldn’t have to feel like shills.  We could all stand on principle, and debate each issue on its own merit instead of fall in line behind our tribal tendencies to defend “our side” against “them.”  And we’d be more inclined to reach across the aisle to find common interests with people who mostly align with another party.  Events like the government shutdown would be things of the past because cooperation would be a requirement for achieving any result on The Hill, but at the same time, politicians would be closely aligned with very specific agendas and ideologies that would take precedence over party loyalty purely due to necessity.  We’d find a lot more Paul Wellstones and Ron Pauls — men and women with integrity unafraid to show that what they stand for is what they will act upon, but while simultaneously allowing many more voices and ideas to be front and center in the debate.  Tearing down the two party system will create a new system that more closely resembles what America stands for and is — a melting pot of all the different cultures and best ideas of the world where we cooperate and work with people everyday who believe differently from us on some issues.  That’s the American dream realized.  Our political system should reflect that.

As with all of my posts, this blog serves as a forum for me to work out my ideas, and are never meant to stand the test of time or be forever set in stone.  I tend to write my posts on the fly with little preparation, although I usually have thought a lot about a topic for a while.  I have a life to live and don’t spend hours writing my posts (usually).  In a way, my blog serves as a place where I publish rough drafts of my ideas that I will refine over time.  As a result, sometimes clarity of idea can be lost.  What makes sense in my brain isn’t always translated well to the page on the first (or sometimes second, third, etc) go-round.  This is why I have this blog in part… to improve that communication skill, and to see the progression of my ideas.  I rely on comments and questions from you to help me plug up holes in either my thinking, or my communication of my thinking.  I’m sure this blog will be my most contentious yet.  Please, have at it!

Cheers,

PersephoneK

*Edits added after original publication to increase clarity.

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The Central Planning Fallacy

I’ve wanted to make something like this for a while, and finally found the perfect picture while out on one of my recent Fall bike rides around my neighborhood.  This is my first foray into the meme creation world.  One of the great lessons I took away from my time working for the federal government is that central planning ideals defy how the real world works, and that is therefore a primary failing of government, despite the (often) good intentions of government workers and politicians.  Nothing says it better than a picture.  Despite our beautiful public bike trails all over the city of Minneapolis, individual people still find a way to find better, more efficient ways to get where they’re going, and others recognize a good thing when they see it.

 Central Planning Fallacy in Pictures

 

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Defending Truth Can Mean Defending Jesus

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Jesus-Christ-from-Hagia-Sophia.jpg/170px-Jesus-Christ-from-Hagia-Sophia.jpg

Source: Jesus-Christ-from-Hagia-Sophia

Over the past few days, an announcement has been circulating primarily among atheist-focused Facebook pages.  The topic: proof that Jesus never existed according to American Joseph Atwill who will be giving a presentation in Britain this month about his “new discovery” in promotion of his books, no doubt.  As a result, I have found myself running all over Facebook as the details are shared to try to persuade people to be very skeptical of what this man has to say as atheists there get lulled into the wishful thinking that their greatest nemesis, Jesus Christ, may never have existed at all.

Denying that Jesus was a real person is just as bad as believing in supernatural explanations for things.  My criticism of religion is merely an extension of my belief that believing in lies is bad, and believing in reality is a better path for life and humanity.  For that reason, I want to let anyone know who’s listening that whatever Atwill is peddling is likely bunk.

Let me set the stage a bit and summarize for you Atwill’s claims.  According to the announcement’s website, his thesis is that “the New Testament was written by first-century Roman aristocrats and that they fabricated the entire story of Jesus Christ.”

I have several problems with this and Atwill’s credentials in general.  First of all, according to Atwill’s own blog he “studied computer science in college” (never saying whether or not he obtained a degree), and prior to college he attended Japan’s Jesuit-run St. Mary’s Military Academy where his “school days was spent studying Greek, Latin, and the Bible”, but it never clarifies whether he has achieved any level of mastery of those languages (I’ve “studied” Greek and Latin myself, but couldn’t claim to even have a beginning level understanding of them).  Although the British presentation announcement lists Atwill as an “American Biblical scholar”, I would have serious issues with calling him that.  What exactly is he a scholar in?  From what I can tell, no actual Bible, Theological, or History scholar would call this man their colleague.  Recently, Bible and Christian History scholar Bart Ehrman (who I recently wrote about here) wrote on his blog about what it takes to be a Bible scholar in response to the new book “[easyazon-link asin=”B00BIOG1ZU” locale=”us”]Killing Jesus: A History[/easyazon-link]” written by Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly.  I think its important to understand what it takes to be recognized as an expert in the field.  According to Dr. Ehrman:

“To become an expert in the historical Jesus (or the New Testament broadly, or Hebrew Bible, or first century Roman empire, or pick your cognate field) takes years of diligent study. My own graduate students at UNC typically enter into our PhD program after already started taking ancient languages (e.g., Greek, Latin, and/or Coptic) in college; then doing a two or three year master’s degree mastering ancient languages, learning modern languages (usually French and German) so they can read scholarship done overseas, and getting sufficient background in the field that can *prepare* them to *start* doing a PhD. O’Reilly of course never even went this far. Once my students are in their PhD program, they spend two years doing seminar work – full time, two years – then they take a semester or two to prepare for their five PhD exams; after they take their PhD exams they write a dissertation, in a well-defined and narrow field in which they become absolute experts; the dissertation almost always takes two years of full time work. In other words, after a 2-3 year masters degree, they spend five years (if they’re fast) to get the PhD.

And *then* they are beginning, *junior* scholars. At that point they are not ready to write a book for a general audience even in their own field of expertise. First they have to spend years more working in their field, writing another scholarly book, and developing even further expertise.

Source: http://nttext.org/index.html

To be a real scholar of the historical Jesus you need to be able to read the New Testament in Greek; you need to be able to read Jesus’ own scriptures, the Hebrew Bible, in Hebrew. You need to be able to read all the sources about Jesus, which requires Latin and Coptic. You need to delve deeply into scholarly research, which has been going on, at intense levels, since the 1770’s. And then you’re ready to say something to the world at large. You can’t just read the Bible, take it to be historical, fill out the details with your imagination, and imagine you’ve written something that people should buy into (or buy! O’Reilly and friend will make millions on this fluff.) (Then again, maybe the rest of the book isn’t as crazily fluffy as this excerpt?).”

By those standards, Atwill doesn’t come close.

Moving to Atwill’s claims that Jesus was invented by the Romans as some kind of conspiracy to quell Jewish revolts, I’ll try very hard to not to simply say its ridiculous (because it is), but also provide a few nuggets of evidence according to what the scholars say.  Most scholars accept as fact that Jesus of Nazareth existed.  I’m going to remain brief, but if you want all of the details in an easily digestible format, I strongly recommend reading Ehrman’s [easyazon-link asin=”B0053K28TS” locale=”us”]Did Jesus Exist?[/easyazon-link].   To summarize here, the main reasons for believing this comes from several ancient sources, including those from the Jewish historian Josephus, the Roman Senator and historian Tacitus, and of course, the New Testament itself, which include writings from the most famous Christian missionary of all, Paul.  There is no archaelogical evidence, or Roman records, but that is not surprising.  There are not these kinds of things for most of the people who lived in first century Palestine.

What does Josephus say?  Writing in the end of the First Century (some 60 years or so after the death of Jesus), Josephus references Christians and Jesus twice in his work called, “Antiquities of the Jews”.  Certain aspects of those writings are debated among scholars, but generally speaking the conclusion of most scholars (atheists and believers alike) is that they can be used as reliable sources to show the existence of Jesus based on several criteria that I’ll not bore you with here.

What does Tacitus say?  Tacitus, a Roman pagan writing in the early decades of the second century, mentions Jesus in his work called “Annals.”  According to scholars, Tacitus provides a dispassionate perspective on the persecution of Christians after the burning of Rome (probably by Emperor Nero) in 64 CE, and on the crucifixion of Jesus.

What about the New Testament?  A full discussion of the evidence within the books of the New Testament (NT) would take too long for me to discuss here (this is already much longer than I first intended), but the key points are found in the works of Paul.

The Last Supper, Da Vinci.

There are several books written and claimed to have been written by Paul in the NT.  Scholars generally agree that 7 of the 13 letters in the NT were actually written by Paul (and 6 were forgeries or otherwise mistakenly attributed to him).  To see a detailed list, go here.

Of those letters believed to be written by Paul, the key pieces of compelling evidence for Jesus’ existence come from Galatians 1:18-24.  In these versus, Paul expressly states that three years after his conversion to Christianity, he visited the Apostle Peter (aka Cephus aka Simon Peter), and Jesus’ brother James, for fifteen days.  Peter, was known to be Jesus closest companion in the Gospels, and James is mentioned to be Jesus brother in other NT writings as well.  Scholars estimate this event likely took place less than ten years after Jesus’ death, sometime in the 30’s CE.  Basically, what this proves is that Paul has first-hand knowledge of a man who was named Jesus who died by Roman crucifixion recently, provided by people who actually knew Jesus (including his own brother).  To me, this is very compelling information.  As with the writings of Josephus and Tacitus, there is much more I could go into to show why scholars generally agree that Paul’s writing is historically reliable, but that information is out there should you want to find it.

Lastly, for me, Atwill’s claims just do not meet the smell test.  He has asserted that “Jewish sects in Palestine at the time, who were waiting for a prophesied warrior Messiah, were a constant source of violent insurrection during the first century… When the Romans had exhausted conventional means of quashing rebellion, they switched to psychological warfare. They surmised that the way to stop the spread of zealous Jewish missionary activity was to create a competing belief system. That’s when the ‘peaceful’ Messiah story was invented. Instead of inspiring warfare, this Messiah urged turn-the-other-cheek pacifism and encouraged Jews to ‘give onto Caesar’ and pay their taxes to Rome.”  Basically, he thinks the Roman’s fabricated the myth of Jesus in some grand conspiracy to get Jews to chill out and stop revolting.  Aside from this being completely revisionist history of the first century Roman Empire and Palestine, its just absurd for this reason: If the Romans wanted to invent a story, why would they have invented the story of Jesus with so many inconsistencies and contradictions?  The NT is fraught with competing ideas about the details of Jesus’ birth and ministry and death.  Ideas that cancel each other out in many cases.  Ideas that wouldn’t convince first century Jews that he was the Messiah who should be followed.  Its just nonsense.

There was a time when I briefly flirted with the tempting notion that Jesus never existed.  It would be simpler to be an atheist if this were true.  But I am a skeptic and a truth-seeker first and foremost, and after reading about the evidence and learning what the scholars who have devoted their lives to this subject matter have said (and I’m still learning), I have accepted as fact that Jesus of Nazareth did in fact exist, and that he was crucified by the Romans sometime in the 30’s CE in Jerusalem.  As I’ve learned more about the history, I’ve found the reality is much more interesting than the possible myth of Jesus being a fabrication.  I do not believe that Jesus was supernatural, that he was the son of god, or god himself.  I don’t even believe that he believed that, but that is a discussion for another time.  Of course, like Atwill, I’m no scholar either, but I never claimed to be.   All I know is the evidence (as analyzed by professionals who have devoted their lives to the study of this subject matter)  for a historical Jesus is compelling, and I choose to base my conclusions (in all aspects of my life) on what can be reasonably proven, not what I want to believe, or wish to be true.   That is my wish for current believers, and my fellow atheists alike.  Don’t be sucked in by things that make no sense in reality.  The world will be better for it.

Cheers,

PersephoneK

Check out Dr. Bart Ehrman’s “Did Jesus Exist” for more information about what the historical evidence is for Jesus’ existence.

[easyazon-image align=”none” asin=”B0053K28TS” locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51A0vgJPUrL._SL160_.jpg” width=”104″]

*10/10/2013: Some edits made to fix typos and remove my annoying misuse of apostrophes.  No content altered.

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Atheists Can Love the Bible for What It Is

bible-sunset-2One of my academic and religious studies mentors is someone I’ve never met, or technically studied under.  His name is Dr. Bart Ehrman.  He is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He is very respected as a scholar of the Bible and is an early Christian historian.  He writes scholarly papers as well as books directed at the layman, many of which point out misunderstandings of the Bible and who Jesus was.  Much of what he writes about is widely taught at Seminary schools and generally accepted among scholars (secular and believers), yet often not taught to regular parishioners and church goers.  But another reason why am drawn to his work:

He is also an atheist who loves the Bible.

I feel a bit of a kinship with Dr. Ehrman.  He and I were both once Christian believers.  He calls himself a former fundamentalist.  And while I never would have used that term when I was a Christian, looking back on myself, I’d have to call my younger self that now.  I believed that the Bible held the key to understanding the truth about what God wanted from me and all humans.  I believed that the Bible was the inspired Word of God and that through its study, I could learn the right way to live.  [easyazon-image align=”right” asin=”B004IWR3JW” locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ijk9vgS%2BL._SL160_.jpg” width=”106″]Also, like Dr. Ehrman, as he writes in his book [easyazon-link asin=”B004IWR3JW” locale=”us”]Forged[/easyazon-link], he wanted only to follow the Truth.  That obsessive desire for Truth ultimately, and ironically, led him (and me) to abandon our faiths.  The more we learned, the more we could see the Bible is a very human book.

Many atheists out there, in particular those who are not apostates, but even some who are, have a fervent hatred of the Bible.  I can understand this to some degree.  The Bible has been misused and abused throughout history to shape Western culture in often oppressive ways antithetical to human well-being (yes, yes, many Christians have done great good in the world in the name of the faith as well, I’ll concede this point).  I share many of those concerns.  There is much within the Bible that is quite frankly appalling.  But the truth is, I still love it.  I no longer revere it.

One thing that led me to atheism is my love of history.  I wanted to learn more about the early Christian Church.  The more I learned, the more I came to realize, there’s really not that much out there.  But what is out there paints a completely different picture of Christianity than I had come to know and understand through my faith.  This was another factor that led me to Dr. Ehrman.  He is a rare hybrid of religious scholar and historian.  There are very few scholars out there, arguably, that have a better understanding of the early Christian Church from a historical perspective than he does.  For me, those two points of view (religious and historical) deserve great weight and respect.  One cannot understand the books of the Bible without also understanding the historical circumstances under which they were written.  This is often lost on those who read the Bible from a purely theological perspective, and has often led to the abuses of the Bible’s teachings.

I had not planned on writing a blog today, so this one isn’t very well thought out, or focused, but mainly what is on my mind at the moment is how I wish more people out there understood the Bible from a historical perspective.  I feel it should be taught in schools (along with the Koran and other religious texts).  The Bible is probably the single most influential book ever written in human history, yet the average person knows almost nothing about it, even those who use it as a basis of their spiritual lives know next to nothing about it.  I challenge my Christian friends to learn more about what the Bible is and isn’t.  This doesn’t mean you must leave your faith behind.  I personally find belief and understanding the bible’s historical truths to be incompatible, but there are plenty of scholars out there who believe the same things about the Bible’s authorship and context who still have faith.  Do not let fear of losing faith prevent you from understanding what is true and what is false.  If there is a god, why To my atheist friends and readers, do not let what religion has done to human well-being interfere with your ability to read and learn about the Bible for what it is.  Its a beautiful collection of writings that people in antiquity wrote for various reasons and agendas that helps inform us about their lives and what mattered to them.  There are philosophical lessons within its pages that we can adopt and internalize, while dismissing the lessons that are better left to history.

[easyazon-image align=”left” asin=”B000SEGJF8″ locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512kDCXRwJL._SL160_.jpg” width=”106″]For all readers, a good place to start to gain this understanding is pretty much anything written by Bart Ehrman.  If I had to pick something for you, I’d say, start with “[easyazon-link asin=”B000SEGJF8″ locale=”us”]Misquoting Jesus[/easyazon-link]” and go from there.

Never be afraid to challenge your beliefs.

Cheers,
PersphoneK

 

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Executive Branch Hypocrisy

Photo Credit: http://dronewarsuk.files.wordpress.com

 

The other day, as I finally got around to finishing up my latest copy of reason magazine (not capitalized intentionally), I apparently had saved the best for last.  If you have time to read anything on my blog this week, pick reason’s interview (by Matt Welch) of the politically left’s Jeremy Scahill as he outlines with incredible clarity and detail his extreme concerns over the executive branch’s continuation of Bush era policies under the guise of national security:

Executive Branch Dictatorship

What are your thoughts?

~PersephoneK

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Ricky Gervais Summarizes My Philosophy Beautifully

A few days ago, Hemant Mehta from the Friendly Atheist posted a link to an interview by CNN’s Piers Morgan of comedian Ricky Gervais, an unapologetic atheist.  I think it so perfectly highlights the beauty of leaving religion, that I wanted to share it with you all.  You can view the full interview at the Friendly Atheist, but the best line by far is this:

I think there’s this strange myth that atheists have nothing to live for. It’s the opposite. We have nothing to die for… We have everything to live for.

It succinctly explains what many theists get wrong about atheists… For me, while the thought of no afterlife is sad and a bit unsettling (I won’t lie about that, and I wouldn’t say this is true for all or even most atheists), what it has done is made me focus on this life.  Every second my life continues in this blink of an eye is precious, and any time focusing on what comes after death is wasted.

Cheers,

PersephoneK

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