The Logical Atheist

Another important doctrine in the Christian religion is the atonement supposed to have been made by the death and sufferings of the pretended Saviour of the world; and this is grounded upon principles as regardless of justice as the doctrine of original sin. It exhibits a spectacle truly distressing to the feelings of a benevolent mind, it calls innocence and virtue into a scene of suffering and reputed guilt, in order to destroy the injurious effects of real vice. It pretends to free the world from the fatal effects of a primary apostacy, by the sacrifice of an innocent being. Evil has already been introduced into the world, and in order to remove it, a fresh accumulation of crimes becomes necessary. In plain terms, to destroy one evil, another must be committed. To teach mankind virtue, they are to be presented with the example of murder; to render them happy, it is necessary to exhibit innocence in distress; to provide for them the joys of Heaven, wretchedness is to be made their po...

To punish the temporary and finite crimes of a finite life with eternal fire, would be to relinquish every principle of distributive justice, and to act like an arbitrary and malevolent tyrant. All the sins that ever have been committed do not deserve this unlimited severity of punishment; and to attribute to one solitary infraction of a moral law these terrible consequences, is to lose sight of infinite benevolence and eternal justice. It is to represent the God of Nature as cruel and vindictive, and even less merciful than the majority of his creatures; it destroys all degrees in moral turpitude, and inflicts on a petty offender a punishment not merited by the greatest criminal. It is therefore evident that this original sin has not produced, and that it could not produce, any of the consequences which have been attributed to it, for death is one of the physical properties of our nature. Vice is the result of individual and personal infractions of moral law, and an eternal Hell is a ...

If first-time Bible readers don't walk away from the Abrahamic religions in utter disgust after reading the outrageous tales of Adam and Eve, Noah and the flood, or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah along with the murder of Lot's wife, then the story of the binding of Isaac (Genesis 22, not the video game) should do the trick. What an evil story in every respect!  I couldn't bear to rehearse the details, which everyone knows anyway. And I won't discuss the endless and pointless interpretations of medieval and modern rabbis and other so-called religious authorities. Calling the story an allegory gets you nowhere: what is its point? Nothing good, that's for sure. It's enough to know the broad plot. Abraham robotically agrees to carry out God's command to butcher and then burn his son Isaac (his wife Sarah's only child) as a sacrifice, and Isaac is robotically obeys his father command to prepare for the event. If I wanted to play at biblical interpretat...

God was much on the scene during Wednesday's inaugural ceremonies. We had the usual opening and closing prayers and the swearing-in on a Bible. Prompted by Chief Justice John Roberts, Joe Biden continued the tradition, said to have begun with George Washington , of adding "so help me God" to the end of the oath. Those words are not in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The oath there is only: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."  Maybe this tampered-with oath is a violation of the Constitution and therefore shouldn't count. The religious stuff continued with Garth Brooks singing of "Amazing Grace": Amazing grace, how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me Wretch? Really?  It should not go without mention that Capitol rioters on Jan. 6 paused to pray --"in Christ...

[S]o powerful is the influence of this sin of Adam upon the human race, that they all become liable to eternal torments on this account. One would have supposed that after having brought temporal death into the world by this transgression, and after having corrupted every moral principle of the human heart, the contrivers of the scheme might have been contented, without annexing to this crime any other fatal consequences; but fanaticism and superstition delight in murder, misery, and eternal fire; and to this flaming lake I wish them a speedy passage, never more to rise to insult the dignity, or destroy the happiness of the human race. --Elihu Palmer (1764-1806), Principles of Nature; or, A Development of the Moral Causes of Happiness and Misery Among the Human Species

If the disclosure of my thoughts and reflections resulting from a constant habit of contemplating Nature in her diversified relations and real modes of existence, can throw a single ray of light into the darkened intellect of man, it will increase my hopes of future progression, and essentially tranquillize the sensations of my heart. It ought to be perceived by every enlightened mind, that long-established prejudices are not to be suddenly eradicated; but by protruding the activity of intellect into the field of actual existence, some diminution of human misery may be reasonably expected. Man sees not with clearness, that his sufferings are frequently the consequences of his blind attachment to error and superstition; he seeks for their origin in the distant heavens, or the anger or resentment of supposed supernatural agents, while the truth often is, that his own prepossessions are the causes of his calamity. --Elihu Palmer (1764-1806), Principles of Nature; or, A Development of the ...

There is no system either of education, politics, or religion, which ought to be excepted from the severest scrutiny of the human mind, or the closest examination which the human faculties can bestow upon it; yet habit and custom of long duration have so strongly attached man to his errors, that he reluctantly relinquishes those tenets which serve only to disturb his peace, and destroy his happiness; while the privileged impostors of the world, or those who feast upon the continuation or error and prejudice, unite their strongest exertions to persuade man that his most important interests in time and eternity depend upon the preservation of ancient and unnatural establishments; which, in fact, are as destructive to human felicity, as they are derogatory to the divine purity of supreme intelligence. The influence of authority, the fear of incurring clerical displeasure, and the dread of eternal torments, have partially annihilated the energy of intellectual powers, and taught man trembl...