Holy War: A “Non-Believer’s” Point of View — Part One
This will be the first part to a series of articles pertaining to the global Holy War that has kept our world population separate and unstable. If you have not read the introduction to this series, then I would recommend it, as it explains the intention behind these writings.
The Obsession to Convert
Here is one of the most important points I could make in this series. Even though what I believe makes me happy, I know it may not make another happy. Knowing this keeps me from trying to convert other people to what I believe. The only converting that interests me is convincing everyone else to stop trying to convert. This dire need that the religious have for everyone to believe the same as themselves is what is creating all the unrest and tension in the world. This same need has created more war, genocide, hate, fear and ethnic cleansing, just to name a few, than anything else in the history of the world.
Now before you think I am saying that religion is responsible for everything that is negative and arguing against this, please, hear me out. I know that all the Bibles, Korans and Torahs do not say “kill them all, and let God sort them out”, but it is common for man to extrapolate this from the ideology. Just think of the last time someone started to preach a religion that was opposite to yours. How did it make you feel when they were speaking as if they are right and you are wrong? Now, whether this “right” is the fault of man or God’s word that makes people feel they have to force an ideology onto another is irrelevant in my opinion. It is just the fact that it happens. I am going to call this assault on an ideology from an opposing ideology a “Holy War”.
From what I strongly believe, the reason behind this Holy War is the belief that the other is evil, bad, sinful, or corruptive to their own ideology. Since America is predominantly Christian, and I am not an opposing Muslim or a Jew, I will speak on behalf of the opposing ideology that I get lumped into — Atheism. Although I am not an Atheist, I tend to get categorized in with them because of my position against religion. Any time I get involved in a debate about religion versus no religion, the believers always raise the timeless belief that if you do not believe in religion (Christianity) then you are an Atheist, or the always colorful Commie. And, according to their view that means that you are a sodomite, child pornographer, rapist, homosexual, serial killer, and my favorite — Satan himself!. The most outrageous was my being ironically categorized as a child molester. Here is an actual except from an online discussion I had with a religiously devout person.
“should be SHI*4BRAINS. a true atheist is rare, and i know you are a true atheist, because you are sooo ANGRY! and not so bright…. don’t take my word for it, ask the FBI. most of the child porn on the net, comes from the socialist utopias of which you speak. but wait! i’m out of my reckoning here. LEFTIST don’t think child abuse is a crime! in fact for the true believing ATHEIST-LIBERAL, the only crime is being a true believing CHRISTIAN-CONSEVRITIVE. as you say ‘that is why we hate christians’. the reason atheits need evolution to be right is, so we can be lumped in with all the animals, that is too say ‘we are morally no different from the animals’. that way you atheist’s can do whatever you want without GUILT. soddomy. inscest. slu* around. defend rapists and pederasts, without SHAME. man is a beast, casual sex is no big deal. we’er all just a bunch of animals anyway!” - GVANHELSING from Netscape.com
Then I thought to myself — child abuse… molestation, “Wasn’t that the Catholic Prie…” never mind. The reason for the above discussion was triggered by an article that was written for this site called, “Is God Bad for You?”. This is how we, non-believers, are treated everyday by the radical right and religious. The article’s supporting data was from the Wilson Quarterly and it brought up a great question. It reported data of an inverse relationship with a country’s “religiously devoutness” and its homicide, child mortality rate, STD’s and abortions. In other words, the more religious the country, the more crime, deviant sexual acts and mortality is prevalent. I can see the logic in this, but sadly very few can see the rationale behind it. Even though there is factual evidence for this argument, the above quote is created from fiction.
I have noticed how the more religious the person, the more emotionally driven they are. This emotion is highly volatile, and it drives all thought processes in their brain, so instead of logical, rational thought driven by objective evidence, emotional, personal experience is what is most important. When their ideology is in jeopardy, they will insert something subjective in their perspective to support their rationale and stifle the discussion. Since Atheists base everything on objective evidence and rational thought processes, the religiously devout would be the antithesis causing much tension between the two ideologies. This causes the need to convert, so that this contrarian or poisonous ideology cannot threaten their way of life.
Now, let me clue you in to the reality of Atheists since they are extremely misunderstood. Most Atheists do not care if you are religious, they just want to be able to “be Atheist” without religious persecution. The point at which Atheists get political is when the religious want to damage the Constitution and Civil Liberties by forcing religion into governmental policies. This would negate the separation of church and State. They just want to have the freedom of religion to read freedom from religion as well. The second point in which they will voice their opinion is when the religious act righteous and conversion takes place. This again is invasion of freedom from/of religion.
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Thats a great view point, if it everyone could stop trying to convert people I would stop having problems with the religious right, mostly.
But like you point out if every religion is the one true way to salvation and everyone else is going to hell then I’m not sure people will ever stop proselytizing (SP?). These folks think they are saving other people from eternal damnation which is pretty charitable if it were true. So while I think you have a great ideal there, I don’t think it will ever happen. Sometimes I’m not sure if I’m being a pessimist or just an optimist that can’t help but face reality.
Thanks.
I understand that the whole point is to help someone out of eternal damnation, but we need to realize that none of this is objective. That’s why it is called a belief. If we could educate people that the cause of all the strife is this converting and have religious leaders declare that converting is now a sin, or whatever, then we could move forward.
This is not an impossible task, it just takes a serious initiative by the majority to push back against their own religious leaders to force change. Now it may not happen for another 100 years, but we need to start now, start speaking out against this issue.
Hi, I could tell right away that your not an atheist at all. I think that your point is that there are a lot of stupid Christians out there. I think your writing was well thought out and that you could still be on the fence on this. Anyway this is your lucky day. You are 3 steps away from God. Just like Kevin Bacon. Yea you can put me down as one of the crazies if you want but Jesus talked to me. ANyway I do have proof. No one has shown any interest in the proof. I guess they have their own proof somewhere. Mine is in a box the size of a mailbox and a book. Plus I have witnesses. Then my witnesses do not believe my story. They all say it is coincidental. Anyway I am on the Internet telling people that there is proof. I guess after I am dead they might take a looky-Who. Who knows. God talked to me in a series of dream. He says that I am on his left side. I am worried that this may not be good side to be on. My thoughts on this is that, since I am a woman this is the weak side of God. I am on the left side of God, his weaker side. That could also mean his soft side. He also told me the meaning of First is Last and Last is First. This was his big issue. Birth is Last. You can believe or not just don’t call me crazy. Thanks, Melanie Stephan
Hey Melanie, how are you? I, unfortunately for Christianity, am not on the fence at all with my belief. But, I do appreciate your candor and openness with me about your belief and personal evidence of God. I truly feel if what you believe makes you happy and encourages success in all avenues of your life, go for it! Just as long as you respect all others, and their right to believe something different, I will respect yours. I can tell that you care and are a genuine person, and I thank you for sharing your belief and experiences with all of us here at Blog4Brains. We can only hope that more of you are out there. Take care Melanie.
I’d be curious to see your proof, but I wouldn’t use dreams as proof. Many people tell me that I shouldn’t need proof for proof denies faith and without faith religion is nothing, to which I think well religion is nothing, but what I say is this, then why was there so much proof in the bible. Those people weren’t acting on blind faith they had donkeys talking to them.
Or Go here for a funnier way of saying this. I don’t mean to be insulting Melanie but I do have a tendency to do that. You seem like a nice person who happens to have a fairly different world view than I do, thats fine I don’t really care that much about people’s motivations, so long as their actions are good. Actually I gotta think about that last statement for a minute, are they still a good person if they do good things but for selfish reasons? yeah I guess they are, just not quite as good as a someone who does good for selfless reasons. Anyway have a good one everybody, and remember it doesn’t matter what you believe, just be nice to each other.
I have been very sick for the past week. I was glad that you responded to what I wrote without being negative. I have gotten a number of negative statements from people. That made me feel bad. It kind of made me feel bad about God for making trouble for me. I think he made a mistake talking to me cause so far No One, I mean no one, not even the people that are witnesses to the Events that came true in the Dreams, believe me. They don’t believe that Jesus talked to me. They are not even interested in hearing the whole story. Yes, dreams are hard to prove. Everything in the Second and Third Dream came true right away. But nothing in the First Dream came true. The First Dream is about me going to Heaven, that is Last. That happens when I die, right. Now everything in the dreams were symbolic. I wrote a book and sent it the the Library of Congress. Why? I don’t know. I kind of think that God wanted me to do that. Yet he didn’t ask me to do anything. I have no Idea what he wants me to do with the information he gave me. Anyway Dec. 6, 2006 The Library of Congress gets my book. I thought I was done. I did something for God, When I am dead someone can drag out my crazy book and I get 1 point in Heaven, some kind of reward. Then on February 22, 2007 the First Dream comes true. No one could possibly imagine how the First Dream could come true. I couldn’t and I gave it a lot of thought. I was surprised as Hell that it came true. A letter came in the mail too. It is part of the proof. The First Dream came true Last. First is Last. Remember all of the events in the dreams came true, Last was First and First was Last. 7 times. That’s what I call a lot of freaking coincidences. Anyway the book telling about the dream is in the Library of Congress Dec. 6, 2006 and the Dream comes true on february 22, 2007. Pretty dam-nation cool right. OH, then I have several stories just like that. I can prove at least one dream. February 22, Two thousand something ? is Judgement Day. Now that is straight from God. If I am a liar God can strike me with a mega bolt of lightning right now. See I am still here. Anyway you don’t have to believe me or see my proof to find God. I’ll tell you one thing if my dreams were not from God I must be one freaking genius while I am sleeping. During the day I am an idiot. Just Kidding, Oh, I am not on the Internet trying to convert anyone. I just need to talk. I don’t know why I need to talk. Maybe it is because I can’t get the experience out of my head. I still remember the series of Dreams better than I remember yesterday. It has been a little more than year now. The last dream came true on Easter day, when that happened I realized the meaning of the Last dream. I was very surprised. Love Melanie Stephan.
Hi, Cerebral. I just saw your picture on another site. Your very handsome. I am not making nice to you cause I think you are maybe 10 years younger than I am. What I mean is don’t take this as a come on. But, there aren’t very men out there that look as good as you do. Besides a man that is as beautiful as you must have someone very special in his life. Anyway, Thanks for letting me write on your site. You can erase it if you want. I am a little worried what would happen if people started to believe me. Last thing I need is a bunch of crazy believers knocking on my door. It is better that they think I am a liar. Love, Melanie
Wow, thanks for the compliments! That would be a first for me on the internet. You’re very welcome. That is what this site is for — providing anyone the platform for voicing their opinion. I encourage all people to be able to speak their minds, free from judgment and condemnation. That is a world I want to live in, so it is a world that I create.
As far as your dreams, I think it is great. What I like about them is they are yours. No one else’s. This makes them intrinsic values and gives it personal meaning. Just as long as it defines WHO you are, and not WHAT you are. WHAT you are creates insecurities and fears as it is an extrinsic value that can be at risk of being compromised. WHO you are, on the other hand, is intrinsic and no one can take that away from you.
Take care Melanie. We all hope to hear from you again.
Hi, Cerebral. Last night I went to bed hoping that you would have a reply to what I wrote. I was eager to get back on the Internet to check (I love my computer). And you did write me. I was Happy. When I can get someone to talk to me I look for someone that has a brain more than someone that agrees with me. If someone has a good point or proof I will admit I was wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong about something. I don’t know everything. Recently I have taken and interest in the works of Sir Isaac Newton. Newton was interested in a number of subjects. He figured things out that are beyond the abilities of everyone else. Pure Genius. The Telescope, Differental Algrebra, Gravity, orbits of the planets. Only 6 planets then. He found the planets had elliptical orbits. He also read the books of Daniel and John to calculate the date of the Apocalypse. My thought was, What made him so different than the rest of us? I mean he made this stuff up and most of us have to be taught what he wrote. And then we still don’t get it. My thought is that whether he believed in Jesus or not he goes upstairs. He was a believer, but that is besides the point. My thought is that God probably wants thinkers more than mindless followers. That is just my thought. A few years back I told my friend that I didn’t think that there was a God. His reply was “Your going to Hell”. I kind of thought about that. I didn’t like him telling me that. It kind of stuck in my head too. Love, Melanie