Christianity Versus Humanism - Suffering Edition

I've been passing a particular location of Dino's Storage nearly every day for years.  They often have quotes on their marquee.  Sometimes it's something nice.  Most of the time, it's something religious.  They recently wrote on their website that the quotes are their way of "giving back to the community while glorifying God"^[1].

Today, this was the quote:

This is what's wrong with religion.  It allows this message to be considered as contributing a positive message.  And it's not like this particular message is limited to this sign.  I see this sentiment promoted by Christians as often as I see them threatening me with Hell^[2].  Promotion of suffering^[3] was a favorite pastime of Mother Teresa^[4].

That's one of the biggest differences between Christianity and Humanism.  Christianity sees suffering as a good thing.  Humanism dares to say suffering is bad.

And they say we're the ones without morality^[5].

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1.  http://dinosstorage.com/wordpress/?p=176
2.  http://youtu.be/iClejS8vWjo
3.  http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/216250-pain-and-suffering-have-come-into-your-life-but-remember
4.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/04/mother-teresa-myth_n_2805697.html
5.  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/10/09/those-evil-humanists/

Dishonesty About Honesty, Again

The subject of my last post^[1], read it and responded on the Twitters, where we were already conversing.

@tycapitalism @aparticulara Robert Fuller believes that atheism begins and ends with Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
— Damon Linker (@DamonLinker) March 10, 2013

I, of course, said no such thing.  It's difficult to tell if he really doesn't get it or if he's intentionally lying.  He went on to say:

@tycapitalism @aparticulara BTW, I love that passage from Pale Blue Dot. But I don't share Sagan's cheeriness about the message.
— Damon Linker (@DamonLinker) March 10, 2013

I already knew he didn't, by what he wrote in the article in question^[2].

If atheism is true, it is far from being good news. Learning that we're alone in the universe, that no one hears or answers our prayers, that humanity is entirely the product of random events, that we have no more intrinsic dignity than non-human and even non-animate clumps of matter, that we face certain annihilation in death, that our sufferings are ultimately pointless, that our lives and loves do not at all matter in a larger sense, that those who commit horrific evils and elude human punishment get away with their crimes scot free — all of this (and much more) is utterly tragic.

But, as anyone who read his article probably knows, he's twisting the views entirely backward.

Learning there's no god doesn't take away the answers of prayers that we already know don't get answered.  It takes away the threat of Hell.  It takes away a tyrant who makes mundane so-called "sin" punishable by death.  It takes away the idea that we're all inherently deserving of eternal torture.

Learning there's no afterlife does not mean our lives are meaningless.  It does the exact opposite.  The promise of an afterlife is what would make this life ultimately meaningless.  An eternal afterlife would make this short life, as Matt Dillahunty has put it, nothing more than a place to wipe your feet.

The knowledge that there's no afterlife means knowing this life is all we have.  It means having to get all we can out of this life, as there's nothing after this life is over.  That's far from meaningless.

And the idea that the absence of a god means "those who commit horrific evils and elude human punishment get away with their crimes scot free" is utter nonsense when said by a Christian, who believes believers in Jesus will get eternal bliss no matter what crimes they committed in their lives.  His religion not only states the evil will not be punished, it states evil will be rewarded.

So it's not the absence of his tyrant of a god that is "utterly tragic".  It's that god, and all the evils that come with it that is tragic.  It's the complete disregard for honesty many of that god's followers have that is tragic.

It's their unwillingness to have an honest discussion with anyone who doesn't agree with them that is tragic.

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1.  http://aparticularblogbyaparticularatheist.blogspot.com/2013/03/dishonesty-about-honesty.html
2.  http://theweek.com/article/index/241108/where-are-the-honest-atheists