Idea [#633]

[PostalGirl]

To whom it may concern:

I began watching all of your videos on YouTube just a few short weeks ago. I must say, I
am impressed.

I have a couple of questions for you, as well as an idea. Please reply when you get a
chance.

1. What personal gain do you get from your work? It does not look as though you have any
sponsors for your work, so the gain is not financial. Plus, you seem to know an awful lot
of the scriptures. I am under the impression that you were most likely a devoted
Christian at one point. I say this because I myself was a "Bible thumper" once upon a
time. One day, I realized that if such a God really existed as the Bible portrays him, he
is cruel, incompetent and uncaring at best. Just curious as to what fuels your drive to
deliver this message.

2. What do you think of web sites such as http://www.blasphemychallenge.com/? Do you see
them as something that...
a) Supports your cause, by drawing light to the foolishness of Christianity?
b) Hurts your cause, since the act of denouncing the holy ghost admits the existence of
one?
c) Is totally irrelevant to the work you're doing?

3. An interesting angle on Christianity that I have not yet seen you explore is the one
pertaining to the financial profit accrued by the Christian church. The modern day church
in most denominations is nothing more than a corporate recruiting machine, one which uses
guilt, manipulation, and deceit to attract more followers, more offerings, and so forth.
Examples of this can be seen everywhere, particularly with churches that attempt to be
more "modern" and "in touch" with the younger audiences. Churches peddle "bullshit" and
intangible products for sale at a high price. You will never hear the concept of tithing
referenced more often than you will enduring a Pentecostal church service. Nor will you
find more scam, lies and deception than looking at the practices employed by countless
numbers of televangelists. I have several personal stories, and I am sure many others do
as well.

A couple of years ago, I decided I would like to write a book on this very concept, the
concept of a sellable god. I have done minimal work towards collecting enough information
and data to support my argument - unlike some famous good books I would like mine to
contain factual information - but it is in the works.

I suppose my positive idea was to consider looking at this angle in some of your videos.
What do you think?

All the best,
[Name]

[Hermes]

To whom it may concern:

I began watching all of your videos on YouTube just a few short weeks ago. I must say, I
am impressed.

I have a couple of questions for you, as well as an idea. Please reply when you get a
chance.

They are impressive, aren't they?  Simple, blunt, but multi-layered.

1. What personal gain do you get from your work? It does not look as though you have any
sponsors for your work, so the gain is not financial. Plus, you seem to know an awful lot
of the scriptures. I am under the impression that you were most likely a devoted
Christian at one point. I say this because I myself was a "Bible thumper" once upon a
time. One day, I realized that if such a God really existed as the Bible portrays him, he
is cruel, incompetent and uncaring at best. Just curious as to what fuels your drive to
deliver this message.

I can't speak for the authors of the videos, though the summary of what I usually post to Christians that ask that question is this;

* Some Christians do bad things in the name of Christianity.  (I don't provide a list, but offer one.)
* Christians aren't correcting those problems and often add to them.
* If you (Christians) won't do anything, I can use my own freedom of speech to point out the absurdities of Christianity.
* Maybe this will moderate or motivate Christians to correct these problems.

...and then I end the list asking them what they are doing (if anything) to deal with those bad things.

2. What do you think of web sites such as http://www.blasphemychallenge.com/? Do you see
them as something that...
a) Supports your cause, by drawing light to the foolishness of Christianity?
b) Hurts your cause, since the act of denouncing the holy ghost admits the existence of
one?
c) Is totally irrelevant to the work you're doing?

Personally, I'm a fan of The Rational Response Squad, but I would not say that they or the WWGHA site is the one place to learn or discuss or promote non-supernaturalism.

There are dozens of podcasts and hundreds of blogs that handle different issues important to different groups.  To take a look at some of the variety, browse the YouTube thread (below) but make no mistake; YouTube is only the surface.

YouTube mega list...
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/forums/index.php?topic=2078.0

If you want more, let me know, but you may already have a list of your own.

3. An interesting angle on Christianity that I have not yet seen you explore is the one
pertaining to the financial profit accrued by the Christian church. The modern day church
in most denominations is nothing more than a corporate recruiting machine, one which uses
guilt, manipulation, and deceit to attract more followers, more offerings, and so forth.
Examples of this can be seen everywhere, particularly with churches that attempt to be
more "modern" and "in touch" with the younger audiences. Churches peddle "bulls**t" and
intangible products for sale at a high price. You will never hear the concept of tithing
referenced more often than you will enduring a Pentecostal church service. Nor will you
find more scam, lies and deception than looking at the practices employed by countless
numbers of televangelists. I have several personal stories, and I am sure many others do
as well.

Agreed.  It's like a restaurant chain mixed with a car dealership.  Even when the product is tangible the benefits can be exaggerated.  With religion selling an intangible product, the benefits aren't even known -- and can't be challenged.

A couple of years ago, I decided I would like to write a book on this very concept, the
concept of a sellable god. I have done minimal work towards collecting enough information
and data to support my argument - unlike some famous good books I would like mine to
contain factual information - but it is in the works.

I suppose my positive idea was to consider looking at this angle in some of your videos.
What do you think?

There was some debate here at one point on how to create a religion.  The idea was dumped because it could be used as a check list for scumbags.  Efforts to make people more skeptical about outlandish claims would be better.

That said, either as an investigation of phenomenon or as an analysis it could be worth writing.

[Irish]

I am shocked.  This email.... it's beautiful.... It has paragraphs and full sentences.  There are... (gasp) periods, commas, capitalized first letters, correct usage of pronouns, question marks, numbered ideas and questions, full coherent ideas, and.... you used the word "whom" properly in the very first line.

Thank you for making this email coherent and easy to read.  You don't know what kind of people we get in here with all sorts of atrocious language problems.

[Irish]

1. What personal gain do you get from your work? It does not look as though you have any
sponsors for your work, so the gain is not financial. Plus, you seem to know an awful lot
of the scriptures. I am under the impression that you were most likely a devoted
Christian at one point. I say this because I myself was a "Bible thumper" once upon a
time. One day, I realized that if such a God really existed as the Bible portrays him, he
is cruel, incompetent and uncaring at best. Just curious as to what fuels your drive to
deliver this message.

I'm not the creator of the videos but here is what I have to say:

The ideas I put forth and embrace into the world are to do one thing; get others to think for themselves about their particular religion.  I am so tired of hearing the response of "because I just do" to any question made to a persons belief in any deity.  I despise the fact that children are indoctrinated into religion before they even have a chance to realize what a religion is or what it encompasses.  My satisfaction comes when just one person sits down and thinks to him/her-self, "Why do I believe in _________."  If I can make thoughts like that arise in a religious zombie who has never once thought to the greater context of their religion then my work is done.

My sentiments exactly on the Bible god part.  If the bible god does exist He is one of corruption and murderous rants only befitting an immature child.  If the ideas of God were in a person today he she would be locked away for murder and downcast by society as a bigot and hypocritical bafoon.

[Freezykow]

I am shocked.  This email.... it's beautiful.... It has paragraphs and full sentences.  There are... (gasp) periods, commas, capitalized first letters, correct usage of pronouns, question marks, numbered ideas and questions, full coherent ideas, and.... you used the word "whom" properly in the very first line.

Thank you for making this email coherent and easy to read.  You don't know what kind of people we get in here with all sorts of atrocious language problems.

  That was great!