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Goodbye Jesus

My Intro


Guest Iconoclastic1

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Guest Iconoclastic1

I suppose this is as good a place as any to introduce myself. I'm a strong atheist, a big fan of Dawkins and the late, great, maryjane toking Carl Sagan. I'm a survivor of eight years of catholic school including catholic mass every morning and bible study every afternoon. I still have flashbacks of scowling hunched-over nuns brandishing big metal rulers. I'd put my biblical knowledge up against any theist you guys could throw at me.

 

Anyway, although his is my first post, I've been visiting for a number of weeks, and already I have a great deal of respect for many of the regulars here. Christianity is without a doubt a virulent meme, one which uses a number of emotional snares to keep people trapped, and it takes a lot of mental discipline to pull yourself out of that hole.

 

I'll say one thing, I wish I knew about a place such as this when I was still in school. I was rather open about my nonbelief, and I took every opportunity to quibble with the bible class instructor about inconsistencies, and that didn't win me any friends. In fact it made me something of a magnet for derision. Ironic that here I was a nonbeliever surrounded on all sides by christians, yet I was the most christlike out of any of them.

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Christianity is without a doubt a virulent meme, one which uses a number of emotional snares to keep people trapped, and it takes a lot of mental discipline to pull yourself out of that hole.

It sure does. This isn't made any easier by the fact that so many of us were deliberately trained or programmed to abdicate our responsibility for our decisions to the damned clergy.

 

"Don't think about it, just be quiet and obey."

Ironic that here I was a nonbeliever surrounded on all sides by christians, yet I was the most christlike out of any of them.

That's another common theme around here.

 

Welcome to the site, Iconoclastic1! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your thoughts.

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It sure does. This isn't made any easier by the fact that so many of us were deliberately trained or programmed to abdicate our responsibility for our decisions to the damned clergy.

 

"Don't think about it, just be quiet and obey."

 

This reminds me of an article, Viruses of the Mind

 

The applicable portion is as follows:

A beautiful child close to me, six and the apple of her father's eye, believes that Thomas the Tank Engine really exists. She believes in Father Christmas, and when she grows up her ambition is to be a tooth fairy. She and her school-friends believe the solemn word of respected adults that tooth fairies and Father Christmas really exist. This little girl is of an age to believe whatever you tell her. If you tell her about witches changing princes into frogs she will believe you. If you tell her that bad children roast forever in hell she will have nightmares. I have just discovered that without her father's consent this sweet, trusting, gullible six-year-old is being sent, for weekly instruction, to a Roman Catholic nun. What chance has she?

 

A human child is shaped by evolution to soak up the culture of her people. Most obviously, she learns the essentials of their language in a matter of months. A large dictionary of words to speak, an encyclopedia of information to speak about, complicated syntactic and semantic rules to order the speaking, are all transferred from older brains into hers well before she reaches half her adult size. When you are pre-programmed to absorb useful information at a high rate, it is hard to shut out pernicious or damaging information at the same time. With so many mindbytes to be downloaded, so many mental codons to be replicated, it is no wonder that child brains are gullible, open to almost any suggestion, vulnerable to subversion, easy prey to Moonies, Scientologists and nuns. Like immune-deficient patients, children are wide open to mental infections that adults might brush off without effort.

 

You may notice I've been infected by the meme meme, I tend to put a lot of things in memetic terms. Hope this doesn't get overly annoying, I think it's a great study that offers a tremendous amount of insight into the science of ideas. It's particular meaningful here, since this place is something of a battleground of memes.

 

 

That's another common theme around here.

 

Welcome to the site, Iconoclastic1! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your thoughts.

 

Thanks, I look forward to contributing.

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Christianity is without a doubt a virulent meme, one which uses a number of emotional snares to keep people trapped, and it takes a lot of mental discipline to pull yourself out of that hole.

"Preach it, Rev!"

 

Welcome to the forum, Iconoclastic1! Glad that you escaped in one piece. I look forward to hearing more from a fellow free thinker. :grin:

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