Horse Feathers

Are you a religious person? Do you believe in god? If your answer to either of these questions is "yes", my question to you is, "Why do you believe that?"
There can be only one answer to my question. You believe that because someone told you it was true. It could have been a parent, a friend or a mere acquaintance but somebody at some point in your life told you there was a deity and you believed it. You might not have believed it right away but the stories were spun in such a way that you, at least, grew to believe it.

Have you ever seen god? Have you ever heard god? No, you have not. If you hear voices in your head, that's just you. There are neurons firing in your brain that translate into thoughts... but that's just you.

You might say, "But I have these religious texts that tell of 'miracles' and god speaking to prophets so that proves there is a god." No... it... doesn't. The only real "proof" that you have is that someone (a human someone) or a few 'someones' wrote stories a few thousand years ago. The simple fact that these stories exist does not mean the stories are based on real events. Is "Harry Potter" a true story because it's written in a book and tells of supernatural events? No. It is fiction.

Do you even know who wrote these books or what their motives were for writing the books? Perhaps they were just creative writers attempting to launch a literary career. The books that were written 2000 years ago, were most likely allegories, as this was a common writing style of the time.

There is now a fair amount of evidence to suggest that Jesus might not have ever existed but let's just assume that he did exist for argument's sake and that he lived where the stories claim he lived 2000 years ago. We know, and all theologians agree that the first book to write about Jesus' life was Mark and Mark was written 40 years after Jesus' alleged death. Most people in that region were illiterate. How likely is it that if Mark actually did write down 'word-of-mouth' stories, that these stories were accurate?

Have you ever played the 20 person "tell the story right" game? In one hour long class at university, we played the game (to demonstrate this process). The twenty students leave the classroom. The 2 minute story was told to the rest of us and we were to write it down. The first of the 20 was brought into the room and told the story by the professor. None of the 20 were allowed to take notes. The second student was brought in and was told the story by the first student. The 3rd student was brought in and told the story by the 2nd student and so on. The only story that was quite accurately retold was from student 1 to student 2. After that it went downhill. By the time student 20 was told the story, it didn't even resemble the original story. And that was in the span of one hour. How accurate would the story be after 40 years?

Why do you believe these stories are true? It is because you were told over and over again by some very convincing orators that they are true. You were told you are not permitted to question the validity of these stories because god almighty will punish you with hellfire!

I have one response to that. If there was any conceivable reason for me to believe any of these fantastical stories, you would not have to threaten me to "believe them or else." They would be easy to believe.

Any book that tells someone that "YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ALL OF THIS STUFF IS TRUE OR YOU WILL BE PUNISHED FOR ALL ETERNITY" is obvioysly FULL OF SHIT. And, for that matter, any book that tells me I'm doomed for wearing a cotton/poly blend, is, in my opinion, bat shit crazy, and deserves no more consideration than horse feathers!