Regarding Religion

Regarding Religion

By : Duke Focalor

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“Religion is the opium of the people” Karl Marx

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Preface This work is written for educative purposes only. The readers will find a mix of my own personal opinions, and fact. However, no facts in the book will be misrepresented. This is the tale of religion, and it’s patterns, myths, and lessons. This book is not meant to offend any individuals, but rather to make people more open minded to different beliefs, or essentially, a lack of. Religion has been the scapegoat of leaders for thousands of years. Religion is the reason people are willing to kill, or be killed. If people did not cling to their religion, virtually all world conflicts could be solved. Why do we kill for something that is supposed to be about peace? This book unveils the religious plagiarism of the Christian ways. Many people have asked me: “If you’re Agnostic, why do you care so much about religion?” My answer is simple: I want to help show other people how downright ridicules humans have a tendency to be, and to help lead the world one step closer to a

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peaceful society. I write this book with the intention to show people just how ignorant they can be to their own religion. My goal is to abolish religion, and with it major world conflicts. People who cling tightly to their faith also believe in the spread of peace. Many of them do not realize the contradictions in their ways. I, however, realize it fully. Religion has been a cause for discrimination and hate among humans for far too long, and I feel like I must do my part in helping rid the world of it’s greatest enemy, religion.

“I cannot prove anything, I can only disprove”.

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Section one : Christianity

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Chapter 1 Jesus If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses. -Lenny Bruce

Jesus. Son of God, sent for our sins. Let me give you a short background of the life of Jesus before we begin. : Born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus is the Messiah of the Jews. According to Eusebius (the first Christian historian), Jesus was born in a cave. In fact, the same cave that he was later buried in. Other fables of Christianity state it was a manger, located in Bethlehem. Three wise men see a new star, and go to worship their new king. A nearby shepherd is startled when an angel appears before him, and informs him of the birth of our king. A king nearby fears his birth, and sends his men to kill all the male babies in the area. Joseph, Jesus’ father learns of this, and they flee. They

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raise Jesus, and little or nothing is known of his upbringing. After a while, he appears again as an adult. He rides through towns on Donkeys, heals the blind, and even brings the dead back to life. He is then tried for blasphemy, and is crucified. After three days he is resurrected, and lives on. It is important to remember that he “died on the cross for three days, then rose once again”.

This is the story of Jesus as fast as I could summarize it. Jesus, however, is not original. He is the product of many champions of Greek and Roman Mythology. All modern religions have stemmed off of Greek mythology. For example, Dionysus, the Greek god of Wine, was born of a virgin. Not only that, but he was born on the 25th of December. According to myth, Dionysus also used wine to symbolize his blood to his followers, and bread as his flesh. Jesus was able to “turn water into wine”. I believe this was a personal attack on Dionysus by the fabricator of Jesus, for while Dionysus had created wine he had never been fabled to do something as bold as

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turning water into wine. Like Jesus, Dionysus had once been killed. Zeus took Dionysus’ heart, and with it, resurrected him, upon which Dionysus ascended into heaven. And before his death Dionysus had a “Last Supper” with his 12 apostles. Dionysus was wrongfully killed, stating, “You know not what you are doing”. This is a very close account of the final words of Jesus. Keep in mind that all of these Gods, Heroes, and myth have existed before Jesus. Jesus is also modeled off of Hercules, the hero of the gods, and the god of heroes. Both were presented with a mortal enemy, whose names even have a strong concordance (Jesus-Herod , Hercules-Hera). The proof of Jesus versus Hercules is also in close proximity. The works of the life of Jesus are based off of telltale, or rumors. The same is noted for Homers works on Hercules. Hercules and Jesus were both born of a mortal mother, and a deity father. Upon the birth of Jesus, three shepherds visited him. Mithra, a Persian god-man(god who takes a mortal form) was also honored

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with the presence of three shepherds at his birth. Mithra later lead a life of public miracles, healing people, and raising the dead. Does that sound familiar? When Jesus was born, three magi who brought gold, frankincense, and Myrrh also visited him. These are three materials that are precise when it comes to pagan rites and rituals. In Mark, chapter 5, Jesus released a demon from a man, and embodied it into 2,000 pigs, which then ran off a cliff, and drowned. Eleusis, the home of the Goddess Demeter, is home also to a similar story. 2,000 followers were bathed in the sea (sound like Baptism?) and each given a young pig. This drove the evil spirits out the humans and into the pigs, which were then killed. Jesus preformed many miracles, and an extremely prominent one is when Jesus enabled Simon Peter to catch 153 fish. 153 you say? Why, isn’t that the number believed sacred by Pythagoras, a Greek mathematician, scientist and…pagan? He started his own movement called Pythagoreanism, which held the number 153 in sacred reverence.

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Have you ever seen “The Passion of the Christ”? It’s an intensely gory movie depicting the life of Christ. The first ten minutes of the movie show no violence. After that, there are only 8 minutes of the whole film that are without gore. Christians WANT to see the savior beaten. It gives them the feeling that this man really truly suffered for them. This brings me to my next point. Let’s say, hypothetically, that Jesus DID exist. He is the Son of God, and knows there is a heaven. The human conflict of questions wondering, “Is there really a God/heaven?” were never present in his mind, he knew all along. So why is him suffering construed as a deed for us? He was going home. He was going back to the greatest place ever, and leaving all of those who were imperfect. He basically decided we were hopeless, and went back to heaven. To say that Jesus was based off of Greek Gods may not do him justice. There are multiple different theories on the origin of Jesus. Who is to say that he was based off a Greek God? Anyways, I thought it would only be fair to explore other

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conjectures on the coming of this Religious monument. The other theory we will explore is a correlation between Jesus and Astronomy. Before we start drawing similarities between any two objects, I have to give you the story of our sun. Refer back to the story of Jesus after this, and you will be shocked. Anyways, here is the story of our sun, center of our Universe: Our sun goes through a “Zodiac circuit” in exactly one year. The Zodiac is divided into 12 different houses, which represent the twelve sections of a 365.25 daylong year. They (and a brief description) are as listed in order:

Capricorn (Known as the Goat. Starts December 22nd, which is the Winter Solstice, or the shortest day of the year. Slowly, the Sun rises more and more north during this part of the Zodiac. This is actually considered the annual birth of the sun, seeing as it rises from its southernmost position in this time period. This selection of the Zodiac ends on January 19th)

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Aquarius (Known as the Water beaver. This portion starts January 20th, and lasts until February 18th. This is generally the time of rain. All things associated with this piece of the Zodiac deal with water)

Pisces (Known as the two fish. Starts February 19th, ends March 20th. This Zodiac is usually associated with fishing. The water of the last section makes fish plentiful, and this is the optimal time for fishermen. The fishermen are highly in demand during this time, since it is still too early to be acquiring food from agricultural means.)

Aries (Known as the Ram, sometimes referred to as “The lamb”. It Starts March 21st, and ends April 19th. You may notice that the date it starts on, March 21st is the date of the Vernal Equinox, which is when the sun rises exactly in the East, as opposed to simply “in the vicinity of the East”. This is the time when lambs are born.

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Taurus (Known as the bull. Starts April 20th, and ends on May 20th. Between Taurus and Gemini, the sun will pass across the Milky Way, generally between May 21st and June 4th)

Gemini (Known as the twins. Starts May 21st, and ends on June 20th. The twins bear the name of Castor and Pollux, named of the two brightest stars in Gemini.)

Cancer (Known as the crab. Starts June 21st, and ends on July 22nd. Its first day is the longest day of the year, also known as the Summer Solstice. After the 21st, the sun descends south, and days become shorter.)

Leo (Known as the Lion. Starts July 23rd, and ends on August 22nd. These are the days of the most brutal heat, and are thought to be the “strongest” days.

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Virgo (Known as the Eternal Virgin of the Harvest. Starts August 23rd, and ends on September 22nd. Virgo is the come of Harvest time, and widely recognized by ancient cultures.

Libra (Known as the Scales of Justice. Starts September 23rd, and ends on October 23rd. Scale is meant in the sense of measurement of weight. In this time of agriculture, this was one of the most important houses of Zodiac, as it is when farmers sold their crop. August 23rd, the day it starts on, marks the Autumnal Equinox, which is the beginning of Autumn. Day and night are equal lengths, and ancient civilizations saw this as Good and Evil being equal.

Scorpio (Known as the Scorpion. Starts October 24th, and ends November 11th. Ancient people believed that the scorpion had stung the sun, and this resulted in the days becoming shorter, and evil once again winning the war.

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Sagittarius (Known as the Hunter. Starts November 22nd, and ends on December 21st. He is depicted as a man on horseback, holding a bow or spear. This is also the hunting season.

The first similarity you may have drawn is during Capricorn. Jesus was missing from Bethlehem in this time period, which means “house of bread”. Jesus is not in Bethlehem though; he is in the city of Capricorn. This is illustrated in Matthew Chapter two, and Luke Chapter two. The second conjecture you may have noticed is Aquarius. If you are familiar with The Holy Bible then you know that this is the time period when Jesus visited John the Baptist. At this time he is baptized, much like the earth is baptized with rainwater during this house of the zodiac. Thirdly, is the Pisces. If you remember, the symbol for Pisces is the two fish. Think back to the Bible, and you will find strong concordances between the two fish, and Simon and Andrew. Simon and Andrew are two brother fishermen who Jesus

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encounters on his ministry of miracles. During the Zodiac Pisces Catholics, Episcopalians, and Mohammedans celebrate Lent, a time when they eat no meat save Fish. During this time period, many of them live on fish. You will find evidence of this comparison in Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:16. A fourth theorem you could hypothesize is the connection between Jesus and Aries. During this series of days, Jesus becomes the Lamb of God. Aries is the Ram, also known as the Lamb. This connection should be obvious. Near Taurus, as we said sun passes through the Milky Way, which looked like a “lake in the sky” to primitive cultures. During this time in the Bible Jesus crosses the lake by walking on water. This is supported in Mat 8:8, Mark 4:35, Luke 8:22, and John 6:16-25. Another interesting connection is that as the sun passes through Gemini (the twins, Castor and Pollux), Jesus heals two men that were possessed with demons. To prove this, I suggest Mat. 8:28-34.

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Time to move on to Leo. At this time in the Bible, Jesus is depicted as shining greatly on the top of a mountain. At this time in our sky, the Sun shines greatly from its highest point in the sky. Simply look in the Bible, under Mat. 17:1-13, Mark 9:2-13, or Luke 9:28-36 to find out the truth in this statement. The connection drawn with Virgo is not as simple as all the others. In the Bible, Jesus is valiantly entering Jerusalem on his ministries at this time. The sun also enters Virgo (Eternal Virgin of the Harvest) at this time. Jesus finds that the general population is light hearted at this time, for it is the harvest. This can be found in Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19. Do not forget Libra, the scale of Justice. This is compared to the Jesus throwing tables over at a temple, calling it a “den of robbers”. Jesus is upset that people are selling and buying, so he upsets the crowd. Men of law then greet him, and scales have represented law for thousands of years. This is found in Matthew 21:12-17. Next is Scorpio, which is plainly the scorpion. If you

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remember, this is when evil begins to take over good. This is also the point in the bible where Judas betrays Jesus. Many argue that Judas is a personification of the scorpion. Another interesting theory on Scorpio is that this is the time when Jesus Curses the Fig tree. What happens is he is hungry, but the tree bears no fruit. This angers Jesus, so he destroys the fruit tree (Matthew 21:18-19). The bible says that it withers, but many also point at that the fact that trees naturally wither this time of year. The last Zodiac is Sagittarius. In the Bible, Jesus is bound, and taken before Pontius Pilate, the governor. Pontius translates to “of the sea”, such as the sea of stars that make up our sky. Pilate becomes “armed with a spear” much like Sagittarius, the hunter. Many people believe Pilate is a personification of Sagittarius. There are many other similarities to be drawn. There are twelve Zodiac Houses, and Jesus has 12 disciples. The ministry of Jesus lasted one year, like the time period in which the sun completes it’s cycle. Jesus is said to be born in the same cave he died in, which would make his life a cycle similar to the revolution

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the Earth makes around the Sun. And perhaps the most convincing argument is that Jesus is born on December 25th, three days after the Winter Solstice. Ancient civilizations believed the sun died on Winter Solstice, since it is it’s lowest position in the sky. After three days though, the sun raises 1/10 of a degree, and is “resurrected” to the primitive cultures. A theory that closely ties with the last one is the connection drawn between the Egyptian sun god Horus and Jesus. Both born to virgins in a cave on December 25th. Horus was born to Isis and Osiris, Jesus to Joseph and Mary. Both preformed identical feats, such as healing the blind, performing exorcism, and both were cognates for the sun. So why Jesus? Why do we idolize Jesus, rather than Mithra, Dionysus, Hercules, or Horus? The reasoning is within the empires of Rome and Greece themselves. The national religions were what we now know as Greek Mythology. As the Empire of Greece fell, so did its religion. Christianity has survived due to its ability to become manifested into governments. But that topic is

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for a different chapter.

Chapter 2 God and Satan “Who kills more, God or Satan? God is totaled at 2,270,365 in the Holy Bible, not counting The Great Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the many plagues, famines, or fiery serpents due to a kill count not being given. Satan is totaled at 10.” -Unknown

Do you know the story of the coming of Satan? Well, I’ll sum it up for you. Lucifer was an archangel of God, and perhaps his

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most powerful angel. One day though, Lucifer gathered some other angels to lead a revolt against God. God punished Lucifer and his angels to Hell, where they were in charge of the underworld. The fallen angels then became Demons, and Lucifer became Satan. Now allow me to share with you the coming about of Hades. Hades, a brother of Zeus, grew a deep passion for the dead. He was the dabbler in the dark arts, and as such he claimed his stake as the Underworld, the place where the souls of the dead go. Before he had left, Hades was perhaps the most powerful God next to Zeus. In both stories, God/Zeus coincide with Satan/Hades. They do not hate them, but merely use them as a tool to rule the underworlds. You will find more unnerving parallels between the two beliefs as we continue to explore into this chapter. The Elysian Fields were a part of the Greek underworld where the brave and courageous went to after death. It is much like Christian heaven. It is a place of perfection, where all good souls

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can live together peacefully. Homer (a famous writer of Greek mythology) depicted the Elysian Fields as a Utopia. If you ponder the parallels between Christian heaven, and the Elysian Fields you will find it disturbingly similar. On the other hand, we have the River Phlegethon (or as it translates, “Lake of fire”). This is the eternal resting place of those who commit atrocities against mankind, such as murder or rape. Those tossed into Phlegethon are boiled alive in their own blood for all of eternity. The severity of this has given it the name of “The seventh circle of hell”. Hell in the Christian Bible is described as a “lake of fire”, where sinners and non-believers are thrown into. They will remain there for all eternity, for they have committed a crime so great that their punishment should be infinite. Once again, any thought of this comparison will force you to the inevitable. We have all seen pictures of the devil. A Man with the legs of a goat, and horns upon his head. An image of extreme ugliness, in which our minds correlate with evil. Once again, the Greeks

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beat the Christians to the punch line. Pan, the son of Hermes (in the Pantheon of Greek gods) is portrayed as a Goat-man, having horns and a pair of goat legs. This makes him ugly beyond compare, and all he falls in love with rejects him. This makes Pan one of the most Lustful Gods, a sin often regarded as Satan’s downfall. Somewhere in the human mind we connect ugly with evil, and beauty with good. It is for this reason the image of Satan was a replica of the most atrocious looking Greek God. While Pan was a just god, many Greeks did not follow him, due to his appearance. The image of God is also built from a Greek deity. Zeus, of course, was the candidate elected to be the still life used by Christians, as they painted their own God. No other mythical character was as powerful as Zeus, and all feared him. He was a symbol of strength, and often times his lightning bolt his a sign of greatness. It is for this reason early Christians interpreted their God as a man of white hair, with defined features. Many of their physical features are the same, but modern Christianity has come

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to take an approach of mystery when it comes to the physical appearance of their deity.

Chapter 3 Adam and Eve “If god is a man, how come Adam and Eve both have bellybuttons in all the pictures?” -Anton. 7

I’m sure most of us have heard the tale of Adam and Eve, but I will relay it for those of us who do not. God created Adam, and placed him in the Garden of Eden. He instructed Adam to eat anything he wanted, except to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of

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Good and Evil. He was told that if he ate from it, he would surely die. Then the Lord created all the beasts to be the helpers of man. Adam named all of the animals, but found not suitable helpers. So God took a rib from Adam, and created Adam a partner. Flesh of his Flesh, Blood of his Blood, Eve was created. A serpent, the most cunning of creatures, convinced Eve to eat a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. She also gave some to Adam, and they both ate it. Upon eating it, they realized they were naked. This embarrassed them, so they sewed fig leaves together to make clothes. God noticed this, and realized they had eaten from the Tree. God punished the serpent by making it crawl on it’s belly, and woman by increasing her pain in childbirth. Also, he said that man is to rule over her. They were then banished from the Garden of Eden. The full story can be found in Genesis, but the summary provided is very accurate. The first problem, and the most easy to identify with the story is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. If Adam had been instructed not to eat from it before he knew the difference between

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Good and Evil, he would not know that disobeying God was Evil. He knew nothing of morals, and Gods words could not have held any weight with him at all. Then, after Adam does eat from it, God gets angry. What can he expect? The second main problem is that Adam was created as modern man now is. This means Adam was given a Penis when he came into existence. Why would God give Adam a Penis, if there were no females at the time? He had constructed Adam, so he must have known that Adam would simply get lonely eventually without a female with the counterpart sexual organs. These are two major events that were overlooked by the fabricators of Christian Religion. The third main flaw I see in this fable is that there was no death before Adam and Eve ate from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Does this mean that God prevented all other organisms, such as bacteria, from touching Adam? Many people will simply argue that bacteria were created as a punishment for eating for The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is

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absurd, as bacteria is a necessity to our entire ecosystem. Also, the notion of a Feminist Christian Group is absurd. The Bible itself says in Genesis 3:16 that Woman shall be ruled over by Man. I do not agree with this, but then again, I am not a Christian. A true Christian woman would allow her husband to rule over her constantly. “So…” people ask me, “If not Adam and Eve, how did man start?” Well, I cannot answer that for a certain. But unlike Christianity, I have never claimed the ability to provide a full explanation. However, I am confident in the ability Science has to explain it. Science will explain everything, in due time.

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Chapter 4 Noah’s Ark “The ark is supposed to be twice the size of the Titanic right? If Noah built a ship with the help of his 3 sons in a week...Then why did it take 15,000 men and over 2 years to finish the Titanic?” -David Rohlf

Allow me to make you acquainted with the story of Noah and the Great Flood. Noah was a righteous man. So were his sons,

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Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All other men of this time were sinners, and this grieved God. He decided to wipe man and animal from the planet. One time, when God and Noah were talking, God told Noah to build an ark of cypress wood, and to make room in it. The dimensions of the ark were to be 450 feet long, 75 feet high, and 45 feet wide. He was commanded to put a roof on the ark, to keep water out. Noah is told to take 7 of every clean animal, a male and it’s mate. Also, two of every unclean animal, a male and its mate. Lastly, seven of every kind of bird, a male and its mate. When Noah was 600 years old (no joke) God sent the floodwaters to earth to purge out the evil. For forty days and forty nights water ravaged the earth, and the world became flooded. Eventually, Noah sent out a Raven, and discovered land. From here, all the animals were released to repopulate the earth. First, I will start my counterproof with the simple scientific fact that matter cannot be created, nor destroyed. Since this is proven true, where did all the water come from, and where did it go to afterwards? The water needed to completely flood the earth

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is so great that it couldn’t simply “disappear”. Secondly, the prospect of rounding up every specious of animal in Jerusalem in unachievable. Where did Noah find the penguins? The artic regions had not yet been discovered at the time, so much of this is impossible. Many Christians will argue that God sent the Animals to Noah. This is supported neither by science or the Bible. Genesis 6:19 states; “You are to bring on the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you”. That clearly states that God had no intention of sending the animals to Noah. Thirdly, let’s assume that Noah and his family do round up every species. Noah is instructed to keep all animals alive for 40 days, and to only have a specific number of them. Flies do not live for 40 days though, they live for 24 hours. And, if they reproduced, they would reproduce in numbers that exceeded God’s instructions. I’ve encountered ignoramuses who claim that God allowed the animals to live longer during the 40 days. If this were true, then why would he instruct Noah to keep them alive? If he

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could keep them alive no matter what, there would be no need for God to tell Noah to be careful about keeping them alive. In spite of all the factual evidence against it, some people still believe in this Christian favorite. Many say that Noah’s Ark has been found, on the top of a mountain in Turkey. Then why, I ask, is there not every single species of animal in Turkey? Would not every type of animal be present at the landing point, since some offspring would stay? Another argument is that maritime animals would flourish heavily. If all land animals had been practically extinct, but no marine wildlife touched, why do the oceans not froth with fish? There are many animals that are not proficient at swimming. Deer, for example. How then, did Deer come to North America after the Ark landed in Europe? Deer cannot swim the distance of an ocean, which is simply absurd. Some people will say that Noah’s Ark landed during Pangaea, then the continents spread apart. Christianity states that the Earth and the Universe itself is no older than 6,000 years old. Science says Pangaea was in

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existence 250 million years ago. This makes any possibility of this argument null and void. At times, I have been in an argument with someone who said no artic animals existed until after Noah’s landing of the ark. After this, some of the animals traveled North or South, then adapted and changed physical features to suit their environments. This is the basis of Evolution, which is denounced by Christianity. It is pretty obvious to see that this part of the Bible is a work of fiction. The events described in it are so irrational that any logical human would reject them, after seeing them in a more intellectual light. To believe in this part of the Bible is to believe in the existence of a Disney character, because both are very elaborate and well told stories. Neither of which are true.

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Chapter 5 Jonah and the Whale “How can a religion accept a man being swallowed by a whale and kept alive, but dismiss the thought of a Flying Spaghetti Monster creating the universe? There is no difference in evidence.” - Duke Focalor

The story of Jonah and the whale is a bedtime classic for many Christian families. The story needs little explanation, and is simply summarized as : Jonah was asked by God to proclaim judgment to Ninevah. When Jonah tries to flee by boat, God creates a great storm. The crew of the ship throws Jonah over,

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attempting to appease God. A great fish then swallows Jonah, Jonah lives inside the fish for three days, and then prays to God for forgiveness. God hear Jonahs prayer, and commands the whale to spit Jonah out on the land. After he has his feet again on dry ground, he travels to Ninevah to fulfill God’s will. The problems with this story are so numerous that I would think this chapter completely unneeded, yet recent conversations with myrmidons of the Christian faith tells me otherwise. Many of them claim this story is simply “a story that never really happened, it just is a lesson God gave us”. First off, there is a name for these lessons, and they are called parables. Secondly, The Bible states whether stories are parables or not. The story of Jonah IS NOT stated as a parable, therefore it must be taken as true in every way. Given those parameters, my first doubt on the truth of this story is the fact that Jonah lived inside the great fish for three days. The acid in the stomach of a fish of this size would kill Jonah before an hour, never the less three days. The ignoring of this scientific data cannot continue, and these false stories must be

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brought into the light of knowledge. My second doubt is that a “great fish” would even swallow Jonah. Either this fish was a carnivore or omnivore, which means that it would kill Jonah as it chewed him, or it was an herbivore, which entails that it would not swallow Jonah in the first place. To argue that “God had commanded it to swallow Jonah” is simply that imagination filling a void of reason with fanciful thoughts, none of which can even be considered true, on the smallest spectrum. So why do so many people find it easy to believe in a giant fish swallowing a man and keeping it alive for three days, yet as a society we reject the thought of evolution, a factual based hypothesis. Many people simply don’t like to be associated with primates, yet primates must be smarter than the average human, for they do not have religion. Even the mind of a primate would reject the book of Jonah in any realm of logical thought or conversation.

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Chapter 6 The beginning of everything “If we are going to teach creation science as an alternative to evolution, then we should also teach the stork theory as an alternative to biological reproduction.” -Judith Hayes

As always, I will give you a summary of the Christian Belief on Creation: In the beginning, everything was dark. God said, “Let there be light” and there was light. God then proceeded to separate light

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from dark, and day from night. This was the first day. On the second day, God divided the water from the air. From his, the blue sky emerged. On the third day, God made dry land by gathering the waters into in areas. He covered this dry land with Grass and other plants. On the fourth day, God put the sun in the sky, and the moon in the night. On the fifth day, God created all the birds in the air, and all the fish in the water. On the sixth day, God created all land animals. Cows, pigs, goats, humans, etc*. And on the seventh day, God rested.

That is how the tale goes. As interesting of a story it is, it is not true. I hope very much that you were able to pick up on some flaws in the story, as there definitely are some. We will start with the most obvious fault. God created light on the first day. He also separated the night

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from the day at this time. How can there be night and day on Earth without the Sun? It’s clearly illustrated that God did not create the Sun until the fourth day, yet until then there was still night and day. This is just not logical. Another large problem is the fact that god needs to rest on the seventh day. While I do realize that it would be a tiring week, is he not omnipotent? I did not know that omnipotent beings required rest. Rest is described as a period of inactivity, so one can regain stamina. Does this mean there are times when God is too tired to help us? I often argue the creation of the universe with people, and I have confronted the same question every time. “If God didn’t make the universe, how did it get there?” And the simple response to this is “If nothing ever created God, how did he get there? Why can God have just happened for no explanation, while our universe couldn’t have simply happened, even with scientific facts”. Another argument I encountered was that the Big Bang theory is impossible, and that even if a highly dense point of matter did

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explode, it would not continue to stay in motion forever. But, you must remember that there is no gravity on these objects in motion, no obstacles in their way. Therefore, yes, they would continue to expand. The universe is expanding is a proven fact, accepted by Creationists and Atheists alike, so we have valid evidence of the Big Bang Theory.

Chapter 7 Homosexuality, Sexism, and God’s intolerance in the Bible “Man created God in his image : intolerant, sexist, homophobic and violent.” - Marie

There is no one definite story I can give you to sum up all of this, so I will relay many shorter stories to you. The Bible states many times though its intolerance to Homosexuality, its beliefs in

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sexism, and the intolerance of God. We will start at the top, and explore the Bible’s policy on Homosexuality. Sodom is a city in the Bible that existed long ago. The inhabitants of it were extreme sinners, and God set out to destroy it. Abraham pleaded for God not to, and God said if there were 5 righteous men in the city, he would not touch it. Finding only Abrahams Nephew righteous, God destroyed the city. Genesis 19 is clear that this city was destroyed because of Homosexual activity inside of the city. There are many other examples of Homophobia in the Bible, many of which are founds in Romans. Romans 1:26-27 states that : “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense [sic] of their error which was meet.”. The meaning of this quote is simple and straightforward. Being a homosexual will

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send you to hell. Another blatant quote found in Leviticus 18:22 is : “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”. There is no way to get around the fact that The Bible believes that Homosexuals are directly disobeying God, and therefore will burn in hell. So why do many Christians accept Homosexuals? The answer is that they pick and choose parts of the Bible to disregard. This is once again proof that people do not follow the rules of religion, but that religion, in fact, follow the rules of people. The next topic we will cover in this chapter is sexism. The sheer prospect of a Female rights group directly contradicts Christianity. Genesis 3:16 states : “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you”. I don’t think there is any possible way around this. According to Christianity, Men are created to have more rights then women. Another verse that is profoundly sexist in the Bible is Genesis, 6:2, which reads : “The sons of God saw that the daughters of men

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were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.” There is no possible way around the simple, concise nature of this verse. Firstly, if man chooses a woman, and she has no say in it, it is obvious who the greater force is. Secondly, I found it interesting they would say the males are the “sons of God”, but call the females merely the “daughters of men”. The Bible is stating that men come directly from God, yet females did not. Females are ruled over by man, as man is ruled over by God. I find this very odd, and when females are questioned about it, they simply ignore it. Please remember that all of these ideals are The Bibles, and not mine. I personally do not believe in the superiority of either sex. The sheer factor that we need the other to survive makes the relationship symbiotic, therefore neither is greater. No, I do not support sexism, but I do intend to shed light to the Bible’s support of it. The third and final quandary we will contemplate in this chapter is the intolerance of God. While God is made out to be

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perfect being, we must realize how impossible this is. Keep in mind the notion that God is perfect throughout this section, and you will pull on the thread of this sweater of lies. It’s told that God created man in his image. This seems a little egotistical to me. It’s only natural though, Humans created Christianity and they end up being the blessed kind. Also, if God created man in his image, why are we not all Gods? How could a being of human caliber create the Universe, and everything in it in a week? No, I believe that man created God in his image, such as the quote at the beginning of this chapter states. A perfect God would not kill his children. Why would God create us, if only to later flood the world and cause us pain? How great can he be, if he cannot control our actions, only our fates? Anyone can kill another human, it is not anything special. A real God would eliminate conflict. The Christian God never ends it, he simply shows he is greater at creating it than man. This is not worthy of lordship. Many people say that all this conflict is simply a test of our

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faith. Would we not have faith if we were born into heaven? If born into heaven, there would be no lack of faith, and every human would be saved. No, Christian God decides to put us on a large rock to see if we believe. And then, he watch’s over us, “delivering us from evil”. My favorite movie, “The Count of Monte Cristo” has a very good lesson in it. A man is taken to prison, and threatened to be beaten. The man is religious, so the jailer says “Let's make a bargain. You ask God for help, and I'll stop the moment He shows up.”. I encourage all those reading this to put this to the test. This proves that even if there is a God, he is not concerned with the pain of man, and he will not help or save humans. Another great quote I have found is : “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”. This is a famous quote by Epicurus, an ancient Greek Philosopher. I recommend pondering this quote

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from a non-bias view. It makes a very valid point, and a nonarguable statement.

Section two : Islamic

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Chapter one Muhammad “Fight them until all opposition ends, and all submit to Allah.” -Muhammad

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I doubt that all of you are as familiar with the story. It is extremely different from the story of the Christian messiah. The following is a detailed version of the life of the Islamic messiah: Muhammad was born 570 CE (Common Era, the one we are in) in Mecca. His father Abdullah had died several weeks before Muhammad’s birth. Muhammad had a normal life for the first six years, and when he was six years of age, his mother died. His grandfather, Abd al Muttalib received Muhammad until Abd al Muttalib’s death when Muhammad was eight. Abd al Muttalib was slain by Abu Talib, Muhammad’s uncle. Abu Talib took Muhammad in, and taught him how to merchant. When twelve years old, Muhammad joined his uncle on a Caravan that went all the way to Bosnia, Syria. During this journey, Muhammad earned himself the nickname “al-Ameen”, which means the honest, the reliable, and the trustworthy. Khadijah, a wealthy merchant widow heard of Muhammad and his credentials and asked him to deliver some merchandise to Syria.

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After Muhammad completed this, Khadijah proposed marriage to him, and Muhammad accepted. Khadijah had already been widowed twice, and was forty years old. Muhammad was twenty-five years of age when he accepted. Over time, Khadijah and him had 6 children, four daughters and two sons. One of his sons, Qasim died when two years old. Muhammad then got the nickname Abdul Qasim, or “father or Qasim”. Muhammad’s other son Abdullah died while an infant. Muhammad was of forty years of age when on one of his numerous visits to Mount Hira, his meditation spot, when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him. Gabriel said to Muhammad to “read”, or “recite”. Upon Muhammad’s response of “I cannot read”, Gabriel embraced him, then once again commanded him to “read”, or “recite”. This happened one more time, and then Gabriel asked Muhammad to repeat after him: “Recite in the name of your Lord who created! He created man from that which clings! Recite; and thy Lord is most bountiful, He who has taught by the pen, taught man what he knew not.”. You can find this in the

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Qur’an, 96:1-5. This disturbed Muhammad, and he returned to his home. After telling his wife of his experience, she replied “Allah will not you down because you are kind to relatives, you speak only the truth, you help the poor, the orphan and the needy, and you are a honest man.”. Khadijah then asked her cousin’s opinion of it, who was extremely knowledgeable of scripture. Waraqa, her cousin, informed her than the angel was Gabriel, the same angel that had visited Moses. He believed Muhammad to be a long expected prophet. Khadijah believed Muhammad was the prophet, and was therefore the first Muslim. Over the next twenty-three years, Gabriel appeared to Muhammad many times, and instructed him of meaning signs, or verses. Muhammad then instructed his many scribes to record them as he relayed them, and thus the Qur’an(Koran) was born. The task of Muhammad was to restore the full and undeniable right of all worship to Allah. The earliest Muslims created the popular phrase “There is no God Except Allah, and Muhammad is the

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messenger of Allah.”. Islam can be translated to “peace by submission”, and those who follow the Islamic beliefs are Muslims. During his first 3 years of his ministry 40 people accepted Islamic way. He then started preaching to the public, and the leaders of Mecca decided to stop his preaching. They offered him many valuable things, and even the position of king, if he would abandon preaching. They even attempted to convince his uncle Abu Talib to find someone to kill Muhammad. Abu tried to talk his nephew out of preaching, but Muhammad refused. The leaders of Mecca, or “The Quraish” then started to beat, or torture Muslims, and even to boycott the business of Muslims. The Muslims who were poor would be publicly beaten. One time they killed a woman, Umm Ammar. The more prestigious members of Islamic faith were put on house arrest until they denounced their religion. Muhammad was publicly ridiculed, and filth was thrown on him as he prayed. Muhammad advised all Muslims to be patient though, and to wait it out.

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During the fifth year of his ministry, Muhammad advised all Muslims to move to Abyssinia. Eighty people (small children not included) immigrated to Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia). When the Quraish learned of this convoy, they sent a force to bring them back. The leader of Abyssinia, Negus, was intrigued by Islamic and allowed them to stay. The Quraish then retaliated by severing any chances of contact between Muhammad and his relatives that had stayed in Mecca. The ban of contact lasted three years, then was lifted, Shortly after it was lifted both Khadijah and Abu Talib died, and Muhammad was greatly saddened. After the death of his wife and Uncle, Muhammad married Sawdah, a widow who’s husband had died in Abyssinia. Muhammad then received a vision by Allah that he was to also marry A’ishah, a friend’s daughter. Since it was Allah’s will, Sawdah accepted it fully, and they were Muhammad’s only two wives until he reached fifty-six years of age. Also at this time, Muhammad traveled to Ta’if, to seek protection from persecution of the Muslims. They scoffed at him,

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and threw stones at him. Muhammad then received a revelation from Gabriel, saying that if Muhammad asked Allah for permission, he could destroy the town. Muhammad decided not to destroy the town, and received another vision, stating that the Koran is the doctrine for both Humans and Jinn(Jinn are known by the English language as Genies, and are created from smokeless fire. They existed before Adam according to the Koran, and are widely accepted as real by Arabic culture.). Shortly after, Gabriel appeared to Muhammad and took him to the all Mosques, far and near. At the Mosque in Jerusalem met with the prophets of the past; Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and others. Muhammad lead them in prayer. This all occurred in one night, and while Muhammad was staying in al-Israa. After this night of events, Muhammad traveled to Al-Miraj. During one night, Muhammad was then taken up to the heavens by Angel Gabriel, and shown the signs of Allah. During his time in heaven, he learned of the five daily prayers. He was to relay these back to his people when he returned to earth. This whole

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encounter took but a few hours of one night. After this experience, he traveled back to Mecca. Upon entering, he was mocked, and ridiculed. Muhammad vividly described Jerusalem, and a caravan heading towards Mecca that he had seen. When these descriptions proved true, all of the nonbelievers stopped mocking him. By 622, The Quraish had decided that it was necessary to kill Muhammad. They formulated a plan on how to kill him, where one man from each Quraish tribe would attack Muhammad at the same time. Gabriel appeared before Muhammad, and told him of their plans. Muhammad fled Mecca with Abu Bakr, his close friend of whoms daughter he married, on the planned night of his assassination. They traveled to the mountain cave of Thawr. They stayed in the cave for three days, then traveled to Yathrib(commonly known as Medinah). When the Quarish found he eluded them they put a bounty of 100 camels on his head, dead or alive. His journey to Medinah is known as the migration, or Hijra and this is the start

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of the Islamic calendar. Medinah welcomed Muhammad with open arms, and the Muslims of Mecca all joined Muhammad here. Wanting things to remain peaceful, Muhammad created a treaty for the code of conduct among all humans in Medinah, regardless of religion. All in Medinah embraced this contract, and it kept order in the city. After Muhammad arrived in Medinah, the Anti-Islamic forces increased their army size. Many battles were waged around Medinah (Battles of Badr, and Uhud, and Allies) during a following period of time. These battles were to destroy the Islamic faith, and during this period of time Muhammad married many women who had been widowed by the war. One of which was Umm Salamah, a women who’s husband died from wounds sustained in the Battle of Uhud. Two other wives he gained (Juwayriah and Safiyah) had been prisoners of war. Both were “royal” in their tribes, and Muhammad granted them their freedom in return for them accepting Islamic faith, and marrying Muhammad.

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After this, Muhammad received a divine message that no man shall have more than four wives. He was instructed to keep all of his though, and he did. His wives were role models of a Muslim female, and they often recited his verses to others. By now, Muhammad and his followers pilgrimaged every year. In 628, he and 1,500 myrmidons left for an annual pilgrimage, this time to Mecca. On their journey they were stopped at Hudaybiyah, a city on the way. A treaty was created stating that Muslims would be permitted to plunder Mecca the next year. While at Hudabiyah, Muhammad taught the Islamic faith to many. By this time, a large number of Muslims had read and memorized the Qur’an. They were sent to spread the practice of Islam to places where Muhammad had not yet been. Over fifty of these followers were killed. Weeks after Hudabiyah Muhammad sent notes to many Kings and Sires, as invitations to practice Islamic ways. Negus (King of Abyssinia, also the ruler of Bahrain), and Heraclius (Byzantine Emperor) joined Islamic faith after receiving letters. A

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large number of other leaders joined Islamic faith without invitation. Two uneventful years passed, and in 629 the Quraish broke the Treaty of Hudabiyah. They had aided in the attack on the army of Bani Khuza’ah, a friend of Muhammad. Some off the escaped men of Bani Khuza’ah’s army ran to Mecca. The Quarish did not help the men of the army of Bani Khuza’ah, and these men sent messages to Muhammad asking for help. Muhammad responded by Marching to Mecca, 10,000 Muslims strong, to reclaim the “Holy Ground”. Before laying siege to the city, he sent a note inside that side all who remained in their homes would not be harmed. They marched into Mecca with little resistance, and right into the temple that Muhammad had prayed at as a child, known as Ka’bah. Muhammad then proceeded in destroying the idols in the temple, and reclaimed it as a temple to Allah, the one true God. Muhammad then confronted the Quraish, saying: “I will treat you as Prophet Yousuf (Joseph) treated his brothers. There is no reproach against you. Go to your homes, and you are all free.”.

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This surprised the Quraish greatly, and they found in the Islamic faith. The few who did not accept the Muslim way of life fled, for they feared Muhammad. Muhammad also stated that Allah had created Mecca the same day he created the heavens and the Earth. It is holy ground, and it is unlawful to shed blood or cut trees within Mecca. Those who had fled Mecca in fear of Muhammad received a letter stating they would not be harmed, and they returned to Mecca, and joined the Islamic faith. It only took about one year for nearly all of Arabia to accept Muhammad as the prophet, on 630. During that year, Gabriel once again appeared to Mohammad and used to title “Father of Ibrahim” to address him. Hours after this meeting Mohammad’s first wife (Khadijah) gave birth to their third son, her first child after their previous six. Mohammad named him Ibrahim, and Ibrahim lived to be ten months old. The day he died there was a Solar Eclipse, and Mohammad stated that all should pray at any time of an Eclipse.

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Arabia’s conversion to Islam made the two main powers of the area at the time cautious. The Byzantines and Persian governors made threats to attack Medinah, and Mohammad set up small armies on the Northern borders of Arabia to help defend their lad from the northern empires. Mohammad completed his last pilgrimage in 632, with 120,000 myrmidons following him. This is when he was bestowed with his final revelations. Shortly after words, he fell ill and died.

There is the story of the prophet of Islam. I think it is important to understand something before you persecute it. That is the main reason why I gave such a detailed story of the life of Mohammad, according to the Koran. First I would like to point of the fact the Mohammad never possesses any supernatural powers. He is an ordinary man. How can we accept his word is the word of Allah, if he is the only person to have such encounters? He is a normal man who claims extraordinary contacts, and others accept it without any logical

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reasoning or explanation. Imagine someone of modern day claimed to have a contact with a Celestial being. This person had no extraordinary powers, yet he claims to have encountered a deity, who commands him on how humans should live their lives. This man then preaches to other about it. Wouldn’t you think this man was a complete nutcase? How does it differ when we talk about someone 1550 years ago? My second point is that Muhammad kills many people. When he “pilgrimaged” towns he actually invaded them, killing all those who would not convert. He is violent, and I do not think that violence is something that should be modeled, certainly not idolized. This blatant display of intolerance is the reason I believe religion should be abolished. My third observation on the life of Muhammad is that a “Christian” angel visits him. It is important to remember that during this time, Christianity was a widely accepted religion, and therefore this stemmed off of Christianity, much like Roman mythology and Greek mythology. In Greek mythology we have

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Heracles, but in Roman mythology we are presented Hercules. These two characters are synonyms for the same person, but neither acknowledge the “truth” of the other. In conclusion, I believe that Muhammad was not a Messiah, a prophet, or even a holy man. Any man suffering from delusion could easily fabricate a story, and Mohammad did so. This is before modern medicine, and many people suffered heat induced mental conditions in the hot environment of Arabia.

Chapter two Jinn “If men and jinn combined to write the like of this Koran, they would surely fail to compose one like it, though they helped one another.” -Qur’an, 17:84

I’m sure that we all have been acquainted with Jinn one way or another. Western culture generally depict them as Genies, such on Aladdin(1992), a Disney movie based off of an Eastern

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tale. In western culture we prefer to say Genie. Genie and Jinn are the same thing though, and it is important to understand that. The basic story of Jinn are as follows : The Jinn were created before man from a smokeless fire. Upon man being created the Jinn were commanded by Allah to bow to Adam, the first man. The Jinn refused, and were banished to Earth. They also became labeled “Shaitan”, which is the Islamic cognate to Satan. According to Islamic beliefs Jinn are mass less, and can fit themselves into anything. They set up communities similar to those of a human. The engage in marriage, and death like human do. Due to them being mass less though allows tem to house a community in any size object. Jinn are invisible to humans, but can make themselves visible if they wish to. When they make themselves visible, they may appear as humans, or animals. While humans cannot see Jinn, Jinn are fully capable of seeing humans. Jinn also follow Islamic, and can even be summoned by humans. The summoning of Jinn by a human is referred to as black

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magic. A dark Jinni is summoned, in exchange for money. The reason for summoning dark Jinn is to have it do something terrible to another human. Generally, you must pay a magician to have a dark Jinn summoned. This may seem extremely insane to the average Christian, but it’s no more ludicrous than your average Christian Demon. However, since neither Jinn nor Demons exist I will now continue in my examination of Jinn. A very simple fact that I noticed, and I’m sure many of you also noticed was that Jinn are invisible. This means that there is no factual evidence of the existence of Jinn. While Muslims may use the fact that Jinn can manifest themselves in human or animal form as an argument, this is not in any way, shape, or form an argument. This just proves that the creator of this false religion was testing how gullible people were. That statement entails that any human you see, or animal, could be a Jinn. It defies scientific knowledge on all fronts. If you kept an open mind throughout the story of the Jinn,

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you may have noticed one more bit of information than those who closed their minds. Allah created man, and commanded the Jinn to bow to him. This once again shows the egotistical views of mankind, as a race. We believe that everything was made for us, and we are the supreme rulers of earth. No one gave us this title, until we created religion. A third problem you may have noticed in the story about the Jinn is that they have no mass, yet they are living. Science shows that there is no such thing as an object without mass. It is impossible, and religious characters are no exception. How then can man be so bold as to assert that there are living organisms that have no mass? No, I believe that Jinn are no more real then the Angels of Christianity. They were created as a “servant” to man, and prove his ego exceeds his intelligence. Also, the fact that man believes they can summon a Jinn to harm another man shows the sickening violence and disregard that humankind shows to each other. This violence and disregard stem from religion.

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Chapter 3 Jihad “Who told me that the act of Jihad, the act of killing non-Muslims was good? Well, if you read the Koran, you will find that in a certain sura Allah says that he has bought the lives of the Muslims in return for rewards of paradise. They kill non-Muslims and get killed in this war effort, and the reward for these Muslims is paradise. Paradise is a huge garden inhabited by the most beautiful virgins, who live in palaces, and there are countless pretty pearl-like boys to serve them as well. -Anwar Shaikh

Many of us have heard the term “jihad” before, in our news or in other political discussions. Jihad is a name that is often used,

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but never properly addressed. While many would believe that the attacks of September 11th were completely unpredicted and had no real reason behind them, this is simply not true. The attacks were executed because of Islamic fundamentalism. This chapter will focus on exploring the fastest growing movement of religious extremism. A large portion of Americans today find themselves believing that groups like Al-Qaeda and Abu Sayyaf are simply insane, and find that the only way to solve these matters is to hold on tighter to their Christian beliefs. This is an example of ignorance to reason. These groups are attacking because they have actually read their religious doctrines, as opposed to most Christians, who have not read theirs. Dismissing them as insane is not justifiable, since they only are doing what they must to obtain paradise. This is a sad example of how religion is affecting the world today. Those who say that Islamic is a religion of peace, and that Jihadist groups have simply misinterpreted the text are either

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ignorant, or lying. In fact, the Qur’an is a sieve of intolerance. This starts in 2:6, where it states “Don’t bother to warn the disbelievers” all the way to 60:1 “Don’t be friends with disbelievers. They are your and Allah’s enemy.”. With quotes like “Slay them wherever you find them….Such is the reward of disbelievers” (2:191) it is astonishing that there are not more fundamentalist groups launching attacks on nations that are not under Islamic rule. It is with the Koran in mind that Jihadists intend to destroy infidels. While Jihaddists (Muslim extremists) remain the largest religious fundamentalist group, there are terrorists on both sides. To simply blame all religious terrorism on Muslims is foolish, because Christians have more then their share of terrorism also. As weapons of immense capabilities become available to these groups, so will the ability to kill millions in one moment. We cannot continue to allow religion to get in the way of our success as a species.

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Section three : Conclusion

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Chapter one

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Pascal’s Wager “If you believe in God and turn out to be incorrect, you have lost nothing – but if you don’t believe in God and turn out to be incorrect, you will go to hell. Therefore it is foolish to be an atheist.” -Blaise Pascal

As you can see in the above quote, Pascal’s wager is a philosophical argument that it is better to believe in God than not to. While this may seem like an ideal argument for any simpleton, it is extremely flawed. In this chapter, we will point out some of it’s larger flaws. The first argument is that this argument is only enjoyable in theory. If you think deeply into it, you will find that the price of believing in God is coming at a cost of our current planet. While heaven is described as a place infinitely better than earth, we do not know for certain the existence of it. Therefore we are destroying our only real world for one that lives in our fantasies. This cannot be allowed to continue. The second large flaw in this wager is that simply being concerned about yourself is not a reason to believe in any religion.

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That is not faith, that is selfishness. We should not celebrate people who possess a combination of equal ignorant and selfcentered thoughts. If “God” were just, he would not allow those selfish people into heaven. I believe that we can dismiss Pascal’s Wager as null and void. It is a self-centered value, and we cannot allow it to a reason to believe in fairy tales. With that notion, we should assume it is better to believe in Zeus, or Allah also. I propose a revised edition of Pascals Wager, to be called “Duke’s Wager”. “It is better to place concern in the current life then to place faith in the next. You cannot have both, and you cannot prove the latter life. Therefore, being a fundamentalist Christian or Muslim is Foolish.”. -Duke’s Wager

Section two

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Solving issues “Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.” -Buddha

So how do we attempt to stop this system of violence? We must separate ourselves from any religion that teaches us to look at other humans differently. Though not a Buddhist, I find many of their beliefs to be unrivaled lessons of morale. In order to obtain world peace, we must put aside our differences. Our differences are numerous, but none are as potent as religion. Yes, we must learn to put aside religion. While many theists will argue that morals are a product of religions, it is simple to see this is not true. If morals had been created by religion, it would be morally correct to kill someone who had different beliefs then you did. No, I believe that morals are a human trait, just as much as hair, or fingernails. We cannot continue to give religion credit for morals that have been inside of humans for thousands of years.

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In order to take a step towards world peace, we must lay down our religions. Not spirituality, but religions. Spirituality is essential for humans. It is perfectly fine to meditate, or fast for spiritual purposes. These are spiritually unexplainable events. However, we can continue to fast without deceiving ourselves, and our children of what we know for certain. You cannot honestly tell your children God is real, or that Muhammad is the one true prophet. However, you can meditate and feel more complete spiritually without concocting a false story about unexplainable things.

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“If peace is to be achieved, we must lay down all absurdities we have carried so willingly. We must admit that we do not understand the universe, and we must admit that people of other faiths are also humans. We must learn to love each other, rather then kill each other because of books our ancestors wrote. The time to love is now. We can no longer afford to persecute people based on religion, ethnic, or sexual differences. Our largest enemy has manifested itself so greatly in our lives that confronting it is almost impossible. To not confront it means pain, terror, and the end of our civilization. No, humans will surely perish if religious martyrdom grows, as does the potential of greater weapons.” -Duke Focalor