10 thoughts on “Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ The Designer”

  1. This is really such a profound point. Religion appeals to that part of ourselves which is occupied with our own personal drama, ignoring the Big Picture. “If there was a really Big, Powerful Creator of the Universe who wanted to communicate with us — isn’t it likely that He’d give us a book?” And the faithful, mindful of how parents and potentates behave, nod along. Yes, that sounds reasonable.

    No it doesn’t. Not given the higher context. A … book? “Revelations?”

    This point is sometimes called the Argument From Scale. The stage is too big for the drama.

  2. “How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said — grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed”? Instead they say, “No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.”

    ― Carl Sagan

  5. Some years ago the Freedom From Religion Foundation had an “out” campaign and online app that allowed people to create “virtual billboards” with their own quotes or statements, and I cobbled one together for myself:
    https://x.com/Jon_Alexandr/status/1760338456306385330

    My original text is, of course, very similar to quotes by Sagan, his wife, and others, so I don’t consider it unique. But it’s useful for posting on social media.

    The photo I chose for my “billboard” is of me during a photo shoot for my upcoming Roman Catholic “holy communion” when I was seven years old. Five years later I was still a nominal Catholic for my so-called “confirmation,” but I renounced my weak allegiance to the religion after I had to kiss the ring of a bishop during the ceremony, which involved many dozens of other indoctrinated children kissing the same ring. (Yuck.) I became a de facto atheist in my 20s, though I didn’t use the term for myself until several decades later, when I came “out” about being a nonbeliever.

  7. I’ll go out on a limb here:

    I find it crazy to associate a guy that raped a 9 year old (Aisha) after killing her family, whose followers murdered their way across the Middle East into Europe to the entirely non-violent, self-asserted “son of God” that was tortured to death via Roman crucifixion (if any such thing can be verified: was raised from dead by God, where his followers went on to prove they absolutely believed – as they were systematically murdered for preaching the gospel), of which the rejection of sin formed the basis for our law and human rights today …

    The Bible is not about the “majesty of the universe”, but the crucial moral place that humankind has in it.

    After the collapse of “The New Atheists” via misbehavior (and bad arguments such as “I don’t like this, therefore it doesn’t exist”: IMO, William Lane politely wiped the floor with his opponents) and perhaps borderline mental issues by some members, watching the Western World become anti-semitic, anti-democratic, anti-chaste, anti-child, anti-traditional, anti-speech, anti-freedom based on “leftism”, is a real-time education …

    … Anti-Semitism historically warned of totalitarianism. I watch daily the systematic destruction of our democracy (by those screaming they are for democracy – the illegal, felonious, and destructive “get Trump” legal warfare, the 8-10 million illegal immigrants: a method of outlawing any other party, the compromised news media while Julian Assange rots in prison. Note the attempts to create an attack on 1/2 the population in the mid term speech against “MAGA”, and the corrupt overprosecution of J6, and apparent agent provocateurs in the J6 group) …

    Just who would have predicted this 10 years ago? Only the Christians who have been warning about the consequences of “sin” for decades now.

    The US appears to be going the way of the Canaanites even with pushback (child sacrifice via abortion, infanticide, rampant sexualization, underage “transitioning” – as if a child could make such a decision – no tattoo: but hey, we’ll medicalize your underage body with wildly inappropriate life-altering drugs, if not physical mutilation; and we’re going to take children from parents **by law**). California is now a “safe state” for importing underage transitioners, throwing open the door to trafficking. The Vatican endorses the “new woke religion”, while placing a statue of the God Molech in front of the Coliseum.

    It seems a great deal of the messages in “The Bible”, whether interpreted right or wrong, whether ultimately true or false, are being vindicated. The warnings in the Old Testament to the Israelites that demanded a “King”, and all the destruction that came to the Israelites (as happened to many other countries), is the lesson. The Bible predicts outcomes from sin. It is happening. We will be under judgment of “natural law” by not preventing the internal wickeness of humankind.

    What happens if we go the distance? Will readers on this site convert? What is the threshold? No need for “Extraordinary evidence for extraordinary claims” which is nonsense: ordinary evidence is fine (find an alien body, proof of aliens: a body is ordinary evidence; Seeing Jesus alive after seeing a Roman guard stab him post crucifixian and he bleeds blood and water: it is logical to believe he was resurrected; see events in Relevation happen: makes sense to consider Christianity. When Bill Gates advertises a digital mark inserted under the skin, else one cannot travel, buy or sell –is that a precursor to the “mark of the beast”? How many coincidences before belief? Because no prophesier 2000 years ago had any clue the tech we have today)

    … Whether the reader decides the Bible is “true” or not, perhaps there needs to be an adjustment of world view with regards to “religious belief”. People are being starved of the truth. The truth is that humankind is broken. We are badly in need of redemption. Every one of us is guilty. We cannot self-perfect. We need a savior. We are missing the guidance that leads us out. That is the concept of “heavenly father”. That is a message denied by atheism. That is a reason why atheism is wrong: it is not a moral compass at all. It is a free-for-all.

    1. James;
      Today’s Jesus and Mo is, I think, about humility, and recognizing that humankind is unlikely to have a “crucial moral place” in a system so huge, imposing, and so little about ourselves. All the stories that inspire us are human stories, including the one you admire. Human stories focus on the role of humans.

      As tempting as it is to believe that these are the Worst of Times, when we look at the arc of human history things have gotten better than they once were. When you say we are broken, you imply that we once were perfect wholes. Again, humility forces us to aspire only to our improvement.

      Big picture vs little picture.

  8. Fundamental assumption (unlikely to have a crucial moral place) is problematic and, at an initial level, denied by this site.

    We cannot have tech, capital, investment, or advancement without freedom of thought, free speech, honesty, diligence, openness to challenge, and massive voluntary collaboration (which is what a market is: distributed, specialized knowledge via the division of labor). In primitive societies, everyone knows “how to grow rice”. The sum total of knowledge is small. In advanced societies, the level of cooperation is astronomic: first for basic needs, and then for advancement; the sum total of knowledge is beyond calculation.

    So, perhaps our moral views *do* have “universe changing” implications (certainly seems the trend: true for the earth, now more than 1,000 years ago). What if we should learn to travel “to the stars”? It seems we not only cannot advance without morality (a history lesson), it may indeed have crucial implications as we do.

    And look at all the moral arguments! Listen to many of Hitchens anti-God arguments. Moral. Communism: moral. Socialism: moral. US brand of leftism: moral. LGBTQ: moral. Free speech: a moral and value argument. Interestingly, a lot of arguments “for God” (given by philosophers) are not moral (examples: specified complexity, first cause, design) etc. Ditto for capitalism (incentives, “knowledge problem”, private property = freedom).

    I think this subject is deep: not so easily dismissed.

    1. Sorr, but this is the second irrelevant comment you have made on this site. It has NOTHING to do with the post. I suggest you find some other site where you can leave non sequiturs.

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