Is God dead? Atheism finds a market in U.S

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A fresh wave of atheistic books has hit the market this autumn, some climbing onto best-seller lists in what proponents see as a backlash against the way religion is entwined in politics.

"Religion is fragmenting the human community," said Sam Harris, author of "Letter to a Christian Nation," No. 11 on the New York Times nonfiction list on October 15.

There is a "huge visibility and political empowerment of religion. President George W. Bush uses his first veto to deny funding for stem cell research and scientists everywhere are horrified," he said in an interview.

Religious polarization is part of many world conflicts, he said, including those involving Israel and Iran, "but it's never discussed. I consider it the story of our time, what religion is doing to us. But there are very few people calling a spade a spade."

His "Letter," a blunt 96-page pocket-sized book condensing arguments against belief in quick-fire volleys, appeared on the Times list just ahead of "The God Delusion," by Richard Dawkins, a scientist at Oxford University and long-time atheist.

In addition, Harris' "The End of Faith," a 2004 work which prompted his "Letter" as a response to critics, is holding the No. 13 Times spot among nonfiction paperbacks.

Publishers Weekly said the business has seen "a striking number of impassioned critiques of religion -- any religion, but Christianity in particular," a probably inevitable development given "the super-soaking of American politics and culture with religion in recent years."

Paul Kurtz, founder of the Council for Secular Humanism and publisher of Free Inquiry magazine, said, "The American public is really disturbed about the role of religion in U.S. government policy, particularly with the Bush administration and the breakdown of church-state separation, and secondly with the conflict in the Mideast."

They are turning to free thought and secular humanism and publishers have recognized a taste for that, he added.

"I've published 45 books, many critical of religion," Kurtz said. "I think in America we have this notion of tolerance ... it was considered bad taste to criticize religion. But I think now there are profound questions about age-old hatreds."

The Rev. James Halstead, chairman of the Department of Religious Studies at Chicago's DePaul University, says the phenomenon is really "a ripple caused by the book publishing industry."

"These books cause no new thought or moral commitment. The arguments are centuries old," he told Reuters. Some believers, he added, "are no better. Their conception of God, the Divine-Human-World relationship are much too simplistic and materialistic."

Too often, he said, the concept "God" is misused "to legitimate the self and to beat up other people ... to rehash that same old theistic and atheistic arguments is a waste of time, energy and paper."

Dr. Timothy Larsen, professor of theology at Wheaton College in Illinois, says any growth in interest in atheism is a reflection of the strength of religion -- the former being a parasite that feeds off the latter.

That happened late in the 19th century America when an era of intense religious conviction gave rise to voices like famed agnostic Robert Ingersoll, he said.

For Christianity, he said, "It's very important for people of faith to realize how unsettling and threatening their posture and rhetoric and practice can feel to others. So it's an opportunity for the church to look at itself and say 'we have done things ... that make other people uncomfortable.' It is an opportunity for dialogue."

Larsen, author of the soon-to-be-published "Crisis of Doubt," added that in some sense atheism is "a disappointment with God and with the church. Some of these are people we wounded that we should be handling pastorally rather than with aggressive knockdown debate."

These are also probably some of the same people Harris says he's hearing from after his two books.

"Many, many readers feel utterly isolated in their communities," he said. "They are surrounded by cult members, from their point of view, and are unable to disclose their feelings."

"I get a lot of e-mail just expressing incredible relief that they are not alone ... relieved that I'm writing something that couldn't be said," Harris added.

Whosoever shall say 'thou fool' shall be in danger of hell fire.

Ok......

NIV Proverbs 27:3
Stone is heavy and sand a burden, but provocation by a fool is heavier than both.

NIV Proverbs 18:6
A fool's lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating.

NIV Proverbs 17:28
Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.

NIV Proverbs 13:19
A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but fools detest turning from evil.

NIV Proverbs 14:9
Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright.

NIV Proverbs 14:16
A wise man fears the LORD and shuns evil, but a fool is hotheaded and reckless.

NIV Proverbs 14:33
Wisdom reposes in the heart of the discerning and even among fools she lets herself be known.

NIV Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

NIV Proverbs 28:26
He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.

NIV Proverbs 10:23
A fool finds pleasure in evil conduct, but a man of understanding delights in wisdom.

NIV Proverbs 12:15-16
15. The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.
16. A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

NIV Proverbs 1:32-33
32. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33. but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."

NIV Proverbs 3:33-35
33. The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.
34. He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.
35. The wise inherit honor, but fools he holds up to shame.

NIV Proverbs 10:18
He who conceals his hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.

NIV Proverbs 17:10
A rebuke impresses a man of discernment more than a hundred lashes a fool.

NIV Proverbs 20:3
It is to a man's honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.

NIV Proverbs 26:4
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.

NIV Proverbs 29:20
Do you see a man who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Odd, he didn't seem to think so when he dictated the thirty-first chapter of Numbers....

Murder???

Numbers 31

1. The LORD said to Moses,
2. "Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people."
3. So Moses said to the people, "Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites and to carry out the LORD's vengeance on them.
4. Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel."
5. So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel.
6. Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.
7. They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man.
8. Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba--the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.
9. The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder.
10. They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps.
11. They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals,
12. and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
13. Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp.
14. Moses was angry with the officers of the army--the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds--who returned from the battle.
15. "Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them.
16. "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD's people.
17. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man,
18. but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
19. "All of you who have killed anyone or touched anyone who was killed must stay outside the camp seven days. On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselves and your captives.
20. Purify every garment as well as everything made of leather, goat hair or wood."
21. Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, "This is the requirement of the law that the LORD gave Moses:
22. Gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, lead
23. and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire, and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing. And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water.
24. On the seventh day wash your clothes and you will be clean. Then you may come into the camp."
25. The LORD said to Moses,
26. "You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the community are to count all the people and animals that were captured.
27. Divide the spoils between the soldiers who took part in the battle and the rest of the community.
28. From the soldiers who fought in the battle, set apart as tribute for the LORD one out of every five hundred, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep or goats.
29. Take this tribute from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest as the LORD's part.
30. From the Israelites' half, select one out of every fifty, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats or other animals. Give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the LORD's tabernacle."
31. So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.
32. The plunder remaining from the spoils that the soldiers took was 675,000 sheep,
33. 72,000 cattle,
34. 61,000 donkeys
35. and 32,000 women who had never slept with a man.
36. The half share of those who fought in the battle was: 337,500 sheep,
37. of which the tribute for the LORD was 675;
38. 36,000 cattle, of which the tribute for the LORD was 72;
39. 30,500 donkeys, of which the tribute for the LORD was 61;
40. 16,000 people, of which the tribute for the LORD was 32.
41. Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as the LORD's part, as the LORD commanded Moses.
42. The half belonging to the Israelites, which Moses set apart from that of the fighting men--
43. the community's half--was 337,500 sheep,
44. 36,000 cattle,
45. 30,500 donkeys
46. and 16,000 people.
47. From the Israelites' half, Moses selected one out of every fifty persons and animals, as the LORD commanded him, and gave them to the Levites, who were responsible for the care of the LORD's tabernacle.
48. Then the officers who were over the units of the army--the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds--went to Moses
49. and said to him, "Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing.
50. So we have brought as an offering to the LORD the gold articles each of us acquired--armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces--to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD."
51. Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them the gold--all the crafted articles.
52. All the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that Moses and Eleazar presented as a gift to the LORD weighed 16,750 shekels.
53. Each soldier had taken plunder for himself.
54. Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and brought it into the Tent of Meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD.

... there is an intrinsic sense of right or wrong in the human brain...

That came from Where?

NIV Romans 2:11-15
11. For God does not show favoritism.
12. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
13. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
14. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law,
15. since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)

NIV 1 Corinthians 4:4
My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

NIV 1 Corinthians 8:6-7
6. yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
7. But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.

NIV Titus 1:15
To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.

NIV Hebrews 9:9
This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.

NIV Hebrews 9:14
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

NIV Hebrews 10:22
let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

NIV Hebrews 13:18
Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.

"Now, given that God is omnipotent and eternal, it seems that a little crucifixion wouldn't seem like much to him. At worst it was a slightly unpleasant end to a business trip."

Keep in mind that God, omnipotent, omniscient, infinite, and eternal, became man. Even without thinking of the Crucifixion, the Incarnation, in itself, is a sacrifice beyond all imagining: the Omnipotent becoming weak, the Omniscient learning his first lisping syllables at his mother's knee. Think of the cataclysm of the Infinite and Eternal plunging down to be subjected to the laws of space and time.

This is more shocking than the Cosmos itself disappearing into a Black Hole.

He was the Word of God,
"who, although He had the nature of God,
did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped at,
but emptied Himself,
taking the form of a slave
and, being made in the likeness of men,
He humbled Himself
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross."

In His human nature Jesus had his own knowledge ("And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men") which He acquired the same way all people acquire knowledge; and He had his own human will ("Father, not my will but Thine be done"). He had his own embodied life, with all that implies: hunger, thirst, exhaustion, pain, etc. He had His own human mind, and experienced sorrow, dread and fear.

The dreadful truth is that He suffered in His dying just as any man would suffer, with all the helplessness, the torment, and even desolation ("My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?") that would afflict any man.

As God, He gave everything He had to give ("emptied himself"), and as Man, He lost everything in a death of total abandonment.

If we had any idea of what this means, we would see that it is the most shocking thing that has ever happened in the history of the Universe.

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