Begone Religion: January 2014

Sunday 26 January 2014

Islam and Bestiality

Google, the world’s most popular Internet search engine, has found in a survey that mostly Muslim states seek access to sex-related websites and Pakistan tops the list. Google found that of the top 10 countries - searching for sex-related sites - six were Muslim, with Pakistan on the top. The other Muslim countries are Egypt at number 2, Iran at 4, Morocco at 5, Saudi Arabia at 7 and Turkey at 8. Non-Muslim states are Vietnam at 3, India at 6, Philippines at 9 and Poland at 10.

Here are the Muslim countries and how they placed in the top five world ranking of various bestiality-related internet search terms:

Pig Sex: Pakistan (No. 1) Egypt (No. 2) Saudi Arabia (No. 3)
Donkey Sex: Pakistan (No. 1) Iran (No. 3) Saudi Arabia (No. 4)
Dog Sex: Pakistan (No. 1) Saudi Arabia (No. 3)
Cat Sex: Pakistan (No. 1) Iran (No. 2) Egypt (No. 3) Saudi Arabia (No. 4)
Horse Sex: Pakistan (No. 1) Turkey (No. 3)
Cow Sex: Pakistan (No. 1) Iran (No. 2) Saudi Arabia (No. 4)
Goat Sex: Pakistan (No. 1)
Animal Sex: Pakistan (No. 1) Morocco (No. 2) Iran (No. 4) Egypt (No. 5)
Snake Sex: Pakistan (No. 1) Malaysia (No. 3) Indonesia (No. 4) Egypt (No. 5)
Monkey Sex: Pakistan (No. 1) Indonesia (No. 3) Malaysia (No. 4)
Bear Sex: Pakistan (No. 1) Saudi Arabia (No. 2)
Elephant Sex: Pakistan (No. 1) Egypt (No. 3) United Arab Emirates (No. 4) Malaysia (No. 5)
Fox Sex: Saudi Arabia (No. 1) Turkey (No. 4)

Pakistan has banned content on more than a dozen websites because of "offensive" and "blasphemous" material, while they themselves rank No. 1 for certain sex-related search terms, including "child sex," "rape sex," "animal sex," "camel sex," "donkey sex," "dog sex," and "horse sex"

Thursday 23 January 2014

Sodom and Gomorrah

SUN GODS: History of Religion Part 3

It's amazing if you try to talk about this with any religious person in America, they will block this out and will not even consider it or investigate the facts themselves. As Jordan Maxwell has said. "The more you begin to investigate, what we think we understand, where we came from or what we are doing. The more you begin to see we've been lied to. We've been lied to be every institution and what makes you think for one minute that the religious institution is the only one that hasn't been touched. The religious institutions of this world are at the bottom of the dirt. The religious institutions of this world are put there by the same people who gave you your corrupt government, your corrupt education, who setup your international banking cartels. Because our masters don't give a damn about you or you family what they care about is what they've always cared about. And that's controlling the whole damn world. We have been mislead away from the true and divine presence of the Universe that men have called God. I don't know what God is but I know what he isn't. And unless and until you're prepared to look at the whole truth, where ever it may go, where ever it may lead too. If you want to look the other way or if you want to play favorites, then somewhere along the way you're going to find out you messing with divine justice. The more you educate yourself the more you understand where things come from and the more obvious things become and you being to see lies everywhere. You have to know the truth and seek the truth and the truth will set you free."

SUN GODS: History of Religion Part 2

SUN GODS: History of Religion Part 1

Wednesday 22 January 2014

Legends Over Reality: Top 5 Tallest Structures

#1 Tower of Babel in Mesopotamia
#2 Burj Khalifa in United Arab Emirates
#3 Tokyo Sky Tree in Japan
#4 Abraj Al Bait in Saudi Arabia
#5 Petronas Towers in Malaysia

CN Tower in Canada with 553.33 m (1815.4 ft) should have taken the 5th place but I guess I was misinformed, apologies to all Canadians!

Legends Over Reality: Top 5 Deadliest Floods

#1 The Great Global Flood, 99.98%-99.999% (in the movie I got it wrong: 95%-99.999%)
#2 Flood in China, 0.125-0.185%
#3 Yellow River, China, 0.069-0.154%
#4 Yellow River, China, 0.023-0.032%
#5 Banqiao Dam, China, 0.005775%

Legends Over Reality: Top 5 Longest Human Lifespan

#1 Methuselah with 969 years
#2 Jeanne Calment, 122 years
#3 Sarah Knauss, 119 years
#4 Lucy Hannah, 117 years
#5 Marie-Louise Meilleur, 117 years

I also have to mention Shigechiyo Izumi with 105 years (1881-1986)
At first it was claimed that he was born in 1865, putting him second to Jeanne Calment. But in 1987 the Department of Epidemiology at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology reported that Izumi actually was 105 years old.

Saturday 4 January 2014

Psychology of Belief, Part 10: Summary and Conclusions

Let's face it. We could make 10 hours worth of this stuff, but hopefully the point has been made. All religious faiths, without exception, are empirically unjustified. They exist only because human beings are prone to psychological manipulation and cognitive bias. Not only have we conclusively debunked every serious argument for God's existence from a rational standpoint, but we are reaching the point where we can experimentally model the very reasons why people find these arguments compelling in the first place.

Psychology of Belief Part 9: Agenticity

Answering the question of why people keep seeing "God" in perfectly natural phenomena.

Note that the second experiment was intended to be given to children. The bit with the pencil and the tiger is even verbatim with the actual experimental procedure. So if it seems a little condescending, then understand that it was designed for a five-year-old.

Psychology of Belief Part 8: Need for Closure

Have you ever wondered why people are so prone to "God of the Gaps" thinking?

Here's how it works:

Religious belief is highly correlated with need for cognitive closure. Need for closure is then highly correlated with a propensity for primacy. This means whenever a question comes up that begs for an answer, the natural tendency for such people is to latch on to whatever answer comes along first to fill in the ambiguity. Since "God did it" is such a classic answer to so many deep questions about the universe itself, many people cannot help but use this answer to fill in their questions.

So what's the solution?

Unless you are an expert in whatever cosmic issue is being questioned, learn to feel happy with telling people "I don't know, and neither do you." Even this response can fill the need for closure, but now we're at least being honest. We also leave ourselves much more open to learning the real answer when it is finally presented with honest, academic discipline.

Psychology of Belief, Part 7: Projection

Have you ever wondered why creationist Christians love to call atheism and evolution "faith-based religions?" Well, as it turns out, Sigmund Freud was right. Classical psychological projection is a defense mechanism whereby people deny their own faults by perceiving them in other people. Projecting their own blind faith onto critics is therefore just a tool believers use to avoid recognizing those very same faults within themselves.

Psychology of Belief, Part 6: Hallucinations

Hearing voices: It's not just for schizophrenics any more!

Hallucination is a relatively common phenomenon. Virtually all of us will, at one point or another, experience sensory perceptions generated entirely out of our own minds. Sadly, some people are more prone to this than others, and it is entirely within reason that every spiritual experience in human history is attributable to auditory, visual, and tactile hallucinations.

Anywhere between 1-2 % of the human population hears voices on a regular basis. Sometimes the voices say encouraging things. Sometimes the voices are derogatory and vicious. Other times they speak nonsense. Occasionally they are even capable of full conversations.

Sometimes the voices are audible. Sometimes they are like loud thoughts. Other times they are like severe, intrusive urges.

Sometimes the voices are a blessing in the life of the hearer. Other times the voices are a nuisance. Some people cope by taking drugs. Others cope by asserting dominance with the voices. Some have even developed bizarre coping mechanisms like having "voice time" or simply repeating everything the voices say back at them.

In short, if you think you have heard the voice of God. You probably have not.

Psychology of Belief, Part 5: Compliance Techniques

Which is more likely? That missionaries generate converts through the power of holy inspiration? Or that missionaries are really clever marketers?

EDIT: Ray's method here is probably more than just a foot-in-the-door effect. You will also notice a few "door-in-the-face" questions as well. These are designed to elicit an immediate rejection, followed by a lesser concession. See reference #4 at the end for an experimental demonstration of this effect.

Psychology of Belief, Part 4: Misinformation Effect

In this episode, we learn why personal testimony is universally regarded as the weakest form of evidence. Yet despite this fact, personal testimonies are heavily emphasized among religious circles anyway. That says a lot about the value of truth among religious circles, doesn't it?

Psychology of Belief, Part 3: Confirmation Bias

Presentation of the principles of confirmation bias and belief perseverance. The natural human tendency is to seek out only the evidence that supports what we already believe, and to ignore evidence that may debunk our beliefs. We also tend to cling to beliefs even after the original evidence which put it there has been debunked. This is the essence of belief perseverance.

Psychology of Belief, Part 2: Insufficient Justification

In the previous video, we learned how peer pressure leads to public conformity. Now we shall see how public conformity can be turned into genuine belief, even when the belief is embarrassingly false.