Religious Superstition And False Hope - The Atheist Experience #560

Peter Popoff, Religious Superstition And False Hope (The Atheist Experience #560 with Matt Dillahunty & Martin Wagner).

God: The Love Born of Terror.

Religion is a love born of terror. Like children, we WILL love what takes our fear away as if it WERE our parent.

But a good parent never fills its child with shame, or an inferiority complex.

If you understand why a person touches wood you understand, to some extent, why people talk to gods. To partially explain the existence of religion you need only explain the existence of superstition. To explain THAT, you need to explain that "spooky" feeling we get. I think I can, though it's just an opinion. I think "spookiness" is an instinct we HAD to evolve in order to survive, to keep us out of the shadows at all costs.

Understanding an instinct often removes much of its power over you.

Evidence of the claim in the video that pre-existing traits can be accentuated within 10 generations can be found in the following video (beginning around the 7.30 mark), where wild foxes are selected for passivity and bred, resulting in obvious (and somewhat shocking) affection and trust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYV9rb...
continued in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4efKgf...

You May as well Pray to Aliens

This video looks at the way humans try to communicate with higher powers from Religious Prayer to Seti.

Is there any evidence for either?









Original Soundtrack Recorded by Alan Jinx http://www.youtube.com/user/ALANJINX

All clips/images used in this video are either copyright-free or covered under "fair use" for nonprofit educational purposes (Title 17 § 107 of the USC).

Maxine Stone - PR Manager
Lee Harvey - Creative Director
Alan Jinx - Sound/Music Director

God, Christians Need Satan

Sam Harris - the Bible's fallacies

Sam Harris easily dissects the fallacies of the bible and its myriad moral hypocrisies and childish superstitions.

Ayahuasca magic

Psychedelics research and the use of Ayahuasca in religious rituals.

Secrets of the Occult

occultism, magic, alchemy etc...

Religion is Not the Answer

Religion is Not the Answer -

Common Superstitions

* Friday the thirteenth is an unlucky day.

* A rabbit's foot brings good luck.

* An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

* To find a four-leaf clover is to find good luck.

* If you walk under a ladder, you will have bad luck.

* If a black cat crosses your path you will have bad luck.

* To break a mirror will bring you seven years bad luck.

* To open an umbrella in the house is to bring bad luck.

* To find a horseshoe brings good luck.

* Step on a crack, break your mother's back.

* You can break a bad luck spell by turning seven times in a clockwise circle.

* Garlic protects from evil spirits and vampires.

* Our fate is written in the stars.

* At the end of a rainbow is a pot of gold.

* Clothes worn inside out will bring good luck.

* Wearing your birthstone will bring you good luck.

* An itchy palm means money will come your way.

* A beginner will always have good luck: beginner's luck.

* A cat has nine lives.

* Eating fish makes you smart.

* Toads cause warts.

* A cricket in the house brings good luck.

* It is bad luck to sing at the table.

* It is bad luck to sleep on a table.

* Goldfish in the pond bring good luck.

* Goldfish in the house bring bad luck.

* For good luck, wear new clothes on Easter.

* If the bottom of your feet itch, you will make a trip.

* When a dog howls, death is near.

* It is bad luck to chase someone with a broom.

* A sailor wearing an earring cannot drown.

* To find a penny heads up, brings good luck.

* To cure a sty, rub it with a gold wedding band.

* Animals can talk at midnight on Christmas Eve.
* A bird that comes in your window brings bad luck.

* To refuse a kiss under mistletoe causes bad luck.

* A drowned woman floats face up, a drowned man floats face down.

* A person cannot drown before going under three times.

* To drop a fork means a woman will visit.

* To drop a knife means a man will visit.

* To drop a spoon means a child will visit.

* Washing a car will bring rain.

* To drop a dishcloth means bad luck is coming.

* If you shiver, someone is casting a shadow on your grave.


* After receiving a container of food, the container should never be returned empty.

* Crossing your fingers helps to avoid bad luck and helps a wish come true.

* A lock of hair from a baby's first haircut should be kept for good luck.
* An acorn at the window can keep lightning out of the house.

* The wedding veil protects the bride from the evil eye.

* You must get out of bed on the same side you got in on or you will have bad luck.

* Evil spirits cannot harm you when you are standing in a circle.

* A cat will try to take the breath from a baby.

* Warm hands, cold heart.

* Cold hands, warm heart.

* It is unlucky to rock an empty rocking chair.

* To kill an albatross is to cause bad luck to the ship and all upon it.

* Wearing an opal when it is not your birthstone is bad luck.

* Smell dandelions, wet the bed.

* To give someone a purse or wallet without money in it will bring that person bad luck.


* A forked branch, held with a fork in each hand, will dip and point when it passes over water.


* If you blow out all of the candles on your birthday cake with the first breath, you will get whatever you wish for.

* To have a wish come true using a wishbone, two people make a wish, then take hold of each end of the bone and pull it until it separates. The person with the longer end gets his or her wish.


* To make a happy marriage, the bride must wear: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

Mayan Calendar & Human DNA V - Human Sacrifice & Maya Collapse

WHY MAYA PERFORMED HUMAN SACRIFICE?

1. EFFECT: The word "sacrifice" in daily modern usage has taken on a modified meaning from its original designation. The Latin root, sacrificium, is a combination of sacer, which means sacred, and -fic- (from facer), which is to make or do. However, one cannot forget the religious implications this term denotes. From prehistoric Mesoamerican religions to the evolution of Christianity and Judaism to modern-day renditions of Santeria and Voodoo, sacrifice plays a necessary role in certain religious ceremonies. What other contexts can sacrifice be found in? The focus of the following is upon the importance of blood in sacrifice. It seems the purpose of a religious sacrifice is to sanctify the taking of a life, usually marked by the spilling of the victim's blood, as is the case with animals and humans. IT IS CEREMONIOUS ACT LINKING MORTALS TO THEIR GODS. The blood is a required 'food' for the gods. Being not of human flesh, they require the very LIFE-FORCE OF HUMAN DNA to nourish and appease them. Sacrificial blood has divine powers which can sanctify mortals and nourish deities. But aside from the material on sacrifice within established religions, other blood-sacrifices need to be considered as well. For instance, hundreds of thousands of soldiers have died on the battlefield in the name of nationalism. Is this sacrifice? If one considers the religious implications of nationalism and warfare, it is... The basic teachings of Judaism and Christianity are rooted in sacrificial practices which are no longer performed. Nevertheless, what is interesting in light of the religious ground America was built upon, is our absolute abhorrence and ethnocentric evaluation of sacrifices, human or animal, past and present. Perhaps Christians and Jews do not want to acknowledge that the roots of their religions are covered in sacrificial blood as well. True, the Biblical God did not require the large number of humans required by other deities in other places, but the underlying principles are very similar. The practice of animal sacrifice was abolished with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD. However, the sacrificial origins of circumcision have continued to have an impact in Judaism in the modern era. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ's death upon the cross is the ultimate sacrifice of Christianity. The Eucharist is an important aspect of the Catholic faith because of its roots in Christ's act of human sacrifice. Mayan bizarre acts of spiritual commitment seem to be a little "healthier" than the Holy Inquisition tortures, Catholic practice of flagellation or Islamic suicide bombing. All of them reach the judgment corridor of the Western mind which houses the notion of what is unacceptable and unforgivable. What strikes me odd is how so much humanity has been able to place war and genocide outside of that corridor.

2. CAUSE: The spiritual beings worshiped as gods by many religious groups are IMPOSTORS. They are nothing more than the disembodied spirits of human beings who refuse to reincarnate. They remain on the astral plane, where they exercise power over other spirits and over living people. They are called THEOCRATS, a name also used to describe the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs and other earthly rulers who justified their demand for absolute political power by posing as divine beings. The THEOCRATS are violating NATURAL LAWS when they refuse to reincarnate - it all explained by Kyle Griffith at http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vida_alien/warinheaven/warheaven-III.htm

Theocracy on Earth has passed through four different stages of development so far, and is now entering a fifth. THE FIRST STAGE was tribal shamanism of the type that produced the Alta Mira cave paintings thousands of years ago. First-stage Theocratic religions have never entirely died out, and still exist today among certain tribes of North American Indians, Africans, and Australian Aborigines. Most of them, though, have been evolving into more advanced types or have been replaced with outside religions since these peoples came into ever-increasing contact with foreigners over the past few hundred years. THE SECOND STAGE of Theocratic religion involves mass human sacrifice and usually cannibalism on a large scale as well. The Maya & Aztecs practiced it until ~ 500 + years ago, and some of the ancient Middle Eastern people did also, starting ~ 5000 years ago. The reason that second-stage Theocratic religion practiced mass human sacrifice was to supply the Theocratic-Gods with a constant food (human DNA) supply. Suffice it to say that Mayan demise & collapse has happened because of the intentional transformation of HIGH SCIENCE OF SELF into a religious cannibalistic paradigm of GODS-IMPOSTORS with the TECHNOLOGY OF OCCULT HUMAN SACRIFICE. THESE WERE THE DARK AGES, exactly identical to the opposite side of the planet and at almost exactly the same time, - ages of wars and Inquisition.

Origin of Faith - Disturbing

A rare documentary insight into how tribal superstition, ritual and ignorance evolved into worship. An elder of a primitive Stone-Age Amazon tribe performs a sacrificial ritual rooted in tradition. A child is unwanted and is burried alive. "He must die! For the good of the tribe!" Could this type of superstition help explain the origin the Judeo-Christian crucifixion/scapegoating myth? Is this ritual, in part, the basis of modern religions?

Here is a story from the UK Telegraph:

Babies born into some Indian tribes in the Amazon are being buried alive, a practice that is being covered up by the Brazilian authorities out of respect for tribal culture. The tradition is based on beliefs that babies with any sort of physical defect have no souls and that others, such as twins or triplets, are also "cursed". Infanticide has claimed the lives of dozens of babies each year, say campaigners fighting to end the practice. Babies who are girls, who have some disability or who have unmarried mothers are all in danger of an early death in a shallow grave in the rainforest. Others are suffocated with leaves, poisoned or simply abandoned in the jungle. According to Dr Marcos Pelegrini, a doctor working in the Yanomami Tribe Health Care District, 98 children were killed by their mothers in 2004 alone. Campaigners say that the true figure is obscured by officials who often record cases of infanticide as simple malnutrition. At the same time, family anguish over infanticide has led to many adult tribal members committing suicide. READ THE COMPLETE STORY!!! http://tinyurl.com/6avgmn


MORE AT ATHEISTNATION.NET

The video was produced by an organization called Global Voices... "Global Voices is a non-profit global citizens' media project founded at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society" http://www.globalvoicesonline.org Voice of the Survivor: http://www.hakani.org/en/ This film is directed by a son of a JESUIT missionary and actors ARE used, according to ABC

Ancient Superstitions

Are you a true Christian?

10 Signs of a true Christian:

1.) You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of your god.

2.) You feel insulted and 'dehumanized' when scientists say that people evolved from lesser life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

3.) You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Trinity God.

4.) Your face turns purple when you hear the 'atrocities' attributed to Allah, but you don't even finch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the first-born babies of Egypt in 'Exodus' and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in 'Joshua' -- including women, children, and animals.

5.) You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life, and then ascended into the sky.

6.) You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of the Earth (a few billion years old), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by pre-historic tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that the Earth is a couple of generations old.

7.) You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects -- will spend eternity in an infinite hell of suffering. Yet, you consider your religion the most 'tolerant' and 'loving'.

8.) While modern science, history, geology, biology and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor 'speaking in tongues' may be all the evidence you need.

9.) You define 0.01% as a 'high success rate' when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% failure was simply the will of God.

10.) You actually know a lot less than many Atheists and Agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history -- but still call yourself a "Christian".

The Enemies of Reason - Slaves to Superstition (1 of 5)

A documentary by Richard Dawkins.



Part 1 of 5 - You're watching this part.



Part 2 of 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n2LktpT8tY

Part 3 of 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOzXm6KoMTU

Part 4 of 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-JWGiliOfY

Part 5 of 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfySPHYXLpU