I happily give “Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism” five stars.

I already had liked Aron Ra both as a person and an atheist but this book has increased my respect. I was thinking that this was just going to be a rehashing of things I already knew. But no, my friend, this book is so much more. There is so much I enjoyed and appreciated, I was impressed, to say the least. Aron Ra in this book demonstrates how he is a teacher and how he is obviously well-versed in evolutionary biology and the refutation of creationist pseudoscience. I was overjoyed when I read Aron Ra say, “Some may see this as gnostic atheism, in his new book, “Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism” Aron Ra makes clear, he is a gnostic atheist. Which I call it everything but that word, preferring positive” / “strong” / “hard” atheists. Alternatively, to gnostic atheist, I may say I am an ignostic atheist or anti-agnostic thinking. To learn more on this, check out my blog post, I Am a Strong Atheist: “I am psychologically certain god(s) don’t exist”, Damien, is it possible, there’s a God you haven’t considered?, Firebrand Atheists Unite: Damien Marie AtHope Interviews David Silverman, Negative-weak-soft atheism and Positive-strong-hard atheism, My Strongest Explicit Atheism “positive” / “strong” / “hard” atheists similar to Antitheist Atheism., I Believe Archaeology, not Myths & Why Not, as the Religious Myths Already Violate Reason!, Archaeological, Scientific, & Philosophic evidence shows the god myth is man-made nonsense. and Reasons for or Types of Atheism.

In one of his videos, I once heard Aron Ra, Stated something like, an agnostic is someone who does not know they are an Atheist and Peter Boghossian states something like there is no need for using Agnostic, and he does not like the term agnosticism. I too am a strong atheist. I am not an atheist who is new to the struggle nor am I lacking information or knowledge. Yet, I must say I am inspired every time I hear Aron Ra speak and am equally inspired by his book. You may have other atheist books but you need this book.

“Our concept of morality is actually an emergent property of population mechanics driven by strong social pressure.” – Aron Ra Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism

I agree, that is the external pressure but that is only half as the other part it the internal pressure or motivations. So, to me morality is the interplay of both internal and external stimuli, pressures, forces, or motivations and our navigation of this into a choice action. Here is some more interesting things Aron Ra highlighted, don’t get me wrong there was so much I liked I almost considered adding more bout without further ado:

Aron Ra explained how, “Hebrew religious law; Jewish tradition holds that the fetus is not considered a separate person until the head or most of the body has passed through the birth canal. This is concordant with Mosaic law because they’re both Jewish traditions believed to be of the same source. The Book of Exodus (21:22-23) illustrates how the Bible does not consider a fetus to have value equal to that a human life. Exodus 21:22-23King James Version (KJV) 22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according, as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life.” – Aron Ra Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism

Moreover, Aron Ra explained how, “Things Removed from the Old Testament:

The book of the Covenant (Exodus 24:7)

The wars of the Lord (Numbers 21:14)

The book of Jasher (Joshua 10:13:2 and Samuel 1:18)

The book of Statues (1 Samuel 10:25)

The book of the Acts of Solomon (1 kings 11:41)

The book of Nathan (1 Chronicles 29:29 and 2 Chronicles 9:29)

The book of Gad (1 Chronicles 29:29)

The Prophecy of Ahijiah and Visions of Iddo (2 Chronicles 9:29, 12:15, and 13:22)

The book of Shemaiah (2 Chronicles 12:15)

The book of Jehu (2 Chronicles 20:34)

The Acts of Uzziah written by Isaiah (2 Chronicles 26:22)

The Sayings of the Seers (2 Chronicles 33:19)

The Prophecies of Enoch (Jude 14)

Removed from the New Testament:

An Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians (1 Chronicles 5:9)

An Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians (Ephesians 3:3)

An Epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans (Colossians 4:16)

The Prophecy that Christ should be a Nazarene (Matthew 2:23)

The Predictions known to the scribes in Jesus’ day that Elias must restore all things before the coming of Christ (Matthew 17:10).” – Aron Ra Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism

And finally, I liked this quote although I could have added many more, Aron Ra explained how, “The first insurmountable problem I had with the Bible was that every part of it was so weirdly illogical and grotesquely immoral that it was obviously not inspired by any superior being. The Bible is written remarkably badly, especially for something that was so revered and intently studied by the very people who compiled and composed it. I was told that the Bible was the “word of God.” That meant that if I read it, I would find a level of wisdom, morality, and understanding far beyond the scope of the most brilliant or compassionate man. That is what I fully expected when I cracked open that book. Of Course, what I found instead were only the insane ravings of superstitious primitives apparently trying to justify their own inhuman atrocities by pretending to speak for their god, thereby claiming ultimate authority.” – Aron Ra Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism

Aron Ra

“Aron Ra (formerly L. Aron Nelson, born October 15, 1962) is an American author, podcaster, and atheist activist. Ra is the host of the Ra-Men Podcast and a regional director of American Atheists. He had previously served as president of the Atheist Alliance of America and ran as a Democratic candidate for Texas’ District 2 Senate seat. Aron Ra was born in Kingman, Arizona, and baptized as a Mormon. Despite his religious upbringing, he states that he has been a skeptic from a young age. He studied paleontology in Dallas. Besides being an atheist, Aron identifies as a feminist.” ref

“A vocal critic of theism and creationism and an advocate for the inclusion of evolution in science curricula, Aron produces YouTube videos on the topics of skepticism, free thought, and atheism. Among the video series he has released are Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism, Refuting the Irrefutable Proof of God, and How Aron Ra Disproves Noah’s Flood. He has engaged in live debates with young Earth creationists, including Ray Comfort, and presented at skepticism conferences in Europe. As a member of the Unholy Trinity, he toured the United States and Australia with fellow atheist activists Seth Andrews of The Thinking Atheist and Matt Dillahunty of The Atheist Experience.” ref

“Aron appeared in the documentary films My Week in Atheism, directed by John Christy, and Batman & Jesus, directed by Jozef K. Richards. He published his first book, Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism, in 2016. Ra is the creator of the Phylogeny Explorer Project, a free, volunteer run, online encyclopedia of the entire phylogenetic tree of life that is currently in progress. In March 2017, Aron Ra resigned from his position as president of the Atheist Alliance of America to run for the Texas State Senate against Republican incumbent Bob Hall. The first Democratic candidate to run for the District 2 seat since 2002, he dropped out of the race after failing to secure the Democratic Party endorsement.” ref

“Aron Ra, also known online as AronRa, an atheist vlogger and activist. His videos focus on biology, with an emphasis on countering creationist claims, and advocating rationalism in science education. He also posts written material on his website LocoLobo. He is the Texas State Director of American Atheists. He was also previously a co-host on the podcast Dogma Debate with David Smalley. Aron’s videos focus on the scientific evidence for evolution, normally avoiding the theological discussion. This is sensible, since scientists should not have to read Superman comics in order to refute the claim that a mild-mannered reporter took an unprotected stroll on the moon. Like many other youtube personalities (atheist or not), Aron set up a Patreon account in the summer of 2014 and it has skyrocketed. It opened on July 1st and on July 4th it had reached nearly $1000. In mid-July, it was reaching $1500 per video. The only comparable success is Thunderf00t‘s. Among the goals that were (quickly) reached was more content, a podcast, and improved video quality.” ref

Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism

“This is a seventeen part series of videos in which Aron addresses the most popular claims of creationists. The series is highly critical of the methods employed by creationists – describing the ringleaders as liars – some of whom having a financial interest in the beliefs they’re pushing. The series is aimed at the general public who he feels are being deceived by the purveyors of creationist misinformation.” ref

“In 2016 Aron released a book and audiobook with the same name and structure, based on this series, where he explores those topics in greater depth. Aron developed this video series “to help people appreciate the beauty and scientific power of cladistics or common ancestry” and thereby convince creationists of their folly.” ref

“Aron’s criticism of religion is normally restricted to the claims conflicting with science. It is asserted that many scientists are themselves religious, and the choice of “evolution or God” is a false dichotomy. Science by its very nature can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God, although it can disprove naturalistic claims made by religions and their texts.” ref

“The series runs as follows:

1. “Evolution = atheism”
2. “Scriptures are ‘Gods Word’”
3. “Human interpretation = absolute truth”
4. “Belief = knowledge”
5. Evolution(ism) part one – “the religion of atheism”
6. Evolution(ism) part two – “What evolution is and isn’t”
7. “Evolution is random”
8. “Mutations are rare, harmful decreases in genetic information”
9. “No transitional species have ever been found”
10. Cladistic phylogenetics – exploring Darwin’s tree of life
11. Macroevolution has never been observed
12. Intelligent design creationism in opposition to material science
13. “Evolutionist hoaxes” and creationist frauds
14. “Creation is evident” – part one (Warning: Contains Kirk Cameron; viewer discretion is advised)
15. “Creation is evident” – part two
16. “Evolution has never been proved. It’s still just a theory, not a fact.” (Part I)
17. “Evolution has never been proved. It’s still just a theory, not a fact.” (Part II)” ref

Aron Ra and Ray Comfort

“On April 24, 2009, shortly after the Rational Response Squad debate with Way of the Master, Aron Ra made a video pointing out Ray Comfort had no evidence and accused Comfort that his only intention was to preach his sermons. Ray Comfort also challenged atheist biologist Richard Dawkins to a debate; Dawkins declined for several reasons, one being that Comfort would pretend that his own insane ravings were somehow comparable to the consensus held by the worldwide scientific community. Comfort would pretend that, in refusing, Dawkins was afraid to debate him.” ref

“In response to Comfort’s unaccepted Dawkins challenge, Aron addressed Ray Comfort and offered to debate him. While Aron respects Dawkins and his work, Aron deeply dislikes it when Dawkins describes himself as a “Darwinist”. It was scheduled to be an online debate, not a live one “because in science accuracy matters more than the performance behind the podium.” The debate would consist of a dozen or so mutual exchanges opening with a three-and-a-half minute statement on one specific position, and keep the discussion focused only on that topic. Aron also offered Comfort to choose what the topic would be. At some point, Ray Comfort finally did accept Aron’s offer to an online debate. On September 17th, 2012, Aron was made a guest on Radio Paul’s Radio Rants, with Ray Comfort calling in as a second guest.” ref

Debate synopsis

“Surprisingly, Ray claimed to be anti-religion and named many atrocities caused by religion such as the Crusades. He then attempted to insist that he was not religious, failing to recognize that his own ministry, Way of the Master, neatly falls under the definition. Regardless, this wasn’t enough to dissuade him from sermonizing towards the end of the show after providing no evidence. Aron was quick to point out that Ray’s position doesn’t provide evidence of any kind, and that his god was not demonstrable. Ray attempted to warp the debate by asking Aron if he had a wife and subsequently, if he had faith in his wife. Aron pointed out that there are two different definitions of “faith”, and that Ray was trying to switch context. Aron told him that one context details having reasonable expectations based on probability (Ray tries to interrupt Aron at this point, pushing his false context of faith, but fails); the second context of faith, however, details having a firm conviction without and in spite of reason, separate from evidence, and in that regard Aron has no faith in his wife because he does not require it- he has plenty of evidence to believe that his wife is real.” ref

“Aron then points out that Ray can’t know that god exists because actual knowledge is demonstrable and requires evidence to demonstrate it – if Ray can’t show it, then he doesn’t know it. Even if Ray wanted to deny that any woman he was shown was Aron’s wife (in fact, Ray started to comment on this direction that he could never know for sure), he still has documents, pictures, video of a wedding, and testimony from relatives to at least support the claim that Aron is or was married- Ray, however, does not have similar evidence to prove that his god exists. At this point, Aron bluntly states, “Your greatest strength, Ray, and possibly your only strength, is in pretending that you don’t understand simple things.” ref

“Ray demanded to ask the questions at this point, starting by the assertion that, as an atheist, Aron must therefore believe that “something was created from nothing”, which Aron outright rejected. As Aron tried to explain in as basic a way as possible so that Ray might understand (and it’s clear he did not), Ray interrupted by trying to get Aron to state that scientists don’t know. Aron freely admits that scientists don’t know – and that they will not (like Ray) provide explanations (like god) to which there is no evidence and present it as “fact”. The discussion inevitably turned to the theory of evolution, where Ray demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge on the subject by, as usual, resorting to gross misrepresentations of science as well as the examples Aron attempted to provide. At one point, Ray requested that Aron dumb down his language so that everyone could understand it, and as a result tried to use this against Aron by constructing shoddy straw men.” ref

“This did not work. Aron was quick enough to point out most of Ray’s fallacies, and commented that for someone who had been arguing against and rejecting the theory of evolution for at least a decade, Ray still did not have a clear idea of what the theory actually entailed. It got worse when he failed to understand what the word “arboreal” meant, as Aron described a common ancestor to cats and dogs. Meanwhile, Ray resorted to show-stoppers like “I’m going to have to stop you right there” and “you gotta let me speak”, strongly suggesting that he didn’t want Aron to speak too clearly and point out Ray’s logical fallacies. When Aron attempted to walk Ray through a lecture about how humans are apes based on their morphological features, Ray attempted to dispute phylogeny and morphology by claiming that he was a pig, justifying this by saying that he has hands, legs, eyes, ears, a nose, and a mouth, just like a pig does – completely missing the point. Aron points out that Ray doesn’t possess hooves, but whether it was because Ray didn’t hear him correctly or doesn’t actually know what hooves are, he seemed to miss it and ignore it, muttering that Aron couldn’t prove anything.” ref

“Towards the end of the show, Aron points out a bit of dishonesty Ray exhibited once, made during his release of his edited version of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin; Ray (or rather, the writer from whom Ray plagiarized his introduction from) claimed that Charles Darwin wrote the book years before the death of his daughter, Annie. This is the correct chronology, but a few months later, during an appearance Ray made while being interviewed by Pat Robertson, Ray claimed that the book was written after, and as a direct result of, Annie’s death. He also disputed Ray’s claim (made on the same show) that Darwin was a bitter man, by pointing out he was viewed very favorably by scientists and historians alike due to his devotion to his family and his moral positions (having expressed disgust towards the abuse and mistreatment of non-whites, and a financial endorser of slavery abolitionist movements). After this, Aron goes on the offensive, stating that Ray fears truth, shying away from definitions and evidence which needs to be explained to him, and committing ignorance instead.” ref

“At this point, the show begins to end, with the host letting Ray have the last word. He thanks Aron for speaking with him then goes on an irrelevant tangent about how he’s a good person and environmentally conscious by riding a bike to work, how he hates wars but isn’t a pacifist, and wishing Aron and Paul well.” ref

Zopdoz and Aron?

“On June 27, 2010, Aron posted a video, sharing his introspections on philosophy, symbology, belief, and his personal atheistic label. While he is an atheist, he sought a more descriptive and specific term. For example, an atheist may not believe in God, but an atheist could still follow a secular religion. Aron was not satisfied with agnosticism, for many of them are atheists and they do not even know it. After going through names to pick: realist, empirical rationalist, freethinker, secularist, and skeptic; the one that seemed to fit as someone who has no faith at all, does not endorse religion, and is antitheistic was infidel. However, that word has negative implications, such as someone who is disloyal, but Aron claims he was never loyal to any religious belief in the first place.” ref

“When people were searching for a symbol to identify atheists or people who discard faith, the result was a scarlet “A”. However, Aron came up with his own symbol for godless infidels, which he still uses and so do a few of his fans. Aron’s design and invention was called the Zopdoz, a word Aron’s son created. The shape was a vertical triangle with an umlaut, which makes it ‘metal‘, and a single point in the center of the triangle (zopdoz picture can be seen here). It can be composed as “◬̈” (U+25EC U+0308) or as “˙◬˙” (U+02D9 U+25EC U+02D9).” ref

Aron Ra Quotes

• “Your greatest strength, Ray, and possibly your only strength, is in pretending that you don’t understand simple things. Radio Paul’s Radio Rants (September 17th, 2012)” ref

• “I would say the better part of my family identifies as Mormon or they identify as Christian – not that that’s a different thing because all of them identify as Christian because they all think that Mormon is Christian, just like every Mormon seemingly does. It is just other denominations that don’t think Mormons are Christians, just like they don’t think Catholics are Christian. This was an advantage for me growing up. I got to see the interdenominational bigotry within Christianity. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “As a little child, I remember having conflicts with other people over religion at 5-years-old, at 8-years-old, and without realizing it. Certainly, not realizing my whole life would be this whole argument. I would ask simple questions to my babysitter when I was a little boy, like, “How does Jesus turn water into wine? I know water is H2O. I know that wine is alcohol and fruit juice, and I don’t know what the chemical components of that are.” But as it turned out, when I grew up I looked it up. It is only the difference of a carbon atom. The molecules are much more complex. But they involve oxygen, hydrogen, and some additional carbons. That’s it. But all I knew at the time, water is H2O, and alcohol and fruit juice are something else. How does Jesus turn water from H2O into H2O and whatever else? I thought someone would give me some kind of intelligible answer. Like how Jesus does that, whether he uses telekinesis or whatever he does… But they don’t come up with explanations like that, they didn’t want explanations. They didn’t even want to believe people had explanations. When I was growing up, I found believers not only hated accurate scientific answers, but they hated any answer that sounded scientific. It was a funny thing. I was told all of the time that “skeptics were cynics” because we miss out on the big picture that only the believers can see. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “People that make-up stuff and call it truth have the power to imagine all kinds of nonsense. But that’s what it is all about. It really is make-believe, and it took me the longest time to figure that out. I thought, honestly, naively, even into middle age. I was in my 30s before I realized there were some people who do not believe what they do for a reason. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “If you believe in God, if you believe in miracles, then you believe in magic. You believe in magic. People argue against that all of the time, but that’s actually true. If you look up a collection of dictionaries, online it is easy to do. Open up a bunch of them, and see where they all agree, find the points in the context where all of the dictionaries agree. You will discover that if you compare the definitions between a miracle and magic, you will see that they are both the ‘evocation of supernatural forces or entities to control or forecast natural events in ways which are inexplicable by science because they defy the laws of physics, meaning they are physically impossible.’ That’s what both miracle and magic mean. So miracle is the same things as magic in the same way a boat is a yacht is if it is big enough. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “Let’s think hypothetically”, I said to someone, which is another thing the believers can’t really do, because that is kind of what they’re already doing. It destroys the self-made illusion to step in and jack that up with another illusion, even for a moment. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “There are so many people who tell me, “if I had a time machine and could prove that Jesus never rose from the dead”, with the admission that “I hope my faith and I are strong enough that I can keep on believing, even when my eyes tell me otherwise.” That’s make-believe! That’s lying to yourself. That’s the entirety of what religion is. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “Truth is really whatever can be shown to correspond to reality. Truth is what the facts are essentially. Facts are after all points of data that you can verify to be accurate. A lot of people hate these definitions because it completely undermines their theology. They can’t make the assertions that they want to by saying anything is the absolute truth, because under the definition of either word no you don’t!  Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• I can show you the truth of evolution. I can show you the facts of evolution. I can show you the positively indicative and physical evidence that is exclusively concordant with one conclusion over any other. I can do that all day, but religion can’t. No religion can because they’re all just made up. They don’t have any truth at all in them, none of them. The best that you can get out of people is that they can give anecdotal nonsense or will cite logical fallacies or they will say, “Somebody wrote once that there were Christians back in the 1st century and that means Jesus existed. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “There is no question on whether the prophets existed. We are talking about whether the religions they invented were true. Can you show me the truth of that? Of course, they can’t. None of them can. They don’t want to. They don’t need to. I have seen people make that admission too. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “When people use religion as their only reason for whatever laws they want to impose of people or on other things, these are always mostly unjust. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• Think about every example, every time someone comes up with religion as the reason why they want to impose it. It is always stupid. It is always imposing bigotry or limitations against somebody else’s freedom because you want to pretend in your special brand of pixie dust that is different from the gods and monsters other people want to make up. That’s what it is all about. There is simply no true religion because literally none of it is true. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “Blasphemy is not a crime. It’s a right. It needs to be exercised. We have the right not to believe lies. That’s important. Freedom of religion means freedom from religion as well. You can’t have freedom to practice your religion if you’re not free from the dominant religion. It is basic sense. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “The pledges come from a believers’ standpoint. The country needs to earn the support of its citizenry. You can’t extort it. You can’t get people indoctrinated by always saying every morning before class where they’ll never question what you’ll do. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “In a sense, the American Dream was foreigners could come to this country and, through hard work, they could be successful, make a new start, and realize and fulfill their dream despite their caste or their religion in their homelands. So Trump erected a system that denies them all of that. A system that sets castes, restricts religion, prohibits foreigners, and breaks all of the groundwork for small businesses, and for them to be able to do anything.  Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “I am supportive of people. I am supportive of the American Dream Trump is trying to destroy. I want them to understand. Regardless of your religion, you don’t get special privileges because you claim to believe something different from everybody else. You don’t get special privileges because you get to claim that you believe the same things as the majority. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)
• ” ref

• “Everything that we set up for legislation that will promote Christianity will only pave the way for Islam later on because it is the fastest-growing religion while Christianity is in a state of decline. Demographics change; you can’t fight religion with religion. What will happen is Islam will eventually dominate Christianity; there won’t be any Christians left. Fortunately, secularists, atheists, and nonbelievers are on the rise faster than even the fastest-growing religion. You can’t fight religion with religion, but you can fight it with reason. That’s what the atheist groups are really all about. Exclusive Interview with Aron Ra – Public Speaker, Atheist Vlogger, and Activist, Conatus News (May 17, 2017)” ref

• “You’re not immortal, you’re not eternal and to believe otherwise is to diminish everything that you really have. Life is precious because it is short and there is nothing after it. There is no purpose and there is no destiny beyond anything you give it yourself. If you want your life to mean something try making someone else’s life meaningful. – “Give the Devil His Due”, 1st November 2014.” ref

Aron Ra Quotes Patheos

• “Let’s forget for the moment the generalizations about what the Muslim religion as a whole had to do with September 11th. How did anyone ever get the idea that Hinduism had anything to do with that whatsoever? And how is it that no one in this country can tell a Muslim or a Hindu apart from a Sikh? How do these people justify their own senseless stupidity? It pains me that our paranoid reactionary religiously-bigoted society produces people of such stark hatred and bewildering inanity. “Kill ‘em all; let God sort ‘em out.”, Patheos (December 30, 2012)” ref

• “All I knew of Israel growing up was that they’ve been the hot-bed of militant violence forever. Abraham’s god of infinite love, forgiveness, and mercy spawned three major faiths, all of whom have been at war with each other, each since their inception, and it seems that God’s spyglass of magnified torment was usually focused right there. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has read the Old Testament and noticed the patterns therein. If YHWH promised a holy land to his chosen people, they should expect more damnation than paradise. That would be consistent with the Bible’s blood-stained stories, and that’s the way we’ve always seen it on the news in my country. There would be less milk and honey, and more uprisings and explosions, especially when it means mixing or displacing so many fundamentally polarized religious and cultural groups. If I have not been completely misled by the media, then maybe that’s why there are so many atheists in that area now.  “on the Israeli atheist convention”, Patheos (January 13, 2013)” ref

• “I’m gonna miss the old sith lord. He was the best pope atheists could hope for. He started out as a Hitler youth actually wearing a Nazi uniform. As a Cardinal, he famously conspired to conceal sex crimes against children for the sake of the church. As pope, he addressed an audience in an AIDS ravaged area of Africa, and told them that use of condoms actually increased risk of STDs. His objection to birth-control took precedence over human life. That is how evil he is. “Pope Palpatine”, Patheos (February 12, 2013)” ref

• “There certainly seems to be a strong correlation between religion and insanity. I’ve read a few papers comparing the logical and psychological aptitude of strong believers vs those with little or no faith at all, and the trends there all seem to be in our favor, but not to the point that religion causes the disorder. I think certain mental disorders can prompt religious beliefs, but that’s a different claim. I think religion provides a haven to conceal quite a lot of cognitive and psychiatric disorders as well as some social dysfunctions. But that doesn’t mean religion is a mental illness, regardless how accurate analogies of the God virus might be. I think there are circumstances when religion can be treated as a psychological condition, especially when it is the result of detrimental conditioning, but I wouldn’t confuse that with a psychiatric malady, which (I think) would have to be physiological/chemical. “How crazy is religion?”, Patheos (May 7, 2014)” ref

• “The idea that certain races (or species) are ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ was not Darwin’s idea but the universal language of all prior naturalists since forever. Darwin acknowledges this, but does not contribute to it, other than to suggest that Caucasians are not the ultimate form of mankind. “Darwin’s view of the ‘races’ of men”, Patheos (January 1, 2015)” ref

• “This is just my opinion, but when I listen to Muslims explaining their religion to each other, I get the impression that Islam is hateful and violent, but that it’s also pretty stupid; “full of shit”, as my dad would say -because none of it can be justified or shown to be true, and what little they do know can’t really imply what they say it does. The same thing goes for Christians. When I listen to Christians discussing their religion, I get the impression that they’re hateful too, but their violent reactions are culturally inhibited. So they compensate for that with a staggering level of bewildering stupidity, coupled with dishonesty. It sounds to me like pots and kettles accusing each other in the perfect example of the blind leading the blind. But when I listen to those Jews who still believe in God and the Bible, and I hear them arguing aspects of their beliefs, it strikes me that the foundation of Abrahamic religion is utterly empty, devoid of any possible meaning or value. I don’t want to say “who cares?”, because way too many people do. That’s what confuses and alarms me! How could anyone imagine that any of this is really true or really matters? “My take on the Abrahamic triad”, Patheos (March 4, 2015)” ref

• “The zealots imposing their religion in public schools never understand that they’re even doing anything wrong. They think they’re being oppressed or attacked if they’re disallowed from indoctrinating everyone else’s kids. And it doesn’t help that all the kids in town have already been indoctrinated. Because they don’t understand what the problem is either, and secular government requirement will invariably be seen as some sort of victimization, which feeds right into the typical Christian persecution complex. People like this never seem to understand the necessity of secular government until or unless they have to give fair consideration to Muslims. Then suddenly the Christians leap over to my side of the political spectrum, demanding separation of church and state just as I do. Hypocrites. “Religious indoctrination rampant in rural Texas schools”, Patheos (October 28, 2015)” ref

• “Each of the laws listed in the collection commonly and erroneously referred to as ‘The Ten Commandments’ were either already universal ordinances everywhere, adapted from Hammurabi’s stele of law from centuries earlier, or have no parallel in American jurisprudence. The laws of Moses are NOT our laws! The founding fathers made clear who their influences really were, and that their goal was a system of government directly opposed to everything Mosaic law or governance represented. To say that the Constitution was in any way inspired by any covenant between God and Moses is no less a lie than to say that America was founded on Biblical principles -which our textbooks also say. There is no truth in either of these statements. They were inserted to revise our history according to an overt agenda to instill and perpetuate conservative Christian authority. This is a major front of the fundamentalist Christian “culture wars” against honest, factual reality. There is no defense of these errors and no justification for imposing them as part of ‘education’. Our textbooks are demonstrably false and deliberately misleading, and they must be corrected. Correct Texas’ textbooks!”, Patheos (November 1, 2015)” ref

• “When I read the gospels, I don’t see a wise and benevolent sage imparting truth. I see a religious extremist and faith-healer, who is just as much of a scam artist as any of the exorcists still practicing today. Remember that Jesus taught his disciples how to do faith healing too, just like tele-evangelists still do. Jesus didn’t believe in washing your hands because he didn’t know about pathogens. He believed in demons instead. And he cursed a fig tree because he didn’t know they were out-of-season. Likewise, he didn’t know that the farmers of his day already knew about other seeds that were smaller than mustard seeds. My best evidence was Jesus’ complaint that the people who knew him since childhood wouldn’t buy any of his bullshit. So the only indications I had to believe in a historic Jesus were the very points that implied that he could not be a god nor have any real connection to God. So there are only two possibilities: Jesus was either an ignorant 1st century charlatan and cult leader heavily exaggerated like Robin Hood, or he’s a completely imaginary legendary figure like Hercules. Remember how Jesus said that he came not to bring peace but a sword; that he would divide husbands from their wives and children from their parents all on behalf of beliefs based on faith? Remember also that faith, (an unreasonable assertion of complete conviction which is not based on reason and is defended against all reason) —is the most dishonest position it is possible to have. Any belief which requires faith should be rejected for that reason. “Jesus never existed”, Patheos (November 3, 2015)” ref

• “Jack Chick was a graphic artist who lived his delusional life in lies, prejudice, and paranoia, promoting racist, sexist credo-specific bigotry against everyone smarter than him, or who understood things better than he did: which is pretty much everyone since he was really impressively fucking stupid -even compared to other creationists. He was so bad that Chick Publications is recognized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. So now I hear that this creepy old dogmatic fucktard has finally stopped breathing at 92 years old. I’m unapologetically glad about that. His death makes our world a better place. I think that everyone who believes the way that he did should show solidarity by burying their faces in the sand and holding their breath until Jack Chick breathes again. Because our world just doesn’t need anyone like that -making life irritating for everyone capable of rational or compassionate thought.  “Rest in oblivion, Jack Chick”, Patheos (October 25, 2016)” ref

• “Jack Chick was one of the skid marks in the tighty-whiteys of my generation, and the world is a better place that he’s not stinking it up with his fecal fallacies anymore. Welcome to oblivion Mr Chick, where you will rot without grace in a reality that never had a god in it, and where none of your lies ever came true. The only sad part (for me) is that the moment your brain shut off, you were never able to know how wrong you were about everything you ever said. You never even had the chance to be disappointed, and are blissfully unaware of your eternal failure, you miserable awful piece of shit. “Rest in oblivion, Jack Chick”, Patheos (October 25, 2016)” ref

“According to the “Center for Inquiry” Regional Director at American Atheists · Dallas, Texas and Aron Ra is the author of Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism, the host of the Ra-Men podcast, director of the Phylogeny Explorer Project, and a regional director for American Atheists. Aron is one of the “YouTube atheists” and an advocate for rationalism in science classrooms. His videos promoting secular science education have been mirrored, featured, referenced, and recommended by many professional scientists, secularists, and educators, and has attracted more than 170,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. You can check out his home page, blog, YouTube channel, or Patreon account. Watch Aron Ra’s lecture at the Center for Inquiry Western New York: VIDEO.” ref

 “According to savedbyscience.com, Aron Ra is a science communicator and secular activist with more than a couple hundred thousand subscribers to his YouTube channel. His videos promoting scientific skepticism, secular politics, and humanist values have been mirrored, featured, referenced, and recommended by many professional scientists, secularists, and educators. He is the Southwest Regional Director of American Atheists, an ordained Dudeist, and director of the Phylogeny Explorer Project, a navigable online encyclopedic depiction of the entire taxonomic tree of life. He also produces the Unapologetic Science (formerly Living Science) classroom supplement video series, teaching middle school and high school biology according to the “Next Generation” national standards. These unapologetically include explanations of evolution, climate change, deep-time, and other topics considered to be culturally controversial in America’s “Bible Belt”. Aron Ra is best known as the author of Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism, and for public testimonies contesting the Texas State Board of Education in their attempts to denigrate evolution and teach notions of conservative Christian creationism in both science and history classrooms of public schools.” ref  

• Creationism (pseudoscience)
• Creationism is a Debunked Religious Conspiracy Theory.
• Misinformation, Distortion, and Pseudoscience in Talking with a Christian Creationist
• Doubter of Science and Defamer of Atheists?
• Mistrust of science?
• Science is a Trustable Methodology whereas Faith is not Trustable at all!
• Deeply Discussing Anthropology, Archaeology, Psychology, Science, Atheism, Philosophy, and Religion
• You Can’t be Anti-theist and Support Science? a Debate with ADAM FRIENDED
• Debunking Ancient Aliens and other Unsupported Pseudoscience Beliefs
• Trying to Help Promote Knowledge: Philosophy and Science.
• Science and the word “TRUTH”
• Religion vs. Science, Don’t Confuse Beliefs
• If you believe in science as well as evolution how do you believe in an afterlife?
• What is the Difference Between Science or Non-science?
• Science is not just common sense?
• Aquatic Ape Theory/Hypothesis? As Always, Just Pseudoscience.
• Science and Philosophy
• Explaining science to remove MISCONCEPTION
• Science Facts Should Make Religious Belief Impossible
• Quit Trying to Invent Your God From the Scraps of Science.
• Science and Justified True Beliefs
• I Hate Religion Just as I Hate all Pseudoscience

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

People don’t commonly teach religious history, even that of their own claimed religion. No, rather they teach a limited “pro their religion” history of their religion from a religious perspective favorable to the religion of choice. 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Do you truly think “Religious Belief” is only a matter of some personal choice?

Do you not see how coercive one’s world of choice is limited to the obvious hereditary belief, in most religious choices available to the child of religious parents or caregivers? Religion is more commonly like a family, culture, society, etc. available belief that limits the belief choices of the child and that is when “Religious Belief” is not only a matter of some personal choice and when it becomes hereditary faith, not because of the quality of its alleged facts or proposed truths but because everyone else important to the child believes similarly so they do as well simply mimicking authority beliefs handed to them. Because children are raised in religion rather than being presented all possible choices but rather one limited dogmatic brand of “Religious Belief” where children only have a choice of following the belief as instructed, and then personally claim the faith hereditary belief seen in the confirming to the belief they have held themselves all their lives. This is obvious in statements asked and answered by children claiming a faith they barely understand but they do understand that their family believes “this or that” faith, so they feel obligated to believe it too. While I do agree that “Religious Belief” should only be a matter of some personal choice, it rarely is… End Hereditary Religion!

Opposition to Imposed Hereditary Religion

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref, ref, ref 

Animism: Respecting the Living World by Graham Harvey 

“How have human cultures engaged with and thought about animals, plants, rocks, clouds, and other elements in their natural surroundings? Do animals and other natural objects have a spirit or soul? What is their relationship to humans? In this new study, Graham Harvey explores current and past animistic beliefs and practices of Native Americans, Maori, Aboriginal Australians, and eco-pagans. He considers the varieties of animism found in these cultures as well as their shared desire to live respectfully within larger natural communities. Drawing on his extensive casework, Harvey also considers the linguistic, performative, ecological, and activist implications of these different animisms.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

We are like believing machines we vacuum up ideas, like Velcro sticks to almost everything. We accumulate beliefs that we allow to negatively influence our lives, often without realizing it. Our willingness must be to alter skewed beliefs that impend our balance or reason, which allows us to achieve new positive thinking and accurate outcomes.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Low Gods “Earth” or Tutelary deity and High Gods “Sky” or Supreme deity

“An Earth goddess is a deification of the Earth. Earth goddesses are often associated with the “chthonic” deities of the underworld. Ki and Ninhursag are Mesopotamian earth goddesses. In Greek mythology, the Earth is personified as Gaia, corresponding to Roman Terra, Indic Prithvi/Bhūmi, etc. traced to an “Earth Mother” complementary to the “Sky Father” in Proto-Indo-European religion. Egyptian mythology exceptionally has a sky goddess and an Earth god.” ref

“A mother goddess is a goddess who represents or is a personification of nature, motherhood, fertility, creation, destruction or who embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother. In some religious traditions or movements, Heavenly Mother (also referred to as Mother in Heaven or Sky Mother) is the wife or feminine counterpart of the Sky father or God the Father.” ref

“Any masculine sky god is often also king of the gods, taking the position of patriarch within a pantheon. Such king gods are collectively categorized as “sky father” deities, with a polarity between sky and earth often being expressed by pairing a “sky father” god with an “earth mother” goddess (pairings of a sky mother with an earth father are less frequent). A main sky goddess is often the queen of the gods and may be an air/sky goddess in her own right, though she usually has other functions as well with “sky” not being her main. In antiquity, several sky goddesses in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Near East were called Queen of Heaven. Neopagans often apply it with impunity to sky goddesses from other regions who were never associated with the term historically. The sky often has important religious significance. Many religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, have deities associated with the sky.” ref

“In comparative mythology, sky father is a term for a recurring concept in polytheistic religions of a sky god who is addressed as a “father”, often the father of a pantheon and is often either a reigning or former King of the Gods. The concept of “sky father” may also be taken to include Sun gods with similar characteristics, such as Ra. The concept is complementary to an “earth mother“. “Sky Father” is a direct translation of the Vedic Dyaus Pita, etymologically descended from the same Proto-Indo-European deity name as the Greek Zeûs Pater and Roman Jupiter and Germanic Týr, Tir or Tiwaz, all of which are reflexes of the same Proto-Indo-European deity’s name, *Dyēus Ph₂tḗr. While there are numerous parallels adduced from outside of Indo-European mythology, there are exceptions (e.g. In Egyptian mythology, Nut is the sky mother and Geb is the earth father).” ref

Tutelary deity

“A tutelary (also tutelar) is a deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of “tutelary” expresses the concept of safety and thus of guardianship. In late Greek and Roman religion, one type of tutelary deity, the genius, functions as the personal deity or daimon of an individual from birth to death. Another form of personal tutelary spirit is the familiar spirit of European folklore.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Korean shamanism, jangseung and sotdae were placed at the edge of villages to frighten off demons. They were also worshiped as deities. Seonangshin is the patron deity of the village in Korean tradition and was believed to embody the Seonangdang. In Philippine animism, Diwata or Lambana are deities or spirits that inhabit sacred places like mountains and mounds and serve as guardians. Such as: Maria Makiling is the deity who guards Mt. Makiling and Maria Cacao and Maria Sinukuan. In Shinto, the spirits, or kami, which give life to human bodies come from nature and return to it after death. Ancestors are therefore themselves tutelaries to be worshiped. And similarly, Native American beliefs such as Tonás, tutelary animal spirit among the Zapotec and Totems, familial or clan spirits among the Ojibwe, can be animals.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Austronesian beliefs such as: Atua (gods and spirits of the Polynesian peoples such as the Māori or the Hawaiians), Hanitu (Bunun of Taiwan‘s term for spirit), Hyang (Kawi, Sundanese, Javanese, and Balinese Supreme Being, in ancient Java and Bali mythology and this spiritual entity, can be either divine or ancestral), Kaitiaki (New Zealand Māori term used for the concept of guardianship, for the sky, the sea, and the land), Kawas (mythology) (divided into 6 groups: gods, ancestors, souls of the living, spirits of living things, spirits of lifeless objects, and ghosts), Tiki (Māori mythology, Tiki is the first man created by either Tūmatauenga or Tāne and represents deified ancestors found in most Polynesian cultures). ” ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

Mesopotamian Tutelary Deities can be seen as ones related to City-States 

“Historical city-states included Sumerian cities such as Uruk and Ur; Ancient Egyptian city-states, such as Thebes and Memphis; the Phoenician cities (such as Tyre and Sidon); the five Philistine city-states; the Berber city-states of the Garamantes; the city-states of ancient Greece (the poleis such as Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth); the Roman Republic (which grew from a city-state into a vast empire); the Italian city-states from the Middle Ages to the early modern period, such as Florence, Siena, Ferrara, Milan (which as they grew in power began to dominate neighboring cities) and Genoa and Venice, which became powerful thalassocracies; the Mayan and other cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (including cities such as Chichen Itza, Tikal, Copán and Monte Albán); the central Asian cities along the Silk Road; the city-states of the Swahili coast; Ragusa; states of the medieval Russian lands such as Novgorod and Pskov; and many others.” ref

“The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BCE; also known as Protoliterate period) of Mesopotamia, named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization. City-States like Uruk and others had a patron tutelary City Deity along with a Priest-King.” ref

“Chinese folk religion, both past, and present, includes myriad tutelary deities. Exceptional individuals, highly cultivated sages, and prominent ancestors can be deified and honored after death. Lord Guan is the patron of military personnel and police, while Mazu is the patron of fishermen and sailors. Such as Tu Di Gong (Earth Deity) is the tutelary deity of a locality, and each individual locality has its own Earth Deity and Cheng Huang Gong (City God) is the guardian deity of an individual city, worshipped by local officials and locals since imperial times.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Hinduism, personal tutelary deities are known as ishta-devata, while family tutelary deities are known as Kuladevata. Gramadevata are guardian deities of villages. Devas can also be seen as tutelary. Shiva is the patron of yogis and renunciants. City goddesses include: Mumbadevi (Mumbai), Sachchika (Osian); Kuladevis include: Ambika (Porwad), and Mahalakshmi. In NorthEast India Meitei mythology and religion (Sanamahism) of Manipur, there are various types of tutelary deities, among which Lam Lais are the most predominant ones. Tibetan Buddhism has Yidam as a tutelary deity. Dakini is the patron of those who seek knowledge.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) The Greeks also thought deities guarded specific places: for instance, Athena was the patron goddess of the city of Athens. Socrates spoke of hearing the voice of his personal spirit or daimonion:

You have often heard me speak of an oracle or sign which comes to me … . This sign I have had ever since I was a child. The sign is a voice which comes to me and always forbids me to do something which I am going to do, but never commands me to do anything, and this is what stands in the way of my being a politician.” ref

“Tutelary deities who guard and preserve a place or a person are fundamental to ancient Roman religion. The tutelary deity of a man was his Genius, that of a woman her Juno. In the Imperial era, the Genius of the Emperor was a focus of Imperial cult. An emperor might also adopt a major deity as his personal patron or tutelary, as Augustus did Apollo. Precedents for claiming the personal protection of a deity were established in the Republican era, when for instance the Roman dictator Sulla advertised the goddess Victory as his tutelary by holding public games (ludi) in her honor.” ref

“Each town or city had one or more tutelary deities, whose protection was considered particularly vital in time of war and siege. Rome itself was protected by a goddess whose name was to be kept ritually secret on pain of death (for a supposed case, see Quintus Valerius Soranus). The Capitoline Triad of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva were also tutelaries of Rome. The Italic towns had their own tutelary deities. Juno often had this function, as at the Latin town of Lanuvium and the Etruscan city of Veii, and was often housed in an especially grand temple on the arx (citadel) or other prominent or central location. The tutelary deity of Praeneste was Fortuna, whose oracle was renowned.” ref

“The Roman ritual of evocatio was premised on the belief that a town could be made vulnerable to military defeat if the power of its tutelary deity were diverted outside the city, perhaps by the offer of superior cult at Rome. The depiction of some goddesses such as the Magna Mater (Great Mother, or Cybele) as “tower-crowned” represents their capacity to preserve the city. A town in the provinces might adopt a deity from within the Roman religious sphere to serve as its guardian, or syncretize its own tutelary with such; for instance, a community within the civitas of the Remi in Gaul adopted Apollo as its tutelary, and at the capital of the Remi (present-day Rheims), the tutelary was Mars Camulus.” ref 

Household deity (a kind of or related to a Tutelary deity)

“A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in paganism as well as in folklore across many parts of the world. Household deities fit into two types; firstly, a specific deity – typically a goddess – often referred to as a hearth goddess or domestic goddess who is associated with the home and hearth, such as the ancient Greek Hestia.” ref

“The second type of household deities are those that are not one singular deity, but a type, or species of animistic deity, who usually have lesser powers than major deities. This type was common in the religions of antiquity, such as the Lares of ancient Roman religion, the Gashin of Korean shamanism, and Cofgodas of Anglo-Saxon paganism. These survived Christianisation as fairy-like creatures existing in folklore, such as the Anglo-Scottish Brownie and Slavic Domovoy.” ref

“Household deities were usually worshipped not in temples but in the home, where they would be represented by small idols (such as the teraphim of the Bible, often translated as “household gods” in Genesis 31:19 for example), amulets, paintings, or reliefs. They could also be found on domestic objects, such as cosmetic articles in the case of Tawaret. The more prosperous houses might have a small shrine to the household god(s); the lararium served this purpose in the case of the Romans. The gods would be treated as members of the family and invited to join in meals, or be given offerings of food and drink.” ref

“In many religions, both ancient and modern, a god would preside over the home. Certain species, or types, of household deities, existed. An example of this was the Roman Lares. Many European cultures retained house spirits into the modern period. Some examples of these include:

• Brownie (Scotland and England) or Hob (England) / Kobold (Germany) / Goblin / Hobgoblin
• Domovoy (Slavic)
• Nisse (Norwegian or Danish) / Tomte (Swedish) / Tonttu (Finnish)
• Húsvættir (Norse)” ref

“Although the cosmic status of household deities was not as lofty as that of the Twelve Olympians or the Aesir, they were also jealous of their dignity and also had to be appeased with shrines and offerings, however humble. Because of their immediacy they had arguably more influence on the day-to-day affairs of men than the remote gods did. Vestiges of their worship persisted long after Christianity and other major religions extirpated nearly every trace of the major pagan pantheons. Elements of the practice can be seen even today, with Christian accretions, where statues to various saints (such as St. Francis) protect gardens and grottos. Even the gargoyles found on older churches, could be viewed as guardians partitioning a sacred space.” ref

“For centuries, Christianity fought a mop-up war against these lingering minor pagan deities, but they proved tenacious. For example, Martin Luther‘s Tischreden have numerous – quite serious – references to dealing with kobolds. Eventually, rationalism and the Industrial Revolution threatened to erase most of these minor deities, until the advent of romantic nationalism rehabilitated them and embellished them into objects of literary curiosity in the 19th century. Since the 20th century this literature has been mined for characters for role-playing games, video games, and other fantasy personae, not infrequently invested with invented traits and hierarchies somewhat different from their mythological and folkloric roots.” ref

“In contradistinction to both Herbert Spencer and Edward Burnett Tylor, who defended theories of animistic origins of ancestor worship, Émile Durkheim saw its origin in totemism. In reality, this distinction is somewhat academic, since totemism may be regarded as a particularized manifestation of animism, and something of a synthesis of the two positions was attempted by Sigmund Freud. In Freud’s Totem and Taboo, both totem and taboo are outward expressions or manifestations of the same psychological tendency, a concept which is complementary to, or which rather reconciles, the apparent conflict. Freud preferred to emphasize the psychoanalytic implications of the reification of metaphysical forces, but with particular emphasis on its familial nature. This emphasis underscores, rather than weakens, the ancestral component.” ref

“William Edward Hearn, a noted classicist, and jurist, traced the origin of domestic deities from the earliest stages as an expression of animism, a belief system thought to have existed also in the neolithic, and the forerunner of Indo-European religion. In his analysis of the Indo-European household, in Chapter II “The House Spirit”, Section 1, he states:

The belief which guided the conduct of our forefathers was … the spirit rule of dead ancestors.” ref

“In Section 2 he proceeds to elaborate:

It is thus certain that the worship of deceased ancestors is a vera causa, and not a mere hypothesis. …

In the other European nations, the Slavs, the Teutons, and the Kelts, the House Spirit appears with no less distinctness. … [T]he existence of that worship does not admit of doubt. … The House Spirits had a multitude of other names which it is needless here to enumerate, but all of which are more or less expressive of their friendly relations with man. … In [England] … [h]e is the Brownie. … In Scotland this same Brownie is well known. He is usually described as attached to particular families, with whom he has been known to reside for centuries, threshing the corn, cleaning the house, and performing similar household tasks. His favorite gratification was milk and honey.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref

Hinduism around 3,700 to 3,500 years old. ref

 Judaism around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (The first writing in the bible was “Paleo-Hebrew” dated to around 3,000 years ago Khirbet Qeiyafa is the site of an ancient fortress city overlooking the Elah Valley. And many believe the religious Jewish texts were completed around 2,500) ref, ref

Judaism is around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (“Paleo-Hebrew” 3,000 years ago and Torah 2,500 years ago)

“Judaism is an Abrahamic, its roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Some scholars argue that modern Judaism evolved from Yahwism, the religion of ancient Israel and Judah, by the late 6th century BCE, and is thus considered to be one of the oldest monotheistic religions.” ref

“Yahwism is the name given by modern scholars to the religion of ancient Israel, essentially polytheistic, with a plethora of gods and goddesses. Heading the pantheon was Yahweh, the national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah, with his consort, the goddess Asherah; below them were second-tier gods and goddesses such as Baal, Shamash, Yarikh, Mot, and Astarte, all of whom had their own priests and prophets and numbered royalty among their devotees, and a third and fourth tier of minor divine beings, including the mal’ak, the messengers of the higher gods, who in later times became the angels of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Yahweh, however, was not the ‘original’ god of Israel “Isra-El”; it is El, the head of the Canaanite pantheon, whose name forms the basis of the name “Israel”, and none of the Old Testament patriarchs, the tribes of Israel, the Judges, or the earliest monarchs, have a Yahwistic theophoric name (i.e., one incorporating the name of Yahweh).” ref

“El is a Northwest Semitic word meaning “god” or “deity“, or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, ‘ila, represents the predicate form in Old Akkadian and in Amorite. The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic *ʔil-, meaning “god”. Specific deities known as ‘El or ‘Il include the supreme god of the ancient Canaanite religion and the supreme god of East Semitic speakers in Mesopotamia’s Early Dynastic Period. ʼĒl is listed at the head of many pantheons. In some Canaanite and Ugaritic sources, ʼĒl played a role as father of the gods, of creation, or both. For example, in the Ugaritic texts, ʾil mlk is understood to mean “ʼĒl the King” but ʾil hd as “the god Hadad“. The Semitic root ʾlh (Arabic ʾilāh, Aramaic ʾAlāh, ʾElāh, Hebrew ʾelōah) may be ʾl with a parasitic h, and ʾl may be an abbreviated form of ʾlh. In Ugaritic the plural form meaning “gods” is ʾilhm, equivalent to Hebrew ʾelōhîm “powers”. In the Hebrew texts this word is interpreted as being semantically singular for “god” by biblical commentators. However the documentary hypothesis for the Old Testament (corresponds to the Jewish Torah) developed originally in the 1870s, identifies these that different authors – the Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, and the Priestly source – were responsible for editing stories from a polytheistic religion into those of a monotheistic religion. Inconsistencies that arise between monotheism and polytheism in the texts are reflective of this hypothesis.” ref

Jainism around 2,599 – 2,527 years old. ref

Confucianism around 2,600 – 2,551 years old. ref

Buddhism around 2,563/2,480 – 2,483/2,400 years old. ref

Christianity around 2,o00 years old. ref

Shinto around 1,305 years old. ref

Islam around 1407–1385 years old. ref

Sikhism around 548–478 years old. ref

Bahá’í around 200–125 years old. ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Expressions of Atheistic Thinking:

• Around 2,600 years ago, Ajita Kesakambali, ancient Indian philosopher, who is the first known proponent of Indian materialism. ref
• Around 2,535 to 2,475 years ago, Heraclitus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor or modern Turkey. ref
• Around 2,500 to 2,400 years ago, according to The Story of Civilization book series certain African pygmy tribes have no identifiable gods, spirits, or religious beliefs or rituals, and even what burials accrue are without ceremony. ref
• Around 2,490 to 2,430 years ago, Empedocles, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. ref
• Around 2,460 to 2,370 years ago, Democritus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher considered to be the “father of modern science” possibly had some disbelief amounting to atheism. ref
• Around 2,399 years ago or so, Socrates, a famous Greek philosopher was tried for sinfulness by teaching doubt of state gods. ref
• Around 2,341 to 2,270 years ago, Epicurus, a Greek philosopher known for composing atheistic critics and famously stated, “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?” ref

This last expression by Epicurus, seems to be an expression of Axiological Atheism. To understand and utilize value or actually possess “Value Conscious/Consciousness” to both give a strong moral “axiological” argument (the problem of evil) as well as use it to fortify humanism and positive ethical persuasion of human helping and care responsibilities. Because value-blindness gives rise to sociopathic/psychopathic evil.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):

Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist, Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Jeweler, Poet, “autodidact” Philosopher, schooled in Psychology, and “autodidact” Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Pre-Historian (Knowledgeable in the range of: 1 million to 5,000/4,000 years ago). I am an anarchist socialist politically. Reasons for or Types of Atheism

My Website, My Blog, & Short-writing or Quotes, My YouTube, Twitter: @AthopeMarie, and My Email: damien.marie.athope@gmail.com