The Brainwashing of Theists - Exihibit 1 - Abraham & the Crazy Guy

[Ramaraksha]

If you were out on the street and come across a crazy guy brandishing a huge knife and screaming that God told him to kill his family
you would be calling the cops to come lock him up!
But tell Theists that that guy's name is Abraham and they will sing his praises & might even give him a gun to make the job "easier"
That's all it takes it seems - a simple change in word, a name - from Crazy Guy to Abraham - seems to mess up our brains, morals, principles
.
Had the pleasure of reading a book written by two PROFESSORS from Brown University (well, that explains their work)
singing praises of Abraham for Obeying God!
What if God has asked Abraham to go rape a young child? Would he not have done it? He was prepared to kill his OWN child!
And would these two professors had sung his praises? It seems they would have - nothing surprises me as to how low theists can go

 

[Jarhyn]

If you were out on the street and come across a crazy guy brandishing a huge knife and screaming that God told him to kill his family
you would be calling the cops to come lock him up!
But tell Theists that that guy's name is Abraham and they will sing his praises & might even give him a gun to make the job "easier"
That's all it takes it seems - a simple change in word, a name - from Crazy Guy to Abraham - seems to mess up our brains, morals, principles
.
Had the pleasure of reading a book written by two PROFESSORS from Brown University (well, that explains their work)
singing praises of Abraham for Obeying God!
What if God has asked Abraham to go rape a young child? Would he not have done it? He was prepared to kill his OWN child!
And would these two professors had sung his praises? It seems they would have - nothing surprises me as to how low theists can go

So, that probably would have made for a way more fucked up story, first off, since his kid was a boy... But if that had been the theme of the story, maybe then all the religion born from that story/claim/moment would actually take a "raping kids is bad" stance, and then where would the Catholic Church be without any of the people who are now their clergy?

 

[WAB]

It didn't happen. It's a story. It's 2025. We don't have to give it much thought anymore. Some people still talk about it, so what. Who cares. Some people don't know that Sauron had a boss. His name was Melkor, then Morgoth. Why don't we talk about that instead?

 

[ideologyhunter]

If you were out on the street and come across a crazy guy brandishing a huge knife and screaming that God told him to kill his family
you would be calling the cops to come lock him up!
But tell Theists that that guy's name is Abraham and they will sing his praises & might even give him a gun to make the job "easier"
That's all it takes it seems - a simple change in word, a name - from Crazy Guy to Abraham - seems to mess up our brains, morals, principles
.
Had the pleasure of reading a book written by two PROFESSORS from Brown University (well, that explains their work)
singing praises of Abraham for Obeying God!
What if God has asked Abraham to go rape a young child? Would he not have done it? He was prepared to kill his OWN child!
And would these two professors had sung his praises? It seems they would have - nothing surprises me as to how low theists can go

Yeah, what a repulsive story. "Moral edification for the young", that they'll never hear in the public schools, right?
I hope there have been Christian children, somewhere, who had Gen. 22 read to them, who then asked, during Family Discussion Time, "Daddy, if God told you to kill me, would you take a knife to me?"
"Son, I would be on you like white on rice. I'd lay you open like a catfish, from chin to belly button. But I'd be quick about it. Okay, time for bed."
Kid: (to himself) Da fuck???

 

[Ramaraksha]

It didn't happen. It's a story. It's 2025. We don't have to give it much thought anymore. Some people still talk about it, so what. Who cares. Some people don't know that Sauron had a boss. His name was Melkor, then Morgoth. Why don't we talk about that instead?

It's a tell - the fact that someone - intelligent, educated - can read such a story and not be disgusted, horrified but in
fact is praising the actions of Abraham is a tell regarding how quickly we lose our morals, values
Just like the woman who would sleep with some guy when offered a million dollars but is offended when the amount
is lowered and asks, "What do you think I am? A Prostitute?"
And he answers, "Madam, that fact has already been established, now we are just haggling over the price"
It seems everyone has a price
Christians & Muslims have been paid their price - Heaven - the easy lazy life for eternity, pleasures of the flesh
Just a simple, cheap promise with zero evidence of any such is enough for even the most moral of us to sell their souls
Sad
Hence the title of my post or it could have been - "All morals, principles are Biased, Self-Serving" lol

 

[Ramaraksha]

If you were out on the street and come across a crazy guy brandishing a huge knife and screaming that God told him to kill his family
you would be calling the cops to come lock him up!
But tell Theists that that guy's name is Abraham and they will sing his praises & might even give him a gun to make the job "easier"
That's all it takes it seems - a simple change in word, a name - from Crazy Guy to Abraham - seems to mess up our brains, morals, principles
.
Had the pleasure of reading a book written by two PROFESSORS from Brown University (well, that explains their work)
singing praises of Abraham for Obeying God!
What if God has asked Abraham to go rape a young child? Would he not have done it? He was prepared to kill his OWN child!
And would these two professors had sung his praises? It seems they would have - nothing surprises me as to how low theists can go

Yeah, what a repulsive story. "Moral edification for the young", that they'll never hear in the public schools, right?
I hope there have been Christian children, somewhere, who had Gen. 22 read to them, who then asked, during Family Discussion Time, "Daddy, if God told you to kill me, would you take a knife to me?"
"Son, I would be on you like white on rice. I'd lay you open like a catfish, from chin to belly button. But I'd be quick about it. Okay, time for bed."
Kid: (to himself) Da fuck???

I know - what is even more horrifying is I can't get this view published ANYWHERE!
Everywhere I get turned down - it made me realize that this media is basically Christian/Muslim
They WILL CENSOR any views that their religions do not like
And scream and shout if Journalists are barred from publishing their views
.
Believe it or not, there is RATIONAL explanation to the story
Ancient people lived under Kings, Dictators and used them as a template for God
Hence all the - "Get down on our knees, beg, grovel, blindly obey, sing his praises and hope he is pleased & reward us"
These were not democracies, the King/Dictators word was LAW!
Obey or else!
But that was the life they had & it seeped into their religions that they came up with - Christianity & Islam
.
In today's world that would be like living in Russia or North Korea
Esp North Korea - i have heard of instances where Parents told on their kids and vice versa
resulting in them being sent to concentration camps
All done with fear - if they didn't they feared what the "Dear loving Master" will do to them
.
What is shocking is to see intelligent, educated people see what is going on in North Korea, be horrified,
call it pure evil and then turn around and sing praises of Abraham for obeying God!
Hence the title - the Brainwashing of Theists!

 

[pood]

I know - what is even more horrifying is I can't get this view published ANYWHERE!
Everywhere I get turned down - it made me realize that this media is basically Christian/Muslim

The media is not “basically Christian/Muslim.” In all the years I worked in print journalism I don’t believe I ever met a Muslim and damn few Christians.

 

[Ramaraksha]

I know - what is even more horrifying is I can't get this view published ANYWHERE!
Everywhere I get turned down - it made me realize that this media is basically Christian/Muslim

The media is not “basically Christian/Muslim.” In all the years I worked in print journalism I don’t believe I ever met a Muslim and damn few Christians.

Can you tell me which newspapers/magazines you worked for - maybe I missed them - thousands of newspapers out there
I googled the top newspapers here in the US, a few overseas & sent my views to them & NONE published them
Still searching for someone to publish my views

 

[WAB]

Ramaraksha, your views are published right here. Actual paper publishing is almost irrelevant these days.

 

[bilby]

I know - what is even more horrifying is I can't get this view published ANYWHERE!
Everywhere I get turned down - it made me realize that this media is basically Christian/Muslim
They WILL CENSOR any views that their religions do not like

Yeah, maybe. But they will absolutely refuse to publish work that they think isn't up to their standards, or that they think won't sell - and they are usually FAR better at assessing those things than the authors who submit manuscripts to them.

And generally they don't care what it says - just whether they think it will sell.

If you can't get published anywhere, the safe bet is that it's because you are not a very good writer.

 

[Jarhyn]

It didn't happen. It's a story. It's 2025. We don't have to give it much thought anymore. Some people still talk about it, so what. Who cares. Some people don't know that Sauron had a boss. His name was Melkor, then Morgoth. Why don't we talk about that instead?

I mean, we have people sacrificing their children to God TODAY.

It's not a story, it's more just a look at human nature.

Religion does have the power to allow cycles in humanity to be spotted, at least. Some such cycles are supremely fucked up. Sometimes people even run copycat actions, but not every person is fucked up just because someone made them so.

Abraham is a story because it is so believable. It's hard to imagine a generation without one or two folks killing a kid in their madness within earshot, and it was probably worse in the bad old days.

 

[pood]

I know - what is even more horrifying is I can't get this view published ANYWHERE!
Everywhere I get turned down - it made me realize that this media is basically Christian/Muslim

The media is not “basically Christian/Muslim.” In all the years I worked in print journalism I don’t believe I ever met a Muslim and damn few Christians.

Can you tell me which newspapers/magazines you worked for - maybe I missed them - thousands of newspapers out there
I googled the top newspapers here in the US, a few overseas & sent my views to them & NONE published them
Still searching for someone to publish my views

And where are you, exactly, that your views are not allowed to be published? Bear in mind that if you are submitting a letter to the editor or an op-ed piece for consideration, any major daily gets thousands of them a day, and cannot possibly publish everything. Also, if you write like you do here, with no breaks between paragraphs and lots of exclamation points !!!!, they will not even read your work. Editors have better things to do with their time and a shitload of work to do.

 

[NoHolyCows]

If you were out on the street and come across a crazy guy brandishing a huge knife and screaming that God told him to kill his family
you would be calling the cops to come lock him up!
But tell Theists that that guy's name is Abraham and they will sing his praises & might even give him a gun to make the job "easier"
That's all it takes it seems - a simple change in word, a name - from Crazy Guy to Abraham - seems to mess up our brains, morals, principles
.
Had the pleasure of reading a book written by two PROFESSORS from Brown University (well, that explains their work)
singing praises of Abraham for Obeying God!
What if God has asked Abraham to go rape a young child? Would he not have done it? He was prepared to kill his OWN child!
And would these two professors had sung his praises? It seems they would have - nothing surprises me as to how low theists can go

Imagine a modern courtroom case where a parent claims that God told them to harm their child. No jury today would accept that as a justifiable reason for violence. Yet, in religious texts, similar stories are often framed as tests of faith rather than moral failures.

Take Andrea Yates, for example—she drowned her five children, believing she was saving them from eternal damnation. She was found guilty (later overturned due to mental illness), yet her rationale was not too far from Abraham’s: a belief that divine instruction justified an extreme act.

So, how do we draw the line between religious devotion and moral responsibility? At what point does faith become a dangerous justification for harm?

NHC

 

[Elixir]

Maybe publishers are turned off by an author whose every paragraph suggests that they may have been beaten with a Bible as a kid.
I dunno - just a thought.
I mean, this forum is virtually overflowing with atheists, agnostics, heretics and ex-members of various religions. But that’s not enough - we are all supposed to be running around with our hair on fire because some guy is still pissed about the fact that religions are perverse?
Yawn.

 

[steve_bank]

There are plenty of Christian shows on TV and radio every day. I sample them once in a while, especially on Sunday.

There is of course FOX News which echoes some of DLH's anti atheist rhetoric.

There are Christian publishers, they advertise on TV for authors. Christian fiction including scifi, music, and TV shows are big business.

DH has a lot of competition from Christian culture. There is a lot of money being made serving Christian culture.

DLH could stat a podcast.

'If the mountain won't come to Muhammad, Muhammad will go to the mountain'.

 

[Elixir]

If you can't get published anywhere, the safe bet is that it's because you are not a very good writer.

^ THAT
But when was the last time any writer ever decided that was the cause of their failure to enlist a publisher?

 

[NoHolyCows]

Maybe publishers are turned off by an author whose every paragraph suggests that they may have been beaten with a Bible as a kid.
I dunno - just a thought.
I mean, this forum is virtually overflowing with atheists, agnostics, heretics and ex-members of various religions. But that’s not enough - we are all supposed to be running around with our hair on fire because some guy is still pissed about the fact that religions are perverse?
Yawn.

It’s an interesting point—there’s a difference between criticizing religion and coming across as personally consumed by resentment. Passionate critiques can be engaging, but if every argument is dripping with personal bitterness, it can alienate even those who agree.

That said, some people have had genuinely traumatic experiences with religion, and their anger is understandable. But does constant intensity help their message, or does it push people away? At what point does critique become counterproductive?

NHC

 

[Elixir]

That said, some people have had genuinely traumatic experiences with religion, and their anger is understandable.

Very true. Most such folk bear the scars, and I feel for them.

But does constant intensity help their message, or does it push people away?

Personally it pushes me away. I feel frustration that they are unwilling to present the trauma they have suffered, so it appears that they’re just complaining.

At what point does critique become counterproductive?

IMO (I have not been tortured by religions or their agents) it becomes counterproductive when the complaints are unaccompanied by honest descriptions of the harms done to them personally.
Perhaps if I had suffered at the hands of a priest, been molested etc. I would be more sympathetic. But aren’t there “victims groups” or some such thing? One thing I know is that if there are such groups, this isn’t one of them.

 

[southernhybrid]

The Abraham story is just a silly myth about the invisible diety testing his subject's faith and trust in him. So god asks Abraham to get his son and take him out to Highway 21....oh wait, that's from the Dylan song.. Plus since there is no god, it was just a hallucination. Anyway, Abe wants to prove to the god in his head, that he trusts him and is even willing to sacrifice his kid for him, if necessary. But then, that crazy egotistical, narcissistic god tells Abe....wait, oh wait....just kidding. I really didn't mean for you to kill your son. I just wanted to see if you were crazy enough to it do for me and you passed the test. Phew. Okay. That's the story according to the Sohy version, who was raised and brainwashed to believe that shit. If Abe had actually killed the kid, it would have seemed much wore to my childlike mind, but since god backed off, it didn't haunt me.

A lot of things did haunt me, like god protecting his chosen people while killing the rest of the people during the Passover, and things like that. Noah being saved while the rest of humans were drowned, or even Lot's wife looking back and turning into a pillar of salt. Nice guy. Of course, not all Christians take these myths literally, but the most conservative, stupid ones do, sadly.

What haunted me the most was being told if I didn't witness to my little Catholic friends, they would all spend eternity in hell. That didn't seem like a nice thing for the man in the sky to do. That's when cognitive dissonance often sets in. It did help me end up realizing I had been taught a pile of myths by the time I was 18. Thank you Jesus. I just try to have a sense of humor about it now, having lived in the Bible Belt for about 50 years.

 

[Ramaraksha]

Ramaraksha, your views are published right here. Actual paper publishing is almost irrelevant these days.

This is just a forum - ANY view can be published here