What Inspires Atheism?

On an average day, an Atheist will just exist, just like anyone else, shower, shave, eat lunch, etc... Now it's is easy to see why a Christian or Catholic take time from their lives to regroup, re-energize, re-spritualize, anything but rethink their beliefs. It is an essential part of the longevity of their beliefs, and without refocus, most religious people would slip into a life that looks just like Atheism.

But why do Atheists even exist? Why do they regroup, re-energize, and refocus? In fact, what is there to refocus?

Atheist believe in logic, reason, science, truth, humanity, and everything else a religious person believes except the religious parts. If you include morality in the religious parts, then ask yourself this, "If the Bible said it was good to rape babies, would I agree?" Some of you may feel offended by my hypothetical question, but think! You recognize morality in the Bible, you don't read the Bible, and say,"Thou Shall Not Kill... OK, but it doesn't make sense to me." That would indicate that you do not recognize it, but rather, you get your morals from the bible.

So back to Atheism... What gets them going? As an Atheist, I would gradually slip into Agnosticism and then into no label at all, if it weren't for the arrogance of religious people. Some religious people are not happy unless everyone does what they believe!

Standing in the way of two people from getting married, because you don't agree, is what gets us going.

Standing in the way of science, because it proves your beliefs wrong, is what gets us going!

Standing in the way of communication because it threatens to convert your followers, is what gets us going.

Believe what you want, but have reasons please. And if you don't have reasons fine, but don't get angry at me for pointing that out. If you do have reasons, then great, but dont be so arrogant as to think you have the only possible truth. You want freedom of religion as long as it supports you. think about it, if you get angry because Atheist want to remove a religious quote from federal currency, then how would you feel if it said, "Ïn Allah we Trust". You would say "SEPERATION of CHURCH AND STATE!" "That can't be on our currency, it is the federal government promoting religion... which is fine as long as it is my religion."

Think about it. If you dare.

The God Virus Review

The God Virus

How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture

BY: Darrel Ray

Having read "The God Delusion", by Richard Dawkins and "Letter to a Christian Nation", by Sam Harris, "The God Virus" was already being held up to the highest standards before I opened the book.

The God Virus is lengthy enough to keep you engrossed, yet short enough to keep you wanting more. Where Dawkins appeals to our emotion and intellect and Harris begs us to examine the effects of religion, Darrel Ray illustrates quite eloquently what is happening, why it's happening, and how we allow it to happen.

The God Virus is the metaphor of the century! It only took a few pages before I was hooked, seeing not only religion, but many things in a new light. Darrel perfectly combines his education and experience to dig up the truth under it all.

I suspect many of you are questioning my lack of negative feedback. How can an honest review sound so bias? The truth is, The God Virus needed to be written! While appreciated by some, and downright disgusting to others, the book is nothing but a spotlight shining on what disgust us. If you read this and become outraged, ask yourself who your mad at.

Written by Randy Hurd

The Joplin Globe

The Joplin globe is my local newspaper, or maybe I should say," a local newspaper", because my newspaper would acknowledge me and consider me, not ignore me. After three members of the Joplin Freethinkers contacted The Joplin globe four times, and the event's guest author's PR guy sent a press release, we were assured our event would be publicized. Day after day, we seen our event go unnoticed. Even the free-for-all event calendar was "postponed"until it was little use.

The event? a well known author Dr. Darrell Ray came to the Joplin Library to give a presentation on his new book, "The God Virus". Many freethinkers came to the presentation and a few Christians also came. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and we all left feeling more aware and better educated about a lot of interesting things.

Having read the book, I can say it is a fascinating read that perfectly compliments Richard Dawkins, "The God Delusion", by metaphorically assigning a virus that spreads the delusion Dawkins refers to.

So, I ask, "Why did our event get left out?" Is it because it wasn't real news? Maybe there was just so much real great news that week, that our news couldn't fit?
Well, The horoscopes were in there. There were also plenty lengthy articles about what other local groups were doing.

Did the Joplin Globe sweep our event under the rug because they didn't agree with our views? If so, then how much of our local news is hidden from us? We are led to believe that the Joplin Globe covers current events, but I don't think so. I think the Joplin Globe masquerades as a newspaper to push their right-wing agenda. Too bad for Joplin. We sit home, read the paper, and feel outnumbered. Maybe us liberals are a majority, and all those conservatives happen to work for the Joplin Globe.

We all want to thank the Joplin Library for allowing us to meet there. We also want to thank the individuals that advertised on with flyer's, emails, business cards, phone calls, etc... too bad the Joplin Globe newspaper is not as efficient at delivering local news as these individuals were.

The Nature of the Virus

Being an Information Technologist, I am more than a little familiar with computer viruses. About 90% of my business is virus removal. Sure I used to get viruses myself, some years ago, but now I never do, because I know how they work. A well-known author named Darrell Ray wrote a book called, "The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture". This virus metaphor got me thinking. By the end of this article, you should have a good start at avoiding computer viruses, and something to discuss at the water-cooler.

Having not read Darrell's book, I will not refer to anything that Dr. Ray has written or said, at least that I am aware of. What I will do, is fumble around, comparing actual computer-viruses with my interpretation of the metaphor of the God Virus.

How does a virus infect the target?

Here it is, the most important thing you need to know about viruses; They are almost always disguised as an anti-virus. A message will tell you there are viruses on your computer, and prompt you to download the software to clean your PC for you. Here's the thing though... There was never anything wrong with your computer, but now you have downloaded and installed a virus.

The virus will run a scan, and show you a fake list of malicious trojan's and spy-ware infecting your computer. The virus will most likely disable important parts of your computer and do a lot to diminish your overall experience, making the need to purchase their software more urgently than ever. Once you purchase the virus, you have given you credit card information to some very malicious people. They may even make it appear as if they removed the virus, so you will think you bought a legitimate piece of software.

Are there any parallels in religion? Someone comes up to you and tells you there is something wrong with you, and they can save you. Once you accept their proposition, you have allowed them access to control you as they see fit, just like a computer virus. Also, like a computer virus, they are helping you deal with the problems they themselves gave you. Your computer was fine before you downloaded that "anti-virus software" and you were fine before you accepted religion.

In conclusion, I see religion and computer viruses like mobsters, offering you "protection"

Be good without God, and close online messages that say you have a virus!

The God Virus

The God Virus - Darrel W Ray Ed.D.

The Joplin Freethinkers are pround to announce that Dr. Ray Will be Coming to Joplin Missouri on April 2nd. He will be giving a presentation on his book, "The God Virus", and hold a Q&A section afterward.

the presentation will be held at 6:00 PM at the Joplin Public Library.