Hong Kong Liberal Religious Forum

At the heart of religion...a lie
Brian Hines
January 30, 2009
Church of the Churchless
http://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_t ... a-lie.html

...when lying is a permanent condition, a way of life, it eats away at the foundation that supports each of us.

Reality.

This is the big problem with religiosity -- lying. Believers lie continually. ...

The only true statement about God or ultimate reality is...I don't know. Say more, and there's just one appropriate response: "You're a liar."

...If someone claims to know that something is true, and they really are clueless, that's a lie. Again, it can be called by another name, such as faith, but that doesn't change anything.

...I'd rather be honestly lost in fog, than living a lie of "I can see to the heavens."



Alex's comment: I'm afraid...he makes perfect sense 我不得不承認…作者很有道理

Implications of this article:
Faith is a vice, not a virtue.
It is a fundamental vice for humanity because it is a wrong method to find reality.
The fundamental flaw of faith-based religions is that they teach a fundamental vice as a fundamental virtue.

這篇文章意味著：
「信德」（「信心」）是一種惡，不是一種「德」。
「信心」是一種對人類最具破壞力的基礎性大惡，因為它是找尋真理的錯誤方法。
基於信心的宗教的核心缺陷在於把一種基礎性的惡誤當作一種基礎性的善。

Implications of this article on Judaism and Christianity:

Judaism has the fundamental error of praising the faith of Abraham. Abraham's "faith" in God resulted in attempted murder of his own son. Abraham's "faith" ought to be condemned, not praised.

Christianity has the fundamental error of condemning Thomas. Thomas disblieved in Jesus' resurrection and demanded evidence. That is science: prove or disprove by evidence. That is the correct way to find out truth. In order to promote a faith to its readers who did not have chance to see Jesus' body, the Gospel of John put these words in Jesus' mouth: "Because you [Thomas] have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." (20:29, NASV) Thomas was condemned. By condemning Thomas, the Gospel condemned science. Christianity suspects science ever since. Science and faith are opposite methods of finding out truth (by evidence vs without evidence). The foundation of science is the very lack of faith. The two cannot be reconciled.