Robert G. Ingersoll

I don't think enough could be written about Robert Ingersoll. Colonel Ingersoll was a Civil War Veteran who lived from 1833 to 1899. He filled lecture halls with believers and non-believers alike during the Golden Age of Freethought, during which The Origin of the Species was popularized, Women's Suffrage was pushed, and religious fundamentalism was challenged in the political, social, and scientific arenas. The son of a preacher man, we could use a man like Robert G. Ingersoll again. He made people think.

Here Ingersoll speaks on the Unholy Bible.

About The Holy Bible

More Ingersoll quotes:

"The ministers are in duty bound to denounce all intellectual pride, and show that we are never quite so dear to God as when we admit that we are poor, corrupt and idiotic worms; that we never should have been born; that we ought to be damned without the least delay.... The old creed is still taught. They still insist that God is infinitely wise, powerful and good, and that all men are totally depraved. They insist that the best man god ever made, deserved to be damned the moment he was finished."

"Strange but true: those who have loved God most have loved men least."

Tags: Atheism, Freethought, Christianity, Ingersoll, infidel, Texas, Turbo Tagger

The Atheist Experience

I'd like to mention the Atheist Community of Austin and their weekly Cable Access show/Google Video feed/Podcast. I usually download the podcast and listen in the car on the commute/ The main host, Matt Dillahunty is an acerbic raconteur who has about ten seconds more of tolerance than I do for the lunacy of the deluded. Matt was studying to be a Baptist minister before his reality epiphany. He shares screen time with a rotating crew of co-hosts. It is worth a look or listen and they have a blog as well. Here are the related links:


The Atheist Experience TV Show

The Atheist Experience Blog

The Atheist Experience Podcast

The Atheist Experience Videocast

They meet for dinner and drinks after each show and were quite content with reaching the hippest crowd in Texas. Recently, they have entertained callers from Ireland to Japan. Give it a try.


Tags: Atheism, Freethought, Christianity, Ingersoll, infidel, Texas, Turbo Tagger

God is an Atheist

If the Christian concept of a god does exist, then that god is an Atheist. Bear with me as I use anthropomorphic pronouns for the Invisible Sky Daddy..

Faith is belief in things that are not seen. Since their god is omnipotent and omnipresent, he already knows everything, so he has no faith.

Since god is already the highest power, he does not believe in a higher power.

Ergo, just like the Texas Infidel Transplant, god has no faith in the supernatural and has no belief in a higher power. Ergo, god is an Atheist. God, you just got so much cooler. Too bad your Atheism automatically negates your existence.

Tags: Atheism, Freethought, Christianity, God, infidel, Texas, Turbo Tagger

Susan Brownell Anthony

"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony

Does it say "In God We Trust" on her coin? Ironic?

Tags: Atheism, Freethought, Christianity, Money, infidel, Texas, Turbo Tagger

Atheist Blogroll

Texas Infidel Transplant has been added to The Atheist Blogroll. You can see the blogroll in my sidebar. The Atheist blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts for more information.



Tags: Atheism, Freethought, Christianity, blogroll, infidel, Texas, Turbo Tagger

Doctrine of Eternal Punishment

"The doctrine of eternal punishment is in perfect harmony with the savagery of the men who made the orthodox creeds. It is in harmony with torture, with flaying alive, and with burnings. The men who burned their fellow-men for a moment, believed that God would burn his enemies forever." - Robert Green Ingersoll

Most theists, especially Christians, claim that without belief and faith, there can be no morality. The silliness of this dogma is easily exposed. Eternal punishment for finite crime is probably the most immortal concept ever introduced. What is even more ironic is that the only thing most Christians believe will not get a person into Heaven is apostasy, or a thought crime. So, this impetuous, jealous, immoral god of your imagination will burn you forever for the simple act of disbelief. Please explain how this is moral or just. It is also anti-American. We allegedly can not be indicted for our thoughts or speech in this fine nation. That many believe that a disbelief in invisible sky fairies is unpatriotic is so sad. The Framers wanted a secular government for a reason. A Theocracy is actually the death knell of whatever the state's religion was. There are many examples throughout history. Most heavily theocratic Christian nations are entirely secular now. See Europe and Scandinavia for proof. It will be interesting to see what happens with Muslim nations in the future. The Iranian youth were already rebelling against the Ayatollahs and embracing the secular ideals of the West. Unfortunately, Dubya set that back by declaring Iran a member of the Axis of Evil, thereby alienating those youth with the ugly theme of Nationalism.

Here is an interesting tale of eternal punishment for a finite crime:

The Tale of the Enormous Speeding Ticket

Believe in me or I will torture you forever. This, my friends, is immoral.

Tags: Atheism, Freethought, Christianity, Ingersoll, infidel, Texas, Turbo Tagger

Eight Hours Must Come

A familiar theme among theists is that atheists somehow have nothing to live for so therefore can contribute nothing to society. To those who enjoy the eight hour workday, certainly not a historical precedent in this country, you may thank the wonderful Robert G. Ingersoll. It is quite comical that those who profess family values generally support the Corporatists and their greed and Fascism. Prior to the push by Ingersoll, workdays of much longer than eight hours were quite common. Not having time to spend with your family is certainly not a family value. Of course, our fine pResident Dubya described a woman working herself to the bone with more than one job to support her family as "uniquely American". As our economy is decimated by greed, family values will be further eroded as the economic pressures placed upon families can only lead to more domestic violence and alcohol and drug abuse. While both parents work long hours just to keep afloat, the children will suffer the most. We have the "Values Voters" to thank, with their insistence that the wedge issue of abortion is the only plank on their platform. Perhaps one day most will realize that abortion will never be made illegal in this country, for then those voters will not be spurred to vote for the criminals who champion their cause.

Robert Ingersoll's Eight Hours Must Come

A sample of some quotes by Ingersoll:

"We have heard talk enough. We have listened to all the drowsy, idealess, vapid sermons that we wish to hear. We have read your Bible and the works of your best minds. We have heard your prayers, your solemn groans and your reverential amens. All these amount to less than nothing. We want one fact. We beg at the doors of your churches for just one little fact. We pass our hats along your pews and under your pulpits and implore you for just one fact. We know all about your mouldy wonders and your stale miracles. We want a this year's fact. We ask only one. Give us one fact for charity. Your miracles are too ancient. The witnesses have been dead for nearly two thousand years."

"The doctrine that future happiness depends upon belief is monstrous. It is the infamy of infamies. The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and ignorance, called "faith." What man, who ever thinks, can believe that blood can appease God? And yet, our entire system of religion is based upon that belief. The Jews pacified Jehovah with the blood of animals, and according to the Christian system, the blood of Jesus softened the heart of God a little, and rendered possible the salvation of a fortunate few. It is hard to conceive how the human mind can give assent to such terrible ideas, or how any sane man can read the Bible and still believe in the doctrine of inspiration."

The source of these quotes is Positive Atheism, which has many more great quotes and a random quote generator.

Positive Atheism's List of Quotes

Tags: Atheism, Freethought, Christianity, Ingersoll, infidel, Texas, Turbo Tagger

Better than a Muslim

So, as you all are probably aware, Texas high school football is huge. Perhaps larger than huge (cyclopean?). My daughter's football stadium would be the envy of many small colleges. At Homecoming, the fathers were asked to dance with their daughters on the dance team, on the field. Just before the performance, the team formed a circle to pray. My daughter whispered, "Daddy, don't say anything". She knew I would not, though, no matter how tempted. As we joined hands, I looked around. About only half of the sixty fathers had their eyes closed and heads bowed. The gentleman next to me did not. As we broke, he and I stepped off to one side, where he stated that he was an Atheist. I thought it curious that he would "come out" among this clearly non-secular crowd. I whispered, "Me too". He looked at me incredulously and stated, "I was just kidding. I guess its better than being a Muslim." Ah, yes, Texas. I'm not certain what his motivation was for the original comment, unless he heard my daughter's admonishment or noticed my discomfort, which was not palpable. He succeeded in getting my confession, however. He approached me later and stated that he did not believe me. I tried to smooth it over by laughing and saying something to the effect of only believing half of what you see and nothing that you hear. He laughed back, not realizing that my retort was really a thinly disguised shot at his "faith". I did tell him that I thought prayer really had no place in schools, as there may be non-Christians of many stripes on the team who fear reprisal for not acquiescing and that prayer should be a private matter, as stated in The Bible. I felt rather weak that I was unable to resolutely stand up for my convictions of reality, but as it was a function for my daughter, I felt it best not to cast her as the pariah daughter of an infidel heathen who is only slightly better than a Muslim.



I will be providing further examples of insecure theists in Texas, especially in the school system, catapulting the propaganda of their beliefs in secular settings in front of captive audiences. To me, it is further proof that without constant reinforcement, they know that their outlandish flights of fantasy can not withstand scrutiny.

Tags: Atheism, Freethought, Christianity, Muslim, infidel, Texas, Turbo Tagger

Imaginary Friend

Apparently, you are never too old to have an imaginary friend. From the time I was a toddler of three, I disabused the notion of a god, gods, or Santa Claus, much to my mother's chagrin. It all seemed so implausible to even that impressionable mind of wonderment and fantasy. When I discuss with any Christian the notion that, under their system of belief, my logical mind would have been given to me by their creator, which would certainly mean that I was created to burn forever from the beginning, their response always lamely centers around free will. I will discuss free will in the future, but if a child who Dobson and Hitler both claim they could have for life* if given the opportunity for tutelage could see right through the preposterousness of it all, how could that child possibly entertain the delusion as an adult?

*Both Dobson and Hitler echoed the Jesuit's meme of early child influence allowing concepts to be propagandized for life. I will supply the quotes at a later date.

Tags: Atheism, Freethought, Christianity, friend, infidel, Texas, Turbo Tagger

Welcome

Welcome to Texas Infidel Transplant, a "blog" about Texan's reactions to Atheists and Infidels, some politics, and non-belief in general. It is quite eye opening to move to the Bible Belt and have views that resign one to the status of an anathema. Enjoy the ride.

Tags: Atheism, Freethought, Christianity, welcome, infidel, Texas, Turbo Tagger