REPLY TO DONVAN'S REPLY TO RENEE BURGESS

Submitted by DANIEL REDMOND (United States), Feb 11, 2009 at 20:11

While I disapprove of Ms Burgess reference to "religious morons" as being little more than a cheap example of name calling, I must confess that her endorsement of our Constitutional separation of church and state would have made Thomas Jefferson proud. If anything provided by the Constitution has ensured our freedom through the centuries it was the fact that we are the first nation on Earth to actually have a constitutional ban on religious interference within our government. There are continual attempts at erroding that edict----Congress begins each session with a Christian prayer, for example----but the Jeffersonian wall of separation is still effectively in place.

Donvan's assertion that "Christianity, as a philosophy, has done more good for people than any other" is fundamentally absurd. Christianity is essentially a worldwide cult that worship's death at every turn, and this can hardly be deemed a positive force on human development. Christianity has taught untold millions to devalue this life here on Earth for an imaginary "after life" in an imaginary celestial amusement park called "Heaven." Christianity's most cherished and iconic image is that of the cross---an instrument of death and torture. Christianity has fought science tooth and nail for centuries----Galileo was forced to recant his astronomical observations by the Catholic church under pain of death---while it has been science alone that has improved the lot of mankind.

Christian missionaries have spread smallpox, cholera, measles and Christian concepts of original sin and innate guilt to millions across the globe---thereby effectively polluting both the bodies and minds of the innocent simultaneously. Christianity has promoted conflict between those with other religious beliefs and sometimes even between those who disagree with their fellow Christians [ie: the Catholics vs Protestants of Northern Ireland]. And as if to put the icing on the cake of corruption, the legions of pedophile priests who have molested the children of parishoners has led to billions of dollars in legal settlements in the United States alone. Some people may gain some solice from Christianity and the idea that a celestial dictatorship rules their lives, controls their very thoughts, and vows to punish them for all eternity for even thinking the "wrong" thing, but I see it as a form of psychological enslavement that has degraded the lives of millions across the globe, albeit with the active complicity of the enslaved themselves.

- DANIEL REDMOND

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