Well, another Christmas season has come and gone, and once again I let out a huge sigh of relief. There is something about the "holidays" that is often more depressing than inspiring; theologically, the problem is that the entire Christmas story is largely mythological. That makes celebrating difficult. And this is not a good time to be reading, as I currently am, Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion! Nor is it a time to read the December 17 issue of Newsweek, where the cover story is, "Who Was Jesus?" Dancing rather carefully around its main point, the Newsweek article notes that "the birth narratives of the New Testament are historically problematic," and that "the accounts of Jesus' life in the New Testament have never been called 'histories'; instead, they have always been known as 'Gospels'--that is 'proclamations of the good news.' These are books that meant to declare religious truths, not historical facts." Translated into less polite prose: the Bible is a story at best, not to be taken as anything that really happened.
That the Bible is not literally "true" is such a no-brainer to me that I have to wonder about anyone who believes otherwise. Indeed, any educated person ought to know better. Dawkins cites evidence that virtually all studies on the subject find a negative correlation between religiosity and IQ--that is, more intelligent people are less religious. He also cites a survey of scientists that tallied 12 "believers" and 213 "unbelievers." Dawkins challenges atheists to "out" themselves, much like gay people, because he offers evidence that atheists are held in even lower regard than homosexuals. In a nutshell: smart people know that Christmas and Easter are a lie, and those who think so ought to say so and not politely sing "Away in a Manger"; otherwise, ignorance, prejudice, and a form of discrimination will continue.
To have the courage of one's convictions: this is a sobering challenge, no matter what the issue. But with religion specifically, we live in an environment where there's a world of hurt waiting for those who profess to be unfaithful. Those who were willing to kill Matthew Shepard may also be willing to kill the unbelievers; that may sound outrageous, but I'm willing to bet that any outspoken atheist has received his or her share of death threats. Things are just that crazy. If you don't believe me, consider the case of 16-year-old Jessica Ahlquist [http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/atheist-teen-in-rhode-island-receives-death-threat]; recently, she successfully sued to have a prayer removed from her high school cafeteria, making her the
target of online attacks and death threats which are being investigated
by authorities. She now needs a police escort just to go to school.
Onward Christian soldiers!
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