by Bob Johnson
Deism, with its very strong reliance on our God-given reason, is a true and very positive alternative to the violence promoting “revealed” religions. “Revealed” religions which have historically proven themselves capable of the most heinous violent crimes against individuals, society and progress. Just one example of this is the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) fought primarily between Lutherans and Catholics who lived in Germany. This religious war was so violently destructive and consuming that the German population was reduced by 30%! And this was Christians fighting Christians!
In the Middle East today we see Jews killing Muslims and Muslims killing Jews. In Asia we see Christians, Hindus and Muslims killing each other over “revealed” religion.
The key reason for the violence among the Abrahamic “revealed” religions can be traced to their respective “holy” books.
The primary Jewish “holy” book is the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. This is loaded with claims of Jewish superiority over “all people that are upon the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 7:6) It is also loaded with divine calls for genocide by the Hebrews/Jews against their neighbors. One glaring example is Numbers 31:15-18 which has Moses ordering the Israeli army to kill all the surviving women and children (little ones) and to save the virgins for themselves. This makes it easy to see why the Bible is not to be used to spread peace and progress. There are many other Hebrew Bible/Old Testament teachings which make the same point due to their promotion of genocide by Jews/Hebrews against Gentiles. As Thomas Paine wrote in The Age of Reason, “The Jews made no converts; they butchered all.”
Looking at the New Testament we see it is said that Jesus was celebrating the Jewish Passover at the last supper. It’s rarely mentioned that to celebrate the Jewish Passover you are celebrating the Bible god’s slaughter of the firstborn of all the people of Egypt, even of their livestock! (Exodus 12:29) It is said this was done because Pharaoh would not free the Jewish/Hebrew slaves. According to Exodus 11:10 the Bible god “hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.” It seems the Bible god just wanted a bloodbath. Add to this the fact the New Testament quotes Jesus as saying at Matthew 10:34, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.”
The Koran is also loaded with religious superiority and violence promoting superstitions. For example Surah 3:110 which states to Muslims, “Ye are the best community that hath been raised up for mankind.” When you have two or more “revealed” religious groups who each falsely believe they are superior to the other, you’re going to have violence and warfare. Surah 3:151 calls on Muslims to “cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.”
Deism is free of all this violence producing superstition and nonsense. Deism relies on God-given reason, not man-made ancient “revealed” religions masquerading as God’s communication and instruction for humanity. In Deism, the only holy book is the Creation itself. To quote Thomas Paine from The Age of Reason, “THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD and it is in this word, which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God
speaketh universally to man.”
As “revealed” religious violence and crimes against humanity continue to expand, whether it’s innocent children killed by their religious parents who believe more in faith-healing than they do in God-given reason, or it’s mass murder committed by a religious state like Israel or Syria, the need for a new reason based natural alternative becomes more painfully obvious and much greater. That reason based natural alternative is Deism!
Bob Johnson is a freelance writer in the Tampa area of Florida. He was raised Roman Catholic, but after a stint in Marine Corps infantry and reading Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason he became a Deist.
In 1993 he founded the World Union of Deists, and in 1996 he launched the first website devoted to Deism. He is the author of God Gave Us Reason, Not Religion, Deism: A Revolution in Religion, A Revolution in You and An Answer to C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. He has also written the introduction to Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition and Principles of Nature by Elihu Palmer.
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