The Blasphemy Challenge

A while back, a group called "The Rational Response Squad" promoted the "Blasphemy Challenge" on youtube. Basically they targeted young people to make a video denying the Holy Spirit and God. Not Allah, or Buddhism, or Satanism, or Witchcraft, just the Holy Spirit, which is linked to Christianity. The reason? Well, watch the clip and read a few snippets from the FAQ on their webpage.



How will The Blasphemy Challenge help?

Religious dogma has one chief means of support: Our unwillingness to criticize it in public. If we talked about religion the same way we talk about science, history or other fields involving truth claims, dogma would wither in the light. The Blasphemy Challenge, by addressing a truth claim of Christianity, is intended to provoke this sort of conversation.

Notice there is no mention of other religions.

"Is it true that you are targeting young people with this campaign?

Yes. As young people are the most vulnerable to religious indoctrination, we feel it is important to reach them with the concept of challenging the doctrine they are told to unquestioningly believe.

Okay, what about the doctrine of Hinduism? Are you going to go out and tell those people that they are wrong? Oh that's right. Being Hindu is okay. Being a Buddhist, Taoist or Confucionist is okay. Worshipping Satan or the Earth is okay, but don't you dare believe in the God of Christianity, or we will come after you.

The reward for posting a video? A free DVD entitled "The God that wasn't there."

Now I looked at many of these challenge videos, and so far I haven't seen anyone denouncing their belief in Allah or any other religions, just the Holy Spirit and the God of Christianity. (That's because they weren't asked to, because the RRS is OK with everything else. Christianity was specifically targeted.)

How can a person take this organization so seriously??? I mean come on. They don't even ask people of other faiths to denounce their gods.


My main problems with atheism are the following:

1) Using the violence of Islam as an excuse to denounce religion, mainly Christianity, and that's what it is. Example: All the terrorism in the Middle East they claim is completely based on Islam and don't take in other factors like racism, nationalism>therefore all religion is bad>Christians are ignorant>Creationists should be removed from teaching science or being in education in general>religion should be totally removed from our society>then we all live happily ever and serve each other>golden rule is the status quo>and we end up really worshipping the planet as environmentalists and feel guilty just for being an American while the elitists gobble it all up because they've just managed to control everyone into thinking this way.
As I said, some rational thinking atheists are actually standing up to radical Islamo-fascism and I applaud them, like John Gibson of Fox News. But they seem to be in the minority. Thus many use the former as an excuse to denounce the latter.
2) Many do not take a stand against ALL religions, as the general definition of atheism would lead most people to believe. As one youtuber put it:
"Um...f*** christianity and islam-i really don't have a problem with the others though."
"That's because they don't force their religion on you." Is the response.

Well I don't care, seriously. What kind of response is that? Has that person examined everything before making that decision? There should be books and critical analysis of Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. etc. vs. atheism but we don't see that. It should be shouted from the rooftops at the Ivy League schools. But all we see are Richard Dawkins, David Mills, PZ Myers, etc etc. denouncing GOD and that's enough to get you the prestige, awards, and recognition.

Therefore, I must conclude that these people have a serious problem with God and don't want to be accountable to anyone but themselves, and do not want to acknowledge a higher power. It's narcissism to the extreme. We are increasingly becoming more about "self" than ever before. However, environmentalism and "saving the planet" seem to be a worthy causes so that's ok.
4) Ruining the reputations of educators and scientists. All you have to do is read current events to see where academia and science are headed. No respect for people that explore ID. You have to be a Darwinian evolutionist or else you lose everything. People should not lose promotions or tenure because of religious beliefs. That is a violation of the Constitution, and promotes anarchy and Communism. The following is about a kid that filed a lawsuit against a teacher for bashing Christianity in the classroom. THIS IS BEING TAUGHT TO OUR KIDS!!!!! And it's ok, not a violation. Where is the ACLU???




(By the way, the school district dismissed the case. U.S. District Judge James Selna has ordered it to go forward however because he believes it has merit. Let's hope our judicial system doesn't let Chad Farnan down.)

5)Ridiculing young people and encouraging dissent in the traditional family value system. (RRS) Hey, you're not gonna knock on people's doors to promote atheism or ask some parents to talk to their kids about it freely are you? Why not? Could it be because the parents might have an objection to it? (And don't throw the door to door evangelism out there. I'm fully aware of the consequences of that, and it's the wrong approach.) No, you'll just stealth target them online, ridicule them at University by giving them bad grades when they challenge the professor and hit the other things they read. This is where parents need to WAKE UP and pay more attention to what their kids see online and read today. Many of the blasphemy videos and responses I see are full of profane, vulgar language specifically targeted at Christianity. When was the last time a Christian approached you and truly wanted to share the gospel with you and then said "F you because you don't want to hear the message?"

Atheism can be categorized into 2 sections, according to atheist.about.com. There's strong atheism and weak atheism.

"There is, unfortunately, some disagreement about the definition of atheism. It is interesting to note that most of that disagreement comes from theists — atheists themselves tend to agree on what atheism means. Christians in particular dispute the definition used by atheists and insist that atheism means something very different. (Not me, I go with the below statement.)
The broader, and more common, understanding of atheism among atheists is quite simply "not believing in any gods." No claims or denials are made — an atheist is just a person who does not happen to be a theist. Sometimes this broader understanding is called "weak" or "implicit" atheism. Most good, complete dictionaries readily support this.

There also exists a narrower sort of atheism, sometimes called "strong" or "explicit" atheism. With this type, the atheist explicitly denies the existence of any gods — making a strong claim which will deserve support at some point. Some atheists do this and others may do this with regards to certain specific gods but not with others. Thus, a person may lack belief in one god, but deny the existence of another god."

This really is an expansion of the first definition and not that different. But there are atheists that respect others and those that do not. That's the difference.

So why the attack on Christianity alone? Well, I've got a few opinions on this. One could be the oppression suffered during the Dark Ages and the Crusades, and then the rise of extreme fundamentalism in many parts of the world. Think Jim Jones, David Koresh, the FLDS, I could go on and on. These are valid reasons that I can understand why a person might turn away from God when they see these things in the media. But many people use these examples merely as excuses for denying God and not actively ensuring that they have explored every option before just denouncing Him. For example, being just Catholic all your life and then suddenly deciding you're an atheist doesn't cut it.



The mother in this video is wrong, and it's an example of extremely bad parenting, to use the foul language that she uses and "Christmas presents" to justify why her kid should believe and some mere words he said to the Bishop. This is her fault and not the kid's. It is her obligation to make sure he has a well rounded spiritual foundation in which to grow, a loving home. It doesn't appear that he has that. It's based on materialism and control. It's no wonder then that he has been seduced by the growing message that being a Christian is bad and makes you "stupid."

Moving on to 9/11 and the torture of innocent people worldwide by fundamental Muslims. I'm not talking about the garden variety Muslims that worship peacefully in their mosques and bother no one. I've met some very nice Muslim people and I would never categorize them in this fashion. I'm talking about the wave of dangerous sects of Islam that behead our soldiers and our journalists, that proclaim "Death to America" and all these things we see in the news, the same people that have killed innocent Iraqis. I have seen some atheists speak out against that, but there are very few. I believe the reason for this is the media bias against the Iraq War and the laws that are being written as we speak to protect terrorists. Our borders are porous. This is very bad news for America, and there's no denying it. If many atheists are humanists then why aren't they standing up for other innocent HUMANS?

My concern is that as time goes on, the rise of fundamental Islam could very well infiltrate this country and overwhelm it. As the next few generations get older, and their belief in God is gone completely, they will have no spiritual path on which to lean and be able to recognize the extreme dangers this poses for our freedoms. (Of course I'll get some backlash for not using secular documents such as the Constitution and the Treaty of Tripoli for this statement instead of religion.)

Sharia law has already affected some areas. Look at the Minneapolis airport, for example. The taxi drivers there have declared it. This was reported by John Gibson at Fox News. He says he is an atheist and he took the challenge but was professional about it. So I applaud this man for speaking out. Here's the link.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,255939,00.html


Now I'm not trying to say that my above statments would be the case with ALL atheists. But the fact that the RRS is going after young people who have not had a lot of life experiences (i.e. death of close relative, loss of job, marriage, family, threat against their own lives, divorce, terminal illness, etc. etc.) and who have maybe had some bad experiences with religion aren't even giving them a chance because they've had some bad experiences so it's "payback time."

Trying to turn kids against God is really hurting them in the long run and destroying our value system. There's been so much time spent on denouncing God, Christ, the Holy Spirit. Millions of books are sold promoting it. There are so many videos about this subject on youtube, that frankly, it scares me. There's not much respectful dialogue, it's mostly hate speech directed at one another.

Here are some responses from atheists to Christians who have responded to this blasphemy with statements that they DO believe:

"I believe you are delusional and your delusions are hurting us as a species. Preachers are false prophets, prayer is a superstition, heaven is a fairy tale, and god does not exist. I'm a proud member of the RATIONAL RESPONSE SQUAD and I DENY THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, JESUS, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT."

"Religion should never be followed. You may study it but only for its horrible impact that it has plagued on valuable human life. Religion is humankind's greatest downfall."

(The above statement alone makes me cringe. It makes me think of what our country might be like in a few decades, on college campuses and in academia in general, and that rules might be placed on our society saying we will not be allowed to even study religion, except for "its horrible impact that it has plagued on valuable human life. "Does this even sound like the United States of America anymore???)

"Science is about FACTS they're smart, they're athiests, they're right."

"When the Virgin Mary found out she was pregnant she should have had an abortion."

"You believe such stupid things idiot, f*** jesus"

"I am more important than all mythical beings because I actually exist."

"It's unconstitutional to support religion."

"F*** theism, f*** the concept of god."

"Little girl please understand that there are some big bad people who created the idea of God and that you fell into their little trap. GOD IS BULLSHIT."

Intimidation tactics meant to scare, to manipulate, to induce fear and hatred. Not something that opens the situation to respectful dialogue.

I have seen Christian responses that say "you will burn in hell" and "you better repent" and all that. Not kind.

There are many Christians that have twisted the Scriptures to fit their own purpose and this behavior is deplorable and despicable. These individuals will have to answer for their actions at some point in time. But this is the unfortunate nature of mankind. We are not infallible, and we cannot correct our behavior simply by following the Golden Rule and hope it just "works out for the best."

But then again we just die and poof...there's nothing right?

There are atheists that don't want religion in public schools. Notice I said religion. As in all religions. Nothing wrong with that. I'm actually a Christian that supports separation of Church and State. I do support the moment of silence however because I do not believe it is an attempt to bring the God of the Bible into the classroom. It is meant to be a reflective time and should be used for whatever the individual wants. It's not to promote prayer, and it's NOT to promote atheism.

I do support creationism and evolution being taught in the schools. Yes, you will call me an idiot and "intellectually dishonest" and that I am not truly scientifically educated, stupid, unable to see reality, whatever intimidation tactic you choose. You might say my arguments contradict one another. Again, that's ok too.
But the atheists also don't want you to vote on whether you want that in your school or not. This is the beginning of the eroding of values in our society. Yes, an atheist will say no, it's the beginning of the TRUTH and rational thinking.
An atheist will say that a person's decision to give up God is letting go of a crutch that keeps you from thinking clearly about the world and of just accepting that we die and that's it. Well they don't KNOW that is true. So to encourage young people to dissent from their religions and post a video to get a free DVD is irresponsible. These people don't care about these kids as people. All they care about is their publicity and the shock value that their stunt is bringing them.

I would just like to encourage the young people out there that before you just decide there is no God and take up with the crowd du jour, think seriously about what you are doing and the eternal consequences. You will go through many more trials in your life before you reach your 40's and 50's and you will be tested. It is not easy. It's easier to throw in the towel and say "there is no God" than to say there is. Is this world now becoming about the easy way out???

If you have been raised in an oppressive church, if you have gotten to the point where you just hated the idea of just getting up on Sunday morning and being dragged to one more Bible study or mass, and had people throw God in your face, please re-examine your options. Check out different denominations and see if there is another place where you might fit in and not be made to feel this way. I am saying this from personal experience. I have been in that situation. From age 13 to age 39. I hated going to church.

If you are over the age of 21, you are an adult. You have the power to make your own decisions. If you decide after fully examining everything to be an atheist, that is your right. But please, please, make absolutely certain that it is your conscience and not your professor, your friends, or some internet organization telling you to deny God. That is the wrong reason and will only get you accepted in certain circles for a little while.

My fear is that many that have renounced God will be the first to say they'll "believe in Allah" if Islam ever takes over this country to keep from being killed if they are ever faced with that. They won't think of it as "embracing a religion" but simply saying whatever they have to say. They'll tell themselves it's "no big deal." Yet they denied the God of Christianity.

I just want to pose a question to atheists: What would you do if you were to find yourself at the other end of a scimitar that is about to saw your head off for Allah? Or your children's if you do not accept Islam? If they say to you, "Say you believe in Allah or you and your family die right now."

What would you do?

Now let me ask: Has a Christian ever done that to you? I'm not talking about the Middle Ages, so please don't use that as an excuse. I'm talking RIGHT NOW in the modern age.

Just put yourself in that situation for a moment and ponder it. You don't have to answer right away.

I'm bound to get some hateful responses for this blog entry. But it's been on my mind, and as an American with rights to free speech, I'm going to post it. Fire away.