Category Archives: Atheism

Atheism, Ayn Rand, Christian Libertarianism, Dispensationalism, Freedom, Jihad on Drugs™, King James Bible, Paul, Prohibition, Righteous Rants, Salvation, Tool

Thorns in the Flesh.

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Ruff Draft.

In the early part of the First decade of the New Millennium, The New Zealand Objectivists at The Free Radical Foundation invited one of their most revered Clerics to New Zealand. Tibor Machan. Joy and I traveled up to Auckland to hear him speak.
After everything had finished there was opportunity to have one on one conversations with him over a coffee. I had a question I wished to ask.
When my chance came, I introduced myself and asked him “ Do you think it is possible to live in perfect accord with Objectivist values?”
After a moment he said “Yes,… Of course.” He said he believed that was one of Objectivism’s most important attributes.

Now, as a Free thinking Christian, That answer has always provoked contemplation within me. It must be nice to have a system of values and ethics which is not only attainable, but also leaves you with an absolutely clear conscience, and faith in the perfectibility of Humanity… Indeed faith in ones own self- perfection.
When one understands ‘The Egoism’ which is the central tenet of Objectivism, it is easy to draw the inference that such a Religion requires one to think of one self as ‘The ideal Human Being’.

Now when this system is compared to the Judeo-Christian world view of Man as a Fallen and sinful being, guilty before God, One can see the appeal of such a faith, and the Temptation involved in wanting this world view to be true… by those whom seek to ‘shrug off’ Guilt, and a Code of Morality which says Man has moral obligations beyond self-interest, and that ultimately we must all give account of ourselves before a supreme Moral Judge.

This is what freedom means to the Atheist. They think obligation to a moral code set by a Higher Power is a form of slavery. (I wonder if they also think of themselves as slaves to the Law of gravity!)

Now to me these notions smack of subjectivity! Of whim. How convenient it is to invent your own code of values that magically sanitizes all your selfish actions and absolves you of Sin!
It also occurs to Me that Objectivism is a Patent rejection of Objective morality… which if they exist at all… are not merely a system of convenient sanctions that justify self interest… but are true whether convenient or not, even if their truth convicts us of evil.


“There are two types of people. Righteous Men whom think they are sinners, and sinners whom think they are righteous”. Pascal

From my perspective Objectivism far from truly being Objective reeks of Psychological motivation, and may be clearly seen as just one more revolt from Christian/ theistic values. What is interesting about this is that Ayn Rand cherry picked many Theistic values such as Human rights, limited Government etc as suited her, and attempted to cloak them in atheist Garb.
This is a laughable ploy because an Atheist reality is an Objectively Amoral reality… the only codes of ethics and values of necessity being merely subjective conventions, and not Obligatory upon anyone.

There is good reason why I have started my post with this stab against Objectivism. It serves as a good back drop for contrasting my own beliefs and the dilemmas that they involve… and how My Christian world view causes me to humble myself, and confess my many short comings as a sinful Man.
It is my experience that the Biblical story of Humanities fallen Nature is tragically real…indeed it is one of the most established facts of Human Nature. This being so it becomes clear how far from the truth the ideas of Objectivism are Though they may appear to have very pleasant ‘opiate effect’ for the conscience… They are nonetheless a flight into pure self delusion.

Now I was born in 1967, into a world in which The King James Bible is a reality.
I did not write it. I did not invent the God of the Bible. I did not invent Christianity.
These were objective realities that existed independent of me, just as other realities like Beautiful woman, and Murder, and War.

How is a Man like myself supposed to treat this Objective reality called ‘The Bible’?

The decision to embrace it as truth, or reject it as simply one of many deceptive fabrications, requires a thorough and impartial investigation.

Though there are Millions of man made false religions in the world, and many things contained within the scriptures that are cause for alarm, esp the News that I am a sinner and that my sin puts me at variance to the Holy God …creator of the Universe… These things are not grounds enough to reject it.
Ie Just because the world is flooded with Primitive superstition, and the world is wracked by religious conflicts, does not mean Religion is evil, or that All Religion is merely the fruit of Human imagination. To reach that conclusion is a very shallow pitfall that sadly many people are quick to leap into. They do it with glee… thinking they are escaping Moral obligation… the self flagellation of guilt, and the eternal fires of Damnation.

It is my testimony that when the Bible is considered Objectively, that like a Man passing through a Labyrinth, with Dead ends, Booby traps, and even a Minotaur or two… that there is one route trough all the confusion, and that, though battered and brused, it is possible to make the traverse that establishes the Bible as believably the Revelation of God to man. It is via such a quest for truth… such a voyage of perseverance and discovery, that the Older man may contemplate his pilgrimage, and realize all the Snares and pitfalls were laid down by those of malicious mind, or of weak intellects overcome by the fashions of their times, and by those whom despise the implications that arise when one accepts the bible as truth. The world is filled with such Naysayers whom desire to halt the Pilgrim in his tracks, and to deceive them into thinking their journey of faith is a lost cause.
I will soften this a bit, as I know but by the Grace of God there go I also.
I marvel that The gracious God has seen fit to reveal himself to me!
So thick are the groves of the Labyrinth, and so prone to selfish whims that I am, I wonder how I managed to become a vessel so filled with the Magnificent mysteries of God Almighty!
I too am a creature of my Time. I have the luxury of Living today in New Zealand.… the luxury of hindsight. Thus I do not equate the luminosity I have received as a sign of my own genius, Indeed I wonder that I have received it, in spite of my manifold weaknesses and folly.

And perhaps this is the greatest secret of it all! God looks to the heart of a Man, rather than his intellect, and in this age of Grace God calls a man to his service, not because of his personal piety, but for His own Divine purposes…

“Who [God] hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2Tim1vs9)

This is where My story as a morally weak and insignificant human being connects with the Divine plan, and is an example of how Christianity is diametrically opposed to Rands Ideals of Egoism.
What is incredible to realize is that because of our fallen Nature, our intellect can easily be trained to think diabolically and to vain imaginations and Grand delusions.
Yes Intelligence is no safeguard to avoiding error! It can be the source of great vanity and foolishness! It is prone to inventing false accusations against God… and thereby exacerbating our alienation from him, and keeping us from a knowledge of the truth. This is why the Christian is told to avoid vain janglings of philosophy, and beware science falsely so-called. Thus it is when a philosophy or scientific assertion is made that contravenes the scriptures it must be thoroughly examined.
It is my experience that such assertions will inevitably prove to be vacuous. Or expose a false doctrine regarding the interpretation of scripture. Ie we must be careful not to simply throw out the assertion simply because it conflicts with our current ideas. I have learned mountains of truth from the critics of the Bible and Christianity!
They have helped me correct many errors.
Being a Christian does not mean shutting your mind.
Indeed though I am a man full of weakness and vice, yet still it appears to suit God’s Divine purposes to use such a weak vessel as I.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For after that in the wisdom God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe… For ye see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; The Base things of the world, and the things which are despised, hath God chosen… And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with Excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified….And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of Man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God…” (1Cor1vs19- 2vs5)

Let us hear what St Paul says about himself…

7And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
8For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
St Paul (2Cor 12vs 7-10)

Here St Paul confesses to his own spiritual imperfection… his sinfulness… his inability to live up to Gods Holy standards. Moreover he says that he glories in this because God uses his weaknesses, to achieve his ends… and thus we see that Paul is humbled by his knowledge of his own weakness, That he keeps his intellectual vanity in check, knowing that he is not saved…. Not raise to a higher plateau by his own genius, but rests in the grace of God Almighty, and the simple truth of The gospel… That Christ Died on the Cross for our sins, and was buried, and rose again for our justification.
There is no space for Egoism in the gospel!
The Gospel is not the preserve of Human genius!
And it is for this reason that many Vain intellectuals despise it!
Christianity is no elitist club… no Utopian enclave like Galt’s Gultch!
According to the Bible any Plonker can go to heaven! Indeed Christ seems to busy himself saving the simpletons and scum of the Earth!

And Happily… I am one of them.
The Bible is clear that as a fallen race of beings we cannot live up to Gods Holy (Objective) Moral standard. Though we can learn and reform ourselves… and become better people…We cannot perfect or Save ourselves.

Confession time. I am a man whom has many short comings. I am very Carnal… full of thorns in my flesh.
The words of St Paul ring true for me…
“For what I would, That I do not, but what I hate…that I do… Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”…. (Rom 7vs14-25)

Yes I assert the doctrines of St Paul to be 100% true!
When a Person receives Christ they are ‘Born again’ and are sealed by the Holy Spirit. They begin a new Life, and yet they are still carnal, Mortal…still sinful.
They have in fact become two people. Described as the Old man and the New Man, and will not become spiritually perfected until a special day called ‘The Day of Redemption’ when God creates us new bodies that are no longer full of evil lusts.
Until that day Life involves a struggle between our two Natures, between our sinful carnal Nature and our new spiritual Life from Christ.
And what a struggle it is! Depending which Nature we ‘feed’ the most determines which Nature rules in our lives.
And I confess to being hopelessly carnal. This is my Achilles Heel! For all my knowledge of the scriptures, my lusts and carnality consume me to such a degree that I am unworthy to minister over others. I could never be the pastor of a congregation because I don’t know how to live a Godly Life. If holiness is the measure of Christian success…I am a complete failure! A part of me is so ashamed that sometimes I wonder if I ought to stop preaching about Christ and go and hide somewhere… yet when I read st Paul I realize That apart from Jesus Christ, God has never had perfect servants working for him. All of his children have had to function under his benevolent grace and forgiveness.

I rest in his Grace, and stand fast in the liberty of Christ! (Gal5vs1kjv)
I trust in the Gospel truth that I have been deemed righteous by Faith without works, and that I have the righteousness of Christ, whom took upon himself my sins. (Eph 2vs8,9kjv)

Before I understood dispensationalism, as a young Christian I was taught that God only saves the Good people… that I must repent of all my sins and forsake them to be saved, and that if I ever returned to my old ways I would loose my salvation.
That was to fail to understand the gospel of grace and to be literally enslaved to the Jewish Law again…’the yoke of bondage’ (This is not the same type of ‘slavery’ that atheists think of when they condemn religion…This is talking about having to do works for salvation, not as atheists think… a system of Human subjection and control)

I was told Sex, Drugs, and rock and roll were all of the Devil, so I Tried to quit them all… burned my records, and avoided many of my old Lost friends… yet always ended up relapsing.
I failed to maintain my promises to God to be a good boy.

Thus I learned never to make such promises to God, and thankfully though I struggled to live a godly life, I never abandoned my faith, and eventually I discovered the dispensational truth that I was completely under Gods grace, and Free from the Law.

Thus being set free myself, and knowing my own short comings this led me to having grace upon others as God has grace upon me.
My own personal struggles with life have helped me to be more understanding, more compassionate, and more tolerant of the struggle and sins of my fellow human beings.
Gods grace towards me has made me a Libertarian, because I see the hypocrisy of being full of vise myself yet calling the Law and government to persecute the vices of others.
Gods has shown tolerance and forgiveness of my sins, and calls me as a Christian to preach this ‘Good News’ to other lost sinners… not lobby the State to persecute them.
Thus I am humbled before God, and the thorns in my flesh have helped me to see the glory of Gods grace clearly, and the true libertarian nature of Christianity.
Today though I am no Pastor, I am a witness for Christ and the truth of The King James Bible to anyone who will listen.
I wont caste pearls before self righteous Christ hating swine. As a Guy who Grew up in Glen Eden West Auckland, I have always Been a Bogan Westy and alway will be. I write this Blog with Richard in Bogan style, preaching a very Bogan Gospel.
I dont preach self-righteousness.
I despise Pharisaic Hypocrisy.
Putting my faith into practice, I busy myself in Libertarian Activism, standing up for justice and the rights of the oppressed minorities like Prostitutes and Drug addicts.

I don’t reject the Holiness of God simply because in the light of it I fall short.
I hold it to be objectively true in spite of the fact that such an acknowledgement means I must confess my own sinfulness.
This is an intolerable thing for an Objectivist to contemplate.
In their own eyes… to have self esteem… they need to delude themselves of their own perfection.

Tim Wikiriwhi.
Christian Libertarian.
AV King James Bible believer.
Dispensationalist.

Atheism, Bogus Science, Evolutionism

The False Deity Called Evolution.

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Kiwi Hottie/ Model Rachel Whitwell.

“When I look at a beautiful Woman I know there is a God!”
Tim Wikiriwhi

Browsing the NZ Herald yesterday today I noticed an article which claims clinical studies have shown that an infant human beings cry is at such a pitch as to provoke an unusually fast response in Adults.
I found a link to this topic here:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/babys-cry-triggers-fast-response-20120111-1ptxq.html

Now I want to use this story to point out a very important observation regarding the interpretation of evidence.
Firstly as a bare observable fact, this mechanism for provoking a ‘Fast response’ is quite extraordinary.
The real dilemma for us is when we attempt to conceptualize how such a relationship could come into being.

At face value this ‘relationship’ appears to have a reasoning underpinning it… It looks like a designed order. Thus by looking at such things , to conclude there must be a Wise God, is perfectly rational.

This is what Richard Dawkins means when he confessed… “biology is the study of complicated things that appear to have been designed for a purpose.”
The Blind Watchmaker, 1996, p. 1.

Yet despite this apparent conclusion the article goes on to say…
“Evolution has decided that it is a good thing for us to look after our young, and there is something in the acoustic properties of babies’ cries that evokes a very basic response that appears to be hardwired in ancient parts of our brains,” said Prof Kringelbach.

Do you notice what happened here.? Out of thin air Prof Kringelbach invokes the strong voodoo spirit the atheists call Evolution! “Evolution Decided”. They accredit This dead and blind watchmaker with benevolence… blessing us with all good things.
It is amazing to read the Divine powers Materialist atheists atribute to their mystic power they call ‘Evolution’.
Books on Evolution written to indoctrinate the sheeple have weird titles like ‘The Miracle of life’!!!???

Atheists want you to abandon your inclinations towards concluding that such amazing relationships as exist between Parents and children are Artworks of a purposeful/ meaningful/ All powerful designer… by accepting their 100% fabricated myth which is contrary to what the facts suggest to the rational and open minded thinker!

The Atheists are trying to Smoke you!
They claim Science is on their side. Indeed they swear Science is their God, yet Like wolves in Sheep’s clothing… They love to pontificate wearing white overcoats (The Religious garb of the Atheist priesthood) …to make fools think they are Holy / absolutely objective / absolute masters of scientific truth… when in fact they are so lost in myth and superstition that they may as well have bones through their noses… The white overcoat has become pseudo religious garb of the atheist priesthood.
And the theory of Evolution is one of the greatest delusions ever believed.

I would like to point out that this article would show far greater scientific integrity if they had simply published the results of their studies… and not put in their biased/unscientific opinion/ explanation of Evolution.
It would read something like this. “ Studies have shown that a Babys cry provokes an unusually swift response from adults” .*FULL STOP*
That’s where the Science in this article finishes!
The spiel on evolution that followed afterwards was an add on Bullshit opinion… a personal faith position of the writer…not science at all!


Design is an observable principle in reality. I am typing this post via many products of Design… Not merely the Keyboard and Hard drive, but my very hands, Eyes, and mind.

This goes to prove my argument I have that The entire theory of evolution could be removed, indeed completely thrown out… without harming any real scientific knowledge!
It is an example of how the perverse theory of evolution is unnecessarily thrown over all data, not because of the conclusions drawn from observation… but to thwart the most obvious rationale that is derived from contemplating the ramifications of the data.

The theory of Evolution is a Giant smoke screen, hiding the most stark of truths!
*There is a God* indeed “ The Fool hath said in his heart there is no God” Psalm 14vs1.


Beauty transcends Language!

Atheism, Bogus Science, Easy Listening, Philosophy

The Green Manalishi.

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Ever been attacked by an Evil Entity? I have. When I was 17 years old, living in a shed in the middle of Winter I experienced an Entity Attack.
I awoke in the middle of the night to to a feeling of dread. Paralyzed by the terror of an overwhelming Evil presence…I could not even cry out for help. Next It felt like the Being was trying to Possess me by putting its arms inside my arms and its legs inside my legs…putting me on like a suit… then it vanished. I was not a Christian at the time yet the experience bothered me deeply. I didnt talk about it that much. Some people say they had herd that it was a ‘sleep dysfunction’… ie ‘Rational folk’ write off all supernatural experiences as a form of ‘psychosis’.
As a Materialist myself at the time, I most likely chose to accept this non-supernatural interpretation of the event, and quickly forgot about it until Last night Sky TV did a show on the subject. ‘It’ has a name… The Entity Attack Phenomena. And On that show they estimated as many as 30% of all people have experienced it.
Now This interests me because this is a typical example of a real phenomena…possibly a legitimate spiritual experience which is automatically disclaimed by the materialist community as delusional because to admit they are real spiritual events explodes their Materialism to pieces.
Another interesting topic which correlates to this is the Near Death Experience. It has also been experienced by hundreds of people, yet again is written off as delusional by Materialists.

I became a Christian about a year after this experience, I don’t remember it being a factor in my conversion, yet today I do take comfort in the Christian truth that Christ is greater than any demonic Spirit. I still Battle devils in my sleep… as a soldier for Christ.

I am bloging this both to put this freaky experience into the Debating Arena, and fishing for any comments from others whom may have experienced this ‘Entity Attack’, or had a Near Death Experience, or some other Trippy Shit happen to them?
I have a relative whom it was said that he had a ‘Makatu’ hex put on him
Now He is an atheist and struggles to explain what He experienced. He does not talk about it. I asked him… “Do you believe in ghosts? He said ” No!…But Ive seen one…”
He had to get a moari spiritualist to remove it… yet he still maintains his atheism because Spiritualism scares him too much… He must rationalise away his experience via Naturalist sophistry.

Here is a link to an article on this ‘Entity Attack Phenomena”
http://www.mysteriaparanormalevents.co.uk/The-Entity-Attack-Phenomena.html

Here is another one on Incubus and Succubus:
http://www.hellhorror.com/demons/demonology/228/Incubus.html

Update: 23-7-12.
It appears This Satanic Being is murderous!
I just caught the end of a weird TV show ‘A Thousand ways to die’.
I told story about a Hot Chick who suffered regular ‘Nightmares’ in which she would be attacked/ strangled by a An Evil Dwarf-ish being. It Killed her! She died in her Sleep… from a heart attack.
The show said she was just one of hundreds of reported cases of of SUNDS… Sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome

Disclaimer: I am not an anti-science Mystic. I am anti-pseudo science. I call for higher standards and greater scientific rigor.
As a Christian, I still endorse the Laws of Physics, and look for natural mechanisms and explanations for phenomena yet also believe not everything in existence, and experience is explainable via materialistic causes and effects… *that is the primary assumption of the atheist Materialist*, which blinds their minds and makes then incapable of conceiving anything is evidence of the supernatural.
They are trapped in their own circular thinking. A prison of their own device.
This is the mindset that writes off everything as delusional which does not fit well with their Godless conception of reality.
Tim Wikiriwhi.

Atheism, Ayn Rand, Meta-ethics, Philosophy

Objectivism is a religion!

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Atheism is not a religion. The term ‘religion’ can properly be applied only to belief systems which include a belief in a god or gods. The term ‘religion’ can properly be applied only to belief systems which include a belief in the supernatural.

Objectivism is explicitly atheistic … but wait! Implicitly, Objectivists believe in a supernatural realm! It’s a cornerstone of the Objectivist philosophy! Surprise, surprise! Objectivism is not, after all, a naturalistic worldview.

Rand wrote an essay called The Metaphysical Versus the Man-Made. In it, she says

Any natural phenomenon, i.e., any event which occurs without human participation, is the metaphysically given, and could not have occurred differently or failed to occur; any phenomenon involving human action is the man-made, and could have been different.

In other words, phenomena involving human action are not natural phenomena. They’re supernatural phenomena! Why? Because Man is a supernatural being! Why is Man a supernatural being? Because He has a supernatural power! And what is Man’s supernatural power? It is the ability to exercise something called libertarian free will.

Unfortunately, Objectivists are at a complete loss to explain how this works, to explain how it is even possible, or to explain how the notion of free will even makes sense according to the atheistic, materialistic worldview to which they profess to subscribe. Nonetheless, Objectivists are adamant that Man possesses free will.

Libertarian free will is a supernatural capacity. One who exercises it is a supernatural being.

Objectivism is a religion, but Objectivists worship Man, not God.

[Cross-posted to SOLO.]

Atheism, Semantics, Thomas Jefferson

Atheism in the public square

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In a letter to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams wrote

Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been on the point of breaking out, “This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!”

Positive Atheism tells us

This was not his reasoned opinion. Although John Adams often felt an urge to advocate atheism as a popular world view (because of the sheer abuses perpetrated by religious charlatans), he was of the firm and reasoned opinion (basically undisputed in his day) that religion is essential to the goal of keeping the masses in line.

Clearly, as Adams used the term, ‘atheism’ means “no religion”.

Jefferson famously said that

religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God

What of those who have no God? They have no religion. Jefferson also said

Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person’s life, freedom of religion affects every individual.

Atheism is the belief that there is no God. It implies non-belief that there is a God. Atheism, as understood by Jefferson, is not a religious belief.

John Lennon wrote a song in which he famously asks us to

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace

By religion, Lennon means belief systems which include beliefs in the supernatural—God, Heaven, Hell, etc. His view is that we’d be better off in a world in which there was no God, i.e., one in which atheism was true. In such a world there would be “no religion” and “all the people living life in peace.”

Atheism, as understood by Lennon, is not a religion.

Once every 5 years, New Zealand citizens are required to participate in a census. One of the questions seeks to elicit the respondent’s “religious affiliation”. According to Wikipedia,

In the 2006 Census, 55.6 percent of the population identified themselves as Christians, while another 34.7 percent indicated that they had no religion

That’s right, there is a box to tick labeled ‘No religion’. There are no boxes to tick labeled ‘Atheist’ or ‘Humanist’ or ‘Objectivist’. There’s not even a box labeled ‘Jedi’.

Atheism, as understood by Statistics New Zealand, is not a religion.

Wikipedia’s has an entry titled Irreligion in New Zealand.

Irreligion —the absence of religious belief or affiliation— is an increasing trend in New Zealand. Although New Zealand has no established religion, Christianity has been the majority religious affiliation since European settlement in the 19th century. The trend toward irreligion may indicate increasing secularisation as well as a rise in non-institutional spiritual belief.

Atheism, as understood by (some) Wikipedia authors, is not a religion. It’s an irreligion!

The meaning (or meanings) of a word is determined by the conventions governing its use. What those conventions are is determined by the facts of usage. (See examples above.)

It is not conventional to call atheism a religion.

It is conventional to rebuke those who do. 😉

Atheism, Ayn Rand, John, Mark, Meta-ethics, Semantics

Lies, damned lies, and ‘religion’

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To lie is to bear false witness. It is to make an untruthful statement intended to deceive.

Jesus says, “Do not bear false witness.” (KJV) Lying is wrong. But why? Jesus explains,

Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! (NIV)

Centuries later, the philosopher Immanuel Kant came up with a secular account of why it is wrong to lie which, it seems, Jesus had prefigured. In his essay On a Supposed Right to Lie from Philanthropy, Kant went so far as to claim that it would be wrong to lie to a would-be murderer even to save an innocent life.

Truthfulness in statements that one cannot avoid is a human being’s duty to everyone, however great the disadvantage to him or to another that may result from it… [I]f I falsify… I… do wrong in the most essential part of duty in general by such falsification… that is, I bring it about, as far as I can, that statements (declarations) in general are not believed, and so too that all rights which are based on contracts come to nothing and lose their force; and this is a wrong inflicted upon humanity generally… For [a lie] always harms another, even if not another individual, nevertheless humanity generally, inasmuch as it makes the source of right unusable.

Kant based his moral philosophy on a maxim he called the Categorical Imperative.

Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.

You cannot will that the maxim, “Bear false witness,” become a universal law! If we all lied, all the time, then soon no one would believe a word that anyone said. After a while, no one would even hear what anyone said.

Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.

Talk would be ignored, like a background noise tuned out. Ultimately, we’d be struck dumb. No one would bother to say anything at all, even the truth, since no one would believe him.

Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!

To lie is not merely to commit a crime against he to whom the lie is told. It is to commit a crime against language itself. St. Augustine said

But every liar says the opposite of what he thinks in his heart, with purpose to deceive. Now it is evident that speech was given to man, not that men might therewith deceive one another, but that one man might make known his thoughts to another. To use speech, then, for the purpose of deception, and not for its appointed end, is a sin. Nor are we to suppose that there is any lie that is not a sin, because it is sometimes possible, by telling a lie, to do service to another.

Which brings me to my final point. Lying is an abuse of language. But it’s not the only one. The Biblical injunction, “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” has its corollary in M. Hare’s maxim, “Say what you mean, and mean what you say.” Words have meanings. To say what you mean, you must find the words that mean what you mean to say, and say them. Mean what you say, and say what you mean. Surreptitious redefinition is a species of pernicious redefinition. It, too, is an abuse of language.

Words and phrases have meanings. For example, Christianity is a belief system, a worldview, a way of life, an institution … and a religion. Secular humanism is a belief system, a worldview, a way of life, an institution … but not a religion. The word ‘religion’ is used to distinguish between creeds whose central doctrines include the reality of a god or gods, and those whose central doctrines do not, or which are explicitly atheistic.

Lie and, ultimately, language ceases to function. Use the term ‘religion’ to encompass secular creeds, customs and ideologies and, ultimately, ‘religion’ ceases to function. Pernicious redefinition is tantamount to lying. Dare I say it’s also akin to theft?! I used to be a “liberal”, until today’s liberals took the term ‘liberal’ unto themselves. Now I’m a libertarian. But for how much longer? How much time do I have before I morph into a traitorous idiot?

Ayn Rand was a libertarian and atheism is not a religion.

Atheism, Ayn Rand

Is Objectivism a religion?

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According to Wikipedia, a religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe.

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the universe. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature.

Objectivism is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Objectivism has narratives (The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged), symbols (the dollar sign, the New York skyline), traditions (psycho-epistemology, Concepts in a Hat) and sacred histories (the blemish-free life of Ayn Rand) that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the universe. Objectivists try to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle (smoking cigarettes, listening to Rachmaninoff) from Rand’s ideas about the cosmos (“the Metaphysical”) and human nature (“the Man-Made”).

Is Objectivism a religion? According to (some) Wikipedia authors, the answer is yes.

Symbol of the Objectivist movement

But wait!

Surely, that can’t be right. Recently, thousands of copies of the DVD of Atlas Shrugged were recalled because the cover inadvertently described the story as one of “courage and self-sacrifice”. Shouldn’t Wikipedia’s definition of religion likewise be recalled? After all, Objectivists are implacably opposed to religion, or “mysticism,” as they like to call it.

Wikipedia’s definition of religion is too broad. Loosely speaking, yes, Objectivism is a religion. But loose talk can cost lives. Wikipedia’s definition omits mention of belief in a supernatural entity or entities, worthy of worship. Belief in a god or gods is not incidental to religion. It is essential to it. But Objectivism is atheistic. So, properly speaking, no, Objectivism is not a religion. Objectivism is a philosophical system, a worldview, a way of life, an institution … but not a religion.

Properly speaking, Objectivism is not a religion … the term ‘religion’ can properly be applied only to belief systems which include a belief in a god or gods.