Some updates

Some recent updates:

• I have added an image to "Public Transport is Good. The Advantages of Pooled Transport." (2007).
• Added a section to "God Never Needs to Test Us" (2005): 4. God Testing People in the Christian Bible. "Sometimes, it is said in the Bible that God tests people. In Deuteronomy 8:1-2 God reveals that the 40-years in the wilderness was a test done by God to find out what was in people's hearts - whether they would still obey orders. In Deuteronomy 13:1-5 God sends some false prophets and wonder-workers as tests to see if people will follow other gods, and in 2 Chronicles 32:31 God is doing similar fact-finding tests. Yet an all-knowing God, creator of all time, knows exactly who will pass any tests, and knows exactly what is in everyone's heart. So either God is lying about his reasons, or, god is not actually all-knowing."
• Added section 5 to: "The Importance of Current Events is Amplified by our Egos: 5. The Truth: Crime is Falling and War is Less Frequent" (2005). And in section 2 I've added a note on the Dao De Jing by Lao Zi, who thought that civilisation itself was a mistake.
• Added section 1.4. to "Religious Clothing and Symbols in Secular Democracies: 1.4. 2011: The Banning of the Burqa and Niqab in France and Belgium".

Cremations, Liquefaction, Burial: Pragmatism and Ritual Instincts!

I've rewritten an old page. The contents of "Approaching Death: Ways of Disposing of Bodies and Suicide" by Vexen Crabtree (2011) is now:

1. The Funeral Ritual Instinct
   1. Timeless Animal and Human Behaviour
   2. Practical Matters Must Trump Intellectual Ones
   3. Gardens of Remembrance
2. Ways of Disposing of Corpses
   1. Ground Burial: Re-Using Graves and Overcrowded Cemeteries
   2. Cremation Isn't the Answer: Noxious Fumes and Carbon Footprints
   3. From Coral Reefs to Liquefaction
   4. Getting Sentimental: Urns Versus Heated Swimming Pools
   5. The Battle Between Pragmatists and the Christian Establishment
3. Organ Donation
   1. Opt-Out Schemes are Better Than Opt-In
   2. Strange Beliefs
   3. Objection: My body is my property and I can do what I want with it
   4. Objection: Freedom to Choose
   5. Conclusions on Organ Donation Schemes
4. Military Remembrance Parades
5. Assisted Suicide

Christianity: Times in the Bible When God Doesn't Know All, and Tests People to Find Things Out

I've added a new section to http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/omniscience.html#Christianity:

The Bible says God is perfect in knowledge, knows all thoughts, all secrets, sees all and no-one can hide from God. See: 1 Samuel 2:3, Job 28:24; 37:16; 42:2, Psalm 44:21; 139:4,7-8; 147:5, Proverbs 15:3, Jeremiah 16:17, 23:24, Acts 1:24, Hebrews 4:13, Matthew 10:30 and 1 John 3:19-20. Yet there are plenty of times when God doesn't know things, such as where people are. Check these verses:

• Genesis 3:8-13 - Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, amongst the trees of the garden, and God had to go find them, and then asks them questions. Either Adam and Eve are so dumb that they can't grasp that God is all-knowing, or, God is genuinely asking because it doesn't know the answers.
• Genesis 18:20-21 - "²⁰Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous ²¹that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”"
• Genesis 32:22-30 - In this obscure story, Jacob wrestles with God in bodily form and sees God face-to-face. God asks Jacob what Jacob's name is; yet an all-knowing god would surely know!
• Numbers 22:9 - Balaam and some Moabite officials spend a night waiting for God, who duly pops down for a visit, "And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee?" An all-knowing God would have known.
• Job 1:7, 2:2 - "And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
• Hosea 8:4 - Some princes of Israel were set up without God's knowledge.

Sometimes, it is said in the Bible that God tests people. In Deuteronomy 8:1-2 God reveals that the 40-years in the wilderness was a test done by God to find out what was in people's hearts - whether they would still obey orders. In Deuteronomy 13:1-5 God sends some false prophets and wonder-workers as tests to see if people will follow other gods, and in 2 Chronicles 32:31 God is doing similar fact-finding tests. Yet an all-knowing God, creator of all time, knows exactly who will pass any tests, and knows exactly what is in everyone's heart. So either God is lying about his reasons, or, god is not actually all-knowing. See: "God Never Needs to Test Us" by Vexen Crabtree (2005).

Current stuff

In order of priority, I am:

* Looking after my little boy while I'm not at work. Finishes in about 16 years.

* Doing final course essay for Religious Education module going towards degree. Finish in early October.

* Penultimate RE essay (1000 words, easy). Finish in a week.

* Studying/revising for Com Sys Eng degree; including Microsoft and Cisco CCNA exams - during the week. Finishing them all in December.

And stuff I sqeeze it when taking a break:

* Programming Moggy, my music playing software.

* Light maintenance / editting of web domains and occasional programming/improving of Ziggy, my content-management software.

And stuff which has been completely abandoned for a number of years, mostly because although they were fun, they just take too long:

* Baphomet Method (music project)

* SquaddieWars (Facebook game, asp.net platform)

Uni

I am mostly studying at the moment, and not doing website stuff. This year I'm doing a foundation degree in Communications System Engineering, for which I'm always revising for Cisco and Microsoft exams, and I'm doing another module towards my Open University degree in social sciences with religious studies.

What Causes Religion and Superstitions?

I've relaunched this page and added loads of new stuff. The contents of "What Causes Religion and Superstitions?" by Vexen Crabtree (2011) is now:

1. Arbitrarily Inherited
2. Functionalism
   1. Performing Social Functions (Intro)
   2. Religion as Activism
   3. Political Power Struggles
   4. Identity Reinforcement
   5. An Example: Carib witchcraft
3. Biological Psychology
   1. Misapplied Cognitive Functions
   2. Neuronal Dysfunction
4. The Subconscious
   1. Hidden Inner Causes
   2. Childhood Fantasies
   3. The Fear of Death
   4. Myths, Dogma and Ritual: Leftovers from a Pre-Literate Humanity
5. Simple Dogmatic Answers in a Complex World
6. Life Experiences
   1. Experiencing God
   2. Desperate Times: Religious Experiments Including Conversion, Superstitions and Lucky Charms
   3. Intelligence and Suggestibility
7. The Institutionalisation of Irrationality
8. Conclusions

The Gospels and the Crucifixion - Differences in style

I have updated "The Crucifixion Facade" by Vexen Crabtree (2002) with a few biggish quotes from Bart Ehrman on the gospels' accounts of the crucifixion. Whilst there are well-known contradictions between thses accounts (who'd have thought that various people could have thought Jesus' last words were so different?!!), Ehrman's quotes summarize the totality of the style of these differences, and is the best summary on this topic. Find the quotes in section 3 of that page.

The Problem of Evil and Suffering: Can a Good God Exist?

I've redone "The Problem of Evil: Why Would a Good God Create Suffering?" by Vexen Crabtree (2011). It still opens with a list of all the main areas of the problem of evil (natural disasters, angels heaven, babies going to heaven). And a list of all the main theodocies used to try to explain why evil exists (free will, the absence of god, god testing us, etc). All these explanations do not answer the fundamental problem of evil, however.

The page contents:

1. Introduction: A Fundamental Contradiction Between a Good God and Reality
2. A Venn Diagram: Absolute Good vs. Apparent Evil
3. The Creator of the Worst of All Possible Worlds: Is God Evil?
4. Christianity
5. Conclusion

How to Pray in Islam, According to the Qur'an

I've added a whole load on Islam to "Prayer to God in Christianity and Islam: But Praying is Useless and Satanic" by Vexen Crabtree (2005), concentrating purely on the Qur'an (for now), and commenting on:
Qur'an 3:43: Women in Prayer: No Segregation
Qur'an 3:191-4: Praying Posture (standing, sitting or laying)
Qur'an 7:55: Pray With Humility and in Secret (same as Christian Bible)
Qur'an 52:48-49, 73:1-7: Prayer (Timings) at Night

These are pretty much all the Qur'anic says about prayer.

The End of the World and Our Egos!

I've added a paragraph to "The Importance of Current Events is Amplified by our Egos" by Vexen Crabtree (2005):

End-of-the-world-mania is dependent upon certain properties of human ego. We want to witness important historical times, and we want to be at the fore and center of tumultuous and attention-grabbing events. There have been thousands of end-of-the-world predictions. They have been the products of many great minds, many devoted believers in various religions and cults, with a lot of time and effort put in to each and every theory, building up supporting evidence from religious texts, historical trends and numerology. What do all these predictions have in common about the end of the world? They have all been wrong. Those promoting these fears, and those subject to them, are all in the grips of their own ego!
This is based on my new page "The End of the World is Nigh! The Dangers of Apocalyptism and End-Times Beliefs" by Vexen Crabtree (2011), which includes stuff on the Harold Camping, the Mayan calendar, suicide cults and the Christian Bible.

Updated Time to Move On page

I've added a few bits to "Time to Move On: Religion Has Cost Too Much" by Vexen Crabtree (2010):

• Added a quote from Victor Stenger to section "1.2. Organized Religion Makes 'Beliefs' Dangerous"
• Added summary section 3.3 The God of the Gaps
• Added summary section 4.3. The Slave Trade

Last Human on Earth

I just spent 30 minutes daydreaming about what I'd do if I was the last human on Earth. After some fansical ideas about spending the time learning, building a nest, taking up radio astronomy, I realized I would probably need to spend most my time on food-management and pre-emptive medicine-learning. Boring!

Assuming food-management was sorted, and I didn't go crazy... I'd have to be strict with myself. Up at 7am every day (or 8am, depending on day break), I'd always set an alarm. I'd give up most things computer-related (no point). I'd obviously learn where hardware stores are, supermarkets for most my food, but I'd need to start growing veg and fruit straight away.

Library. Surival books, gardening books, health books. Find pharmacy, rig up kit to generate electricity. Lots of Army bases in the SW have kit like that, that I've (seen) used before. But then what?

Library: Astronomy, research, physics... a last ditch attempt to find ETI? Broadcast my own radio station on AM and FM in case there is anyone else?

I'd not be much interested in travelling around or thrill-seeking. Resources matter, that's all. So I need fuel for electricity; when resources run out, I'll go somewhere else, in a truck full of stuff. Build lots of large signs and message telling people how to find me. Just try to keep busy, rather than lose my faculties!

How many Muslims are there?

I've put this on to http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/islam.html :

• 44 countries are over 50% Muslim.
• 1.6 billion Muslims in 2010 (23.4% of the world): 2.2 billion by 2030 (26.4%)
• 6% of Europe was Muslim, in 2011. Will rise to 8% in 2030
• 2.7% of the population of England & Wales are Muslims (and rising)

Population growth in the world is highest amongst the poor and the uneducated. Muslims have a disproportionate share of such people, so their numbers are rising. Factors such as war and instability in the Middle East keep the reproduction rate higher.

The Muslim world is slowly aging. "In 1990 Islam's share of the world's youth was 20%; in 2010, 26%. In 2030 it will be 29% (of 15-29-year-olds)". But on average, Muslims are starting to age. "The media age in Muslim-majority countries was 19 in 1990. It is 24 now, and will be 30 by 2030. (For French, Germans and Japanese the figure is 40 or over.) This suggests Muslim numbers will ultimately stop climbing, but later than the rest of the population".

Anti-Jewish Violence by Muslims, in Europe

I've added a new section to "Anti-Semitism: 2000 Years of Christian Love" by Vexen Crabtree (2004):

10. The Growing Violence of Muslim Antisemitism in Europe


The European Union Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia's report on the subject of growing and violent anti-Jew crimes in the EU found that that largest group of perpetrators were young Muslim males. Because of this, the EUMC withheld publication (until it was leaked). The report summarized country-by-country events, including large rallies against Jews by hundreds of Muslims chanting "kill the Jews", and no end of other incidents. Throughout the West, violent anti-semitism is correlated with Muslim immigration.

“Since 2000, anti-Semitism in France has been epidemic. Synagogues have been burned down, schools vandalized, shops attacked, rabbis beaten, children assaulted, school buses shot at, [...]. At Muslim demonstrations shouts of "Death to the Jews" have become common. [For example in 2004] an assailant shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Great") stabbed another seventeen-year-old Jewish boy in the chest in another suburb of Paris [as he left a Jewish school].”
--Bruce Bawer (2006)