We don't know why we are here

Earth is like a dot in the solar system –even Jupiter can contain 1000 earths and the sun can house more than 1000 Jupiters. The sun has 99.8% of the mass of the solar system. The Milky Way galaxy alone has more than 100 billion solar systems and which, in turn, is one among more than 20 trillion galaxies in the universe. Thus the earth's size tends to become zero in the universe.

According to NASA there are at least 1 billion earth-like planets in the Milky Way itself where life can be evolved and sustained. There must be trillions of earth like planets in this universe. They are all far away; many of them are millions or billions of light-years (a light year is 300,000X365X24X60X60 kilometers) away that makes it almost impossible to know whether life (intelligent ones included) exists there or not. Such humongous distances make us ignorant of their existence and ignorance is as good non-existence.

We are conscious of the existence of this universe and it exists. If there is no consciousness that is aware of this universe, is there any meaning for its existence?  We humans live for a millisecond in the cosmic time scale. Our earth has been spinning on its axis and revolving round its star for the past 4.5 billion years! It will do so for another 4.5 billion years or more before its programmed demise. Life on this planet may end any time-with a huge volcanic eruption or with the impact of a comet or an asteroid. There is nothing special about human life here which comes and goes like a bubble in water just for 100 years or less.

The universe, the earth and the sun, are least concerned whether we live or die, whether we are happy or sad. Quakes, floods, volcanoes, hurricanes, plagues and viruses have killed us and inflicted untold pains. The massive volcanic eruption, Thoba of Sumatra that erupted 65,000 years ago, almost wiped out the evolving Homo sapiens. The less than 10,000 humans left out in Central Africa multiplied, spread out and here we are.  An asteroid hit had destroyed all dinosaurs. A similar asteroid or comet hit can finish us all. Sometimes, the human civilization may find ways to destroy itself. The earth, the sun and the universe are massively indifferent to human life.
                                                 

Life evolves in the hospitable zone of medium stars like the sun with enough energy and long life. With favorable conditions, various organisms and sometimes intelligent beings may evolve. There could be trillions of planets in this universe where life exists at various levels. But they all come and go like bubbles for a moment. We came on the scene accidentally, and the little matter and energy that make us up will merge into this universe as we go. When the hydrogen fuel ends up, stars will stop shining and die and no new star, planet or life will be formed. Where do we come from? What is the meaning for our transient existence? No meaningful answer has yet been unraveled although philosophers, scientists and others have speculated on the question for long.  The answer of religious believers merits no consideration as all their gods have been created by the primitive humans who did not understand this world or life. God is an anachronism. They deified nature-phenomena and later created souls that live eternally like the gods they created. Religions have been selling these silly concepts and making a plum living.


                                                 

We are in an era when humans make a slow but steady progress from superstitious beliefs and magical rituals to reason and science. The universe is self-originating and self-propelling and it does not need any god.People have come to realize there is nothing divine in any religion.  But why we come here for a second and go just like that? There seems to be no meaning. May be only humans want a reason for their existence. We come and just go.

It would be great if we can be happy while we are here. Forget about the past and the future-we don’t know anything about them- this moment is all that matters and let us try to be happy now.   

Religions are to be out.

Religions have enslaved people and divided them as Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, (and into their tens or hundreds of warring sects) Jains, Sikhs, Confucians, etc. They have brought so many wars, communal riots, terror, murder, beheading & rape. 

Elders have been still indoctrinating children deciding what they should think and believe instead of letting them find out what is true or good. I think in-the-not-so-distant-future our descendants (as it has happened in most of the developed world already) will discard religious beliefs. They will restore intellectual freedom and become better humans. 

Philosophers and scientists who read 1000s of books and latest journals are atheists. A recent survey has revealed that 86% of the English speaking philosophers are atheists. Surveys on members of NASA, composed of the most prestigious scientists in world, show that religious belief is almost non-existent.
Common people who read only their Holy Book are deep believers-why? Is it not because of the indoctrination of kids mentioned? 

The earlier gods like Osiris, Dionysus, Mithras, Cybele, Horus, Zeus, Neptune, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Pluto, Apollo, Diana, Athena, Mercury, Achilles, Adonis, Eros, Hercules, Orion, Sphinx, Odysseus, Isis, and thousands of others from the Greek, Roman and Egyptian, mythology and native African and Indian- American religions have died and gone. Many of the Indian Vedic gods and goddesses - Mitra, Aditi, Adityas, Bhaga, Dhaksha, Surya, Prithivi Varuna, Agni, Ushus, Sapta, Sindhu, Sarasvati, Yama, Rudhra, Urvasi, Vayu are all now defunct. There are a few remaining ones like Jesus, Mary, Krishna, Rama and Allah. They will disappear too in the course of time. 

We are living in an era when humans make a slow but steady progress from superstitious beliefs and magical rituals to reason and science.  We know that even the story of Jesus has been invented; he is a mythical figure. There is nothing divine in any religion. The universe is self originating and self propelling and it does not need any god.

People of the developed world are fast becoming atheists, and they are found to be happier, more peaceful, developed, richer, generous and empathetic than believers. There is more rape, war, terror, hypocrisy, revenge and poverty in the deeply religious societies (like in the ME,SE Asia,Africa &even the US) than say in Japan,Korea,Canada,New Zealand,Aussies &W.European nations which are turning generally irreligious.  

Religions  have done so much harm; had they not been invented, humans would have had a better and more peaceful life.

Popes were cruel,racists,pedophiles,deceitful,aggressive,fraudulent,revengeful,murderous,corrupt,sex&incest loving

Like the OT god,  the popes have been jealous, petty, vindictive, bloodthirsty, cruel, genocidal, and racists. They were pedophiles, sex-power-money-hungry and full of hatred, avarice and revenge like the present day priests, bishops, cardinals & popes. Papacy has a criminal history of deceit, aggression, frauds, revenge, war, murder, corruption, sedition, sex and incest. Popes indulged in sex with others’ wives /own illegitimate kids and made them next popes. They enjoyed being rich and did everything to become so and hated the poor unlike Christ who was the poorest of the poor and chaste.

    

Papacy portrays centuries of trafficking in ecclesiastical appointments, deceit, scandals, immorality, aggression, frauds, murder and cruelty. Many of the popes were criminal, bloodthirsty and debauched virgins. The papal office has an unparalleled record of corruption and criminality over the centuries, and the true history of the popes is one of scandals and cruelty, warfare and moral depravity. There was a time when whores ruled papal courts and decided on godly things. 

The Catholic historian and Archbishop of New York, John Cardinal Farley has admitted the popes didn't sternly insist upon sexual virtue and justice and that so many popes were not only decadent but were also the most savage and perfidious of military strategists. Bishop Frotheringham says many of the popes were men of the most abandoned lives. Some were magicians (occultists); others were noted for sedition, war, slaughter and profligacy of manners, for avarice and simony. 

  

St. Damascus (366-84),1^st pontiff  killed his adversaries. Pope sixtus 111 ( 432-440) was accused of debauching a virgin. St. Leo the great (440-61) was applauded for the massacre of Priscillianists. St. Symmachus (498-514) is famous for the most heinous crimes. St. Hormisdas(514-23) was a married man and he raised his son to pope-dom.  Boniface (530-32) ex-communicated &fought his rival. Pope Vigilus (537-55) was elected by bribery. He obeyed only empress Theodora who gave him money to gain the suffrage of the clergy.  Pope Sabinian (604-6) was cruel to the poor. In a famine he raised the price of corn exorbitantly. St. Gergius 1 (687-701) had purchased his position by pawning the ornaments of the tomb of St. Peter. He was accused of adultery and of fathering a child illegally. St Gregory 11 (715-31) endowed monasteries with the goods of the poor. Stephen 111 (768-772) dislodged his rivals and scooped out their eyes. Adrian (772-95) collided with Irene the murderess of her son to restore image worship. St. Pascal (817-24) was accused of murdering and mutilating 2 Roman priests. Nicholas (858-67) excommunicated Photius, the Greek patriarch. Adrian (867-72) was a married priest and collided with a murderer of the emperor. John V111(872-82) cut the throats of so many Saracen chief men through the bishop of Naples. Formosus (891-96) had been repeatedly excommunicated by John V111. Sergius III, Pope from 897 to 911 ordered the murder of another pope and fathered an illegitimate son who later became pope. Stephen V1 (896-7) hated his predecessor and exhumed his body and made it sit in a chair to face trial in the made-up Cadaver Synod, and was found guilty and cut his three fingers and the remains were cast into the river, Tiber. John XV was Pope from 985 to 996 split the church's finances among his relatives. Pope Benedict IX a pope at 18 was homo sexual and he tried to sell papacy. Pope John XII, 955-964, was born to a 14-year  old mother sired by a man who was both his father and his grandfather who then followed tradition and took his mother as his lover. He virtually turned papal palace into a whorehouse. He raped female pilgrims. He murdered several people, and was killed by a man who caught him in bed with his wife. 

Benedict IX, who reigned 1032-1048 is considered a demon from hell who indulged in homosexuality, rape and even murder. Pope Joan, 1099-? Was thought to be a Lady! Her sex was allegedly discovered when she gave birth while riding on a horse, and died shortly thereafter. Subsequent popes had to sit on a chair with a hole in the seat and let a cardinal reach up and confirm that he had testicles. In 1045, Benedict IX resigned the papacy in order to marry and sold it to his godfather. Pope Innocent IV was Pope from 1243 to 1254 and he instituted the Inquisition approving the use of torture to extract confessions of heresy. Bruno was burnt and Galileo suffered at the hands of Roman inquisitors. Pope Boniface VIII, 1294-1303: is remembered for being placed in Dante’s eighth circle of hell in the Divine Comedy. He got into fights with King Phillip IV of France, Emperor Albert I of Hapsburg and other leaders. He was also accused of committing incest and pedophilic acts. 

Urban VI reigned from 1378 to 1389. There were 3 popes claiming the Papal throne during his reign. The cardinals who elected him decided that they had made the wrong decision and they elected a new Pope in his place, who took the name of Clement VII and started a second Papal court in Avignon, France. The pope Urban V1 tortured the cardinals who elected the new pope. Pope Alexander VI, 1492-1503 had Kids with various ladies. He liked Orgies and made his relatives the next popes.  He took much of Italy by force with the help of Lucrezia’s son, Cesare (some say her son was his). He had huge parties bordering on orgies. Pope Innocent IV: introduced torture for the Inquisition.  Pope Leo X, 1513-1521 is known primarily for the sale of indulgences to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 theses. He borrowed money and started selling Vatican treasures: cardinals’ hats, jewelry, statues.

Pope Julius 111 1550-55 had a long love affair with Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte which was a cause of public scandal. Pope Gregory XIII 1572-1585. Giacomo Boncompagni born in 1548 was his illegitimate son whom he made Gonfalonier of the Church, governor of the Castel Sant'Angelo, as well as governor of Fermo. Pope Leo XII (1823–1829) as a young prelate was suspected of having had a liaison with the wife of a soldier of Swiss Guard and as nuncio in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children. Pius XII was pope for almost twenty years from 1939 to 1958 was silent during the Holocaust in Germany.

The Vatican’s history has been a shockingly one, its heads harbored mistresses and criminals and many of them were canonized saints; they fathered illegitimate children had large dance parties bordering on orgies; they amassed wealth and power which they used to oppress the poor and the righteous. Many of its pontiffs were promiscuous with nothing holy about them.  

Jesus fashioned after Horus,Osiris-Dionysus,Mithra,Apollonius,Krishna & Budha

Gerald Massy (1828 – 1907), an English poet and writer on Spiritualism and Ancient Egypt) has found 137 parallels between Jesus and Egyptian god, Horus which he details in His book, ‘The Natural Genesis.’ Both Horus and Jesus were born of virgins on 25th December and they died by crucifixion and resurrected three days later. He also finds a parallel between Biblical Lazarus raised by Jesus and El-Asar-Us a title of Osiris.                                    

 “The Jesus Mysteries: Was the Original Jesus a Pagan God?” is a 1999 book by British authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy. It is an    investigation of early Christianity prior to the 4th century CE, when direct political intervention by the Roman Emperor Constantine forced various competing Christian sects to unify under ‘the Nicene Creed.’ 

 

The authors systematically examine evidence from ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern civilizations for similarities of important elements of Jesus' divinity with a number of mystery religions like those of the ancient gods Osiris-Dionysus, Attis and Mithras.  There persisted manifestations of a cult of a dying and rising ‘god man myth,’ known as Osiris-Dionysus. The authors maintain that Jesus was not a historical figure, but a re-interpretation by Gnostics of the fundamental pagan god-man. Gnostics were the original sect of Christianity. The Christianity of today was not the predecessor to Gnosticism, but a later outgrowth according to them. They describe their theory as the "Jesus Mysteries thesis."

Freke and Gandy base their thesis partly on a series of parallels between their suggested biography of Osiris-Dionysus compiled from the myths of ancient dying and resurrecting god- men, and the biography of Jesus as in the four canonical gospels. The authors give a short list of parallels:

Osiris-Dionysus is God made flesh, the savior and "Son of God."

His father is God and his mother is a mortal virgin, He is born in a cave or humble cowshed on 25 December before three shepherds.

He offers his followers the chance to be born again through baptism.

He miraculously turns water into wine at a marriage ceremony.

He rides triumphantly into town on a donkey while people wave palm leaves to honor him.

He dies at Easter time as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

After his death he descends to hell, and then on the third day he rises from the dead and ascends to heaven in glory.

His followers await his return as the judge during the Last Days.

His death and resurrection are celebrated by a ritual meal of bread and wine, which symbolize his body and blood like the Christina Eucharistic ritual.

The story of Jesus is pretty close to that of Osiris-Dionysus.                                                                      There is an amulet depicting the god Dionysus on a cross, very similar to the way we see crucified Christ’s picture. Christianity could have copied the crucifixion account from this Greek god. 

Kersey Graves (1813-1883), compared Yeshua's (Jesus’s) and Krishna's life. He found out what he believed were 346 elements in common within the Christian and the Hindu writings. This appears to be overwhelming evidence that some incidents in Jesus' life were copied from Krishna's. Some of his parallels are fallacious but others are not. Both were sent from heaven as a God and both were divine and human. A local dictator tried to eliminate them as children and their parents fled from the dictator. Mary and Joseph stayed in Muturea; Krishna's parents stayed in Mathura.  Both Yeshua and Krishna withdrew to the wilderness as adults, and fasted for some days. Both claimed they had existed before their birth on earth and were without sin. Both cast out indwelling demons, and raised the dead. Both celebrated a last supper and forgave their enemies. They were both considered omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.

 There is a striking parallel between the story of Jesus and one of the Greek Gods, Apollonius of Tyana, a contemporary of Jesus of Nazarene. Apollonius also healed the sick and the crippled, restored sight to the blind, casted out demons and so on. His birth was of a virgin, foretold by an angel. He knew scripture really well as a child. But at the end of his life he roused opposition, and his enemies delivered him over to the Roman authorities for judgment. He was crucified, rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples to prove his power before going to heaven to sit at the right hand of the father. He was known as, “The Son of God”. Later some of his followers wrote books about him.

Mithras had 12 disciples, and when he was done on earth he had a final meal before going up to heaven. On the final day he will return to pass judgment on the living and the dead. The good will go to heaven, and the evil will die in a giant fire. His followers called themselves “brothers”, and their leaders “fathers”. They had baptism and a meal ritual where symbolic flesh and blood were eaten. Heaven was in the sky, and hell was below with demons and sinners. This is what St. Paul taught the early Christians. 

The writers of gospels, for obvious reasons, introduced a number of miracles into the life of Christ; as many of the young gods of the cults walked over water, cured the crippled, gave sight to the blind, made water into wine in a marriage party and rose up the dead. All the gods of the mystery cults resurrected and the founder of the new religion, Jesus Christ, could not be an exception. The evangelists introduced the story of the empty tomb, disappearance of his body from his grave and his apparition to some women and disciples. Jesus had been made to resurrect on the third day.

Against the Greco-Roman background, a new religion had to have a god as its founder and not a poor man, the Nazarene; hence the evangelists elevate him to godhood. This god, like all the gods of the mystery cults, had to be born of a virgin mother. Thus the writer-preachers adopt the story of Immaculate Conception with god’s angel appearing to Mary and so on.

Even Buddha‘s mother was told by an angel that she would give birth to a holy child destined to be a savior. As a child Buddha teaches the priests in his temple about religion while his parents look for him. He starts his religious career at roughly 30 years of age and is said to have spoken to 12 disciples on his deathbed. One of the disciples was a traitor and another favorite. He and his disciples abstain from wealth and travel around speaking in parables and metaphors. He called himself “the son of man” and was referred to as, “prophet”, “master”, and “Lord”. He healed the sick, cured the blind and the deaf, and he walked on water. 

This is what we see in the four gospels too.          

There is no god anywhere

I know there is no god- just like I know there is no ghost or there is no use for magic. There is no being or phenomena outside the scope of natural law. We may have cognitive limitations and we may not be able to explain everything in this universe. But the knowledge of mine is adequate and full; I don’t have any doubt. I had gone through the theology of religions like Christianity, Islam and Judaism-the chief monotheistic religions--and I have found no reasonable ground for thinking there is an Almighty  who created humans, protects and takes care of them. 

Yahweh was the tribal god of the Israelite tribe who later became their only god. There are differences of opinion as to how a tribal deity evolved into the Almighty. This god of Judaism was later adopted as the Supreme Being of Christians and still later by Muslims.  

The reward and punishment which the respective gods have advocated as reasons for creating humans are simply nonsense. Why does god create children- half of all men and women have died before reaching adulthood- without attaining the ability to merit heaven or hell.  I have also known Eastern religions like Hinduism & Buddhism and there is no evidence for a god there too. Hindus have deified nature phenomena and believes even earth, snake, tree, fire et all are gods. It is very easy to see how people came to believe all these. Buddhism and Jainism and even Confucians do not have the concept of god in the real sense of the term.

I am an atheist since I was 19 and my beliefs are well-thought out, weighed and solidified. Having born in a catholic family and having undergone training for Catholic priesthood I can vouchsafe there is no god whatsoever.  As Stephen Hawking has said there is no need for a god to explain this universe. As Einstein has said there is no soul and once our brain stops functioning everything is over in a blink, our consciousness is shut off forever. 

   

The difference between a believer of a particular religion and another is much more than the difference between an atheist and a theist. Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Jains, Taoists, Confucians -all- do not believe Jesus was god or that he came down, got crucified to atone for the sins of man.  All religious believers other than Muslims do not think that Quran was directly dictated by god.  Protestants disagree with Catholics about the virginity of Mary. Hindus think there are many gods unlike monotheistic Muslims, Christians and Jews.  Except Christians and Muslims no one thinks of a heaven or hell. The ultimate goal of life for Hindus is emancipation from the cycle of birth and rebirth and for Buddhists it is Nirvana.

Each community believes what they do, not because it is the objective truth but because most people don’t have reasons beyond being comfortable with one community rather than another.

The Popes apologize...

Pope John Paul II made a sweeping apology for the Church’s 2,000 years of violence, persecution and blunders from the Altar of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome on March 13, 2000. He sought forgiveness for the sins committed against Jews, heretics, women, Gypsies and native peoples. He had also pleaded for a future that would not repeat the mistakes. "Never again," he had said.

The present Pope Francis has already agreed that one in 50 priests (including bishops and cardinals) is a pedophile which is 'leprosy' infecting the Catholic Church. He also said that many more in the Church are guilty of covering it up, adding: ‘This state of affairs is intolerable.’ He added that the Church needed to apologize and explain how ‘utterly devastated’ it was about its history of child abuse. He has not explicitly mentioned how its priests and bishops sexually abuse girls, nuns, women, wives and others.

It is time for the present pope to make another apology to mankind for the Church’s policies against abortion and artificial contraception. The poor proliferate and their life is a real agony now as it has ever been. There are billions living in abject poverty now. The heavenly father who feeds the birds of the air does not help them at all. According to the United Nations World Magazine the Vatican’s treasure of solid gold amounts to several billion dollars! The golden throne of the pope will fetch a very good price too.  Further, the church is the biggest real estate owner; it has large investments in the leading banks of the world and has more wealth than any government or corporation in the world. Anyone would be outraged of the Church’s wealth and why don’t they help the millions of the poor, the sick, and the orphaned?  Is it not defying the express command of its founder, Jesus who ordered to sell everything and give it to the poor?  

10 common sense reasons why there cannot be a god

1.      The presence of an eternal hell where the souls of men and women are roasted for some temporal sins they committed in their earthly life. The said punishment is unimaginably disproportionate to the crime. No timeless or temporal Being can punish anyone so cruelly. It is against every natural justice.

2.      God chooses a small tribe as his own and conducts bloody wars killing other tribes to settle them.  He lets his tribe kill the elderly and children, burn orchards, and take virgin females as sexual slaves. An Almighty cannot love only a small stupefied nomadic peasant-tribe to the exclusion of all the others.
 

3.       He wanted animal and human sacrifice; the sweet smell of the blood and fatty meat was required to appease His anger, to make Him pleased and to pardon the sins of his people. Animals are also His creations and no sensible Being would want to kill that which He created.

4.       He sent His angels to slit the throat of the children of Egyptians. Can we assume God creates children and then cuts their throats to punish His enemy?

5.       God wants circumcision and genital mutilation!  Can a supernatural Being be more vulgar and stupid?

6.       In most of the religious books women are oppressed. They are pictured as instruments for man’s pleasure which is an utter nonsense and incompatible with the genetic and biological make up of man and woman and the universality of any god.

7.       All major religions disintegrated into thousands of warring sects that culminated into prolonged and bloody wars. Catholic Church excommunicated the heads of the Patriarch of the East, the ruler of England, Martin Luther, John Calvin and many others and thus paved the way for bloody and prolonged conflicts.  Martin Luther opposed the pope’s selling of indulgences as it was wrong to assume that souls would be freed of their punishment in purgatory by giving money to the Pope. Islam has also diversified into opposing sects that wage bloody battles.

8.       Inter-religious rivalry has ended up in major wars like crusades, Hindu-Muslim, Jewish Arab wars, of the medieval and modern times killing millions. Man’s hatred towards his co-traveler starts from his desire to prove the superiority of the God he believes in.  

9.       There is nothing divine in the history of any religion. There was a time in the Church history when harlots ruled papacy and the illegitimate sons of the popes became the next pontiffs. Many powerful rulers like the king of France and the German emperor chose popes of their whim and fancy.

The inquisition courts of the Catholic Church labeled many honest people as heretics and burnt them at stake. It burnt English men like John Wycliffe and William Tyndale who translated the Bible into English. It burnt Bruno and persecuted Galileo for advocating the heliocentric theory. Even during their times the Catholic Church stood for the foolish geocentric theory. Inquisition courts from 1100s to 1808 routinely arrested and tortured Jews, Muslims, dubious Christians and numerous other religious followers. The tortures were beyond belief, including hanging by the toes or thumbs, toe crushing, bone breaking, simple beatings, foot roasting, and blinding by red-hot pokers. After such tortures, the condemned was strangled, and then burned at the stake. The so-called “witches” were rounded up tortured, burnt and slaughtered for centuries throughout Europe. The average total of the dead is around 100,000. Even the capable Joan of Arc was burnt at stake.

10.    Modern church has more wealth than any government or corporation but it does not help the poor at all. The clergy lead a licentious and luxurious life here. Jesus said: “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor.”  Christ also said in unequivocal terms ‘love your neighbor.’ The Catholic Church has flaunted both of these commandments since its inception. 

There is no help coming from above and the poor proliferate making their lives a pure agony. Still why is the Church against abortion, artificial contraception? According to the United Nations World Magazine the Vatican’s treasure of solid gold amounts to several billion dollars! The golden throne of the pope must fetch a very good price. Jesus was the poorest of the poor-he had no home, no good food, not even a pillow upon which to rest his head. Roman Catholicism, which claims to be His church, is the richest and the wealthiest institution on earth. Anyone would be outraged of the Church’s wealth and why don’t they help the poor, the destitute, the suffering and the sick? Is it not proof-enough that it doesn't believe in its own God?