Jeber’s

When a rationalist and believer clash

The outcome is no surprise to rationalists and atheists.

On 3 March 2008, in a popular TV show, Sanal Edamaruku, the president of Rationalist International, challenged India’s most “powerful” tantrik (black magician) to demonstrate his powers on him. That was the beginning of an unprecedented experiment. After all his chanting of mantra (magic words) and ceremonies of tantra failed, the tantrik decided to kill Sanal Edamaruku with the “ultimate destruction ceremony” on live TV. Sanal Edamaruku agreed and sat in the altar of the black magic ritual. India TV observed skyrocketing viewership rates.

Millions of people must have uttered a sigh of relief in front their TVs. Sanal was very much alive. Tantra power had miserably failed. Tantriks are creating such a scaring atmosphere that even people, who know that black magic has no base, can just break down out of fear, commented a scientist during the program. It needs enormous courage and confidence to challenge them by actually putting one’s life at risk, he said. By doing so, Sanal Edamaruku has broken the spell, and has taken away much of the fear of those who witnessed his triumph.

In this night, one of the most dangerous and wide spread superstitions in India suffered a severe blow.

Read the full story and watch the videos here.

“You can’t prove god doesn’t exist”

Why do we only require disproof of an unproven hypothesis when it comes to religion?

If I claimed I had built a machine that generated energy out of thin air and ran forever, is anyone obliged to spend time disproving that claim? Wouldn’t any rational, sane person simply say, “Let me know when you have proof of that” and dismiss such nonsense out-of-hand? Is there even a need to be agnostic about such a claim? Of course not. Not even the PC crowd would insist we respect this claim as possible. It’s nonsensical, and anyone who paid attention in school after the third grade would know that.

That’s why we debate religion. It’s been given a free pass for too long. It’s time those of us who remain unconvinced by theistic claims that defy reason and nature explain and defend our reasons for not buying this silliness.

Gods, magic, superstition, all are relics of our ignorant past. We come not to praise religion, but to bury it.

Isn’t free thinking really anti-god?

Isn’t free thinking really anti-god?

Personally, I’d like to see the world move into the 21st century without the burden of trying to accommodate 1st century thinking. Society has evolved far beyond the conditions of the 1st century, yet the majority of Americans are still trying to decide our future based on concepts appropriate for a 2000 year old nomadic band of Middle Easterners.

I’d like to see modern humans divorce themselves from all ancient myths and superstitions, not just religion. Why do people still insist on “trusting luck”, crossing their fingers, knocking on wood, wearing lucky charms? True, we’re only just starting to understand how nature works, but we already know enough to start leaving our nonsensical beliefs behind.

I have no intention of “destroying” your faith. I’m not even sure how skepticism and doubt could do that if your faith were strong. What I would like to do is present counter-proposals to all the things theists insist can only be explained by the gods so that they have another point of view to consider. Perhaps they’ll finally see that believing in gods is no longer necessary and is even unhealthy in many situations and begin to look around them with a new perspective.

Can’t  you question the existence of gods without referring to believers?

Usually not, since the gods are only kept around by the belief of their followers. It’s the believers who create the gods. We can only address their belief.

(Posted in response to questions I’ve recently been asked)