Why I’m A Skeptic

                Skepticism is half way between atheism and fantasy.  Faith is the established antonym of atheism, but I chose to say “fantasy” rather than faith or “religious belief.”  Why?  Because I’m not only a skeptic when it comes to many religious beliefs but skeptical of most paranormal beliefs which includes reincarnation, predestination, ghosts, demons, men from outer space and the ilk. 

                There is a little-known Mormon axiom that states:  “When the brethren have spoken the thinking has been done.”

                That statement implies that one should allow the brethren – meaning the church leaders- to do your thinking for you.  It suggests that “blind obedience” is preferable to “free thinking,” which leads to the religious claim of “infallibility.”

                So where does Mormonism get such an idea – an idea being thought without substance?  They get it from another idea, “priesthood,” which dictates that God has delegated certain men to act in His stead.  The head stead (or stud when polygamy is involved) is the Mormon prophet whose judgment and wisdom trumps all the other steads, studs – or priesthood holders. 

                Priesthood is a euphemism for “authority,” the authority to act for God.  Carried to the extreme, which often happens in Mormon fundamentalism, priesthood means authority to hold dominion over every aspect of the “true believer’s” life.  Priesthood further means capricious control over exaltation or salvation, not only of “true believers” but all mankind. 

                The dominate dogma of Apostolic United Brethren, colloquially known as AUB, a polygamist cult which purports to preserve and practice the original, sacred inviolable doctrines of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, is that they, and only they, have “priesthood authority,” and God will not allow His priesthood to lead the people astray.   AUB with its prophets, is the same polygamist group who in Hill vs. AUB, J. LaMoine Jenson, et. al., were found civilly culpable by the Utah Supreme Court for the theft of 1.54 million dollars from Hill, and that they, the defendants, engaged in a “pattern of unlawful activity.”  This is just one example of priesthood infallibility.

                Now, in spite of the Supreme Court ruling, AUB still claims its innocence and paid the 6.6 million dollar judgment to keep plaintiff, Hill, from auctioning off real estate owned by AUB, CAUB and Jenson Lumber.

                Except for a small handful, the faithful followers of AUB believed their priesthood leader’s (yarns) over the evidence and ruling of the Utah Supreme Court.  Refusing to accept facts and making up excuses is what psychologists call “cognitive dissonance,”   which mean in layman’s terms, “mental acrobatics” to preserve the status quo.

                Now for those of us who use reasoning and logic to critic supernatural beliefs , when so called religious people place fantasy over facts, we tend to label it as dysfunctional thinking;  in layman’s terms – its “bullshit.” 

                The word “bullshit” is an expletive used as an interjection, or exclamation to protest the use of “misleading, disingenuous false language,”  false statements or false ideas.  I use it in a “deprecating sense” and as a colorful, smelly euphemism for lying.  Therefore as it pertains to the foregoing explanation, “bullshit” is an entirely appropriate and useful word in critiquing AUB dogma and contentions. 

                In as much as the other Mormon polygamist cults are very much like AUB the word “bullshit” fits like a round peg in a round hole where they are concerned.  And I’m not stopping there.  Mormon apologists claim that polygamy in the early days of the Church was more dignified and practiced on a higher level than polygamy today.  More “bullshit!”  Nineteenth Century books by apostates and gentiles during Brigham Young’s tenure reveal that the same disgusting things that go on now, went on back then.

                The spiritual and authoritative dogma of Mormonism is antithetical to sound reasoning.  But Mormonism is not the only religion with a questionable past.  Historically, Christianity had gotten their facts about our environment wrong so many times like the Earth being the center of the universe that it calls into question everything spiritual. 

                Using the analogy of pegs and holes, everything that can’t be squared in the metaphysical sense should be subject to skepticism.

                You might be thinking, “Hold on there Llewellyn, claiming to be a skeptic is a copout.  Get off the pot, you are either a believer or an atheist. ”

                Black or white with nothing in between  is a medieval doctrine that condemns a third option.  Skepticism means doubt.  It was doubt of the absolute that led to all the important, civilizing innovations we now enjoy.   Totalitarianism is a movement to remove doubt and compel the laity to believe and comply with what those in power dictate.  It was doubt that negated the dogma that the world was flat, the Earth was the center of the universe, and that the Sun revolved around the Earth (all of which were once religious beliefs).  The Freedom of Speech provision in the First Amendment essentially gives one the “right to doubt,”  and the “right to not believe.”

                If I decline to believe that God gave Islam, Catholicism and Mormonism exclusive dominion over all of mankind, does that make me an atheist?  When I muse over the impossibility of a God giving exclusive power to three separate and competing religions at the same time, it can’t help but cause me to wonder if there really is a God.  If I happen to take the position that Thomas Paine’s essay, Common Sense, makes more sense than an ineffable God that punishes mankind with floods, landslides, hurricanes and earthquakes, does that make me an atheist?  In a black and white world I suppose it does.  Thomas Paine, who is counted by historians as one of our Founding Fathers, was verbally crucified as an atheist.  It is ironic that Thomas Paine did more towards winning the Revolutionary War, American Independence and freedom of thought than his righteous, religious accusers .  It is unconscionable that a man’s value or worth should be contingent upon whether or not his beliefs conform with the dominate religion. 

                In Iran, Afghanistan and other areas of theocratic Islam free thinking is a crime.  Free thinking is condemned by both fundamentalist Christians and Mormons.

                As a skeptic I am not confined to one side or the other.  For example, I do not think that the Hebrews are the chosen people, any more than I think the Mormons or Muslims are the chosen people.  But I firmly support Israel’s right to exist and right to defend itself.  And I support both religions’ right to believe in absurdities, but reserve the right to criticize any religious belief that persecutes or abuses the rights of its members or outsiders.  Just as I reserve the right to criticize and challenge the belief and doctrines of socialists, democrats, republicans, communists or any political or religious persuasion that violates or attacks our capitalist system and Constitution. 

                I support Catholic’s right to adorn their places of worship and institutions with those symbols that identify their beliefs.  But I fervently oppose Islam’s attempt under the guise of “political correctness” or a twisted interpretation of the First Amendment (fairness) to superimpose Catholic institutions with their own religious beliefs and symbols.  

                (George Washington law professor John Banzhaf filed a discrimination suit against Catholic University of America because it does not furnish an Islamic prayer room where Muslim students can pray.  He claims that the Muslim students are offended by Catholic symbols such as the cross, even though according to Catholic University no Muslim student has complained.  He refused to answer questions about his possible connection with Islamic organizations like CAIR, saying it is irrelevant.)

                Because I am suspicious of individuals, religious, or political institutions that tend to usurp or replace our Constitutional form of government, I have become more patriotic and less religious.  For example, there is more than a little evidence that there are Muslim organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR – Council on America-Islamic Relations – that have launched a political jihad to replace our Constitution with Sharia law.  In that regard, consider the nature of Sharia law as documented by Erick Stackelbeck in his book, The Terrorist Next Door:

Under Sharia law:

• There is no freedom of speech.
• There is no freedom of religion.
• There is no freedom of thought.
• There is no freedom of artistic expression
• There is no equality of peoples — a non-Muslim, a Kafir, is never equal to a Muslim.
• There is no equal protection under Sharia for different classes of people.
• Justice is dualistic, with one set of laws for Muslim males and different laws for women and non-Muslims.
• There are no equal rights for women.
• Women can be beaten.
• A non-Muslim cannot bear arms.
• There is no democracy, since democracy would mean that a non-Muslim is equal to a Muslim.
• Our Constitution is a man-made document of ignorance — ahiliyah that must submit to Sharia.
• Non-Muslims are dhimmis, third-class citizens.
• All governments must be ruled by Sharia law.
• Unlike common law, Sharia is not interpretive, nor can it be changed.
• There is no Golden Rule.

                This causes me to reject the political correct dogma that Islam is a benign, altruistic religion.  Islam is the least tolerant of the major world religions.  For example, how many  Christian churches are there in Iran or Saudi Arabia compared to mosques in the United States and Canada?  Since the Egyptian revolution, according to news reports,  Muslims have been systematically burning down Coptic Christian churches and driving the Christians out of Egypt.

                The above  list characterizing Islamic law confirms to me that Islam, as a theocracy, is more political than religious.  As a political entity it is without a doubt totalitarian, not that much different from communism.  If you do not know what “totalitarianism” means, your time will not be wasted if you look it up in a good dictionary or on the Internet.

                Ever since the mythical story of Abel and Cain, the driving force behind civilization has been  “conflict and power.”  And the origins of conflict and power have primarily come from religion and politics –  “who will rule over who, who is the more superior, who has a monopoly of truth, who deserves what natural resources.” 

                I have often pondered why an American would convert to Islam.  In that regard I have noticed that most converts to Islam prefer to live in Canada or the United States.  Why?  They don’t say it but it is because of our free society.  What they don’t realize or refuse to ponder is that moderate or liberal Muslims are frowned upon almost as much as infidels.  Islam is an absolute religion – it does not tolerate fecklessness.  If Islam should get the upper hand in America there will no doubt be some “ethnic cleansing. “

                So why do they convert?  I suspect it is because of unity – a unification they couldn’t find or didn’t like in Christianity or Judaism .  I suspect conversion becomes a form of protest, recognition and esteem building.  A Muslim is doctrinally superior to all other isms.  In the case of women and the garb they wear identifying them as Muslims, it symbolizes a kind of “masochistic superior humility.”

                 I think that women convert to Islam for the same reason women convert to Mormon polygamy – and that it is more secular than spiritual.  The under lying motives are security, adventure, unity, protest, infatuation ….  It is only after they are acclimated or have assimilated that they use religion as their justification.

                I am continually amused and intrigued by how the mind can be willingly manipulated and fooled by religious absurdities.  Analogous  to the above is a Mormon polygamist doctrine, professed by James D. Harmston, the prophet and leader of The True and Living Church (TLC) called Multiple Mortal Probation – an interpolation of reincarnation. 

                The doctrine states that until we can get it right, meaning worthy to be propelled to the celestial kingdom, we must be reborn and retested on earth time and again.  Each convert to the TLC is given a patriarchal blessing in which he is told who he was in previous lives.  It may be no surprise that some important members of the TLC were important Mormon individuals of the past such as Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball.  The more valuable the convert to Harmston (money, daughters, real estate) the more important the convert was in a previous life.  But Harmston reserved the most important icons for himself.  He was Joseph Smith, Isaiah, King Arthur, and after he saw the movie, Braveheart, remembered he was also William Wallace.  These ludicrous rituals have had an enormous impact on the ego of the recipients.  For example, some converts have been told they were the brother of Adam, who is believed to be the God of Earth (Adam-God Doctrine).  Before they converted these gullible individuals were nobodies, now they are really somebodies.

                Ever since I was a sex crime specialist as a deputy sheriff I have been intrigued by human behavior, and have come to the conclusion that the best way to learn about human behavior is to study human sex habits, religion and politics.  At one time I was intrigued by Mormon esotericism (the mysteries) until it became too fantastic.   Now my interest is in how genes and memes influence human behavior and how the brain – mind and consciousness- converts them to beliefs and behavior.  I happen to find scientific theory and logic much more reasonable and efficacious than belief in supernatural entities that bestow power and authority on privileged mortals. 

                Because I am a skeptic and because disbelief in supernatural, religious beliefs are often associated with skepticism, I make the following declaration:

                If there is a God and an afterlife, I don’t want some pope, prophet, priest, imam, witchdoctor, shaman or oracle acting as a middleman between me and God.  I will handle my salvation on my own.