Without Gods - a Defence of Atheism - Without_Gods_31oct13_1

8/9/2019 Without Gods - a Defence of Atheism - Without_Gods_31oct13_1

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Without Gods: A Defence of Atheism

Associate Professor Christopher R Strakosch


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Published by Emmetchester Pty Ltd

Sherwood, Queensland, Australia 2013

ISB !"#$0$%&%$!0'&1$!


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Without Gods: A Defence of Atheism

()aith means belie*in+ the incredible, or its no *irtue at all-.

/ hesterton, renowned hristian author

(he Bible is not my boo, nor hristianity my 4ro5ession.-

Abraham Lincoln, 1%th President o5 the 6nited States

(7eli+ion is an illusion and it deri*es its stren+th 5rom the 5act that it 5alls in with our

instinctual desires.-

Si+mund )reud, Psychiatrist

(here has ne*er been a time without unicorns. 8e li*e 5ore*er9-

Peter S Bea+le (he Last 6nicorn-


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P a + e : 1

Introduction

he little +irl looed u4 at me with sad brown eyes. he scene made such an

im4ression on me that, thou+h years a+o in 1!"0 when I was a medical student at

7oyal hildrens ;os4ital, Sydney, I can still see her banda+e co*ered body, the ward

bed and e*en the colour o5 the walls. Abo*e her a lar+e si+n read (I5 this child ass, tell

her that her 4arents are in the hos4ital 5or adults-. In 5act both 4arents had been illed in

an horri5ic motor *ehicle accident and she was the sole sur*i*or, but the doctors new

that i5 the little +irl were to become aware o5 this she would lose ho4e and die. 8hat

mattered to her at this des4erate time was not whether her 4arents were ali*e or not but

that she belie*ed they were.

So it is with many 4eo4le. 8ithout the com5ort o5 a ;ea*enly )ather to watch o*er them,

and eternal li5e to loo 5orward to, they can see little 4oint in li*in+ at all. an this brie5

li5e be all that there is< A 5leetin+ s4ar in the *ast chasm o5 the blac. And without the

4romise o5 eternal =oy and the threat o5 eternal damnation what would there be to

4re*ent 4eo4le =ust de*otin+ themsel*es to a sel5ish 4ursuit o5 4leasure to the e>clusion

o5 all else and the ruin o5 ci*ilisation itsel5amine what is actually nown about the history and 4resent state

o5 the monotheistic reli+ions which hold such sway in our 4art o5 the world. he reli+ious

4osition o5 4ersons nown as (@eists- is not discussed. @eists hold the belie5 that there

was a 4er5ect 5oundin+ +od who set the uni*erse in motion with such 4recision that no

5urther inter*ention has e*er been reuired. his *ersion o5 a +od, who has not been in

e*idence since the (Bi+ Ban+-, is little di55erent 5rom atheism and 4osits a +od whose

e>istence can ne*er be 4ro*en but is o5 no conseuence one way or the other. hisdeist +od certainly doesnt demand adherence to any laws nor o55er any ho4e o5 an

a5terli5e.

What do !e mean "# $God%

In our 4art o5 the world the uestion (@o you belie*e in /od


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P a + e : &

re+ards itsel5 as the one true reli+ion and to tolerate members o5 earlier *ersions o5 the

reli+ion as bein+ 4art holders o5 truth, but to utterly re5use to acce4t members o5 later

*ersions. hristians will name their sons Abraham but ews dont use hristo4her.

uslims may use Isa FesusG but mo*e a+ainst later *ersions o5 Islam such as @ruCe,

BahaHi or Alawis. he older 4olytheistic reli+ions, such as ;induism, dont seem to be as

e>clusi*ist since they tend to see all reli+ions as bein+ *ersions o5 the same thin+ and it

causes little concern to add another +od to the 4antheon.

It would seem there5ore an easy matter to demonstrate the 5allibility o5 all reli+ions by

sim4ly usin+ the ar+uments that each ma=or reli+ions maes a+ainst the other nineteen.

It is howe*er not as sim4le as that. 7eli+ious belie5 is dee4ly in+rained and it is held to

be a s4ecial *irtue to ha*e 5aith that somethin+ is true e*en without any e*idence 5or it

and to be an es4ecially +reat *irtue to continue that belie5 e*en i5 e*idence

demonstrates the belie5 to be 5alse. An e>am4le would be the 4ersistence in the belie5

that the uni*erse is only %000 years old, as is held by 5undamentalists o5 the iddleEastern onotheistic reli+ions, des4ite o*erwhelmin+ e*idence that it is billions o5 years

older than that. As the 5amous author and atholic theolo+ian / hesterton 4ointed

out ()aith means belie*in+ the incredible or its no *irtue at all-.

In the end, howe*er, all reli+ions 4ercei*e the reality o5 a +od or +ods who ha*e

e>traordinary 4owers and who need to be a44eased either by sacri5ice or constant

4rayer and who, in most cases, threaten de*astation in this li5e or the ne>t i5 the laws

they ha*e ordained are i+nored or the *ery e>istence o5 the +od is uestioned. It does

there5ore seem to be worth looin+ 5urther into the ori+ins o5 this uniuely humanattribute which has such a hold on us and which colours the world*iew o5 what seems to

be the ma=ority o5 our s4ecies.

The '(o)ution of God

irtually e*ery tribe disco*ered in recent history, or which has le5t e*idence o5 its

e>istence in the 4ast, seemed to ha*e belie5 in 4ower5ul in*isible 5orces directed by

human$lie bein+s. hese s4irits and +ods Fand demonsG re5lect the 4olitical *iews o5

the 4ersons holdin+ the belie5s. 8hen the human race consisted o5 small hunter$+atherer +rou4s who had only *a+ue ideas o5 the world beyond their immediate areas,

the su4ernatural 5orces tended to be concerned only with the local areas. here mi+ht

be a +od who inhabited or controlled a nearby ri*er and who could cause a 5lood or the

ri*er to dry u4 i5 not a44eased by some means or other. Jther s4irits could control the

wind or rain and be the dri*in+ 5orce 5or the sun to come u4 e*ery day.


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As human society coalesced into lar+er +rou4s and de*elo4ed 4olitical leaders or

chie5s, then the conce4t o5 the su4ernatural also underwent a chan+e. he +od or +ods

who needed to be a44eased now controlled the whole o5 the *alley or +rou4 o5 *alleys.

Similarly as human society became lar+er still and more com4le> and saw the

de*elo4ment o5 city states, +ods became yet more 4ower5ul and could be enlisted in

wars a+ainst enemy +ods. States then +rou4ed to+ether either 4eace5ully or by

conuest and the conce4t o5 an em4ire with a sin+le 4erson in command o5 the whole o5

the nown area de*elo4ed. /ods then needed to be e*en +reater than the resident

em4eror. )inally the conce4t o5 a sin+le /od who controlled the whole world, such as

was nown at the time, came into bein+. his may ha*e seemed reasonable at the time,

but within li*in+ memory we ha*e seen the nown uni*erse e>4and until it includes 10

thousand billion billion stars. ore stars can be seen than there are +rains o5 sand in all

the beaches o5 all the world. hou+h they are se4arated by billions o5 li+ht years, the

sin+le /od is thou+ht by belie*ers to control all these stars and attendin+ 4lanets in real

time. @e5enders o5 the 5aith tend to counter this 4roblem by 4ositin+ that the sin+le /odis outside the conce4t o5 time. heir /od, howe*er, does seem in his interactions with

humans to o4erate on our timescale. he onotheistic reli+ions all date their ori+in to

Abraham who li*ed only &000 years a+o and these reli+ions all loo 5orward to the

comin+ o5 a messiah 5i+ure and the end o5 the world in the 5oreseeable 5uture. In other

words, we are dealin+ with a 5ew thousand years in the li5e o5 a uni*erse which is

thou+ht to be 13.# billion years old. 8ith the recent idea that there mi+ht be an in5inite

number o5 uni*erses e>istin+, this sin+le /od will need to be thou+ht o5 as bein+ in

control o5 all o5 them while at the same time bein+ interested in the minutiae o5 the

actions o5 each o5 the se*en billion 4eo4le on this 4lanet.

Re)iious +e)ief can "e ,nderstood in Science

8ith reli+ious belie5 bein+ almost uni*ersal in human society, e>tendin+ across all

cultures and bac to the dawn o5 human understandin+, it clearly has been stron+ly

selected 5or in the e*olution o5 the human s4ecies. here is nothin+ s4ecial about the

belie5 itsel5 and it can be studied in science as can any other human 4henomenon.

All the onotheistic reli+ions which hold such sway in Australia are o5 the belie5 that

/od inter*enes in human a55airs.

'-odus &:.(And I am come down to deli*er them out o5 the hand o5 the E+y4tians, and to brin+

them u4 out o5 that land unto a +ood land and a lar+e, unto a land 5lowin+ with mil and honey?

unto the 4lace o5 the anaanites, and the ;ittites, and the Amorites, and the PeriCCites, and the

;i*ites, and the ebusites-.


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P a + e : /

0ames /:1 (here5ore, con5ess your sins to one another and 4ray 5or one another, that you

may be healed. he 4rayer o5 a ri+hteous 4erson has +reat 4ower as it is worin+.-

uran *2:23 (8hosoe*er desires Fthrou+h his deedsG the reward o5 the ;erea5ter, 8e +i*e him

increase in his reward, and whosoe*er desires the reward o5 this world Fthrou+h his deedsG, 8e

+i*e him thereo5 Fwhat is written 5or himG, and he has no 4ortion in the ;erea5ter.K

A +od who inter*enes in the world should lea*e e*idence o5 the inter*entions that would

be obser*able. An inter*enin+ +od is thus a testable hy4othesis in science. Jne such

area in which 4rayer is used *ery 5reuently, and is thou+ht to be o5 +reat bene5it, is 5or

the assistance o5 the sic. Se*eral e>4eriments ha*e indeed been carried out to test the

4ower o5 4rayer on the health o5 hos4ital 4atients. he ochrane database Fan

or+anisation that 4ro*ides systematic re*iews and analyses o5 medical researchG,

howe*er, 5ound no basis 5or the e55icacy o5 4rayer in a re*iew o5 ten studies. In my 5ield,

there are hos4ital cha4lains and, des4ite the lac o5 e*idence o5 the bene5it o5 4rayer, it

doesnt seem to ha*e 4re*ented them 5rom continuin+ to ad*ocate it. he medical4ractitioners at the hos4ital, on the other hand, rely on (e*idence based medicine-.

reatments that ha*e no basis in science are not used.

I should mention at this 4oint that some years a+o, when I was seriously ill, my dear old

mother or+anised a 4rayer circle 5or me. I reco*ered, due to the medical attention I

recei*ed, but she, no doubt, harboured the belie5 that her e55orts had been rewarded. I

was, in 5act brou+ht u4 in a de*out household. y late mother was a committed

member o5 the An+lican hurch o5 the (slee*es rolled u4- *ariety and I *ery much lied

the An+lican minister, a 8orld 8ar II *eteran 4adre. ;e was a indly man who ne*er

said anythin+ dero+atory about other reli+ions Fwhich when I was a id meant the

atholic hurchG. I remember in a Bible class he handed around a co4y o5 a ;ebrew

Bible and ased us to be *ery care5ul with it since it had been +i*en to him durin+ the

@esert am4ai+n by a ewish soldier who was later illed in action. I remember bein+

*ery im4ressed at the time thou+h I was only about 12 years old. I also lied the

hristian story, one o5 sacri5ice and redem4tion a theme that runs throu+h many

classical tales. he doctrine o5 the rinity, which seems to e>ercise a lot o5 4eo4le,

seemed to me to be relati*ely easy to e>4lain com4ared with the 4ro5ound di55iculties in

acce4tin+ other teachin+s o5 the 5aith. y 5ather was a ewish re5u+ee, who, thou+h not

belie*in+ in a 4ersonal +od, did 5eel (Cere is someCin+ Cere-. I 5ound the study o5 reli+ion*ery interestin+ and recei*ed Bible 4riCes in my Sunday School, but =ust ne*er belie*ed

the Bible stories to be based on 5act. I didnt now anyone else o5 this o4inion as a child,

and e4t my lac o5 belie5 to mysel5. I still attended church ser*ices with my mother as a

matter o5 5amily loyalty and didnt really (come out- as an atheist until I read (he /od

@elusion- by 7ichard @awins which really resonated with me. ;e also had been


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P a + e : 4

their child died o5 leuaemia. he doctor may +i*e a medical e>4lanation, but the 4arent

does not really want to now about +enetic mutations and unsu44ressed onco+enes,

but how their childs death 5itted into the bi+ 4icture and what was the ultimate reason

5or it. his uestion lo+ically leads to a belie5 that e*erythin+ in the world that does

ha44en has a reason and that there5ore there must be some su4reme 4ower that has

both the intelli+ence to mae 4lans and the 4ower to 4ut them into e55ect. As is stated in

the Quran %'!

(8ith ;im are the treasures o5 the 6nseen? no one nows them e>ce4t ;im. ;e nows whate*er there is

in land and sea. o lea5 5alls without ;is nowin+ it, nor is there a +rain in the darness o5 the earth, nor

anythin+ 5resh or withered but it is in a mani5est Boo.-

Another e>am4le may be a little +irl who ass her 5ather (why does it rain4lanations in*ol*in+ the 4artial

4ressure o5 water *a4our et cetera, but he is more liely to answer sim4ly -it rains so the

+rass will +row-. his is a classical e>am4le o5 a teleolo+ical error, but it would, nodoubt, satis5y the little +irl and *ery liely the 5ather as well. Jne can ima+ine the little

+irl then looin+ to the sy and sayin+ (4lease, 4lease dont rain on my birthday 4arty-.

An e>am4le o5 both a teleolo+ical error and the 5ollow$on idea that there is a 4ower

which can be in5luenced to brin+ about a desired result and 4re*ent an unwanted one.

Quite a4art 5rom o55erin+ e>4lanations 5or otherwise di55icult to e>4lain 4henomena in the

natural world and the reassurance o5 a hea*enly 4rotector, not to mention 4romise o5 an

e*erlastin+ li5e o5 =oy in the herea5ter, reli+ious belie5 has many bene5its in the world o5

the here and now. E*en atheists, such as the eminent 4hiloso4her and writer Alain de

Botton, note with admiration the 4ositi*e side o5 reli+ion with the 5ellowshi4 and rituals

which +i*e meanin+ to li5e uite a4art 5rom the strictly theolo+ical as4ects o5 belie5. ;e

wonders in his in5luential boo (Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer's Guide to the

Uses of Religion as to how atheists can borrow some o5 these 5acets o5 belie5 to enrich

the li5e o5 non$belie*ers. his mono+ra4h, howe*er, is not about the bene5its or

otherwise o5 belie5 in this li5e, but only endea*ours to 5urther understand the causes o5,

and loo at the underlyin+ reality o5, the human 4henomenon o5 reli+ious belie5.

The ,ni(ersa) 5ear of Death

I5 acid is introduced into a Petri dish containin+ bacteria, the bu+s will mo*e away 5rom

the chemical threat. ocroaches 5lee i5 a li+ht is turned on in the itchen. he 5ear o5

death is buried dee4 in our +enes but we are 4robably the only s4ecies that

understands that we all will die. In the 4ast, at least, li5e was *ery tenuous. I, mysel5

would ha*e died about 5i*e times without medical treatment? an a44endi> abscess


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causin+ +ut obstruction in 1!"", a s4ontaneous subdural haematoma in 1!#%,

urose4sis and 5inally com4lete urinary obstruction in 200! and 2012. @eath came easily

and 5reuently, es4ecially to children u4 until recent times. eonatal mortality was so

common that the ;ebrew Bible doesnt e*en count children until they are o*er one

month old. he hinese traditionally didnt name children until they were about 12 years

old because o5 the lielihood that they wouldnt e*er +et there. 6ntil then they were

nown as (umber Jne Son- etc. he immortal a4tain oo 5athered si> children but

none li*ed to adulthood. ;ow com5ortin+ to thin that the child had not really died and

ceased to e>ist, but had ascended to hea*en and li*ed with /od the )ather and was

able to (loo down- and see what was +oin+ on in the world and so in a way continue to

be 4art o5 the 5amily.

It wasnHt only the com5ort o55ered by the belie5 that children had not really died that

stron+ly rein5orced the belie5 in li5e a5ter death. Li5e was also (nasty, brutish and shortK5or adults who had made it throu+h the 4erils o5 childhood. he 5ear o5 death, which

could, and can still, come at any time, is to some e>tent assua+ed by a belie5 that the

4erson will not really die at all but will (+o to their reward-. 7eli+ious ministers, 4riests

and no doubt mullahs, com5ort berea*ed 5amily members by tellin+ o5 the wonders o5

4aradise. Jn the other hand, belie*ers who sur*i*e, say, a natural calamity, dont seem

to be downcast by the 4ost4onement o5 4aradise but tend to (han /od- that their li*es

had been s4ared. S4eain+ o5 which, I ha*e been a medical 4ractitioner now 5or more

than &0 years and in that time ha*e seen many 4ersons a44roach death. I thin that

doctors should be aware o5 a 4ersons belie5s as 4art o5 their duty o5 care and as such I

enuire as to whether 4ersons ha*e a reli+ious belie5 or not. In the last three years that I

ha*e been ee4in+ records, I ha*e seen !2 4ersons with a serious, incurable, illness$

usually a terminal cancer. So 5ar some &2 4ersons ha*e e>4ressed a reli+ious

con*iction in li5e a5ter death, 1% ha*e been uncertain while 3& did not ha*e such a belie5

e*en in the 5ace o5 death. 7eli+ious belie5 does not seem to be as wides4read as the

sur*eys would indicate and this obser*er, at least, can detect no di55erence in the

demeanor o5 belie*ers com4ared with nonbelie*ers. I ho4e when the time comes, I can

acce4t oncomin+ death with the calmness and di+nity that most o5 my 4atients,

belie*ers and nonbelie*ers alie, e>hibit. I continue to tae 4ride in, and draw stren+th

5rom, the coura+e o5 5ellow members o5 our FhumanG race.


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P a + e : 6

Prescripti(e Re)iious +e)ief Confers Securit# in ,ncertain Times

he twenty 5irst century is an uncertain time. he old securities o5 close nit 5amilies, a

=ob in the same com4any 5or li5e in a cohesi*e social milieu are no lon+er with us. In the

a+e o5 +lobalisation, 5amilies are s4read o*er the +lobe, =obs are more 5luid and

tem4orary and the old Australia where e*eryone nown was o5 the same culture, and

4roud o5 it, has 4assed. 8e now ha*e a multicultural Australia and e*en the mainstream

hristian churches ha*e become less do+matic and more tolerant. /lobalisation has

meant as well, that e>ternal 5orces beyond the control or understandin+ o5 4eo4le ha*e

enormous conseuences in day to day li5e. echnolo+y is ad*ancin+ 5aster than many

4eo4le can co4e with. As 4ointed out by Bauman, society is now KliuidK rather than

KsolidK and many 4eo4le 5eel they are drownin+ in it. Since early childhood, we ha*e

always been ready to e>chan+e 5reedom 5or security? no doubt the reason +o*ernments

were instituted with the 4ower to mae laws in the 5irst 4lace. he 7oyal a*y was

nown 5or its harsh disci4line which was acce4ted by the crew since they new that i5they did not immediately obey the ca4tains orders in, say, settin+ the sails in a storm,

the shi4 could sin, which in the days be5ore radio and air$sea rescue, meant the Kloss

o5 all handsK.

he uncertainty o5 todays society, which is *ery unsettlin+ 5or some 4eo4le, has

resulted in an u4sur+e in the 4o4ularity o5 reli+ions which o55er certainty in this li5e, not

to mention e*erlastin+ =oy in the ne>t. Persons uite cheer5ully say they ha*e K+i*en

their li5e to esusK or ha*e become a Ksla*e o5 /odK and acce4t o5ten uite harsh

restrictions on day to day acti*ities. 8hat to eat or drin and when to eat or drin it, whatclothes to wear, who is acce4table as a 5riend or marria+e 4artner, are all mandated.

J5ten the more onerous the duty, the more *irtue there is in 4er5ormin+ it. Jrthodo>

ews may re+ard it as a matter o5 4ro5ound conseuence as to whether it is 4ermissible

to 5lic a li+ht switch on the Sabbath. Anyone can 5ollow an in=unction a+ainst stealin+,

but only a truly de*out 4erson will 5ollow a rule 5or which there is no ob*ious reason, so

the theory +oes.

he re+imented 4rescri4ti*e li5e, which many 5ind com5ortin+, is rein5orced by the

5ellowshi4 o5 other 4ersons also 5ollowin+ the true 4ath. his to+etherness is 5ostered by

the 4romul+ation o5 an idea that one is su55erin+ 5or the 5aith and bein+ 4ersecuted by

the wayward, undisci4lined, se>ually 4romiscuous members o5 mainstream society.

)undamentalist hristians may (=oin hrist on the ross- as they su55er attacs 5rom the

(liberal- mainstream media and many uslims re+ard it as +i*en that the wider society

is united a+ainst them.


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P a + e : 11

4articular ways o5 li*in+. hey did, thou+h, seem to need to be constantly 4lacated with

+i5ts or sacri5ices.

he introduction o5 a+riculture meant that land became much more 4roducti*e and was

able to su44ort a much +reater density o5 4o4ulation. E*en in a 5ertile land with 4lenti5ul

+ame, ri*ers teemin+ with 5ish and bounti5ul 5ruit trees and berry bushes, a hunter

+atherer +rou4 still needed about two mM 4er 4erson to sur*i*e. hese small +rou4s

were constantly on the mo*e and established only tem4orary cam4s in which e*erybody

new e*eryone else. 8ith a+riculture howe*er, *illa+es could be established where the

inhabitants were not so intimately connected and the 4er4etrators o5 the5t or assault

could not be immediately identi5ied. In order to maintain disci4line and social cohesion

the conce4t o5 a /od who saw e*erythin+ and was e*en able to read minds and now

(what was in 4eo4les hearts- was now necessary. Bein+ watched in itsel5 is enou+h to

+i*e 4ersons an incenti*e to (do the ri+ht thin+-. Psycholo+ists are constantly dreamin+

u4 tests to 5urther our understandin+ o5 human beha*iour. Lon+$su55erin+ 5irst$year4sycholo+y students are usually the sub=ects o5 these tests. In one such, the student is

able to 4lay a +ame on a com4uter where they are able to win by cheatin+. I5 there is

e*en a +lass eye lyin+ beside the com4uter, students are inhibited and tend to 4lay

more honestly. A cardboard cut$out o5 a 4oliceman 4laced in a su4ermaret aisle

decreases the incidence o5 sho4li5tin+. hose o5 us who own do+s and tae them 5or

wals carry 4lastic ba+s to scoo4 u4 the dro44in+s. his is not the most 4leasant o5

tass and it is tem4tin+, i5 there are no other 4ersons in the *icinity, to de*elo4 a sudden

(do+ dro44in+ blindness-.

A +enefit in '(o)utionar# Terms Does not make it Riht Toda#

Noun+ men re+ard themsel*es as bein+ (ten 5eet tall and bullet4roo5-. his con5erred the

ability in the 4ast to 5earlessly hunt dan+erous +ame and to 4ro*ide the tribe with hi+hly

*alued 4rotein rich meat. his made the success5ul hunter attracti*e to 5emales who

looed to mate with a male able to 4ro*ide 5or them, both when they were hea*ily

4re+nant, and less able to 5end 5or themsel*es, and 5or later when the woman had a

baby at breast. he (bullet4roo5- +ene was ine*itably 4assed on throu+h the millennia.

he belie5 that one was in*incible was e*en more *aluable in the con5lict with a much

more dan+erous ad*ersary other youn+ males. he winner a+ain had +reater access to5emales and a+ain the +enes were 4assed on. E*olution con5erred a +reat reward 5or

this success in huntin+ or in battle. here is a 5amous 5ilm cli4 o5 a4anese 4ilots

si44in+ in e>hilaration on the decs o5 their aircra5t carriers a5ter the success5ul raid on

Pearl ;arbour. he 5amous American urist Jli*er 8endell ;olmes r, recallin+ his

ser*ice as a =unior line o55icer in the 6nion Army durin+ the American i*il 8ar, said

(hrou+h our +reat +ood 5ortune, in our youth our hearts were touched with 5ire-.


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P a + e : 12

ot all soldiers, o5 course, 5ound military ser*ice rewardin+. here were many e>am4les

o5 desertion to the rear in the Allied armies in 8orld 8ar II. Jn the other hand, many o5

the 12000 Australians who *olunteered 5or acti*e ser*ice in the orean 8ar were

*eterans o5 the Second AI) who missed the 5eelin+ o5 (li*in+ li5e to the to4- that they had

5ound in the earlier war.

As society had matured, and +o*ernments became stron+er, the need 5or all males in

society to be trained as warriors diminished. In American Indian society, the most liely

way 5or a male to die was to be illed by another male? some %0O o5 males dyin+ in this

way. E*en in Australian Abori+inal society, which was not noted to be es4ecially warlie,

a male still had an a44ro>imately 2'O chance o5 dyin+ a *iolent death. In the 20th

century, on the other hand, des4ite all the +reat wars and massacres, a male in Euro4e

had only a 2O chance o5 dyin+ at the hands o5 another male.

@es4ite this +reat decrease in *iolence in society, in recent history an e55ort has been

made to channel the residual male a++ression into more 4eace5ul acti*ities. hou+h ball

+ames ha*e been de4icted in ancient car*in+s, it is only recently that 5ootball 4layed by

national teams a+ainst other countries has become the modern analo+y o5 war. eams

o5 youn+ men con5ront each other and the warlie terms o5 (tactics-, (*ictory- and

(de5eat- are used uite 5reely. he testosterone le*el o5 the males in the winnin+ team

increases and decreases in the de5eated. Fhere are no hormonal chan+es in 5emale

teamsG. o doubt the increase in testosterone, in e*olutionary terms, was in antici4ation

o5 access to the 5emales o5 the de5eated tribe. he teams o5 nubile youn+ women

cheerleaders 4lay to this +enetic e>4ectation. hou+h a *ictory by a national team in5ootball con5ers no real ad*anta+es, we still are le5t with a 5eelin+ o5 e>ultation at the

success o5 our team e*en in 4eo4le who would usually tae no interest in 5ootball at all.

he normally staid @utch danced in the streets when their team de5eated /ermany in

the semi$5inals o5 the 8orld u4 in 2010.

7eli+ious belie5 also con5erred +reat ad*anta+es in the 4ast when our hi+hly intelli+ent

ancestors stru++led to mae sense o5 the mysterious and terri5yin+ 5orces o5 nature.

;ow com5ortin+ to now that there was a +od who could control these ca4ricious 5orces

i5 only he could be seduced by the reuired 4rayers or sacri5ices. E*en in li*in+ memory,

the Esimos o5 Alasa would not cam4 below the treeline where, at ni+ht, they couldhear the trees murmurin+ to each other in a 5orei+n and unintelli+ible lan+ua+e. uch

sa5er to retreat to the 5roCen tundra where their +ods could loo a5ter them. his 5eelin+

o5 warm com5ort remains in belie*ers today, thou+h 5ew in 8estern Society re+ard trees

as con5errin+ in some mysterious and 4ossibly cons4iratorial lan+ua+e. his burnin+

ember o5 belie5 can i+nite into a blaCin+ 5ire when belie*ers come to+ether. he

Pentecostal churches 4romise (4ur4ose, 5ul5ilment and =oy- to members and thou+h, I


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P a + e : 1&

sus4ect, 5ew members would do it when alone, in the 4resence o5 other belie*ers,

attendees o5ten attain an e>ultant 5renCy and shout nonsensical 4hrases an acti*ity

nown as (s4eain+ in ton+ues- and shown to +reat comic e55ect in the recent mo*ie

(Borat ultural Learnin+s o5 America 5or ae Bene5it /lorious ation o5 aCahstan-.

ot all belie*ers are 4rone to such o*erwrou+ht e>4ressions o5 belie5, but still can

e>4erience such an intense 5eelin+ o5 connectedness with the di*ine that they may

recei*e 4ersonal communication 5rom their +ods. he le+endary Indian mathematician

Srini*asa 7amanu=an, when at ambrid+e 6ni*ersity in the early 20th century, was able

to write out ad*anced mathematical 5ormulae without o55erin+ any attendant 4roo5s.

hese al+ebraic statements are still bein+ e>4lored with the hel4 o5 su4ercom4uters and

seem to contain conce4ts that he (could not 4ossibly ha*e nown-. 8hen challen+ed by

the other mathematical +eniuses at ambrid+e as to how he deri*ed these ad*anced

5ormulae, 7amanu=an re4lied that his household ;indu +oddess dictated them to him

and he sim4ly wrote them down. )ew belie*ers in the onotheistic reli+ions, the main(4ersons o5 interest- o5 this mono+ra4h, would acce4t this to be true. any belie*ers do

still 5all bac on a statement o5 4ersonal e>4erience to bac u4 their belie5s, thou+h as

5ar as I can tell, re+ard the e>4eriences o5 4ersons o5 other 5aiths as bein+ delusional.

Alon+ the same lines o5 rewards 5or acti*ities which con5erred ad*anta+e in the 4ast, but

no lon+er do so, is the other bi+ challen+e o5 e>cess in+estion o5 5atty 5ood. )at has no

intrinsic (taste- but in a 4ast where 5ood was scarce and 5amine the bi+ threat to our

e>istence, eatin+ the *ery ener+y dense and di55icult to obtain 5at was *ery bene5icial to

our sur*i*al. E*olution, *ery hel45ully con5erred a reward o5 a delicious creamy taste to

5at and a 4ost4randial 5eelin+ o5 warmth and satis5action. )at is now readily a*ailablebut we still lo*e eatin+ it. 6n5ortunately, thou+h were in the twentieth century, our

+enetics are still in the stone a+e and what was once o5 bene5it, be it (bullet4roo5- males

de5endin+ the tribe, the delicious taste o5 5atty 5ood or the e>ultation o5 shared reli+ious

belie5 is no lon+er so.

hou+h the tendency 5or reli+ious belie5 to lead to wars says nothin+ about the truth o5

the reli+ious belie5, it does mae the su55erin+ in these wars es4ecially bitter i5 it is

incurred in the name o5 somethin+ without any 5oundation in reality. here does seem

little doubt that reli+ion is behind most o5 the wars bein+ 5ou+ht in the 4resent time. ow

that the colonial liberation wars and the con5licts in*ol*in+ the ad*ersarial 4oliticalideolo+ies o5 ommunism *ersus the Liberal @emocracies ha*e died down, we are le5t

with the ma=ority o5 wars bein+ 5ou+ht in the iddle East, orthern and entral A5rica

and the Indian Subcontinent bein+ based on di55erences o5 reli+ious belie5. he ma=or

4layers in these wars are the iddle Eastern onotheistic reli+ions udaism *ersus

Islam in the ;oly Land, Shia *ersus Sunni Islam in Syria, hristianity *ersus Islam in

orthern A5rica and i+eria, ;induism *ersus Islam in the Indian subcontinent and e*en


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P a + e : 1*

Buddhism *ersus Islam in Burma. )ortunately the atholic *ersus Protestant war in

orthern Ireland and the three way war between atholicism, Jrthodo>y and Islam in

the Balans seem to ha*e been resol*ed, at least 5or the 4resent. Im not sure how to

cate+orise the war in A5+hanistan which seems to be both a reli+ious and ideolo+ical

con5lict.

The Midd)e 'astern Monotheistic Re)iions accordin to Archaeo)o#

he three iddle Eastern onotheistic reli+ions all date their ori+ins to Abraham and

include oses, who led the ;ebrews out o5 E+y4tian ca4ti*ity. he ews ha*e 5urther

4ro4hets such as Isaiah which the hristians, thou+h not the uslims, acce4t. he

hristians ha*e, o5 course, the di*ine 5i+ure o5 esus hrist, which the uslims acce4t

as a 4ro4het, thou+h do not belie*e he was cruci5ied, nor that he was di*ine. )inally the

uslims ha*e the 4ro4het uhammad, said to be the last o5 the 4ro4hets o5 the

onotheistic reli+ions. he 5aith5ul o5 the res4ecti*e reli+ions belie*e that the ma=or

5i+ures o5 their *ersions o5 the reli+ion were all historical 4ersons and that the stories set

out in the res4ecti*e holy boos all are accurate accounts o5 the e*ents related. As such

there should be co4ious archaeolo+ical e*idence, es4ecially o5 such ma=or 4ersona+es

as in+s @a*id and Solomon. )ortunately 5or 4ersons interested in the 5ield, there is

now an immense and cross re5erenced archaeolo+ical data ban obtained 5rom

centuries o5 wor in the ;oly Land.

It is more honest to 4ut aside any 4reconce4tions about the *ery well$nown Biblical

and Quranic stories, which ha*e 4layed such a ma=or role in the history o5 the 8est,and see 5rom 4rimary e*idence what these archaeolo+ical 5indin+s are.

The ,aritic Te-ts

6+arit was a BronCe A+e anaanite 4ort city, on the coast o5 what is now northern

Syria. hou+h the area had been settled since eolithic times and the city had been

walled since %000 BE, it reached its hei+ht o5 im4ortance 5rom around 1&'0 BE until

1200 BE when it was destroyed by raidin+ (Sea Peo4les-. It was redisco*ered in 1!2#

and o*er the ne>t 5orty years *ast libraries o5 cunei5orm inscribed clay tablets wereunearthed. any o5 these are le+al and 4olitical documents but there is also a collection

o5 tablets dealin+ with reli+ious themes. Since the city was at its hei+ht =ust 4rior to the

ma=or e*ents recorded in the ;ebrew Bible, these tablets are o5 +reat interest to Biblical

scholars.


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P a + e : 1/

here was, a44arently, no recei*ed holy boo in 6+arit, so o*er the centuries reli+ious

belie5 dri5ted, no doubt in5luenced by the doctrines o5 the other ma=or 4owers o5 the time

the E+y4tian and ;ittite em4ires. here are many re5erences to a 5ather +od nown as

El, which Biblical scholars reco+nise as the name o5 the ;ebrew /od in the E

@ocument. El, as was customary 5or +ods at the time, had a wi5e and children. Jne o5

his sons was, accordin+ to one o5 the tablets, the warrior +od nown by the

tetra+rammaton o5 N;8;, usually +i*en as eho*ah, the name o5 the ;ebrew /od in

the @ocument. hese documents, incidentally, which are nown by the initials +i*en to

them by the 1!th century /erman Biblical scholars as the E, F/erman *ersion o5 NG, P,

@ and 7 documents, are thou+ht to ha*e ori+inated as se4arate boos which were

combined by one or more early ;ebrew scribes to 5orm the Bible we ha*e. Each o5

these documents can be dissected out and read as a com4lete narrati*e and is the

reason that some thirty stories in the ;ebrew Bible are +i*en in two *ersions. )or

e>am4le, the usually related story o5 oah has him collectin+ a 4air o5 each animal 5or

his ar, whereas the P @ocument re5ers to se*en o5 each ind. he connectin+4assa+es between the boos are thou+ht to ha*e been added by 7, the redactor or

editor.

housands o5 clay 5i+urines o5 5emale 5ertility +oddesses ha*e been 5ound in the ;oly

Land datin+ 5rom the time o5 the Biblical ;ebrews and it is said that, +oin+ on

archaeolo+y alone, the ;ebrew reli+ion at the time was a 5ertility cult. An early e>am4le

o5 ;ebrew +ra55iti ass 5or blessin+ 5rom eho*ah and his Asherah$ the name +i*en to

the 5ertility +oddess and thou+ht to be identical to the 6+aritic +oddess Atharit, consort

o5 El. he name also cro4s u4 in ;ittite reli+ious te>ts as Asertu, consort o5 Elunirsa

FEl, the reator o5 the EarthG.

The 9riin of e"re! Monotheism

here is no archaeolo+ical or 4alaeo+ra4hic e*idence o5 ;ebrew onotheism, which is

traditionally thou+ht to ha*e ori+inated with Abraham who li*ed around 2000 BE, until

the time o5 the ;ebrew in+s ;eCeiah Fsometimes +i*en as ECeiasG and his +reat

+randson osiah who li*ed in the se*enth century BE. he ;ebrew Bible does state

that ;eCeiah abolished what was considered idolatry and (reinstituted- the tradition o5

monotheism. he e*idence is, howe*er, that he in 5act 5ounded the tradition, but it isalways easier to institute re5orm i5 it is 4resented as +oin+ bac to the ways o5 the

5athers o5 the nation rather than as constitutin+ somethin+ alto+ether new. ;eCeiah

needed all the hel4 he could +et$ his in+dom was under threat 5rom the Assyrians

Sar+on and his son Sennacherib. It is 4ostulated that he instituted the idea o5 the +reat

and 4ower5ul in+s @a*id and Solomon, ser*ants o5 the one true /od to bolster his

4osition. I5 he were to (re$ ado4t- a similar 4osition then the 4ower and the social


19/28

P a + e : 1

cohesion traditionally attributed to their rule would be his as well. As 4ointed out by

Pro5essor Israel )inelstein o5 the 6ni*ersity o5 el A*i*, howe*er, at the time o5 these

/reat in+s, their ca4ital o5 erusalem was a small iron$a+e hill 5ort o5 4erha4s 1000

4eo4le. here is no mention o5 them in any o5 the *ery e>tensi*e Assyrian, E+y4tian or

indeed ;ebrew writin+s o5 the time. A small inscri4tion unco*ered at el @an in orthern

Israel, which has been dated to more than one hundred years a5ter the time o5 the

in+s, does mention the ;ouse o5 @a*id, but there has ne*er been anythin+ 5ound at all

that re5ers to Solomon. I5 in+s @a*id and Solomon e>isted at all, they would ha*e been

minor hill 5ort chie5tains unworthy o5 mention by the other in+s o5 the time.

;eCeiahs +reat +randson, osiah, became in+ o5 udah 5rom %&1 to %0! BE. @urin+

reno*ations o5 the erusalem tem4le, his chie5 4riest (disco*ered- a co4y o5 the Boo o5

the orah as had been written by oses some 1&00 years be5ore. hou+h this boo

was a44arently written in ;ebrew scri4t which was not in*ented until 1000 years a5ter

the boo was su44osedly written, osiah used this disco*ery to outlaw worshi4 o5 anyother +ods but the ;ebrew eho*ah and to destroy the altars and ima+es o5 com4etin+

4a+an deities. he (disco*ered- boo o5 oses was then used as the basis 5or the

com4osition o5 the holy writin+s which would e*entually become the ;ebrew Bible.

arious le+ends and misremembered 5ol stories were +athered and written down. he

e>4ulsion o5 the Semitic ;ysos 5rom E+y4t by Pharaoh Ahmose I in the 1%th century

BE became the story o5 the E>odus o5 the ;ebrew sla*es 5rom E+y4t under oses.

he story o5 oah and the 5lood re5lects the earlier Sumerian E4ic o5 /il+amesh o5 the

1#th century BE which introduced the ar, do*e and oli*e branch 5amiliar to readers o5

the Bible. As mi+ht be e>4ected in a te>t which 4ur4orted to be historical but which was

written without any o5 the aids that modern historians rely on, there were manyinaccuracies. he 5oundin+ 5ather, Abraham, was re4orted to ha*e used camels thou+h

these were not to be domesticated 5or a 5urther thousand years. any o5 the towns

mentioned, thou+h e>istin+ at the time o5 writin+, had yet to be established at the time

they 5eatured in the Biblical stories. he 5amous @a*id *ersus /oliath story 5rom the

)irst Boo o5 Samuel +oes into +reat detail describin+ the armour worn by /oliath. he

4assa+e re5lects the armour o5 a /ree ho4lite o5 the si>th century BE, whereas the

historical Philistines o5 the time o5 the en+a+ement$ some 5our hundred years

4re*iously, wore little or no armour. Indeed, the whole story is *ery similar to the /ree

le+end o5 the youn+ estor de5eatin+ Ereuthalion, the +iant cham4ion o5 an enemy host,

and then +oin+ on to be a +reat in+.

he ;ebrew Bible continued to be e>tended and edited o*er the ne>t 5our hundred

years. he ewish *ersion, which was 5inalised by the asoretic scholars in the 5irst

centuries o5 the ommon Era, contains 2& boos, whereas the Protestant (Jld

estament- has 3!, the atholic *ersion &% and the Eastern Jrthodo> collection '1


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P a + e : 14

boos. he boos which are missin+ 5rom the Protestant *ersion were labelled

A4ocry4hal and thou+ht, by Protestants at least, to be o5 doubt5ul authenticity.

The Comin of Christianit#

he in+dom o5 udah soldiered on until conuered by Ale>ander the /reat in the 5ourth

century BE. udah became 4art o5 the Seleucid em4ire and was e>4osed to /ree

learnin+? a combination which was to ha*e a ma=or in5luence on 8estern ci*ilisation.

ews had a tradition o5 scholarshi4 based on study o5 the reli+ious te>ts which

contained a ma=or new conce4t, now taen 5or +ranted in the 8est, but which di55ered

5rom 4re*ious reli+ious narrati*es. he world, accordin+ to the ewish Bible, had a

de5inite be+innin+, was brou+ht into bein+ 5or a 4ur4ose and would ha*e a de5inite end.

Jther narrati*es tended to see the world as +oin+ throu+h endless cycles$ a *iew that

tended to a*oid chan+e. his combination o5 ewish learnin+, which contained the *iew

that society is e*ol*in+ towards an end, and the secular study o5 the natural world o5 the

/rees resulted in a dynamic, 5orward looin+ society which has remained the basis o5

the ethos o5 the 8est.

hen came one o5 the 4roblems which cro4s u4 a+ain and a+ain in history that o5 a

dis4uted royal succession. In the ci*il war resultin+ 5rom a dis4ute o*er the udean

monarchy, one o5 the 4rota+onists in*ited the nearby +reat 4ower o5 7ome to intercede

on their behal5 with the result that udah was added to the 7oman Em4ire. hou+h the

ews maintained their monarch, he was seen as a 4u44et o5 7ome and not the /reat

in+ o5 the ;ouse o5 @a*id which had been 4ro4hesied. udah became a tinderbo> withendless riots and assassinations which the 7omans dealt with in their usual steely way.

Jne day, (on the 7oad to @amascus-, a tri4 which would ha*e taen se*eral wees in

those days, a ewish em4le o55icial by name o5 Saul had a re*elation 5rom the ;ebrew

eho*ah. Jne o5 the ewish insur+ents who had been cruci5ied by the 7omans 5or

armed rebellion was re*ealed as bein+, not =ust another in the lon+ line o5 e>ecuted

ewish rebels, but as a di*ine mani5estation sacri5iced to redeem not =ust the ews but

the whole o5 humanity. he o55icial too the name o5 Paul and s4read the word o5 his

re*elation re+ardin+ the ewish insur+ent oshua Fesus in /reeG throu+h the nown

7oman world. his new reli+ion, a dau+hter reli+ion o5 udaism and which came to benown as hristianity, was e>tremely success5ul, o55erin+ as it did eternal sal*ation.

hou+h, 5or some reason, this bene5ice was e>tended only to 4ersons who belie*ed

Pauls re*elation to be true.

J*er the ne>t three hundred years the stories which constitute the hristian Bible,

re5erred to by belie*ers as the (ew estament-, was written. here were many boos in


21/28

P a + e : 1.

e>istence re5lectin+ many *ersions and e>tensions on the theme o5 esus, his ministry,

cruci5i>ion and resurrection. he 5inal canon F5rom the /ree? measurin+ rod or

standardG was not closed until the time o5 Bisho4 Athanasius o5 Ale>andria, when in 3%"

E, he identi5ied the twenty se*en boos which now constitute the 8estern anon. he

Eastern, Armenian and orth A5rican canons contain di55erin+ numbers o5 boos. he

5amous 5ourth century ode> Sinaiticus in the British useum, one o5 the oldest and

most com4lete hristian Bibles in e>istence, includes the She4herd o5 ;ermas and the

E4istle o5 Barnabas which are missin+ 5rom the modern recei*ed canon. As with the

;ebrew Bible, many o5 the stories were taen 5rom 4re*ious reli+ious accounts. ir+in

birth was a common way 5or +ods to come to Earth, thereby circum*entin+ the need 5or

an earthly 5ather. he hristmas story o5 Lue seems to ha*e been hea*ily in5luenced by

the story o5 the E+y4tian +od ;orus which had been circulatin+ 5or many hundreds o5

years. Also, as with the ;ebrew Bible, inaccuracies cre4t in. esus was said to come

5rom aCareth, which wasnt 5ounded until well a5ter his time and, 5or a census, the

7omans reuired 4ersons to return to their usual dwellin+ 4lace, not their 4lace o5 birth.In the hristian Bible this return to the birth4lace was +i*en as the reason the ;oly

)amily =ourneyed to Bethlehem, which was, incidentally the birth4lace o5 the le+endary

in+ @a*id, and which thereby rein5orced the 4ro4hesy that the awaited essiah would

be o5 the ;ouse o5 @a*id. As well, the date o5 the nown census o5 the time does not

match that +i*en in the hristian account. @urin+ the time o5 writin+ the /os4els, *arious

ad=ustments and additions were made to bolster di55erin+ reli+ious or 4olitical 4ositions.

he 5irst /os4el to be written, ar %3 says, when re5errin+ to esus, (is this not the

carpenter, the son of Mary...- im4lyin+ the 5ather was unnown, whereas the later atthew

13'' chan+es this to the much more acce4table ( is this not the carpenters son!!!! he

atholic hurch deri*es much o5 its authority 5rom atthew 1%1#$1!

And " say also unto thee, #hat thou art $eter, and upon this roc% " &ill uild (y church) and the

gates of hell shall not prevail against it!

And " &ill give unto thee the %eys of the %ingdo( of heaven: and &hatsoever thou shalt ind on

earth shall e ound in heaven: and &hatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall e loosed in

heaven!

his is an e>traordinary statement 5rom a theolo+ical 4oint o5 *iew and is not re4eated or

su44orted in any other 4art o5 the ew estament. It a44ears to ha*e been added to

rein5orce the authority o5 the atholic bisho4s who claim to ha*e inherited the (eys o5

Saint Peter-. Lue 22&& de4icts esus 4rayin+ in terror be5ore the cruci5i>ion

And eing in an agony he prayed (ore earnestly: and his s&eat &as as it &ere great drops of

lood falling do&n to the ground!

A+ain, this a44ears nowhere else, and doesnt e*en a44ear in earlier e>tant *ersions o5

Lue. It seems to ha*e been added to bolster the 4osition o5 the rinitarians, who
http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-16-18/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-16-18/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-16-19/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-16-19/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-16-19/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-16-19/http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kingjamesbibleonline.org%2FMatthew-16-19%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHNHTuAtHTeCehMQyZYos-QvRlA8Qhttp://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Luke-22-44/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Luke-22-44/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-16-19/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-16-19/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-16-19/http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kingjamesbibleonline.org%2FMatthew-16-19%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHNHTuAtHTeCehMQyZYos-QvRlA8Qhttp://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Luke-22-44/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Luke-22-44/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-16-18/http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-16-18/


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P a + e : 16

belie*ed esus to be both /od and an, rather than bein+ a 4urely di*ine mani5estation

and there5ore 4resumably beyond human e>4erience.

At the time o5 esus, the 7oman Em4ire was at its hei+ht. esus was said to ha*e had

thousands o5 5ollowers but thou+h there were se*eral historians worin+ at the time,

none mention esus. hey did howe*er, re5er to the Sadducees, Pharisees and e*enohn the Ba4tist. Such re5erences as there are were written a5ter the e*ent when

hristians were becomin+ a nown 4henomenon in the 7oman Em4ire. Jn the other

hand, most scholars do seem to acce4t that there was a 4erson nown as esus, who

was cruci5ied at the hands o5 the 7oman +o*ernor Pilate. he /os4els added to this

o*er time in much the same way that, thou+h there was 4robably a +reat ni+ht nown

as Arthur in 5i5th century Britain, the le+end o5 amelot with erlin and ma+ical swords

was added later. I5 esus did e>ist, he was not the Biblical (esus o5 aCareth-, since

this town was not in e>istence at the time and there5ore much o5 the /os4el story cannot

be true.

hou+h there were continuin+ dis4utes between *arious hristian 5actions, mainly o*er

the nature o5 hrist, hristianity s4read lie wild5ire throu+h the 7oman world. he new

reli+ion 4romoted human 5ellowshi4 amon+ belie*ers and 4romised eternal sal*ation as

theirs. he +reat 7oman em4eror onstantine a44arently con*erted to hristianity later

in li5e and encoura+ed its acce4tance as the 7oman State reli+ion durin+ his rei+n 5rom

30% to 33" E. ;e mo*ed the ca4ital to (ew 7ome- which became the centre o5 the

7oman world with the 5all o5 the ori+inal 7ome to the /ermanic tribes in the 5i5th century.

he city was later to be renamed (onstantino4le- in his honour.

he continuin+ dis4utes between the hristian 5actions o*er the nature o5 hrist were ama=or embarrassment to Em4eror onstantine. Jn one side were the Jrthodo>

hristians Fat least they became Jrthodo> since they were on the winnin+ side o5 the

dis4uteG who 4roclaimed the @octrine o5 the rinity. he Jne /od o5 the ews was said

to consist o5 three 4ersons /od the )ather, /od the Son$ the @i*ine ani5estation

esus hrist, and the ;oly S4irit which esus had le5t on Earth as a (com5orter- when he

ascended into hea*en. on5rontin+ this 4osition were the 5ollowers o5 the Ale>andrian

4riest Arius who were o5 the o4inion that esus was =ust a human 4ro4het in the tradition

o5 Abraham and oses. onstantine called the hristian bisho4s to a council at one o5

his im4erial resorts at icaea to hammer this out. he result was the ado4tion o5 the

Jrthodo> rinity, on the basis that i5 esus were =ust a man, as the Arians ad*ocated,

then his sacri5ice could not atone 5or the whole o5 the human race. J44onents were

+i*en the choice o5 con*ertin+ to this 4osition, +oin+ into e>ile or death. any 5led north

into the territory o5 the /erman tribes or south into Arabia.


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P a + e : 23

The Comin of Is)am

By the se*enth century the 7oman Em4ire, now based in onstantino4le, and the

Persian Em4ire out o5 tesi4hon had been at war, on and o55, 5or o*er ei+ht hundred

years. )inally, a Persian Em4eror, hosroes II (he 6nde5eatable- Fruled '!0 to %2#

EG, +athered his 5orces and launched them a+ainst the 7omans. ;is troo4s swe4t

down into the ;oly Land and ca4tured erusalem where they ran wild with an immense

slau+hter o5 the inhabitants. he (rue ross- was carried o55 in trium4h by the

Doroastrian Persian 5orces. he 7oman Em4eror ;eraclius, then, tain+ ad*anta+e o5

the lon+ su44ly lines o5 the Persians launched *i+orous counterattacs and de5eated the

Persians in se*eral ma=or battles 5ou+ht between %22 and %2# E. he inhabitants o5

erusalem, in their turn, rose and threw the Persians out o5 their city. Both the 7omans

and Persians were e>hausted by the titanic stru++le which had +one on 5or twenty years

and which had seen hundreds o5 thousands o5 deaths 5rom the battles and ensuin+

5amines. he 7omans ad*anced to erusalem, restored the (rue ross-, then withdrewtheir 5orces north to ee4 watch on the Persians.

othin+ is so unbecomin+ o5 an Em4ire, which owes its le+itimacy to the security

o55ered to client states, as to be unable to 5ul5il this duty o5 4rotection. ust as the

Euro4ean in+doms o5 )rance, /ermany and Britain had declared inde4endence in the

5i5th century, with the decline o5 the 7ome o5 the 8est, now the hristian Arab in+s in

the ;oly Land declared inde4endence o5 ByCantine 7ome in the se*enth. o underline

this inde4endence they started mintin+ coins with their own lieness, holdin+ 4rominent

crosses, but now with inscri4tions in Arabic. Pre*iously, mintin+ coin was the sole

4ro*ince o5 the 7oman Em4eror and the coins always bore his *isa+e with theinscri4tions in /ree.

he names o5 these in+s is lost to history, but then came an Arab leader who is well

nown as 5oundin+ the Arab 6mayyad @ynasty. ;e too the name uawiya Fhe

8ee4in+ JneG. Prominent 4ersons tended to use 4seudonyms in those times since a

4ersons real name was needed to be nown 5or the castin+ o5 malicious s4ells. ;e

styled himsel5 (ommander o5 the )aith5ul-, 5ounded a 4ower5ul na*y and challen+ed

the ByCantine 7omans 5or dominance.

hese are the historical 5acts, but there is now a ma=or 4roblem reconcilin+ these withthe traditional history related by later uslim writers. raditionally there had been an

Arab leader who had been *isited by Archan+el /abriel and who had recei*ed *erbal

re*elations which were later written down and collected as a new ;oly Boo, the Quran

F7ecitationG. It was re*ealed to this leader uhammad Fhe Praised Jne in ArabicG that

he was the latest and, in 5act, the last 4ro4het o5 the Jne /od who had been chosen to

return the ews and hristians to a strict monotheism. Accordin+ to this tradition it was


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P a + e : 21

the 5ollowers o5 uhammad who conuered erusalem. he coins o5 Arab in+s bearin+

crosses are said to indicate the tolerance o5 these new rulers. rosses are, howe*er,

anathema to uslims since the QurHan relates that esus was not cruci5ied at all and the

basis o5 hristianity$ the @i*ine Sacri5ice to redeem humanity$ is 5alse. he leader

uawiya is said in this tradition to ha*e been one o5 the select (om4anions o5 the

Pro4het-$ the *ery tun+sten core o5 Islam. hou+h he le5t many coins, inscri4tions and

documents to history, none, howe*er, mention uhammad, or 5or that matter, the new

;oly Boo, the Quran. In 5act, a coin 5rom about %'0 E de4icts uawiya carryin+ a

cross ti44ed with a crescent$ the latter bein+ the heraldic de*ice o5 the Persian

Sassanid in+s. 8hen he *isited erusalem, he 4rayed at /ol+otha, the traditional site

o5 the cruci5i>ion o5 esus. any o5 the documents and inscri4tions in his name bear

crosses. A+ain these actions are said by de5enders o5 the traditional Islamic history to

indicate the tolerance o5 the early uslim leaders. /i*en that the whole basis 5or Islam

is a return to the monotheism o5 the early Pro4hets which was said to ha*e been

corru4ted, this e>4lanation seems most unliely. Indeed, in the 5inal days, accordin+ touslim eschatolo+y, esus will return to Earth, brea all the crosses and turn all the

churches into mosues.

In the 5irst 4art o5 the ei+hth century, a hristian mon, ohn o5 @amascus, wrote a

ma=or wor entitled (he )ountain o5 8isdom-. Jne section is de*oted to re5utation o5

hristian heresies, with cha4ters entitled (A+ainst the estorians-, (A+ainst the

acobites- and the (;eresy o5 the Ishmaelites-. his last re5erred to the uslim Arabs

who were said to ha*e descended 5rom the Pro4het Abraham throu+h his son Ishmael

by his sla*e +irl ;a+ar. ohn includes Islam as an Arian heresy o5 hristianity. In other

words Islam is treated as a *ersion o5 the Arian doctrine which denied the di*inity o5hrist and which had been 4roscribed by the ouncil o5 icaea. o a*oid 5orced

con*ersion or death many Arians had 5led into Arabia but had now 4roclaimed

inde4endence in the 4re*iously 7oman 4ro*ince o5 Palestine. o add to this

understandin+, a coin has been 5ound datin+ 5rom %%0 E which has an ima+e o5 hrist

with the Arabic letters ;@$ uhammad, Fin those times Arabic was written without

diacritic 4oints indicatin+ *owelsG. he use o5 the name or title uhammad Fhe Praised

JneG on a coin bearin+ the ima+e o5 hrist would indicate an Arian name 5or esus to

distin+uish this idea o5 esus 5rom the rinitarian one which would ha*e been 4erha4s

entitled (he @i*ine Jne-.

he @ome o5 the 7oc on em4le ount in erusalem is said to be the most beauti5ul

and most contro*ersial buildin+ in history. raditionally it was said to ha*e been built by

ali4h ali in %!1 E, thou+h has been dama+ed by earthuaes and re4aired many

times since. It was retiled by Suleiman the a+ni5icent in the se*enteenth century and

the walls are co*ered by inscri4tions in modern Arabic with diacritic 4oints Findicatin+

*owelsG which had not been introduced at the time o5 ali. he Southern Panel states


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P a + e : 22

(he$raised *ne is the servant of God and +is Messenger! he Eastern Panel (#he

Messiah, esus son of Mary &as only a Messenger of God!!! o elieve in God and +is

(essengers and say not three! hou+h usually taen as bein+ a statement in su44ort o5

Islam and the Pro4het uhammad, it may sim4ly be a hristian Arian statement a+ainst

the Jrthodo> doctrine o5 the rinity.

Initially it seems that the title (uhammad- $the Praised Jne$ may ha*e been used to

re5er to any 4erson o5 +reat si+ni5icance and not =ust to the one 4erson now nown as

the Pro4het uhammad. )ollowers o5 Islam are able to describe in +reat detail day to

day e*ents in the li5e o5 uhammad, but e*erythin+ that is thou+ht to be nown about

the Pro4het uhammad comes 5rom the 4en o5 Ibn Isha, an Irai writer who was

worin+ about 130 years a5ter the death o5 the Pro4het. E*en this wor has been lost

and is only nown at all 5rom uotes by a later author Ibn ;isham writin+ %0 years a5ter

that. he many details and con*ersations, which could not ha*e been nown to these

authors, a44ear to ha*e been written to add authenticity to the te>t.

Early hristian writers do re5er to the 5ollowers o5 an Arab leader uhammad. It seems

that there is a common theme in the traditional stories o5 udaism, hristianity and now

Islam. ;istorical 5i+ures, the details o5 whose e>istence is lost to history, +ather

le+endary accretions o*er time. he minor hill 5ort chie5tains, @a*id and Solomon

become the 5abulous in+s o5 the Bible. he ewish insur+ent oshua becomes the

@i*ine Sacri5ice o5 esus hrist and the Arab military leader uhammad becomes the

(Seal o5 the Pro4hets-.

he Islamic ;oly Boo, the Quran, was said to ha*e been re(ea)edto uhammad insta+es until his death in %32 E and was thus di55erent to the 4re*ious ;oly Boos o5

the ews and hristians which were said to ha*e been written by men who were only

inspiredby the Jne /od. It is thus thou+ht to be com4letely *alid and, in 5act, to be a

co4y o5 a boo e4t in hea*en. here is howe*er, no e*idence o5 a Quran datin+ 5rom

be5ore "'0 E, some one hundred and twenty years a5ter the death o5 the Pro4het

uhammad. Indeed, the authors o5 the Quran 5ollowed the tradition o5 the authors o5

the ;ebrew Bible and hristian (ew estament- in that they included stories and

le+ends 5rom 4rior sources. he account o5 ount Sinai bein+ held o*er the heads o5

the ews as a threat 5or abandonin+ the di*ine law FSura "1"1G is taen 5rom the

ewish a4ocry4hal boo (he Abodah Saran- and the story o5 the in5ant esus mouldin+birds 5rom clay FSura 3&!G is 5rom the hristian a4ocry4hal (homas /os4el o5 the

In5ancy o5 esus hrist- Fha4 2&G. hristians are re5erred to in the Quran as (asara-

$ aCarenes or 5ollowers o5 esus o5 aCareth$ but as demonstrated abo*e, aCareth

had yet to be 5ounded at the time o5 esus. he story o5 the Samaritans leadin+ the

;ebrews astray durin+ the E>odus 5rom E+y4t with the worshi4 o5 a +olden cal5 FSura

20#'G is taen 5rom the ;ebrew Biblical story FE>od 32G but the inclusion o5 the


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P a + e : 2&

Samaritans in the story is also anachronistic since Samaria and the Samaritans would

not e>ist 5or another thousand years. here are many instances o5 the Quran 5ollowin+

the Ptolemaic *iew that the Sun and stars orbit the Earth, which was the acce4ted

wisdom at the time, but later, o5 course, was shown to be incorrect. Indeed, the stars are

*iewed as hea*enly lam4s which the an+els can use as missiles to throw at the

malicious inn, FSura %"'G.

S#nthesis

7eli+ious belie5 has been stron+ly selected 5or in the e*olution o5 the human race and is

dee4ly embedded in the human +enome. Belie5 con5erred many bene5its in the 4ast,

o55erin+ certainty and security in a mysterious and terri5yin+ly ca4ricious world. It still

o55ers com5ort and 5ellowshi4 in the world o5 today and many 4eo4le would be

de*astated, and e*en see little 4oint in carryin+ on with their li*es i5 somehow there

could be demonstrated that there is no /od Fhere taen to include any reli+ious belie5 o5

a 4ower5ul intelli+ent su4ernatural 5orceG. Pro*in+ a ne+ati*e, howe*er, is not really

4ossible as shown by the debate between a youn+ 8itt+enstein and the 5amous

mathematician and 4hiloso4her Bertrand 7ussell with 8itt+enstein re5usin+ to acce4t

7ussells assertion that there was no rhinoceros in the room. Perha4s it was *ery small

or in*isible or in another dimension, but in the end I thin we can sa5ely act as i5 there is

not, in 5act, (a rhinoceros in the room-, without conclusi*ely 4ro*in+ the 5act to the

satis5action o5 e*eryone.

8e could tae u4 the assertion o5 the late and much lamented scientist and authorSte4hen /ould that reli+ion and science occu4y (on J*erla44in+ a+isteria-$ the

JA 4osition that holds that neither can say much about the other. 8ith the +reatest

res4ect to /ould, I thin this a*oids rather than settles the issue. he 6S Academy o5

Science did a44ear to su44ort this 4osition when it asserted in 1!## that (Science can

say nothin+ about the su4ernatural- and this would be acce4table i5 the su4ernatural

were to ha*e no in5luence on human acti*ities. he reli+ious o5 the onotheistic

reli+ions, howe*er, are o5 the unanimous o4inion that the Jne /od o5 Abraham

constantly inter*enes in the a55airs o5 this world, and that nothin+ ha44ens at all without

his 4ermission. I5 that were so we should be able to detect this in5luence and we can

not. he uni*ersal 4hysical laws are 5ollowed e*erywhere they can be obser*ed in theuni*erse and ha*e ne*er been shown to ha*e been circum*ented. he FBritishG Institute

o5 Psychical 7esearch 4ublished its 5indin+s, ha*in+ in*esti+ated a44arently

su4ernatural 4henomena 5or o*er a century, but 5ound that in all cases no natural laws

had been broen and all re4orted e*ents could be e>4lained without in*oin+ the

su4ernatural.


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P a + e : 2*

any 4eo4le, some o5 them *ery eminent and hi+hly intelli+ent and 5or whom I ha*e the

hi+hest res4ect, 5eel that this world is =ust too mar*ellous to ha*e (=ust ha44ened- and

that there must, there5ore, be an omni4otent 4ower to e>4lain it. I could ne*er see this. I

recall asin+ my mother when I was about 5i*e years old the ancient uestion (who

made us4ected, (who

made /od4ressed in di55erent ways, I ha*e ne*er had a con*incin+

answer. (;e is outside time-, (;e is eternal- etc are no better. I5 ;e is Eternal, then why

cant the uni*erse be eternal without ;im< E>4lainin+ the wonders o5 nature by the

sim4le answer that (/od made it that way- may be con*incin+ to some, but how much

more wonder5ul i5 it did =ust emer+e 5rom the Bi+ Ban+ *ia the laws o5 4hysics. Jne o5

the +reat +eniuses o5 the last century, the 4hysicist Ste4hen ;awin+, said?

(Because there is a la& such as gravity, the universe can and &ill create itself fro( nothing!

pontaneous creation is the reason there is so(ething rather than nothing, &hy the universe

e.ists, &hy &e e.ist! #he universe didn't need a God to egin) it &as /uite capale of launching

its e.istence on its o&n,!!!0

ature itsel5 is a source o5 endless wonder. Li5e deri*es its ener+y 5rom tiny three stroe

motors$ the APase molecules which buCC alon+ at !000 re*sminute to create hi+h

ener+y 4hos4hate bonds 5or the body to use. 8e ha*e so many o5 them F2> 101%G that i5

each were the siCe o5 a +rain o5 sand, the 4ile would be a suare mound measurin+ one

hundred metres on each side and would be ten metres hi+h. he amount o5 ener+y

4roduced is so +reat that i5 the sun were made o5 these molecules it would be se*eral

thousand times hotter than it is. ;ow wonder5ul is that< And how much more wonder5uli5, as Ste4hen ;awin+ says, it all ori+inally came sim4ly 5rom +ra*ity.

I*e ne*er 5ound the o55er o5 eternal li5e all that enticin+ either. Its a sim4le matter o5

su44ly and demand. I5 somethin+ is o5 in5inite uantity, then it is o5 *ery little *alue. his

brie5 li5e o5 ours maes it *ery 4recious. 8e cannot a55ord to waste a sin+le minute.

7ather than mae li5e not worth li*in+, it +i*es li5e, to me at least, much +reater *alue.


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Documents

Without Gods - a Defence of Atheism - Without_Gods_31oct13_1