Opening a Dialog Between Christians and Realists

We need to talk

Lets face it - Realists don't trust Christians and Christians don't like Realists. But we do need to communicate in spite of our differences. After all - we are stuck here on this planet together. And - Christians have been around for a long time and they aren't going away any time soon. And - neither is reality. So - we are stuck here together and they way I see it - we better make the best of it. After all - our religion requires it of us since we are all one people on one planet - we are all here together - and we are dedicated to making tomorrow better than it is today. That's our principle of positive evolution, the first of the Sacred Principles of the Church of Reality.

There is a lot of discussion about the relationship between Realists and Christians. We don't trust each other. I did after all write a web page titled Christianity Sucks, and I wouldn't be honest if I didn't admit that I think what I said is true. After all - to a Realist Christianity looks like a primitive religious cult. No different really that the way some Christian look at each other. Jehovah's Witnesses think they are the "True Christians" and therefore need to convert other Christians to their form of Christianity. Those who are not Jehovah's Witnesses thing that the Jehovah's Witnesses are seriously off track and believe that they are in fact - a cult.

In fact - and be honest about this - most Christians can name at least 5 other Christian Religions that are cults - and if you know what I'm talking about then you will understand that Realists feel that way towards all Christians. As far as I am concerned - every last one of you is a "True Christian". But what Christianity truly means is very different depending on who you ask. If I were to compare Christianity to an animal species - Wolves are "True Dogs". They are the dogs from which every other breed of dog comes from. But look at the variety. From the outside perspective Christianity is as diverse as breeds of dogs are. After all these centuries - who is to say who are true dogs anymore? After all - even the wolves aren't the same as they used to be.

So - what does Christianity look like from the outside? Did you ever wonder that? Wonder what Realists were really thinking? Well - I see a lot of diversity - not just in belief - but more importantly - Christian culture is highly inconsistent between religions and is also fast evolving. When it comes right down to it - the Bible says anything you want it to say - and there's no level of behavior that's outside of Biblical support. And that scares us.

After all - Christian History is not a pretty picture. There has not been any significant period of time since Jesus departed where Christians weren't at war with someone - many times other Christians - or brutally oppressing someone. And - that is a trend that has continues up to and including today. The Iraq war - for example - clearly has deep religious undercurrents to it. It is clearly in part - a battle between Muslims and the Christian-Jewish alliance..Our President - Mr. Bush - identifies himself as a Christian and he is running the country into the ground. This is a man who had a memo drafted to approve torture, and as a result of that memo we have widespread torture - committed by us - and done in a way to make us look like barbarians.

Now there are several Christian groups who have announced that they have seized control of America - and they are going to use the rule of law to enforce their "moral" standards - a huge rollback of freedom - and replace the science of evolution with the fiction of Creationism. And all children will be taught their prayers in school. And if the Christians are in control of the nuclear arsenal - and the country is in a nose dive - and these people envision the future in terms of Armageddon - the destruction of the world - that scares the shit out of us Realists. Especially when your Christian president was advocating the idea of using nuclear weapons in Iraq during the initial invasion - and it turns out - Iraq had no weapons. Yet is it believed that Bush is somehow being controlled by or inspired by God. That it was God's idea to attack Iraq.

As a Realist - the idea that God is covertly communication with people is something I don't believe if for nothing else but the fact that God apparently is highly inconsistent. So - God knows who God is really talking to. However - if God ever does show up - I will personally pay for an anger management therapy session to work on that temper problem. If you are omnipotent you have to be taught that you can't go off and destroy the Earth every time someone pisses you off!

However - having said that - one can not ignore the variety of Christian charities and other organizations who's task is to selflessly help other people who are in need. These organizations are dedicated to the same principles that we Realists share - that we are /root and we do tech support for the human race. Christians become Christians because they have chosen to "do what's right" and to be one of the "good guys" and to be a productive member of society. And this is something that Christians and Realists share. But - as they say - the Devil is in the details.

So - in summary - Realists see Christians as an irrational primitive cult and prone to irrational behavior at times - and has an unhealthy view of the future. You are someone who we are stuck here with and we have the job of trying to protect you from yourself and to help Christians evolve in a positive and productive religion.

We know we are Heathens

Having stated how I (and attempting to speak for other Realists) felt about Christian - it's also clear that Realists aren't exactly Christian's favorite people. After all - we are all godless sinners who are condemned to burn in Hell forever. Without a God - we have no morals. That's why we all kill babies, love queers, and are keeping children from praying in school. After all - the bottom line is - if God doesn't control you - Satan does. So - what you're reading right now must be inspired by the Devil.

Some of my closest Christian friends are looking at this Church of Reality and are seeing real potential here. So much potential in fact that they are admitting to wondering if I might in fact actually BE the Anti-Christ. All I can say is - thank you for the compliment and your "faith" in my success - however - we are Realists and we all know that Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ.

And how arrogant of us Realists to think that we need to shepard the poor dumb Christians the poor dumb brainwashed Christians because Realists think they are so "enlightened". Just because Realist put on the Reality title they think that they are so smart - but the reality is that Realists are just as much of a cult as any other religion. Godless sinners who refuse to let Jesus into their heart and accept divine guidance. How can the wisdom of man compare to the wisdom of God?

So - as you can see - we have a big gap to cross. But - we are still stuck here together on this planet so we better try to figure out how to get along. After all - reality isn't going to go away.

Our Mission Relating to Christianity

Our religions both have missions relation to each other. Christians in general are supposed to convert us heathens to find Jesus - get saved- and become "born again". And we have plans for you too. Our mission is to evangelize reality. To promote the idea that what is real matters. We want to encourage you to think and to act responsibly. We want to make sure that you are denied seeing the end of the world in your lifetime. We see Christianity as an evolving religion and we want to help make sure that it evolves in a positive direction. We want tomorrow's Christians to be better than they are today. Because if our Christian neighbors are sane upstanding members of society - then we realists can explore reality the way we want and grow the Tree of Knowledge. If however Christians run America into the ground starting religious wars and blowing up the world with nuclear weapons and start stoning people for talking about evolution - then we can't practice our "faith".

So - how are we going to help Christianity evolve in a positive direction? By talking about reality. After all - if what Christians believe is real - this shouldn't be a problem. In fact - I would think that embracing reality would make Christians better Christians. So - I would like to throw out some questions for Christians to ask themselves, other Christians, and their religious leadership. We in the Church of Reality accept the principle of self scrutiny as a means for which we evaluate ourselves and stay on track. We assume that we are going to make mistakes - so our goal is to correct those mistakes as soon as possible. We think that self scrutiny is a good thing for all religions because don't we all get off track and don't we all want to get beck on track?

Questions for Christians

So - in the spirit of self scrutiny - I would like to ask the following questions. These questions aren't something that I expect you to give me an answer to - but questions I want you to ask yourselves so as to better understand your own beliefs and perhaps become a "better" Christian. Which raises the question - "What is a better Christian?" So let us start.

• Do you believe that the Bible is the word of God, that it has been accurately preserved through the ages, and that everything it says is true?

• There are thousands of denominations of Christians. Why do you believe that your denomination is the best one - if you believe that - and can it be improved?

• If you realized that a different denomination of Christianity were more accurate than the one you are currently a member of - would you change religions?

• Do you consider yourself to be one of the "chosen ones"?

• Do you really think that everyone else who isn't a Christian is really going to burn in Hell forever?

• Do you think that Armageddon will occur in your lifetime?

• Do you believe that questioning what you and your religion believe in is a good thing?

• What is the relationship between Christianity and Reality?

• If you realized that what you believe in isn't real - would you change to reality or would you stick with what you believe?

• Is the social culture of your church consistent with what you believe is your religious teachings?

• Why do you think God remains hidden and doesn't have a web site, an email address, or and other direct way to communicate with him? Why do you think got doesn't show up in objective reality?

• Do you limit your circle of friends to people of only your own faith?

• What is the relationship between science and faith? What do you do is there is a conflict?

• Do you consider yourself a "follower" in your religion - or - do you feel you have some ideas to contribute to make your religion better?

• Do you believe that science can prove if God does or does not exist?

• Do you believe that the Bible and science are in harmony?

• If you were in a plane crash and you were the sole survivor - would you believe that God saved your life and let everyone else die? Or - would you believe that God took everyone else home and left you behind?

• Do you believe God is an angry god? What is Gods demeanor?

• Do you believe that you are here for some special purpose?

• If you died tomorrow, how would you want to be remembered? Who would remember you? What accomplishments would you leave behind?

• In 100 years when everyone who even knew you is gone - will people still remember who you are? Or do you think you will be forgotten?

• Do you believe that Realists serve a useful and productive function in stimulating other religions to think about reality? Do you think that being challenged by Realists on the basis of what is real is a good thing for Christians?

• Do you believe that Realism is helpful or threatening to Christianity?

• How many other religions have you researched or visited? Do you believe that any of these other religions have something valuable to contribute?

• Do you consider the lives and rights of all people everywhere to be equal regardless of race, sex, location, and religious affiliation?

• What do you believe is the best relationship between government and religion? Do you think that government should stay out of religion or be dominated by a religion?

• Do you believe Christianity is superior to all other religions?

• Do you envision that some day everyone in the world will be Christians?

• What is your emotional relationship towards people of other religions? Do you feel self righteous indignation or do you feel compassionate understanding?

• Do you believe that non-believers are evil or influenced by evil - and should therefore be avoided?
• Do you think that's there's any chance that your religion is just plain wrong and that you are being duped?

• Do you think that there are other religions who call themselves Christian who are in fact cults?
• How do you tell the difference between "True Christians" and "Fake Christians"?

• What is the relationship between "faith" and "works"? Isn't what you do a real indicator of what you really believe?

• If God knows the future - and what is going to happen has already been decided - do you think that praying will "Change God's Mind" persuading him to grant you a favor?

• When you look around at people of other religions and to see how convinced and dedicated they are to their faith - yet from your perspective you know that what they believe isn't real. Likewise - the other person looks at your religion and is equally convinced that they are correct and you are deluded. How do you know that you really are the one who is right - knowing that if you are wrong that you will be equally sure that you are right?

• What is your commitment to truth and wisdom? What price are you willing to pay to know the truth? If you became aware that you were living a lie - would you continue to live the lie?

• Do you believe that God wants you to know reality the way it really is?

• Do you believe there is any reason why the exploration of reality would be a bad thing?