I thought this semester was going to be fairly uneventful. Now, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get through it without some kind of therapy. For now, my therapy has been reading rational thinkers like Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and Richard Dawkins.
I started with Letter to a Christian Nation, which I actually read as a Christian when it first came out in 2006. I've also read Harris' The End of Faith. Before leaving for South Dakota, I read Atheist Universe, another good rational book. This semester, after going back over Letter to a Christian Nation, I read Breaking the Spell and am now almost finished with God is Not Great. In addition, I have read some of A People's History of the United States, which sure points a nice lens on Christianity's past atrocities.
My Faith and Life class has about driven me to tears. I can hardly believe that college educated people could spout off so much nonsense in so short a class period. The class is filled with religious and sexist bigots, using their pathetic understanding of the Bible to back up their beliefs.
Today, for instance, a girl in my class said, with a straight face, "I really like the Old Testament in the fact that it was more fair to women (than the NT)." This statement is so patently ridiculous, I need not even say why.
In addition to this nuthouse, I'm also having to sit through a "History of Philosophy" class. I put it in quotes because, while it started out as a philosophy class, it has devolved into a theology class. For the past several weeks, we have been talking about issues such as infallibility of the bible, the incarnation, and original sin (which is what we're talking about today). More often than not, I cannot even answer the question in an intelligible way, since the question assumes the answerer is in fact a Christian.
I have absolutely no desire to continue attending these classes. Were they not required for my graduation, I would drop them in a heartbeat.
Somebody please show me that there are sane people left in the world. This campus is like the Twilight Zone.
I started with Letter to a Christian Nation, which I actually read as a Christian when it first came out in 2006. I've also read Harris' The End of Faith. Before leaving for South Dakota, I read Atheist Universe, another good rational book. This semester, after going back over Letter to a Christian Nation, I read Breaking the Spell and am now almost finished with God is Not Great. In addition, I have read some of A People's History of the United States, which sure points a nice lens on Christianity's past atrocities.
My Faith and Life class has about driven me to tears. I can hardly believe that college educated people could spout off so much nonsense in so short a class period. The class is filled with religious and sexist bigots, using their pathetic understanding of the Bible to back up their beliefs.
Today, for instance, a girl in my class said, with a straight face, "I really like the Old Testament in the fact that it was more fair to women (than the NT)." This statement is so patently ridiculous, I need not even say why.
In addition to this nuthouse, I'm also having to sit through a "History of Philosophy" class. I put it in quotes because, while it started out as a philosophy class, it has devolved into a theology class. For the past several weeks, we have been talking about issues such as infallibility of the bible, the incarnation, and original sin (which is what we're talking about today). More often than not, I cannot even answer the question in an intelligible way, since the question assumes the answerer is in fact a Christian.
I have absolutely no desire to continue attending these classes. Were they not required for my graduation, I would drop them in a heartbeat.
Somebody please show me that there are sane people left in the world. This campus is like the Twilight Zone.
Comments