Biblical Commandments Are Unconstitutional
Biblical Commandments Are Unconstitutional
By August Berkshire
(This essay is available as a downloadable tri-pane PDF pamphlet)
There are many Ten Commandments monuments on public property throughout the United States. They are often found on the lawns outside courthouses, city halls, state capitols, and in public parks.
Many of these monuments were erected from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s by the Fraternal Order of Eagles. This was done at the behest of film director Cecil B. DeMille, as a publicity stunt to promote his 1956 film The Ten Commandments.
These monuments should be removed from public property because they represent a government establishment of religion, in violation of the First Amendment. The monuments should also be removed because they have little connection to U.S. law, and because enacting most of them into law would be unconstitutional.
Looking at a typical monument, we find there are actually eleven commandments. (The first commandment is in two distinct parts.)
Of these eleven commandments, only three, or 27%, have counterparts in American law:
- 5) Thou shalt not kill.
- 7) Thou shalt not steal.
- 8) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Even so, there are exceptions that we do not prosecute, such as killing in self-defense, stealing evidence of illegal activity and turning it over to the law, and lying about public figures if there is absence of malice.
The other eight commandments, representing 73% of the total of eleven, would be unconstitutional if we were to enact them into civil law:
- 1a) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. This violates freedom of religion.
- 1b) Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images. This violates freedom of religion and freedom of artistic expression.
- 2) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. This violates freedom of religion and free speech.
- 3) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. This violates freedom of religion.
- 4) Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Compelling loyalty to anyone is tantamount to slavery.
- 6) Thou shalt not commit adultery. This violates our right to privacy.
- 9) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house. This violates freedom of thought.
- 10) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbors. This violates freedom of thought.
The first four of these eight commandments are purely religious and have no place in civil law. The last four may often be good advice, but it would nevertheless be unconstitutional to legislate them.
Thus we have a conflict between the U.S. Constitution and the Bible, between civil law and theocracy.
For the sake of our democracy and our civil liberties, Ten Commandments monuments should be removed from public property.
© 2010 August Berkshire
Atheism 101
ATHEISM 101
By August Berkshire (Download PDF)
Definitions
An agnostic is a person who has no (scientific) knowledge of any gods. This describes everybody. People who nevertheless believe in at least one god are theists. People who lack a belief in all gods are atheists. People who don’t care enough to take a position are apatheists. Most atheists disbelieve in the existence of anything supernatural.
Burden of Proof
A theist makes the positive claim that at least one god does exist. Therefore, theists have the burden of proof to demonstrate the existence of a god
Atheists do not have to “disprove” the existence of gods. Atheists need only demonstrate that there is no evidence or compelling reason to believe in any gods.
Worldviews
The theistic worldview presupposes the existence of one or more supernatural beings and/or a supernatural world that precedes and supercedes the natural world. Typically, a supernatural god creates the natural world out of nothing and rules over it. This is a “top-down” view of existence.
The atheistic worldview observes the natural world and makes no leaps of faith regarding the existence of a supernatural world or beings. This is a “bottom-up” view of existence.
Six Questions
There are no verifiable answers to any of the following six questions:
- What are gods composed of? – What is “spirit”?
- What are the attributes of gods? – Stories of various gods list differing attributes: eternal vs. being born and dying; omni-present vs. confined to certain areas; all-powerful vs. limited powers; all-knowing vs. limited knowledge; all-loving vs. evil vs. temperamental vs. indifferent.
- What mechanisms do gods use to accomplish things? – How does a god create something from nothing? How does a god tinker with our DNA? “Miracles” and “magic” are not useful answers.
- How many gods are there?
- Where are gods located?
- What difference does it make? – If the god that most people believe exists were to suddenly disappear, what would change in the natural world?
Six Problems
- The Problem of Scale – If humans are the ultimate goal of a god’s creation of the universe, why did this god create 100 billion galaxies when only a single star and a single planet were necessary? Why did 12 billion years pass before we showed up?
- The Problem of Silence – If a god exists who wants us to be aware of its existence, then why doesn’t it clearly reveal itself? And if the punishment for not believing is eternal hellfire, then it is cruel for this god not to convincingly reveal itself.
- The Problem of Holy Books – If a god exists who wants us to understand him, why are his “revelations” so confusing? Why do we have so many different religions and holy books?
- The Problem of Evil – If a god exists who is both all-powerful and all-loving, then why do natural evils, such as natural disasters, diseases, and birth defects, exist?
- The Problem of Unintelligent Design – If an all-powerful, all-wise god designed us and other life forms, why didn’t he do a better job? For example, why do our breathing and swallowing passages intersect so that we can choke to death on food? Why have 99% of all species that have ever existed gone extinct? (See the website: “Some More of God’s Greatest Mistakes” at tinyurl.com/BadDesign)
- The Problem of Free Will – If a god exists who knows the future, this means humans have no free will. Yet it is often claimed that this god will judge, reward, and punish us based on our free will choices.
Nine Leaps of Faith
The god that most people believe exists requires at least nine separate leaps of faith:
- Something supernatural can exist.
- A supernatural being exists.
- This being has consciousness.
- This being is eternal.
- This being created something out of nothing.
- This being can interfere with this creation through miracles.
- This being is all-knowing.
- This being is all-powerful.
- This being is all-loving.
Meaning
There is no “cosmic meaning” to life. Evolution supplies us with drives to survive, have sex (reproduce), and care for others. To accomplish this, we acquire knowledge and live in communities. Learning and interacting with the world and others gives our lives meaning, without the need for belief in a god.
Ethics
Imagine a mother with two children, a girl and a boy. Now imagine that the girl starts hitting the boy. Does the mother reflexively say to her daughter: “Stop hitting your brother because it says not to in the [Torah/Bible/Koran/Vedas/etc.]?” No. At that point gods and religions are not what she is thinking about.
Instead, doesn’t the mother say something like: “Stop hitting your brother; you’re hurting him!” (consequences) or “Stop hitting your brother; how would you like it if someone hit you!” (empathy)
Consequences and empathy are the bases for natural ethics. These lead to cooperation and compassion, which are found in many animals, including humans.
Science and Religion
Evidence-based science and faith-based religion are only compatible if religion either makes no testable claims, or the results of testable religious claims are not at odds with scientific findings.
For example: To say that a god created evolution is not a testable claim, though it at least accepts the evidence for evolution. To say a god created the universe 6,000 years ago is a testable claim and is false.
God-of-the-Gaps
When some people don’t know or don’t like a natural explanation for something, they say, “God did it.” The gap that “God” fills can be physical or emotional.
However, we are never told what a god is or exactly how a god does anything. Thus “God” is not a useful answer because it provides us with no information.
Usually, people who believe a god exists and is providing them with answers dare not displease this god. So they endow him with all good attributes and blame themselves for the problem of evil.
- Science: The first and traditional area where god-of-the-gaps is used is science. So, for example, when humans didn’t know what caused lightning, they invented a “God of Lightning.” Then we discovered electricity. In fact, god-of-the-gaps is the basis for creationism and the “Intelligent Design” movement: “This thing is so complicated that we can’t figure out how it could have evolved naturally, so ‘God did it.’ ”
- Medicine: The human body has great healing powers of its own, which are not fully understood. Yet when someone is healed for reasons we don’t understand, some people say “God did it.” But if prayer and “divine intervention” were really reliable methods of healing, there would be no need for hospitals. A true miracle, like an amputated limb growing back on a human, never happens.
- Ethics: For emotional and practical reasons, we may want there to be a system of absolute ethics. Since nature doesn’t provide this, some people claim that “God did it” through “revelation.” Yet even within Christianity there is no agreement on the ethics of such things as: drinking alcohol, masturbation, pre-marital sex, contraception, abortion, divorce, the role of women, gay rights, the death penalty, and voluntary euthanasia.
- Meaning in Life: We have an emotional desire to have a “cosmic meaning” in life. Since nature doesn’t provide one, some people invent a god to give them one.
- Emotional Security: People naturally seek emotional security during uncertain or troubled times. We’ve all heard the phrase “I had no where else to turn, so I turned to God.” God-belief may indeed have a placebo, calming effect, but it’s the belief that is responsible. A god doesn’t really have to exist.
- Afterlife: Our survival instincts make us want to live forever. Nature doesn’t provide for this, so some people invent a god to give them an “afterlife.”
© 2010 August Berkshire
Review of my debate with Joe Boot at St. Cloud State University
August Berkshire (third from left) enjoys a post-debate meal at Perkins with students from SSA at SCSU on Feb. 24, 2010.
Benjamin Seghers has a nice review of my recent debate with Christian apologist Joe Boot at St. Cloud State University at his SCSU Intellectuals blog. The topic of the debate was the existence of God. Apparently I did pretty good:
Who had the stronger arguments? Me being a member of SSA, I’m naturally inclined to say Mr. Berkshire did, just as I’m sure most of the Christians in the crowd would say Mr. Boot did. Did anyone in the crowd change their mind? I don’t know, maybe a few (as I said, there was no polling to objectively gauge this). For those coming in unsure, I hope either debater helped clarify the positions so that informed and educated decisions could made. I very much enjoyed the debate. It was great to hear from Mr. Boot a new perspective that I had not heard before. Mr. Berkshire also brought interesting arguments that I also had not heard before, which helped me solidify my beliefs. I do have to admit though, one my favorite quotes from the whole thing was from Mr. Berkshire: “According to Christian theology, God sacrificed himself to himself to save us from himself.”
According to Benjamin, there were close to 1,000 people attending. Wow! Who knew so many people were interested in examining this question? Well, us atheists of course, but I think many more people have doubts about God than we’re given to believe by what we see in the media. Read Benjamin’s full review here.
A “Fine-Tuned” Universe as Proof of a God?
A “Fine-Tuned” Universe as Proof of a God?
By August Berkshire [PDF Download]
There are many people who believe that if one or more physics constants of the Universe had varied only slightly, they would have produced a universe incapable of supporting life. For example, if the gravitational constant had been slightly greater, the Universe would have collapsed back in upon itself before any life had a chance to form.
Some religious people look at this supposedly “fine-tuned” Universe and claim it is proof that a god exists who did the fine-tuning. Let us examine this claim.
God-of-the-Gaps
At heart, this is a god-of-the-gaps argument. It says that if we can’t think of a probable natural way that conditions could have resulted in life in the Universe, then a supernatural “god” did it. However, we don’t know what this god is, nor how it accomplishes anything. Therefore, “god” is not a meaningful answer because it provides us with no information.
Religious people claim that we aren’t entitled to a “free lunch” regarding a natural explanation for life in the Universe. But “god” is the ultimate unexplained “free lunch.”
The Universe
Most of the Universe is decidedly inhospitable to life. Outer space is deadly to anything other than, perhaps, microbes – and the majority of planets, moons, and asteroids aren’t much better.
Judging by what we observe now, the Universe will continue expanding forever, creating a “big chill” effect. Heat energy will be so dissipated that no life will be possible. A person alive just before this happens won’t view things as so “miraculously fine-tuned” as some religious people do today.
Our Sun
While natural conditions are favorable for life on Earth now, this won’t be true in about five billion years. At that point the Sun’s supply of hydrogen will run out and the Sun will expand and engulf the Earth, wiping out all life. Even a billion years from now, all water will have boiled off the Earth, making life improbable, if not impossible. Again, a person alive just before either of these events occurs won’t view things as so “miraculously fine-tuned” as some religious people do today.
The Earth
Apart from the Universe, some people claim the Earth itself is so fine-tuned for life (the proper distance from the Sun, the right kind of elements, etc.) that only a god could have established it. This, of course, is the same god-of-the-gaps argument that we encountered with the “fine-tuned” Universe.
But instead of asking about the odds of life as we know it arising through natural processes on this particular planet (Earth), we should instead ask about the odds of life of any kind arising naturally on any planet. It is estimated that there are 100 billion galaxies in the Universe (containing trillions of planets). If only one planet per galaxy had the right conditions to produce some kind of life, that would still amount to 100 billion planets and at least 100 billion different species.
Limited Knowledge
The fined-tuned Universe argument for a god assumes that what we know about the Universe today is accurate. But this is cutting edge physics and what we believe to be true today is far from certain. Even now there is dispute among physicists as to how much these constants of the Universe can vary and still produce a universe capable of leading to life.
Multiple Universes
Extraordinary odds against life in one universe become a near certainty if there are many universes. If many universes exist (sometimes called a “multiverse”) and each universe has its own random set of constants, then life will almost certainly arise in at least one of these universes. (For example, roll a set of dice long enough and you will eventually get two sixes.)
While there is, as yet, no evidence for other universes, their existence is more plausible than the existence of a god. After all, we know it’s possible for universes to exist – we live in one. We have no evidence that it is possible for gods to exist.
A Fine-Tuned God?
Those who believe a “fine-tuned” Universe proves the existence of a god admit that there is some slight margin for variance in these physics constants of the Universe. But what about the god they believe exists? Could that god be anything other than exactly what it is? If not, then there is zero margin for variance for that god. So, as improbable as the existence of life in the Universe may seem, the existence of a god would be even more improbable. It also begs the question: Who or what fine-tuned this god?
Conclusion
The track record of naturalistic science for answering questions about the natural world far exceeds the track record of supernatural “revelation.” The existence of a god seems more improbable than life arising naturally on its own in the Universe. “God” has not provided us with any answers and has instead raised more questions.
© 2010 August Berkshire
A moving and poignant portrait of Roger Ebert that everyone should read
Chris Jones has perhaps one of the most poignant articles I’ve read in many years over at Esquire. Roger Ebert: The Essential Man is a portrait of a man who has faced hardships most of us would find intolerable, and he has done it with dignity, humor, grace and without belief in God. A brief taste:
Ebert is dying in increments, and he is aware of it.
I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear, he writes in a journal entry titled “Go Gently into That Good Night.” I hope to be spared as much pain as possible on the approach path. I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state. What I am grateful for is the gift of intelligence, and for life, love, wonder, and laughter. You can’t say it wasn’t interesting. My lifetime’s memories are what I have brought home from the trip. I will require them for eternity no more than that little souvenir of the Eiffel Tower I brought home from Paris.
There has been no death-row conversion. He has not found God. He has been beaten in some ways. But his other senses have picked up since he lost his sense of taste. He has tuned better into life. Some things aren’t as important as they once were; some things are more important than ever. He has built for himself a new kind of universe. Roger Ebert is no mystic, but he knows things we don’t know.
I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.