Albert Einstein said, “The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.”
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” Galileo Galilei
Thomas Paine writes in the Age of Reason, “The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall.”
This invitation is extended to the fellow Christians with love and compassion because the Holy Quran says about them:
And thou shalt assuredly find those who say, ‘We are Christians,’ to be the nearest of them in love to the believers. That is because amongst them are savants and monks and because they are not proud.
(Al Quran 5:83)
The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall. (Thomas Paine)
When faced with a difficult argument many a Christians choose to bury their proverbial head in the sand of so called faith. Another area where all Christians except for the Unitarians short circuit reason is when they choose to continue to believe in three gods in one form or the other despite the fact that the whole universe speaks of One Creator.
Ivy makes a clear case for reason over blind faith. He then contrasts Theistic outlook with atheistic or materialist paradigm and demonstrates the superiority of the Theistic perspective. Growing up in the twentieth century USA Ivy did not have any exposure to Islam. Given his experiences he equates Theistic perspective with Christianity. However, once the limitations of Christianity have been demonstrated as in this publication, then only logical and pragmatic survivor of Theistic outlook is Islam! This is my invitation to all the Christian and agnostic readers of my knols. Ivy also examines as to what happens to human rights in an atheistic paradigm.
To read the article in April 2007 volume of Review of Religions go to the following link:
History of Corruptions of Christianity
by Joseph Priestly (1733-1804)
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Priestley discovered 10 new gases including oxygen and a gas later identified as carbon monoxide. Just like his contributions to science his writings on religion are masterly and earned him the friendship and tutorship of President Thomas Jefferson. Priestley argued, for example, that the real “mystery” of the Trinity was that so many Christians believed it. For Jesus did not teach it, the Bible did not proclaim it, and Reason could not honor it. Jesus lived as a human being, claimed to be nothing more than the “son of man,” whose mission was to show all humankind how they should live and what God expected of them. The Old Testament honored monotheism, as did the New Testament, rightly read. Whole of his book can be read at www.archive.org.
The “Fall of Man” and Anthropology
by Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918)
The Church has somehow survived the fierce blows from the development of science especially the theory of evolution. The fundamental doctrine of ‘Original Sin’ lost all its philosophical footing with the scientific revolution as evidence piled in the fields of geology, archaeology and biology. The Church, however, has been able to successfully ignore the evidence or push it under the rug and away from the consciousness of the masses. The dogmas of Christianity seem to have survived the blows of Darwinian evolution. But they cannot survive the evolution of printing press into internet and websites, as that allows for the skeletons and demons to revisit centuries later and often!
Here, we reproduce a chapter of a book by Andrew Dickson White, detailing the geological and biological evidence against the doctrine of the fall of man or Original Sin. He was the founding President of Cornell University and published his book A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, in 1896. You can read this chapter online:
http://www.alislam.org/egazette/articles/Anthropology-200910.pdf
A History of Warfare of Science with theology in Christendom
This is a detailed and a wonderful history book by Andrew Dickson White, who was the founding President of the Cornell University.
Because the suppression of scientific thought by the medieval Church represents one of blackest periods of human history, many scholars have studied this period with great care. Worth special mention is a remarkable two-volume treatise by Andrew Dickson White entitled A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, published in 1896. The whole text of the two volumes of the book can be read on www.archive.org. Here is one example:
“The doctrine of the spherical shape of the earth, and therefore the existence of the antipodes, was bitterly attacked by theologians who asked: ‘Is there anyone so senseless as to believe that crops and trees grow downwards? . . . that the rains and snow fall upwards?’ The great authority of St Augustine held the Church firmly against the idea of the antipodes and for a thousand years it was believed that there could not be human beings on the opposite side of the earth – even if the earth had opposite sides. In the sixth century, Procopius of Gaza brought powerful theological guns to bear on the issue: there could not be an opposite side, he declared, because for that Christ would have had to go there and suffer a second time. Also, there would have had to exist a duplicate Eden, Adam, Serpent, and Deluge. But that being clearly wrong, there could not be any antipodes. QED!”
To review additional fascinating accounts in this compendium, go to the following link:
http://www.alislam.org/egazette/articles/Andrew-Dickson-White-200907.pdf
by Zia H Shah
Whereas Pope John Paul II had the wisdom to accept the theory of evolution, the Christians as a whole have not had the wisdom and courage to give up the false doctrine of ‘Original Sin;’ that among many other prerequisites also requires human history of less than 6000 years. This article reviews the biological data that has shattered the dogma of Original Sin, and can be read online in the archive section in summer 2008 volume at MuslimSunrise.com
Once you discover the fallacies of the dogmas of Christianity, before assuming agnosticism or atheism try the Monotheism of Islam. Visit:
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http://alislam.org/introduction/index.html
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Is the West ready for Islam? 
Zia H. Shah
President Thomas Jefferson’s views
A letter to theologian James Smith — December 8, 1822 — elaborates Jefferson’s views on the subject.
“Sir, — I have to thank you for your pamphlets on the subject of Unitarianism, and to express my gratification with your efforts for the revival of primitive Christianity in your quarter.
No historical fact is better established, than that the doctrine of one God, pure and uncompounded, was that of the early ages of Christianity; and was among the efficacious doctrines which gave it triumph over the polytheism of the ancients, sickened with the absurdities of their own theology. Nor was the unity of the Supreme Being ousted from the Christian creed by the force of reason, but by the sword of civil government, wielded at the will of the fanatic Athanasius. The hocus-pocus phantasm of a God like another Cerberus, with one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and thousands of martyrs. And a strong proof of the solidity of the primitive faith, is its restoration, as soon as a nation arises which vindicates to itself the freedom of religious opinion, and its external divorce from the civil authority. The pure and simple unity of the Creator of the universe, is now all but ascendant in the Eastern States; it is dawning in the West, and advancing towards the South; and I confidently expect that the present generation will see Unitarianism become the general religion of the United States. The Eastern presses are giving us many excellent pieces on the subject, and Priestley’s learned writings on it are, or should be, in every hand. In fact, the Athanasian paradox that one is three, and three but one, is so incomprehensible to the human mind, that no candid man can say he has any idea of it, and how can he believe what presents no idea? He who thinks he does, only deceives himself. He proves, also, that man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without a rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons gullibility which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck.”
“I write with freedom, because while I claim a right to believe in one God, if so my reason tells me, I yield as freely to others that of believing in three. Both religions, I find, make honest men, and that is the only point society has any right to look to. Although this mutual freedom should produce mutual indulgence, yet I wish not to be brought in question before the public on this or any other subject, and I pray you to consider me as writing under that trust. I take no part in controversies, religious or political. At the age of eighty, tranquility is the greatest good of life, and the strongest of our desires that of dying in the good will of all mankind. And with the assurance of all my good will to Unitarian and Trinitarian, to Whig and Tory, accept for yourself that of my entire respect.”
There are host of additional materials available on this webpage:
http://www.brunswickcounty.com/Thomas_Jefferson_and_the_Doctrine_of_the_Trinity-a-1150.html