I subscribe to 'Philosophy Now' magazine. In issue 109 Dr Stephen Anderson from Ontario wrote an article entitled 'Atheism on Trial'. This was followed by some excellent letters in the next edition that, to me, showed that the good doctor was talking bullshit. He came back in the November edition, again telling us that 'Atheism is irrational'...

The fact that Dr Stephen Anderson has the title 'Doctor' must mean that he is quite a brainy man. What fascinates me is how brainy people can talk crap. I have concluded that REASONING is a distinct form of intelligence that some people find quite easy and obvious and show a talent for. Others might have incredible conventional intelligence and yet lack a very basic ability to reason.

My brother and his wife, for example are scientists and mathematicians, and yet they believe that a virgin gave birth to a child and that that child grew up to perform a variety of impossible things. He turned water into wine, walked on water, raised a dead body to life again, cast out evil demons from people, provided food for thousands of people with just a few loaves and fishes, cured blindness in one man with a bit of spit (but decided not to cure blindness itself!) died on the cross and then came back to life again before ascending into heaven. They believe that raping children and enslaving people after you have massacred them demonstrates the goodness of God. We mustn't judge God's massacres with our own morality as God's ways are impossible to reconcile with our own - so a massacre is a fine with them....They believe in such immoral crap from the Old Testament because Jesus himself believed in it, so it follows that it cannot be wrong.

All of this I've put in my book 'It's All Crap' which Caspar Rigsby is in the process of publishing with Atheist Republic but the purpose of this post isn't to make a crude advert. It's to ask for theories people might have why obvious crap is accepted and believed by people who are obviously highly intelligent and who should be able to see their own bullshit ideas in the light of simple reasoning. It just makes me so angry!