How to Undermine Religions Based on Reputed Divine Revelations?

by Raymond Fontaine, Ph.D. - January 2006

E-mail no.23: Discredit the Teacher and Debunk the Teaching

   Good morning. You raise a tough question which deserves a meaningful and ample reply. In my lifetime, I have been acquainted with three systems of thought about God: the Christian, the Jewish, and the Deist. The first two are based entirely on reputed revelations by God regarding supernatural entities. Deism, however, is based only on what nature's designs reveal - Intelligence.

   Nature's designs can be observed by humans using their senses and intelligence, whereas none of the supernatural that is featured in Christianity and Judaism can be observed and proven. The supernatural is accepted only on faith - on the word of other humans.

   Deism has only one tenet: nature's designs presuppose Intelligence. Nature reveals nothing more about that Intelligence. Deism has no Holy Writ, no rituals, no clergymen, no buildings of worship. Deism has no saints, no miracles, no afterlife, and no heaven. Christianity and Judaism, however, have them all. 

    Today, the number of American adults, who identify their religious beliefs, include 159,506,000 Christians and 2,831,000 Jews. The estimate of American Deists lies in the low thousands This means that about 162 millions base their thoughts about God on divine revelations while only a few thousands base theirs on the designs in nature.

    Deists are convinced that the Jews and the Christians are mistaken and that supernatural entities, events and places do not exist. Those people should be told the truth. But what is the most effective way to do that?

    There are two approaches: one is focused on the doctrine taught; the other, on the teacher. In my opinion, the second approach is more effective.

    Supernatural matters cannot be proven true, nor can they be proven false. They are beyond human ken. They can only be accepted on the word of a trustworthy teacher. The reliability of the teacher is crucial; faith depends on trust.

    In my case, I was bred first in a fervent Catholic home and then in Catholic schools, churches and seminaries. I trusted all my teachers. They were all good people. They strongly believed what they taught. They would never knowingly deceive me. I never had reason to distrust any of them. 

    Later, as a priest I saw the suffering caused by the Church's ban against birth control. I checked the Bible carefully and found nothing there about birth control. Later I felt the privation imposed by the Church's law of clerical celibacy. 

    I read about the medieval Popes and bishops who fathered children to position them later in places of power. I read about the Inquisition that tortured people and burned them at the stake. I read about Popes who exchanged indulgences for money. I read about the Church that condemned Galileo for teaching that the earth rotates around the sun. I lost confidence in the teaching authority of the Church and abandoned it and all its supernatural teachings.

    I experienced the process of leaving a Church that preached a religion full of the supernatural. I first lost confidence in the Church. The Popes and bishops had disgraced themselves and discredited their teaching authority. I no longer believed in them and their teaching. 

    As regards Judaism, I know nothing  about the teachers of that religion. I have not read or heard anything that would discredit their teaching authority. The press has been exposing the scandal of the Catholic priests and their bishops but not saying one discrediting word about Jewish rabbis. 

    As I said above, there are two approaches to enlightening the believers in supernatural religions: the first is to discredit the teachers of those religions: the second is to debunk their teaching. I prefer the first because the teachers have already disgraced themselves. Their followers are disposed to abandon them. The second approach is more difficult because the believers must first be shown that what they have lived by for years was a huge lie. Until that happens they will not listen or read with an open mind anything you say.

    Regardless of this resistance, the arguments against the teaching of revealed-based religions must be made available on the Internet. There that information is like a beacon beaming light to people lost at sea. Surfers on the Internet can read them at leisure without pressure and embarrassment. This is happening every day judging by the e-mails arriving on my computer with increasing frequency. 

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