Love Kurt, Slaughter House Five was assigned reading in junior high English , he and other similar authors helped me become aware and (woke) to not only religion but real life in general.

And where is the wisdom or truth within the Sermon On The Mount? The words have become familiar like Christmas carols, but where is the underlying take-home meaning? Be merciful? Be righteous? Be peacemakers? Be pure at heart? Historically, Christians are famous for disregarding these notions. How about: 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. It is Christianity itself that should be thrown into the fire, were we to judge it by its own measure.

These epigrams sound nice. However, in their absolutism, generate the exact opposite results from their intent. Those who insist others believe the same or die negate the original flavor. Again: 13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. - - Again, Christianity fails its own test. Christians are anything but Christian, and, truth be told, neither of those paths, Christianity nor what Christians practice, have salient merit!

No fiction, no matter how florid, becomes true. That is the take-home.

"The best cure for Christianity is reading the Bible" SClemens

Thanks for this posting. You reminded me that all this courthouse posting of the Ten Commandments is really about Moses and not Jesus. This is good information to fight believers with but they will switch the Commandments and claim it is really about you and their god. As for Vonnegut, I do remember him. He once wrote a short story called "The Giant Space Fuck" about shooting a rocket into outer space.

1. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
2. “Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
3. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.”
4. “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”
5. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
6. “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.”
7. “Blessed are the peacemakers, they will be called children of God.”
8. “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Funny, at this point in my life I find not much inspirational in those eight statements. Some are OK but too many pointing at myth. There are sayings from the Bible that I still find myself using. “A house divided against itself will not stand.” The golden rule and “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” That last one wasn’t even in the original manuscript. There are just so many other books that contain much more uplifting sayings without all the truly terrible baggage that the Bible has. I honestly believe there are probably 30 atrocious ideas for every decent one in that book.

George Orwell came to the conclusion that communists do not love the poor. They just hate the rich. What is it about Christians that they too are motivated by hate while professing a message of love? My guess it’s what Nietzsche said about Christianity being passive aggression. I don’t think it had to be that way but it very often is. The Ten Commandments fit much better into that mindset.

All bullshit.