NYC ATHEISTS BRUNCH / SPEAKER / BOOK CLUB

Does the Bible Teach Mean, Nasty and Unfair Things?
Texas Attorney Says Bible Concepts Wouldn’t Cut It in Court Today

When he was a prosecutor, Dallas,Texas attorney Geoff Henley tried more than 100 cases to a verdict, including felonies, misdemeanors of all kinds and even a murder case without a body, which he won “without any bones, ballistics or any other forensic evidence. I got used to proving things and disproving other things,” he notes.

So it was only natural that Henley, who was baptized a Christian in 1993 and had read “tons of scripture,” started thinking about how the Bible propounds things that are legally unfair and untenable—and it got him all riled up, as they like to say in Texas.

“Notions of due process require us lawyers to do certain things,” he explains. “I have to have some proof just to have you arrested, just to bring the charge against you. And if you are found guilty, the punishment is tailored—there is a wide range of punishment depending on the crime. But look at the Bible: By sheer birth, you are born guilty, and what’s the punishment? It’s eternal incineration. There’s this eternal death sentence just for the lack of belief in a higher being.”

god Doesn’t Play by the Rules

Furthermore, Henley points out, “In our legal system we have to give personal notice to the offender. But how do you get notice of the offense that you’ve committed against god? Were you served by an angel? Did somebody show up on your doorstep with a bugle? god doesn’t serve notice!”

Or take Lot’s wife. According to Henley,. “All she did is inquire. She turns around and looks.” For that, the punishment meted out is death. And throughout the Bible, there’s an outright punishment for inquiry, he points out, beginning with ‘Don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good & evil.’

Yahweh or the Highway

Faith is antithetical to fair dealing, Henley says. “You are coerced into Belief because if you don’t believe, you burn. It’s Yahweh or the highway! As an attorney, I don’t accept those as reasonable, legitimate fair contractual terms.”

Henley became so incensed at the unfairness of the requirements of faith from a fair, legal point of view that he wrote a book about it, “Beyond Reasonable Doubt: A Lawyer’s Case for Disbelief in god.”

On Sunday, May 10, you will be able to hear, in an exclusive video made by New York City Atheists when Henley visited New York recently, the passionately articulate Henley talk about his book and how legal concepts made him reject the religious precepts propounded in the Bible. Then hear Henley, via speaker phone, answer your questions from Texas.

Book Club / Library
After brunch, we move to the NYCA Library located on East 79th Street. We continue discussing
Christopher Hitchens' god is Not Great, Chapter 15: "Religion as an Original Sin."

Need not have read the assignment to participate.

EVENT SUMMARY

WHAT: “Beyond Reasonable Doubt: A Lawyer’s Case for Disbelief in
god,” a discussion of his book by Texas Attorney Geoff

Henley videotaped by NYC Atheists, followed by a Q and A
via speaker phone from Texas.

WHEN: Sunday, May 10 at 12 noon.

WHERE: The Press Box Restaurant and Pub
932 Second Ave. (bet. 49th & 50th) Second Floor

COST: $20 for Brunch, which includes a selection of Buffet entrees,
salad, soft drink, coffee, tax and tip.
TO HONOR MOTHER’S DAY, ALL WOMEN ARE HALF PRICE ($10).

For further information:

Kenneth Bronstein, president
New York City Atheists
[masked]

or

Jane Everhart
Director of Communications
New York City Atheists
[masked]

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New York City Atheists Inc. is a 501C not-for-profit educational association dedicated to the separation of church and state and promoting the atheist values and lifestyle. All are welcome, including agnostics, humanists, skeptics, freethinkers and those just questioning and seeking.