The way we think: religion and atheism.

This week, ads that say "1 Million New Yorkers Are Good Without God" are going up throughout the New York City metro system.

The ads just went up Monday, and religious folks are already having a fit.

A couple of quotes from the article linked above:

"I teach my children to believe in God and lead a life faithful to Him," said Aime Roberts, 37, of the Bronx, when told of the campaign. "If my children see these ads that say there is no God, they’ll think their mother is lying."

"These aren’t good, you need to believe in God," said Rafael Rodriguez, 20, of the Bronx.


Charlene McNair-Lawery, 19, of Brooklyn, said she was dismayed by a trend toward taking religion out of the public sphere, mentioning efforts to remove the word God from the Pledge of Allegiance. "The MTA can just do whatever it wants and get away with it," she said.


I'll deal with these three quotes then move on to the real problem here.

First off, to the lady worried about her kids thinking she's lying to them, do you have a guilty conscience? What is wrong with children questioning the beliefs of their parents? Supposedly, we would think it was bad for parents to tell their children that it's a legitimate belief that people of other races are inferior to them. However, if you convince your kids that they're consuming the body and blood of a 2000 year old deity, or if you convince them that a man convicted of fraud "found" a new holy book and was a modern day "prophet," that's ok. Children shouldn't be allowed to question those things, right?

If my wife and I ever have kids, I intend to foster a spirit of reason and inquiry in them. My wife feels the same way. If my kids learn to question things at an early age, it will help their critical thinking skills later in life and hopefully they won't end up as one of Barnum's famous "suckers." Reason and inquiry are beautiful things. I would marvel at the mind of a child trying to wrap itself around why the sky is blue or what makes flowers bloom in pretty colors. I would equally marvel at them trying to comprehend the mysteries of the universe, with our without the aid of a creator or god. Ultimately, Children grow up to have their own lives and make their own choices, I intend to give them the skills to do so.

Onto the guy who says I have to believe in god. No sir, I don't. That attitude is exactly what is wrong with religion in a nutshell. I don't have to believe in your deity, and you don't need to believe in anyone else's deity. Anyone who thinks that you must have religion as a prerequisite to being a fine, moral person is extremely shallow and needs a history lesson. There have been some very benevolent atheists and many religious people are responsible for some of the worst wars the planet has seen. No sir, I don't have to believe in your god, in fact many people don't. Less and less believe every day.

To the woman concerned about removing god from the public sphere: these ads don't seek to remove god from anything. It's just other people claiming their beliefs. Second of all, the designers of USA never wanted god to be in the public sphere in the first place. The Constitution doesn't mention god ONCE. NOT ONCE. We derive our law from that document and the enlightenment. Not the ten commandments, not the Bible, The Koran, The Book Of Mormon, or any other "holy" fiction work. Thankfully, I wouldn't have wanted to be stoned when I back talked my parents as a child!

So why are religious people so up in arms about this? Well I honestly think a lot of it is that they just can't fathom anyone disagreeing with them and their god. We seem to have that disease particularly in America, which sad because our country was founded to include all ideas.

Isn't this kind of weird? No matter what religion you are: Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Mormon, or anything else, you're supposed to be able to firmly hold the belief that your god and your religion is right and everybody else is wrong. If I challenge you on that belief, and tell you that have absolutely zero evidence to prove your point of view, you get angry with me because I offend your religion.

An atheist merely points out that they, and many others don't believe in God at all, and you freak out. They're not going as far as you. They're not saying you can't believe in God, they're just saying that they don't. From the collective scream arising from religion, you'd think all civilization is coming to an end. Just today, "No God" was the number one trending topic on twitter, and Christians came out of the woodwork to scream about it and tell others that they're wrong. Yet you politely try to point out that they might be wrong, and it's a major federal offense.

I run into it in Utah almost every day. First comes the absolute shock that I'm not a Mormon, then If I dare go further and say I question the existence of God at all, the people are ready to call for the doctors and straight jackets. They've been taught to think that way, and never bothered to question it.

I submit to you today that if we all sat around and questioned a bit more, and took more on reason than revelation, that the world would be a better place indeed. Just think...no more suicide bombings, no more planes flying into buildings, no more Christian pastors pouring acid down a child's throat for an exorcism. No more Catholic priests molesting children, no more of religious people hating gays and preaching intolerance from the pulpit. No more "latter day prophets" putting printing presses to the flame, no more men out west marrying 14 year old girls, no more Mormons seminary teachers having affairs with their students, and hey kids could actually stay in school the whole day instead of getting a period off to go outside and study mythology!

A nice world indeed.

What purpose does religion serve again?

Question EVERYTHING.

Morality, religion, and an excuse for close-mindedness

I'm just wondering, what makes you think you're right and the other guy wrong?

Just curious.

Is it because you think the other guy is immoral? If so, who or what tells you it is? Some sacred text, or perhaps a deity himself tells you?

I've been thinking about this because of all of the gay marriage stuff in the news. Recently, two gay men were kicked off of Main Street Plaza in downtown Salt Lake City for having a public display of affection on LDS church property. Of course, the LDS church doesn't sanction homosexual behavior, so they have every right to ask that it not be done on their private property. I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is that this has served as a means for people to keep spewing hate by people who have a problem with the homosexual lifestyle. Lets sample some comments from the KSL Salt Lake City Web Forum.....

User Hardtail writes: "Why is it that the Liberal Pukes of society cannot
fathom the Bible?"

User Lance T writes: "I am now to the point that I will treat them like a person but I will not tolerate anything homosexual. I will tell them it is wrong, sick, unnatural, unhealthy, and deviant. I will not support it in any way."

User Chris N writes: "We should all revert back to Biblical times and just stone them all as this kind of behavior should not be tolerated in our society."

The same user Chris N writes: "in the last days we will call good evil and evil good. I'm all for bringing on the wrath of GOD; the sooner the better, before we all become corrupt."

User Dolsen writes: "What gays want is a special category all for themselves. Special rights and all new laws just for their category or preference. That can never happen without chaos following. Next, the category who want to marry their pet will stage kiss-ins with their pets all over the country. Then will come the category who want to marry their SUV, boat, plane or their 6,000 sq. ft. home with a pool. There is no end. The answer needs to be a firm "NO"! Marriage is from the beginning between one man and one woman, period, the end."


I could go on, this only covers about half of the comment page.

Not that these individuals aren't entitled to have their opinion and express it, indeed this is still America.

However, I do wonder where they derive the authority of their opinion.

Is it from the Bible? Sure. Everybody cites the book of Leviticus. I don't really think anyone would argue that the Bible is anything but anti-homosexual. So I guess we can accept that. What ELSE does the Bible say though? Leviticus Chapter 20 states the people should be put to death for homosexuality, adultery, idol worship, incest, and bestiality. It also says that if a man has sex with a woman while she's having her period they both should be cut off from their people.

So...really, Bibleman? Can you imagine what would happen if we executed everyone who had had sex with someone other than their spouse? Bye-bye Governor Sanford. Hell, we'd probably be killing a third of our population. Do we honestly want that form of moral authoritarian rule? Well maybe some do. However, in modern society we've come to agree that women shouldn't be dumped outside the city while they're having their period, that we don't execute people for homosexuality and adultery. Leviticus also says we should put to death children who curse their parents. How many of us would still be around if that law still existed? The Bible says Male master can legally rape their female servants (Exodus 21, Leviticus 19, Deuteronomy 21). We certainly don't sanction that anymore.

So why should we believe what the Bible says about homosexuality? The problem with the Bible is that it is quite obviously antiquated in many ways. if it is all indeed the inspired word of God, we better adhere to all of it, not just pick and choose what fits our agenda. Right? My kid better not ever smart off to me! Where's my female servant? Yeah?

So I don't really care what the Bible says about it. Don't EVEN try to bring up the book of mormon. No credible non-LDS scholar gives the book of Mormon any kind of scholarly weight whatsoever.

So maybe God tells you that this stuff is wrong. Or maybe God's prophet. Okay, here's the deal. I work on evidence. You can't convince me that some old fart sitting on his duff in Salt Lake City is any more a prophet of God than the old fart sitting on his duff in the Vatican is the Vicar of Christ. They're old, white men. Period. Please, oh please give me some argument not based in RELIGION, because your religion doesn't mean jack squat to me. I have many of the same beliefs that you do, yet we can still disagree and I can validate my argument just as well as you can validate yours. Even the devil can quote scripture to suit his purpose.

All your religion and your morality do is give you an absolute excuse to be close minded. You never have to think critically, you never have to be introspective, you never have to evaluate your beliefs. It's all just given to you. How lazy! America was born because some guys (most of them deists, by the way) bothered to think outside the box and decide that just because the King said so wasn't good enough anymore. We've lost spirit that now as the "moral" wing of this country seeks to shove their agenda down everyone else's throat.

Do Christians honestly think they're the only "great" religion to grace the earth? The ancient Greek and Roman religions lasted for thousands of years. Many of the forms of Ancient Native American beliefs are still practiced today. Islam, a younger faith than Christianity, is growing by leaps and bounds. Who's to say that 2000 years from now there won't be a new "great religion?"

If you think you know the mind of God on homosexuality or anything else, and that you have a holy mandate to crusade against gay people, may I remind you that the people who flew the planes on September 11 thought they knew the mind of God and had a holy mandate as well. Interesting huh?

Oh, I forgot, they're wrong and you're right, God and the Bible say so.

Give me a break and think for yourself!

In which I rant about a crappy book and the people who read it.

So Sunday morning I decide to go to the bookstore after dropping Mariel off at work. I mean, I had nothing else to do and I was looking for a couple of things in particular.

Of course, Sunday was Mother's Day, and apparently it was also last minute gift time with a lot of teenagers and men in looking for that ever so thoughtless gift for mom. Almost all of the customers, and I'm NOT making this up, were talking about that stupid ass Twilight book by Stephenie Meyer. "Do you have Twilight?" "What Twilight books are out in paperback?" "Do you have the Twilight book with the movie cover?" "What's the newest Twilight book?" "Do you know where I can get the Twilight DVD?" These were all questions I heard the customers asking the clerks, and they were all being asked multiple times. I was in there for about a half an hour and I wanted to fucking scream.

What the hell is it with these books? See folks, I read one. I like Vampire Books. I've read Dracula. I've read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. I've read a book about vampire and occult crimes in the modern world. I'm familiar with the subject. So I read the first Twatlight book and you know what.....it SUCKED.

The main character is a total teenage emo douche bag who has zero self confidence, and the author has to remind us every ten sentences about how clumsy she is. Oh, and her self confidence is low despite the fact that everybody in the school thinks she's hot. Yeah. Right. Little hot miss Molly Mormon. The boys wanting what they can't have. Right. Yeah. I get it. Anyways....she falls in love with this VAMPIRE boy (OMG SQUEE!!) who is just like SOOOO PERFECT (OMG SQUEE!). But of course being good, proper Mormons, they can't do it or anything like that, so Emo Vamp boy just resorts to the only thing a guy can do in that instance....stalk her and hover over her while she sleeps. Oh, and this after he uses his super vamp powers (OMG SQUEE!) to save her life. Really though, if she's so damn clumsy, isn't this natural selection at work?

Oh yeah, and this vampire who SPARKLES (OMG DOUBLE SQUEE!) isn't a real vampire at all. Well, I don't think so. He comes out during the day, doesn't mind the sun (makes him SPARKLE), goes to school, and DOESN'T DRINK PEOPLE's BLOOD. Right. Good little Mormon vamp. Just have your bread and water at Sacrament. It's ok. Douche.

In the Vampire Chronicles, there's a vampire that gets uneasy about biting people. His name is Louis. Louis is a pussy. Everytime I read about him in this way I want Lestat to smack him in the back of that immortal, not so vaguely homosexual head of his.

Also, in a lot of vampire fiction, the biting of humans and the sucking of blood is symbolic of sex...all he way back to Bram Stoker. Yet the Twilight attitude about sex is profoudly dysfunctional. Yeah, whatever, wait till you're married. That's fine. A little boring and a little risky, but that's fine. Don't you wanna take the car for a test drive? Beyond that however, it goes downhill. Emo teen douche chick is afraid do it even after they GET married (I don't really care if I spoil it for you). She's embarassed. Nice. So it seems to me the attitude that Meyer is trying to portray in regards to sex is that even after you're married it's not enjoyable and dirty, and something to be embarassed about. Of course the only reason she marries douche vamp boy is that she wants him to bite her (which really means nail her), and is that a good reason to get married?

By the way, it might very well be dirty, but if it's unenjoyable YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.

In short the plot sucks, the characters (hmmph) suck, the writing itself is simple, dull and sucks. The conflict...there isn't one. That and the douche author spends 4 books trying to convince us and herself that emo non-skank teenage girl MUST HAVE A MAN in order to have any meaning in her life. That's really too bad, because it pretty much takes apart everything that women have achieved in the last 150 years or so in our society, but that's the Mormons for you.

The real kicker for me though--Nobody in this state would give a flying rat's ass about these books if they wouldn't have been written by a Mormon. If a Protestant or Catholic had written these books, they wouldn't be a blip on the radar here, but Utah has this deep dark need to justify the existence of the LDS church by claiming all of these famous people and their stories. "Oh look what this MORMON did! She wrote a bestseller!"

I'm gonna go catch my breath and write a letter to Lestat asking him to come kick Edward's sparkly, boring, and decidedly unvampirelike ass.

OUT.

Does the Governor of Utah read my blog????

Check it out

Apparently John Huntsman, the Governor of the not so great state of Utah, supports Civil Unions for gay people. Yes he's Mormon, and yes he's a republican. Shocking!

Good on ya, Governor!

The marriage debate, continued.....

Back in November I aired my feelings on the so called Prop 8 in California and it's huge support base in the religious community. Well, the issue isn't going away, and while I won't subject anyone to my ranting and raving again, there are a couple things I'd like to highlight.

The first is the "Common Ground Initiative" that has been brought before the Utah State legislature by the group Equality Utah. The details can be found at their website, but basically this initiative focuses on at least 3 key areas. First off, they are urging that an executive order be issued allowing gay or lesbians working for the State Of Utah to cover their partners with their health insurance. Second is a fair housing and employment bill. Currently in the great State of Utah, it is perfectly legal to fire someone from a job or evict them from housing if they're gay or transgendered. Wow, you thought this was America huh? You were wrong. A new bill before the house would fix this. The third thing was a bill that would help give a same-sex partner some legal recourse in the event of a wrongful death of the other partner. Unfortunately, as par for the course in Utah, this bill never even made it out of committee.

These seem like common sense things to me, but I guess I'm just a darned old liberal.

Meanwhile the legislature has demonstrated what it's real priorities are. They've pushed forward three bills that would erode the woman's right to reproductive choice. These bills are all almost certainly headed for defeat in the court system and it's a total waste of tax payer money. Also, the stuffy Repubutards in the Utah State Senate want to pass a bill making you scan your ID every time you buy an alcoholic drink at a club, bar, or restaurant in Utah. That info will go right into a state database. Sounds a little like Big Brother huh? Neat! Of course I'm sure all it really is is just a way for the LDS church to tell which of their members are drinking and when. Of course the local media here happily reports that the LDS church has been consulted in all of these matters by our public officials. Not to be a Mormon basher, but welcome to Theocracy, 2009 style! I even wrote the Honorable Governor John Huntsman Jr. to express my displeasure. Unfortunately, he declined to even send a "Thanks for your Email" response back. He must have found out I was actually registered to vote in Florida, where my Democratic vote COUNTED this time! Boo yeah!

Utah, just as conservative as ever. Lets save all the "preborn," but lets kick out the Hispanics and Middle Eastern folks, slash all social services, run the gay people out, and then cap it all off by buying all new furniture for the Legislature's offices...w00T!

What a crock...........

Thousands rally against LDS Church in Salt Lake City.

Looks like the Mormon Church is reaping what they sow.

Click here for the link to the local news story.

Tonight thousands of people have gathered in downtown Salt Lake City to protest the LDS church involvement in the passage of the anti-gay marriage proposition in California. Of course the church is absolutely stunned that this would happen. Well guess what folks, this is what happens when you take away people's rights.

First off I believe the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as well as any other church that contributed to the Prop 8 campaign should be stripped of their tax exempt status. I believe this is a fundamental violation of the separation of church and state. I also believe that Prop 8 as well as the resulting amendment to the California Constitution (as well as similar amendments in other states) violate the equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Isn't refusing to let two consenting adults establish a legal relationship depriving them of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

Here's where I stand. "Marriage" in the USA is defined in both religious and legal terms. In short, you can go to the courthouse and get a marriage license and be legally married, but you can't go to a church without the legal piece of paper and be legally married. I'm not advocating that churches be forced to perform Gay marriages. I believe the religious community has a right to their view and how it is practiced within their organization. However, I don't think two consenting adults should be deprived of a LEGAL RELATIONSHIP. WHEN YOU GET THE MARRIAGE LICENSE, NEITHER GOD NOR RELIGION HAVE A DAMN THING TO DO WITH IT! If two guys get married, it doesn't affect me in the slightest.

Organized religion has been used since it's earliest days to justify horrible and unspeakable things in the name of some god. It has also been used to put an end to debate and disagreement, because after all, how do you argue with a person who thinks god is on their side? You don't, and when Christians of any stripe practice this, it makes them no better than fundamentalists of other faiths who seek to impose their belief on those who don't think the same way they do.

In the end I like to really go for what Jesus said, when he said the first and greatest commandment was to love the Lord, but the second is like it, to love your neighbor as you love yourself. If more people would think that way, we'd be a lot better off.

But the conservative right wing and the religious wingnuts in this country have tossed Jesus' message of love, understanding, mercy, and peace right out the door on it's ear and have reduced one of the world's great faiths to an excuse and a way to cram their intolerant agenda down other's throats.

I'm going to go to bed and pray tonight for the people being discriminated against. If homosexuality is indeed such a horrible sin, I'll let God be the judge of it. He didn't appoint me as judge, jury, or executioner.

The Right Wing at Wendy's.

Again, I'm not going to apologize for my opinions or for expressing them, but hey I don't go out of my way to offend folks.

So my wife and I are sitting at Wendy's tonight, rehashing, as usual, our views on the upcoming election and the state of national politics in general. (See I come from a family of pretty die-hard Republicans, so it was rather nice to marry into family of Democrats, including my wife herself.) If you can't guess, yes I'm voting for Obama. At some point I'll get into why, but that's not the point of this post.

So we're sitting at Wendy's tonight, having a burger after I got off work tonight. We're talking about Governor "I was for the Bridge to Nowhere before I was against it" Palin and John "Hey did you hear I was a war hero?" McCain. Don't get me wrong, I have respect for both of these individuals as fellow human beings, I just disagree with their policies. We were speaking in particular of the "Troopergate" issue with Governor Palin, and also the fact that she did support the bridge to nowhere in her campaign for Governor before she decided she was against it.

Anyways, a rather ornery looking couple behind us started giving us really nasty looks, I was quite sure the guy was about to say something when we got up and left. It's weird after living in Florida for awhile to come back here and get the stares and dirty looks when I wear my crucifix or talk in an unfavorable light of Republicans and their policies. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, sure, but after listening to several public political conversations over the last weeks, I'm pretty sure this place could use some liberal conversation to balance out the air molecules a little.