Religion & Politics

'Tis the season...

Two things are occupying my mind as of late. First, with Obama being our new President-Elect, I'm hoping the right's fringe who chanted hateful things about him hating America and being a Muslim realize that they were mislead. I'm not deluded enough to think they'll ever LIKE the guy, but they'll have to see that his agenda doesn't include changing our religious beliefs or helping terrorists destroy the country. And my hope is that they'll take the next step as well and wonder how they were misled, who lied to them, and probe the possible motivation behind it as well.

We, as a society, seem to be going in a direction where we look to others to tell us what to do and how to think while we follow along blindly, taking them at their word. The mortgage crisis, for example, could have been avoided if people didn't take the bank's word for what they could afford. Our mortgage company told us we could afford a $300,000 house -well, we ran the numbers, used several online calculators and we targeted half that price for our house -what WE thought we could afford. Why didn't others do the same thing? We've forgotten the mantra "buyer beware".

So, in the end, I hope people stop falling for the politics of fear and begin taking responsibility for checking on sources for the information they take in as truth. Listening to both the left and right radio hosts (as well as O'Reilly or Olberman) makes me sick. They stretch the truth until it's unrecognizable. We need to move back towards the middle as a country I think.



It's also the "Holiday Season". As the right and left settle down after the political season, another group of people are sharpening their teeth. Yes, it's highly offensive now to say "Happy Holidays" or ghod forbid write Christmas "X-mas"! Bill O'Reilly popularized this newfound anger with his book "War On Christmas".

I don't see the need for this fight. I'm a non-theist who understands that the majority of my fellow citizens are Christians. I've also learned, through observation, that Christmas has two parts. There's the Jesus in the manger part and there's the Santa Claus in the chimney part. One excludes me, the other includes everyone.

So, if the trend is to turn this religious holiday into a secular one that can be enjoyed by all and then families can decide whether or not to include the Jesus part within their circle of friends and family, I'd think we could all be happy with that. But, if the "War On Christmas" people (because it's important to acknowledge that not all religious people are in that camp) ...if the "War on Christmas" people keep this up and make Christmas a solely Christian holiday, well, you can expect more anger and fighting.

...that's why I'm a "moderate" -it's the most logical, most peaceful way. And isn't that what we should all be striving for?

Erica The Dictator On Religion

For over a decade now I've playfully toyed with the idea that one day I'd become dictator for the purpose of evaluating whether certain political or sociological ideas would work for the masses rather than just evaluating them at an individual level. Silly, but it makes the exercise fun and allows me to sneak "when I become dictator" into conversation.

Now that I've completed PaulHarrison1976's videos on The Word of Faith Movement and Prosperity Gospel and moved onto the Faith Healing and Televangelism Series I've started thinking about religion as if I was the dictator. How would I rule?

As a person with a feeling that there's a small chance (less than 50%) that there's a non-personal god out there somewhere ruling on religion is hard. I'm sure Dawkins and Hitchens would just turn churches into museums and teach religion as a fictional, silly thing we used to believe in before science came along with REAL answers.

But I recognize in friends and family a real NEED for religion. My Mom was turned off by the church's greed and stopped going for 20 years because of it. But she always believed and tried hard to raise me as a believer as well. But it just never made sense to me. While she found comfort in religion's answers that required faith, and a plan, and the fallback of "tests" when it all seemed to come crashing down, I just couldn't get over the inconsistencies. As she found comfort in Him watching over her at all times, it felt creepy to me. And she found ways around the uncomfortable parts like her belief (against the church) that all good people go to heaven, not just the ones who go to church and believe in Jesus and all that.

Because of our seemingly innate differences in reaction to religion and hearing the stories of friends and strangers like PaulHarrison1976 online as well as reading some of the research coming out about finding ares of the brain linked to belief and religious experiences, I've come to build a hypothesis that religion cannot be done away with. Some people need it, so clearly something besides abolishing it must be done.

So do I choose a religion for everyone to go with? Invent one? Allow total freedom for all religions?

Looking beyond the individual and focusing on society as a whole, I do see organized religion as a problem. Here I can only talk about Christianity because it's all I have any experience with, but from what I've seen it appears to relate to all. The foundation of organized religion -those ideas you think about first are often: "Love thy neighbor", "Do unto others as you'd have done unto you", "Honor thy mother and father", "Thou shall not kill", and so on. All good messages, of use to any society, non-exclusionary, and fairly universally agreed upon.

It's not until you get to religious organizations that you start getting to the more troublesome aspects of religion: pressure to recruit new members, asserting that THEY are the only true faith and others will be eternally punished, and the false assertion that they know the mind of God (Pope John Paul said there WAS a "limbo", the new guy says there's not -did God change his mind? is one of them wrong and therefore not really talking to God? or has it always been more about their own personal opinions and no one really knows the true mind of God?).

So, I've recently realized that it's that hierarchy that I have an issue with. Once you put a person at the front of the congregation speaking FOR God you've given that person some power because, generally, the people who attend church go to hear the sermon and never cross-check what they hear in that big book with the funny words. Even I tried to sit down and read it, but I didn't get farther than the 2nd creation story. The language in Shakespeare doesn't bother me, but add to it the fact that I just couldn't make much sense out of the stories and my interest faded fast. Even if a person reads the Bible and listens to the preacher, they're more likely to believe the preacher than the book because they are likely to not have much confidence in their reading comprehension as far as the Bible goes, and because he's had years in seminary school to pour over the text and learn about the different translations, etc.

And if the man in the front of the room has power, what about Cardinals and Popes? And what about the money that it takes for this non-profit organization to employ not only that preacher, but that Cardinal, Pope, school, etc. They need a lot of donations to keep their organization running. And that drives the need for membership via "Soul Saving", and the fear that if your friends and family are of a different faith, then you won't be seeing them in the afterlife, they'll be burning in hell (unless, of course, you recruit them).

And that's why religion is unsavory to me, but what's the fix? A non-hierarchal religion of some sort where the power lies in the individual instead of the organization. PaulHarrison1976 is starting to look into the Unitarian Universalist church which, from his description, sounds like a very cool and very nice answer to this question. It's a church that's run like a Democracy that allows individuals to take what works for them in the Christian and/or Jewish tradition, and add or subtract other ideas to their liking. Each person's personal beliefs are respected. Now that sounds more like "Love thy neighbor" doesn't it?

So, to sum up: When I become Dictator, you'll get to choose between Atheism, Agnosticism, or the UUA. I've spoken ;-).

My (Experiences With) Religion

I've been listening to / watching PaulHarrison1976's videos on YouTube lately and have found them VERY interesting. He's recently gone from being religious to non-religious and he has shared some pretty personal information about how difficult the transition can be and how lost he is without the culture of religion even though he no longer believes the metaphysical part of it. This jives with my previously formed hypothesis about being religious being something innate in a person -perhaps and aspect of their personality or something. And it's led me to wonder about my own feelings on religion and why it is that while I generally don't believe in Ggod, it doesn't cause me despair. And what about that curiosity that creeps up every once in awhile -that feeling like maybe there is something out there. I guess that in reality I haven't quite excluded the possibility. So, I figured I'd delve into that here, kinda free-form. A stream of consciousness. We'll see what the result will be...

I was baptized Catholic (I'm pretty sure that's what it was) when I was just a baby, but if I ever went to church I don't remember it. As a child I remember my Mom having me say the Lord's Prayer before bed at night as well as sometimes blessing people or asking for something or thanking Him for something else. It all didn't mean much to me as far as I remember it puzzled me, it was a chore, something I just had to do before going to bed -like brushing my teeth.

Somewhere along the line the question of going to church was brought up and I remember my Mom saying that they used to go and that it was good to go, but that they had stopped because the church was more concerned about getting their money than whatever it was my parents thought they should be doing and that it had turned them off. I think that made an impression on me. It made sense and it proved that the bedtime prayers that had stopped and started and eventually petered of entirely were kindof silly or at least part of something that had faults other than delaying my bedtime story.

This all happened before school or while I was in the lower half of K-6 as far as I know. After that there was little talk of religion at home except in the context of Native American spirituality. It's odd because that sounds very hippie-ish, but I was raised in a Rush Limbaugh-loving, ultra right-wing, had a brush with the NWO people, Conservative household. But my Dad owned a copy of "Touch The Earth" and I was enthralled by it. The passages that had to do with spirituality really spoke to me and they were often the ones my Dad had marked in his copy. Most of my reading was done alone, but we'd speak of it from time to time and I remember my Dad confiding in me that his spiritual experiences were more like they were described in Touch The Earth -he felt that killing animals for sport was wrong as in a crime against creation, and he said that while he kept his spirituality to himself just like his Dad did he was taught to give thanks (silently, in his head) when he hunted and killed an animal that was meant to be food. This was a very emotional conversation for me to have with my Dad, so this struck me as much more real than the repeating of words that didn't really make much sense to me before going to bed (Our Father, who art? in heaven, hallowed? be thy name...)

Somewhere in Junior High or early high school a friend of mine became Baptist. It was an overnight change and what it meant to her was that she was no longer allowed to wear jeans -she could only wear skirts or dresses that came down past her knees. She complained at first, then started to accept it. One day she invited me to her church for some event. I said ok, and when we arrived I was put into a small room with maybe 6 other kids and they started telling us about how great the Bible was and read us some passages. I don't know how long it went on, but there were several groups of kids in several rooms doing the same thing. I remember feeling trapped, and feeling much like he was trying to sell me something that I could see right through. When he was done he explained that there would be a big talk afterwards and that we'd have a chance to be Baptized right there if we wanted to take Jesus into our hearts and be Saved today.

We were let out, and sat there and listed to another person ramble on about how important Jesus was and I remember at least one kid being Baptized that day. They had him change into some plastic clothes and they dunked him into a big tank of water in front of everyone. At the time I even knew how wrong it was to ask of kids (under 18) to make a life decision of the magnitude they were talking about (you're making a promise to God that you'll dedicate your life to him and serve him and...). Those who didn't get Baptized were pressured to verbally promise to take Jesus as our personal God and savior. I reluctantly took that promise and still regret it to this day because I didn't mean it and I feel promises are sacred -I was pressured into betraying myself and that's inexcusable to me.

In high school I started wondering about Ggod and religion again as I made friends who went to church and others who believed in other things (Ouija boards, crystals, tarot, etc). The question started being asked -What do I believe?

That question was hard to answer. I was never given a name for Native American spirituality and that evoked images of rain gods, and wood elves, and who-knows-what anyway. Besides, Indians weren't cool... So, I started picking up crystals, playing with my Ouija board (and had some interesting results!). I picked up enough to pass with that crowd and no more. I liked the crystals, they were pretty, interesting from a science point of view, and it made me a part of the "alternative crowd", so I did that on and off for awhile.

During the same time period I was friends with a girl, Heather, who was Methodist and when I spent the night at her house I had to go to church with her. The first time I had visions of that Baptist church, but it turned out that their Youth Group leader was very cool with the fact that I told him flat out that I didn't really believe in the Christian God. He said that was ok and never made me feel like an outsider because of it. In fact, a few times I went with the Youth Group as a chaperone to keep an eye on some of the younger kids as they went canoeing. It was cool, but I reconsidered my beliefs because of it. In fact, I remember one of the times while canoeing the song "The God That Failed" by Metallica came into my head and I smiled thinking about how inappropriate that'd be at the time. (But I respected the group enough to keep that to myself.)

In my Sophomore year my Grandfather, who was the most important person in my life outside of my immediate family, died after 7 long years of suffering with the after-effects of a horribly debilitating stroke. This struck me hard because a few weeks earlier I had prayed for him to die. I never prayed -I didn't feel that there was a God out there that interfered with people's personal lives, but after seeing him lying in that same bed for 7 years while before the stroke he had beat me in a running race around his house I just couldn't bear to see him there, incapacitated, no longer able to eat, see, hear, sit -nothing. It just wasn't fair. But the fact that it came true made me feel strange. Awful for wanting it, happy, sad, regretful, you name it...

This lead to a brief period where I'd pray from time to time. I wrested with a name for my god because I guess I was trying to make myself feel better for stooping to that level by clearly defining the fact that it was not the Christian God that I was praying to. I ended up calling him "Gatekeeper" since that's, to me, what he was. The person who stood between this realm and what comes after... This came and went fairly quickly as it simply didn't work and made me feel silly. In college I revisited this briefly calling God "The Great Mystery" as Native Americans do. The results were the same as with "Gatekeeper": nothing but a feeling of betraying myself and reality.

So, in college there were even more people of various religious beliefs and, for varied reasons, I started feeling like there might be some sort of a spiritual messenger -a personal god that surrounded me. There were a few strange events that led me to that conclusion and with the help of a Native American friend I ended up deciding it was something like a totem animal, which I named "Little Guy" and he'd interfere in my life from time to time (odd events occured, but in retrospect they were all explainable). I toyed with this idea and attributing things to him for a year or two and then he "left", and I started calling myself an agnostic -finally putting that "silliness" behind me since I never really took it seriously to begin with. It was always kind of a nice fantasy that I knew all-along was pretend.

But in my adult life there still seems to be that undercurrent. That tiny possibility of there being something out there. I see science and life itself as awesome. I get what I assume is the same feeling some get about God when I see how well the periodic table of elements comes together or when I think that the sun is producing atoms that in turn make ME! It's amazing and it's all explained by science. That doesn't take away from it's greatness, in fact I think it ADDS to it! The fact that it all came from nothing is WAY more awesome than a God. But, on the other hand, I can't rule out a God, so I guess I leave that 1% chance there. It's a bit of mystery and, in fact, each time I hear of someone dying, I think "they know now". And that's how I think of my own death -it's the time I figure it out, what happens to us when we die?

If there's something waiting for us after death, I hope it's fair and that the creator judges what I did in my life instead of punishing me for the lack of worship. If there's nothing, then it'll be just like before I was born -nothing. Sure, it's hard to wrap your head around that, but in the end it doesn't matter. Today, this hour, this second is what matters. It's life, and it's all anyone's sure that we have!

Genesis, Chapter 1

Watching atheist videos on YouTube leads you to believe that the bible is a horrendous book that defends all kinds of immoral acts. The reaction videos made by christians explain away each accusation by saying it was taken out of context. So, I decided to find out for myself. I bought my very own bible and began reading it recently.

First, on the subject of buying a bible. Which one of the 3,395 versions does a person pick up? This reminds me of a quote from a book my Dad and I really loved while I was growing up called "Touch The Earth". The quote:

"Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?" (Red Jacket)

So, after some research and reading reviews, I picked up The King James Study Bible: King James Version (KJV), hardcover by Thomas Nelson Inc ISBN-13: 9780785211631. (CHECK.)
Wow. What a mistake!

This version of the bible has about two-thirds more footnotes than actual bible content, and that wouldn't be a bad thing if it wasn't so heavy-handed and overt in trying to hammer home the points in the bible that contradict (and therefore prove wrong) the theory of evolution. Yep, much of the "help" they give you is not about trying to sort out translation issues and context of the age when the book was written, but is instead helping you translate it in a way that makes their case against science. This is turning me off of this book and translation really fast. What translations did they stretch and/or massage (doctor) in the actual text to make their case? I don't trust it.

So, now what? Well, it's not as convenient as having it in paper, but there is biblegateway.com -I think I'm going to start reading it there instead. The upside to reading it this way is that I can look at several different translations side-by-side to help me decide what was meant by a certain part of the text. The downside is the loss of the footnotes that did point out important translational nuances, the context in relation to the time it was written, etc. But I guess I have the rest of the internet for that.

Which brings me to the point of this post. Genesis 1. I already don't quite know what to make of this first story. Apparently god made a dome over the earth with water (on the earth) below it and above it (???). Not to mention the fact a number of lesser scientific issues that the chapter contains: the moon being a "light", there being days and nights before the sun was created, the sun and stars being affixed to the "dome in the sky". Although, writing this, I suppose it could be suggested that the universe and everything we can see beyond it could still be inside the big dome in the sky... But, I've heard that coming up in future stories is the fact that it rains when god opens up the windows of that dome, which wouldn't really work if the dome was so far away... but that's for a future time when I actually read that part I guess.

Anyway, the way I see it, if it's literal it makes no sense given our scientific knowledge of the day, and taken as a parable, well I don't see the point. So, I decided to rely on Google for more info. I chose "genesis 1" as my search terms soas not to inject bias into the search. Results 1-5 were just online versions of the bible.

Result 6 was: http://www.christiananswers.net/bible/gen1.html Which contained the bible text along with the question "Does God expect us to read Genesis 1-11 as a record of authentic historical fact, or is this simply a collection of parable-like stories?" in the margin. The answer in one word is yes, it's meant to be taken literally.

The 7th result was: http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/Bible-Science/6-02Watts.html which dives deeply into the text and how exactly it's reasoned out, but comes to the conclusion that no, the text is not meant to be taken literally and that the purpose of this chapter was just to say that the earth was "fine-tuned with human existence in view" (quote from link above).

The 8th result: http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v19/i1/days.asp attempts to answer whether the days described were 24hour days or if they may have been longer. The answer, defended by the Hebrew word chosen for "day" among other contextual clues is that the earth was in fact created in six 24-hour days.

The 9th result is the skeptic's bible, which is hilarious, but not really helpful or authoritative in trying to interpret the story.

And the 10th result was just another site with the text of the bible. So, as it sits now we have no idea if this story is to be taken literally or figuratively, but I'm moving on anyway. Maybe this story will become clearer later on?

Religious rambling

I've been spending a lot of time on YouTube lately surfing the atheist vs christian debates. They raise some interesting questions and philosophical debates. I've been wishing I had a video camera to participate, then I decided to try recording myself on my cell phone to see if it'd come out well enough to upload, and I chickened out. I hate seeing myself on camera. Blah.

For those who haven't seen the videos, they are a constant back and forth (as I'm sure you can imagine) where the atheists regurgitate Dawkins and Hitchens ad nauseum while the religious people regurgitate Kirk Cameron or one of those other creationist people. Of course, just like in real life no one ever convinces the other person and the debates quickly end up stuck in one circular argument or another.

But they tend to come down to a handful of questions. One of them is: "If we don't get our ethics from religion, where do we get them from?" See -interesting.

The last video I saw was a christian going over the 10 commandments. He said that a rule against adultery could only have come from god because humans have such a hard time obeying it that we would never have come up with that on our own. Funny. I think most cultures have come up with the idea of marriage which includes hinduism, islam, as well as indigenous cultures on most continents. This means that non-christian as well as christian countries and cultures came up with the idea of being faithful (although several cultures, including christianity include in that polygamy, but we'll skip that for now). Many of his other arguments for the divine origin of the commandments such as "thou shall not kill" or steal, etc were that "well, if that was allowed we'd have anarchy". True! And because that's so obvious and can be reasoned out, that's why we never needed god to come up with such rules!

So, I started thinking about a small group of people from different cultures (races, religions, whatever). If you were to take them and put them in a house (reality tv style), they'd soon have to come up with a set of rules to determine how they'd get along with each other in the house. They'd start out with what's acceptable and unacceptable behavior -what rules would you come up with? How about "Leave my stuff alone and I'll leave your stuff alone." Seems reasonable. Or "If you cook, clean up after yourself." Simple, easy stuff right? These are rules that should be easily understandable and agreeable to people no matter what their background. That's because it's all based on a negotiation -I don't want you to do "X" to me, so I won't do it to you if you promise not to do it to me.

Let's assume, then, that our group of people make up a list of rules to live by. Now they need punishments for breaking the rules. Would "an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" be such a stretch for anyone? No. Is this because god made us this way or is it evidence that humans wrote the Bible? Depends on which side of the debate you're on.

But look outside of ourselves at other cultures with other religions and you'll see that all cultures consider stealing, rape, murder, etc as being wrong. These ethics do not belong solely to the christians! It's a simple matter of "I cannot be secure in my possessions if it's ok for others to take them, so in order to protect myself, I'll support a law against stealing." It's simple logic, so I think the argument for basing laws off of a religion is way off base.

With laws based on logic, we can reason out exceptions (like murder by accident or for self defense) or determine if they cause more harm than good such as laws against gay marriage when allowing them would not do harm. If we were to base laws on the Bible, it is clear from reading it (which I'm doing right now) that slavery is endorsed, beating slaves is ok (as long as they don't die right away), rape is ok if they are a slave, stoning is a reasonable punishment for blasphemy, etc.

Am I over exaggerating? Well, no -it's all there, but I'm sure most people wouldn't endorse such laws. But I'm just trying to show that it's not that easy. Who do we trust to draw the line? And how many people who don't believe in christianity are prevented from living freely by some of the laws that are already in place?

An example of a religiously based law that many states and counties have adopted are those that legislate against selling cars, liquor, etc on Sundays. Why should those of us who don't believe in the need to rest on Sunday be prevented from carrying on as normal? There's no reason for it. Is it ethical? No. Repealing such laws would give non-believers back their freedom without causing the religious any harm. If you choose not to buy cars or alcohol on Sundays, just don't. Or if it's about having to work selling either, then that's a scheduling issue that you can negotiate with your employer like any other retail job would have you do. So, anyway, it's an unethical law, and I can assume we'd only have more if this christian movement to gain politcal power goes any further.

A lesson on not judging people...

I just wanted to post about how wrong I was about the person I spoke of here -I saw her again at same Starbucks, but this time we sat sortof behind her. Ed pointed at her laptop and I said "yeah, I saw it" dismissively. But, he indicated again that I should read what was on her screen. ...okay, I was curious, so I looked -it looked like she was in a 12-step type program about "Coming Out To God" (and I think that's the title of a book she had beside her).

That lead me to think about how, based on her laptop which was covered in "gay stickers", I had previously assumed she was one of those "angry lesbians". How wrong I was! She is, instead, one of those hurt by the church's refusal to accept gayness as a trait instead of a choice. I totally sympathize with her now. -it's hard enough to accept on it's own without the church telling you your attraction is wrong or (at the extreme end) yelling "God hates fags!" as you walk hand in hand with your partner without thinking about the consequences.

How very sad for the world that this cannot be accepted (yet). It will. Eventually. And all you people who make us feel bad about WHO WE ARE... I hope you feel as foolish and apologetic as those who've defended apartheid, fought against women's right to vote, etc.

Oh, and I've learned my lesson not to judge people too :-( Sorry to you, whoever you are, Starbucks woman... I wish I had the courage to say something supportive to you then and there, but we're on way opposite poles as far as the religion thing goes, so I didn't even know where to start. You've got it WAY harder than I do.

...but what about those stickers? -I suppose I could admire the courage to display something so personal while you seem to be struggling for acceptance -even for/from yourself. But it seems that, in this case anyway, the root of it is just overcompensation, then right? Perhaps. But, I guess I don't really feel like making sweeping generalizations anymore... :-(

Supporting a cause VS being confrontational about it

I've yet to come right out and say this on my blog because I have no idea who reads it. I know my Mom's read a couple of my photography-related posts that were linked to from Flickr, but I don't think she reads it regularly. Anyway, I consider myself bi. There. That should be fun if my family finds it...

Anyway, I deeply believe in supporting gay rights. In fact, I can't understand how anyone can deny that it's a cut and dry civil rights issue. So, there's a part of me that wants to put that HRC sticker on the back of my car.

Similarly, I want a Darwin Fish or something to counter all the religious cr@p people put on the backs of their cars.

Both are reactions to feeling attacked. Is it really a fault to be attracted to people of the same sex? Science says it's not a choice, and I have felt this way all my life. My only choice was to restrict myself to men and the result is that I've always questioned myself to the point where I felt asexual at times. Everything in my life has to be carefully controlled and outwardly perfect just like I was raised to be when our family was being torn apart by alcoholism. (Which is no one's fault, it's just a disease we need to find better treatments for.)

And, the religious (Christian) fundamentals (I try hard not to lump everyone into that group, but...) are trying to push science out of schools when our schools are doing so poorly already. They interrupt a Hindu guest's opening prayer in the Senate, while calling for more religious tolerance (huh?). And they fight to exclude the recognition of other religions by protesting stores that wish people "Happy Holidays" rather than restrict their kindness to Christians by wishing their customers a "Merry Christmas".

So, what am I to do? I feel the need to fight back. Explain my views. So, I started thinking about getting a couple bumper stickers. Until...

I walked into Starbucks one day, ordered a mocha, and went to sit down. I noticed that the lady beside working feverishly on her laptop had a rainbow sticker on there. Cool. She's a "friendly". I went on with my sipping, reading my cup, talking to Ed, etc. Then, I glanced over again and looked at the rest of the stickers on her laptop. Wow. There must have been at least 10 -the whole top was covered in stickers, and every last one of them related to her sexuality.

It was then that I realized that that's not who I want to be. Despite our similar positions on GLBT issues, she's more like the people I hate than those I'd want to align myself with. The problem -no matter what side of either debate we are on, is militantism. So, you're a Christian and I'm an atheist. As long as we respect each other's beliefs, why does it matter? Don't try to push me to believe what you believe, and I won't argue with you about why I think your beliefs are silly. End of story. -Sure, gay marriage isn't quite as easily dismissed because there's laws being considered, and that means a side must be taken, and a vote cast either for or against. But, if that same mindset were applied, I think we'd all be better off.

To push this (probably farther than I should) -I mean, what are the arguments against gay marriage? Well, you have a majority Christian nation who's led by a church who interprets one line in the Old Testament as saying homosexuality is bad. (Of course, that line is just a few pages away from several lines explaining that God wants you to make sacrifices of "burnt flesh" to him, but hey, that's the OLD Testament, no one really believes that stuff anym... oh, wait...). And the other argument is that it'd corrupt heterosexual marriage (how is that, exactly?). The one issue that may hold water is homosexual couples raising children, but that's a seperate issue anyway, isn't it? I mean, a gay couple can't produce children on their own... Yes, I know they can find a donor and produce a child that way -my answer for that is this: There are no parenting classes or consideration given to heterosexual couples who want to marry. Known violent offenders can marry anyone, including each other. Retarded couples can marry and have children...

Blah. This is just making me angrier. What do I, as a reasonable adult do? Fight back and add to the horde of people who take an in-your-face stance on their positions? Or do I sit back down and just hope people come to their senses on their own. One thing's for sure, you'll never change anyone's mind with a bumper sticker. So, how do you quietly make your arguments known? Perhaps my answer lies in my first reaction to the woman in Starbucks when I thought she just had one rainbow sticker... Hmm...

A correction about the Starbucks woman is here.

No one suspected a post on the Spanish Inquisition!

I'm going to share what I'm learning while I read "The Spanish Inquisitioin" by Joseph Perez, published by Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-11982-8

I'm reading this more out of curiosity about they psychology of it than I am out of religion bashing and intend to just note the facts here for those interested in the short-story. Truth is, I'm finding it interesting, but can't quite keep track of all the facts in my head, so...

This was getting too long, so it was moved to:
http://ericasworld.logic.net/the_spanish_inquisition

An atheist preaching religious tolerance!

To the 83% of Americans out there who call yourselves Christians, I sincerely would like to know how you feel about what happened on the floor of the Senate yesterday:

Click here for a link to a short article about it on CNN.

Now, I know we all live very busy lives and it's hard to keep up with the news and how our government works, so let me point this out -As the article states, the Senate has a Christian Chaplain who performs the opening prayer on MOST days.

So, these obviously deeply religious people couldn't just maybe silently pray to themselves while this Hindu chaplain said his prayer? They couldn't just be happy with having the majority of opening prayers be of their own persuasion?

It may be just a few Christians who want to push their beliefs on others via interrupting someone else's sacred ceremony on the Senate floor (the same right they claim for themselves), as well as wanting to teach their religion's non-scientific version of how the world was created in our science classes, as well as putting up their god's "rules" in our government court buildings, etc BUT THEY ARE DOING IT IN YOUR NAME!


As an atheist I'm disgusted by this display. I would never interrupt or delay a (legal) religious ceremony of any kind. I respect others' beliefs as long as they are not trying to push them on me. Likewise, I don't push my belief on others. Who sounds like a more honest and good person here? Shameful.

Perhaps they see the Hindu prayer being said on the Senate floor as "pushing" or "advocating" the Hindu beliefs? Well, how is Christian prayer on the Senate floor not the same thing? The only reason it's accepted is because of that 83% majority that agrees with you. If you lived in another country, like India, Hinduism is what the majority believes in. There, you'd be in the minority. So, how would you want to be treated if you lived in India?


Religious or not, if you believe in advocating the separation of church and state, consider joining Americans United for the Separation of Church and State at http://www.au.org/ or for fellow atheists, check out the Freedom From Religion Foundation at http://ffrf.org (As a direct result of what happened on the Senate floor yesterday, I'm joining this organization today.)

A prayer to the Flying Spaghetti Monster...

Our Pasta, who art in colander,
Draining be your noodles.
Thy noodle come, thy sauce be yum,
on top some grated parmesan.
Give us this day our garlic bread, and
forgive us our tresspasses as we
forgive those who trample our lawns.
And lead us not into vegetarianism,
but deliver us some pizza,
for thine is the meatball, the noodle,
and the sauce,
forever and ever.

RAMEN

"Xmas" vs "Christmas"

Yep. It's true, you got me. I'm one of those people who write "Xmas" instead of "Christmas". It's not even out of laziness, I'm not just saving myself from writing those extra 5 letters. It's not even because "X" stands for the Greek letter "Chi" which used to mean "Christ" or whatever that story is... Nope. I do it because I don't believe in Christ, yet I celebrate the holiday with friends and family. -It's an easy way to express the idea of a non-religious Christmas. I suppose I could start calling it "Christmas-lite" if you'd prefer...

Now, let's face it. Christmas has been drifting further and further from a religious holiday for centuries now... The killer was the inclusion of Santa Clause in the 17th century. Boy, nothing takes a kid's focus off of God faster than the promise of gifts. "Hey Tommy, who do you hope comes down this chimney tonight, Jesus or Santa Clause?"

But there's no going back, so we have to deal with the present, right? Luckily Jerry Falwell's here to tell you about the war on Christmas. Yep. He says you're "either with us or against us". Now, where have I heard those words before...

So, you don't want to be "against" the good pastor! You gotta join his fight! Here's how:

• Throw away Christmas cards that don't say "Merry CHRISTmas" (including the one fromPresident Bush.)
• Boycott Wal-Mart for changing their signs to a more inclusive message: "Happy Holidays".
• Correct people when they write "Xmas" rather than "Christmas" and remind them that the son of your god died because God was mad at us for eating an apple
  

Really, people! Once again it all boils down to "us vs them". Christian and non-Christian. We're asking the Christians to give up being singled out as the only religious group in the country, and accept the acknowledgement of other religions by not screaming like a little babies when someone says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". 80% of the country may be Christian, but that leaves 20%, or 1/5th that are not. Unless you feel it's a personal insult that we're not a 100% Christian nation, I say get over it!

According to Wikipedia, "Christian Values" are said to be:

• worship of God: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."
• fidelity in marriage: "Whom God has joined together let no man put asunder."
• renunciation of worldly goods: "Gather not your riches up upon this earth, for there your heart will be also."
• renunciation of violence: "If a man strike you on one cheek, turn the other cheek."
• forgiveness of sins: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."
• unconditional love: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"

How does throwing away "Holiday" cards from friends and family, boycotting businesses who cater to everyone (not just Christians), and ranting at people over their choice of names for a holiday measure up against the stated "Christian values". Hmm... I'd give you an "F", but I don't feel qualified judging you, so I'll leave you with this:

What would Jesus do?

Special Intrests Groups Weigh In On The Next Pope

Ed and I were getting ready for bed, and I'm deathly afraid of silence, so I had the radio tuned into News Radio 780. They were talking about a woman's group who were down at the Vatican making pink smoke to signify the fact that they think that the Catholic church should let women into positions of power. They also interviewed some people about the possibility of the next Pope being black.

This got Ed and my heads churning. The conversation went something like this:

Ed: I think the next Pope should be a black woman.
Erica: Yeah. With a disability. And maybe AIDS?
Ed: And she should be gay.
Erica: Maybe trans-gender?
Ed: Or a child-molester? Think about it.
Erica: Yeah, at least they wouldn't have to cover it up anymore.
Ed: Ooh! I have it! The next Pope will be Michael Jackson! -Where else but in America can a promising young black boy grow up to be a beautiful white woman?

(He loves that quote.)

Anyway, I about fell off the bed when he said that, so I thought I'd share.

X-Mas

It's almost over. 8 days left. What's that -Lords-A-Leapin'? Blah...

December. A month of frantic shopping. Middle-aged woman elbowing eachother to get first grabs at the "Tickle-Me-Elmo" gift of the year while "Silent Night" plays softly in the background. What a shitty holiday. Everything about it pisses me off...

"CRIST-mas": It's supposed to be a Christian holiday, and the religious get all upset when someone calls it "X-Mas". "Don't take the CHRIST out of Christmas" they say. Well, what about Christmas is Christian? Okay, I'll give you the plastic manger scenes, but what else? Santa? Christmas trees? Animated reindeer displays in people's front yards? I think not.

But that's not my biggest complaint. In fact, if it went back to being a religious holiday I'd be happy to be off the hook. No, my biggest issue about X-Mas -it's all about greed.

Growing up my brother and I were always asked to make lists of what we wanted for X-Mas. I'm sure others did that as well (ala Santa asking you what you want for X-Mas). But it never stopped. Every year my parents, brother, and Grandma ask me what I want for X-Mas. I oblige and make a list -usually on Amazon these days. My boyfriend thinks this is really weird. He says that a list shouldn't be needed. You buy gifts for those close to you, and you should therefore know what they want. But, I see the list thing a little differently. ..

See, I don't get lists from my Parents, my Grandma, or my boyfriend (usually). -I'm left to figure it out for myself. That means countless hours thinking about what to get them, browsing stores online, or as a last act of despiration -walking the malls. All the while I feel stressed. Will they like this? What if they want to return it? The end result is a month's worth of frantic shopping and me totally hating "Christmas".

So, I make my loved ones a list. I consider it one of the bests gifts I can give them. The ability to quickly cross me off of their lists. Ed doesn't seem to understand that.

But, Ed has 2 people to shop for. His Mom, and me. I don't know what he got me, but I drove him to the mall, picked out his Mom's gift, AND PAID FOR IT. -He loves Christmas and can't see why I hate it so much...

Of course, every year I try to convince my Mom to try to celebrate X-Mas without gifts. It never works. "Grandma gets such joy out of seeing you open your presents." She says. Funny. For the last (what?) 10 years or so my Mom's been doing all of my Grandma's shopping as well as her own. So, my Grandma does nothing but actually pay for the gifts.

And that's another thing. I have enough money to buy whatever I want. My Grandma doesn't have enough money to cover the prescription medications that she needs each month. Why is she spending $200 or more on my brother and I at Christmast time? I'd rather she spent the money on her meds so she'd feel better and continue to be as active as possible for as long as possible, etc.

It's all just so stupid. I can see presents for kids, but we really need to cut out the presents for adults. Or maybe turn gift-giving into an annonomous thing -send gifts to whoever you want to without need for recognition -and no one would feel obligated to give a gift. It'd be more "Christian"! -I know, it'll never work. It all just sickens me.

About Religion...

I got a nicer response to my "Combat Boots" post than I may have expected: http://fromthemorning.blogspot.com/2004/11/its-not-like-that.html

That post (Your Mama Wears Combat Boots) was really more of a rant, so I figured I'd take time to explain my feelings toward religion...

First of all, I like what this person had to say. They have demonstrated that not all Christians are closed-minded and preachy. I also thank this person for pointing out that if my parents talk to me about church, they're doing so with good intentions. Keeping that in mind will no doubt temper my reaction if they do decide to talk to me.

But, (there had to be a "but") I clicked on the link "From The Morning"'s page that said we need a little more "Billy Graham", and on that page I found this: http://www.billygraham.org/DMag_article.asp?ArticleID=445

Here's an excerpt:

During a conversation, you can simply ask someone, "Would you consider yourself to be a good person?" Then follow with, "Do you think you've kept the Ten Commandments?" Then go through each one:

"Have you ever lied? Stolen anything? Taken God's name in vain? Looked with lust? If so, then by your own admission, you are a lying thief and a blasphemous adulterer at heart. So on the Day of Judgment, if God gives you justice, you won't go to heaven but to hell."

Now, here's one of my most major problems with organized religion. Why isn't it good enough to have faith yourself? Why the need to convert others? A friend of mine in High School was Baptist and kinda tricked me into going to a "church function" that ended up being a "Soul Saving Event" that had us in small groups discussing religion, then with the congregation being pressured to be baptized there on the spot, and finally -those who weren't baptized were pressured (one on one) into taking an oath swearing we believed in Jesus, etc. I don't remember the specifics of the oath, but I do remember that as I repeated it I knew I didn't believe what I was saying and that it was likely I'd break the promise to God. I still regret giving in to them -swearing to God (any God) is not something I take lightly...

I know that the reason so many try to convert others is to "save" them. -The idea being that those who don't follow the "right" religion will be punished after death (or at least won't reep the rewards of Heaven). But many different religions say the same thing, and all religions think that theirs is the "right one". The fact is that what religion a person is depends greatly on what their parents believed. And, like I said in the "Combat Boots" post, what about those who've never even heard of Jesus? I don't understand how a "just God" would punish (or not reward) someone because of something that the person could not control. -I mean, why is it not enough for people to obey the morality laws of Christianity without praying to Jesus or going to church? Why is it not enough to respect your fellow humans, regret the (minor) bad things you've done, and do good deeds whenever you can? Why must God hear us speak His name? Why is it so imparitive that we all go to church to praise Him every Sunday? Is it an ego thing or what?

Okay, I've "gone off" again. From The Morning is right -I am bitter about religion, and I'm sure it has a lot to do with my exposure to it. I try to take a lesson from Buddism and let others believe what works for them -in the end, most religions share the same morality and ideals anyway, so it doesn't really matter who you pray to. But, if you tell me that I'll be punished because I call God by the wrong name when I pray -prepare for me to go off!

Back to my parents... This change for them seems to be a positive one, so I'm trying to go along with it. I wish nothing but the best for them, and will do my best to support their religious decisions as long as they respect mine. Also, the more I've thought about this, the more I realized that this change shouldn't suprise me so much -they've always had faith, just not the "going-to-church" kind...

Firt of all, I was baptized when I was an infant. At that time my parents were going to church regularly. They stopped shortly after my baptisim, and I recall them citing the church's hunger for more and more money as the reason they stopped going. Nevertheless, when I was little my Mom taught me that there is a God up there and that he cares about the choices I make. Good choices, like helping those in need, are rewarded and bad choices, like stealing or lying, are punished. Before kindergarden my Mom would kneel at my bedside with me each night and lead me in prayer before I went to sleep. As I got older we didn't do that anymore, and I was left to figure out "the God thing" by myself. There were occasional refrences to God, and I remember a prayer my Dad wrote one time, but talking about "God" was rare in our house after I started school.

Outside of home I did have a few brushes with organized religion...

Sometimes I'd go to church with my Grandma on Christmas. It was an akward and complicated proceedure and I felt very much out of place. It was a Catholic church -a lot of standing up, sitting down, kneeling... And then there was communion. -I was told that I had to sit in the pew while everyone else went to the front of the church. Why? Because it was a right that I had not earned.

In high school I started trying to figure out what I believed in. People would ask me what religion I was, and I had a feeling of spirituality, but no label to go with it. I sought out many religions to try to find one that "fit". I went to Bible camp with a friend and found that some of the lessons didn't sit right with me. I went to a Methodist church with another friend a few times, and they were very nice -they didn't make me feel like I was wrong or an outcast, but ultimitly it was still Bible-based and I had found that "The Book" just didn't fit with who/what I believed God was. I tried New Age religions, but ultimately found that Native American spirituality was the one thing that came the closest. My Dad always taught me to respect the land and all the creatures of the earth. I have always felt a great connection with nature, and like the fact that they refer to God (the Lakota anyway) as "Mitakuye Oyasin" or "The Great Mystery". He/it has no name. We don't know who he is -we just feel his presence. I know that the basis for this feeling "right" is my Dad's teaching as I grew up, and I think my Dad got this same "respect for the land" from his father -a man I love and miss dearly. Eventually I decided that my religion is my own, and I don't need a name for it.

I guess my conclusion is this -do whatever feels right for you, and respect the fact that other people may believe differently then you. I think that it should be obvious whether you are living "right" or not, and it has nothing to do whatsoever with the name you've given "God" or what you do on Sunday. Religion, I think, should be a personal thing.

Your mama wears combat boots.

I bought some. Combat boots, I mean. I feel like a soldier, or more like the world's falling down and I need to be prepared. Not to fight it, it's really not in my nature to be militant. No, just to survive I guess...

My parents have found religion. What? No commentary on the outcome of the election? No, I'm getting there... let me finish. They're going to a Baptist church. It bothers me. Alot. So, I've been thinking about it. Alot. I'm worried about confrontational conversations. I've always had a negative view of organized (mostly Christian) religion. I think the followers are often close-minded. They all congregate in the same place for their weekly brain-washing, and "spread the good word" the other 6 days. Well, I'm not buying it.

Okay, maybe I'm not being fair. I know. Under a microscope it's fine, or can be. Religion helps a lot of people through rough times. And with the right preacher it can be a good thing too. I've met a few who are really open to questions, debate, etc. They weren't ready to feed me their sale's pitch, and were open to letting me hold my own opinion -even if it was different from their own. But, in my experience, these people are the minority. Generally the Christian religion is nothing more than a mind-control machine that not only keeps people "good" and "honest" but also uses them to push for political and social ajendas.

See, I have these unresolved problems. Mind you, I know very little about Christianity, but living in a Christian-dominated country, I think I've picked up a few things...

Homosexuals are bad says the pope. They shouldn't get married or have relationships. Certainly not sex. Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, but science has pretty much proven that it's biological. So, "God made them that way. " What now? They're still bad? Apparently. You're view hasn't changed.

People who don't believe go to Hell. Or that place in-between. But certainly not Heaven. What about the people God put in the middle of the jungles of Africa with no contact with "civilization", and therefore no means of ever even hearing about "God", "Jesus", whoever? They go to Hell as well? Hardly the "fair" and "just" rules of a "loving God".

So, what would Jesus do? According to many passages in the Bible "smoting" was a favorite passtime. Yep, wiping out villages, cursing a man's children and grandchildren for his mistakes, etc. I don't know, dude. I don't think I can buy in...

That being said, there are some who take the Bible as fable, and disregard parts that don't make sense to them. They listen to the preacher, and interpret the sermon as they see fit. They use Christianity as a framework and bend it to their own reality. These are "thinking Christians" and I respect them.

No, the people I have a problem with are the ones who read everything as reality and never put any thought into what they're told by the guy in the robe. The nod with a far-off stare and go out in droves to "save souls".

My views are just background here, though. One point I guess is that I'm afraid of my parents trying to "convert me". The other, bigger concern is this: In a conversation at work a few weeks ago we were talking politics and someone said that he was watching the Presidential debate when his son came in and said "Dad, my Sunday school teacher said that Kerry's bad because he wants to let people kill babies." The world stopped. Blood rushed to my head, and anger threatened to pour out of my eyes as tears. It's fine for an individual to hold an opinion about abortion. I admit that my mind isn't completely made up one way or the other about it. I also know that it's the church's view that abortion means the killing of a human soul, and therefore they are against it. But bringing politics into a class of children who are there to learn about religion is wrong. I see it as evidence of brain-washing, and I was encouraged to look into this further.

Before I go further a disclaimer: when I say "brain-washing' I don't mean overtly. I don't think that's the goal of local churches, or the sunday school teacher, or whoever. I think everyone has "what's best" in mind. No, but religion has a lot of power over people. And when the majority of a nation calls themselves "Christians" all of a sudden the church has a lot of power over nations as well...

Back to my investigation... I wasn't going to go to church (although the thought of showing up in my combat boots is amusing), no I watched TV. Sunday morning. The preachers were more than enthused. It was actually quite fun to watch. I saw three different preachers in the course of my two or three-week investigation. One guy I'm throwing out because he didn't actually preach. No, he "healed" people, and sold little packets of healing water from some well in Ohio. Okay, so 2 preachers, and both of them mentioned how Kerry would be bad for the nation. They actually spent time talking about the election each time I watched them, and outright said that Kerry was evil because of his "immorality"-his stance on gay marriage (more like "civil unions"), stem cells, and abortion.

As I watched, my heart sank for I knew that Bush would win re-election. Vote for Bush or go to Hell. What a campaign slogan. And people fell for it. Religion has a strong hold on our country and I don't think it's a good thing.