"STOP SHOVING YOUR AGENDA AND LIFESTYLE DOWN OUR THROATS!!!"
You hear that a lot from the Right. Like, every time something comes up that doesn't color exactly within the lines of what they consider 'the right way of thinking about shit'.
Lets take abortion. People like me think that it's a personal decision between a woman and whoever SHE wants involved in making it- family, doctor, God, no one...HER choice. Beyond that, it's a legal medical procedure so no matter what we personally think about it...it's none of our damn business. If somehow pro-choice were really pro-abortion and being 'shoved down the throats' of those opposed to it, we pro-choicers would be pushing for every pregnancy to end in abortion. Every one.
But we're not. Because we're pro-CHOICE.
How about gay marriage? If you are in a committed relationship with someone and desire to have the legal and social benefits that marriage provides, that's your choice and none of our damn business. If somehow pro-gay marriage people were really into 'shoving that gay agenda down everyone's throats' we would insist that everyone marry someone of their own sex. Everyone.
But we don't. Because we want marriage equality,not something narrowly defined by a twisted interpretation of the Christian bible...since there are many definitions of marriage in that self-same bible including how many concubines you can have and the forced marriage of a widow to her brother-in-law. Also some neat ways you can marry slaves and the women you rape.
And about that Bible.
Until the Commie Scare of the '50's, there was no "In God We Trust" anywhere and "Under God" wasn't in our pledge. Before that the money said "E Pluribus Unum" and the pledge went "One nation indivisible". So we went from "Out of many, one" to "One True God" and from "we may be many different people but we are united" to "the Christian God rules this joint!"
Freedom of religion also means freedom FROM religion if you so choose, because we are not a theocracy and there's NO WAY any god of any religion should figure prominently because we do not have a National Religion. Let that sink in for a sec and then segway to the many fundamentals on the Right who are screaming for America to 'turn back to God' and the insistence that we twist our laws around their bible. Exactly who is destroying the Constitution?
So lets think about this for just a second.
Exactly which 'side' is shoving their agenda on everyone else while hollering about PERSECUTION and the KILLING OF AMERICA?
Which 'side' is clamping down on the freedoms of others in order to force them to conform to their narrow view of right/wrong?
Hint. It ain't the Left.
photo
photo by Sheri Dixon
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Monday, September 29, 2014
Saturday, July 5, 2014
I Do Not Think This Means What You Think It Means
It's a fact that not all gun nuts are also religious nuts, but it is also a fact that a lot of religious nuts are also gun nuts. You see 'em posing with their guns in one hand and a bible in the other all the damn time with big, shit-eating patriotic grins on their faces.
So here's why I'm laying this out here in words and everything. It's because the 'only-gun' crowd aren't paying attention to a damn thing except their 'news' sources and forums and all the places that keep them focused ONLY on guns and have a (gasp) tendency to blow everything up to way bigger than life-size for the benefit of the gun manufacturers so their readers/viewers will run right out and buy up MORE gun shit. Because they're coming to take it all. Any minute now.
Those who are busy squirreling away literal tons of ammo have no clue about anything else. Because nothing else matters. True answer when I asked my personal gun nut what he thought of the Hobby Lobby ruling. "Ummm...I don't know much about it. They said it was women bitching about not being able to get free condoms or some shit, right?"
Right.
Took a gander over at the Hobby Lobby fan page on Facebook. Surreal. For every question regarding the declarations by the owners of Hobby Lobby of this being 'totally about religious freedom' there is the same cut/paste stock answer from Hobby Lobby.
"Why does Hobby Lobby include stocks for the manufacturers of the Evil Four 'abortifactant' types of contraception in their 401K and other retirement plans?"
The Greens have no desire to deny access to contraceptives or interfere with the personal reproductive choices of Hobby Lobby employees. They object to being forced to violate their moral conscience by paying for a small subset of contraceptives that the FDA states may terminate life. They still offer 16 of 20 FDA-approved contraceptives covered under ACA as part of Hobby Lobby's comprehensive employee health plan. The remaining four, which the Green family objects to, are still readily available and employees are free to obtain and use them at their discretion.
"Why does 95% of the crap sold at Hobby Lobby come from China, a country well-known for its VIGOROUS, government-enforced family planning policies?"
The Greens have no desire to deny access to contraceptives or interfere with the personal reproductive choices of Hobby Lobby employees. They object to being forced to violate their moral conscience by paying for a small subset of contraceptives that the FDA states may terminate life. They still offer 16 of 20 FDA-approved contraceptives covered under ACA as part of Hobby Lobby's comprehensive employee health plan. The remaining four, which the Green family objects to, are still readily available and employees are free to obtain and use them at their discretion.
"Why did Hobby Lobby not have a problem with providing contraceptive care until the ACA was enacted?"
The Greens have no desire to deny access to contraceptives or interfere with the personal reproductive choices of Hobby Lobby employees. They object to being forced to violate their moral conscience by paying for a small subset of contraceptives that the FDA states may terminate life. They still offer 16 of 20 FDA-approved contraceptives covered under ACA as part of Hobby Lobby's comprehensive employee health plan. The remaining four, which the Green family objects to, are still readily available and employees are free to obtain and use them at their discretion.
Here's where the gun nuts smile and say, "See? Silly wimmen- they don't want to take ALL your contraceptives, only a few of the ones they think are really bad."
Does that not sound familiar to ANY GUN NUT AT ALL??? ANY OF THEM??? Here. Lemme simple it up for ya-
"See? Silly gun nuts- they don't want to take ALL your guns, only a few of the ones they think are really bad."
Now how does it sit?
Wait. Where did they all go? They all hollered, "SLIPPERY SLOPE!!!" grabbed their precious armaments and went to ground like gophers when a big bird-shaped shadow cruises across the meadow.
Because that's the thing, here (as I patiently explained to my own gun nut).
Yes, this is about the fact that your employer has no right to tell you what you do on your off-time or how to make your personal decisions, unless your personal decisions include taking drugs while working or being an embezzler. If it doesn't affect your WORK, it doesn't affect THEIR BUSINESS. Period.
Because especially in a company the size of Hobby Lobby, the personal philosophy of the owners is completely separate from the business entity. The owner isn't traded on the stock exchange; the business is. The owner isn't handing out contraceptives; that is included in the health insurance the company provides to its employees as a benefit PAID FOR AT LEAST PARTIALLY BY THE EMPLOYEES THEMSELVES. "Here- I will allow you to have this tray of cookies, I will allow you to PAY for this tray of cookies, but you may not eat any of the chocolate chip ones, because I think the Devil invented chocolate chips therefore you, my employee, may not eat any of the chocolate chip cookies that you have paid for."
But lets not even consider the FACT that Hobby Lobby did in fact cover ALL the forms of contraceptives until the ACA came along, or the FACT that their retirement funds do include stock in the very companies that manufacture said evil devices and drugs, and that they for SURE get most of the shit sold in their stores from the very large country that says a family may only have one child...no matter how that's accomplished- in effect Hobby Lobby and their customers are funding the largest number of abortions on the planet.
Lets look at the bigger picture- one that was only hypothetical for about 27 minutes after the ruling.
The MEN who voted in Hobby Lobby's favor in this piece of shit decision said, "It's OK- don't worry- it's very limited. We made sure of that."
Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped at LEAST half a dozen companies from immediately before the ink was dry jumping on the "I think this is icky, so I'm not paying for it" bandwagon.
Surprise. Surprise. Surprise.
The power of the corporation has been increased exponentially. All those previous 'may not discriminate on the grounds of...' laws and whatnot? Now moot. All someone has to say is, "I think this is icky and my religion doesn't believe it" and it's HANDS OFF for trying to enforce anything.
Gay people? Icky.
Women? Icky. (because we bleed every month and are unclean and shit)
Minorities? Icky.
And just in health care- vaccinations? Blood transfusions? All VERY icky according to some religion or other.
I do not think it was a coincidence that just prior to the Hobby Lobby ruling, the SCOTUS decided that making protesters stay 35 feet away from the entrance to women's clinics was unconstitutional on the grounds that the sidewalks are public property. So now ANY woman going to say Planned Parenthood for say AN ANNUAL CHECKUP AND PAP SMEAR can be screamed at, bullied, and have photographs of dead babies shoved in their faces because...freedom.
***Just a little aside to mention that the Occupy movement also used public spaces, and were met with pepper spray, beatings and jail time. Just sayin'...
I think it was an ice-breaker. It emboldened the Religious Right *(far Right) so that they'd be good and jubilant for the Hobby Lobby decision- a little snack before the main course if you will. With such stars in their eyes they had no holding back to think this through...all they can see is "GOD wins AGAIN! America is being TAKEN BACK- PRAISE JESUS!!!"
But it's a precedent now.
Religious belief now trumps the Constitution (where it says there is to be NO state religion) and the God of the Christian bible can override anything anywhere for any reason.
But several states have enacted laws (?) saying that Sharia Law can never be the Law of our Land.
Doesn't matter now. The SCOTUS has just ensured that a holy book is not only above the Law, it IS the Law.
And the Law is to be applied equally in every case and every situation.
Chocolate chip cookie, anyone?
So here's why I'm laying this out here in words and everything. It's because the 'only-gun' crowd aren't paying attention to a damn thing except their 'news' sources and forums and all the places that keep them focused ONLY on guns and have a (gasp) tendency to blow everything up to way bigger than life-size for the benefit of the gun manufacturers so their readers/viewers will run right out and buy up MORE gun shit. Because they're coming to take it all. Any minute now.
Those who are busy squirreling away literal tons of ammo have no clue about anything else. Because nothing else matters. True answer when I asked my personal gun nut what he thought of the Hobby Lobby ruling. "Ummm...I don't know much about it. They said it was women bitching about not being able to get free condoms or some shit, right?"
Right.
Took a gander over at the Hobby Lobby fan page on Facebook. Surreal. For every question regarding the declarations by the owners of Hobby Lobby of this being 'totally about religious freedom' there is the same cut/paste stock answer from Hobby Lobby.
"Why does Hobby Lobby include stocks for the manufacturers of the Evil Four 'abortifactant' types of contraception in their 401K and other retirement plans?"
The Greens have no desire to deny access to contraceptives or interfere with the personal reproductive choices of Hobby Lobby employees. They object to being forced to violate their moral conscience by paying for a small subset of contraceptives that the FDA states may terminate life. They still offer 16 of 20 FDA-approved contraceptives covered under ACA as part of Hobby Lobby's comprehensive employee health plan. The remaining four, which the Green family objects to, are still readily available and employees are free to obtain and use them at their discretion.
"Why does 95% of the crap sold at Hobby Lobby come from China, a country well-known for its VIGOROUS, government-enforced family planning policies?"
The Greens have no desire to deny access to contraceptives or interfere with the personal reproductive choices of Hobby Lobby employees. They object to being forced to violate their moral conscience by paying for a small subset of contraceptives that the FDA states may terminate life. They still offer 16 of 20 FDA-approved contraceptives covered under ACA as part of Hobby Lobby's comprehensive employee health plan. The remaining four, which the Green family objects to, are still readily available and employees are free to obtain and use them at their discretion.
"Why did Hobby Lobby not have a problem with providing contraceptive care until the ACA was enacted?"
The Greens have no desire to deny access to contraceptives or interfere with the personal reproductive choices of Hobby Lobby employees. They object to being forced to violate their moral conscience by paying for a small subset of contraceptives that the FDA states may terminate life. They still offer 16 of 20 FDA-approved contraceptives covered under ACA as part of Hobby Lobby's comprehensive employee health plan. The remaining four, which the Green family objects to, are still readily available and employees are free to obtain and use them at their discretion.
Here's where the gun nuts smile and say, "See? Silly wimmen- they don't want to take ALL your contraceptives, only a few of the ones they think are really bad."
Does that not sound familiar to ANY GUN NUT AT ALL??? ANY OF THEM??? Here. Lemme simple it up for ya-
"See? Silly gun nuts- they don't want to take ALL your guns, only a few of the ones they think are really bad."
Now how does it sit?
Wait. Where did they all go? They all hollered, "SLIPPERY SLOPE!!!" grabbed their precious armaments and went to ground like gophers when a big bird-shaped shadow cruises across the meadow.
Because that's the thing, here (as I patiently explained to my own gun nut).
Yes, this is about the fact that your employer has no right to tell you what you do on your off-time or how to make your personal decisions, unless your personal decisions include taking drugs while working or being an embezzler. If it doesn't affect your WORK, it doesn't affect THEIR BUSINESS. Period.
Because especially in a company the size of Hobby Lobby, the personal philosophy of the owners is completely separate from the business entity. The owner isn't traded on the stock exchange; the business is. The owner isn't handing out contraceptives; that is included in the health insurance the company provides to its employees as a benefit PAID FOR AT LEAST PARTIALLY BY THE EMPLOYEES THEMSELVES. "Here- I will allow you to have this tray of cookies, I will allow you to PAY for this tray of cookies, but you may not eat any of the chocolate chip ones, because I think the Devil invented chocolate chips therefore you, my employee, may not eat any of the chocolate chip cookies that you have paid for."
But lets not even consider the FACT that Hobby Lobby did in fact cover ALL the forms of contraceptives until the ACA came along, or the FACT that their retirement funds do include stock in the very companies that manufacture said evil devices and drugs, and that they for SURE get most of the shit sold in their stores from the very large country that says a family may only have one child...no matter how that's accomplished- in effect Hobby Lobby and their customers are funding the largest number of abortions on the planet.
Lets look at the bigger picture- one that was only hypothetical for about 27 minutes after the ruling.
The MEN who voted in Hobby Lobby's favor in this piece of shit decision said, "It's OK- don't worry- it's very limited. We made sure of that."
Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped at LEAST half a dozen companies from immediately before the ink was dry jumping on the "I think this is icky, so I'm not paying for it" bandwagon.
Surprise. Surprise. Surprise.
The power of the corporation has been increased exponentially. All those previous 'may not discriminate on the grounds of...' laws and whatnot? Now moot. All someone has to say is, "I think this is icky and my religion doesn't believe it" and it's HANDS OFF for trying to enforce anything.
Gay people? Icky.
Women? Icky. (because we bleed every month and are unclean and shit)
Minorities? Icky.
And just in health care- vaccinations? Blood transfusions? All VERY icky according to some religion or other.
I do not think it was a coincidence that just prior to the Hobby Lobby ruling, the SCOTUS decided that making protesters stay 35 feet away from the entrance to women's clinics was unconstitutional on the grounds that the sidewalks are public property. So now ANY woman going to say Planned Parenthood for say AN ANNUAL CHECKUP AND PAP SMEAR can be screamed at, bullied, and have photographs of dead babies shoved in their faces because...freedom.
***Just a little aside to mention that the Occupy movement also used public spaces, and were met with pepper spray, beatings and jail time. Just sayin'...
I think it was an ice-breaker. It emboldened the Religious Right *(far Right) so that they'd be good and jubilant for the Hobby Lobby decision- a little snack before the main course if you will. With such stars in their eyes they had no holding back to think this through...all they can see is "GOD wins AGAIN! America is being TAKEN BACK- PRAISE JESUS!!!"
But it's a precedent now.
Religious belief now trumps the Constitution (where it says there is to be NO state religion) and the God of the Christian bible can override anything anywhere for any reason.
But several states have enacted laws (?) saying that Sharia Law can never be the Law of our Land.
Doesn't matter now. The SCOTUS has just ensured that a holy book is not only above the Law, it IS the Law.
And the Law is to be applied equally in every case and every situation.
Chocolate chip cookie, anyone?
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Dear Hobby Lobby...
I confess. I went into Hobby Lobby recently. I used to go all the time, before Michael's moved into the strip mall that's closer to where I work. I remember that Hobby Lobby and Michael's were essentially the same store.
Maybe I'm seeing things through different eyes now, but I don't remember HL being quite so in your face Christian before.
Walk into Michael's and it's...craft stuff, home decor, art supplies. Sure, in the home decor area there's stuff with crosses on it and sure in the picture frame area there's frames that say whoever's photo you stuff into it is a blessing to you somehow, but that's normal- especially here in the Bible Belt.
Hobby Lobby?
Holy shit. Really- the entire store is nothing but holy shit.
It was everywhere. I could literally not swing a cat without hitting something with the word 'Jesus' on it.
*And lemme tell you for the record- neither the cat nor store security considered that a valid measure, but it's a measure that's always served me well so I'm sticking to it.
Seriously, ya'll. Not only in home decor, but every single aisle had something bible-related prominently displayed. Every single center-of-the-big-aisles island was mounded up like it had been burped straight from the bowels of the Sea of Scripture- one little craggy atoll of religiosity after another from stem to stern the entire length and breadth of the store.
If I hadn't needed a cupcake pan for my snacks class in our secular, non-Christian liberal-lovin' co-op I would've walked right out.
Not because I'm allergic to Jesus (I'm sure those hives came from something in the air...) but because of their whiny-ass complaining (all the way to the Supreme Court) that they don't want to provide reproductive health care for their female employees under that mean ol' healthcare bill.
Specifically this- (from their own Wikipedia page) "In September 2012, Hobby Lobby sued the United States over new regulations requiring health insurance provided by employers to cover emergency contraceptives, stating that, "The Green family's religious beliefs forbid them from participating in, providing access to, paying for, training others to engage in, or otherwise supporting abortion-causing drugs and devices."
What they're talking about is stuff like 'the morning after' pill- that flushes out a woman's uterus BEFORE THE EGG CAN BE FERTILIZED. So...not an 'abortion-causing drug or device', just something they think is icky and might encourage 'loose behavior'.
I can see that. I can see where a corporate person (because they're ALL PERSONS NOW thanks to Citizens United) would live such a godly and upstanding life that they'd never, ever EVER be in a position to need something as tawdry as a morning-after pill.
Nothing they'd ever have to walk back on and think, "That was probably not my best life choice."
Wait. Lower down on their Wiki page is this (italics from the page, bold is mine)-
"In September 2013, a shopper reported being told by an employee of the store in Marlboro, New Jersey, it did not carry merchandise celebrating Jewish holidays. While the store carried Christmas items, they did not carry items related to bar mitzvah, Hanukkah, or Passover. The store employee told the shopper that these items were not sold, due to the owner's Christian values. In response, Hobby Lobby apologized for the employee's comments, stating that it has carried Jewish holiday items in the past, and would do so in test areas beginning in November 2013."
'Test areas'? What are they testing? To see if people who dive into Hobby Lobby for a full-on Jesus immersion would be offended by a section celebrating some OTHER religion?
Oy Vey.
Dear Hobby Lobby,
It's me- the old heathen hippie who darkened your pristine doorstep to purchase a cupcake pan for use in a totally secular home school co-op. We meet in a Unitarian Church, but I know that counts for nothing in your holy book. Because there are books on ALL religions, spiritual beliefs AND SCIENCE on the bookshelves of that church and you need only the one book. Whatever.
I just wanted you to know that I won't be back.
Oh, I could stand the almost total scriptural suffocation suffered from every shelf of your store...although you may consider changing your name to "Hobby Lobby Christian Craft Store"- that would both bring your flock flocking in even more fervently as well as warn us sinners to maybe not wear our pentagrams on the day we go to Hobby Lobby. Maybe.
I just can't abide the hypocrisy.
See, everywhere I read something about you, the one thing that's stressed when you're being small-minded bigots is that you're doing it out of the goodness of your Christian Values.
Now, I grew up Lutheran which I know is not considered a 'real' Christian religion down here, but we were taught that Jesus Christ (where the word 'Christian' comes from in case you forgot that) was pretty big on forgiveness and charity and compassion...all those words today's real corporate and political Christians think are 'weak and sinful'. He was big on loving humans- all of us imperfect messed-up carbon-based creatures who slog through life doing the best we can most of the time. He was huge on second chances and not a big fan of hypocritical assholes, especially those who chose to judge other people.
I don't think Jesus would approve of your Christian Values.
So you've gone all the way to the Supreme Court to defend your (defenseless) 'right' to not provide the morning after pill to your female employees. What, exactly does that save you? Pennies? Percentages of pennies? What is it costing you? Millions? More than millions?
Here's the thing, Hobby Lobby. You're not a church. You're a public business. You may have a Christian owner, but you're not a Christian entity. Sort of like the US is not a Christian nation, but it has a majority of Christian people. An ever-shrinking majority thanks to shenanigans like this.
Your employees might not all be Christians. Because siphoning your employment pool to only include one Faith is illegal as hell. Maybe I'll go apply at Hobby Lobby. I'd love to see what your interview process is like...
As a public company, you may not force your religious beliefs on your employees. May not.
So here's what I suggest. I suggest you take that millions of dollars you're willing to spend on a non-defensible and totally reprehensible stand and do something good with it. Put it towards school programs that actually TEACH the birds and the bees and not just 'don't do that', so that young people won't have just old-wives tales about when you can and can't have sex to not get pregnant.
Saying you 'love the sinner but hate the sin' has a lot more meaning when your boots-on-the-ground includes education beforehand rather than focusing on punishment afterwards.
Spending millions of dollars to prove how godly you by denying your employees legally available (and NOT ABORTION-INDUCING) health care seems more than a little assholish to me when it could be spent in many more...Christian endeavors.
What WOULD Jesus do?
Sincerely,
Sheri Dixon
Maybe I'm seeing things through different eyes now, but I don't remember HL being quite so in your face Christian before.
Walk into Michael's and it's...craft stuff, home decor, art supplies. Sure, in the home decor area there's stuff with crosses on it and sure in the picture frame area there's frames that say whoever's photo you stuff into it is a blessing to you somehow, but that's normal- especially here in the Bible Belt.
Hobby Lobby?
Holy shit. Really- the entire store is nothing but holy shit.
It was everywhere. I could literally not swing a cat without hitting something with the word 'Jesus' on it.
*And lemme tell you for the record- neither the cat nor store security considered that a valid measure, but it's a measure that's always served me well so I'm sticking to it.
Seriously, ya'll. Not only in home decor, but every single aisle had something bible-related prominently displayed. Every single center-of-the-big-aisles island was mounded up like it had been burped straight from the bowels of the Sea of Scripture- one little craggy atoll of religiosity after another from stem to stern the entire length and breadth of the store.
If I hadn't needed a cupcake pan for my snacks class in our secular, non-Christian liberal-lovin' co-op I would've walked right out.
Not because I'm allergic to Jesus (I'm sure those hives came from something in the air...) but because of their whiny-ass complaining (all the way to the Supreme Court) that they don't want to provide reproductive health care for their female employees under that mean ol' healthcare bill.
Specifically this- (from their own Wikipedia page) "In September 2012, Hobby Lobby sued the United States over new regulations requiring health insurance provided by employers to cover emergency contraceptives, stating that, "The Green family's religious beliefs forbid them from participating in, providing access to, paying for, training others to engage in, or otherwise supporting abortion-causing drugs and devices."
What they're talking about is stuff like 'the morning after' pill- that flushes out a woman's uterus BEFORE THE EGG CAN BE FERTILIZED. So...not an 'abortion-causing drug or device', just something they think is icky and might encourage 'loose behavior'.
I can see that. I can see where a corporate person (because they're ALL PERSONS NOW thanks to Citizens United) would live such a godly and upstanding life that they'd never, ever EVER be in a position to need something as tawdry as a morning-after pill.
Nothing they'd ever have to walk back on and think, "That was probably not my best life choice."
Wait. Lower down on their Wiki page is this (italics from the page, bold is mine)-
"In September 2013, a shopper reported being told by an employee of the store in Marlboro, New Jersey, it did not carry merchandise celebrating Jewish holidays. While the store carried Christmas items, they did not carry items related to bar mitzvah, Hanukkah, or Passover. The store employee told the shopper that these items were not sold, due to the owner's Christian values. In response, Hobby Lobby apologized for the employee's comments, stating that it has carried Jewish holiday items in the past, and would do so in test areas beginning in November 2013."
'Test areas'? What are they testing? To see if people who dive into Hobby Lobby for a full-on Jesus immersion would be offended by a section celebrating some OTHER religion?
Oy Vey.
Dear Hobby Lobby,
It's me- the old heathen hippie who darkened your pristine doorstep to purchase a cupcake pan for use in a totally secular home school co-op. We meet in a Unitarian Church, but I know that counts for nothing in your holy book. Because there are books on ALL religions, spiritual beliefs AND SCIENCE on the bookshelves of that church and you need only the one book. Whatever.
I just wanted you to know that I won't be back.
Oh, I could stand the almost total scriptural suffocation suffered from every shelf of your store...although you may consider changing your name to "Hobby Lobby Christian Craft Store"- that would both bring your flock flocking in even more fervently as well as warn us sinners to maybe not wear our pentagrams on the day we go to Hobby Lobby. Maybe.
I just can't abide the hypocrisy.
See, everywhere I read something about you, the one thing that's stressed when you're being small-minded bigots is that you're doing it out of the goodness of your Christian Values.
Now, I grew up Lutheran which I know is not considered a 'real' Christian religion down here, but we were taught that Jesus Christ (where the word 'Christian' comes from in case you forgot that) was pretty big on forgiveness and charity and compassion...all those words today's real corporate and political Christians think are 'weak and sinful'. He was big on loving humans- all of us imperfect messed-up carbon-based creatures who slog through life doing the best we can most of the time. He was huge on second chances and not a big fan of hypocritical assholes, especially those who chose to judge other people.
I don't think Jesus would approve of your Christian Values.
So you've gone all the way to the Supreme Court to defend your (defenseless) 'right' to not provide the morning after pill to your female employees. What, exactly does that save you? Pennies? Percentages of pennies? What is it costing you? Millions? More than millions?
Here's the thing, Hobby Lobby. You're not a church. You're a public business. You may have a Christian owner, but you're not a Christian entity. Sort of like the US is not a Christian nation, but it has a majority of Christian people. An ever-shrinking majority thanks to shenanigans like this.
Your employees might not all be Christians. Because siphoning your employment pool to only include one Faith is illegal as hell. Maybe I'll go apply at Hobby Lobby. I'd love to see what your interview process is like...
As a public company, you may not force your religious beliefs on your employees. May not.
So here's what I suggest. I suggest you take that millions of dollars you're willing to spend on a non-defensible and totally reprehensible stand and do something good with it. Put it towards school programs that actually TEACH the birds and the bees and not just 'don't do that', so that young people won't have just old-wives tales about when you can and can't have sex to not get pregnant.
Saying you 'love the sinner but hate the sin' has a lot more meaning when your boots-on-the-ground includes education beforehand rather than focusing on punishment afterwards.
Spending millions of dollars to prove how godly you by denying your employees legally available (and NOT ABORTION-INDUCING) health care seems more than a little assholish to me when it could be spent in many more...Christian endeavors.
What WOULD Jesus do?
Sincerely,
Sheri Dixon
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
If No Man is an Island, What're you Doing in a Bunker?
OK, Awesome Survivalist Preppers- Where do the following phrases come from? One ya'll live by, and one ya'll despise.
"God helps those who help themselves."
If you said, "the Bible" you are absolutely positively WRONG. According to Wikipedia-
"The phrase originated in ancient Greece and may originally have been proverbial. It is illustrated by two of Aesop's Fables and a similar sentiment is found in ancient Greek drama. Although it has been commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, the modern English wording appears earlier in Algernon Sidney's work.
The phrase is often mistaken as scriptural, but it appears nowhere in the Bible. Some Christians have criticized the expression as being contrary to the Bible's message of God's grace. A variant of the phrase, however, can be found in the Quran (13:11)."
So there ya go- you're following something that originated with the ancient Greeks, and is not even in the bible, although it IS in the Q'uran. How awesome is that?
How about this one-
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"
Easy, right? That's from that bastard destroyer of all things humanly good, Karl Marx.
Well, sort of. Although it is part of his writings and ideology, he didn't start it.
Even that known Middle Eastern Socialist Jesus Christ didn't start it. It starts in Old Testament Leviticus- the same place it says being gay is an abomination (along with eating shellfish, shaving your beard and getting a tattoo...even one that's a bible verse like this one)-
According to www.theologyofwork.org, this goes way way back to a little thing called "Jubilee", which pretty much leveled the playing field for everyone every so often, BY LAW.
"There is continuing debate about whether or not these community summaries advocate a certain economic system, with some commentators describing the practice of the community as “proto-communism” and others seeing a mandatory divestiture of goods. The text, however, does not suggest an attempt to change the structures beyond the Christian community. Indeed, it would be difficult to think of a small, marginalized, socially powerless group having designs on changing the imperial economic system. It is clear that the community did not fully opt out of the systems of economics within the empire. Likely, fishermen remained members of fishing cartels and artisans continued to do business in the market.[1] Paul, after all, continued making tents to support his missionary travels (Acts 18:3).
Rather, the text suggests something far more demanding. In the earliest church, people of means and power liquidated their goods for the sake of the less powerful “from time to time” (Acts 4:34) as anyone “had need” (Acts 2:45; 4.35). This describes a kind of radical availability as the normal status of each person’s possessions. That is, the resources—material, political, social, or practical—of any member of the community were put at the constant disposal of the Christian community, even while individual members continued to oversee their particular resources. Rather than systematically prescribing the distribution of wealth in such a way as to ensure flat equality, the earliest church accepted the reality of economic disequilibrium, but practiced a radical generosity whereby goods properly existed for the benefit of the whole, not the individual. This form of generosity is, in many ways, more challenging than a rigid system of rules. It calls for ongoing responsiveness, mutual involvement in the lives of community members, and a continual willingness to hold possessions loosely, valuing the relationships within the community more than the (false) security of possessions.[2]
It is highly likely that this system within a system was inspired by the economic ideals expressed in Israel’s law, climaxing with the practice of Jubilee—the once-in-50-years redistribution of land and wealth within Israel (Leviticus 25:1-55). Jubilee was designed by God to ensure that all people had access to the means of making a living, an ideal that appears never to have been widely practiced by God’s people. Jesus, however, introduces his ministry with a set of texts from Isaiah 61 and 58 that produce a great many Jubilee themes.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18–19)
Jubilee ethic is further alluded to in Acts 4:34, where Luke tells us “there were no needy persons among them.” This appears to be a direct echo of Deuteronomy 15:4, where the practice of the Sabbath year (a mini-Jubilee occurring once every seven years) is designed to ensure that “there should be no poor among you.”
It is fitting that the Christian community would see this as a model for their economic life. But whereas in ancient Israel, the Sabbath year and the Jubilee were to be practiced only every seven and fifty years, respectively, radical availability marked the resources of the early Christian community. One can almost hear a Sermon on the Mount-like heightening of the Jubilee practice. “You have heard that it was said of old, ‘Give back your land to those who are landless once every fifty years,’ but I say to you, ‘Make your power and resources available any time you see the need.’” Radical generosity based on the needs of others becomes the basis of economic practice in the Christian community. We will explore this in depth through the incidents in the book of Acts.
The practices of the early churches challenge contemporary Christians to think imaginatively about models for radical generosity today. How could radical availability stand as a witness to the kingdom of God and form a plausible alternative way of structuring human life in a culture marked by the tenacious pursuit of personal wealth and security?"
How could modern day Americans, Christian or not, follow the admittedly awesome teachings of Jesus in regards to caring for people who are not...you or your immediate family?
Well, here in America we have a little thing called 'taxes'. Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civil society. Taxes pay for the schools most of the kids go to, the libraries we can use, the roads we all drive on, the police and firemen and even the meter readers. All the stuff that keeps a modern society running in a modern and mostly smooth manner.
In addition to that, we have the non-tangibles. The Social Safety Net. That place that is (or should be) there to catch us if something happens- accident, illness, homelessness, joblessness, old age...and will carry us through those hard times- not just to barely scrape by them with our fingernails on the edge of the Cliffs of Despair, but to offer dignity and support because whether we like to admit it or not, we're all human and shit can and will go wrong with every one of us.
It's that whole 'part of a civil society' thing.
Fine. So what's my damn point?
My damn point is this- There is a huge, growing and I'm afraid terminal divide between "Survivalist Preppers" and "Sustainable Preppers".
Survivalist Preppers are raring (almost Rapturishly eagerly) to go- they're ready. They've got their bunkers and their MRE's and their water purifiers and their guns...their massive supply of guns and ammo. They are ready for the end of the world because by GAWD they will make sure that their nuclear (pun intended) family will survive IN SPITE Of anyone else. They are driven by fear.
Don't give me any shit. You know you are, deep down inside- down below all the bluster and jokes about, "Gee Mr. Smith, you have 100 guns and 500,000 rounds of ammo- what are you so afraid of?" Answer- "Not a damn thing". Har. Har. Har. But you are- you are deathly afraid of being in a position of needing anyone else.
The problem is, you can't do it yourself. History shows that the people who work together survive, and not the sort of working together where as long as you 'are fit enough to help and have the resources to contribute to the community' you are welcome, but if you've got nothing to offer you're out in the cold.
The INclusive kind of community, not the EXclusive kind.
Sustainable Preppers see the same things coming you do. I promise you we do.
So why are we so stupid? Why do we fight and strive for the rights of people we don't even know and who could do nothing for us in return? People who probably don't 'deserve' anything because they're probably lazy and spoiled and would spit on us as soon as help us?
First of all, please don't be so hard on yourselves. Admitting your flaws is the first step to getting over them.
Second of all, because it's the right thing to do. To care for everyone, not just people like us or who have 'proven' themselves according to some imaginary measuring stick.
Because YOUR Jesus commands us to.
We share our knowledge and our food, knowing that the more people who know this stuff, the better off we'll ALL be.
Remember the Native Americans? Those guys you have plastered on your T-shirts and claim to revere? They knew that we are all intertwined and if one of us falls, it's bad energy for the rest. And they're not just talking about people here- every life on the planet depends on the others.
Nothing exists in a vacuum for very long- why the hell do you think you can close the hatch of your bunker and come out even remotely OK?
Which brings us back to this- In our society we have something called taxes.Our own "Jubilee" can be to willingly and joyfully pay taxes so that everyone has access to education, and food, and shelter, and health care. Everyone. That's our goal that ya'll fight us against tooth and nail- everyone who says this Nation was founded on Christian values. Think about that for a second.
Time is short. Big shit is going to happen. Not 'someday', but in our lifetimes.
Now is not the time to 'go to ground', it's the time to go to the streets, meet your neighbors, share knowledge and food, laughter and humanity. We're all in this together whether you like to think so or not.
Why are us Hippie Peacenik types so pissed off? Because you're wasting precious time being fucking selfish, that's why.
Because if shit goes down and you show up at my door hungry and homeless, chances are I'll let you in and feed you. Do not ever take that to mean I'm weak, or that you can just walk over my family to take our stuff and go on. Ever. Because you will make excellent compost, and I'm not kidding.
What if my family shows up at your door? Will we be dead before we can knock and you even know our intentions or what we may have to offer you? I thought so.
That's the mindset that will end civilization not even as we know it, but as it could be.
Stop being so damn afraid of living that the highest you can reach for is mere survival.
Back awhile Joe purchased some freeze dried food for storage. I was talking to his mom about it. His mom is 94 and lived through the Depression in rural Oklahoma. Serious poverty. She asked what kind of food he bought and I said among other things, there was a case of freeze dried brocolli.
Edna thought on that a few minutes and then said, "If it gets so bad that all we have to eat is freeze-dried brocolli, it's just time to die".
Amen, Edna. Amen.
"God helps those who help themselves."
If you said, "the Bible" you are absolutely positively WRONG. According to Wikipedia-
"The phrase originated in ancient Greece and may originally have been proverbial. It is illustrated by two of Aesop's Fables and a similar sentiment is found in ancient Greek drama. Although it has been commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, the modern English wording appears earlier in Algernon Sidney's work.
The phrase is often mistaken as scriptural, but it appears nowhere in the Bible. Some Christians have criticized the expression as being contrary to the Bible's message of God's grace. A variant of the phrase, however, can be found in the Quran (13:11)."
So there ya go- you're following something that originated with the ancient Greeks, and is not even in the bible, although it IS in the Q'uran. How awesome is that?
How about this one-
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"
Easy, right? That's from that bastard destroyer of all things humanly good, Karl Marx.
Well, sort of. Although it is part of his writings and ideology, he didn't start it.
Even that known Middle Eastern Socialist Jesus Christ didn't start it. It starts in Old Testament Leviticus- the same place it says being gay is an abomination (along with eating shellfish, shaving your beard and getting a tattoo...even one that's a bible verse like this one)-
According to www.theologyofwork.org, this goes way way back to a little thing called "Jubilee", which pretty much leveled the playing field for everyone every so often, BY LAW.
"There is continuing debate about whether or not these community summaries advocate a certain economic system, with some commentators describing the practice of the community as “proto-communism” and others seeing a mandatory divestiture of goods. The text, however, does not suggest an attempt to change the structures beyond the Christian community. Indeed, it would be difficult to think of a small, marginalized, socially powerless group having designs on changing the imperial economic system. It is clear that the community did not fully opt out of the systems of economics within the empire. Likely, fishermen remained members of fishing cartels and artisans continued to do business in the market.[1] Paul, after all, continued making tents to support his missionary travels (Acts 18:3).
Rather, the text suggests something far more demanding. In the earliest church, people of means and power liquidated their goods for the sake of the less powerful “from time to time” (Acts 4:34) as anyone “had need” (Acts 2:45; 4.35). This describes a kind of radical availability as the normal status of each person’s possessions. That is, the resources—material, political, social, or practical—of any member of the community were put at the constant disposal of the Christian community, even while individual members continued to oversee their particular resources. Rather than systematically prescribing the distribution of wealth in such a way as to ensure flat equality, the earliest church accepted the reality of economic disequilibrium, but practiced a radical generosity whereby goods properly existed for the benefit of the whole, not the individual. This form of generosity is, in many ways, more challenging than a rigid system of rules. It calls for ongoing responsiveness, mutual involvement in the lives of community members, and a continual willingness to hold possessions loosely, valuing the relationships within the community more than the (false) security of possessions.[2]
It is highly likely that this system within a system was inspired by the economic ideals expressed in Israel’s law, climaxing with the practice of Jubilee—the once-in-50-years redistribution of land and wealth within Israel (Leviticus 25:1-55). Jubilee was designed by God to ensure that all people had access to the means of making a living, an ideal that appears never to have been widely practiced by God’s people. Jesus, however, introduces his ministry with a set of texts from Isaiah 61 and 58 that produce a great many Jubilee themes.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18–19)
Jubilee ethic is further alluded to in Acts 4:34, where Luke tells us “there were no needy persons among them.” This appears to be a direct echo of Deuteronomy 15:4, where the practice of the Sabbath year (a mini-Jubilee occurring once every seven years) is designed to ensure that “there should be no poor among you.”
It is fitting that the Christian community would see this as a model for their economic life. But whereas in ancient Israel, the Sabbath year and the Jubilee were to be practiced only every seven and fifty years, respectively, radical availability marked the resources of the early Christian community. One can almost hear a Sermon on the Mount-like heightening of the Jubilee practice. “You have heard that it was said of old, ‘Give back your land to those who are landless once every fifty years,’ but I say to you, ‘Make your power and resources available any time you see the need.’” Radical generosity based on the needs of others becomes the basis of economic practice in the Christian community. We will explore this in depth through the incidents in the book of Acts.
The practices of the early churches challenge contemporary Christians to think imaginatively about models for radical generosity today. How could radical availability stand as a witness to the kingdom of God and form a plausible alternative way of structuring human life in a culture marked by the tenacious pursuit of personal wealth and security?"
How could modern day Americans, Christian or not, follow the admittedly awesome teachings of Jesus in regards to caring for people who are not...you or your immediate family?
Well, here in America we have a little thing called 'taxes'. Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civil society. Taxes pay for the schools most of the kids go to, the libraries we can use, the roads we all drive on, the police and firemen and even the meter readers. All the stuff that keeps a modern society running in a modern and mostly smooth manner.
In addition to that, we have the non-tangibles. The Social Safety Net. That place that is (or should be) there to catch us if something happens- accident, illness, homelessness, joblessness, old age...and will carry us through those hard times- not just to barely scrape by them with our fingernails on the edge of the Cliffs of Despair, but to offer dignity and support because whether we like to admit it or not, we're all human and shit can and will go wrong with every one of us.
It's that whole 'part of a civil society' thing.
Fine. So what's my damn point?
My damn point is this- There is a huge, growing and I'm afraid terminal divide between "Survivalist Preppers" and "Sustainable Preppers".
Survivalist Preppers are raring (almost Rapturishly eagerly) to go- they're ready. They've got their bunkers and their MRE's and their water purifiers and their guns...their massive supply of guns and ammo. They are ready for the end of the world because by GAWD they will make sure that their nuclear (pun intended) family will survive IN SPITE Of anyone else. They are driven by fear.
Don't give me any shit. You know you are, deep down inside- down below all the bluster and jokes about, "Gee Mr. Smith, you have 100 guns and 500,000 rounds of ammo- what are you so afraid of?" Answer- "Not a damn thing". Har. Har. Har. But you are- you are deathly afraid of being in a position of needing anyone else.
The problem is, you can't do it yourself. History shows that the people who work together survive, and not the sort of working together where as long as you 'are fit enough to help and have the resources to contribute to the community' you are welcome, but if you've got nothing to offer you're out in the cold.
The INclusive kind of community, not the EXclusive kind.
Sustainable Preppers see the same things coming you do. I promise you we do.
So why are we so stupid? Why do we fight and strive for the rights of people we don't even know and who could do nothing for us in return? People who probably don't 'deserve' anything because they're probably lazy and spoiled and would spit on us as soon as help us?
First of all, please don't be so hard on yourselves. Admitting your flaws is the first step to getting over them.
Second of all, because it's the right thing to do. To care for everyone, not just people like us or who have 'proven' themselves according to some imaginary measuring stick.
Because YOUR Jesus commands us to.
We share our knowledge and our food, knowing that the more people who know this stuff, the better off we'll ALL be.
Remember the Native Americans? Those guys you have plastered on your T-shirts and claim to revere? They knew that we are all intertwined and if one of us falls, it's bad energy for the rest. And they're not just talking about people here- every life on the planet depends on the others.
Nothing exists in a vacuum for very long- why the hell do you think you can close the hatch of your bunker and come out even remotely OK?
Which brings us back to this- In our society we have something called taxes.Our own "Jubilee" can be to willingly and joyfully pay taxes so that everyone has access to education, and food, and shelter, and health care. Everyone. That's our goal that ya'll fight us against tooth and nail- everyone who says this Nation was founded on Christian values. Think about that for a second.
Time is short. Big shit is going to happen. Not 'someday', but in our lifetimes.
Now is not the time to 'go to ground', it's the time to go to the streets, meet your neighbors, share knowledge and food, laughter and humanity. We're all in this together whether you like to think so or not.
Why are us Hippie Peacenik types so pissed off? Because you're wasting precious time being fucking selfish, that's why.
Because if shit goes down and you show up at my door hungry and homeless, chances are I'll let you in and feed you. Do not ever take that to mean I'm weak, or that you can just walk over my family to take our stuff and go on. Ever. Because you will make excellent compost, and I'm not kidding.
What if my family shows up at your door? Will we be dead before we can knock and you even know our intentions or what we may have to offer you? I thought so.
That's the mindset that will end civilization not even as we know it, but as it could be.
Stop being so damn afraid of living that the highest you can reach for is mere survival.
Back awhile Joe purchased some freeze dried food for storage. I was talking to his mom about it. His mom is 94 and lived through the Depression in rural Oklahoma. Serious poverty. She asked what kind of food he bought and I said among other things, there was a case of freeze dried brocolli.
Edna thought on that a few minutes and then said, "If it gets so bad that all we have to eat is freeze-dried brocolli, it's just time to die".
Amen, Edna. Amen.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Ho Ho Hold Up a Minute...
"So...what happened between the two of you?"
People ask me that question quite often when they find out not only am I not a Christian, but I don't believe in any Supreme Being at all.
Because it hasn't always been this way. I was raised up Lutheran and taught Sunday School for years. I was a good practicing Christian who spent the few weeks between the birth of my first two born and their baptisms in mortal (if mostly veiled) terror that something would happen to them and they'd be sent to hell...because they would die unbaptized.
I'm over that now. Alec is completely free of any contact with holy water.
And that's it in a nutshell.
Over time I just got over the whole religion thing.
There wasn't a defining moment when I dramatically shook my fist at the heavens and denounced the god of my family. No pit of despair that I wallowed in and then determined that There Is No God. Just a slow progression towards...adulthood.
Think about all the terminology associated with the American Christian religion- God's children, Our Father, sheep who need a shepherd...all that stuff that doesn't allow us to grow up and take responsibility for our own lives and the direction they may take.
Of course, there's the whole 'free will' thing, which sort of negates the 'being a sheep' thing, but that's the beauty and mystery of the bible, right?
That's also part of it- the book was written by many different men over many generations and it's not cohesive. At all. But instead of saying, "We piecemealed this together- chew it up and it should taste like Faith", the more fundamental Christians are all about literalism. As in, "The bible is literally word for word the word of god". Which is ridiculous.
Because there's a huge difference between Faith and Blind Faith.
Blind Faith caused the holocaust and every other atrocity mankind has been clever enough to conjure up.
You say, "God works in mysterious ways" and I say, "Shit just happens. Life is a crap shoot".
I like things to be as stable as possible because life is by nature unstable and impossible.
So when Ward would be in the cancer hospital getting better and I heard, "AMEN! To God go the glory! God is so good!" and then sometimes minutes later Ward would be in grave danger of not ever leaving the hospital and I heard, "God works in mysterious ways..." I would not accept that. Because that attitude was demeaning and non-helpful.
If Ward got better it was because of his system and the treatments working together as they were supposed to, and if he got knocked on his ass again something went wonky in that physical actual combination and environment.
To think that there is a man in the sky with the equivilent of a voo doo doll and who randomly stabs needles into it for no damn good reason other than to watch the puny humans either lavish praise on him for allowing them to live or to cower in fear at his wrath is creepy and offensive.
So no. I'm not angry at god. To be angry at someone you have to actually believe they are there.
We were discussing Santa the other day and the wheres and whens of when our kids stopped believing in him.
None of my kids had a problem with it- they just saw holes in the whole concept and figured it out for themselves. The two older ones were going to school so had lots of other kids to bounce this stuff off of and never brought me into it. One day they believed, and the next? Adults.
And it's OK. We're all OK. Life is not horrible and pointless; it's beautiful and precious.
We do good not because there's some man in the sky (or at the North Pole) watching us and taking notes; we're good because it's the right thing to do.
Ward being here after all he's been through IS a miracle- a miracle of science and technology and the miracle of courage and tenacity and deep abiding human love.
God didn't do that stuff- it happened because everything worked out to make it happen. Good things and good people line up just right and good things happen. And they don't line up just right because god orchestrates it- they'd line up that way anyway. That's why sometimes good things happen to bad people.
Bad things trip you up when you least expect them not because you're taking the lord's name in vain or not attending church or not praying hard enough but because sometimes shit just happens.
Presents appear under the tree not because some old fat guy trespasses after stalking children all year but because their parents love them and make financial sacrifices to see the smiles on their little faces.
Seriously- which of those scenarios is what you want to believe in?
The bible is a book written by men to explain things they had no explanation for and to make sense of things that seemed random and senseless to them. They did the best they could with the knowledge they had. It was (and is) also a pretty handy way to elicit obedience from large quantities of people.
Like telling children who are all hyped up about Christmas on cookies and wish lists that they need to simmer down and behave because Santa is watching them.
Same concept.
So what happened between god and me?
Not a thing. I just grew up and stopped believing in him. Like Santa.
When I was 4 I believed in God and Santa.
When I was 14 I believed in God.
When I was 24 I believed in God and my kids believed in God and Santa.
When I was 34 I was questioning God as my kids questioned Santa.
By the time I was 44 both God and Santa were out of my life for good. Literally.
At 54 I'm still more than OK with that.
My apologies to both God and Santa if that hurts their feelers...
People ask me that question quite often when they find out not only am I not a Christian, but I don't believe in any Supreme Being at all.
Because it hasn't always been this way. I was raised up Lutheran and taught Sunday School for years. I was a good practicing Christian who spent the few weeks between the birth of my first two born and their baptisms in mortal (if mostly veiled) terror that something would happen to them and they'd be sent to hell...because they would die unbaptized.
I'm over that now. Alec is completely free of any contact with holy water.
And that's it in a nutshell.
Over time I just got over the whole religion thing.
There wasn't a defining moment when I dramatically shook my fist at the heavens and denounced the god of my family. No pit of despair that I wallowed in and then determined that There Is No God. Just a slow progression towards...adulthood.
Think about all the terminology associated with the American Christian religion- God's children, Our Father, sheep who need a shepherd...all that stuff that doesn't allow us to grow up and take responsibility for our own lives and the direction they may take.
Of course, there's the whole 'free will' thing, which sort of negates the 'being a sheep' thing, but that's the beauty and mystery of the bible, right?
That's also part of it- the book was written by many different men over many generations and it's not cohesive. At all. But instead of saying, "We piecemealed this together- chew it up and it should taste like Faith", the more fundamental Christians are all about literalism. As in, "The bible is literally word for word the word of god". Which is ridiculous.
Because there's a huge difference between Faith and Blind Faith.
Blind Faith caused the holocaust and every other atrocity mankind has been clever enough to conjure up.
You say, "God works in mysterious ways" and I say, "Shit just happens. Life is a crap shoot".
I like things to be as stable as possible because life is by nature unstable and impossible.
So when Ward would be in the cancer hospital getting better and I heard, "AMEN! To God go the glory! God is so good!" and then sometimes minutes later Ward would be in grave danger of not ever leaving the hospital and I heard, "God works in mysterious ways..." I would not accept that. Because that attitude was demeaning and non-helpful.
If Ward got better it was because of his system and the treatments working together as they were supposed to, and if he got knocked on his ass again something went wonky in that physical actual combination and environment.
To think that there is a man in the sky with the equivilent of a voo doo doll and who randomly stabs needles into it for no damn good reason other than to watch the puny humans either lavish praise on him for allowing them to live or to cower in fear at his wrath is creepy and offensive.
So no. I'm not angry at god. To be angry at someone you have to actually believe they are there.
We were discussing Santa the other day and the wheres and whens of when our kids stopped believing in him.
None of my kids had a problem with it- they just saw holes in the whole concept and figured it out for themselves. The two older ones were going to school so had lots of other kids to bounce this stuff off of and never brought me into it. One day they believed, and the next? Adults.
And it's OK. We're all OK. Life is not horrible and pointless; it's beautiful and precious.
We do good not because there's some man in the sky (or at the North Pole) watching us and taking notes; we're good because it's the right thing to do.
Ward being here after all he's been through IS a miracle- a miracle of science and technology and the miracle of courage and tenacity and deep abiding human love.
God didn't do that stuff- it happened because everything worked out to make it happen. Good things and good people line up just right and good things happen. And they don't line up just right because god orchestrates it- they'd line up that way anyway. That's why sometimes good things happen to bad people.
Bad things trip you up when you least expect them not because you're taking the lord's name in vain or not attending church or not praying hard enough but because sometimes shit just happens.
Presents appear under the tree not because some old fat guy trespasses after stalking children all year but because their parents love them and make financial sacrifices to see the smiles on their little faces.
Seriously- which of those scenarios is what you want to believe in?
The bible is a book written by men to explain things they had no explanation for and to make sense of things that seemed random and senseless to them. They did the best they could with the knowledge they had. It was (and is) also a pretty handy way to elicit obedience from large quantities of people.
Like telling children who are all hyped up about Christmas on cookies and wish lists that they need to simmer down and behave because Santa is watching them.
Same concept.
So what happened between god and me?
Not a thing. I just grew up and stopped believing in him. Like Santa.
When I was 4 I believed in God and Santa.
When I was 14 I believed in God.
When I was 24 I believed in God and my kids believed in God and Santa.
When I was 34 I was questioning God as my kids questioned Santa.
By the time I was 44 both God and Santa were out of my life for good. Literally.
At 54 I'm still more than OK with that.
My apologies to both God and Santa if that hurts their feelers...
Thursday, November 7, 2013
The Devil Made Me Do It
So the Pew Research Center did a little study on stuff people believe in and the results were absolutely mixed.
While it seems that there is an increase in people who have shed their traditional religions (whew), it's troubling to me that there is also an increase in people who believe that a person can literally be possessed by a demon. That the largest increase is among young people aged 18-25 is more than puzzling, it's bizarre.
I mean, what the hell? *Pun most definitely intended*
Demons.
Seriously?
Now, let me be the first to admit that I believe in many things, both seen and unseen.
I believe in the power of energy- to heal, to lift up, to strengthen, and yes even to harm.
Energy takes many forms- thoughts both positive and negative, spells and curses, prayer- all focused and directed energy.
I believe in lots of things not obvious to most of us mere mortals busily wallowing in our own unimportant dramas- from beings on a different plane than ours who look like ghosts or aliens or angels to other corporeal critters like bigfoot who choose not to be seen because life is easier when the fussy, crabby critters who call themselves human don't know you're there.
I don't believe in any one god.
I believe in spirit. Ours collectively and individually.
But demons?
No way, Jose.
Because in spite of energy and in spite of all the other things that share this existence with us, each of us is still our own person, with our own power of being and who inhabits our carbon-based shell is up to us, not some outsider looking for a soul-sofa to crash.
Some people call it Free Will.
I call it science.
If your own energy (call it a soul if you like) is taking up your body, it's full. Nothing else can come push it out.
Displacement, baby.
Here's what I don't get.
How can you believe in Free Will and still believe in demons?
How can there be a god who must be begged to pay attention to you (unless he's smiting you) but demons can prance in through your nostrils and into your brain?
Of course I believe in the existence of evil. But evil isn't its own person anymore than good is its own person. (And why don't people get possessed of angels? Hmmm?)
Those things come from within each and every one of us.
We cannot be forced to be evil any more than we can be forced to be good.
We may be coerced to ACT evil or good, but to actually BE those things? Only from our own selves.
So to the young people who are backing away from organized religion while still literally believing in the bogeyman...
...so close. You're so close to being grownups.
Question everything. Depend on each other, not on a book that pits people against each other.
We're all we've got. Really.
This life is all we've got- even if we believe in reincarnation, this life is all we have for now, and all we'll remember.
There's no power in the sky or from the pits of imaginary hell that can turn you into anything against your will.
Free Will.
Life is precious and we're only here for the blink of an eye.
Live it freely. Love each other. Help those who can't help you not out of visions of heaven or fear of hell but because it's the right thing to do.
Be not afraid of the dark, for it holds nothing but starlight and harbors nothing but restful slumber.
The monsters are all in our heads.
While it seems that there is an increase in people who have shed their traditional religions (whew), it's troubling to me that there is also an increase in people who believe that a person can literally be possessed by a demon. That the largest increase is among young people aged 18-25 is more than puzzling, it's bizarre.
I mean, what the hell? *Pun most definitely intended*
Demons.
Seriously?
Now, let me be the first to admit that I believe in many things, both seen and unseen.
I believe in the power of energy- to heal, to lift up, to strengthen, and yes even to harm.
Energy takes many forms- thoughts both positive and negative, spells and curses, prayer- all focused and directed energy.
I believe in lots of things not obvious to most of us mere mortals busily wallowing in our own unimportant dramas- from beings on a different plane than ours who look like ghosts or aliens or angels to other corporeal critters like bigfoot who choose not to be seen because life is easier when the fussy, crabby critters who call themselves human don't know you're there.
I don't believe in any one god.
I believe in spirit. Ours collectively and individually.
But demons?
No way, Jose.
Because in spite of energy and in spite of all the other things that share this existence with us, each of us is still our own person, with our own power of being and who inhabits our carbon-based shell is up to us, not some outsider looking for a soul-sofa to crash.
Some people call it Free Will.
I call it science.
If your own energy (call it a soul if you like) is taking up your body, it's full. Nothing else can come push it out.
Displacement, baby.
Here's what I don't get.
How can you believe in Free Will and still believe in demons?
How can there be a god who must be begged to pay attention to you (unless he's smiting you) but demons can prance in through your nostrils and into your brain?
Of course I believe in the existence of evil. But evil isn't its own person anymore than good is its own person. (And why don't people get possessed of angels? Hmmm?)
Those things come from within each and every one of us.
We cannot be forced to be evil any more than we can be forced to be good.
We may be coerced to ACT evil or good, but to actually BE those things? Only from our own selves.
So to the young people who are backing away from organized religion while still literally believing in the bogeyman...
...so close. You're so close to being grownups.
Question everything. Depend on each other, not on a book that pits people against each other.
We're all we've got. Really.
This life is all we've got- even if we believe in reincarnation, this life is all we have for now, and all we'll remember.
There's no power in the sky or from the pits of imaginary hell that can turn you into anything against your will.
Free Will.
Life is precious and we're only here for the blink of an eye.
Live it freely. Love each other. Help those who can't help you not out of visions of heaven or fear of hell but because it's the right thing to do.
Be not afraid of the dark, for it holds nothing but starlight and harbors nothing but restful slumber.
The monsters are all in our heads.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
"Oh, You're a _____, So You Must Be a ______!"
Labels. Gotta love 'em.
Why am I so hard for people to figure out? I'm not a stereotype, I'm not a cartoon character, I don't fall easily into one single category of anything. But I'm also nothing special, except to those who love me, and that's A-OK by me.
Specialness is way over-rated.
Lemme give you a 'fer instance'.
We home school.
In order for our little homeschool co-op to hold weekly meetings in a suitably sized facility, we had to prove we have liability insurance. Homeschool groups can get liability insurance from the TX homeschool legal defense group IF your group has 10 active members of the legal defense group. We had 9.
So we joined up- paid our $75 and became members.
So we could have our co-op.
Our group's name is Denton Area Secular Homeschoolers. DASH. Heavy on the secular. Oh, sure we meet in a church building, but it's the Universal Unitarian church so here in TX that doesn't really count.
Since joining the legal defense group, I get emails and the monthly magazine, and every last bit of all correspondence has to do with the difficulties and tribulations of being CHRISTIAN homeschoolers in a sinful and SECULAR world.
Seriously. Not one stinking word about how the secular homeschoolers are viewed by the Christian homeschool community. Hippies, communists, gays, multi-racial families, single parent households, scientists...Not that any of those descriptions are incorrect, mind you- but they're all said either the same way you'd say, "trailer trash" or in hushed tones as though to utter the words aloud would be to invoke the demons of evolution.
I'd say that us secular homeschoolers were being persecuted, but the Christians have got that word's dance card plumb filled up.
Here's another one.
Gun control.
I believe in it. Strongly, loudly and proudly. Absofuckinglutely there should be restrictions on who owns 'em, requirements to show mental stability and proficiency, and outright bans on anything that's manufactured with the sole purpose of killing a lot of people in the blink of an eye. Because if you need an AR with a 100-round clip to hunt a deer you really should starve to death.
Do I think all guns need to be confiscated? Am I prone to the vapors if anyone suggests that my family be armed?
Nope. Between the 3 of us we have 6 guns. Ward has his dad's shotgun and 357 Magnum, Alec has a .22 rifle and an antique Mauser Joe gave him and I've got 2 Ruger .22 handguns that are tools used to dispatch injured livestock and kill snakes who have been proven guilty of poultry-napping (eggs or babies).
One more for fun.
"Those welfare families".
There's a really clever little thing going around the interwebs that says something like, "Since I have to support a welfare family, the least they can do is send me a photo I can put up on my fridge".
Awesome clever. And people repeat it and wink and agree with it and look at me like, "I know, right? Can I get an AMEN?"
Because they know that we're good hard-working white folk who have been employed most or all of our adult lives.
But to their shock, I just ask 'em if they want a color photo or black and white and I'll get it right to 'em.
Because here's the lineup of people who live here on our place-
Me- working full time and have been since I was 16. I'm 53.
Ward- worked full time since he got out of college till cancer, heart disease and diabetes all got together and started dismantling him piece by piece with the help of MD Anderson. He's now on SS Disability. He's 61.
Alec- gets a check every month because his dad's on SS Disability.
Joe- worked full time and then retired at 65. He gets social security and his Veteran's check for losing his hearing blowing shit up in the name of Uncle Sam. He's 70.
Edna- worked her entire life from age 13 on. Retired at 65 and gets her social security check (less than $900) to live on...period. She's 93.
So four. Four out of five of us is receiving a 'government check'.
That makes us an official "welfare family".
When I lay that out, people are really embarrassed and say, "Hey- I wasn't talking about YOU GUYS" and that gives me an opportunity to point out that then they are obviously hella-racist. Of course they deny it.
Politically?
I grew up conservative Republican and the majority of my family are still there. I evolved once I moved down here and became first a poor single woman and then the wife of a man with terrible money-sucking medical issues.
Briefly identified Democrat till I realized they have become what conservative Republicans used to be before conservative Republicans turned all batshit crazy.
Did I vote for Obama (twice)? Yep.
Do I hate some of his policies? With a white-hot hatred.
The ACA did not go far enough- there needed to be a public option to cut the stranglehold the insurance companies have on the patients. The bankers responsible for the '08 crash need to be IN PRISON. The drone program is beyond vile.
No, I shouldn't have voted for Romney- that would've been much much worse.
No, I shouldn't have just sat out the elections because there wasn't a perfect candidate- life isn't about waiting for the perfect One, it's about compromise and being willing to take small steps forward rather than giant leaps backwards.
Living in the Red droplet of confederate blood beating strong in the heart of East Texas, people will spit out at me, "Yer one o' them liberal Democrats, ain'tcha?" and I diffuse that neatly by telling them I am NOT a liberal Democrat- I'm so far to the left of that I can't even see liberal Democrats in my rear view mirror.
Religiously?
Raised Lutheran (ALC, not Missouri synod- we were allowed to sing and dance and...smile) but started questioning in high school, boomeranged back into the fold during my first marriage's death throes in an attempt to 'be the helpmeet god wanted me to be' for my alcoholic abusive husband and finally said "Screw this. I'm living my life in a moral, joyful and GOD-FREE way from now on" and have been much more at peace ever since. Life is actually MORE precious and glorious now than it was when I was a 'believer' instead of the dark maw of despair the church wants you to think it is for us 'heatherns'.
Like I said- I'm nothing special. I'd wager that MOST people are like me- not so easily put into boxes and neatly categorized.
None of us are 100% one thing, through and through.
And I try to remember that in my dealings with Tea Partiers and Conservative Republicans and Fundamental Christians.
I mostly succeed in seeing the humanity through the labels.
But do they?
Why am I so hard for people to figure out? I'm not a stereotype, I'm not a cartoon character, I don't fall easily into one single category of anything. But I'm also nothing special, except to those who love me, and that's A-OK by me.
Specialness is way over-rated.
Lemme give you a 'fer instance'.
We home school.
In order for our little homeschool co-op to hold weekly meetings in a suitably sized facility, we had to prove we have liability insurance. Homeschool groups can get liability insurance from the TX homeschool legal defense group IF your group has 10 active members of the legal defense group. We had 9.
So we joined up- paid our $75 and became members.
So we could have our co-op.
Our group's name is Denton Area Secular Homeschoolers. DASH. Heavy on the secular. Oh, sure we meet in a church building, but it's the Universal Unitarian church so here in TX that doesn't really count.
Since joining the legal defense group, I get emails and the monthly magazine, and every last bit of all correspondence has to do with the difficulties and tribulations of being CHRISTIAN homeschoolers in a sinful and SECULAR world.
Seriously. Not one stinking word about how the secular homeschoolers are viewed by the Christian homeschool community. Hippies, communists, gays, multi-racial families, single parent households, scientists...Not that any of those descriptions are incorrect, mind you- but they're all said either the same way you'd say, "trailer trash" or in hushed tones as though to utter the words aloud would be to invoke the demons of evolution.
I'd say that us secular homeschoolers were being persecuted, but the Christians have got that word's dance card plumb filled up.
Here's another one.
Gun control.
I believe in it. Strongly, loudly and proudly. Absofuckinglutely there should be restrictions on who owns 'em, requirements to show mental stability and proficiency, and outright bans on anything that's manufactured with the sole purpose of killing a lot of people in the blink of an eye. Because if you need an AR with a 100-round clip to hunt a deer you really should starve to death.
Do I think all guns need to be confiscated? Am I prone to the vapors if anyone suggests that my family be armed?
Nope. Between the 3 of us we have 6 guns. Ward has his dad's shotgun and 357 Magnum, Alec has a .22 rifle and an antique Mauser Joe gave him and I've got 2 Ruger .22 handguns that are tools used to dispatch injured livestock and kill snakes who have been proven guilty of poultry-napping (eggs or babies).
One more for fun.
"Those welfare families".
There's a really clever little thing going around the interwebs that says something like, "Since I have to support a welfare family, the least they can do is send me a photo I can put up on my fridge".
Awesome clever. And people repeat it and wink and agree with it and look at me like, "I know, right? Can I get an AMEN?"
Because they know that we're good hard-working white folk who have been employed most or all of our adult lives.
But to their shock, I just ask 'em if they want a color photo or black and white and I'll get it right to 'em.
Because here's the lineup of people who live here on our place-
Me- working full time and have been since I was 16. I'm 53.
Ward- worked full time since he got out of college till cancer, heart disease and diabetes all got together and started dismantling him piece by piece with the help of MD Anderson. He's now on SS Disability. He's 61.
Alec- gets a check every month because his dad's on SS Disability.
Joe- worked full time and then retired at 65. He gets social security and his Veteran's check for losing his hearing blowing shit up in the name of Uncle Sam. He's 70.
Edna- worked her entire life from age 13 on. Retired at 65 and gets her social security check (less than $900) to live on...period. She's 93.
So four. Four out of five of us is receiving a 'government check'.
That makes us an official "welfare family".
When I lay that out, people are really embarrassed and say, "Hey- I wasn't talking about YOU GUYS" and that gives me an opportunity to point out that then they are obviously hella-racist. Of course they deny it.
Politically?
I grew up conservative Republican and the majority of my family are still there. I evolved once I moved down here and became first a poor single woman and then the wife of a man with terrible money-sucking medical issues.
Briefly identified Democrat till I realized they have become what conservative Republicans used to be before conservative Republicans turned all batshit crazy.
Did I vote for Obama (twice)? Yep.
Do I hate some of his policies? With a white-hot hatred.
The ACA did not go far enough- there needed to be a public option to cut the stranglehold the insurance companies have on the patients. The bankers responsible for the '08 crash need to be IN PRISON. The drone program is beyond vile.
No, I shouldn't have voted for Romney- that would've been much much worse.
No, I shouldn't have just sat out the elections because there wasn't a perfect candidate- life isn't about waiting for the perfect One, it's about compromise and being willing to take small steps forward rather than giant leaps backwards.
Living in the Red droplet of confederate blood beating strong in the heart of East Texas, people will spit out at me, "Yer one o' them liberal Democrats, ain'tcha?" and I diffuse that neatly by telling them I am NOT a liberal Democrat- I'm so far to the left of that I can't even see liberal Democrats in my rear view mirror.
Religiously?
Raised Lutheran (ALC, not Missouri synod- we were allowed to sing and dance and...smile) but started questioning in high school, boomeranged back into the fold during my first marriage's death throes in an attempt to 'be the helpmeet god wanted me to be' for my alcoholic abusive husband and finally said "Screw this. I'm living my life in a moral, joyful and GOD-FREE way from now on" and have been much more at peace ever since. Life is actually MORE precious and glorious now than it was when I was a 'believer' instead of the dark maw of despair the church wants you to think it is for us 'heatherns'.
Like I said- I'm nothing special. I'd wager that MOST people are like me- not so easily put into boxes and neatly categorized.
None of us are 100% one thing, through and through.
And I try to remember that in my dealings with Tea Partiers and Conservative Republicans and Fundamental Christians.
I mostly succeed in seeing the humanity through the labels.
But do they?
Thursday, April 25, 2013
When the Answer is the Problem
"In times like these, only our Faith will get us through".
Over and over again I hear that and have heard it my whole life- any time there's a terrible (fill in the blank) exploding and oozing with senseless violence and the harming of innocents almost before anyone realizes what's happened people start to say it
"In times like these, only our Faith will get us through".
And I tried. I tried to lean on my Faith, reach for my Faith, drown in my Faith enough to squelch the pain and dim the horror but it never happened.
It never happened because there was always a little voice in my heart that wouldn't let me close my eyes to the fact that for every one looking to their Faith as solace in terrible times
every one who had committed the atrocities seemed to have also pulled courage and boldness enough out of their Faith to follow through with seemingly super-human and super-villain actions.
And I can't help but think that turning to Faith is not what we need to do.
How about turning to each other?
How about keeping our eye on the people in front of us instead of to the sky and a supposed creator?
It may seem less grandiose to do something "for the good of society" or "because my neighbor needs help" than "for the glory of god" but seriously- society and our neighbors need us; I'm guessing god can fix his own shit.
I can't help but think that the blind Faith needed to set off a bomb, or start a fire, or begin shooting into unarmed crowds of human beings would not be quite as determined if the directive came from Steve, or Peggy, or Hamid and not from GOD or ALLAH.
If we were to take Faith completely out of the equation- the people of action would be less driven and fanatical and those witnessing it or experiencing it would be more apt to freaking actually help someone rather than fall onto their knees and ask GOD to do it.
My contention, then, is NOT
"In times like these, only our Faith will get us through"
but
"In times like these, only each other will get us through the evils that Faith has wrought".
Over and over again I hear that and have heard it my whole life- any time there's a terrible (fill in the blank) exploding and oozing with senseless violence and the harming of innocents almost before anyone realizes what's happened people start to say it
"In times like these, only our Faith will get us through".
And I tried. I tried to lean on my Faith, reach for my Faith, drown in my Faith enough to squelch the pain and dim the horror but it never happened.
It never happened because there was always a little voice in my heart that wouldn't let me close my eyes to the fact that for every one looking to their Faith as solace in terrible times
every one who had committed the atrocities seemed to have also pulled courage and boldness enough out of their Faith to follow through with seemingly super-human and super-villain actions.
And I can't help but think that turning to Faith is not what we need to do.
How about turning to each other?
How about keeping our eye on the people in front of us instead of to the sky and a supposed creator?
It may seem less grandiose to do something "for the good of society" or "because my neighbor needs help" than "for the glory of god" but seriously- society and our neighbors need us; I'm guessing god can fix his own shit.
I can't help but think that the blind Faith needed to set off a bomb, or start a fire, or begin shooting into unarmed crowds of human beings would not be quite as determined if the directive came from Steve, or Peggy, or Hamid and not from GOD or ALLAH.
If we were to take Faith completely out of the equation- the people of action would be less driven and fanatical and those witnessing it or experiencing it would be more apt to freaking actually help someone rather than fall onto their knees and ask GOD to do it.
My contention, then, is NOT
"In times like these, only our Faith will get us through"
but
"In times like these, only each other will get us through the evils that Faith has wrought".
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Irony at Its Finest
The Pledge of Allegiance
Wasn't perfect enough when it read
"One nation indivisible"
Those three words
Weren't powerful enough
So they insisted that
"Under God"
Be added.
Our nation's motto
Engraved on our money
And our hearts
"E Pluribus Unum"
"Out of many, One"
Wasn't meaningful enough
So they insisted that
"In God We Trust"
Replace it.
They scream "PERSECUTION"
Wailing and gnashing teeth
When asked to move their nativity scene
Off of the courthouse lawn
And across the street
To the church lawn.
They demand that laws be changed
Or written anew
Laws for our entire nation
Consisting of
People of many Faiths
(Or no Faith at all),
Based on their own
Personal
Holy book.
And now
They are supporting,
Urging and imploring that
States pass laws
Against Sharia Law
Becoming the law of the land.
Because how horrible that would be-
Being forced to behave in ways
That do not conform
To your own personal beliefs.
Wasn't perfect enough when it read
"One nation indivisible"
Those three words
Weren't powerful enough
So they insisted that
"Under God"
Be added.
Our nation's motto
Engraved on our money
And our hearts
"E Pluribus Unum"
"Out of many, One"
Wasn't meaningful enough
So they insisted that
"In God We Trust"
Replace it.
They scream "PERSECUTION"
Wailing and gnashing teeth
When asked to move their nativity scene
Off of the courthouse lawn
And across the street
To the church lawn.
They demand that laws be changed
Or written anew
Laws for our entire nation
Consisting of
People of many Faiths
(Or no Faith at all),
Based on their own
Personal
Holy book.
And now
They are supporting,
Urging and imploring that
States pass laws
Against Sharia Law
Becoming the law of the land.
Because how horrible that would be-
Being forced to behave in ways
That do not conform
To your own personal beliefs.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Cutting Out the Middle Man
So there is this heartwarming little thing floating around the interwebs- something that supposedly shows us how good god is and how he works through people in wonderful ways.
The story goes that the author pulled into a gas station and noticed the man standing at the pump next to her was crying- he was wearing flip flops and no coat in a Minnesota winter and his wife and daughters were huddled in their old car. She asks him what's wrong and he says, "I'm so ashamed I can't provide for my family". So she slides her debit card in his pump and tells him to fill up. Of course she also says something like, "Jesus died for you". Whatever the hell relevance THAT has with this man's plight. Make him feel guiltier?
Whatever.
She then tells him that her entire car is loaded with stuff that she's taking to goodwill and her wife and daughters should just come take what they want to. And they do.
Seeing all this, other people step forward and give stuff to them, too- money and gift cards (?) and other stuff.
This is supposedly proof of god's greatness and how he works in wonderful and mysterious ways.
Really?
What if?
What if it had been me? Because I've done shit like that. Actually I've done lots of shit like that.
I just don't post it on the interwebs in a thinly veiled "Lookit what a great Christian I am" way.
And if anyone ever does notice or say something I get really pissed when they say things like, "You're really going to be rewarded in heaven", or, "God will bless you for your kindness".
Because I'm like most evil heathenous non-believers.
I do compassionate shit because it's the right thing to do, not because I wanna have the most gold stars on god's score card and/or am fearful of eternal damnation if I misbehave.
I do it because people have helped ME when I could never ever repay them. Some have been Christians, more often they haven't been.
I do it because it's the HUMAN thing to do- helping other HUMANS because we're all, yanno...the same species.
Was the help I received from non-believers of an inferior quality? Did it mean any less? To me? To them?
Is the help I offer somehow tainted because it's coming from me rather than a Christian?
I have yet to have that help turned down...even FROM Christians. Perhaps they accept it and tell themselves that I'm sort of a closeted believer. Deep down I really truly still am a good Lutheran girl from Wisconsin.
Sorry, Dorothy. I'm not.
I believe that humans are inherently good. That we ARE supposed to help each other because we're a social species and because bad things just randomly happen and that at some point we all need help.
I do not believe in the Middle Man.
I've cut him totally out of any equation in my life.
Am I angry at god? Nope. To be angry at something you have to believe in it first.
Am I thankful for my life and for my family and home and all the wonderful things in front of me? Of course I am. I'm lucky. And I cherish every good thing and person around me.
Not because I need to behave in a certain way or it'll all vanish at the whim of some jealous, really strict and punitive father-figure god.
But because bad shit, stupid shit, unbelievably unfair shit happens all the time to everybody- believers and non-believers both.
Believers need to believe that there's some order to it, some system of punishment/reward, some sense to be made of the randomness of existing.
That if there's no rhyme or reason, the world becomes a terrifying place filled with evil and violence and desolation and depression. If there's no rhyme or reason- no magic words or rituals- then everyone is vulnerable.
That's reason to despair and give up, right?
On the contrary. Once I realized that it's ALL random and there is no rhyme or reason I was able to focus on what really matters- the other people in my life, my society, my planet, my country, my existence. On being able to concentrate on making things better because it's the right thing to do- before I get recycled like every organic life form does, to leave this place better than when I got here.
Everything good becomes more precious not because it's a gift from god or done in his glory, but precisely because it's not.
Do I go to work, pay my bills, did we save and scrimp and bleed for the things we have on this Earth? Yes. Yes we did. But bad shit still happened to us. And it's not because we don't believe in god- I see the same shit happening to believers- the exact same things or worse.
The woman at the gas station did a good thing. So did those around her. They were there at the right time to help out a family who needed help.
Why bring god into it at all?
Why is it so impossible to believe that people will do good things all on their own? Why is it believable that without god's invisible finger nudging us all to do good works and away from 'sin' that we'd all just run around nekkid and murdering and raping and killing babies?
The lesson to take away from this story is NOT "God is so wonderful", as the author claims.
The lesson is "Keep your eyes and ears open and help each other without expectation of reward or repayment". Yanno- be Human.
The story goes that the author pulled into a gas station and noticed the man standing at the pump next to her was crying- he was wearing flip flops and no coat in a Minnesota winter and his wife and daughters were huddled in their old car. She asks him what's wrong and he says, "I'm so ashamed I can't provide for my family". So she slides her debit card in his pump and tells him to fill up. Of course she also says something like, "Jesus died for you". Whatever the hell relevance THAT has with this man's plight. Make him feel guiltier?
Whatever.
She then tells him that her entire car is loaded with stuff that she's taking to goodwill and her wife and daughters should just come take what they want to. And they do.
Seeing all this, other people step forward and give stuff to them, too- money and gift cards (?) and other stuff.
This is supposedly proof of god's greatness and how he works in wonderful and mysterious ways.
Really?
What if?
What if it had been me? Because I've done shit like that. Actually I've done lots of shit like that.
I just don't post it on the interwebs in a thinly veiled "Lookit what a great Christian I am" way.
And if anyone ever does notice or say something I get really pissed when they say things like, "You're really going to be rewarded in heaven", or, "God will bless you for your kindness".
Because I'm like most evil heathenous non-believers.
I do compassionate shit because it's the right thing to do, not because I wanna have the most gold stars on god's score card and/or am fearful of eternal damnation if I misbehave.
I do it because people have helped ME when I could never ever repay them. Some have been Christians, more often they haven't been.
I do it because it's the HUMAN thing to do- helping other HUMANS because we're all, yanno...the same species.
Was the help I received from non-believers of an inferior quality? Did it mean any less? To me? To them?
Is the help I offer somehow tainted because it's coming from me rather than a Christian?
I have yet to have that help turned down...even FROM Christians. Perhaps they accept it and tell themselves that I'm sort of a closeted believer. Deep down I really truly still am a good Lutheran girl from Wisconsin.
Sorry, Dorothy. I'm not.
I believe that humans are inherently good. That we ARE supposed to help each other because we're a social species and because bad things just randomly happen and that at some point we all need help.
I do not believe in the Middle Man.
I've cut him totally out of any equation in my life.
Am I angry at god? Nope. To be angry at something you have to believe in it first.
Am I thankful for my life and for my family and home and all the wonderful things in front of me? Of course I am. I'm lucky. And I cherish every good thing and person around me.
Not because I need to behave in a certain way or it'll all vanish at the whim of some jealous, really strict and punitive father-figure god.
But because bad shit, stupid shit, unbelievably unfair shit happens all the time to everybody- believers and non-believers both.
Believers need to believe that there's some order to it, some system of punishment/reward, some sense to be made of the randomness of existing.
That if there's no rhyme or reason, the world becomes a terrifying place filled with evil and violence and desolation and depression. If there's no rhyme or reason- no magic words or rituals- then everyone is vulnerable.
That's reason to despair and give up, right?
On the contrary. Once I realized that it's ALL random and there is no rhyme or reason I was able to focus on what really matters- the other people in my life, my society, my planet, my country, my existence. On being able to concentrate on making things better because it's the right thing to do- before I get recycled like every organic life form does, to leave this place better than when I got here.
Everything good becomes more precious not because it's a gift from god or done in his glory, but precisely because it's not.
Do I go to work, pay my bills, did we save and scrimp and bleed for the things we have on this Earth? Yes. Yes we did. But bad shit still happened to us. And it's not because we don't believe in god- I see the same shit happening to believers- the exact same things or worse.
The woman at the gas station did a good thing. So did those around her. They were there at the right time to help out a family who needed help.
Why bring god into it at all?
Why is it so impossible to believe that people will do good things all on their own? Why is it believable that without god's invisible finger nudging us all to do good works and away from 'sin' that we'd all just run around nekkid and murdering and raping and killing babies?
The lesson to take away from this story is NOT "God is so wonderful", as the author claims.
The lesson is "Keep your eyes and ears open and help each other without expectation of reward or repayment". Yanno- be Human.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
AND DON'T PUT BEANS IN YOUR EARS
About a million years ago I had a horse named Mr. BoJangles. He was a great big ugly appaloosa. Seriously. He was not a pretty horse at all. I'd gotten him for free from my grandfather's secretary in exchange for going out and cleaning their 8 stall barn every Sunday.
He was 4 years old, over 16 hands tall and never been touched.
I adored him.
I was 15 years old and did all the basic groundwork with him- taught him to lead, and longe, and be groomed, and generally civilized. But there was always this little niggle of fear at the back of my head because he'd been 'wild'.
When I'd first gotten him they'd had to herd him into a stall and it'd been a rodeo just to get a halter on him.
Once all the groundwork was done, I had him sent to a trainer for 'finishing' which was really just a beginning- 3 months of very basic work under saddle.
At the end of the 3 months I got a month to work with him still at the trainer's.
I was very hesitant to hoist myself all the way up into that saddle the first time.
The trainer asked why and I told him because Bo had been wild.
"HAD been. This is a totally different horse now. Git up on him".
So I did. And it was fine.
We walked, and trotted, then the trainer told me to ask him to canter and I hesitated.
The trainer asked me why and I told him because Bo might run off with me...because he'd been wild.
"Oh, sure he COULD do that. Buy why would he want to?"
And that's the lesson I've taken with me through almost 30 years of working with animals in both veterinary practice and over 30 years as a small farmer.
Because animals generally don't overthink shit like we do. Unless they've been given a reason to think otherwise (abuse and/or neglect) they will pretty much behave and react in a sensible manner and according to their own way of thinking.
I always approach any animal, no matter who it is and no matter if they've always been friendly, with caution tempered by a generous dose of "Of course s/he COULD (bite, kick, scratch, kill) me, but why would s/he want to?"
That calms me down while leaving just enough alertness for the unexpected.
Expect the best from others, and they most likely will live up to your expectations.
Expect the worst from others, and they lose nothing by living down to those expectations.
Telling your toddler, "You may have some of this popcorn but don't put it up your nose" is an invitation to a visit to the ER. That kid probably never woulda thunk of that trick on their own, why the hell do we say stuff like that and then get angry when they follow through?
Which is why I've always wondered about those 10 Commandments.
They're an invitation to disaster and failure.
Killing someone? Why, I never thought of that, but yanno I'm pretty hacked off by what ______________ did- actually I guess I COULD kill him.
Adultery and coveting other people's shit? Well, I was pretty happy with my own stuff, but now that you mention it, my neighbor's shit IS better than mine is!
Really, this is God talking- doncha think he'da thought this out better being everyone's Father and all?
So in case he's listening (doubt it) lemme take this opportunity to do a little revision. On accounta the way they're laid out has not brought us any closer to perfection, but actually messed up our heads mightily- leaving us filled with ideas we never woulda thought of and simultaneously feeling like we'll never be good enough.
I know, I know- supposedly all you need to do is say (shuffling feet, eyes to the ground) "I'm sorry, dad. I'll try to do better..." but yanno that doesn't work.
Because of how his rules are, it's pretty clear that 'dad' is just waiting for us to screw up again.
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
OK. This one's pretty much that whole 'jealous god' thing. It's not attractive in humans and even less so in a divine being and needs to be scratched wholesale.
2.Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Really? This is just asking for it. "Whatever you do- DON'T carve a golden calf. Seriously. Also don't eat the last piece of pizza in the fridge".
3.Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
For the ultimate Ruler of All, this one gets his feelers hurt awful easily.
4.Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
This one's cool. I'm all for a day off.
5.Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Also cool. Unless your parents were horrible abusive psychos. Then you should totally get a pass.
6.Thou shalt not kill.
See? How about "Thou shalt live life fully and joyfully and do thy best to help others do the same, rejecting violence in all relationships with others". Something to live UP to, not down to.
7.Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Again- "Thou shall love your partner and be faithful to them". Same message- very different delivery.
8.Thou shalt not steal.
*Sigh* "Thou shalt respect the possessions of others and be thankful for thine own". Why is this so damn hard?
9.Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Really, if 7 and 8 were worded the way I have 'em, this one wouldn't even be necessary...
10.Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Oh, for the love of...listen, god- if you hadn't made all that other anti-social behavior stick in people's heads, this would not even occur to anyone. You've been around forever, right? We're all your children, right? How could you miss that positive reinforcement will net you a million times more obedience than negative reinforcement?
You'd think a god would know that. Here's what I suspect.
God does know that. But he can't type or use a pen or computer.
It takes people who make up religions and governments to do that.
People are not inherently bad. People are herd animals and social animals and by that very definition are inherently good- for the continued benefit of the herd. We call our herds 'communities'.
One thing that makes me insane is not being able to think of a really simple word like "door". But that's not important here.
Another thing that makes me insane is the assumption that if "the shit hits the fan" everyone will run out and start murdering and raping and pillaging and whatnot willy nilly and happily because they will be 'off the leash'.
a) If you really think that you need to examine your own heart and intentions. Seriously.
b) Why would they? Why would normal everyday people suddenly turn into something they are clearly naturally not?
Case in point. Me as Exhibit A. I'm not a practicing Christian (duh) and the older I get the less I believe in a god of any sort.
a) I'm totally OK with that. To me, it makes life MORE precious and wondrous, not less
b) I have not one tiny intention or desire to do anything horrible to anyone. Even people who've done horrible things to me.
Maybe one of the things wrong with our poor sick society is not that we don't have ENOUGH god in it, but because we have way, way too much jealous, vengeful, negative damning religious doctrine in it.
Of course we're gonna be depressed and violent.
Why the hell not?
He was 4 years old, over 16 hands tall and never been touched.
I adored him.
I was 15 years old and did all the basic groundwork with him- taught him to lead, and longe, and be groomed, and generally civilized. But there was always this little niggle of fear at the back of my head because he'd been 'wild'.
When I'd first gotten him they'd had to herd him into a stall and it'd been a rodeo just to get a halter on him.
Once all the groundwork was done, I had him sent to a trainer for 'finishing' which was really just a beginning- 3 months of very basic work under saddle.
At the end of the 3 months I got a month to work with him still at the trainer's.
I was very hesitant to hoist myself all the way up into that saddle the first time.
The trainer asked why and I told him because Bo had been wild.
"HAD been. This is a totally different horse now. Git up on him".
So I did. And it was fine.
We walked, and trotted, then the trainer told me to ask him to canter and I hesitated.
The trainer asked me why and I told him because Bo might run off with me...because he'd been wild.
"Oh, sure he COULD do that. Buy why would he want to?"
And that's the lesson I've taken with me through almost 30 years of working with animals in both veterinary practice and over 30 years as a small farmer.
Because animals generally don't overthink shit like we do. Unless they've been given a reason to think otherwise (abuse and/or neglect) they will pretty much behave and react in a sensible manner and according to their own way of thinking.
I always approach any animal, no matter who it is and no matter if they've always been friendly, with caution tempered by a generous dose of "Of course s/he COULD (bite, kick, scratch, kill) me, but why would s/he want to?"
That calms me down while leaving just enough alertness for the unexpected.
Expect the best from others, and they most likely will live up to your expectations.
Expect the worst from others, and they lose nothing by living down to those expectations.
Telling your toddler, "You may have some of this popcorn but don't put it up your nose" is an invitation to a visit to the ER. That kid probably never woulda thunk of that trick on their own, why the hell do we say stuff like that and then get angry when they follow through?
Which is why I've always wondered about those 10 Commandments.
They're an invitation to disaster and failure.
Killing someone? Why, I never thought of that, but yanno I'm pretty hacked off by what ______________ did- actually I guess I COULD kill him.
Adultery and coveting other people's shit? Well, I was pretty happy with my own stuff, but now that you mention it, my neighbor's shit IS better than mine is!
Really, this is God talking- doncha think he'da thought this out better being everyone's Father and all?
So in case he's listening (doubt it) lemme take this opportunity to do a little revision. On accounta the way they're laid out has not brought us any closer to perfection, but actually messed up our heads mightily- leaving us filled with ideas we never woulda thought of and simultaneously feeling like we'll never be good enough.
I know, I know- supposedly all you need to do is say (shuffling feet, eyes to the ground) "I'm sorry, dad. I'll try to do better..." but yanno that doesn't work.
Because of how his rules are, it's pretty clear that 'dad' is just waiting for us to screw up again.
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
OK. This one's pretty much that whole 'jealous god' thing. It's not attractive in humans and even less so in a divine being and needs to be scratched wholesale.
2.Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Really? This is just asking for it. "Whatever you do- DON'T carve a golden calf. Seriously. Also don't eat the last piece of pizza in the fridge".
3.Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
For the ultimate Ruler of All, this one gets his feelers hurt awful easily.
4.Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
This one's cool. I'm all for a day off.
5.Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Also cool. Unless your parents were horrible abusive psychos. Then you should totally get a pass.
6.Thou shalt not kill.
See? How about "Thou shalt live life fully and joyfully and do thy best to help others do the same, rejecting violence in all relationships with others". Something to live UP to, not down to.
7.Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Again- "Thou shall love your partner and be faithful to them". Same message- very different delivery.
8.Thou shalt not steal.
*Sigh* "Thou shalt respect the possessions of others and be thankful for thine own". Why is this so damn hard?
9.Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Really, if 7 and 8 were worded the way I have 'em, this one wouldn't even be necessary...
10.Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Oh, for the love of...listen, god- if you hadn't made all that other anti-social behavior stick in people's heads, this would not even occur to anyone. You've been around forever, right? We're all your children, right? How could you miss that positive reinforcement will net you a million times more obedience than negative reinforcement?
You'd think a god would know that. Here's what I suspect.
God does know that. But he can't type or use a pen or computer.
It takes people who make up religions and governments to do that.
People are not inherently bad. People are herd animals and social animals and by that very definition are inherently good- for the continued benefit of the herd. We call our herds 'communities'.
One thing that makes me insane is not being able to think of a really simple word like "door". But that's not important here.
Another thing that makes me insane is the assumption that if "the shit hits the fan" everyone will run out and start murdering and raping and pillaging and whatnot willy nilly and happily because they will be 'off the leash'.
a) If you really think that you need to examine your own heart and intentions. Seriously.
b) Why would they? Why would normal everyday people suddenly turn into something they are clearly naturally not?
Case in point. Me as Exhibit A. I'm not a practicing Christian (duh) and the older I get the less I believe in a god of any sort.
a) I'm totally OK with that. To me, it makes life MORE precious and wondrous, not less
b) I have not one tiny intention or desire to do anything horrible to anyone. Even people who've done horrible things to me.
Maybe one of the things wrong with our poor sick society is not that we don't have ENOUGH god in it, but because we have way, way too much jealous, vengeful, negative damning religious doctrine in it.
Of course we're gonna be depressed and violent.
Why the hell not?
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Pre-Coffee Persecusion
Lets just get this out of the way.
I'm never eating at Chik Filet again and I'm never shopping at Hobby Lobby again.
It's not really a big deal for me, a sacrifice- if you will, because the food at CF is really shitty (who the hell takes dry bread, a frozen-then-deep-fried chicken part and ONE PICKLE SLICE and bases an entire restaurant on that crap?)and anything I can get at Hobby Lobby I can get at any other hobby store...preferably a locally-owned one.
The Chik Filet debacle? Stupid. Ooooh, the Christians are marching en masse to eat crappy sammiches in support of Chik Filet's brave policies. "Clogging our arteries for Jesus". Whatever.
I've had it with the Hobby Lobby thing, tho.
They're willing to pay 1.3 million dollars A DAY in fines rather than supply their employees with ONE segment of health care? Coincidentally, since from what I've seen, Hobby Lobby employees tend to be under 50, lower middle class and WOMEN- it's the very thing they most need- help in deciding how big their family gets. How fucking Christian of them.
Let me do this so it's easy to understand and impossible to misunderstand-
HOBBY LOBBY IS THE CHURCH OF NOTHING. IT IS NOT A RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION AND IT IS THEREFORE NOT EXEMPT FROM IMPLEMENTING ANY PART OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.
Is that clear?
The ACA does NOT say "Everybody MUST take birth control and have a minimum of three (3) abortions in their lifetime, men included", but you'd think it says exactly that to hear all the wailing, gnashing of teeth and rubbing of ashes onto clothes-rent heads.
Settle the fuck down.
Just because the President/Owner/King of Hobby Lobby thinks PERSONALLY that birth control is a bad thing, he cannot CANNOT make that decision for his employees.
On accounta Hobby Lobby is NOT a RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION.
But the entire "we're so persecuted" Christian Nation is gonna march on Hobby Lobby in a few days to SHOW US HEATHENS that they support the holiness that is...a fucking glorified five and dime store.
They're going to march in support of ONE MAN being able to essentially screw and persecute the living hell out of every female employee he has, who is not doing it because he can't AFFORD IT- since he's paying more in fines than if every one of his employees (men included) took the pill every day for the rest of their lives.
That, my friends, is the most unabashed bullshit I've ever heard in my entire life.
And the angels sang.
I'm never eating at Chik Filet again and I'm never shopping at Hobby Lobby again.
It's not really a big deal for me, a sacrifice- if you will, because the food at CF is really shitty (who the hell takes dry bread, a frozen-then-deep-fried chicken part and ONE PICKLE SLICE and bases an entire restaurant on that crap?)and anything I can get at Hobby Lobby I can get at any other hobby store...preferably a locally-owned one.
The Chik Filet debacle? Stupid. Ooooh, the Christians are marching en masse to eat crappy sammiches in support of Chik Filet's brave policies. "Clogging our arteries for Jesus". Whatever.
I've had it with the Hobby Lobby thing, tho.
They're willing to pay 1.3 million dollars A DAY in fines rather than supply their employees with ONE segment of health care? Coincidentally, since from what I've seen, Hobby Lobby employees tend to be under 50, lower middle class and WOMEN- it's the very thing they most need- help in deciding how big their family gets. How fucking Christian of them.
Let me do this so it's easy to understand and impossible to misunderstand-
HOBBY LOBBY IS THE CHURCH OF NOTHING. IT IS NOT A RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION AND IT IS THEREFORE NOT EXEMPT FROM IMPLEMENTING ANY PART OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.
Is that clear?
The ACA does NOT say "Everybody MUST take birth control and have a minimum of three (3) abortions in their lifetime, men included", but you'd think it says exactly that to hear all the wailing, gnashing of teeth and rubbing of ashes onto clothes-rent heads.
Settle the fuck down.
Just because the President/Owner/King of Hobby Lobby thinks PERSONALLY that birth control is a bad thing, he cannot CANNOT make that decision for his employees.
On accounta Hobby Lobby is NOT a RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION.
But the entire "we're so persecuted" Christian Nation is gonna march on Hobby Lobby in a few days to SHOW US HEATHENS that they support the holiness that is...a fucking glorified five and dime store.
They're going to march in support of ONE MAN being able to essentially screw and persecute the living hell out of every female employee he has, who is not doing it because he can't AFFORD IT- since he's paying more in fines than if every one of his employees (men included) took the pill every day for the rest of their lives.
That, my friends, is the most unabashed bullshit I've ever heard in my entire life.
And the angels sang.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Did You Just Pray With That Finger?
I paid especial attention to speed limits today.
Having perhaps to do with the warning ticket the nice state patrol officer handed me yesterday. Perhaps.
Anyway, I was doing the speed limit coming out of Denton on our way home from the Day of the Dead Festival which was last night. We stayed overnight in a hotel rather than try to drive home 3 hours in the dark on a Saturday night. Guess we're just old and stuffy that way nowadays.
So I'm minding my own business, driving 60 in a 60 zone.
Not 55. Not 58. Not 64. 60.
I was, in fact, in the left hand lane.
I was, in fact, talking to my family and didn't notice the 2 cars coming up fast behind me that impatiently shifted lanes to pass me, then return to the left lane.
The first car passed and scooted in front of me.
The second vehicle- a big gas-hog Suburban kind of SUV, was right on the bumper of the first one- almost pushing it in front of itself.
As the first car changed lanes, the SUV did as well, leaving a good inch between its back bumper and my front bumper- the driving equivalent of being shoved in a crowded room ("Oops- sorry- didn't see you there *mean little smirk*")
Just in case I hadn't noticed his gigantic great white shark diving in front of me, the driver's window rolled down and an arm flew out- pointing violently at the right hand lane.
Now, that could've been a helpful friendly reminder to pay better attention and let the SPEEDERS use the left hand lane.
But the driver used his middle finger to do the pointing.
Emphatically, dramatically and oh so exuberantly.
Without thinking, I said, "Bet you a million dollars he just came from church".
The boys chuckled obediently at their radical, cynical mom/wife.
Not five minutes later we were all stopped at a red light.
All, as in us, a mess of other cars AND the SUV that had managed to gain ONE STINKING CAR LENGTH by his expert and tactical driving skills.
We got a better look at the back of the vehicle, and were literally struck silent for a brief moment before exploding into disbelieving laughter.
The license plate was a vanity plate- but one I haven't seen before- a Texas plate alright, but just white with black lettering and 3 crosses prominently displayed on the left hand side of it. The plate letters?
LF4GOD
Seriously. I shit you not.
Having perhaps to do with the warning ticket the nice state patrol officer handed me yesterday. Perhaps.
Anyway, I was doing the speed limit coming out of Denton on our way home from the Day of the Dead Festival which was last night. We stayed overnight in a hotel rather than try to drive home 3 hours in the dark on a Saturday night. Guess we're just old and stuffy that way nowadays.
So I'm minding my own business, driving 60 in a 60 zone.
Not 55. Not 58. Not 64. 60.
I was, in fact, in the left hand lane.
I was, in fact, talking to my family and didn't notice the 2 cars coming up fast behind me that impatiently shifted lanes to pass me, then return to the left lane.
The first car passed and scooted in front of me.
The second vehicle- a big gas-hog Suburban kind of SUV, was right on the bumper of the first one- almost pushing it in front of itself.
As the first car changed lanes, the SUV did as well, leaving a good inch between its back bumper and my front bumper- the driving equivalent of being shoved in a crowded room ("Oops- sorry- didn't see you there *mean little smirk*")
Just in case I hadn't noticed his gigantic great white shark diving in front of me, the driver's window rolled down and an arm flew out- pointing violently at the right hand lane.
Now, that could've been a helpful friendly reminder to pay better attention and let the SPEEDERS use the left hand lane.
But the driver used his middle finger to do the pointing.
Emphatically, dramatically and oh so exuberantly.
Without thinking, I said, "Bet you a million dollars he just came from church".
The boys chuckled obediently at their radical, cynical mom/wife.
Not five minutes later we were all stopped at a red light.
All, as in us, a mess of other cars AND the SUV that had managed to gain ONE STINKING CAR LENGTH by his expert and tactical driving skills.
We got a better look at the back of the vehicle, and were literally struck silent for a brief moment before exploding into disbelieving laughter.
The license plate was a vanity plate- but one I haven't seen before- a Texas plate alright, but just white with black lettering and 3 crosses prominently displayed on the left hand side of it. The plate letters?
LF4GOD
Seriously. I shit you not.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Pulpit Freedom- They'd Better All Be Wearing Their "Freedom is not Free" T-shirts
Today's the day.
The day we COULD, if our government had any balls at all, completely eradicate our deficit along with any future deficits.
Not an R or a D 'thing'; this is basic, easy and pretty much cut and dried.
Why today?
Lookie here-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pvwcfjAF5Pw#!
See? We have a mess of people employed by the IRS- pay them half a day of overtime (and buy 'em lunch afterwards for their having to sit through a sermon) and get it on record and recorded when the minister starts preaching politics from the pulpit.
At the end of the service, stand in line with the rest of the congregants, shake the minister's hand, politely say, "Great sermon, Pastor!" and hand 'em their tax form to fill out.
Deficit = Gone
"OH, NO- YOU CAN'T DO THAT- THEY ARE PROTECTED BY THE FIRST AMENDMENT- FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!!"
Well, absolutely- says so right here-
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
The ministers have every right to stand up in their pulpit, preach values and tell their flock how to vote.
But not tax-free.
See?
Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.
It's like the whole "Nativity on the courthouse lawn" thing- NO ONE is saying a Nativity cannot be set up outside in front of god and everyone. They look fabulous on the lawn of the church, darling in people's front yards, even adorning the entryways of privately-owned businesses.
Just not on the PUBLICLY-OWNED courthouse, because not everyone shares the Christian Faith (even here in the shiny buckle of the bible belt). This past Christmas in nearby Athens it was requested that the huge cardboard Nativity scene not be on the courthouse lawn and a literal shit-storm ensued.
There are FOUR churches within baby-in-swaddling-cloths-swinging distance of the courthouse. Seriously.
Did the churches say, "Wow- we never thought of that- here- lets ALL put up an even bigger Nativity scene in front of ALL the churches- The Good News X FOUR!!!"
No.
Some folks suggested that ALL the religions have equal time- one on each side of the courthouse square- Christian, Jewish, Kwanza and Islam, but of course they were quickly shut down by the Christians, who claimed the, "because it's ALWAYS been this way" argument. I love that one- that means we should also still own slaves, not allow women to vote and all die of childhood diseases before we reach maturity.
Yay!
But even the "let everyone have equal space on the square" idea was so not the fucking point- it would ALL have been wrong.
The Christian churches RALLIED on the COURTHOUSE STEPS in defense of their Nativity scene- with bullhorns and all- preaching loud and proud and effectively cowing everyone with their loving-god righteousness into heathen submission.
That. Was. Bullshit.
You see, here in America, everyone does have the freedom to say whatever they feel like- within reason. Because we're supposedly a Polite and Civilized Society and you DO need rules to be sure everyone is treated fairly. If you just have a large and overwhelmingly pushy majority *cough* Christians *cough* who insist everyone bend to their will or be accused of 'persecution'- you no longer have freedom of religion- you have a theocracy.
The same people who thump everyone upside the head with a bible also love to wave around the Constitution and talk about the Founding Fathers like they're personally related to them.
What did our Founding Fathers have to say about the whole church/state thing?
"Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by [Religious] Bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in history." – James Madison
Wow. Pretty harsh, James. "Encroachment" is a strong word. That would be like, if politicians were to get up and say right out loud they consider the bible before the constitution in all their political decisions. And that would NEVER happen.
Except it does. All the damn time.
"The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man." – Thomas Jefferson
Thomas? You been smoking yer hemp again? How could it possibly be a bad thing for men of Faith to steer our country? Unless their mission (pun intended) is to force BY LAW all of our citizens to bend to their own world views?
"Religious controversies always produce more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society." – George Washington
Ya, George. I was kinda hoping for that myself. Guess it's too soon...another 200 years, maybe?
"The question before the human race is, whether the God of Nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles?" – John Adams
God of Nature? What do you mean, John? Like those crazy climate-change scientists? Guess you've been hittin' the stash with Thomas.
OK OK OK- all those quotes are good ones, and fodder for thinkin', but where do they say ONE WORD about churches being tax-free (or not)???
Huh? Show me ONE thing that says it's okie dokie for churches to be able to preach politics from the pulpit AND be tax-exempt.
Just because it's in the Tax Code doesn't mean the Founding Fathers had anything to say about churches being taxed.
Gotcha.
Wait. What?
Ben Franklin? I thought he was in France, cozying up to those commie strumpets. What's HE doing back here? No matter- I'm sure he's got nothin' that will be applicable here.
"When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one." – Benjamin Franklin
Here's your tax form- have a Blessed Day.
The day we COULD, if our government had any balls at all, completely eradicate our deficit along with any future deficits.
Not an R or a D 'thing'; this is basic, easy and pretty much cut and dried.
Why today?
Lookie here-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pvwcfjAF5Pw#!
See? We have a mess of people employed by the IRS- pay them half a day of overtime (and buy 'em lunch afterwards for their having to sit through a sermon) and get it on record and recorded when the minister starts preaching politics from the pulpit.
At the end of the service, stand in line with the rest of the congregants, shake the minister's hand, politely say, "Great sermon, Pastor!" and hand 'em their tax form to fill out.
Deficit = Gone
"OH, NO- YOU CAN'T DO THAT- THEY ARE PROTECTED BY THE FIRST AMENDMENT- FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!!"
Well, absolutely- says so right here-
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
The ministers have every right to stand up in their pulpit, preach values and tell their flock how to vote.
But not tax-free.
See?
Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.
It's like the whole "Nativity on the courthouse lawn" thing- NO ONE is saying a Nativity cannot be set up outside in front of god and everyone. They look fabulous on the lawn of the church, darling in people's front yards, even adorning the entryways of privately-owned businesses.
Just not on the PUBLICLY-OWNED courthouse, because not everyone shares the Christian Faith (even here in the shiny buckle of the bible belt). This past Christmas in nearby Athens it was requested that the huge cardboard Nativity scene not be on the courthouse lawn and a literal shit-storm ensued.
There are FOUR churches within baby-in-swaddling-cloths-swinging distance of the courthouse. Seriously.
Did the churches say, "Wow- we never thought of that- here- lets ALL put up an even bigger Nativity scene in front of ALL the churches- The Good News X FOUR!!!"
No.
Some folks suggested that ALL the religions have equal time- one on each side of the courthouse square- Christian, Jewish, Kwanza and Islam, but of course they were quickly shut down by the Christians, who claimed the, "because it's ALWAYS been this way" argument. I love that one- that means we should also still own slaves, not allow women to vote and all die of childhood diseases before we reach maturity.
Yay!
But even the "let everyone have equal space on the square" idea was so not the fucking point- it would ALL have been wrong.
The Christian churches RALLIED on the COURTHOUSE STEPS in defense of their Nativity scene- with bullhorns and all- preaching loud and proud and effectively cowing everyone with their loving-god righteousness into heathen submission.
That. Was. Bullshit.
You see, here in America, everyone does have the freedom to say whatever they feel like- within reason. Because we're supposedly a Polite and Civilized Society and you DO need rules to be sure everyone is treated fairly. If you just have a large and overwhelmingly pushy majority *cough* Christians *cough* who insist everyone bend to their will or be accused of 'persecution'- you no longer have freedom of religion- you have a theocracy.
The same people who thump everyone upside the head with a bible also love to wave around the Constitution and talk about the Founding Fathers like they're personally related to them.
What did our Founding Fathers have to say about the whole church/state thing?
"Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by [Religious] Bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in history." – James Madison
Wow. Pretty harsh, James. "Encroachment" is a strong word. That would be like, if politicians were to get up and say right out loud they consider the bible before the constitution in all their political decisions. And that would NEVER happen.
Except it does. All the damn time.
"The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man." – Thomas Jefferson
Thomas? You been smoking yer hemp again? How could it possibly be a bad thing for men of Faith to steer our country? Unless their mission (pun intended) is to force BY LAW all of our citizens to bend to their own world views?
"Religious controversies always produce more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society." – George Washington
Ya, George. I was kinda hoping for that myself. Guess it's too soon...another 200 years, maybe?
"The question before the human race is, whether the God of Nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles?" – John Adams
God of Nature? What do you mean, John? Like those crazy climate-change scientists? Guess you've been hittin' the stash with Thomas.
OK OK OK- all those quotes are good ones, and fodder for thinkin', but where do they say ONE WORD about churches being tax-free (or not)???
Huh? Show me ONE thing that says it's okie dokie for churches to be able to preach politics from the pulpit AND be tax-exempt.
Just because it's in the Tax Code doesn't mean the Founding Fathers had anything to say about churches being taxed.
Gotcha.
Wait. What?
Ben Franklin? I thought he was in France, cozying up to those commie strumpets. What's HE doing back here? No matter- I'm sure he's got nothin' that will be applicable here.
"When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one." – Benjamin Franklin
Here's your tax form- have a Blessed Day.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
...And They Were Sore Afraid
Remember that line from the Bible? I do.
When the poor shepherds were just minding their own business in the middle of the night and without warning BAM the skies lit up and the stars were replaced by an entireshitload multitude of heavenly angels all announcing the birth of the Baby Jesus.
Considering they weren't accustomed to such displays of ostentatiousness (this being before the Pope and all) they stared up at that mess...
...and they were sore afraid.
'Course it was all cool, because the head angel told 'em to "Fear not. For born this day in a manger, a Savior. That he who believes shall NOT perish, but have eternal Life".
(Strange that I can remember that, but can't find my car in the grocery store parking lot half the time.)
Anyhoo.
I know a lot of really Good Christians. Those who follow the teachings of Christ- caring for the poor, feeding the hungry, turning the other cheek, judging not lest...all that stuff. I personally think Jesus was a terrific role model, a good man and an excellent teacher.
So this isn't a Christian-bashing session.
This isn't even where I go off about those Poser Christians who justify terrible things in the name of Jesus.
This is just a question about being afraid.
Because many of today's Survivalists and Preppers are also devout Christians.
And that's OK.
And it's also OK to be frugal, and learn how to care for yourself and your family if you are suddenly poor, or without electricity for whatever reason. It's OK to stock up on food and paper goods and first aid sundries whether you foresee a collapse of civilization from zombies or politicians or banks or terrorists or zombies (I know, but I think that's hilarious, so I repeated it).
My question is- Why are so many of the Christian Survivalist/Preppers so darn afraid?
So clannish and suspicious and scurrying and running away without even knowing where they're going? Just "away". From the cities filled with crime and evil, the non-believers, the (for lack of a better word) Infidels.
They're terrified blind to everyone and everything around them- 99% of all of it a Gift and Wondrous.
God made a beautiful place- this Mother Earth.
Jesus called all humans his Brothers and Sisters and was kind, gentle and respectful towards everyone, not just "his" people.
I understand that they believe their rewards and peace and reunions will be in Heaven, and that's cool.
But THIS life and THIS place is also pretty cool, and it makes me sad- seriously "hurts my heart and makes me cry" sad- to see them so unhappy, so frantic, so worried.
Are bad things going to happen to the economy, to everyone's family? Is our future filled with uncertainty and change?
Absolutely.
Because that's part of this life. Always has been, always is, always will be.
Knowing that makes me want to see and do MORE- travel more, meet more people who are different than we are, see and absorb it all- as much as one tiny speck here for one tiny blink of Father Time can take in. It also makes me treasure those around me more- I MAKE time now- for each precious person I love- because I DON'T believe we'll have "plenty of time to catch up on things once we're all dead and in Heaven".
I left the Church behind, which was right for ME. It doesn't make me a bad person, an immoral person, an evil person. I'm not worried about getting into Heaven or being tossed into a fiery Hell, but that doesn't mean I just go out and do bad shit because I have no fear of punishment.
Respect for others makes me do good. Love for my family makes me do good. Reverence for our planet makes me do good.
I care about everyone. No matter their race, gender, social status, religion, sexual orientation, or even their truly unfortunately misguided political leanings.
Everyone is my Family and Earth is my Home.
I'd like to sit all the poor harried Christian Survivalists down and make them see that they ARE running out of time, but not the way they are terrified of.
God says he'll provide for His Children.
He sees every sparrow that falls, remember?
Have Faith.
Slow down. Enjoy this life and this world and the people around you. All are precious. All are fragile.
Take a deep breath and embrace who you are with and the place you are now- because all will change whether you DO something about it or not. Where you are supposed to be and who you are supposed to be with will show itself to you when the time is right- but you'll never see it through your worry and agitation.
Be not afraid.
When the poor shepherds were just minding their own business in the middle of the night and without warning BAM the skies lit up and the stars were replaced by an entire
Considering they weren't accustomed to such displays of ostentatiousness (this being before the Pope and all) they stared up at that mess...
...and they were sore afraid.
'Course it was all cool, because the head angel told 'em to "Fear not. For born this day in a manger, a Savior. That he who believes shall NOT perish, but have eternal Life".
(Strange that I can remember that, but can't find my car in the grocery store parking lot half the time.)
Anyhoo.
I know a lot of really Good Christians. Those who follow the teachings of Christ- caring for the poor, feeding the hungry, turning the other cheek, judging not lest...all that stuff. I personally think Jesus was a terrific role model, a good man and an excellent teacher.
So this isn't a Christian-bashing session.
This isn't even where I go off about those Poser Christians who justify terrible things in the name of Jesus.
This is just a question about being afraid.
Because many of today's Survivalists and Preppers are also devout Christians.
And that's OK.
And it's also OK to be frugal, and learn how to care for yourself and your family if you are suddenly poor, or without electricity for whatever reason. It's OK to stock up on food and paper goods and first aid sundries whether you foresee a collapse of civilization from zombies or politicians or banks or terrorists or zombies (I know, but I think that's hilarious, so I repeated it).
My question is- Why are so many of the Christian Survivalist/Preppers so darn afraid?
So clannish and suspicious and scurrying and running away without even knowing where they're going? Just "away". From the cities filled with crime and evil, the non-believers, the (for lack of a better word) Infidels.
They're terrified blind to everyone and everything around them- 99% of all of it a Gift and Wondrous.
God made a beautiful place- this Mother Earth.
Jesus called all humans his Brothers and Sisters and was kind, gentle and respectful towards everyone, not just "his" people.
I understand that they believe their rewards and peace and reunions will be in Heaven, and that's cool.
But THIS life and THIS place is also pretty cool, and it makes me sad- seriously "hurts my heart and makes me cry" sad- to see them so unhappy, so frantic, so worried.
Are bad things going to happen to the economy, to everyone's family? Is our future filled with uncertainty and change?
Absolutely.
Because that's part of this life. Always has been, always is, always will be.
Knowing that makes me want to see and do MORE- travel more, meet more people who are different than we are, see and absorb it all- as much as one tiny speck here for one tiny blink of Father Time can take in. It also makes me treasure those around me more- I MAKE time now- for each precious person I love- because I DON'T believe we'll have "plenty of time to catch up on things once we're all dead and in Heaven".
I left the Church behind, which was right for ME. It doesn't make me a bad person, an immoral person, an evil person. I'm not worried about getting into Heaven or being tossed into a fiery Hell, but that doesn't mean I just go out and do bad shit because I have no fear of punishment.
Respect for others makes me do good. Love for my family makes me do good. Reverence for our planet makes me do good.
I care about everyone. No matter their race, gender, social status, religion, sexual orientation, or even their truly unfortunately misguided political leanings.
Everyone is my Family and Earth is my Home.
I'd like to sit all the poor harried Christian Survivalists down and make them see that they ARE running out of time, but not the way they are terrified of.
God says he'll provide for His Children.
He sees every sparrow that falls, remember?
Have Faith.
Slow down. Enjoy this life and this world and the people around you. All are precious. All are fragile.
Take a deep breath and embrace who you are with and the place you are now- because all will change whether you DO something about it or not. Where you are supposed to be and who you are supposed to be with will show itself to you when the time is right- but you'll never see it through your worry and agitation.
Be not afraid.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Hey, If I Don't Need It, Nobody Needs It
Disclaimer- my oldest female friend Cathy Sager is a devout Catholic. Actually my very first friend and neighbor Colleen Geraghty when I was just a wee toddler was Catholic. Oh, wait- and my best friend all through school Jodi Last was Catholic. So I got nuthin' against Catholics. Just sayin'...
So the Catholic church is pissed off because the big bad government is trying to FORCE them to offer employees of their churches and schools birth control- not on its own, not in little glass dishes on the desk of every teacher, not enclosed in the annual Christmas cards, but as one tiny part of coverage in health insurance policies. They're agin' it- even for those employees who are not Catholic.
This on the tail (the very very long and never-ending tail) of a group (not all) of Christians who violently oppose any abortion at any stage for any reason, any time- up to and including the morning after pill (or shot of estrogen administered by a doctor in say, the emergency room after a rape). Where it used to be "Abortion is wrong unless the woman was raped or in danger of losing her life by carrying a child to term", they've passed full throttle into the Crazytown of "Abortion for any reason is wrong- even if a woman/CHILD has been raped, even if they will die if they carry to term, wrong wrong wrong at any juncture.".
But, wait. There's more.
Laws are put up for votes saying that not only are embryos who are developed enough to survive outside the womb humans with human rights, but that every inhabitant of a womb on up from a fertilized egg is, too. Which makes the majority of birth control illegal.
There are laws pending saying that a woman who has a miscarriage must PROVE she didn't, yanno, drink a mugwort toddy or jump up and down or attack herself with a wire hanger.
Talk about a damn witch hunt.
Say all you want to about religious beliefs and following your conscience- this is still (I think) the United States of America- a country that is inhabited by a Christian majority (yes, I said that) but that is NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION. That is a very distinct and important difference.
Therefore- health insurance SHOULD include things like safe and affordable access to birth control, safe and affordable access to abortions, and safe and affordable access to vaccinations for children or safe and affordable surgery for those who need it.
What?
You think shots for kids and surgery if you need it are a good idea?
Wow. You must not be Seventh Day Adventist, Jehovah's Witness or Amish.
If we're limiting access to health care based on religious preference, then I guess we need to not offer those things too.
So all you Catholics and other assorted fundamentalists who have children you'd rather not get chicken pox, or mumps, or tetanus or polio I guess you'll just have to suck it up and let 'em get sick and die. Because those other religions are vehemently opposed to vaccinations and it's an affront to them to offer them in any standard health insurance policy. Out of respect for their beliefs.
Same with surgeries for things like broken bones, appendicitis, cancer... Not allowed- sorry.
What?
Just because one segment of people doesn't approve of vaccinations and surgeries you should still be allowed access to protect your families and yourselves through health insurance? Those things are important to you regardless of their very personal and heartfelt and sincere religious beliefs? If they don't want to avail themselves of those things all they have to do is NOT USE THEM???
*Exactly*.
So the Catholic church is pissed off because the big bad government is trying to FORCE them to offer employees of their churches and schools birth control- not on its own, not in little glass dishes on the desk of every teacher, not enclosed in the annual Christmas cards, but as one tiny part of coverage in health insurance policies. They're agin' it- even for those employees who are not Catholic.
This on the tail (the very very long and never-ending tail) of a group (not all) of Christians who violently oppose any abortion at any stage for any reason, any time- up to and including the morning after pill (or shot of estrogen administered by a doctor in say, the emergency room after a rape). Where it used to be "Abortion is wrong unless the woman was raped or in danger of losing her life by carrying a child to term", they've passed full throttle into the Crazytown of "Abortion for any reason is wrong- even if a woman/CHILD has been raped, even if they will die if they carry to term, wrong wrong wrong at any juncture.".
But, wait. There's more.
Laws are put up for votes saying that not only are embryos who are developed enough to survive outside the womb humans with human rights, but that every inhabitant of a womb on up from a fertilized egg is, too. Which makes the majority of birth control illegal.
There are laws pending saying that a woman who has a miscarriage must PROVE she didn't, yanno, drink a mugwort toddy or jump up and down or attack herself with a wire hanger.
Talk about a damn witch hunt.
Say all you want to about religious beliefs and following your conscience- this is still (I think) the United States of America- a country that is inhabited by a Christian majority (yes, I said that) but that is NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION. That is a very distinct and important difference.
Therefore- health insurance SHOULD include things like safe and affordable access to birth control, safe and affordable access to abortions, and safe and affordable access to vaccinations for children or safe and affordable surgery for those who need it.
What?
You think shots for kids and surgery if you need it are a good idea?
Wow. You must not be Seventh Day Adventist, Jehovah's Witness or Amish.
If we're limiting access to health care based on religious preference, then I guess we need to not offer those things too.
So all you Catholics and other assorted fundamentalists who have children you'd rather not get chicken pox, or mumps, or tetanus or polio I guess you'll just have to suck it up and let 'em get sick and die. Because those other religions are vehemently opposed to vaccinations and it's an affront to them to offer them in any standard health insurance policy. Out of respect for their beliefs.
Same with surgeries for things like broken bones, appendicitis, cancer... Not allowed- sorry.
What?
Just because one segment of people doesn't approve of vaccinations and surgeries you should still be allowed access to protect your families and yourselves through health insurance? Those things are important to you regardless of their very personal and heartfelt and sincere religious beliefs? If they don't want to avail themselves of those things all they have to do is NOT USE THEM???
*Exactly*.
Monday, October 3, 2011
The Moral of the Story
Back when Alec was a wee thing of 2 or so, we considered adoption since all my parts had been recalled, removed and demolished.
We ran into some roadblocks- we were too old, Ward's health was too sketchy (and that was BEFORE most of the health shit hit the fan), I'd already grown 3 perfectly good children inside of me, but the main sticking point was this- we're not card-carrying Christians.
Even though I'd grown up Lutheran and spent years teaching Sunday School and Ward had been presented at the local Episcopalian church on Sundays to get HIS Jesus on, we were not and are not members of a "church family".
We've actually pretty much grown away from the entire Supreme Being concept- not out of despair or disillusionment or anger, but just because when you lay it all out in the light of day, it looks...questionable at best.
We're not anti-God or pro-Satan and respect others' beliefs- this life is sometimes hard and scary and any spiritual coping mechanism that makes someone more assured and secure is a good one.
Do I believe in "god"? I believe in...something. Energy? Life force? The Circle of Life and reincarnation/recycling? Something.
But not the god of the Christian bible. That one seems too petty, too vain, too un-godlike and too...human.
I believe Jesus was real, a real teacher and a real inspiration. But I am not a Christian.
So we are considered unfit.
In this year of political posturing it seems like every candidate is showing how much more Christian they are then the others. It's a big ol' pissing contest...with bibles.
Here's what I don't understand.
Why is saying you're Christian an automatic pass to an assumption of morality?
I consider myself a moral person. I KNOW Ward and Alec are moral persons. Every single person I love are moral persons yet only a handful attend church- any church.
Every one of us knows right from wrong. Every one of us cares for others before themselves. Every one of us seethes at injustice and works for equality...for all.
Is that not the very definition of "morality"?
I've known some moral Christians- good, kind people I'm proud to call family and friends.
I've also known some real Christian assholes who are mean-spirited and judgmental and who have no problem causing mental and physical harm to someone they deem unworthy or somehow flawed in the name of their god.
Of course there are people who don't believe in anything or anyone but themselves, and I avoid them like the plague they are.
But here's the important part.
You do NOT need religion to be a moral person.
It is absolutely possible to behave in a moral manner without believing in God.
Humans are capable of knowing right from wrong and more often than not will do the right thing regardless of whether or not Santa or God or the Flying Spaghetti Monster is watching them and making a damn list. (pun intended)
So cut the crap.
Stop using the label "Christian" like it's the fucking Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.
Like the only way anyone can be trusted is if they have a reference from a Church Home.
Show me you are trustworthy by how you live your life, how you treat others you don't need to impress, how you regard women, children, old people, disabled people and dogs.
By what you say and do when you think no one is watching.
Religion has not a damn thing to do with morality.
Character does.
We ran into some roadblocks- we were too old, Ward's health was too sketchy (and that was BEFORE most of the health shit hit the fan), I'd already grown 3 perfectly good children inside of me, but the main sticking point was this- we're not card-carrying Christians.
Even though I'd grown up Lutheran and spent years teaching Sunday School and Ward had been presented at the local Episcopalian church on Sundays to get HIS Jesus on, we were not and are not members of a "church family".
We've actually pretty much grown away from the entire Supreme Being concept- not out of despair or disillusionment or anger, but just because when you lay it all out in the light of day, it looks...questionable at best.
We're not anti-God or pro-Satan and respect others' beliefs- this life is sometimes hard and scary and any spiritual coping mechanism that makes someone more assured and secure is a good one.
Do I believe in "god"? I believe in...something. Energy? Life force? The Circle of Life and reincarnation/recycling? Something.
But not the god of the Christian bible. That one seems too petty, too vain, too un-godlike and too...human.
I believe Jesus was real, a real teacher and a real inspiration. But I am not a Christian.
So we are considered unfit.
In this year of political posturing it seems like every candidate is showing how much more Christian they are then the others. It's a big ol' pissing contest...with bibles.
Here's what I don't understand.
Why is saying you're Christian an automatic pass to an assumption of morality?
I consider myself a moral person. I KNOW Ward and Alec are moral persons. Every single person I love are moral persons yet only a handful attend church- any church.
Every one of us knows right from wrong. Every one of us cares for others before themselves. Every one of us seethes at injustice and works for equality...for all.
Is that not the very definition of "morality"?
I've known some moral Christians- good, kind people I'm proud to call family and friends.
I've also known some real Christian assholes who are mean-spirited and judgmental and who have no problem causing mental and physical harm to someone they deem unworthy or somehow flawed in the name of their god.
Of course there are people who don't believe in anything or anyone but themselves, and I avoid them like the plague they are.
But here's the important part.
You do NOT need religion to be a moral person.
It is absolutely possible to behave in a moral manner without believing in God.
Humans are capable of knowing right from wrong and more often than not will do the right thing regardless of whether or not Santa or God or the Flying Spaghetti Monster is watching them and making a damn list. (pun intended)
So cut the crap.
Stop using the label "Christian" like it's the fucking Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.
Like the only way anyone can be trusted is if they have a reference from a Church Home.
Show me you are trustworthy by how you live your life, how you treat others you don't need to impress, how you regard women, children, old people, disabled people and dogs.
By what you say and do when you think no one is watching.
Religion has not a damn thing to do with morality.
Character does.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
The World May Be Flat, But My Breasts Are Spectacular
I thought to myself "I really need to do some back to back posting to get even close to the 3 times a week average I want to have here, but what the heck do I write about?"
Out of the blue, a Gift from the Universe- something Alec and I watched together, pausing it every few minutes to laugh, cry, pound our heads on the wall or just utter some cuss words in exasperation.
It's pretty long (15 minutes) but if you can stomach the first 5 of them, you've pretty much seen the whole show...sadly. The "spoof" afterwards is worth it, for several reasons, one being that they have ONE woman who says something that's even remotely sensible.
http://boingboing.net/2011/08/26/beauty-pageant-candidates-recite-their-non-threatening-answer-to-should-evolution-be-taught-in-schools.html
(Waiting for everyone's ears to stop bleeding...)
I think it's safe to say I'm fixin' to ruffle a few feathers in the next few paragraphs...
I went to school- public school- between the years of 1965 and 1977- not the computer age but not exactly the stone age either. We learned reading, writing, rithmatic, history and science. We learned to read and write English, do basic math, learn American and world history and how the world works- including how the world and all its inhabitants got here.
We learned evolution.
Most of us went to church too- all sorts of churches- and we all learned faith based creation stories (along with stories about global floods and giant man-eating fishes). We were never, ever, ever told in church that evolution was false.
Ever.
I also remember when the Miss America pageant made an attempt at "proving" it wasn't just Princess Dress Up for fluffy-headed morons and they stressed the academic achievements of the contestants- who were expected to have critical thinking skills, a mastery and ease of speaking in public and...spines.
The contestants gave interviews where they shared which college they'd been accepted to, what they were going to major in, and that pageants were a tool for them- the opportunity to do community service and the scholarship money were the real appeal for them. It all sounded like the girly counterpart to the boys joining the military for 4 years to attend college on the GI Bill- a means to an end they otherwise couldn't afford.
What the hell happened?
Most of the time we were watching all 50 of the contestants Alec was turning it off and backing it up because his mother was screaming at the monitor "YES. THE ANSWER IS YES. BECAUSE IT'S SCIENCE AND IT'S FACT AND IT'S TRUE. IT'S NOT A THEORY, IT'S NOT CULTURAL, IT'S NOT 'ONE OPTION', IT'S HOW THE WORLD HAPPENED YOU STUPID COW" and he was missing the actual answers.
The "spoof" video was an excellent analogy.
(Sarcastic mother pretending to be a beauty contestant)-
"Well, children really need to be told about math, but since math is only theory they need to be able to decide for themselves if it's real or not. I mean (holding up 2 fingers on one hand and 2 fingers on the other hand for visual effect) this COULD mean 2 + 2 = 4, BUT"
(Alec interjects)-
"It could ALSO mean 2 two's, which is 22".
(back to mom)-
"OR (moving the hands together) lookie here- it's a DOUBLE U! See- three whole different theories, one that isn't even a number!"
I know. I get it. The bible as believed by devout fundamental Christians is the Word of God and I can respect that IF there are no picksies/choosies.
That's what I hear from my Christian friends "You just can't pick out the parts you want to believe, you know- the whole thing is the Word of God and must be followed...to the letter".
Really.
Guess ya'll better step away from those pork ribs and fried shrimp.
The quick answer is always "Well, those food laws were written before modern sanitary procedures, so they don't count- that's historical law- gimme my plate back, Missy- before I stab you with my spork".
Another is
"If it's not in the Good Book, I don't believe it or need it in my life".
May I have your computer, then? Alec dropped his and it's all squidgy. Guess you'll also be turning in your cell phone, eyeglasses, SUV and central air conditioning unit.
Chuckle and patient explanation as to a tiny child-"Those things hadn't been invented yet, so of COURSE they're not in the bible. The people who wrote the bible all those years ago had no idea of the strides we'd make in science and technology."
(Pause for effect)
Here's what I think. I think Genesis was written many years ago by men who knew they needed to start at The Beginning but who (because they were ancient people living in primitive times) had no freaking idea how it all came to be. They cobbled together what made sense to them at the time and called it History.
They weren't trying to pull wool over anyone's eyes (yep- shepherd pun, sue me), they weren't evil men. They did the best they could with the knowledge they had. The entire, repeat ENTIRE Old Testament is book after book of a buncha scholarly dudes trying to make sense out of the world as they saw it, trying to mark down a timeline that would give their people dignity and a solid faith, page after page of "begats" and a fistful of rules so the people wouldn't die of infected penises and salmonella induced dysentery.
Why is it so easy for people to justify setting aside dietary requirements so they can eat those tasty shellfish and cloven hooved critters since SCIENCE has proven that if properly cooked they won't in fact, kill us but so difficult to set aside the Creation story for what it is now that SCIENCE has shown us how it really happened- as much of a fable as Atlas holding the world on his shoulders or the giant turtle balancing our blue and green planet on her shell- our ancestors doing their level and sincere best to explain the unexplainable.
But we know better now.
And it scares the living hell out of me that we're being pulled so far and so quickly backwards- from our politicians to our school boards to our religious "leaders"- out of those 50 young women who were asked "Do you think evolution should be taught in school?" several I guarantee are gay, ALL will need reproductive services they may not be able to afford, none- not a one of them will be paid equally for equal work compared to men in their field.
Every one of them knows all the above, or would if they pulled their heads out of the cloud of hair spray and looked around at their schools, their towns, their mothers.
And yet not a one of them had the balls to look directly at the interviewer and say "I find that question offensive- of course evolution should be taught in school- it's hard science and it's the truth. To do anything else is a dis-service to our children and our country".
THAT would've been an answer worthy of the obligatory "flash the teeth, sparkle the eyes, smile to show you've answered sincerely".
Out of the blue, a Gift from the Universe- something Alec and I watched together, pausing it every few minutes to laugh, cry, pound our heads on the wall or just utter some cuss words in exasperation.
It's pretty long (15 minutes) but if you can stomach the first 5 of them, you've pretty much seen the whole show...sadly. The "spoof" afterwards is worth it, for several reasons, one being that they have ONE woman who says something that's even remotely sensible.
http://boingboing.net/2011/08/26/beauty-pageant-candidates-recite-their-non-threatening-answer-to-should-evolution-be-taught-in-schools.html
(Waiting for everyone's ears to stop bleeding...)
I think it's safe to say I'm fixin' to ruffle a few feathers in the next few paragraphs...
I went to school- public school- between the years of 1965 and 1977- not the computer age but not exactly the stone age either. We learned reading, writing, rithmatic, history and science. We learned to read and write English, do basic math, learn American and world history and how the world works- including how the world and all its inhabitants got here.
We learned evolution.
Most of us went to church too- all sorts of churches- and we all learned faith based creation stories (along with stories about global floods and giant man-eating fishes). We were never, ever, ever told in church that evolution was false.
Ever.
I also remember when the Miss America pageant made an attempt at "proving" it wasn't just Princess Dress Up for fluffy-headed morons and they stressed the academic achievements of the contestants- who were expected to have critical thinking skills, a mastery and ease of speaking in public and...spines.
The contestants gave interviews where they shared which college they'd been accepted to, what they were going to major in, and that pageants were a tool for them- the opportunity to do community service and the scholarship money were the real appeal for them. It all sounded like the girly counterpart to the boys joining the military for 4 years to attend college on the GI Bill- a means to an end they otherwise couldn't afford.
What the hell happened?
Most of the time we were watching all 50 of the contestants Alec was turning it off and backing it up because his mother was screaming at the monitor "YES. THE ANSWER IS YES. BECAUSE IT'S SCIENCE AND IT'S FACT AND IT'S TRUE. IT'S NOT A THEORY, IT'S NOT CULTURAL, IT'S NOT 'ONE OPTION', IT'S HOW THE WORLD HAPPENED YOU STUPID COW" and he was missing the actual answers.
The "spoof" video was an excellent analogy.
(Sarcastic mother pretending to be a beauty contestant)-
"Well, children really need to be told about math, but since math is only theory they need to be able to decide for themselves if it's real or not. I mean (holding up 2 fingers on one hand and 2 fingers on the other hand for visual effect) this COULD mean 2 + 2 = 4, BUT"
(Alec interjects)-
"It could ALSO mean 2 two's, which is 22".
(back to mom)-
"OR (moving the hands together) lookie here- it's a DOUBLE U! See- three whole different theories, one that isn't even a number!"
I know. I get it. The bible as believed by devout fundamental Christians is the Word of God and I can respect that IF there are no picksies/choosies.
That's what I hear from my Christian friends "You just can't pick out the parts you want to believe, you know- the whole thing is the Word of God and must be followed...to the letter".
Really.
Guess ya'll better step away from those pork ribs and fried shrimp.
The quick answer is always "Well, those food laws were written before modern sanitary procedures, so they don't count- that's historical law- gimme my plate back, Missy- before I stab you with my spork".
Another is
"If it's not in the Good Book, I don't believe it or need it in my life".
May I have your computer, then? Alec dropped his and it's all squidgy. Guess you'll also be turning in your cell phone, eyeglasses, SUV and central air conditioning unit.
Chuckle and patient explanation as to a tiny child-"Those things hadn't been invented yet, so of COURSE they're not in the bible. The people who wrote the bible all those years ago had no idea of the strides we'd make in science and technology."
(Pause for effect)
Here's what I think. I think Genesis was written many years ago by men who knew they needed to start at The Beginning but who (because they were ancient people living in primitive times) had no freaking idea how it all came to be. They cobbled together what made sense to them at the time and called it History.
They weren't trying to pull wool over anyone's eyes (yep- shepherd pun, sue me), they weren't evil men. They did the best they could with the knowledge they had. The entire, repeat ENTIRE Old Testament is book after book of a buncha scholarly dudes trying to make sense out of the world as they saw it, trying to mark down a timeline that would give their people dignity and a solid faith, page after page of "begats" and a fistful of rules so the people wouldn't die of infected penises and salmonella induced dysentery.
Why is it so easy for people to justify setting aside dietary requirements so they can eat those tasty shellfish and cloven hooved critters since SCIENCE has proven that if properly cooked they won't in fact, kill us but so difficult to set aside the Creation story for what it is now that SCIENCE has shown us how it really happened- as much of a fable as Atlas holding the world on his shoulders or the giant turtle balancing our blue and green planet on her shell- our ancestors doing their level and sincere best to explain the unexplainable.
But we know better now.
And it scares the living hell out of me that we're being pulled so far and so quickly backwards- from our politicians to our school boards to our religious "leaders"- out of those 50 young women who were asked "Do you think evolution should be taught in school?" several I guarantee are gay, ALL will need reproductive services they may not be able to afford, none- not a one of them will be paid equally for equal work compared to men in their field.
Every one of them knows all the above, or would if they pulled their heads out of the cloud of hair spray and looked around at their schools, their towns, their mothers.
And yet not a one of them had the balls to look directly at the interviewer and say "I find that question offensive- of course evolution should be taught in school- it's hard science and it's the truth. To do anything else is a dis-service to our children and our country".
THAT would've been an answer worthy of the obligatory "flash the teeth, sparkle the eyes, smile to show you've answered sincerely".
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