Because Bigotry is Funny

I'm really enjoying the gratuitous amounts of apostrophes. Also I'm confused why they feel so strongly about emos? And sophisticated swine? Apparently also, if you're straight but "effeminate" you still love the devil. At least they're progressive enough to understand that feminists and "loud mouth women" are not necessarily the same thing.

A God I Can Get Behind

Lately I've stumbled a lot of short stories about the meaning of life, God's true purpose, and what lies beyond death. They're very short and not all that deep, so I encourage everybody to check my favorites out: "Meeting God", "Talking to God" and "I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility."

I like the first two stories because of their emphasis on growth. I feel like religion all too often makes life feel stagnant. These are your rules, this is what you have to do and can't do to get in to heaven. You live your pious, and, for some people, boring life and then you spend an eternity with God. The end is the purpose. These stories, however, propose that the journey is the purpose. Our whole reason for being is to learn and grow.

"Meeting God" goes so far as to presume that humanity is one and literally interprets that harm to one person is harm to all. Which is a good argument for why we should not hurt each other.

"Talking to God" uses a stronger emphasis on evolution, saying it's our species that must learn. It's possible to create technology and not kill ourselves, we just have to hope that we can. It means we have to trust each other and learn to live with each other. We cannot use the technology for harm, but we still need to have the capability to do so. It was a great spin on technology and scientific advancements and the both negative and positives outcomes. Technology is always going to have bad along with good with new discoveries and inventions, but in order to progress as a society we need to learn to live with them.

"I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility" is much different from the first two. More scifi than ontological. But it did pose an interesting perspective on what our lives really may be.

I think stories like these are enjoyable, they give me an idea of God that I could get behind. There's a real purpose, and God, as an intellectual, is more relatable. He doesn't interfere in all the stupid aspects of our lives or stop bad things from happening because those parts are what make us who we are. It makes sense that it wouldn't be right for God to interfere with that. Our lives are not a means to an end, the whole purpose is the journey itself. It's a logical God. I totally support that.

Jesus is a pretty cool guy. He forgives people and doesn't afraid of anything.

I'm not a fan of religion. At all. I've touched on this briefly before, and don't want to delve in to why. The arguments are numerous and painful for multiple reasons. So for now, let's all accept that I don't like religion and never wish to have it as a part of my life. I'm happier for it.

I'm fortunate to be on a campus surrounded by people who understand this, even if they don't agree. I've never been attacked or ridiculed for it (I should probably say yet, but I like to be an optimist).

Those that don't agree with me (my family included) often cite the ways that religion has helped people, including themselves. It's given them a purpose, a reason to try to be a better person. The hopeful, optimistic message gives them a better outlook on life than they believe they could have without religion.

I understand that. I do. But probably the hardest part about turning away from my religion has been feeling like I turned away from a friend: Jesus.

I really did feel like Jesus understood life. He understood me. He wasn't judgmental, he wasn't hateful. He didn't hate gay people, or black people, or feminists. He didn't hate women for getting abortions. He didn't hate Obama.

In fact, I believe that Jesus loves me for what I believe. He loves me for trying to be a good person, and for staying true to myself. He loves my sense of humor. He loves my sometimes bizarre passion for capitalism. He loves how much I love my cat.

I've lost my faith, and I feel happier for it. My life is simpler, and freer. It is up to me to make a purpose for myself. I'm not held down to meaningless doctrines, I don't have to reconcile my love of humanity with the hate of those higher up.

I haven't lost my faith in Jesus, though, because honestly, Jesus had nothing to do with Christianity to me. Jesus, in my mind, in the faith I practiced all those years (which arguably, despite what even I thought, was not Catholicism), Jesus was someone that we all strived to be. Jesus was the good guy. He was full of love, compassion, and forgiveness. He was the person I want to be.

I don't know who Jesus really was. Son of god? Mary Magdalene's lover? A hypocrite? I don't know, and frankly, it's not important. Jesus is whoever I want him to be. I could probably name him whatever, base him off of any historical figure (Abe Lincoln? Einstein?). I think I chose Jesus because he's already accepted as a pacifist and all around cool dude. There's enough mystery around him that there are no facts. It gives me a good base to mold him into whatever I want, and force myself into believing I'm right. Anything anyone else says just further proves their delusion.

It's comforting to think that someone, somewhere, really was a genuinely good person. There's no little known facts about him embezzling money, or secretly being a racist. He's untouched, and he's lovely. That, more than anything religion has taught or will teach, gives me hope.

In Defense of South Park

Seth Macfarlane, the creator of Family Guy, was on Larry King tonight talking about comedy and where to draw the line. He brought up several of his past, particularly controversial jokes. Then they brought on two other comedians and talked about South Park and the threat against their lives regarding their depiction of Mohammad.

I was a little disappointed because I felt that they missed the mark on all accounts. There was reference to Seth's morals, to whether the joke is worth risking their lives, and the woman babbled without making a point at all.

Honestly, I have serious issue with the fact that Comedy Central caved to their demands. You know what their actions mean? As long as the members of the religion are not going to threaten you with physical violence, you can make fun of them. It's interesting to note that this may be why there seems to be a disproportionate amount of jokes made at Christianity's expense. As far as I know, there aren't a whole lot of Christian terrorist groups whose threats will be taken seriously. I've always thought it was more because Christians are the majority in this country, but maybe the real root of it is fear.

I also have to wonder why it is Muslims expect the rest of us to follow their religion's rules? I'm not Muslim, I don't believe what they believe, I don't believe it's wrong to draw a picture of Mohammad, so why do they think I'm not allowed to? That's like the French government coming over here and arresting US citizens for breaking French laws. Everybody agrees that's wrong. The Muslim religion has no jurisdiction over my life, and the Muslim religion is no more sacred than any Christian religion. If it's okay to make fun of Christians, it's okay to make fun of Muslims.

Though I'll point out for fairness sake, Christian groups have proven through their political actions that they intend on making the rest of the world follow their religious rules as well. Their constant insistence that the government not pass gay marriage due to their own religious beliefs is just as ridiculous.

We shouldn't be talking about the creators of South Park, we should be talking about the members of religious organizations that think they're above criticism.

This is What Happens Whenever I Watch TV

Erik is a huge fan of Bones, and I don't mind it, so every once in awhile I end up watching an episode or two. I have to say, I got really sick of the forensic science shows about halfway through the first season of CSI, but Bones manages to keep things interesting for the most part. Once you get over the fact that most of this is probably stretched, hoaky science that has been morphed and battered to fit into the framework of television, it's pretty good!

What I like most about it is the main character is a very intelligent, pretty, atheist woman. She has flaws, but they're appropriate. She's a little socially awkward, but not painfully so. She's very blunt, but does have capacity for empathy. It's great that the character never feels forced, and is never the butt of the jokes.

How great is it that we have a woman being portrayed in this way on television and no one is making a huge deal about it? This is apparently, for a lot of people, very normal. As a girl/woman (cue Britney Spears song here) at an engineering school that is 25% female, I find this encouraging. I'm all about girls choosing to do whatever it is they want to do, and if all girls truly wanted nothing more than to stay at home, cooking and raising children, I wouldn't care. I just want girls to know what all of their options are before making those decisions, and a character like Bones can show girls that they can be the calculating, logical scientist just as much as any man can.

Admittedly, I'm more surprised that no one gets all uppity about her being an atheist. You'd think with all the confusion about what an atheist is, and how people very rarely even acknowledge their existence, a character like this on mainstream television would be almost impossible. Maybe this means people aren't so terrified of the idea of an atheist anmore?

A particularly interesting vehicle of the story is that her counterpart is religious. They never "convert" each other, they talk about each other's religious beliefs, and they're still friends. Look! You don't even have to agree about the existence of god to get along! How novel! Bones is probably the best advertising for atheism and skeptical thinking there has ever been.

And they never show her eating babies either. So that's cool, too, I guess.

Think of the Children!

Have you heard of the Creation Museum? No? Probably for the best, it means you don't hang out in a crowd that believes the world is 6000 years old.

For those who don't know, in summary: The creation museum is to the creationists what The Museum of Natural History is to..well...everyone else. Frustrated that they did not have a building dedicated to their (ahem) science, the creationists took it upon themselves to build such a thing so as to "educate" the masses.

Admittedly, I shouldn't really care. The museum isn't going to convert educated adults, and the uneducated adults probably already believe all of this. The first amendment guarantees the right to say whatever they want to. If they want to use the Bible as a source of actual history, scientific or otherwise, it's not going to affect me, right?

The problem is not the adults paying money to visit this museum and learn about Adam and Eve and their pet dinosaurs, it's the adults paying money for their children to visit this museum.

Children are supposed to trust their parents, especially given that their parents are their primary source of survival. Naturally, they believe everything their parents tell them. They are telling them that scientists are liars, and are going to hell for not believing the literal interpretation of the Bible.

Where does that thought process naturally take you? If you don't trust scientists, then you won't trust doctors, you won't get vaccinated, you won't get proper medicine. If you don't trust scientists, you won't trust engineers, and you won't trust any modern technological advancements.

If you don't trust scientists, you only have religious leaders to believe, the ones that say condoms do not prevent the spread of AIDs, and immodestly dressed women cause earthquakes. You believe that treating your child through prayer and not accepted medical practices is okay. You believe that treating some people differently than others is okay.

But is this enough evidence to step in and say enough? Undoubtedly for some families these fundamental religious indoctrinations become harmful not just mentally but physically, and that's not okay. Once we draw that line though, we enter a dangerous territory where attacking one set of religious beliefs becomes attacking all religious beliefs. We start forcing people to believe in evolution as opposed to allowing free thought and freedom of speech. Children are being hurt, and growing into adults that will continue the cycle, but how can we stop it without becoming them?

This post by Jen at Blaghag.com and her review of the Creation Museum, specifically this post, is what got me started on this.