Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Respecting the Ridiculous is… ridiculous!  And wrong.

Yesterday I wrote an entry inspired by an SEB guest post by Bachalon, in which he cites an article by Muriel Grey in the Sunday Herald, ”Religion Itself is the Fount of Most Evil.” Unfortunately, I didn’t save the post to my notepad, and by the time I hit “Preview” I’d been logged off of EE, so I lost the whole damn thing.

Since I wrote something similar today as a comment to Bachalon’s post, I’ll cheat and repost it here:

I think it’s quite interesting that the articles in Bachalon’s posts, which are straightforward and unapologetic in their call for an end to “respecting” religion, were published in mainstream media.  Anything of a similar nature written here in the US would likely only be found in non-mainstream publications.  It’s ironic that such opinions find a wider audience in the UK, where there’s an actual state religion, than they would here in the supposedly secular US, as yet not declared a Christian nation despite the militant and unceasing cries of the fundies for it to be so.

By and large, people don’t think twice about calling Scientology a total crock of shit, and considering its adherents to be delusional nut cases; but to say the same of Christianity and ITS adherents is considered “persecution” or “hate speech” by many of those same people.  It stands to reason (which is why it can’t be grasped by most Christians) that an adult human being with an IQ over 30 who believes in an invisible superfriend like “God” or “Jesus” should be considered just as delusional as if they truly believed in the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy.  Belief in invisible beings is something to be laughed at, not respected.  And certainly not respected to the point that the supposed “words” of those invisible beings are looked to as a source from which the laws that govern a civil society should be taken.  If our leaders told us that the Easter Bunny commands all people to immediately cease killing rabbits, and therefore a law would be enacted, we’d call them insane and kick them out of office with all due haste.  Yet not an eye blinks when our leaders propose laws according to “what God says” in the Bible, as if that somehow makes their proposals any less ridiculous than those of an Easter Bunnarian.  Rational and reasonable people rightly see no difference between such ludicrous claims.

Sure, I can still respect people I know who cleave to such nonsense as a belief in gods in order to get through their lives, but I admit that my respect for their level of intelligence and maturity drops a few notches.  Only children and fools should give credence to the notion that fairies, dragons or gods are somehow real; their ignorance is excusable (and often curable).  Not so any adult who can manage to tie his or her own shoes and is convinced that Jesus is going to return to earth and run the place for a thousand years.  I refuse to “play nice” and pretend that it’s ok for adults to go on in their delusion, especially when their invented deity and his “laws” seem to take precedence over the very real needs and problems of the rest of humanity.  Presenting myth as fact is the height of insanity, and using that myth to make law is intolerable.  Moreover, employing the force of law to prop up one belief system over all others is unconstitutional - and that’s what’s happened here in America.

Rather than “honoring our Christian heritage” as the fundies claim as justification for reconstructionist policy, we should be a little bit embarrassed about our ignorance at the time the country was founded, and embrace the fact that we’ve smartened up over the past two centuries and start correcting those laws that serve to highlight our former ignorance, intolerance and delusion, while simultaneously supporting discrimination against those people who’ve embraced reason and reality. 

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

When Reason Sleeps, Mumbo-Jumbo Frolics

Hear fuckin’ hear! “The sleep of reason brings forth monsters. Some are manifestly sinister, others perhaps merely comical — harmless pastimes, as Nancy Reagan said of her reliance on horoscopes. Cumulatively, however, the proliferation of obscurant bunkum is a menace to the Enlightenment legacy bequeathed to America by Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Where is H.L. Mencken when we need him?”—Francis Wheen, author of “Idiot Proof: Deluded Celebrities, Irrational Power-Brokers, Media Morons and the Erosion of Common Sense” (Public Affairs, 2004)

Thanks to Les for the link to the commentary by Wheen in the LA Times, “When Reason Sleeps, Mumbo-Jumbo Frolics” (worth the free registration!)

Emptying out the storage to fill up the new shed has been enlightening… There are SO many things I guess I can live without, since I’ve done so for a couple years now—so Goodwill will be getting a nice, big donation.  Someone else really needs all those barely-used clothes and toys and trappings. 

However, in light of the number of books I simply CANNOT part with while I draw breath, and the march of time having made me less able to sling unlimited numbers of boxes of books around I’m afraid I’ll need to build a freakin’ library soon!  It’s a curse to have an insatiable thirst for knowledge sometimes.

Friday, April 09, 2004

15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense

I hate when the boards break! I wanted to post this in a thread, but the goddamned board isn’t cooperating.  I should probably page someone…

Scientific American: 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense
Opponents of evolution want to make a place for creationism by tearing down real science, but their arguments don’t hold up

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Laptop Lobbyists vs. Normal Bob Smith

Normal Bob’s being crucified and harassed for his Jesus Dress-Up fridge magnets, and now his website is threatened too, because of some frothing-at-the-mouth religious nuts. Because of all the publicity (and ensuing traffic), his host is talking about shutting him down.

Check out this fuckstick’s “call to arms” at Laptop Lobbyist.

The news report that started the whole firestorm not only chose to do so riding on the crest of publicity for “The Passion of the Christ,” but didn’t even have the fucking integrity and sense of fair play to display the URL of Jesus Dress-Up. I mean, really… the least you can do in return for loosing the rabid Christians on the guy is to mention his goddamned website, which he’s had up for FOUR YEARS! If he’s got to take the inevitable heat, at least throw the guy a bone and give him a plug for fuck’s sake.

Again I point out the irony:  the same people who want Bob’s fridge magnets removed from the shelves of UO stores are probably flocking to retailers to pay their $20 for an official “Passion” pendant, replicas of the nails driven into Jesus at his crucifixion. What the fuck kind of sick shit is that? Yet these creepy, blood-thirsty bastards have the balls to flip out about a CARTOON?

(Is it effective time management or just laziness when my blog entry is an edit of a post on a message board?)

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

I didn’t start it!

Hard to believe, but Jesus Dress Up has actually become a thread on the Gods & Generals Board.  Of course, I couldn’t resist posting in support of my favorite atheist rabble-rouser.  Hahaha!

Gotta run & write to Bob to invite him to check it out!