God & Country: a Film Directed by Dan Partland

I'm watching "God & Country" on Tubi. It's a show about Christian Nationalism directed by Dan Partland. I also saw Rob Reiner as one of the producers of this film.

 

I'll be honest, it's terrifying how any sort of Christianity has morphed into this political machinery. Christianity is no longer about the belief system and the value of the religion, but is now about power and politics. The amount of money spent on revving people up to a political fervor and on creating a fear of secularism is terrifying. 

 

Is Christian Nationalism Christian?

I don't think so. it's not based on the values of the gospels or the culture of Christianity. But, rather, on a violent Jesus, a warrior Jesus...all of which brings on political violence.

There is no way you can look at what is going on and call it Christian. Humanity and the democracy are both in direct danger because of this movement. This movement condones VIOLENCE to get their messages across. We've all seen the increase of American Conservative religious-based violence in the past five years.

 

And it is all based on myths, fear, anger, and disinformation. One of the first and major mythologies spread by this movement is the belief that our country was created and based on a Judeo-Christian ethic. You can read in ANY secular and accurate history book that our brilliant and brave founding fathers created this nation free of an from religion as they were escaping a religious-based religion in England.

 

I'm convinced that most people who are swept up in the fervor will regret their actions very soon as our nation falls into decay and absolute craziness, all kinds of things that have nothing to do with religion or their belief system and everything to do with oligarchical power, authoritarianism, and racism.

There is NO historical example where a religious government was successful or anything other than dangerous. And our nation has embraced Christian Nationalism which is violence.

WATCH THIS FILM!

Have you seen this film?
What do you think?

Behind the Curve: What Can We Do?

In a past post I was exploring some of the hype behind a movie called Behind the Curve, a film that looks at Flat Earthers and I got to wondering why people believe weird things. This question is on many of our minds and Michael Shermer, of course, offered his book called Why People Believe Weird Things, I book I highly recommend!

My next question after the whys  is the whats.  Specifically what can we do, as people who know or love these people who chose to believe weird things. If anything. Since this is a blog and not a scholarly journal, of course, my writing is just exploratory...


I think that some skeptics often wonder how can I help this person lose their illogic or dogma?  In response to this question, I honestly don't think there are any magic words or magical interventions.

My son was on campus last semester when he came upon a group of Right to Lifers speaking to a gathered group of students. John attempted some debate, with some success. But he came home that day with high energy and very motivated to be able to debate believers in a situation like that. So he spend weeks reading and informing himself and figuring out what he would do or say if given the same opportunity.

Last week, on campus again, that opportunity arose.
He stood for nearly an hour in conversation with the Right to Lifers, addressing their claims, bringing in his research, pointing out many of their erroneous bits of information, and generally holding his own with intellect, wit, and confidence. He even pulled out his phone several times to Google claims that were being made, finding factual evidence in response to those erroneous claims being made. As he left the event, he was stopped by several people who told him "I thought I was a Right to Lifer, but I now see that I have some learning to do." And "Thank you for remaining calm." And "Thank you for having the courage to stand up there, pull out your phone, and look for information right in front of the crowd."

And THAT is what we can do.
We can inform ourselves and offer our sincere, patient, and calm-voiced counterpoints. We can openly research the claims. We can offer our evidence quietly and calmly. And we can know that those around us are watching. We can focus less on the primary debater and more on the circle of listeners.

We may never effect change in the people on the podium, but we can and will effect the people who are listening. If the believers who have the solid floor and are never openly debated, the crowd begins to quietly accept their outrageous, poorly-informed point of view. The majority wins again.

Our voices are essential.
In every way, every day, I will stand up there and be openly skeptical. Because, for some, I am the only face of atheism, skepticism, or freethought that they know. I cannot count the number of times someone has said to me "But you are so nice!" and I will reply, YES, I am, I wonder which other of your assumptions are incorrect..? I also have many examples of believers in positions of power in various churches who have said to me, You make sense and you've got me thinking. That's about all I can ask for.

Further, there is a mindset we can hold. We can be aware that the fringes of belief call to some people because those fringe communities beacon them welcomingly. If I can be welcoming, if I can offer a place where a person can verbalize their beliefs, maybe, just maybe, my welcoming and patience can show them that there are other welcoming ports in the vast exchange of ideas. If our shaming of their beliefs pushes them away, how can we be surprised at their departure from reason?

Holding on to illogical beliefs, weird ideas, philosophies that make little or no sense happens for a reason. These people are getting some emotional need met by their belief. What is it? Maybe explore that a bit.

No shaming.
No angry debating.
No shouting.
No name calling.
No shows of supremacy.

Just a welcome port for an honest exploration of ideas.
Let's explore ideas together. What, then, will we find?

Join me in this new way of peacefully representing reason, logic, skepticism. Because I, too, am tired of the bloviating bullshit and buster of nonbelievers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Being An Atheist Isn't Enough
How to Talk Religion with Children as an Atheist or Skeptic
Indoctrination
There But For the Grace...

This One and Only Life

Like everyone else in the country, this week I've been keeping track of Michael Cohen's testimony before Congress. His testimony of his and Donald Trump's lawbreaking capers continue to shock and amaze me. What the heck? How does a person make those decisions in their life? How does a person move through their life in such a way? How does one get to a place in life where they fully embrace such dastardly acts?

You know, I'm a simple girl.
I believe in the goodness of people.
But there's a simple reason for my being that way.

We have this one life.
One life.
One life to live.

Why in the WORLD do people take this one life and use it to gather power? I specifically no not understand a thirst for power. And why do people take this one life to gather treasure, to oppress, to fuck people up, to #liecheatsteal, to horde, to abuse, to go to war, to deprive others of necessary things they need for their lives, to hate others, to remain ignorant, to victimize, to do obviously unfair things, to separate peoples, to defraud people in any way, to allow philosophies to divide us, believing one's self to be above others or naturally privileged in any way, to be cruel, to inflict physical or psychological damage on someone, to judge. I truly do not understand why anyone would waste their time in these ways.

Moving through life in pursuit of anything less than goodness makes no sense to me.

With concessions to all people who suffer from chronic illness or other issues that make it difficult, our one, single life seems a dang shame to waste on misery. On creating misery, perpetuating misery, being ok with misery. Our one single life. Bringing pain or abuse to other people: what a weird waste of such a finite resource as our one life.

Look, I read the news. I stay informed. I see that these thoughts are absolutely naive. Yet here we are.

Yeah, that's about all I have to say about that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The Border

I've been thinking alot about borders. Not just the southern border of the USA but all borders. The shifting, the allegiances, the wars, the tribalism, the keeping people out, the keeping people in, the hiding behind the borders, the hiding within the borders, the allowing of the world to ignore activities and humanitarian crises because that border tells us that it is not our issue, separation, and historical conflict.

If our species was better, if we could handle it, I see no need for borders. If our species was better, more exalted, truly advanced, we would find that borders do nothing other than separate people and prevent all humans from truly succeeding and from truly living lives of peace and harmony.

But our species is not better.
We are nearly indistinguishable from primates launching fruit at one another to frighten one tribe away from the other. Our intellect has evolved a bit, but not enough, I fear. Some have critical thinking, tools, technology. But so many of our species still lives by superstition, fear, separation, oppression, and survival of the fittest, rather than by critical thought, empathy, community building, technology.

We seem to be enormously limited by fear, tribalism, and superstition. Our primate brains may be the reason we continually draw and redraw city/state/national borders. It is why we fight to claim one property over another. It is why we attempt to take yours and make it ours. It is why we reject one people over another. It is why we have class, status, and gross economic disparity as we do.


But imagine, if you will, a world where we are all equal brothers, humans who have plenty, who support one another, brothers and sisters who don't require passports, who never know an immigrant, who build longer tables and no walls whatsoever. Equally distributed wealth and opportunities, equal pay for equal work. A single class. A single economy. A single governing body. A single people made up of an infinite number of colors, creeds, cultures. Developed peoples sharing with underdeveloped peoples. Human beings existing as they are, with no need to become a part of a melting pot or of a metaphorical soup. No group superior. No people inferior. A movement toward inclusivity and cooperation. A world without borders.

It is not an impossible concept because, the truth is, borders are completely made by men. They exist only as long as we respect their existence. 

It is less than possible, however, because of our species' strong, innate tendency to draw lines, to label, to abdicate personal power and knowledge for easy solutions, to look for similar others, and to get away with as much ineqality as possible, to give in to ambition, to be led by greed, to oppress others, to allow belief systems and history or mythology to tell us who truly belongs, and to hold on to grudges of the past. Our species is addicted to grabs for power.

Is a global society possible? 
I don't know, it might actually be inevitable.
But I'd be proud to see our species recognize the underlying barriers to this utopian idea and maybe, just maybe, embrace the idea of world peace and complete brotherhood and not just give it lip service as so many ideologies do.

What would it take to raise a generation of global humans who choose, at the same time, to humanely and willingly create a society such as this?

Oh, I know, I know! I'm freakishly liberal. Tell me something I don't know.

From space, says astronaut Anne McClain, you can’t see borders. What you see is this lonely planet. Here we all are on it, so angry at one another. I wish more people could step back and see how small Earth is, and how reliant we are on one another.

Ashamed of Jesus

One of the things I've been noticing on Facebook in the past year or so is Christian family and friends writing things like I'm not ashamed of my Jesus. Ashamed? An interesting thing to defend. Have you seen it?

I can't help but wonder where this particular meme comes from, though I suspect I know.

In the churches, for example, from the pulpits, are they saying They, the atheists!, they want you to feel ashamed of your belief?  I guess it is a part of the persecuted Christian narrative that is so prevalent now. From my many years in the church, I'm sure that the people on the pulpits across our country are riling people up with the idea that they are being persecuted, shut down, challenged in their belief. And it's scary.

Maybe it's because I'm older, but I've become so much more aware of fad, fashion, crazes, and bandwagon thinking in things like music, fashion, even beliefs than I've ever been before. I've watched clothing and hair styles come and go again and again. I've seen musical styles give rise and fall. I've seen the belief systems of the church change from decade to decade. This decade seems to be the decade of War on Christianity.

How does this so-called persecution work for the church?

Any good team builder knows that the building of a good, strong team is to find a common goal around which to base the community. Where the group identity includes victimization (thank you abusers for giving us this form of identity) a leadership can organize all kinds of dynamic activity. From community-building activities to an overall sense of cohesion and battle-ready mode.

How does this persecution narrative effect the church?

I ask this because I've been thinking about this a little bit. First I have to remind myself of that quote that my son John reminds me of quite often: You see what you are looking for.  So if I'm going to consider the idea that the church finds this claim useful, I have to wonder why.

I think the portrayal of persecution toward Christians does several things. I think it is designed to bring together a community of people who are willing to ignore information seen and heard in the media for whatever is being sold by the leader of the club.  That means that people in the church are even more likely to disregard all forms of knowledge being accumulated by science every single day. Not to mention the idea that science is something to fear or to disparage. Which is something I find reprehensible, I'll admit.

It also creates a sense of willingness and a glamour to stand alone in a louder secular world. The feeling of persecution gives believers a sense of connection to the earliest church builders who were battling to survive. A stronger connection to the idea of being a True Christian. I think that some believers get a sense that it is a meaningful thing to fight the good fight for their religion, which is a tough thing to prove in such a wealthy and privileged country as the USA. I think there is also a sense of alarm and fear of all things outside of the church. Some people might even be willing to take their inflated sense of outrage and fear to the polls. More importantly, this increased fear and motility infuses the church with vocal supporters and empowers the quiet among them.

It’s almost a celebration of us vs. them to consider yourself to be persecuted. Can you see the benefits to the church of creating this false sense of persecution?

Sadly, this means that people who have bought into this narrative of exaggerated sense of ill-treatment are highly likely to ignore science, knowledge, critical thought, and any movement toward secularism and are more likely to shrink back into the confines of church doctrine as interpreted by current day proselytizers, are more likely to ignore the many things that are nonsensical about their religions, are proud to reject the outer world for a more fundamental belief system, are far less likely to explore their doubt, are subject to increase vast, impenetrable cognitive barriers between believers and others, to separate believers from the rest of the world.

And I think that that is a crime, a crisis of thought.
I resent the increased tension between believers and non-believers, I resist the church using the minds of kind people, and I resent the spread of fear of knowledge, all created from the church itself, in its pathetic last ditch effort to remain relevant. 

 What do you think? 

* For Karen Garst the Faithless Feminist

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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New Rules

NEW RULE:
If you are going to build a public bathroom, the stall needs to be large enough that a human being can both stand up and open the door at the same time without straddling the toilet.

NEW RULE:
People who break up with each other have to give their support system family and friends three days to prepare.

NEW RULE:
Do not break up with someone just days before holidays, birthdays, vacations, planned events, finals week. 

NEW RULE:
Employers who hire college students need to be aware that finals week requires time off of work.

 NEW RULE:
The church does not get to forgive pedophile priests who go into hiding.

NEW RULE:
70s music is cool again.
Not 80s music. 

NEW RULE:
Every party comes with a dance coach so you can learn that dances that everyone else seems to know. 

NEW RULE:
No more clothing that sexualizes babies, kids, and preteens. 

NEW RULE:
The new drinking age is 18.
You can vote, drive, and serve in the military at 18. 

NEW RULE:
Marijuana is legal.
Cigarettes and alcohol are far, far, far more dangerous. 

NEW RULE:
Pop songs must not repeat a word, phrase, line, or chorus more than twelve times a minute. 

NEW RULE:
No more comment sections on internet stories, memes, and images so we can all maintain some faith in humanity. 

NEW RULE:
You must specify if you are bowling on behalf of soup or in order to get soup. 

NEW RULE:
White supremacists get a diagnosis in the DSM as pathetically proud of the color of their skin. Because, apparently, they have nothing else to be proud of or identify as...

NEW RULE:
Access to health care should be at least as easy to access as guns and bullets.

NEW RULE:
When a politician votes against equal rights for any segment of humanity, we toss that person out immediately.

NEW RULE:
When a black man or any human orchestrates a peaceful demonstration, we support them. 

NEW RULE:
We switch budgeted military funds with education funds.  🔁

NEW RULE:
Killing endangered or "trophy" species...stop it immediately. And no collecting or owning them as pets.

NEW RULE:
Never, ever ask What were you wearing?

NEW RULE:
Large sums of money get funneled into social programs rather than sports franchises.

NEW RULE:
If someone tells you who they are, believe them. 

NEW RULE:
Driving close to someone's bumper is always considered an act of aggression.

NEW RULE:
Donald Trump: No.

NEW RULE:
Cars with vanity plates must be equipped with flyers explaining the humor or meaning of the plate.

NEW RULE:
No one buy those false stomachs that are intended to smuggle beer into the sports venue. Good grief.

NEW RULE:
All citizens of this country have access to clean drinking water.

NEW RULE:
Manufacturers that produce women's clothing, have to look at how men's clothing is made. Seams that stay seamed. Fabric that is not see-through. Buttons that work. Construction that is designed to actually last. Sweaters that are warm. Pockets.

NEW RULE:
Kindly vote.

 Any other good ones I've missed? 

I'm No Economist...But...

Please bear with me; I'm no economist or political science major or business major. Heck, I'm an absolutely terrible person with maths. It's just that I've been thinking about somethings and I keep coming back to a weird conclusion again and again. Surely there is something to my thoughts.
Or maybe not. I do promise to do some research on this idea...

It's Just That...

It seems to me that our economic system in this country, capitalism, isn't working. Over the many years that I have paid any attention to the news, to our economy, to our communities, to our social policy problems, to our environment, so many problems come down to our economic system where money is king. Not just Trickle Down Economics. But so many of our decision seem to be made de facto  due to the fact that money is made somewhere. As though there isn't a good rebuttle to that. It's a bad decision but someone is making money from it or they own that property, therefore we have no right to suggest a better solution.

Yeah, like, still bear with me here. I'm trying to be clear but I'm not sure that I am clear. I'm not even sure that I'm right about this...

I first started thinking about this about thirty years ago when Dad and I were driving down a particular highway that was lined with abandoned factories. The buildings were rusted and idle and truly an eyesore. Not to mention unsafe. I said to Dad something about how the owners of those buildings seem to have some responsibility to leave the land in a cleaner condition before abandoning a lot like that. Dad just sushed me and told me that I didn't have any idea about things and didn't know the real problems. 

Well, I guess I still don't because I still wonder how factory owners (the wealthy ones who build and own the place) can just move their operations to another location, leaving the leviathan abandoned buildings standing there with no other use. I can look around the the St. Louis metropolitan area and see dozens of buildings that fit this description. Then, who has to remove the buildings in order to clean up the place? The city? That makes no sense to me.

Am I missing something?

How about how we are polluting entire riverways and lands from our mining operations and fracking. But because there is cash to be made it's ok? How can such decisions make any sense at all? Why does the bottom line seem to carry so much weight in decisions like this? I'm not convinced that it isn't a mental illness of some kind to require more more more in spite of the obvious needs of humanity and our world, for resources to be used elsewhere.

Deforestation? Removing large swaths of old forests, new forests, rain forests in order to make room for more human expansion. Illegal logging, wildlife's loss of habitat, loss of green spaces, loss of space for indigenous peoples. There might be a quick buck to be made, but at what cost? Who can and will stand up and say no more, OF COURSE NOT?!

I swear, I'm not on a rant. I'm trying to explain what I've finally figured out for myself about capitalism, not that I have any idea what would be a better system than capitalism...

Here's an obvious one.
The wealthy 1% do not use their money. They store it away, leaving less to circulate, putting less into the economy, making the possession of the cash itself to be a goal. I don't get that, is it an issue of monetary hording(?), but that's neither here nor there. The result is that the people with the disgustingly large loads of cash do not spread it around in ways that make sense for any community. Except for a few notable people, money is horded away instead of put into useful, admirable places. Investing in people, communities, causes. Making this world a better, more peaceful and green place. Instead, their money is hidden somewhere... And that's OK, admirable, even, because they have earned it. (supposedly)

These same wealthy people, then, pay off political machines to watch out for their interests. Like they need that, except to gain more money. I mean, why not pay off political machines to support policy that makes this world a safer, more equitable place? I'm not sure that capitalism actually supports ethical decisions like that. I even wonder if there is a level of wealth that should never be reached by human beings or corporations...but I don't know...

Maybe I DON'T KNOW SQUAT and I'm sure I'm showing my ignorance here. Again and again, though, I see humans whose acquisition of cash is obscene and whose use of that cash is equally obscene. These people tend to have connection to the power sources in our country. Why does their wealthy equal power? Is that a typical part of capitalism?

Aren't these things a part of a capitalistic society because the wealthy humans, families, and corporations seek to keep a hold on their money or seek to provide profit to investors? Child labor, intolerably low wages for families, lack of access to health care, lower access to positions of power for those not in the upper 1%, poverty, homelessness, things like Puerto Rico and Flint, Michigan not getting immediate care from our country, massively underfunded schools, war, building up munitions and bombs to ridiculously frightening levels, the wealthy getting away with crimes that they are able to hide, not to mention the huge and powerfully wealthy corporations that actually affect unfair change in our policies, the leap for young adults from living with parents to becoming independent, unemployment, enormous gaps between the classes of people, the lack of research into better fuel sources and other things that might improve the quality of life, the fact that large corporations control what we see on the news and in social media which gives them huge control of public opinion, HUGE environmental crises due to industrialization and product creation, massive life-threatening trash problems, huge hurdles to overcome for small businesses to get a toehold in the economy, people who hunger and thirst for more more more, entire nations are deeply set in poverty, healthcare becoming so ridiculously expensive that most people can't afford even the most basic of care much less life-saving procedures, exploitation of those living in poverty, only those industries that get investment money will make it in the marketplace, the overall devaluing of human life and of animal life and of all life, people living with physical, emotional, or mental health issues are living in poverty and those with money disparage these people as leeches, lazy, or unworthy. Why should our country be so wealthy when the source of that wealth is so obviously from mistreatment of other countries and other peoples?

And I'm not even trying hard with this list.

As a nation with a capitalistic economic system, we look at so many of these things and lament, sad, but that is the way it is. We can do nothing to repair these systems because it is too expensive. All the while, large sums of money are held by large multinational corporations or extremophile wealthy families and we think well, they earned it (or inherited it) so it's ok.


I don't know.
I'm not smart.
But some of these things seem like no-brainers.
I know of no solutions, only more questions. Just that this is worth thinking about and learning more about...

 What do you think? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Peace on Earth: We All Live Here

I believe in less judging and more learning.

I believe in finding points of agreement.

I believe in the strictest honesty.

I believe in expanding one's bubble and comfort zone.

I believe that other realities and world views deserve equal care.

I believe in the goodness of most people.

I believe in giving a second chance, yet knowing when to step back.

I believe in always learning more.
I believe that people respond to understanding and effort far more than they ever will to shame and punishment.

I believe that our young people need to see opportunities, need to have access to those opportunities, and that we absolutely need to accept that their future is our future.

I believe in the basic posture of humility and human contact.

I believe in valuing our planet.

I believe in giving compassion to those who you feel don't deserve it.

Why can't we all move toward a place where we don't allow ideologies and conspiracy to separate us.

We all live here together and any other approach will result in our demise.

While I tend to be in love with technology and using social media to come together, there are also those very human qualities of divisiveness, pandering to the uninformed or uneducated, and the use of social media to bring about enmity rather than love.

You might also read:
Anti-Intellectualism, Racism, and Complacency
Atheism and Sacredness: A Useful Concept?
Let Them Eat Voice
Satan
My Atheist Memes and My Late Night Angst

Libtard Snowflake

Never in the history of this blog have I ever gotten overtly political. NEVER in my time on Facebook, prior to 2016, have I been a political loudspeaker. But I can't help myself these days. I simply can not be silent.

Saying Stop Shooting Our Kids  does not make me a libtard snowflake. It makes me a human being with a heart and mind.

But I see what they are doing there, they  being the people who are working so hard to desensitize us to human suffering. They  being the generation before me that wants to suggest that the current outcry to STOP the bullshit is a bunch of sensitive do-nothings. They  being the people who want to shame the people who are slowly finding their own voices.

I know what they are doing.
They are snidely and systematically attempting to devalue the opinion of the loudening voice, the voice that has been kept down, quiet, hidden, feeling alone for all of these years. The minority voices of all kinds, the voices of all women, the voices of anyone different from the white man, the voices of people without religions, the voices of people without the power, the voices of the victimized, the voices of the wounded. 
They are trying but we won't let them.

The name calling is the battle cry of the person without a leg to stand on. Remember, rudeness is a weak person's imitation of strength.

Let's not buy it!
Let's buoy one another up!
Let's support the disenfranchised who have the courage and the voice to stand up and say NO MORE.
Come out, come out and let your voice be heard.


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Why are You so Angry at God???

This post was featured on Karen Garst's blog faithlessfeminist.com

I am delighted to see it so well-received there. The idea for this post started about five years ago when I read a book by atheist activist  Christina called Why are You Atheists So Angry?: 99 Things that Piss Off the Godless. 

I thought Greta's book was brilliant, but incomplete. And that's why I took this effort to add to the incredibly long list of things that I an angry about. Please add your own in the comments.



Am I raging and wounded? Have I seen too much pain and unfairness that 
I have entered a period of anger at God? Am I in despair and feeling hopeless? Am I afraid that God has abandoned me in my desperation? 
Am I feeling that Life Isn’t Fair? Am I unable to locate any gratitude towards God?

In my time I have been accused several times of being angry at God? 
The Christian god, presumably. People making this suggestion to me never ever take my reply as honest. They simply cannot accept the reality that, 
No, I am surely not angry at your god.

The truth is, I have no anger whatsoever at any so-called deity.
I do have anger at religion though, tons of it. 

The organizational, structured shame and guilt and abuse and prejudice and hatred and misogyny.

I’m absolutely livid that the conservative right has placed an abhorrent human being in the White House because that man had the lack of integrity enough to play to their agenda. I’m further enraged, enraged I say, that those people have given up their own abilities to think clearly and have looked to their religion to determine their political allies. It has divided this country in half.

I have anger at the YEARS of sexual abuse cover ups in the church, at the abuse of power and religious political power, at the tens of billions of dollars of financial abuses, overt lies and manipulation, all religious wars, massive sexual abuse scandals that are forgiven by church authorities, encouragement of faith over reason.

All pics Courtesy of Pinterest

I’m angry about every single effort to defeat true knowledge in the place of religion, about inculcating children into the fantasy of religious belief, about religious teachings taught in classrooms and offered as facts to the minds of children, about prayer over medical treatment, about every effort to hide truth under the cloth of bullshit, about the fact for each and every single person who has ever struggled to understand something in earnest while being taught to stick with faith, and about every vile adult male who ever married or injured a young girl or boy well within the bounds of their religious practices or traditions.

I'm angry that black atheists have to struggle doubly hard to be freethinker in this country. 

Black Nonbelievers, Inc.

I’m angry that all doubt in the religious mind is told that it is the resident demon putting those thoughts into their head. UGH.

I’m thoroughly disgusted that outrageously, overtly powerful and wealthy people are thought to be humble. It is abhorrent that wealthy church members are powerful church members, that people in poverty are encouraged to embrace and accept their position of powerlessness.

I’m disgusted for every single penny or other coinage with the words In God We Trust on them, for every misappropriation of false history passed along, for every single person on their knees in prayer with tears streaming down their faces with the belief that that action is their only option, for all of the church history that has been falsified, and for every single young person struggling with the guilt of absolutely normal maturity and sexuality.

I am fully disgusted at the ostentatious wealth of the Catholic church, 
much of it stolen from conquests, while the church de facto encourages and supports poverty.

I’m saddened tremendously by the people who believe in some nether-regioned bad guy that is after them and all of the anguish that accompanies this belief.

I find it a huge loss that few religious people ever seek to understand the incredible beauty and vastness of the universe. Just think of the millions of minds that have been handicapped by religious belief.

I’m angry that people spend so much of their sincere effort to figure out the Will of God, that the church demonizes nearly all sexual practices, that atheists and all people of logic and reason are considered the least trusted people in this country, that people of all ages anguish and fear the concept of hell, and that all ridiculous stories that make no sense in the holy books are treated as absolute fact or real history.

I’m disgusted with the entire vile concept of Biblical Parenting, that believers are encouraged to discount, cherry pick, or misrepresent the words of their holy books yet those same books are treated as sacrosanct, that perfectly well-meaning, truly good people are encouraged to stick with faith over their own decision-making reasoning abilities, and that this country would never elect an openly atheist into positions of power.

I’m ridiculously angry that a woman’s right to personal autonomy has become a favorite witching call of the religious right.
I am angry that, were I to die at this moment, some of my family members would believe that I was burning in hell for all eternity... and this is the religion that they choose!

I'm livid and the more fundamental the religion, the fewer rights women have.

I am angry that the powerful religions on this planet that still exist do so by having exterminated the other religions and acolytes of those religions that existed before them, by torturing people into fearful belief, and by every other violent and forced method of spreading a belief system.

I’m genuinely angry that truly GOOD people honestly have been convinced that it is their religion that prevents them from committing horrific acts of murder, rape, or other rapaciousness.
I’m angry that the best fricking thing we have to offer people attempting to recovery from addictions of all sorts is a treacly religious 12-Step program.

I’m disgusted that religious families are tragically encouraged to abandon family members who have differing beliefs or understandings of the world.

I’m angry that adults all over the planet are satisfied with not knowing things, and that the churches systematically install so many of the feelings inside of a believer that confuse them so very much.

I am livid that CHILDREN are taught to fear, reject, revile, hate people different from themselves. Every form of racism and white supremacy supported by the Christian religion shocks and outrages me.

I’m angry that my children and all children of reason often have felt like they wanted or needed to go into hiding due to the pressures or disdain from the believers around them and that those same children have been told that they are going to hell.

I’m angry that most third world countries are so mired in evangelized missionary doctrine that they are stripped of their own powers and of their own belief systems.

I am truly disgusted with the entire concept of sin and how the church teaches and controls and tortures the emotions of adherents with it.

I’m angry that the majority of people in this country are religious and that any effort to secularize the government or the culture is treated as UNFAIR or as a THREAT to religion.

I’m angry with the smarmy well he believes in you response to atheism.

I am angry with the teaching that we are all inherently evil people and that the only way to salvation is through the church.
I’m angry as heck that so many truly good people anguish over the possibility of losing a freaking afterlife rather than finding ways to make this life a truly good, just, loving, and meaningful one.

I’m angry that autonomy and personal power are not important tenets of the religions of the world.

Am I angry with a god?
Not at all.

It turns out that what I am angry at is the power-hungry narcissist human beings who control the hearts and minds of so many people on this planet using religion as their walking stick.

Are you angry?

 Thank you Karen Garst for your atheist activism

and for your blog Faithless Feminist.

 

You might also enjoy:
For Someone Who Doesn't  Believe in God, You Sure Talk About Him Alot
My Atheist Memes and Late Night Angst
That Hideous Dance Between Faith and Critical Thinking
I'm a Lover not a Fighter

Something YOU Can REALLY Do

You know how you listen to the problems all over the place and think, UGH, what can I really do to help, to really make a difference? I feel that way often whenever listening to the news. Huge, real problems and little old me wondering what I can do that is real and that will make a difference.

Well, I've got a small thing that you and I can do to make a difference for the Humanists in Milwaukee. Proceeds from all activism on the website will go to help victims of rape and sexual assault. Really, RIGHT NOW.

If you and I simply donate a buck or two or ten we will be making grassroots differences in the greater Milwaukee area...and won't that feel great?!

The Brew City Benefit happens in Milwaukee, WI April 7th, 2018, benefiting RAINN (the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), and helping to create a new Milwaukee Humanists group. DETAILS & DONATIONS: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-the-brew-city-benefit#/

Being 75 and Not Knowing

Early last year I started a writing group here in town. I had thought that at least a dozen friends were interested but when the dust settled there were just three of us. We meet weekly at a nice little coffee shop in town where we write over steaming mugs of coffee or tea, amid the detritus of salads, sandwiches, brownies, cookies. We three bring our journaling books and our favorite pens. We use various sources for writing prompts. We share our writing with each other.

Sometimes one or more of us will bring in some samples of our personal writing from the week to share with the group. This week my friend Carol brought in a piece she called Being 75 and Not Knowing. I don't know if it will move you, but Peg and I gave her a well-deserved standing ovation, right there at the table.

Guest Post.
Carol has given me permission to share her piece here with you.
I hope you love it.




Being 75 and Not Knowing

at 75, I have felt, an apex should have been in order
the climb to the mountaintop accomplished
after all, we think the elderly wise.

but I find that there are more questions and more doubts than ever
even the doubt of a personal existence

after all, we are newly born at the cellular level every 7 years
maintaining our assumed identity only by guidance of the DNA passing from cell to cell
and we are mostly water and space 
relative football fields of space at the micro level
electrical pathways processing our actions and reactions

and my thoughts are not myself, flitting as they do
across the fields (and sometimes mine fields) of my mind
they come and they fly like whispered dreams

mooji says it is all nothing, nothing, nothing
no mind, so self, not a thinker but a witness to thought
then what is left?

I have yet to comprehend these quiet teachings
sleepy even while hearing his voice,
mind wandering to the next distraction.

At night I lie in bed with my tiny dog
who snuggles under the covers, twitching ever so slightly,
as her muscles slowly relax from her day of terrorizing squirrels
and I wonder if she is happy in this home?
or is it just the basic needs of food and warmth and petting 
that she cares about
I ask her, are you happy? but happy is a word she does not know
I am happy with her
her unbounded joy upon my return home enlivens me
grateful for her unadulterated being,
she has no concern for mind, not mind, self, not-self

but I am 75 and I do not know
and perhaps that is enough
the question and the not knowing are enough.

 Thank you, Dear Carol.  💗