Category Archives: Religion
Still holds sway
Just Because You’re a Believer…
A lot of devils advocate going on here, but I would like to make something very clear – just because someone is a believer in a religion, it doesn’t mean that someone is any less smart. Keep in mind that a lot of smart people get sucked into cults. After all, keep in mind how many outspoken atheists used to be Christians: Matt Dillahunty, Angie the anti-theist and myself have all been Christians at one point in our lives. Granted, we are all atheists now but we used to be believers – but we saw something that cracked the illusion for us. Matt and I both were interested in joining the priesthood and we found some things in Christian apologetics which seemed irrational, so that was my red pill moment that helped me to wake up to the reality of Christianity. Tory Christman, a former Scientologist, calls it “The Truman Show” (based on the movie of the same name) in regards to Scientology. Here is how she explains it.
The problem I see with many atheists is that they try to claim that Christians shouldn’t be awakened to the reality of the world. That to allow them to remain mired in self-delusion is an act of “respect” and that it would not be appropriate to help them see what is wrong. This is madness. This is the mentality that shysters rely on – that no one would be the courageous Morpheus and rock the boat with their friends. But the thing I would say is that – if they were really your friends, why is it that they can’t have an honest conversation with you about this? Furthermore, what is so different about this belief that would be so dangerous if you found something different was true and changed your mind?
The only thing I suggest for atheists is to remain in the lives of your theist friends if you can stand it. That way, you have someone that is still a believer that can see that atheists aren’t these evil people that all of the preachers want their sheeples to believe. Because we’re not bad people, really. Oh, and FYI: This post was inspired this YouTube video by Angie the Anti-Theist:
Don’t Let Bigotry Win, Buy Girl Scout Cookies
Last fall, a Colorado Girl Scout troop admitted a 7-year-old transgender child, Bobby Montoya, after excluding her for some time. In a refreshing turn towards progress, the Girl Scouts of Colorado released a statement welcoming transgender children. I’d call that a major win. Cheers to the young GIRL, and to her family, friends, and other supporters.
Oh, but did the Chicken-Littles of the world ever shit their pants. Three Girl Scout leaders in Louisiana had a hissy fit and disbanded their groups (because they evidently didn’t give a shit about their own scouts,) and even described the inclusion of the transgender child as “almost dangerous,” as ridiculous as that is.
But the bitchfest didn’t end there – Oh, no! One transphobic scout, Taylor, out in California is trying to organize a boycott of Girl Scout cookies because she can’t stand that the girl scouts includes all girls including transgirls. Yes, this transgender child is a girl, despite the body that she was born in. And of course, Taylor, like the other Chicken Littles, also implies that including transgirls is somehow unsafe, yet declines to actually explain how. So much for “girls of good character.”
In some remarkable irony, she cites a publication stating the importance of girls being able to talk to other girls about things they couldn’t talk about to boys, and also the importance of someone being free to be themselves. Somehow, she doesn’t see how these same things apply to the young transgendered child.
I don’t care how old (14, evidently) this little bigot is, Taylor is a nasty bitch. Either her parents have utterly failed to raise her with any common sense or decency, OR her parents actively coach and encourage her intolerance. Either way, this is a mighty disgusting parenting fail.
Fuck this little brat’s cookie boycott. I’ll be buying plenty of extra Girl Scout cookies this year. Cheers to young Bobby Montoya.
Support the Girl Scouts. Support equality. Support Progress. Support LGBT rights. Buy some damned cookies.
Reality v. Abstinence-Only Education
Five.
When I walked the halls of my high school at the age of seventeen, I certainly counted them. Five girls that were pregnant, and these were just the ones that looked like they were ready to pop. This was the reality of my high school in Texas, and I didn’t go to a poor high school with a lack of funding and a lack of rich conservative families that would either send women to maternity homes or pay Planned Parenthood to avoid the public disgrace. After all, we lived just outside of the opulent town/subdivision that reeked of affluence we all knew as “The Woodlands”. We had the elite that would commute down to Houston, as the inner city was filled with all sorts of undesirables for these white, upper-class Christians. But, there were trailer parks and middle-class neighbourhoods (like mine) that fed into my high school too, so there were five pregnant women in high school, that I could count and no, they were not faculty or staff.
Twenty-four.
When I walked the halls of my high school at the age of sixteen, I certainly noticed their absence. Twenty-four girls that were sent away to maternity homes for the year and did not return to school that year. I know this because I saw them again the very next year and they were still in the same class-standing as me. No one talked about why they were gone, where they went and why they were back in the same classes as us – but we all kinda knew. After all, of those twenty-four girls, eighteen of them went to my church as well. Not to say that the other six were not Christian as well, as far as I can remember – they were all girls that signed that “abstinence pledge” the last year.
One hundred and seventy two
When I walked the halls of my high school at the age of fifteen, I remember a party that our church sent us all to at the Lutheran church in Magnolia. There were one-hundred and seventy two people who went to that party at that time and this was a collection of youth groups from all over the area, including the one I was a part of. Some of these women would get pregnant. Most would have warped views of sexuality because of the stigma these abstinence-only advocates try to place on sexuality. After all, people who sign a virginity pledge are much more likely to have oral and anal sex than vaginal and I am certain that this definitely was not the intended effect of the religious reich.
Six billion, nine hundred and seventy eight million, three hundred and twenty-eight thousand, three hundred and seventeen
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s World Population clock, as of 9:32 pm UST, our world’s population is six billion, nine hundred and seventy eight million, three hundred and twenty-eight thousand, three hundred and seventeen. This is a big number and it looms over us like a condemnation, but I know of one last number that can reverse this terrible pall on our species:
One.
The thing is, one person cannot do everything to reverse this dangerous trend. But a collection of ones can do more and can influence more ones to join in than a defeatist attitude can ever do for humanity. We have a responsibility to the world in which we live in. We have a responsibility to act so that human life can be sustained for the next generation, and clearly – we are not doing that here and now. Overpopulation is a problem and we should all work to do our part to curb this before it becomes the end of human life on earth.
The first place we need to attack this trend is abstinence-only education. We need to make sure that every person has a comprehensive education on how sexuality works and how to protect yourself from Sexually Transmitted Diseases and unwanted pregnancy. We must also ensure easy, uninhibited access to medical treatments and birth control methods, including IUDs, the Pill, sterilization and yes, abortion. We should make sure that there are no medically-unnecessary barriers to these treatments, as these women and the world needs them. It’s up to you, it’s up to me – it’s up to all of us. So, let’s get to work!
