CelticBear’s Musings

Well, I guess it’s time for some yearly reflection, outlook, and resolution.

Things, socially and politically, seem to have gotten worse in general, better in some specifics, and looks to get worse in the coming years with some improved specifics–enough to fool us into thinking things aren’t as bad as they are.
There, two out of three objectives done.

Oh geez, I’m just not motivated to write about this for some reason. Too much negative stuff going on with little hope for change in the future.
Recent topics I’ve blogged about, listening to Naomi Wolf on an Air America program today discussing her article: “Fascist America, in 10 easy steps” (and her book: The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot) in which she itemizes the 10 things all modern dictators have done in order to gain fascist control of the country they legally resided over (remember, Hitler, Mussolini, Pinochet, many others, were all legally elected by democratic parliamentarian governments), and Bush and Company have been working on all 10 steps.

I’m also a little weary because of last year’s resolution to avoid discussing religion on my blog. I failed at doing that quite a bit, but pretty much stuck to it for the last half of the year, and it’s been depressing me. The negativity and terrible results of religion are still all around me in the media, town, etc, but instead of commenting on and riling against them and purging myself of the ire and feeling like I’m doing something (even if all I’m doing is shouting electrons into the unperceived winds), I just bite my tongue and ingest the negativity and fool myself into thinking I’m just letting it wash past me and I’m blissfully shrugging it all off, when that’s not the reality of it. It just builds, and every time I see something else about a school district somewhere working to force a “teaching the controversy” into the classroom; or a woman abused, subjugated, or even killed because her husband’s/boyfriend’s/family’s god’s rules demand it; or someone using prayer like a superstitious panacea instead of taking action/responsibility; or someone’s good fortune (or actions) attributed to a god while tens of thousands of people are killed daily, maimed, tortured, raped, molested, wasted by cancer, Alzheimer’s, illnesses, and these are blamed on “the sins of man”; or a slimy politician invoking god or religious symbols in order to gain votes, despite the Constitutional injunction for there not to be a “religious test” to hold office, either because the politician is conniving or society is demanding it, meanwhile a perfectly qualified and rational and reasoned atheist, according to polls, can’t get elected simply because he doesn’t believe in a god; or another suicide bomb targeting a different religious sect; or another conflict begun because of religious differences; or another young mind abdicating their will and reason to some ancient book’s schizophrenic idea of a cruel and hateful god because they’re raised to do so; or someone being hated and despised for absolutely no other reason than because some aspect of their private life has been deemed “unclean” by a Middle Eastern Bronze Age culture…every time I see another example of this utterly needless hatred and bigotry and superstition and mind control, I want to just scream and jump up and down and demand “why can’t you people see?!”

Latest example: A non-theist couple denied custody of their adopted daughter because they don’t believe in a Supreme Being:
♦ Atheism and Custody Cases

In an extraordinary decision, Judge [William] Camarata denied the Burkes’ right to the child because of their lack of belief in a Supreme Being. Despite the Burkes’ “high moral and ethical standards,” he said, the New Jersey state constitution declares that “no person shall be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshiping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience.” Despite Eleanor Katherine’s tender years, he continued, “the child should have the freedom to worship as she sees fit, and not be influenced by prospective parents who do not believe in a Supreme Being.”

Here is an example, in the modern age, of a representative of the government court system negatively affecting, with his unequal power, other peoples’ lives out of religious discrimination. In an unfounded and ignorant belief that having religion makes a person inherently better than not.
And absurdly assuming that a child is somehow not “influenced by parents” with religious beliefs. All children are born atheist and are instilled with religious belief by the authority figures in their lives, whether it’s Muslim, Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Scientologist, Janist. This judge has completely ignored logic when he implies religious parents won’t influence a child’s belief in a “Supreme Being.” He assumes a child grows up with an inherent belief in Yahweh, or Allah, or El, or Vishnu, or Odin, but fails to see that his own argument suggests the parents may worship a different Supreme Being–what then? But that doesn’t occur in his reality–all proper people believe in (likely a moderate Protestant version of) Yahweh/Elohim.

If there’s any justice, the higher court will overrule this judge and allow this proven couple to retain custody. But that’s not good enough. In the meantime, because of this man’s religious intolerance and ignorance, a family is disrupted and torn apart, even if temporarily. Huge amounts of money (a lot of it taxpayers’) will be spent on this issue. Completely unnecessary pain and anguish will have been caused because of this modern American’s ignorant beliefs and his imposing them on others. This is why it’s not enough to just shrug and blow it off. Countless peoples’ lives are negatively affected by the religious beliefs of others; could be you or me or anyone we know. The only reason gay people aren’t allowed to marry is because of religious intolerance. Period. Hundreds of thousands of people are being treated as demi-humans, unequal in the eyes of the secular and fair law, unable to have the same rights and privileges as other people simply born differently, for absolutely no other reason than religious intolerance–and it’s completely and utterly needless and pointless. And this is the result of people shrugging their shoulders and ignoring the issue and not getting upset about the inhumanity that goes on day after day after day all around us because of religious beliefs.

But now I just shrug and go “eh” and try to ignore it. And yet the little black hole of angst and anguish and sadness and confusion at the senselessness of it all remains.

But the original reason for the injunction remains: What’s the point of railing and ranting and raving? It does no good (except allows me to vent and feel like I’m doing something.) Nothing changes. Nothing is improved. And if and when anyone reads my rants, it’s more likely to just p**s them off and make them ignore me (and rightfully so) or cling even tighter to whatever belief they share with what my rant is against, out of spite.

Well, Greta Christina makes a fantastic argument why atheists are angry:
♦ Atheists And Anger
There is ample and valid justification why anger at what’s going on around us is warranted. Necessary. Anger, as Greta points out, is the fuel of social change. Not hate, that’s the realm of the religious (“hate the sin, love the sinner”…what if the “sin” is what the person is? Gay, or female, for example. What kind of message does hating the innate sexuality or gender identity of a person send to the person?) All social change for the better has been fueled by anger at the societal “norm” that allows injustice and persecution to continue. Both the direct perpetrators and those who give tacit approval by agreeing with the underlying beliefs of the persecutors without standing up and saying “what you are doing is wrong!”

My original resolution a year ago to stop being so negative against religion was for honestly good and valiant reasons: I wanted to be positive, stop putting so much negativity into the air…and that’s still true. Despite the ravings rants in the past, I do prefer to be positive and I’m turned off by negativity. To be compared to contemporary outspoken non-theists, I’d much rather be more like the fatherly, kind, helpful Richard Dawkins, or the funny and disarming Douglas Adams, rather than the angsty Sam Harris or crusty and curmudgeony Christopher Hitchens (and I’m afraid I’m pretty far on the Hitchen’s track, and I’d much rather spend time with Dawkins over Hitchens…which can probably be said by anyone comparing the twos’ personalities).

Some people just want religion to remain separate from all secular aspects of life, such as government. Dan Barker of the Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote this piece some days ago about his and the FfRF’s desire to let anyone believe what they want–just don’t include it in the government arena:
♦ Peace on Earth? Keep religion separate

In America, we are free to disagree about religious teachings; we are not free to ask our government to settle the argument. The government must back off and allow all of us maximum latitude to believe or disbelieve as our consciences direct us.
As the founder of the Freedom from Religion Foundation Anne Nicol Gaylor has always said: “You can’t have religious freedom without the freedom to dissent.”

And there are some, like Hitchens, who want religion abolished altogether, itemizing all the ways it has brought about more harm than good in any society.
I agree with James Madison: “Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise,” and John Adams: “Twenty times in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.” But what can I do. My rantings serve no purpose but to release the vitriol that builds in my craw.

So consider this a needed pressure cooker venting before I go back to quietly shaking my head and gritting my teeth at the injustice and intolerance of religion as it continues to affect our lives whether we directly see it or not. Hopefully this will be my one religious screed for the year. Hopefully I can continue to work on being an example of compassionate non-theism in my behavior, as I do see in my current life and situation, any outward expression of anger and anti-religiosity will simply be counter-productive and even destructive.

Oh yeah, I’m trying to lose 65 pounds this year, too.