I don't just write my convictions.
I speak them also.
It took some time to work up the gumption to freely acknowledge my anti-theist stance in personal contact, but it's like all other first time "frights." Once you take the plunge, it gets easier. I still remember the first time this backward North Dakota ranch kid picked up a phone to make a call. I was literally sweating and trembling.
On December 30, I went a couple of miles to another old couple's home to clean their carpets. He was even older than I (84) and getting around with a cane. They were nice people, and I enjoyed doing the job for them.
In the middle of the job, he asked me if I was a church going person. Like many others, they want to build up the attendance of their little church located about half way back toward my house along AZ 260.
I didn't hem or haw or feel embarrassed. I just stated that I was a "devout atheist."
No argument, surprise or hosstility entered in, at least none I could detect. In fact, he asked me for cards to hand out to friends before I left and again made an overture for me to stop into their church if I ever had the urge to do so.
That, of course, just isn't going to happen. I have better uses for my time and the few dollars I have in my pocket.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
GOOD QUESTION
There was a very interesting quote on Pharyngula this morning. Every day, P. Z. Myers publishes an essay by someone who explains why he or she is an atheist.
This morning, the essay was by Jessica from Australia. I like getting to the root of things, and one particular statement caught my attention as being the best sumation of the whole question about a god existing. It came out of the mouth of a babe. Here it is: "What sealed the deal for good with me not really believing in a deity was my innocent 6 or 7 year old cousin saying 'If god put us here, who put God there?'”
My former close creationist friend of eighty-plus years contents himself with the assurance that god has just always been. He can't see the contradiction in his assurance that the creation could not exist without a creator but the creator who would of necessity have to have been even more complex could just magically exist.
I will never cease to marvel how we brainy apes can be so logical about so many things but swallow the assurance of faith mongers so gullibly and placidly. I did for decades. I devoted my life and sacrificed good life and well-being to help promote that intellectual madness to others. Yes, I was once a faith monger too. Many I knew, worked with and loved still are.
This morning, the essay was by Jessica from Australia. I like getting to the root of things, and one particular statement caught my attention as being the best sumation of the whole question about a god existing. It came out of the mouth of a babe. Here it is: "What sealed the deal for good with me not really believing in a deity was my innocent 6 or 7 year old cousin saying 'If god put us here, who put God there?'”
My former close creationist friend of eighty-plus years contents himself with the assurance that god has just always been. He can't see the contradiction in his assurance that the creation could not exist without a creator but the creator who would of necessity have to have been even more complex could just magically exist.
I will never cease to marvel how we brainy apes can be so logical about so many things but swallow the assurance of faith mongers so gullibly and placidly. I did for decades. I devoted my life and sacrificed good life and well-being to help promote that intellectual madness to others. Yes, I was once a faith monger too. Many I knew, worked with and loved still are.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
THE DEVINE NOT-SO-COMEDY
According to Bible Chronology, man has been around for at least six thousand years and got almost totally wiped out by a great flood and had to start all over again a few centuries into his tenure. The archeological and geological facts prove man has been around for at least a few hundred thousand years, with not even a hint of a planet-encompassing, all life destroying flood.
Rather than dwell on the provable facts, let's take a look at the mythical story that's still being bandied about from every communication device available.
Apparently, the touted "god" of scripture had a great stake in mankind -- so great that he lost his temper and wiped most of them out once. (It is even stated he was going to wipe the slate completely clean at one point but relented and let Noah and his family survive.) His reputation as a "loving god" would seem hard to maintain against that kind of history, what with our now believing he loved mankind so much that he sent his own son to sacrificially die for them (about two-thirds of the way into the concocted history up to now).
What took him so long to soften up? Did he not care about all those people who went salvationless for four millennia?
If the salvation of man is so important to him, why did he wait about four thousand years of the spurious scriptural history to bring in his plan of salvation, according to the story touted by christianity? Did he not give a damn about all those humans condemned by "original sin" going to hell? Maybe he's a "super Roman" with a devine Colisseum called hell where he can revel in all the mayhem, suffering and screaming and laugh as demons spear agonized souls with flaming pitchforks.
Seems to me that kind of barbarous thing would get a bit old after a few thousand years. Maybe that's why he came up with a plan of salvation, but he still had to satiate his dessire for blood and gore by having his own son horribly martyred.
Why? Because, we are told, there is no expiation of sin without the shedding of blood, supposedly devine blood in this case. Seems there are some things even god is not capable of doing. One of them is simply saying, "I forgive you."
That would be much too simple and logical. It wouldn't give priests and ministers (means servants -- what a laugh) a source of food and income from their fearful adherents. It wouldn't provide "mysteries" to tout to the gullible masses who just stumble along in blind obedience -- and stultifying ignorance.
Rather than dwell on the provable facts, let's take a look at the mythical story that's still being bandied about from every communication device available.
Apparently, the touted "god" of scripture had a great stake in mankind -- so great that he lost his temper and wiped most of them out once. (It is even stated he was going to wipe the slate completely clean at one point but relented and let Noah and his family survive.) His reputation as a "loving god" would seem hard to maintain against that kind of history, what with our now believing he loved mankind so much that he sent his own son to sacrificially die for them (about two-thirds of the way into the concocted history up to now).
What took him so long to soften up? Did he not care about all those people who went salvationless for four millennia?
If the salvation of man is so important to him, why did he wait about four thousand years of the spurious scriptural history to bring in his plan of salvation, according to the story touted by christianity? Did he not give a damn about all those humans condemned by "original sin" going to hell? Maybe he's a "super Roman" with a devine Colisseum called hell where he can revel in all the mayhem, suffering and screaming and laugh as demons spear agonized souls with flaming pitchforks.
Seems to me that kind of barbarous thing would get a bit old after a few thousand years. Maybe that's why he came up with a plan of salvation, but he still had to satiate his dessire for blood and gore by having his own son horribly martyred.
Why? Because, we are told, there is no expiation of sin without the shedding of blood, supposedly devine blood in this case. Seems there are some things even god is not capable of doing. One of them is simply saying, "I forgive you."
That would be much too simple and logical. It wouldn't give priests and ministers (means servants -- what a laugh) a source of food and income from their fearful adherents. It wouldn't provide "mysteries" to tout to the gullible masses who just stumble along in blind obedience -- and stultifying ignorance.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
THEOCRACY ON THE MARCH
I was astounded this morning to read that a front ranking candidate for the Republican nomination for president of the USA, publicly advocated arresting what he called "activist judges." Read about it here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/18/gingrich-judges_n_1156405.html.
What is truly frightening is what he singled out as examples of "activist judges." I quote: "...he singled out the 9th Circuit, once more, for determining that it was unconstitutional for public schools to require the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and Biery for outlawing prayers in graduation ceremonies."
Now, as always, the bone of contention is the old saw about this being a Christian nation when it clearly was not established as such. The majority of the founders were Masons, Unitarians and Deists. Some were outright atheists, like Thomas Paine. The dedicated Christians were in the minority. Great pains were taken by our founders to guarantee that religion could never become state sponsored in this country.
Loud mouthed ignorant liars and prejudiced non-thinkers like Gingrich, will never be satisfied with that. They are addicts to unfounded belief and faith, and they are determined to saddle the people of this country with the stultifying fascism of blind religious dogmatism by any underhanded subterfuge and misuse of public power open to them.
Most of the citizens of Germany in 1931 never dreamed their enlightened and progressive society could, within a short year, be plunged into the fanatic abyss the Nazis brought. Most of them never dreamed how quickly and thoroughly their rights, freedoms and civilized humanity could be stripped away from them. A great number of them shrugged it all off and went blithely along with their everyday lives. A lot of Jews and other minorities did too. Let's never forget that we free, clear-thinking atheists and non-believers are also a hated minority in much of this nation. If you don't believe it, try coming out about your true beliefs in Alabama or Tennessee. You'll be lucky if you escape outright violence against your person.
I, for one, don't take such comments lightly and pooh pooh them. Gingrich is very serious. Just as serious as Robertson, Falwell and a host of others who salivate at the possibility of turning the USA into a brutal theocracy. It has been the dream of christo-fascists for generations.
I listened to the news this evening, and on the CBS network, this comment was hardly mentioned. It should have been trumpeted and condemned in the strongest terms.
I wonder why it wasn't. I think I have a clue. Do you?
What is truly frightening is what he singled out as examples of "activist judges." I quote: "...he singled out the 9th Circuit, once more, for determining that it was unconstitutional for public schools to require the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and Biery for outlawing prayers in graduation ceremonies."
Now, as always, the bone of contention is the old saw about this being a Christian nation when it clearly was not established as such. The majority of the founders were Masons, Unitarians and Deists. Some were outright atheists, like Thomas Paine. The dedicated Christians were in the minority. Great pains were taken by our founders to guarantee that religion could never become state sponsored in this country.
Loud mouthed ignorant liars and prejudiced non-thinkers like Gingrich, will never be satisfied with that. They are addicts to unfounded belief and faith, and they are determined to saddle the people of this country with the stultifying fascism of blind religious dogmatism by any underhanded subterfuge and misuse of public power open to them.
Most of the citizens of Germany in 1931 never dreamed their enlightened and progressive society could, within a short year, be plunged into the fanatic abyss the Nazis brought. Most of them never dreamed how quickly and thoroughly their rights, freedoms and civilized humanity could be stripped away from them. A great number of them shrugged it all off and went blithely along with their everyday lives. A lot of Jews and other minorities did too. Let's never forget that we free, clear-thinking atheists and non-believers are also a hated minority in much of this nation. If you don't believe it, try coming out about your true beliefs in Alabama or Tennessee. You'll be lucky if you escape outright violence against your person.
I, for one, don't take such comments lightly and pooh pooh them. Gingrich is very serious. Just as serious as Robertson, Falwell and a host of others who salivate at the possibility of turning the USA into a brutal theocracy. It has been the dream of christo-fascists for generations.
I listened to the news this evening, and on the CBS network, this comment was hardly mentioned. It should have been trumpeted and condemned in the strongest terms.
I wonder why it wasn't. I think I have a clue. Do you?
Monday, December 12, 2011
ANTI-THEISM ON THE MOVE
As a free-thinker, I'm tired of being marginalized and feeling like I'm relegated to a closet and the sidelines. As you may have noticed about a year ago now, I started lending my voice to the task of making clear and free thinking much more openly available. I started this blog.
I still had that isolated feeling here in Cottonwood, Arizona. There seemed to be few, if any, like minded people around. There was plenty of wooo, wooo in nearby Sedona. You could take your pick of any superstition that appealed to you from vortexes to psychic and aural readings.
Finding clear thinking science-minded fellow anti-theists seemed to be close to impossible. Through Meetup a few of us found each other and had our first meeting this afternoon at a nice home in Sedona. We'll hold a few more meetings to determine exactly where we want to go with our newly formed association. It's a start for Sedona and the Verde Valley.
I'm very encouraged to see more and more blogs by free thinkers and more and more determination on the part of us non-believers to no longer be the silent wall flowers off in the philosophical corners of the world. We're tired of being relegated to the back seats of society like negroes were relegated to the back seats of buses not too long ago. We're fed to the teeth with imbecilic myths having the limelight in society.
I've also found and have been reading an excellent book I found online at the Jovial Atheist website. Thomas Blaylock, Jr. is the author of this website and book. The book's title is: HONEST MAN'S PHILOSOPHY. It's a very thorough treatment of the subject of clear and honest thinking in every area of human existence. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in erradicating the myths of this world from their lives and minds. Go to this address: http://www.jovialatheist.com/hmpindex.html.
I still had that isolated feeling here in Cottonwood, Arizona. There seemed to be few, if any, like minded people around. There was plenty of wooo, wooo in nearby Sedona. You could take your pick of any superstition that appealed to you from vortexes to psychic and aural readings.
Finding clear thinking science-minded fellow anti-theists seemed to be close to impossible. Through Meetup a few of us found each other and had our first meeting this afternoon at a nice home in Sedona. We'll hold a few more meetings to determine exactly where we want to go with our newly formed association. It's a start for Sedona and the Verde Valley.
I'm very encouraged to see more and more blogs by free thinkers and more and more determination on the part of us non-believers to no longer be the silent wall flowers off in the philosophical corners of the world. We're tired of being relegated to the back seats of society like negroes were relegated to the back seats of buses not too long ago. We're fed to the teeth with imbecilic myths having the limelight in society.
I've also found and have been reading an excellent book I found online at the Jovial Atheist website. Thomas Blaylock, Jr. is the author of this website and book. The book's title is: HONEST MAN'S PHILOSOPHY. It's a very thorough treatment of the subject of clear and honest thinking in every area of human existence. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in erradicating the myths of this world from their lives and minds. Go to this address: http://www.jovialatheist.com/hmpindex.html.
Friday, December 2, 2011
YOU TELL 'EM, ELIZABETH
We need more Elizabeth Warrens! She's universally hated by the one percent who have a death grip on our nation and threaten to destroy a century's worth of progress. They've done everything they could in their hateful opposition to her and any other proponent of sanity they could denounce to the gullible American electorate.
Here's the quote of her "right on" recent statement: "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you! But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now, look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea. God bless! Keep a big hunk of it! But part of the underlying social contract is, you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along."
I am so sick and tired of the privileged rich few pretending to be the real force behind America and "job creators." What a bag of BS!
They create very few jobs and most of those jobs are for their own self-agrandizement -- like servants and artisans to keep up their palacial properties. Their whole aim, as a whole -- I recognize there are some who are not in the same category and are as appalled as am I, Warren Buffett for example -- is to build their own wealth and power and to hell with the "inferior" masses. They are for the most part hoarding their great wealth and using it to buy politicians so they can amass even more at the expense of all of the rest of us. They are squandering on multiple mansions in exotic parts of this nation and the rest of the world. They lavish themselves with corporate jets, multiple luxury cars, fantastic trips and any opulence they can think of.
They have lap dogs like Grover Norquist and the Republican elite in their hip pockets. See my blog on Norquist: http://theageofreason--21stcentury.blogspot.com/2011/11/demagogue-cultic-dictator-rules-usa.html.
While they revel in hedonous ostentation, the middle class and poor are decimated and education and the nation's infrastucture goes to hell in that proverbial hand basket. If the deluded American public had elected a Democratic majority to congress, we would now be well on our way out of recession. We would have started renewing and expanding our infrastructure for the creation of our future wealth.
It makes me so mad I could spit tacks to hear lying republican asses blaming Obama for our economic mess. He didn't start it, and they have systematicallty thwarted every attempt he has made to end it with their Norquist inspired intransigence.
Keep it up, Elizabeth! Load up with the truth and keep on firing!
Here's the quote of her "right on" recent statement: "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you! But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now, look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea. God bless! Keep a big hunk of it! But part of the underlying social contract is, you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along."
I am so sick and tired of the privileged rich few pretending to be the real force behind America and "job creators." What a bag of BS!
They create very few jobs and most of those jobs are for their own self-agrandizement -- like servants and artisans to keep up their palacial properties. Their whole aim, as a whole -- I recognize there are some who are not in the same category and are as appalled as am I, Warren Buffett for example -- is to build their own wealth and power and to hell with the "inferior" masses. They are for the most part hoarding their great wealth and using it to buy politicians so they can amass even more at the expense of all of the rest of us. They are squandering on multiple mansions in exotic parts of this nation and the rest of the world. They lavish themselves with corporate jets, multiple luxury cars, fantastic trips and any opulence they can think of.
They have lap dogs like Grover Norquist and the Republican elite in their hip pockets. See my blog on Norquist: http://theageofreason--21stcentury.blogspot.com/2011/11/demagogue-cultic-dictator-rules-usa.html.
While they revel in hedonous ostentation, the middle class and poor are decimated and education and the nation's infrastucture goes to hell in that proverbial hand basket. If the deluded American public had elected a Democratic majority to congress, we would now be well on our way out of recession. We would have started renewing and expanding our infrastructure for the creation of our future wealth.
It makes me so mad I could spit tacks to hear lying republican asses blaming Obama for our economic mess. He didn't start it, and they have systematicallty thwarted every attempt he has made to end it with their Norquist inspired intransigence.
Keep it up, Elizabeth! Load up with the truth and keep on firing!
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