Palliative Care For True Believers

Unfortunately, for those who have allowed religion to metastasize to their entire self, there is nothing to do but provide palliative care.

If Prayer Worked...

If prayer actually worked, it's proponents would be pushing to make 911 a dial-a-prayer service.

Needed Confirmation

We are always seeking confirmation of our own views, no matter what other contradictory or evil baggage comes along with it--we will accept a large proportion of bad in order to get that confirmation of some small part of a view we hold.

The "Real" Personality

When people eventually show multiple sides to their personality, why is it that the one most deemed most unpleasant is seen as the "real" one?

Over The Line

It is often said that a government will not deal with terrorists and police will not negotiate with kidnappers. The people in these cases are really pissed off for some reason and have gone to extremes to either get attention or are attempting to accomplish some goal. We say that we won't deal with them now because they have crossed some line we have set and no longer deserve it. The implication is that if someone is only a little pissed off, then he is still considered worthy of attention. But at that point a person can easily be ignored and forgotten because he is not powerful enough to matter and not making enough noise to be noticed. However, if someone is really pissed off because they couldn't get help or attention while being civil, then no attention is deserved. This teaches that if someone in power wants to make changes, then big changes that cause people to get really pissed off can be accomplished because reaction to the changes can be dismissed as over that same line; little changes can be validly attacked and fail.

Respect For Power

Respect for a person in power comes only when they give it.

Safe, Legal And Rare

A stray thought: Religion should be thought of as some of us think about abortion--it should be safe, legal, and rare.

Putting Church And State In Perspective

If you are a right-wing nutball, think of the separation of church and state the same you think of two gay men getting together: an abomination. If you are a normal person, think of keeping church and state separate as you would a priest and a child.

Think There's A Deity?

If you believe in a deity, you may never quit. However, if you think there's a deity, eventually you won't.

Government Endorsement Removes Freedom

You can't have freedom of religion if the government picks one.

Being A Believer Is No Compliment

Ignorance may be bliss, but belief gratifies. In both cases the claim is not a compliment.

Vendors Tell The Tale

If you want to know what kind of people back a particular campiagn or movement, look at what the vendors selling stuff at their public events are hawking.

Being "Chosen" Not Really A Blessing

If you believe the bible…can Yahweh’s selection of the Hebrews as his chosen people be considered a curse in the same way that the Chinese consider “may you live in interesting times” a curse? Ever since Yahweh’s supposed selection of them, the Hebrews have had a pretty rough time of it. Being drafted by this deity was not a blessing.

Is Your God The Best You Could Do?

How many people have chosen a god that took the time to literally carve some important edicts in stone and encase them in a box that would kill you if you touched it; and those important and protected edicts contained, among other things, instructions on cooking goat meat but nothing about rape?

If so, is this the same imaginary creature that later, having decided to address the rape issue left out of the stone-inscribed rules, told everyone raping a women could result in making her your wife?

If so again, is this also the same god who declares himself to be jealous, angry and vengeful?

And finally, if this still describes your chosen deity, what were the other choices that you turned down in favor of this one?--was this the best you could do?

Enabler Of Religion

To respect a religion is to be an enabler, in the same sense the term is used for any addict.

No Christian Nation

What does it say about christianity that the founding fathers, supposedly founding a "christian nation," that they opted to leave out any reference to this idea in the country's constitution? It might just mean they knew it was a bad idea on which to base a country, even for those who were individual believers.

No Perfect Government

We may never come up with a “perfect” system of government. There is too great a tendency to concentrate power in a few people and to great a tendency by the rest to follow those people no matter what they do.

Just One Blemish Is All It Takes

Why is that some piece of clothing that is very sexy can become totally un-sexy with one small blemish--a rip or tear or stain?

From One To Zero

The largest leap in humanity's scientific mental growth may have been the jump from one to zero, while the second largest was from one to infinity.

The "Sick" Label Can Simply Be Perception

We remove those in society that do not fall within a narrow band of behavioral and appearance standards. Those outside those boundaries are "sick" and treated as such. This band of acceptance is somewhat different from person to person, and is usually wider in those who have interacted with more people. Tolerance, if that is the appropriate term, is widened by exposure to the thing--whatever it is--that is not tolerable.

But, for most, instead of becoming more tolerant to the differences of those outside of this band of acceptance, or expanding or eliminating it, we tend to push those outside of it away and pretend they don't exist, or label them as defective and, therefore, not worthy of consideration. We create institutions, neighborhoods, clans, etc. to separate these "broken" people from the rest. If someone is determined to be floating toward this "broken" group--moving outside that band of acceptance--others will try and pull them back, at first...try to "fix" them. But if the "fix" doesn't work, then the person is discarded like all the rest outside the band.

The thing that constitutes this "broken" state can be anything from new associations, changes in behavior, altered dress, mood, etc., not usually things that should be considered an ailment.