Frivology

I never really understood these extremely silly religious activities, but I especially don’t understand ones that get warped by humanity’s selfishness like… Lent. 

Traditionally in the Catholic Church, Lent was a time of fasting — defined as abstaining from meat and limiting oneself to one full meal a day, usually around noon. The Lenten fast is intended to recall Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert before he began his public ministry.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his Lenten message this year, called for a renewed commitment to fasting, saying the practice “is a great help to avoid sin,” a way to combat “disordered attachment to ourselves” and a daily reminder that many around the world live in poverty and hunger.

The tradition of fasting led, in modern times, to a broader (if less rigorous) notion of “giving something up” for Lent — if not food, then at least ice cream; if not meat, then at least pepperoni pizza.

via RELIGION Blog | The Dallas Morning News .

So let me get this straight… Jesus walked around in the desert fasting for 40 days and 40 nights… thus, to “honor” him, some idiot in the new world is going to give up Pepperoni Pizza to become less sinful? How do people swallow this crap whole?

I popped a quick post up earlier form Google Reader linking to PZ’s account of a woman in Washington trying to get an anti-atheist initiative on the state ballot.  I didn’t realize, at the time, that the woman was actually from the area I grew up in - Whatcom County.  In particular, she lives in Blaine, goes to some church events in Bellingham and works in Lynden.  After discovering this, I figured it was no wonder she’s crazy.  This is a crazy part of the country, and, as will eventually come out in my ‘Losing My Religion’ series, that area is part of why I’m an atheist today. 

First, some crazy: 

“I think probably at least that more creation science is overlooked as not belonging in the public school system because of the religion (aspect),” she said.

Citing the state Constitution, the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the initiative states it “is about requiring our government to do its job, to protect our liberty, a liberty which has been endowed by our Creator, the one responsible for Blessing us, the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.”

via: Blaine woman trying to get anti-evolution initiative on state ballot

Next, some insight into the crazy that is this part of the country.  Whatcom County is situated in the far Northwest corner of the United States.  Blaine is practically Canada.  I grew up in Bellingham, which was considered “the big city” compared to the other parts of the area - Lynden, Ferndale, Blaine and surrounding itty bitty towns, almost all of which are crazy religious.  Lynden is the worst, which has several Blue Laws on the books, including laws prohibiting liquor to be sold on Sundays, prohibiting establishments that allow dancing and drinking in the same place and prohibiting certain activities to be performed on Sundays.  It’s a real ‘Stepford’ kind of place, with perfectly mowed lawns and perfect little blocks with perfect little churches on every corner.  If you don’t mow your lawn in a timely fashion, the city will mow it for you and then send you the bill.  I used to get chills whenever we’d drive through the place.  That kind of crazy. 

The surrounding other cities weren’t much better.  Rumors persisted year after year that teen pregnancy and alcohol and substance abuse were much higher than in the city where we lived, and I even had a friend who told me she wasn’t allowed to have a prom.  Remember Footloose?  Yeah.  That.  Funny story… the relatively progressive church that we attended slowly got overrun by the Stepford wives.  My mom - a Sunday School teacher, Calvinette volunteer (it’s girl scouts for presbyterians) and choir member hated these women to a last one.  So, during one of our youth lock-in sleepovers, when it was our job to rent the movies she was sure to pick up … you guessed it … Footloose.  She just loved making those women squirm. 

Anyhow, Washington is a fairly progressive state, and it’s considered ‘blue’, but this particular bit of nutso comes from a rather nutso part of the state.  Yes, it’s really that bad and really that stupid.  I highly doubt it’ll actually turn into anything, but once you understand the people in the ara, you can understand how it could happen.

You won’t believe this, but in this case it’s Christians complaining that they are being persecuted because children in Canada are being taught ethics and religious culture.  I can see where they’re coming from on this.  I had to take a few culture courses in High School and there are plenty on my required list for my college GE credits.  The effort is to make people understand all of the different people in the world.  Oddly, though, this doesn’t seem to sit well with Christians who want to teach their children to hate and revile those of other religions.

Paul Donovan, the principal at Loyola High School in Montreal, told the National Post his school has initiated a court challenge against the class, which he said does not ask students to distinguish between right and wrong.
"What it essentially says is that religion is just, ‘You like tomato soup and I like pea soup, so don’t be all offended because someone likes tomato soup. It’s really just a matter of preference,’" he said. "Religion could be Wiccan or Raelian or any of the new movements or atheism or agnosticism."

This, apparently, is terribly offensive, and persecutes Christians who want to teach their children that tomato soup is the only soup anyone is allowed to like, and those who like pea soup will burn in soup hell.

Another disturbing bit…

A Voice of the Martyrs blog post commended the students for their opposition to state religious teaching.
"We believe that the state has no right to mandate religious education, force students to learn the content of other religious and to deliberately seek to undermine the religious convictions of those who refuse to accept a relativistic view of truth," VOM said.
"It is the right and responsibility of parents to train their own children according to their own religious beliefs, not those of the state," the persecution watchdog group said. "Religious courses, if offered, should be optional or alternatives provided. But the state must not mandate what religious content will or will not be taught to children, especially against the wishes of their parents."

Train?  Train?  Beyond potty-training, do you really "train" your children?  They aren’t dogs.  You can’t click a little toy and offer them a treat when they sit down when they’re told.  They are human beings.  Geez.

Ever since the inauguration, I keep reading the same phrase (or hearing it uttered) over and over and over and over again… "Well, Christians are the majority, so we get what we want.  Shut up, Atheists." 

This is also characterized in this article at AlterNet, recounting some recent comments.  "Pilgrim" says:

Why can’t atheists keep their incessant whining to themselves instead of continuously denigrating believers who outnumber them?

I personally don’t give a hoot what atheists believe, and I wish they would just shut up and stop belittling those who don’t see things the way they do.

Things are not going to change because of their continuous grousing and ridiculing.

Well, Pilgrim (I feel like John Wayne suddenly), what you really need to realize is that our push to restore the separation of church and state isn’t just for our own, fat, atheist egos.  It’s because it’s fairer to everyone - including you.  Right now, you are right, Christianity is the majority.  But… Atheists, Agnostics, Non-Believers, Humanists and the Irreligious make up the second largest group.  If wackaloons continue to take over your religion, we can easily see it bolstering our ranks.  A few generations from now, when the tables are reversed, what would you rather see….

World #1: While Atheists are the majority, Christians are still allowed their churches, and still allowed their personal freedom to believe in whatever they want to.  While these beliefs aren’t carried out through the government, the government also doesn’t tell Christians they aren’t allowed.  While government-sponsored functions no longer make reference to god, jesus, the bible or anything religious, they also don’t force those who believe to stop believing. 

World #2: Atheists, now in the majority, decide to treat Christians like Christians have treated Atheists.  Christians who wear T-Shirts that have Jesus on them are frequently ridiculed and called names.  In some places, Christians are asked to REMOVE any paraphernalia, as it is offensive to non-believers.  All government-sponsored events start with an announcement that there is no god, and require those who take the oath of office to do so on ‘On the Origin of Species’.  Polls regularly state that the majority of the people of the United States trust Christians LESS than they trust Wall Street Investors and churches can rarely get zoning for their buildings to be built. 

Now… seriously … which world would you rather live in?  I know it may be hard - nay impossible - for a "true believer" to imagine a world where they aren’t the majority, but try.  I’d dare say that most atheists do not want World #2.  Most atheists are content to live in a world where there are dozens of religions that they don’t believe in so long as those religions don’t force their beliefs on them.  Similarly, while most atheists don’t really have any desire to deconvert everyone that they meet.  They’re content only to explain their disbelief when asked.  I realize I’m speaking in generalities here, but I believe these generalities are all fairly true.

So, for those who keep spouting the ‘We’re the majority’ line, remember… you may not always be the majority.  Do you really want to be treated the way that you treat us?

Take a look at the picture to the left.  This is what stupid looks like.  This is Leilani and Dale Neumann, who killed their daughter, Kara, because they believed that God alone has the ability to heal the sick.  How can you live in this modern world and seriously be this ignorant?  I don’t even see how that’s possible.  Presumably, this family has at least two or three people in it who are alive by the grace of modern medicine - not by prayer.  Yet, they still believed - to the detriment of their own child - that "God alone" could heal the sick.

It’s like taking someone and smacking them upside the head with a brick, then being told that they don’t believe in bricks.  It doesn’t make a lick of sense.  What’s more, how do these people live with themselves now that she’s dead?  One has to wonder if they’ve fallen even deeper into their delusion of belief because that’s the only way to explain it?  God wanted Kara, so Kara had to die?

It makes me sick to think about it.

Jesus loves me, this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.

After grandpa died, my family moved to NW Washington from Southern California. It was a pretty big no-brainer for my parents.  Mom was having trouble finding work and dad was about to get laid off.  Grandpa had just died, removing our ties there for his reasons, and NW Washington had friends of ours.

I was eight and starting the third grade.  I  did a lot of living in my head back then, for a variety of reasons.  My school in California consisted of a lot of rich kids, and I came from a family that had hardly anything.  This was a reality I was constantly reminded of, so I tended to avoid the other kids.  In Washington, the kids came from a more diverse selection of households, but they were still mean.  So, I stuck to myself most of the time.

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