11/06/09
There's always this little twinge of disappointment I get when I meet someone new, or reacquaint with someone from the past, and I find out they're religious. I'd like to be able to just let it go, to just sigh and think, "the poor things, they can't help it." But the truth is I believe they can help it and they're just too scared or dumb to do it. No doubt there's so much more to it, psychologically, emotionally, etc. (I'd say intellectually, but dumb is dumb, right?)

I've heard the accusation before: You just think you're smarter than I am.

I remember the first time I heard it. I tried to rebuff the idea; I tried to be kind; I tried to make it sound like I didn't think I was smarter than the person who said it. But the truth remains: I am, and was, smarter than she is.

I can't help it if I'm smarter than some people. I can't help it if I'm smarter than most. I suppose I could help that I like it. But really, in my world, intelligence is a good thing--a thing to work for, and a thing to be proud of.

And because I think that at least some of the ignorant people I know could, if they worked at it, increase their intelligence, even as it regards religious nonsense, I don't feel bad when I have to treat them with a bit of condescension. They COULD help themselves. But they don't. They deserve to be teased a bit, needled, and even laughed at on occasion.

On the bright side: I put my new "Atheism is myth-understood" bumper sticker on my car. Wow! It's big. You can read it from a great distance. It's perfect.

I revel in the reactions of the stupid people when this little blonde lady with a big smile gets out of the car, because I know they were expecting a scrawny, stringy-haired, hippy-type, grumpy guy.

10/18/09
Freethought Day at Disney was a success! I had a great time, though I only managed to make it to the lunch meetup. I met some new atheists, saw some familiar faces, and had a wonderful, tiring day.

We started off on Friday at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. My husband and I love to walk through the countries and sample their foods. Well, my husband is something of a tag-along, but he helps me eat (most of) the stuff. Neither he nor our 13 yo son would eat the escargot at the Paris, France booth, so I was left to them myself. Oh, my, gawd, were they good. In years past, the little snails were drenched in garlic and butter and put on a piece of hard toast. This year, they were each snug inside a little round biscuit with a lid. Very cute, very buttery, very delicious! Three of them. And I ate them all.

I was so full by late afternoon that I couldn't eat all the things I wanted. George made me sit on a bench and prioritize my food list. Still didn't help. On our second pass through we did a few desserts. Ireland was serving a chocolate lava cake with Bailey's ganache. OH MY GAWD! Nothing compared. I really only missed out on some scallops and salmon I wanted to try. But if I wouldn't get full, and if I could stay the entire day, maybe I could try everything. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

On Saturday, we got some questions about our FDatD shirts. You can tell when people don't know what to say. The receptionist at our hotel seemed curious and asked how many people showed up. I'd told her we were a group based in Brevard, but I was thinking maybe she thought there were thousands of us. I told her there were usually about a dozen. (I counted 17 at lunch.) Thinking back on it, I imagine she was surprised there would be that many. People don't realize how many people around them are atheist.

Then a man in line at one of the rides told my husband he couldn't read all of the first word on his shirt so hubby pulled away his jacket. The man read it, said "oh," and that was that.

Disney employees were also curious. Nobody spit on us. Nobody shrieked Bible verses. Don 't listen to George. There was no ill will visible.

So, that was the kickoff for the holidays! My determination to lose 10 pounds before we start the food fest was not realized. So, we'll hold steady through the next few months and shed a few pounds in January. That's the best way to do it, anyway.

We left our hotel on Saturday morning prepared for a Florida October day and ended up having to stop off at Walmart for jackets!!! (hence our missing the first meetup of the day.) I LOVE cold weather. I wasn't meant to be a Floridian. But, as I've said before, I'm clearly not getting out it.

Cold weather makes me think of Thanksgiving and Christmas and all that holiday cheer (you know--chocolate covered cherries, hot chocolate, Magic Cookie Bars, chocolate truffles, that sort of thing).

So, it's on to the War on Christmas 2009. I'll report if I can stop laughing.

09/22/09
Well, it appears that the rapture occurs today, or yesterday, or something like that. It's all so confusing. While I'm getting these flashes of yellow and red and blue, so far everything appears normal. There are fewer real Christians around than I thought. But, I haven't exactly left the house yet.

On Sunday, I learned that George Ricker died in August. I was very disappointed that no one bothered to let me know. But I guess that's what you get when you're aloof and unsociable. But I've received various emails from the Freethought Association about freethought music and a dinner-and-a-lecture, etc. Interesting priorities. Or maybe I should take it all as a message of some sort, ie: trivial matters, we tell you. Serious stuff, you're on your own, biatch.

Anyway, George Ricker and I did not always see eye-to-eye. He thought I was a diva, and I thought he was a blow-hard. But he was a good man, a wonderful father and husband, a moral and decent person. He will be missed in the atheist community.

You've got to watch the new video I linked to: Ultimate Praying Championships. It's hilarious! I know that the religious get worked up when they're made fun of; I just wish they could step back for a moment and see their actions objectively...just long enough to understand the humor we get from them. Then they can go back to being highly insulted.

I attended The Great Debate on September 17, at the UCF Arena in Orlando. It was fabulous. But while I really connected with Christopher Hitchens, enjoyed his demeanor, intelligence, forthrightness and biting wit, it was clear that he spoke well over the heads of the Christians in the audience. And whenever D'Souza spoke his nonsense, and I'm thinking, huh?, the Christians applauded like mad.

Emotion works for them. Soundbites that appear on the surface to make some sense work for them. They either can not think deeply enough to understand the problems inherent in their logic, or the willfully do not.

It's time to get ready for Freethought Day at Disney!!! I missed last year, and can't wait! I love the Magic Kingdom, and it's even more fun when there are several green shirts to meet up with.

4th Annual Freethought Day at Disney
October 17, 2009
Magic Kingdom, Orlando
All Day!

I'll see you there!

08/24/09
The personal essay, I'm an atheist, so what?, has stuck with me. Two things really bothered me about it. First, of course, was the condescending way the author was treated by his co-worker and second was that the author did absolutely nothing about it.

The idea that because this woman was older than the author, she had more insight into religion, on the one hand may seem a possibility. Many of us study quite a bit and therefore, the older we are, the more time we've had to pursue such studies and possibly the more knowledge and insight we have. And if the woman had said, "well, I'm older, and I've studied quite a bit about my religion and maybe one day you can learn what I've learned," maybe I'd give her a pass. But I'd expect the author to let her know how much he's studied (quite a bit coming from Catholic school upbringing). But he didn't.

And unfortunately the woman didn't say that. She said, basically, "I'm older. Someday you'll get it."

That's insulting. What the woman is saying is that the author is just young and naive. She's saying he will simply toss his reason and his rationalism out the window when he's older. Atheism is for the young and stupid. Older, wiser people believe in gods. Bullshit.

The author should have called her on it. He should have said, what compels you to accuse me of having so little understanding of myself and my reasoning that I would turn against that knowledge in the future? Truthfully, we're talking about reason, evidence, and knowledge-based thinking here. We're not talking about beliefs after all.

You can't unlearn what you know to be true based on factual evidence without some real brainwashing trauma. A rational, non-believing skeptic doesn't turn to magical supernaturalism. It doesn't happen. (So, yeah, any nut who tells you he used to be an atheist but is now a devout Bible-thumping Christian. Nope. Didn't happen that way. And it's easy enough to discover--just talk to them a while. They were NEVER completely rational.)

I have read statistics about how people turn to religion when they get old. But to assume everyone will do so is insulting because the reality is that older people turn toward religion because they're closer to death, not because they get smarter.

What the woman was actually doing however, is standard. She can not imagine that other people (except those she doesn't know or doesn't like or admire) could be different from her. And the only way she can rationalize that in her dull brain is to assume that if that person was exactly like her (read older, a woman, smarter, whatever) they would believe just what she does. Because let's face it, it's a big scary world out there and it feels oh so much better when everyone you know and like has the same delusions you do.

08/22/09
I'm trying to be less self-absorbed. You should be laughing out loud, right now.

Truthfully. I took my mom to the doctor recently. I drove about an hour to get her. So, the first thing I remember is walking through the door and really having to pee. I don't know about you, but I drink a lot of Diet Coke and water (not in the same glass, but you have to water yourself down when you drink soda, right?) So I had to pee, but as soon as she opened the door to me (literally, people) she went into the bathroom to brush her teeth.

This is the kind of thing you remember. And if I was a type-A person I'd probably be seething about it now, instead of giggling. But wait, it gets better. So, what'd I do? As soon as she got out of the bathroom, did I run in? Heck no. First, you can't go into the bathroom right after someone else got out--I don't care what they were doing in there. You just can't.

And second, I didn't want her to know I had to pee. I'm not sure why. I think I have this incessant need to make everyone else feel comfortable. (Okay, in person. I think we can all agree that I have no problem making people squirm via the electronic media.) And I didn't want her to realize she'd held me up, so to speak. So I nonchalantly waited around, shaking a leg, pacing in the kitchen, until I could reasonably go pee without attracting attention.

And now that I'm saying all this, I wonder why I think I'm self-absorbed. Because I AM self-absorbed, except in the manners department, I guess. Or I take manners too far. That's it!

Anyway, I was tired, because my dh was traveling and I don't sleep well when he's not around. My oldest son has moved out to be close to his university and that, too, infected my mood. Tired, sad, lonely. (Not to mention anxious at the expense of paying for our oldest to live away from home.)

I was at a major and stressful crossroads in my life, right?

My middle son is about to turn 18; his car needs a lot of work and we'd just had a lot done to the older kid's car. (You can't send them off without decent wheels.) He's starting college and I still can't get him to pick up his dirty dishes and socks. (I find dirty socks in the strangest places, don't you?)

Recently, too, I had some medical issues. One of them was puzzling and a little frightening. All is well now, of course, but for a while there I was wondering about death and dying. Seriously. Okay, enough of that.

I'm working hard, struggling actually, to become a fiction writer. I spend too much time goofing off and it basically pisses me off. Farm Town is just awful. Awful like chocolate!

But all isn't bad. There is good, too. We have tadpoles to look at and dead animals to cut up for the youngest in his home schooling adventure. I have four great cats, though they could be considered money pits. I recently, as you may know, attended my high school reunion. And last spring I was in my dance recital; I just got the dvd and watched. Not bad for old ladies dancing, if I do say so myself.

What's my point? Here's my point. I told my mother nothing about any of these things. Nothing about the long and stressful day of moving my oldest child over to Orlando. About how his car broke down despite the thousand dollars of work we'd put into it. About eating out and how wonderful it was for the whole family to sit down together and talk. About how I almost cried on the way home but didn't because I knew the other boys would make fun of me. How I missed my husband and my oldest son, but how fun it was to be able to instant message them.

None of this. Why? Because she never asked.

Don't give me any of that crap about how I shouldn't wait to be asked. Uh-huh. I tried and I got nothing. She's just not that into me.

On the way home I felt sorry for myself. But I also feared that I was just as self-absorbed and uninterested as she was. What if I'd learned it from her?

I don't think I'm uninterested in my children, but I do have a hands-off approach to their lives. I mean, so much of it is not my business. It's really hard, though, to walk that line between giving them their privacy and making them think I don't give a shit. (If you're reading boys, I give lots of shit.)

With acquaintances (can't say friends, exactly), I think I'm too aloof. Probably why they're just acquaintances. But I've tried to be more open and it never worked out. Never, in the Dianna you're such a dork kind of not working out.

So, I'm going to go for...not open, so much as, caring. Because I do care about people. I just rarely let it get past my forehead. It's so weird to me how easy it is for other people to express caring. While I spend several minutes or longer trying to phrase it just so. Should I say this? Should I say that? Will that sound stupid? Will that freak people out (because I do have this very bizarre sense of what I like to call humor). And truth be told, more often than not, after mulling it over and obsessing about it, I go for silence.

So, I'm going to try to just express it, however my weird personality does it. Watch out, people!!! She's armed with emotion. Oh, yeah. This could be really awful.

And if you're wondering how brave I must be to write about my mother in my blog because of what she'll say when she reads it... My turn to laugh.

08/12/09
I have a strong bias toward individual and family rights. I don't believe it takes a village to raise a child. It's none of the villagers business what I do with my kids--how I raise them, what I teach them, what I feed them, what they watch on t.v.

But just as I agree that animals do not have a voice and therefore must be protected from abuse, children also must be protected from their parents in certain situations. Those situations, however, must be extreme, in my opinion, to warrant government interference in the family.

I agree that children should not be physically abused. But I do not agree that spanking is physical abuse. Where do you draw the line between discipline and abuse? That's a very difficult question and could be, and probably is, decided in a clinical way. Same with emotional or psychological abuse. We must err on the side of the family, in my opinion, before removing children from their homes. Parents should be free to yell at, denigrate, or humiliate their children, up to a point. What is that point? I don't know. But my feelings on the matter should not outweigh a panel of psychologists, that's for sure.

Life can suck. I think we all should just get over the idea that we have the right to tell other people they have to parent our way. Lots of kids grow up with lousy parents; it can be, unfortunately, a rite of life. It makes some kids stronger people, better people. We can't take over the family because it makes some other kids' lives a struggle.

So, when I heard about the father charged with 2nd degree reckless homicide in the death of his daughter because he expected God to heal her, I was conflicted. On the one hand, this man has the right to practice his religion and teach it to his children. And if he is going to truly teach them to practice his faith, he should have the right to withhold medical treatment for his child.

I pondered how I would feel if I was against medical care, for whatever reason. How awful would it be to have a government representative literally force medical care on me? That would definitely be too intrusive. And because I am so strongly in favor of parental rights, I felt it would be too intrusive into the family for the government to force such treatments on my children as well.

I do not consider human life to be sacred. I do not believe we must save every life at all cost.

But I do consider human life to be uniquely valuable and worthy of protection. However, an adult person who wishes to die should be allowed to die. An adult person who wishes to not receive medical care should have that right.

But what of children?

So, as horrible as it may sound to you, my first reaction to this story and others like it was, okay, this is that family's way and the child died. Children die every day. People die. It's part of life. And I felt that actively causing your child's death was vastly different than simply letting nature take its course. And I felt that the man did not deserve any punishment.

But after giving it more thought, I realized a few things. First, I realized that we are living in a time in which we can all be aware of the value of medicine and anyone who wants to be healed ought to be given the opportunity to try. And I realized that children are a lot like animals in that, until they are of a certain age, they don't really understand the concept of forever dead. And, I noted that in this particular instance anyway, the child did not have a serious, probably fatal disease, but a common, easily handled condition.

And so, I have decided that any person who does not seek medical help for their children when they are clearly very sick, knowing all that we know about health and medicine, should be liable in some way if that child dies.

07/13/09
I went to the high school reunion and yes, they prayed again. The emcee gave some kind of little pre-pray speech mentioning other religions, I think. I wasn't paying that much attention. My guest said something about it and I said, "Oh, are we at the praying part now?" And then emcee guy went ahead and prayed to our heavenly father (blech) and I'm pretty sure he finished up in what's his name, amen. I said, "right." Then there was a bit of discussion at the table about being left out. Hindus and Buddhists were mentioned. And I raised my hand for the atheists. Go atheists!

I was glad to see I was not the only one with little appreciation for Christian rudeness. Let me make it perfectly clear: not all Christians are rude. Many Christians understand that they don't hold the monopoly on religion. We are a free society that includes all kinds of faiths and many with no faith at all. To stand up in front of a group of people and demand they all bow their heads and be quiet (did emcee guy say that? I think he did) while they beseech their deity is nothing short of rudeness...with a bit of arrogance thrown in to boot.

I really dislike rude people. But most of the time, in most every other respect, these same people can be quite friendly and polite. I suppose that the same cognitive dissonance that allows them to be rather intelligent and yet believe imaginary things at the same time, allows them to be rude and yet turn around and smile and be very nice. Religion is strange, isn't it? And it certainly does strange things to people.

It's difficult to describe the feeling being free of it gives a person. Refreshing. Joyful. Embracing of the universe and all within it. Yeah, it's that powerful. It's such a shame pity has to be a part of it. But, hey, look around!

All in all, I had a good time at the reunion, notwithstanding a bit of unnecessary, and very public, praying. (I have to wonder what happened to the Bible and its prohibition of such displays.) I know there are some people who love reunions. And there are some who shun them. And then there are those who go out of a sense of obligation...it's what you're supposed to do. (Unfortunately some people get married and have children for the same reason.)

I'm not sure why I go. I think it's a rite of a sort. These are people who shared part of my life, like it or not. They're like parents, you're stuck with them. So, go. Check them out. They tend to look much the same. They act much the same and talk much the same. And you may think you've changed a great deal, but no doubt they're looking at you and thinking you haven't changed much at all.

You don't know what they've been through. You don't know the pain, the shame, or the fears they've lived. And you may not know the joys and wonders, either. Sure, the ones you were close to, you catch up on all that. But the rest? You just look at them and chat with them and think, nothing really changes. Not all that much, anyway. We're all still here. The ones who left us, whose pictures are on the memorial board, probably didn't change much either. But they thought they did. I bet they thought so.

So here's my little non-prayer for the alumni of Titusville High School Class of 1979:

Let us thank the hard working people of Royal Oak Country Club for preparing all this food, serving us drinks, and cleaning up after us. Let's thank the organizers of this grand event. And let's thank the cool DJ for the music from back in the day.

Let's take a moment to remember those who are no longer with us. And let's look around and give a smile to those we don't really remember. Let's be glad for the day, and glad for the night. And let's promise to do this again in ten years.

Now, let's eat!

06/12/09
I need a new bumper sticker. My Thomas Jefferson one is faded and fuzzy; no one could possibly read it. I think the car is old enough now, and I'm comfortable enough, that I might put the "Atheism is myth-understood" sticker on. I might even put my "Reality Bites" fish back on. I took it off a while ago, because I felt like it was mean. I'm not really a mean person. But I like it. Maybe it's not mean, so much as it's snarky. And I'm definitely snarky. I'm sure I have one of those evolve-fish-humping-the-Jesus-fish emblems around here somewhere. That would be going too far, though.

05/14/09
See "The Other L Word: Why I am a Libertarian" in the news. This is an article by Michael Shermer; he felt compelled to write it after the comments on a previous blog lambasted him.

Reading the comments left for Mr. Shermer, especially relating to his original post, took me back to a time I tried to communicate my ideas of freedom to other atheists. You'd have thought I was slapping them across the face. The bitchiness my ideas invoked was puzzling to me and eventually led to extreme disappointment with atheists.

I'm learning, clearly, to live with feelings of extreme disappointment in the human race.

But it was refreshing to see Michael Shermer express the same kinds of ideas that I tried to, without his eloquence. I should note that I'm not a card-carrying Libertarian. I don't mind being labeled as one, but I can't say I agree with everything they, as a political party, espouse.

It's not that I have anything against labels, mind you. If the label fits, slap it on. I recall, during my heated 'discussions' with fellow atheists labeling someone's ideas as fascist. Well, now, the guy said, if you're going to start name-calling, I'm out of here. After which he proceeded to email me and call me a name.

I can laugh about it now, because, well, it was funny. And that reminds me of how people don't listen. They hear only certain parts of what you're saying and make assumptions based on that. I have little doubt I'm as guilty as the rest.

Case in point: I tried to discuss such ideas as Shermer's recently with family (bad idea, right?) and was, again, disappointed. Maybe it's me. Maybe I can't articulate properly. Anyway, the looks from one member of the family told me, during the conversation, that she was saddened by what I was saying (which was, basically, that it was not right for the government to take money from everyone to pay for her healthcare). I said that if the government stopped taxing us to death, we'd all have more money to GIVE to charities and causes we want to give to. To which the other family member offered the tired liberal response, "But people won't give."

I realized only after this discussion that what they were hearing was that I was selfish and didn't believe in charity. They believe that Libertarian ideas would result in a selfish, uncaring populace that watches its elderly and poor die in the streets.

I know I didn't say that. But I can see it now in their faces after the fact. They think I'm a cold-hearted, selfish bitch.

It's the same with Objectivism. All people can hear in the ideas of Ayn Rand is the word 'selfish'. They can't get past it. But I wrote a blog a long time ago pointing out that it wasn't the Libertarians or the Objectivists who were selfish and greedy. I don't think I want to go into that now. I have no doubt something will occur to launch me into it another time. But to give you a hint: economic liberals are selfish and greedy.

In a way, though, I guess that my family is right. Now, anyway. I mean, when I was younger, I wanted to do so much for my fellow man. Now...now I think I'd give it all to cats.

05/09/09
Check out the article under religion titled, "Defectors to faith mark a growing trend." My husband and I will have to have a talk with the boys today about which religion they will join.

Our oldest seems unlikely to embrace any type of religion, so he'll have to be a Buddhist. He's inherited his fathers cold, calculating, and pessimistic view of the world, and his mother's rabid pitbull debating techniques. So young to be in the fray. I've given him my history with debate and the disappointments it brings. We'll see how he does with it.

The middle child is tall, lean, and dreamy. He'd make a great Wiccan, except that he might think of it as a girls' religion. His distaste for people, following in his parents' footsteps, means he might be better off as a quaker. He might embrace Jedi, except I think it's a social religion, too.

And the youngest has already created his own religion. It has a god, Fes, but there are times when I'm certain that J is his own god.

I wish them all well in their faiths. And I will take up the arms of debate again if I must, if they should try to convert me. Except for J, as worshiping Fes entails eating chocolate. J may have a convert already.

04/21/09
My apologies for the previous post. I don't know what got into me. He he. Look, there is a lot to make fun of in religion. I can appreciate that for many people, their religious fervor is devout and genuine; and I can understand why it would hurt them to see it laughed at. But this is why I prefer to stick to science. It's hard to laugh at science.

People do it, of course. Religious people do it. They think it's funny. They're usually laughing at some type of straw man they've created out of their small understanding of something scientific. It's unfortunate that that only gives the intelligent more things to laugh at regarding them.

But think about it. They think we're stupid for laughing at their nonsense. And we think they're stupid for trying to laugh at something they don't understand.

Who is right?

I took a long drive with my brother the other day and he posed just this sort of dilemma. Many of his friends are very conservative people. Conservative, not in the idea of fiscal conservatism or original Republicanism; but conservative in the idea of religious whackos. He thinks they're being stupid when it comes to Bush, Obama, gay marriage, etc. But they think he's stupid. So, how does he know, he wondered, if they're right and not him?

Simple, I said.

Just look at the basis of a person's beliefs and attitudes. His friends ideas are fear-based. Most of them are based on the fear that their world is under grave threat by some outside force, namely Middle Eastern terrorists (but sometimes also Mexicans and gay people).

My brother's ideas are based on reason, evidence, and compassion.

So, which ideas are more trustworthy?

Naturally, his friends won't agree. But fear-based thinking never allows for dissent. And there's another clue to who's thinking clearly and who isn't.

And so it is with the religious--who is right? The person who believes in a book written by several men at several points in ancient history and who looks inward at their 'feelings'? Or the person who looks outward at the world and uses the scientific method to determine reality and truth?

Anyone who trusts the former and laughs at the latter has serious issues to deal with. And I can understand that. But that doesn't mean I have to stop getting a laugh out of them now and then.

04/12/09

Watch the whole video by clicking on it.

04/11/09
The Holy Gospel of the Easter Bunny
<snort>

04/10/09
It is officially Easter for me! There's a large Reese's Peanut Butter Bunny with my name on it in the closet and I'm starting in on it today.

The boys are so much older now. They don't want an egg hunt on Sunday. But they want turkey and stuffing and a basket full of chocolate (and jelly beans for the older kid). When I told them I always buy too much candy for them, they said to leave out that fake grass. All it does is take up room that could be used for more candy.

My dh thinks it's ridiculous to fill a basket full of candy for 19 and 17 yos. He may even think it's ridiculous to do it for the 12 yo. But since when have I ever cared what dh thinks? Well, okay, I'm being defiant. But it's Easter! It's when we celebrate the rebirth of the earth! Weave baskets out of grass (or buy them at Walmart), worship bunnies, and gather colorful eggs (forgot...they don't even want to dye eggs this year).

Okay, maybe, I suppose, you could say...that if they're too old to dye eggs and hunt them, they shouldn't get the basket. I have little doubt that if I told them as much, we'd be in the kitchen this afternoon dying eggs and I'd have to go to Walmart for those plastic ones to hide.

Well, this Easter bunny has no problem filling a few baskets and forgetting those other things. I  mean, one day, they'll be gone, off on their own. And then who will I have to fill a basket for? Just me? Hmm. Yes, I suppose I will have to fill a basket for myself.

There's good in almost all things.

04/07/09
Well, I still haven't received an answer about prayer at my high school reunion. The organizer of the event said she is not ignoring me; she just doesn't know what to say yet. And she also said that she is "just against intolerance of any kind."

What that says to me is that she thinks that, maybe, I'm being intolerant by asking that we refrain from having a Christian prayer spoken during the proceedings, as a blessing before we eat.

This is the problem we have with Christians in this country. You can't really talk about religious freedom with them because, to them, what we call freedom is intolerance.

Too many Christians in this country feel that inclusion means they are left out. If they have to include everyone, and accept that not everyone is Christian and doesn't want their religion in every facet of our lives, they feel that they are being imposed upon.

It is not, in any way, intolerant of Christianity to ask them to pray on their own and not expect the whole room to join them. But they feel otherwise.

They just don't get it. And I'm, personally, tired of trying to educate them.

04/02/09
Why do people feel the need to lead other people in prayer?

It's been ten years since my last high school reunion. I think I was more sociable in high school than I am now. I think maybe that's because I was crazy in high school. I had no clue...about so many things, most notably, who I was. But this blog isn't about all that.

This blog is all about the praying. I don't remember much praying in high school. I went to a public school, after all. I think there was praying at football games back then, but I bet they put a stop to that. I definitely remember going to the baccalaureate ceremony, thinking it was part of graduation, you know, with speeches and awards and stuff. It turned out to be a religious ceremony. I was so bored...and even back then, some fifteen years before I would realize atheism, I was annoyed.

So, I'm not sure if my reaction to the scene at my last reunion was warranted or not. You see, at my twenty-year high school reunion, we were all gathered in a room where we had a sit-down meal. And before we got up to fill our plates at the buffet, someone had us all bow our heads for the blessing.

I can't believe it's been ten years since I wrote about that, right here at Atheist View. Sorry the archives aren't around anymore; but the gist of it all was that I was so shocked and befuddled, I pushed myself out of my seat and walked over to the bar and ordered a glass of wine. (Okay, I admit it, I drank too much at my twenty-year high school reunion. I had such a headache...)

I was so put off by the ordeal that the first thing I blurted out of my mouth later, upon meeting up with an old acquaintance was, "I'm an atheist." Granted, I was new at it; but it was highly inappropriate even so. I said it because I felt put upon. I felt as if I'd been coerced into a religious ritual I wanted no part of and I needed to shout out that I'd been duped. I needed to cleanse it from my skin and my psyche.

I didn't feel that my rights had been violated; that I leave to government-sponsored prayer. No, I felt I'd been taken advantage of by arrogant, self-serving Christians who took it upon themselves to assume not only that we were all Christians, but that any that weren't could just sit quiet and deal with it, because by god they were the righteous! They were the holier than thou! They were going to beseech their deity whether anyone else liked it or not.

It was akin to being spit on.

Why do people think there is nothing wrong with inviting a religiously diverse group of people to PAY for dinner and then insist they wait while they lead them in prayer? What purpose does it serve? Why can't they get their food, sit down, and pray quietly to themselves? Why the show?

That's really the crux of the matter, isn't it? Why do they need everyone to hear them? Why do they need everyone to pretend to join them? Is it that they're insecure in their beliefs? Or is it, that they're just rude, arrogant people who don't give a damn about anybody who isn't like them?

So, there's talk of a thirty-year reunion to which I may or may not go. I emailed the organizer and asked about the prayer issue.

You might say, why do you want to make a big deal out of it? I guess my answer is that things that are important to me, are big deals to me. And to me, rude people, arrogant people, should not be given carte blanche to snoot their noses at this religiously diverse population just so everyone can see how pious (dumb?) they are. If I don't say anything, if I just go, and sit there, and let them pray without letting them know how I feel, I'm just going along to get along. Not only does that threaten my self-esteem and my intellectual honesty, but it allows the dominant religion in this country to continue in their thwarting of the rights of the minority.

No, suffering through prayer at your high school reunion isn't a trampling of your rights. But your silence about it only leads the rude and arrogant religionists to continue their assault on your rights.

The response from the organizer has thus far been silence. Better to ignore the 16% (and growing) of the population who do not subscribe to your archaic beliefs than to accept that maybe you ought to pray on your own time.

03/29/09
I created a fan page on facebook after I learned that one of my "friends" did it.

This guy, John Shore, invited me to be his friend and I wondered why. In investigating his website to see what we might have in common (no friends), I found that he was a Christian. Hmph. I read some of his writings and was further disturbed. One thing he said was that atheists have a belief too and should just admit it.

What is wrong with people? Why can't they understand a simple little thing like non-belief?

No. I do not have any beliefs. I shun belief. I do NOT believe that the Christian god does not exist. I just don't believe it does.

I guess that's too subtle. Believers must need black and white, all or nothing kinds of input. They can't fathom the more difficult stuff.

Anyway, so I accepted the guy as my friend, thinking that if he starts in with the proselytizing, he's getting the boot. Turns out he's not a bad guy. He calls himself a heretic because he doesn't believe in evangelism and instead believes that he should love everyone.

It seems to me that judging atheists, in general, as people who hold a belief about his god, is just a tad unloving. But he's still okay in my book. So far. Hehehehe.

03/20/09
It's 'coming out' day for atheists on Facebook! Sponsored by Richard Dawkins' Outcampaign.org. Change your profile photo to the scarlet letter!

03/16/09
Thinking about the awful state of atheists in filmdom ended with me trolling the Internet for good atheist films. I wasn't looking for films in which religion is simply absent, but in which the focus of the film is on an atheist character who is good and moral and remains staunchly atheist in the end.

Atheist Empire has a list of atheistic movies, including Contact, Saved, and Dogma. I'm thinking, nah, not so much. Didn't the Jodi Foster character waffle in the end of Contact? And Saved is not atheistic at all. Sure, it makes fun of an extreme form of Christianity, and thankfully, if I recall, the atheists don't become saved; but I'm pretty sure it's just a movie against nut cases, not against religion or for atheism. A milder, kinder form of Christianity is promoted. In fact, one might say that the two extremes are the nut cases and the atheists. Not good.

Same with Dogma--promoting liberal Christianity, not atheism.

I agree with Chocolat, however. So...there's one.

Somebody over at the Rational Response Squad recommends a film called Bad Boy Bubby. I've never heard of it, but I'll check Netflix. It sounds very disturbing, though. Rape, incest? And atheism? Not boding well.

Also recommended are The Life of Brian and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I've never seen The Life of Brian, so I'll give that a try. The newer Hitchhiker film wasn't good. What a disappointment. The old version, from the BBC miniseries, was truer to the books.

There was a little discussion of The Golden Compass in my search, but I wouldn't call that one atheistic either. I mean, doesn't the guy kill god in the end?

So that's it. Chocolat, Bad Boy Bubby (maybe), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Life of Brian (maybe).

That's just sad.

03/15/09
Most of the news I get is of the stupid variety, so that box will be updated more often. I have to admit, sometimes I don't know where to put some items. Look at the 'Atheists call for debaptism,' for instance. I almost put that one in the stupid box. But I figured it relates more to atheism than it does to atheists being stupid. And then there's the one about witchdoctors mutilating the remains of albinos in Tanzania. I almost put that one in the religion box. But is witchdoctorism religion? I think it's just stupidity, so it's stupid on both counts. (Not to say murder is stupid. Murder is awful. But that's one of the things that is stupid about humanity, so, okay, I guess I'm saying murder is stupid.)

update:
I watched Brideshead Revisited last night. I had no idea it was another one of those 'atheist has to deal with religious nut and loses love because of it' movies. The other one was The End of the Affair. Anyway, it was a really long movie, but I didn't realize how long until it was over, so I'll say it was a good movie, if not a tad melodramatic. In the end, Charles goes into the chapel at Brideshead and dips his fingers into the holy water, and I'm like, great, he's going to make the sign of the cross and become religious. But instead, he almost puts out the candle with his wet fingers. Almost. I don't know what it means. But I'm going to say it means he loved and respected Sebastian and Julia, so he left them their light. But, let's go online and see what the experts say.
Oh, well. The experts say the book is a bit different from the movie and dear Charles the atheist becomes a Catholic in the end. Figures. The atheist always either converts, or wallows in some form of insanity by the end of most books and movies. (That's probably not true, but it feels like it right now.)

I added my mailbox and guestbook links in the left column today.

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