I do not believe in "god." I
am an American and that is my right.
It should be obvious to any adult with a working
brain that gods - all gods and goddesses - are
obvious mythology, invented by ignorant and superstitious
men in a time before the dawn of knowledge.
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Almost
everyone I know still claims to believe in "god".
However,
most retain only a vague deism - satisfying the de facto minimum requirment
- and could not really be called religious. Most of them are just
nice folks who don't think or talk about religion very much, let
alone try to shove it down anyone's throat. Essentially, they are
functional atheists. I do not begrudge them their vestigial beliefs
- it is understandable how they got 'em and why they still have 'em.
I think they represent the majority who would never cause anyone
pain over privately held beliefs. Mostly it never comes up because,
in the common, secular affairs of regular folks, religion is not
only inappropriate, it is unwelcome, and it is an entirely unnecessary
source of friction and ill will. Things just run smoother without
having to constantly accommodate some believer's prayer ritual. Few
people really enjoy or appreciate public proselytizing.
Privately held beliefs of individuals
are of no consequence to me.
However, true to form, the worst elements
of organized superstition continually try to impose
their religion in inappropriate venues; they continually
try to supplant the science of biological evolution
with the ridiculous biblical creationism fairy
tale; they continually attempt to insinuate ritual
prayer into public secular events despite legal prohibitions;
they insist that this is a "xian nation" and
strive in many ways towards theocracy; they even insist
that non-believers should not even be considered as
citizens; they insist that biblical commandments be
posted in secular courts of law and in government buildings;
they insist that women should be subservient captive
breeders. I could go on, but let it suffice to say
that somewhere in there their beliefs ceased to be
privately held opinion and became of some concern to
everyone.
I strongly support the Constitution
of the United States.
I think the Constitution is the most important document ever
dreated by Humans. And I think the Establishment Clause of
the first Amendment is the smartest thing the Founding Fathers
wrote into that document. Everyone is free to believe any
dumbass thing that they want as long as they agree not to
force it upon others. In return, they enjoy protection from the government
and from any other religions overpowering them. What could
possibly be fairer than that? Throw in a completely free
ride on our tax dollars and an utter lack of courage by anyone
in government to reign in their brazen charlatanry and their
flagrantly illegal political entanglements and It is WAY
beyond fair. However, given the violent and privileged past
of established religion, and the golden days when they controlled
power and wealth, fair is a serious demotion for them. And
they don't like it. Given that past, religion is poorly served
by the Constitution's prohibition against Establishment.
It doesn't appear to me that they consider the matter settled.
I consider religion to be a cancer
on humanity.
It is a malignancy that not only causes great harm, but acts to
defeat the possibility of rational solutions. It is the antithesis of reason
and acts as a catalyst which brings out the worst in humans. It serves as
a framework which allows, even sanctions, horrible abuses of fellow humans.
While posing falsely as the source of all morality, religion provides justifications
for murder, mayhem, hatred and intolerance. While posing falsely as the source
of life, love and compassion, religion diminishes human worth and promotes
the imagined desires and proclamations of clearly mythological beings above
the welfare of fellow humans, rendering any rational and coherent morality
impossible.
Religion is always Opt In, never Opt
Out
Religion is widely and erroneiously regarded as the default position
for humans. it is tacitly assumed that any variation from that
position is a form of rebellion against authority and is treated
with intolerance and derision. But the fact is that we are all
born without those beliefs only to have them brainwashed into
us at an early age when we are defenseless against such abuse.
Beyond that, we are confronted with an astounding array of religious
insanity, all of it irrational, contradictory, exclusionary,
frequently corrupt and violent, and always destructive to knowledge
and harmful to human dignity and freedom. Fortunately, for Americans,
our Founders made religion entirely optional. The Constitution
is a secular framework for the administration of government regardless of
religion. Religious requirements are prohibited by our Constitution
and the government. Any notion that religious belief deserves
special treatment or gets special rights is counter to the letter
and the spirit of the Constitution and contrary to basic human
decency.
Religion is both the result of, and a large contributor
to, a dark and violent history.
The reason that xianity holds so much
sway over all our lives is simple: for the greater
part of the last 2000 years it has been highly lethal
to be in disagreement with the xian cult. If I had
a blank check to oppress, kill, and torture anyone
I wanted, I'll bet I could get grown men to tearfully
expound at length about their undying love for the
fucking tooth fairy. Take a continent full of miserable,
illiterate, ignorant and superstitious peasants, living
in the worst kind of squalor, hopelessness, and despair,
living in constant fear of painful death, and completely
unacquainted with joy for a couple of thousand years,
and you have a lot of people for whom the concepts
of a "savior " and "heaven" might
hold a certain amount of attraction. Ignorance
and superstition, along with fear and oppression,
are the fertile ground in which religion flourishes.
They are also religion's legacy. That and a shitload
of dead people. |