Category — Religion and Atheism

I like to giggle as much as the next gal about all the April Fool’s pranks online and in the office, but I’m taking time for a serious moment today. Bear with me; my usual yammering will resume with my next post.

Sometimes I get so tired of railing against the mindless masses that I don’t mention how deeply offended I am by intrusive religion being force-fed to my fellow Americans. This desire to just roll over and bury my head beneath the pillow exists even though I know it’s my duty to at least say, “Hey, I object!”

I’m objecting today. Just saw a video of homeschooled children being led on a Biblical creationism tour of a science and nature museum. It’s appalling to teach children, in effect, to “Accept these words. Don’t think for yourself.”

The blog where I saw the video, Surgeonsblog, said it best why it truly IS my business (and yours) what people teach about religion in the U.S.:

“When religion requires one to deny the world — no matter how sincerely — and gleefully to dimish the ability of one’s children to think for themselves, it endangers me. It pollutes our nation with people incapable of the clear-heading thinking required of a democracy that works. These are the people putting religious tests to our potential leaders, proclaiming their holiness above mine, placing more importance on the words of a person’s pastor than on that person’s own words, banning books and destroying public education. Rioting over cartoons. These are the people claiming our country needs more religion, even as their religion-above-all attitude is subverting the very foundations of our democracy and aiming us toward societal failure by substituting indoctrination for education. It worries me that there’s no future in the future.”

Exactly.

My action item of the day? To call bullshit on creationism being taught anywhere, for any reason, except as an antiquated religious belief that has no place in an “education.”

Technorati Tags: freedom from religion, anti-creationism, religious intrusion

I’m not sure what it says about me that I love both of these videos shown below — both the sacred and the profane. Perhaps that I’m an intellectually complex person. Perhaps that I don’t know who I am anymore, because I grew up Southern Baptist and now lean closer — but not quite over the line yet — to atheism. Or perhaps that I don’t like labels even though I pay attention to who I am.

Sacred (if you’re using a feed reader and don’t see the video below, click here):
[youtube]HfGytXRpfho[/youtube]

Profane (if you’re using a feed reader and don’t see the video below, click here):
[youtube]WPAC_cGVnUg[/youtube]

Do you have any dichotomies like this?

Technorati Tags: Christianity, atheism, dichotomies, complexity