And here's a rare point where I agree with President Obama

Ain't this just a grand country for allowing me the freedom to disagree with the guy in charge with out the risk of getting myself in a lot of trouble?

Yeah, well I'm not disagreeing with him on something he said in his 9/11 speech -

"As Americans we are not — and never will be — at war with Islam," the president said. "It was not a religion that attacked us that September day — it was al-Qaida, a sorry band of men which perverts religion."

Source

I really wish more people would understand that. I don't hate Muslims, I hate al-Qaida. Just the same, I don't hate Christians, I hate Westboro Baptist Church.

There's no sense in hating a religion as a whole just because some assholes that pervert the religion do very awful things. Hate only those that committed the act, not the faith they claim as theirs. Why does this seem to be so hard to understand?

A few muslims are terrorists, so let's burn a Quran!

Let's not.

Before I get started on what I know is going to be a long rant, take a look at these links-

http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68592

http://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Burn-A-Koran-Day/134718123226530?v=wall

Yeah, I know the first one is a forum post that links to the second, but there are quite a few people there that are all for this. If I were not currently banned from that forum, I'd post a link to this if not just post the whole thing there. If anyone would like to do that on my behalf, I'd be pretty cool with it. I'd like to get some comments from those that support burning the Quran or any other book. You know, have like a discussion?

I'm very against this. I know not all Muslims are terrorists. The people behind what happened on 9/11/2001 were, but they only represent a relative few that are extremist fanatics. Nearly all Muslims I have encountered are pretty nice. Aside from that I am against book burnings in general. Nearly all books serve either a purpose of education or entertainment. I think it's completely asinine to to burn a book because you don't like it or don't agree with it. Burning a religious text carries a bit of added weight as that text hols a pretty special meaning to those who are members of the religion that is attached to that text. Burning a holy text is purely an act of hate and ignorance.

From the Facebook link -

On September 11th, 2010, from 6pm - 9pm, we will burn the Koran on the property of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL in remembrance of the fallen victims of 9/11 and to stand against the evil of Islam. Islam is of the devil!

Did I read that right? In remembrance? That alone is something I've got a pretty big issue with. There's a lot better things one can do in remembrance of those that died that day than commit a blatant act of hate. It's total disrespect! Why not have a big group prayer for those that died, their families they left behind and the soldiers still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan? I don't believe in praying as I am an atheist, but I do understand that most people that belong to one religion or another do. That's at least respectful. Or how about some big charity fund raiser for the families of the victims? Or send care packages to the soldiers? Or just do something positive and respectful?

But there's other problems I have. As I said, not all Muslims are terrorists. Islam is the second largest religion and accounts for 23% of the worlds population, about 1.57 billion people. At least that's what Wikipedia tells me. It's only a relative few, pretty much their equivalent to militant fundamentalist Christians, that do commit terrorist acts. It seems rather asinine to burn Qurans over a few when many of them are not bad people at all. It would be like burning KJV's because the members of Westboro Baptist Church are total fucking douchebags. In other words, committing a hateful act toward a large group is just ridiculous when only a few are the problem.

And about burning the Quran. It's a religious text. Just a book to anyone else, but to a Muslim it's pretty special. Burning it is only going to make the terrorist fanatics fell justified in their actions and at least annoy the rest. Not to mention make those doing the burning and anyone even remotely associated look bad. Great move there folks, you are doing America a real solid. If any reading this is planning on participating in burning Qurans, before you do, think about how you would feel if it was your holy text that someone was burning.

Another thought on this, where are they going to get the Qurans from? If they are going to acquire them legitimately, well that's a lot of sales of Qurans. The people publishing them and the bookstores I'm sure will appreciate your money. Heck it may even look like a lot of people just converted to Islam. And if they are acquired not so legitimately? Well isn't there something in the Bible that says "Thou shalt not steal"? Hmmm Exodus 20:15, Matthew 19:18, Romans 13:9. And it's usually in the front of the Bible with the rest of the 10 Commandments. So if you are not purchasing your Quran before you burn it and you believe what the Bible says, you are going to Hell. Why not give that money to a charity? You know, do something positive with it? A Quran costs between $8 and $40. You could feed or clothe some people with that. Heck if a large enough group gave that each, they could probly put a child of one of the victims through college, if not a few. Just another thought.

Another thing to those that are planning on burning a Quran. Have you read it? If you are going to buy it, you might as well read it before tossing it in to the fire. If anything so you really know what you are burning and why you are burning it. You might learn something. I suggest you not burn it. Read it and keep it as a reference. It may come in handy in a theological debate with a Muslim. It's why I keep a Bible handy as well as having BibleGateway.com bookmarked. This quote from Sun Tzu's Art of War comes to mind.

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

Not that I consider Muslims or Christians to be enemies of mine, but I do get into debates with them, mostly the latter. Getting back to the point, burning any text without reading and understanding it is just ignorant.

In closing and to sum it up, anyone that is participating in a Quran burning is only exposing their hate, ignorance, disrespect and just being a total douchebag. I feel like for the most part I'm preaching to the choir here, but if I change someone's mind or cause them to think, well them my time wasn't completely wasted. At least I got it off my chest.

Pat Robertson - Yet another reason I'm thankful I'm not a Christian

Seriously



Blessing in disguise? Pact with the Devil? WTF??????

Almost gives me the impression that he thinks they deserved it. What kind of a lowlife asshole says this kind of shit about a natural disaster? That's right Pat, natural disater! Neither your god or your devil had anything to do with it. What kind of stupid piece of shit thinks that anyway? I thought people stopped believing in deals being made with the devil, curses and the like about the same time they stopped believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

One thing about being an atheist, keeps me out of being part of the same group as scum like this guy. I know there's some good, decent Christians in this world, but it's shit like this that makes them look like a religion of asshats.

On a more serious note, if there is anything you can do to help these people, please do. And if there is anything you can do to hurt Pat Robertson, please do that afterwards.

I think I understand what his problem is.

I was thinking about this on the way to work today.

So Curtis has decided to continue his argument with me. Amusing. More amusing is that he has a friend joining him in the battle. Wow, 2 fundamentalist tough guys ganging up on me. That's almost flattering. But I think I know what the real issue they have with me is. Now I could be completely wrong, but it would seem to me that I'm really throwing a monkeywrench into their agenda.

Think about it. On the surface I'm a great target for them. I'm a teacher that happens to be bi and a drag queen. Sounds just like the kind of person they want to speak out against, am I right? These are fundies I'm dealing with here. Now here's the problem - I really do care about the kids that come into my classroom. That doesn't fit into their agenda. I would never harm a child in any way. That doesn't fit their agenda. I'm not in it for the money, which should be obvious, teacher pay sucks. Another thing that doesn't fit their agenda. I don't bring any social/political agenda into the classroom. Awww shit, there goes another thing that dos not fit their agenda.

They would like to have the whole world believe that all teachers are like the ones that are in the news stories on their blog. Idiots, paedophiles and other social rejects that even I will say had no business in the classroom. That helps push their anti-public school agenda. But I don't really help much with that, now do I? I think anyone that has actually gotten to know me would say not only do I belong in the classroom, there needs to be more teachers like me. Am I right?

But these guy didn't bother with getting to know me and instead ran wild with assumptions and accusations that very nicely fit into their agenda. In their mind, they have already condemned me. They will resort to lying if need be to keep me that way. I know they will. Ironically, they will label their lies "The Truth."

I know not what he is going to say next, I'm not sure if I even care, but I'll bet it will be chock full of word twists, lies, half-truths, false accusations with God being mentioned to justify it all.

I think Voltaire's "God Thinks" is in order here.

God Thinks - Voltaire

Atheist Butterfly

Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?




RAMEN

God thinks

I was looking up lyrics for a different song by Voltaire, but this came up in the list on google as I was typing it in. Must be a sign.

Sing it along with me....

God thinks all blacks are obsolete farm equipment
God thinks the Jews killed his son and must be punished
God thinks the white man is Satan
God, they know what God thinks

God thinks we should all convert to Judaism
God thinks we must all be Christians and
God thinks we should all embrace Islam
God thinks the only true religion is Hinduism

And I
I know what God thinks
God thinks you're a waste of flesh
God prefers an Atheist

God God
God thinks all people like you are hateful
God thinks all people like you are an embarrassment to creation
self-righteous, judgmental, first to throw a ston
eand using His name for your own protection

God thinks the sun revolves around the Earth
God thinks there was something very wrong with Copernicus
God thinks abortion is murder and
God thinks everything that science gave us is wrong

God thinks women deserve it
God thinks AIDS is a form of punishment
I hate people who blame the Devil for their own shortcomings and
I hate people who thank God when things go right

And I
I know what God thinks
God thinks you're an idiot
God prefers a heretic

God God
God thinks all people like you are hateful
God thinks all people like you are an embarrassment to creation
self-righteous, judgmental, first to throw the stone
and using His name for your own agenda

God is a liberal
God is a democrat
God wants you to vote republican
never trust a man who puts his words in the mouth of god
and says it's absolute truth its lies and it smells like death
its all in a day's work taking money from the poor
Why do you think that God would need your dirty money
if he want to start a holy war?

self-righteous, judgmental, first to throw a stone
and using His name for your own protection

God thinks puppies need to die and
God thinks babies need to drown
'cause God is neither good nor bad
God is you and me
God is Everything

Zeitgeist

Very interesting documentary. It really made me think

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

And now the wisdom of Alan Watts.

What if you are god?



Something to think about.

The Bible is bullshit, the Quran is a lie

The Bhagavad Gita did not fall from the the sky. If you are religious, especially Christian, Muslim or Hindu, you are not going to like what I am about to say and hate the video more. The truth, THE REAL TRUTH, is that we as human beings have fought more with each other over the gods that we created than anything else. It's time to cut the crap. Put your story books aside and start helping one another and working together as human beings.



The books you hold most holy were written by men to control men, nothing more. While there are values and a sense of morality and spirituality to be found, there is also much encouragement to hate and even kill all those who are not like you.

One thing I do not understand about people.

The fact that some people are so blindly devoted to their faith and seem to shudder at the idea of questioning it. It's like what a friend of mine has on a plaque on her wall "God said it, I believe it, that ends it."

So just blindly follow? Like you have no mind of your own?

And don't question? I was actually told by someone who was trying to get me to believe that "God is never to be questioned." Why not?

I got to thinking about think when I was typing this response to a thread on TheologyOnline.com. I think the subject of the thread is a fine example. There are some passages in the Bible that call for the death penalty as punishment for homosexuality. But why? And why do the most faithful accept it and support it without question. I mean why did some ancient Hebrew decide that being gay was so icky that it warranted death. And to put it into their most sacred text. It just makes no sense.

And it's not just the Christian stand against homosexuality that I'm talking about here. There's a great deal of other blind following and blissful ignorance that I'm finding.

Of course I am reminded of what happened in the Bible when Job questioned God. The answer was anything but. It's sad when an all powerful deity lacks the balls to tell the person he's torturing the real reason why he is torturing them. And to settle a bet with the devil of all things. Makes for a good story but when people believe it like it's real just seem foolish.

I'm digressing here. Are we as humans not naturally curious? Do we not want to know things? Everything is up for question, including the divine if such a thing exists. Why deny that?

----------------
Now playing: Stevie Wonder - Superstition
via FoxyTunes

I think I'm going to convert to Christianity

So I can get away with things like what this guy did and have a whole congregation behind me. My girlfriend alerted me to this today, apparently he's a janitor where she works.

Bristol pastor, Christian radio station employee charged with indecent exposure

Published 07/30/2007 By Kacie Dingus Breeding

A Christian radio station employee and Bristol pastor has been charged with indecent exposure as well as DUI and violation of the open container law.

WZAP-AM 690's owner, Al Morris has issued a brief statement Monday afternoon saying, "As many of you are aware Tommy Tester, an employee of WZAP was recently arrested in Washington County, Tenn.

"The allegations, as reported by the news media, are serious and are in no way condoned or accepted by the ownership and management of WZAP.

"We do not know all the details and facts concerning the arrest; but for the time being Tommy has been relieved of his responsibilities at the station until such facts surrounding the case are determined.

"We pray that this matter can be quickly resolved.

In the meantime, we ask you to pray for Tommy and for WZAP."

The Johnson City Press reported Saturday that Thomas Dale Tester, 58, of 17426 Hobbs Road, reportedly faces charges of driving under the influence, indecent exposure and violation of the open container law.

Morris said Monday in a phone interview that Tester, known to listeners as "Tommy Tester," is also pastor of Gospel Baptist Church on Reedy Creek Road. "So far, they (members of the congregation) have rallied behind Tommy," Morris said.

Morris, who was on vacation when he first heard about the allegations and read the details in the Johnson City Press, added, "It's the biggest shock of my life."

Having since read the two police reports over and over again, Morris spoke of his desire to wait until all the facts are revealed in court before condemning Tester, "I know what the police report has told me and I know what Tommy has told me--Tommy has denied all of it."

Morris said his staff, the station's listeners and members of Tester's congregation were all shocked about Johnson City police officers' allegations.

When he talked to Tester, "He said they (Johnson City police) scared him--he was scared to death and didn't know what he'd said or what he'd admitted or anything else," Morris said.

According to the Johnson City Press article, Tester allegedly pulled up in a blue 2007 Toyota Camry and offered to give Johnson City police officers oral sex when they arrived at 308 S. Belmont Street to investigate a report of indecent exposure.

Tester, allegedly wearing a skirt, reportedly got out of his car at the Belmont Car Wash and urinated in a wash bay in public view with children present.

A search of Tester’s vehicle reportedly revealed a half-empty pint-sized bottle of vodka and an empty bottle of Oxycodone in the passenger floorboard. Morris said Tester had told him about the painkiller prescription, which he'd said was prescribed due to previous back surgeries.

According to reports, Tester also allegedly admitted to police that he had been drinking and failed all field sobriety tests.

Morris said he'd relieved Tester of his duties at the station pending the outcome of the case.

Tester was released on bond from the Washington County Detention Center Friday afternoon and is scheduled to appear in Sessions Court on Tuesday.

An updated article says he barely got a slap on the wrist. "24 hours in jail, 24 hours of litter pickup, probation for a year and an $800 fine." For drunk driving, drugs, urinating in public, exposing himself to a child and offering a cop oral sex. And his congregation rallied behind him.

Really, where do I sign up?

A response to a blog about a rainbow

This is written in response to a blog found here. This response is kinda lengthy for me and takes a bit of a turn, so I decided to post it here. Also that blog is kinda old. The image really caught my eye.



Actually, it's neither.

It's an optical illusion formed by light passing through water vapor. It's pretty cool when you look at the science of it. Light enters the droplets and gets refracted, or bent, then reflected off the inside of the droplet, the refracted again on it's way out. Where it appears is dependent on the viewer and on the position of the sun. In other words, it doesn't really exist in one place. There is no end, no pot of gold.

That's all. No magic, no mystery. Just light being separated as it goes through water vapor.

And that's what science does. Takes away the magic and mystery and replaces it with logic and reason. I think that's why people fear science. Or why they just don't like it. Or why they discount it as witchcraft or something. In a way it totally discounts the stories and folklore. Makes beliefs less valid, reveals them as the primative views of an ancient culture that they are.

And why does God need a brightly colored reminder? That doesn't seen very godlike.