can i have a cookie?

I’m an atheist.  If you are one of my friends or family members and have happened to stumble on this blog and figure out that it’s mine, congratulations, I don’t care who knows it anymore.

I was born in a Christian family surrounded by Christian neighbors, Christian friends, and distant Christian cousins.  I went to church and Sunday School every Sunday when I was growing up. My parents read me Bible stories throughout my childhood.  I have every reason to be a strong Christian, but for some reason, I’m not.  What makes me different from other people? Why did I come to the conclusion that God was a myth some time in 9th grade?  I remember the exact place I was when I was violently converted to atheism.  I was reading Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein.  It refers to a passage in the Bible when God sent some bears to kill 42 kids for making fun of Elijah’s bald head.  I looked it up, and sure enough, it was true. (2 Kings 2:24)  That passage by itself isn’t enough to convince anybody to be atheist, but that was the moment when it struck me that God, Jesus, and the Bible are either exaggerated versions of real events, or pure myth.  You know how they say history is written by the winners?  Christians have won a lot of wars… how easy is it to add in things here and there about how God helped them because they were righteous and their opponents were sinners? And when challenged personally on whether or not god really was involved, how easy is it to make up “yeah, well, I saw him, he and some angels told me what to do…” in a pinch to defend yourself?  And when you promise eternal salvation, how easy is it to draw in the masses?  They think they’re saving themselves by worshipping God, but really they’re worshipping the priests.  They think they’re giving money to God, but that goes straight to the priests’ pockets.  And even 1000 years later, when corruption has straightened out, how easy is it to keep on the tradition without even thinking?  How afraid are you to question the God of your father’s father’s father’s…?  How easy is it to take on a ‘better safe than sorry’ mentality, pass on the religion to your 5 kids and keep the cycle going?  And how easy is it to believe you should force your beliefs on all of society?  We live in a world where people don’t need to think for themselves.  When every opinionated dumbass has staked out territory on one side of the political spectrum and gotten themselves a TV show, why should you bother to look at the hard facts and form your own conclusions?  How easy is it to pick a side that fits your uninformed personal views more or less closely and saturate yourself in their spun, twisted views?

Most people I know would call me a liberal, but I refuse to associate myself with either side, since I don’t agree completely with the views expressed or tactics employed by right or left.  For example, I’m anti-abortion for completely non-religion reasons, but I disagree with the right on most other issues.

/rant

From an AP article:

“WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will take up the constitutionality of Ten Commandments displays on government land and buildings, a surprise announcement that puts justices in the middle of a politically sensitive issue.”

So again with the ten commandments thing.  Whatever happened to the separation of church and state?  Why do they think they can stick a religious symbol on public land? There’s a time and place for the ten commandments, but court houses, public schools, and other public grounds aren’t it. 

Anyway, this is about as political as this blog’ll get, at least until the elections over.  Personally, I’m sick of hearing about the whole thing.  Iowa is one of the ‘battleground states’, and we’re getting hit bad with the TV commercials.  If you’re into politics, FactCheck.org is a great place to read about stuff. It seems pretty neutral, just checks every detail that Bush and Kerry say.

I’ll do my best to keep this blog from sucking like almost every other blog I’ve ever read, so bookmark me and come back sometime.