Some good ‘ol common sense!

As many people do, I look forward to Halloween because it is one of the few times that we atheists get to worship The Lord Satan! Just kidding! I have nothing against people who keep their religions to themselves and I don’t antagonize the believers just to make myself feel better because that is a rather immature thing to do. As you well know, I have said in the past that an atheist that is an atheist because of a beef with GOD is just a disgruntled Christian awaiting re indoctrination. I am an ex christian who lost my faith and WAS angry about it because of the incredible guilt that it brought me, but I got over it. I went through my antagonistic phase but tired of it quickly and moved on to building a solid free thinking life without god or gods. My christian friends are very valuable to me because they do not judge me and they are true giving thoughtful people, therefore I treat them with reciprocal respect. I do not guide them to my thebraveatheist Facebook page or to this blog due to the fact that my atheist activism is only for those interested and for the hypocritical believers out there. I do not wish to throw my stance into the face of good people just because their belief system does not jibe with my own. 

I am an atheist because I cannot be anything else. I see religion as a refuge for the weak and as a crutch for those unwilling to trust themselves and conquer their innate fear of the dark. When presented with religious argument, I automatically counter with fact based data and established scientific theory. Believers naturally counter with pointing out that theories are just theories while failing to recognize the thousands upon thousands of hours invested in the complex experiments that helped to establish those theories. This is where the refuge of ignorance comes in, just like those who ask simple questions over and over because they cannot fathom the magic of Googling! It’s easier to ask someone else and lay that responsibility on someone else than to use the grey matter in your own skull. Human laziness, human ignorance. When 20 million viewers watch the Kartrashians then how can I buy into what 80-90% of Americans say that they believe in? 

I always found it disturbing to think that their might actually be an almighty being out there who sits on his hand while bad things happen down on Earth. I am not gullible or ignorant, so I have to question this delusional crap just because it is so fucking far fetched! Hell, Harry Potter is more believable than the christian GOD! Harry, at least, springs into action when evil is afoot and actually tries to combat it instead of remaining silent while still demanding adoration! I believe in Harry, why? Because Harry puts his money where his mouth is and kicks ass on HIS devils. In the end, he doesn’t expect to just bend Hermione over a stump and collect his winnings, he’s humble! He asks just for support in the ongoing war against bad shit! He’s like an English Samuel L. Jackson, he kicks a fair amount of ass and stays cool while doing it! As things go, I believe in the goddamned X-Men more than an old man in the sky!

The best advice that I can give to anybody is to believe in your doctors if you are sick, faith healing is bullshit but the power of prayer is effective due to the strength of the human mind, not a fairy spirit. Believe in your nurses to help you heal and your firemen to deliver you from the fire. Believe in your tax man to get you the best refund and believe in the soup kitchen to feed the poor. The food came from donations from real hands not from a magical delivery by God, no matter what denomination is represented on the door. Catholics have decent social services and hardly ANY of them actually still believe in God. For them it is a cultural thing that is deeply ingrained and is to them as blood is to life. It is the same with Jewish people. The religion is thousands of years old but many of them do not actually believe anymore, it’s more of a cultural thing that they must adhere to to be accepted in their communities. I truly feel for them because they are in a very difficult position for all of the bullshit that they have to observe. 

My tiny mind tends to come up with these foolish observations and irrational counter arguments in regard to religious debates such as, ‘if I, as a nurse, allowed a patient to seriously injure themselves and did nothing, would I be considered a moral person? Would I be worthy of praise?’ This is the statement that I use for the ‘Free will’ argument when children are massacred on ‘God’s’ watch and ‘He’ of course as usual, sits back and does nothing, thus proving that he is either impotent or doesn’t give a flying fuck, or as we atheists know, just does not exist! Every Christian debater uses the tired old ‘free will’ argument to explain their god’s inaction, but these are convenient arguments used by the weak to keep believing in something that you can surrender personal responsibility to. As I said before, thank that cop that worked tirelessly to find that missing child when prayer didn’t work! Two hands working can accomplish much more than a thousand clasped in prayer!

Well, I’m out for this evening. I will be back soon to throw more sense in the face of fable! Peace and love to my blog people!

 

  

American Humanist Association

STORIES OF ATHEIST DISCRIMINATION

Stories of Atheist Discrimination

Public School Prayer Complaint Turns Nasty — Bastrop, LA (2011)

Damon Fowler, a high school student at Bastrop High School, complained about an unconstitutional school prayer planned for an upcoming graduation ceremony. The school initially agreed to cancel the prayer, but Fowler’sname was leaked as the one behind the complaint. As a result, he has been publicly demeaned by teachers and students, physically threatened—including death threats—and was ostracized from the community. He was thrown out of his house and financial support was withheld by his own parents. A student gave a prayer at the graduation ceremony anyway—another attack against Fowler and perhaps other atheist students—instead of a moment of silence. The AHA now administers a scholarship fund for Fowler.

Prayer Banner Case Ends Up In Federal Court — Cranston, RI (2011)

Jessica Ahlquist, a student at Cranston High School West, filed a federal lawsuit asking that a prayer banner be removed from the public school. The banner, which violates the First and Fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution, includes the phrases “Our Heavenly Father” and “Amen.” Local authorities are asking that the banner remain. 

According to a story in The Providence Journal, “students and adults have called [Ahlquist] a ‘stupid atheist,’ an ACLU tool, a witch and a ‘media whore.’ They’ve also threatened her through e-mails or at school, she says. A former classmate told her that, if she knew what he really thought of her, she would kill herself, she says.”

Creationist History Teacher Confronted — Kearny, NJ (2008)

During his junior year of high school Matthew LaClair, of Kearny, NJ, took a history class from a teacher who used his position to promote his personal religious beliefs, including creationism. Matthew went to school officials and his teacher and was rebuffed. It was only after he produced audio recordings of his teacher in class did he get any attention. This resulted in LaClair becoming a target of harassment, including death threats. He also lost friends and many of the people in his town turned against him. It took many months of working through the tactics of a non-responsive school system before his determination resulted in teachers being trained on state-school separations issues.

The Student Education Assembly on Religious Freedom was created at LaClair’s high school as a result of the turmoil. In 2008, LaClair received the American Humanist Association’s Humanist Pioneer Award.

Faith Healing Kills — Oregon City, OR (2011)

Dale and Shannon Hickman have been convicted of second-degree manslaughter after failing to seek medical attention for their newborn baby, delivered in their home two months early. The couple,Members of Oregon City’s Followers of Christchurch, decided instead to pray and anoint the 3-pound, 7-ounce baby with olive oil. David Hickman lived less than 9 hours following the attempt at faith healing.

At trial, medical experts testified that there was a 99% chance that, given proper medical attention, the baby would have survived. As a result of this case, Oregon’s lawmakers have removed a religious exemption that could minimize the couple’s jail time to 18 months.

Richard Dawkins Dissed By Country Club — Rochester Hills, MI (2011)

The managers of the Wyndgate Country Club decided to cancel a fundraising event featuring Richard Dawkins, the well-known evolutionary biologist, author and atheist. The cancelation came after one of the club’s officials saw Dawkins on “The O’Reilly Factor,” discovering for the first time he was an atheist. The official decided that was cause enough to cancel the confirmed engagement, which had to be quickly moved elsewhere.

The AHA is assisting the Center for Inquiry in a possible legal response.

Atheist Marching Band Hated For More Than Blowing Vuvuzelas — Bryan/College Station, TX (2010)

During the annual Bryan/College Station Christmas parade the Brazos Valley Vuvuzela Atheist Marching Band took part. The 18-person band played “Jingle Bells” while wishing people a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, and merry Kwanzaa.

Many residents declared their disdain, likening atheists to the Ku Klux Klan, pedophiles, and labeling them a “hate group.” One local resident was quoted as being concerned for her children because “it was hard for them to believe and understand that there are actually people out there that don’t believe in God.”  Video

No Pray, No Play — Hardesty, OK (2007)

Nicole Smalkowski, a public school student at Hardesty High School, ended up in court after incidents at her school over her family’s atheism. As a member of the basketball team, Smalkowski refused to take part in The Lord’s Prayer offered by coaches. She was soon kicked off the team, after being accused of hurting morale and stealing someone’s shoes, which she denies. Back on the team the next year, she was once again kicked off for not taking part in the prayer and for saying the Pledge of Allegiance without “under god.” School officials said she was kicked off for threatening to kill someone. Again, Smalkowski denies the allegation.

Smalkowski had to endure harassment and mistreatment by students and teachers, resulting in her parents opting to provide homeschooling. “You know they would call me devil worshipper. I’d walk down the halls, people would laugh at me. They would look at me really weird and stare me down,” she said. A lawsuit was eventually settled.  Video