For several years now I've considered myself an atheist. It's the logical end result of my journey through knowledge and research that has led me to a conclusion that should have been obvious to me a long time ago and should be obvious to anyone who gives it enough thought.
The main reason, I think, that I held on for so long, and that every other adult living in modern society still holds on to their belief is fear. Mainly fear of death, but also fear of ostracism, fear of family, fear of the unknown, or fear of many other things both rational and irrational.
For me, after I had accumulated enough knowledge about life, the universe and existence, it no longer seemed necessary or possible to continue to hold onto the concept of an all-powerful being who watches, judges, controls or gets involved in the affairs of humans. I could no longer deny this reality and no longer had the fears and guilt that kept me in The Fold. But I kept searching.
Searching for what?
I couldn't put my finger on it entirely, but I was fascinated by and deeply interested in the evolution/creation debate, morality debates, lectures on science, and many other topics relating to religion, science, history and morality. One might think I would lose interest in the research and discussion once I had reached my conclusion and discharged my beliefs, but I didn't. It became a hobby of mine (and I still enjoy it). But I still felt like there was something missing.
Sometimes I would try and memorize scientific principles or historical facts in the event of a debate with a believer on evolution or some other topic. I'm not a good debater, so I felt like arming myself with talking points was what I needed. But that still didn't come close to scratching the itch.
Soon I realized what I was looking for. It was an answer to a question. I knew that sooner or later I would be confronted on the subject of religion and belief by family members. It's a big fat elephant in the room every time I'm with them. My wife and children and I are a secular family, and I was raised catholic. Someone is going to eventually corner me and ask me point blank if I believe in god. There's many different ways to answer that question, and I needed to find something that stated my position clearly, honestly and was not insulting.
After much thought, I've finally put the answer together. The question can be asked in two ways. Here goes...
Q1: Why don't you believe in god?
Q2: Why are you an atheist?
Ans (for both): There are better explanations for the origins of existence that are more plausible and more beautiful and awe-inspiring than anything that has ever been given by religion or belief in a deity or a supreme being. The concepts of the soul, eternal life, salvation and condemnation are derived from wish-thinking, and are used to comfort people from their fear of death and provide false promises of divine justice for good and evil deeds.
Unfortunately there's no honest answer that can be given that won't make the questioner feel a little stupid or inferior if they are a believer in god. That's a consequence of telling the truth. Sometimes it hurts, but I can't misrepresent myself. In my own defense I left a little wiggle room meant to imply that I believe the questioner to be fully capable of arriving at these conclusions on their own. I guess you can say I have faith in them.
I won't stop educating myself since as I stated earlier, I enjoy it. It's become a passion for me. My quest for knowledge is insatiable even in my 40's, but now I can do it for the sheer pleasure of learning, and not feel like I have a big problem to solve.
Showing posts with label evolution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evolution. Show all posts
Friday, February 4, 2011
Friday, October 22, 2010
Christine O'Donnell: One Of The Cool Kids Now
According to her background, Christine O'Donnell wasn't the popular girl in school, but it seems that perhaps her ambition was to have been part of the "in" crowd.
When I was in school (pre-college), being smart would often get kids in trouble. Being good at school and getting good grades usually meant being picked on, being forced to give answers on a test, having your lunch stolen or being shoved into a locker.
Today being smart means that you're part of a government takeover. That's the position of a new arm of conservatives who are trying to encourage people to live like dunces, afraid that the government wants to force them to believe things. The cool kid kool-aid never tasted sweeter, and the Cool Kid Army is scoring some significant victories thanks to mainstream dummies and people like O'Donnell.
Christine O'Donnell is a stain on this republic. Her attempts at mainstreaming ignorance threaten the survival of our society. She represents, along with certain other political figures and mainstream media pundits (you can easily guess who I mean), an attempt to satiate a lazy constituency, a large segment of the population who would rather sit on their asses than educate themselves. Her accusations relating the teaching of proven scientific facts and the suppression of mythology in the classrooms to violations of the constitution are reprehensible. It's a pathetic appeal to a citizenry who is already confused over whom to trust, and who is genuinely fearful of restrictions on their freedom.
If the general public doesn't believe in the theory of evolution, it doesn't take away from its validity. True is true, whether you buy it or not. The evidence is there. Just because it isn't popular doesn't mean that it's "just a theory." You can't take a vote on the facts.
One trick she pulls in debates is to fan the flames of patriotism by mentioning the constitution. She says to her opponent, when discussing whether or not intelligent design should or should not be taught in schools, "talk about imposing your beliefs on the local school" and "you will impose your will on the local school district and that is a blatant violation of our constititution." She even tosses in a "limited government and lower taxes." for good measure.
Conversations like this these can usually be transcribed as follows: "Blah blah blah blah constitution blah blah blah freedom blah blah blah constitution blah blah blah founding fathers blah blah blah blah constitution freedom freedom blah blah blah."
(cue applause from the peanut gallery)
She further declares that public schools set their own agendas and have the right to teach intelligent design if they so choose, that it's their right to do so.
Sorry, but Ms. O'Donnell is wrong. She is very wrong and people who know better are very angry about what she says. It's not a right for a public school to teach ideas that are not facts. Intelligent design is not fact. It does not have a shred of evidence, or data, or research to support it. To teach that in a science class is as dishonest as teaching alchemy to chemistry students. Teaching mythology as fact is the same as lying. Lying to children is immoral. If Christine O'Donnell thinks this is OK than she is immoral and has no business running for public office.
Unfortunately, she IS running for public office and she's not the only one. Furthermore, like-minded people already hold public offices, or have high-profile jobs in broadcast media. The cool kids are getting way too successful, and now we have a problem on our hands.
This is not a coincidence. This is well-engineered. An ignorant public is easily taken advantage of by political and corporate machines seeking power and control. People like Christine O'Donnell are working on behalf of interests who need the general public to be among the cool kids. When Glenn Beck speaks about evolution and global warming as being "forced down our throats," he is helping to fuel a culture of paranoia and confusion about real scientific facts and wrongly equating them with government conspiracies and the "Establishment." The public, being uninformed, easily buys into these ideas. How convenient for those whose ambitions depend on a society of mindless drones who would easily fear government and believe mythology and pretend that our problems can magically go away with prayer, consumer products and Dancing With The Stars. After all, that's what all the cool kids are doing.
And finally, to further clarify something that bugs the living shit out of me: evolution is not "just a theory," it IS a theory. It's a theory supported by volumes of evidence and decades of research. Intelligent design is NOT a theory. It's not consistent with anything in nature. It's implausible and utterly preposterous. It's a myth, and mythology isn't science.
Being the voice of the people doesn't mean you have to be cool and hope they like you. It doesn't mean you have to pander to or enable their ignorance because that's what's popular. It means being a leader. It means inspiring them to better themselves and to strive toward greatness. Doesn't Christine know that being smart is sexy, and being dumb is, well... dumb?
When I was in school (pre-college), being smart would often get kids in trouble. Being good at school and getting good grades usually meant being picked on, being forced to give answers on a test, having your lunch stolen or being shoved into a locker.
Today being smart means that you're part of a government takeover. That's the position of a new arm of conservatives who are trying to encourage people to live like dunces, afraid that the government wants to force them to believe things. The cool kid kool-aid never tasted sweeter, and the Cool Kid Army is scoring some significant victories thanks to mainstream dummies and people like O'Donnell.
Christine O'Donnell is a stain on this republic. Her attempts at mainstreaming ignorance threaten the survival of our society. She represents, along with certain other political figures and mainstream media pundits (you can easily guess who I mean), an attempt to satiate a lazy constituency, a large segment of the population who would rather sit on their asses than educate themselves. Her accusations relating the teaching of proven scientific facts and the suppression of mythology in the classrooms to violations of the constitution are reprehensible. It's a pathetic appeal to a citizenry who is already confused over whom to trust, and who is genuinely fearful of restrictions on their freedom.
If the general public doesn't believe in the theory of evolution, it doesn't take away from its validity. True is true, whether you buy it or not. The evidence is there. Just because it isn't popular doesn't mean that it's "just a theory." You can't take a vote on the facts.
One trick she pulls in debates is to fan the flames of patriotism by mentioning the constitution. She says to her opponent, when discussing whether or not intelligent design should or should not be taught in schools, "talk about imposing your beliefs on the local school" and "you will impose your will on the local school district and that is a blatant violation of our constititution." She even tosses in a "limited government and lower taxes." for good measure.
Conversations like this these can usually be transcribed as follows: "Blah blah blah blah constitution blah blah blah freedom blah blah blah constitution blah blah blah founding fathers blah blah blah blah constitution freedom freedom blah blah blah."
(cue applause from the peanut gallery)
She further declares that public schools set their own agendas and have the right to teach intelligent design if they so choose, that it's their right to do so.
Sorry, but Ms. O'Donnell is wrong. She is very wrong and people who know better are very angry about what she says. It's not a right for a public school to teach ideas that are not facts. Intelligent design is not fact. It does not have a shred of evidence, or data, or research to support it. To teach that in a science class is as dishonest as teaching alchemy to chemistry students. Teaching mythology as fact is the same as lying. Lying to children is immoral. If Christine O'Donnell thinks this is OK than she is immoral and has no business running for public office.
Unfortunately, she IS running for public office and she's not the only one. Furthermore, like-minded people already hold public offices, or have high-profile jobs in broadcast media. The cool kids are getting way too successful, and now we have a problem on our hands.
This is not a coincidence. This is well-engineered. An ignorant public is easily taken advantage of by political and corporate machines seeking power and control. People like Christine O'Donnell are working on behalf of interests who need the general public to be among the cool kids. When Glenn Beck speaks about evolution and global warming as being "forced down our throats," he is helping to fuel a culture of paranoia and confusion about real scientific facts and wrongly equating them with government conspiracies and the "Establishment." The public, being uninformed, easily buys into these ideas. How convenient for those whose ambitions depend on a society of mindless drones who would easily fear government and believe mythology and pretend that our problems can magically go away with prayer, consumer products and Dancing With The Stars. After all, that's what all the cool kids are doing.
And finally, to further clarify something that bugs the living shit out of me: evolution is not "just a theory," it IS a theory. It's a theory supported by volumes of evidence and decades of research. Intelligent design is NOT a theory. It's not consistent with anything in nature. It's implausible and utterly preposterous. It's a myth, and mythology isn't science.
Being the voice of the people doesn't mean you have to be cool and hope they like you. It doesn't mean you have to pander to or enable their ignorance because that's what's popular. It means being a leader. It means inspiring them to better themselves and to strive toward greatness. Doesn't Christine know that being smart is sexy, and being dumb is, well... dumb?
Friday, August 6, 2010
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