Outside the Box - 3 Welcome Home.

I'm back because I need to vent about a few things.

1. Bella from the Twilight series IS NOT A NECROPHILIAC. Vampires are not corpses or "dead" they are UN-dead. the living dead. The living part negates that part. I don't like the series so much but if you're going to bash something at least be right.

2. I am an atheist, more so, a rationalist. I am not a force feeding nut that tries to convert everyone.
I had a showdown with a guy who thought it was a good idea to post anti-christian comments on a christian rock video... to convert people. Seeing this, I sprung to the aid of the christian side, for no other reason than the fact that forcing your ideas on other people is not only counter productive but counter intuitive. If they want to know they'll find you and ask. You don't need to shove it in their face so hard that they run even deeper into faith.

3. There are some rational reasons to believe. Not everyone can handle the thought of a random, purposeless existence. They need something to tie them together, and give their life meaning. Not only that, but the moral fabric of society is based very much on religion. "Don't kill people." Check. "Don't have an affair with your neighbor's wife" check. "Don't steal." check. And then they provide a reinforcement. an eternal utopia for the good and a punishment for the bad. Ultimate justice. Kharma. Heaven/hell. Nirvana. Valhalla. I don't believe, but I can definitely see why someone would.

The argument was made that a lot of the bad things from religions get omitted from sermon and teachings. well... yeah... I'm sure things were a lot different THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO WHEN THEY WERE WRITTEN. "It degrades women!" well duh 2000 years ago women were property. (I love women, they're confusing awesome balls of fun. but things weren't always so great for them, as few as 25 years ago.) If you put out a book today that everyone was supposed to follow that said women were property, you'd probably get shot. well, the same was true of saying that they weren't back then.

Then there's the fact that every religion on the planet makes some gross claim to be they one and only, and that non believers will be punished (or that they SHOULD be punished by believers.) How is modern day Islamic extremism any different from the crusades? Other than the whole several thousand people vs millions, not a lot. Religion, attacking people. go figure. There are a plethora of examples. islam vs christianity. islam vs judaism. hinduism vs islam. judaism vs christianity. filial piety vs bhudism. Christianity vs Paeganism. Christianity vs the celts, Christianity vs druidism. Christianity vs hinduism. Christianity vs Buddhism. Isn't it funny how the biggest religion picks most fights? The only religion that doesn't pick fight's is scientology... because they make it so you can be another religion, too! If it weren't a crock of crap it would be great.

Religion kills people.
I posted this to him: " Marked areligion always has people to force it on other people. Why should atheists do the same. Why must we turn atheism into a religion in and of itself? We lose all of the credibility that we build by not being a religion, by acting like religion. The theocentric attitude that all religions have, the force feeding, the attacks on other religions... why are you preaching against religion and yet exhibiting all of its bad traits?"

So, I think as a way of disassociating myself from other atheists I think I should invent a version of atheism and be that. and then I'll get followers and we can turn it into that episode of south park where all the atheists are killing each other over which atheism is right!

Because if there was no religion people would find something to kill each other over. If not religion or oil perhaps we can kill each other over m-theory or what to eat for breakfast every morning.

In the end people are base, egocentric, ethnocentric, theocentric, biased, brainwashed, prejudiced creatures. I make a conscious effort to examine mine at least and see what's rational and what's not. I'm not infallible though, which leads me to a personal note.

I am SO in love with this girl. We share a lot of views, and she's brilliant. She was able to challenge one of MY prejudices and give me an intellectual challenge over it, and that is possibly the most desirable thing I have ever seen in another person. She helped me with it, and I was swayed closer to her point of view. It's just one of the many reasons I love her, but it's a great one. I've never met anyone so ... perfect is the word I guess.