Lay Theism

So, I was on a flight to Atlanta earlier this year and met a girl named Nell from Milwaukee.  She was fantastic.  We talked for just the last 20 minutes of the flight, but I think I was in love with her…  Hang on, let me back up.

It was one of those impossible things… not gonna happen.  She was very pretty and put together — red coat, simple medium-length hair that highlighted her face, and taller than average.  I usually don’t talk to people on planes, regardless of how attractive they are.  It’s time I use to decompress, listen to music/podcasts, and read usually. BUT, she was listening to the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe.  Flying into the Bible belt, you usually don’t see that.  In fact, some folks would be discretely covering up their screen.  She had it sitting in her lap tilted towards me as if she hoped I would see it.  She alternated between her iPhone and reading “Out Stealing Horses” by Per Petterson. Earlier, I swear as if it was the most subtle flirt ever, she was listening to “This Charming Man” by The Smiths.  Those were the only two things I noticed on her screen the entire flight.  My ego would not let me presume that it was anything to do with me until the next day.  Hey, shut up! We had a connection.

As the plane started it’s final approach and she removed her headphones, I removed mine and remarked, “Great podcast.” She said, “Oh…? Yeah. It is.  Do you listen to it?”, or something similar.  So, we started talking and she was on her way to England to get her remaining stuff from when she had lived there a year or so ago.  She had trained in Europe as a pastry chef after quitting corporate America. I was SO infatuated and intrigued.  I totally wanted her.  She was flying an unconventional route from Philadelphia through Atlanta, was spending the night at the Country Inn and Suites, and was out first thing in the morning (uh, single girl traveling alone… why would you tell me that??).  During our interaction, we had a couple of those moments where it’s really nothing (how could it be anything?) because it’s WAY too soon, but nevertheless, there is a spark or a look that keeps making you want to talk, or glance, or think of something clever to say so the person doesn’t leave and so you can get to know them.

Well, this made no sense whatsoever for us.  Our lives were worlds apart, my ride was already at the airport, and she was out of town forever at the crack of dawn. Before we both left the airport, I saw her three more times… coincidence?  I spoke to her once more as I was leaving the baggage carousels because she looked a little lost (or was she?) so I directed her to the shuttles that should get her to the hotel.  Why didn’t I ask her for her e-mail address, or her Facebook, or her phone number??  Because that would be absurd.  How fucking complicated! Who has time for a long distance affair of the heart?  I can hardly imagine anything worse. Secret phone calls? “Hey, who’s that girl from Milwaukee on your Facebook?” I don’t even have time to keep up with this damn blog!

Well, Nell, if you ever run across this, just know, I really, REALLY liked you and wished I had bailed on my ride and we had jumped in a cab to your hotel.  I’m sure it would have been a wonderful mess. At least, that’s how it played out in my mind…

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Just took a sleep aid and it’s kicking in, at which point a poignant lyric entered my head as my challenging day was winding down… I am happy to share it with you in case you had a long day too. Please to enjoy.

Lyrics to Angry Anthem by The Forces of Evil

If I had my way, I’d never speak to anyone again
I gotta say, I hate people I’m so sick of them
I just can’t stand the bullshit I wish I was so far away from it
I’m just stupid and I’m angry is it immature for me to say

Fuck all you Motherfuckers
Fuck all you Motherfuckers
Fuck all you Motherfuckers
FUCK YOU!
Fuck all you Motherfuckers
Fuck all you Motherfuckers
Fuck all you Motherfuckers
FUCK YOU!

I feel so lame, ’cause that’s the best I can do to express myself
It’s always the same, say the “F” word maybe that’ll help
I’m so sick of trying to fit in, I don’t even know where to begin
I got friends but they don’t know me,
but I’d tell the world to blow me

[Chorus]

And there’s just one more thing that, I have just got to sing ya
Everyone and everything FUCK YOU!

[Chorus]

Spread the love.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/angry-anthem/id308103398?i=308103490

Love funny, honesty, inspiration

The Naked Pastor posted these random thoughts the other day…

1. People don’t change their minds. Only rarely. Transformation is not a desirable option to our brains. It seems to require trauma, the threat of imminent death, to provoke real change of mind and bring about true transformation. Is it possible to enter death and be transformed while we are alive?

2. The greatest enemy of community is fantasy… visionary and wishful thinking. The lack of gratitude for what is, the unwillingness to appreciate what is, or the disdain for what is, erodes the fabric of community. Can we love unconditionally without coercion?

3. Our gross naiveté about the principalities and powers and their persistent desire and ability to enslave groups and individuals perpetuates the abuses institutions, including the church, are notorious for. Can all people be free?

4. Avoid naysayers as well as yes-men. You can always find complainers to agree with you. You can always find encouragers to agree with you. Can we find the courage to form our own minds independently, wisely, and compassionately?

I thought, hey… I like him.  He’s is talking about deconversion in #1, because that’s what it was like for me to step away from faith.  Constant bombardment with strange teachings in the Baptist church forced me to reevaluate the world we live in.

THEN, in #2 he nails it with typical religious thinking about the fantasy of a higher power vs. just appreciating this temporal gift of life on Earth, not just mine, but the whole human experience.  We just got here (relatively speaking), and the Earth will be here long after we have faded to extinction. I already love unconditionally without coercion and don’t know how else you could.

#3… tell me about it.

And, regarding #4, don’t “seek approval” for your point of view.  Establish it intellectually, with reason, and knowledge of the world and your fellow man. You don’t need other people to tell you what you should believe.

Holy crap, this dude’s batting 1000 in my book so far… but then came #5:

5. Listen to what the atheists are saying about the unprovability of God; discern the Christ-Principle in all things; have compassion for all beings. Is it possible to see all things as being reconciled?

Wha?! I rarely discuss the “unprovability of god”, but since you brought it up, what exactly is the evidence for God?  If you look at the sum total of the things the Christian God gets credit for in the Bible, why would you WANT to believe in him?  He wasn’t a good or just god. Jesus tried to correct all that, but please… look at the “miracles” he performed.  His teachings were in line with to Mohammad, Confucius, Buddha, Plato, etc. (borrowed, ex post facto, by reasonable men writing down “history” many years later). Other than these writings, what evidence is there for god?  For everyone good work, “divine” occurrence, or saved soul you can conjure, I can cite a dozen horrific, sad, disgusting things about the world that a good and just god would not allow… even a passive creator (with any “heart”) would not have created such a chaotic place.

Also, how would I find the “Christ-Principles in all things”?” As I understand it, the Principles of Christ are roughly, first, Faith in the Jesus Christ; second, Repentance… it really doesn’t matter after that because I get hung up on the FIRST one. I have faith that the human race has been duped for several millenia, for sure.  With regard to “sin”, seriously, Catholics (et al), get a grip and just be good people… forget about all the EXTRA rules and regulations that the church has piled on. It’s not a “sin” to eat meat… ever. Weird.

How about we all just skip ahead to “have compassion for all beings”? I can get on board with that… why make it sound like I need belief as a crutch.  See “The Golden Rule“.

The last sentence is stupid… no, we can’t reconcile all things, particularly mystical belief with intellectual reason.  They are incompatible.  Even less likely, reconcile your Christian mythology with a Islamic stranger an ocean away. Good luck.

However, abandon your fantastical beliefs, and then living with your fellow man, particularly the ones not like you, becomes much easier.  I guess his thoughts were pretty random after all.

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I love my wife more than you Christians love yours because I am not conflicted about whom I should put first in my life. 

In case you are curious, this is by no means the only account of Valentine’s Day’s origin, but it’s probably the most agreed upon by secularists and religious folk (secular version first):

Roman emperor Claudius II imposed a ban on marriages because too many young men were dodging the draft by getting married (only single men had to enter the army). A Christian priest named Valentinus ignored the ban and performed secret marriages. He was caught, of course, which meant that he was imprisoned and sentenced to death. While awaiting execution, young lovers visited him with notes about how much better love is than war — the first “valentines.”

As you might have already guessed, the execution occurred in 269 CE on Februrary 14th, the Roman day dedicated to celebrating love and fertility. After a couple of centuries (in 469, to be precise), Emperor Gelasius declared it a holy day in honor of Valentinus instead of the pagan god Lupercus. This allowed Christianity to take over some of the celebrations of love and fertility which had previously occurred in the context of paganism.

Another similar version (written by a Christian zealot):

The Emperor’s ban on marriage for his soldiers was soon lifted when it became impossible to enforce. But this story now takes an odd turn. A short time after the execution of Valentine, the Roman Church came under the leadership of a priest named Augustine. Strange as it may seem, he formulated a church doctrine on marriage that resembled the edict of the former emperor Claudius. As can be seen by his own writings, Augustine was a man tormented over the whole subject of human sexuality. He finally came to the conclusion that for a man to be truly a “good soldier of the Faith,” he must not be distracted by any “carnal thoughts” like marriage. He thus instituted a practice that is still observed today, called the celibacy of the priesthood. Predictably, as with the soldiers of Emperor Claudius, this rule of celibacy brought much trouble upon the church, and has been a violently debated topic down through history. But if the decision had been left up to old Saint Valentine, you can be sure what his verdict would have been. Had he known what the future held for his own church perhaps he could have warned them. It seems odd indeed, that though Valentine had given his life in protest of the injustice of forbidding marriage, becoming a martyr, and being proclaimed a “Saint” by the church for his courage to stand for what was right, only a hundred years later to again see that same prohibition imposed within that very church… and so goes the great love story of Valentine… The legend of Valentine is an interesting one, and gives us some valuable insights… In these confusing days we live in, we are looking for a new day when there can be a restoration of pure love relationships. 

Step away from God and it becomes much, much easier to restore pure love to your relationships.  I promise.

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In light of Tony Snow’s untimely death today, I think this piece he wrote not quite a year ago for Christianity Today is pretty sad:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/july/25.30.html

To believe in something so fervently just to bring comfort to yourself and your loved ones about the pain, suffering, worry, and randomness of such events makes no sense. Even some of the passages seem written to convince the reader (and maybe even the writer) that his beliefs are not just fantasy.

Blessings arrive in unexpected packages—in my case, cancer.

Seriously?

Those of us with potentially fatal diseases—and there are millions in America today—find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God’s will.

Uh, yeah… it’s certainly a challenge to discern “God’s Will” in a plan that includes as much death, disease, and destruction as His apparently does.  Just because people find strength through adversity does not mean there is a grand design or a designer.  In fact, I would suggest that this is direct evidence that there is NOT.

Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence What It All Means, Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.

OK, this is a problem.  Hints?  Consolations?  If I were all powerful and had left behind a book that was to give My most intelligent creatures some indication of my design, I might do better than vague hints and worthless consolations.  The bible is such a inconsistent mess, it’s hard to believe anything sensible can be gleaned from it. 

I don’t know why I have cancer, and I don’t much care. It is what it is—a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.

Here’s where a believer’s logic completely breaks down.  If it is “The Will of God” that you have cancer, why are you seeking a cure?! It’s God’s Will! Quit trying to alter God’s blessing for you. Even worse, these great and stunning truths were already there before you had cancer.  You were mortal before you had cancer. Why is it after these awakenings that people decide to live their life differently or more purposefully?

Love is free, and if you aren’t getting plenty of it, then you are not living right. Experiencing love without God getting the credit is wonderful. It focuses the energy and directs the action… it’s all you.  There is no other force behind your life.  Whatever you do with and for others is entirely your free will.  That’s what makes it so amazing.

Now get off the Internet, and go hug your kids, or kiss your wife, or walk your dog… Go tell someone that you love that you love them, especially if that’s not something you say frequently.

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