To Ron Paul . . .
When is it okay to let a child die?
Is it okay just because you are unaware that it is happening?
Maybe it’s okay as long as you didn’t knowingly or directly cause the child’s death.
Do you justify the death because the child was unfortunate enough to be born to drug addicted parents?
Parents that you said shouldn’t received food stamps or medicaid?
What if the parents aren’t drug addicted, but poor, disabled or recently unemployed?
Is it okay to deny them the help they need to feed and care for their children?
Do you deny them because you wish to punish those that truly abuse the ‘system’?
Perhaps you excuse the death because the parents said that god told them to punish the child.
Have you argued that it’s a parent’s ‘right’ to spank a child?
Do you apply limits on that right?
Does your voice enable the ‘spanking’ that delivers the final blow?
I ask again . . . when is it okay to kill a child?
THOUGHT EXPERIMENT #2
If you died tomorrow how would you WANT to be remembered? Now, if you died tomorrow how would you be remembered? Would you be remembered for you outward appearance, your intelligence, your treatment of others, your diplomacy? What is most important to you?
Just in case you’re interested. Thought Experiment #1 was to make an attempt to get to know someone different from yourself. I posted #1 to Facebook sometime ago. It was more of an action item but, nonetheless, a challenge to make you think 
This Is Your Mind . . . This Is Your Mind On Religion
Just my thoughts on an article I read about indoctrinating children: Forcing Children Into Faith Is Ethically Objectionable
We are all born atheists . . . Indoctrinating children into religion is easy. They know nothing other than what we as parents tell them at a young age. It’s no different than telling them that Santa Claus exists. Religion and the story of santa are both used as a tool to force a certain behavior through promises of rewards and threats of punishment. At least with Santa, you provide children with a tangible reward for their conformity, and the threat is coal in your stocking rather than to burn in hell for eternity.
I was only indoctrinated for a short period of my adult life. It was much easier to allow myself to believe that there was an unseen entity out there handling all of my problems, rather than knowing that I am responsible for what happens in my life. There is a certain comfort in the delusion that anything bad that happens is part of a predestined plan for my life.
Unfortunately, my brief time of belief was during my kids’ most impressionable years. I remember thinking that as long as I tell my boys that they can choose to believe anything they want that I was giving them a choice. During that time, I never really fostered them to truly find out for themselves what they believe. Fortunately, my husband did and they’ve become very skilled at critical thinking.
One thing I discovered is that there is a reason that religious leaders do not want their congregation ‘eating from the tree of knowledge’. Through science, myths from the bible (and other religious texts) have been disproved. Once you start learning that science disproves so many of the mysteries in the bible, you can’t just un-know the facts and go back to believing. You can’t go back to believing that all life started with Adam and Eve or that the entire earth was flooded. Case and point, we used to believe that the earth was flat and that the sun revolved around the earth.
Also, have you read the entire bible? Why do you think your preacher/pastor/reverend leads the church in worship? Many a clergy have left their faith because they’ve read the entire bible. Even more only stay because they or either afraid of back lash or have no other means to make a living. They stay because of fear. Fear is the crux of nearly all religion. What would happen if the congregation actually studies its rule book independently with scrutiny?
That being said, my life is much richer now that I know this is my only chance to get it right. The truest claim in this article is, “The worldwide acceptance of childhood religious grooming means the practise can be used to simultaneously pass on tribal feuds, racism, loyalty to patriarchy, mysogeny and distrust.”
Without religion, none of the above have a reason to exist.
What, When, How, And Why?
What?
Freethinker, skeptic, non-believer, agnostic, atheist. Choose whatever label you wish. However, before you use any of these philosophies to vilify me I would like to present a definition of each:
- Freethought – philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or dogma. The cognitive application of freethought is known as ‘freethinking’, and practitioners of freethought are known as ‘freethinkers’
- Skepticism – an overall approach that requires all new information to be well supported by evidence
- Non-believer – a person who does not manifest devotion to a deity
- Agnosticism – an intellectual doctrine or attitude affirming the uncertainty of all claims to ultimate knowledge
- Atheism – disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings
None of the above suggest the absence of values or morals. Yet, the first question I am always asked is, ‘Where do you get your morals?’ This is incredibly offensive, especially when people I have known for years ask that ridiculous question. Was I a moral person with upstanding values before you found out that I do not believe in god? That doesn’t disappear along with the belief in a higher power. I must return the question with a question. Should we have you jailed if you ever stop believing?
I decide to be a good person because it’s the right thing to do, not for fear of eternal damnation or promise of streets paved with gold. Without the dogma of a book telling me not to accept people different from myself I am free to see people as individuals and not group them or categorize them. Demanding proof has never hurt anyone. Demanding faith has and does hurt countless.
When?
Even during my teenage years I considered myself an agnostic. Religion was never forced upon me by my parents. Sure, I went to church with friends. It was a requirement if I spent the night on a Saturday. Ironically, it was my husband that planted the seed of religion, early in our relationship. (I’ll explain the irony in a bit.) He didn’t bully me or threaten me, but simply said that he if he went to heaven and I wasn’t there, then it wouldn’t be heaven. I truly hate being the cause of anyone’s hurt feelings, so I agreed to go to a spirit-filled Trinity Pentecostal Church that my husband and his mother attended. Did my husband engage in all of the spirit-filledness? No. A couple years prior to us dating his mother coerced him into going to church to meet a girl. He made friends there and chose to continue going after things fell through with the girl. After the two of us attended a few times together, we decided that particular flavor of Christianity was a little too intense. This is all around the time we decided to get married. Although, I wasn’t totally sold on religion I went church shopping because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do and I really already followed the ‘rules’ that Christians claim to follow. <irony>This is also around the time that my husband started seeing behavior that he didn’t agree with in the Christian religion, as a whole. I wasn’t aware of this until years later.</irony>
Skipping forward . . .
After moving away for twenty years from the small town in Texas that I grew up in (eight of those spent in Colorado) we returned and moved into the house that my grandparents left to us, which is also the house that I grew up in. Keep in mind, there were reasons that I moved so quickly after graduating high school, but I hoped those aspects of small town life had progressed over the span of two decades. Besides, I still have family and some really great lifelong friends that live in the area. Those factors (explained in the ‘How’ section) that drove me away were not only still present but had gotten worse. In short (kinda), I started to doubt after moving back ‘home’.
How?
To completely understand how you’ll need to know why, but I’ll do my best to get there without any spoilers. It was actually a very slow and thought out process . . . losing faith. I use the word ‘losing’ but it’s really more like trading faith in for reason. As my husband once (maybe more than once) said, ‘Indoctrinating someone is much easier than teaching them to think for themselves.’ That’s exactly what I started doing; thinking for myself. Have you ever wondered why churches are so opposed to tough questions? I know why. The answers to those questions have nothing to do with faith. The more you learn the less you need religion. The best way to maintain conformity and control is to keep you from gaining knowledge. Here is an example of how faith keeps you from knowledge. I have a friend that taught a college biology class and actually had students that thought men had one less rib than women.
As I mentioned a couple paragraphs up, there were reasons that I stayed away from the town that I grew up in. This is by no means an indictment on everyone in the area nor on all Christians, but it does describe the initial impression that this tightly cinched area of the bible belt gives. The racism and bigotry is out of control, and the Christian Bible is used to justify the behavior. There is also a huge anti-intellectualism movement present. My hope was that these problems seemed magnified in my memory or that they had improved over time. I was sadly disappointed. The world has shrunk so much with the vast access to information from around the world. Instead of catching up on the latest advancements in science and medicine it’s used to feed off of the latest propaganda.
Why?
If you’ve read up to this point with good intentions then I really shouldn’t have to explain why. For those still wondering, it’s simple. I couldn’t go back to believing even if I wanted. Even if I removed skepticism from the equation I’d still be left with the inconsistencies in the Bible and the justification for atrocities committed in the name of religion. It may seem that I’m picking on Christianity, but my feelings are the same about any belief system that oppresses others. Try imagining being born and raised in a country where Islam is the primary religion. Could you honestly say that you would be still be a Christian if you had been indoctrinated as a Muslim your entire life?
In closing, atheists are not satanists, they don’t eat babies, or do any of the other evil things that they told you about in church. Atheists tend to put ALL humans and the needs of ALL humans first. If you have any questions just ask. I would prefer you ask rather than assume. You probably know more atheists than you think.
