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My Path From Religion … It wasn’t because of billboard or bus


Atheist

I have been asked a few times to explain why I am Atheist. Ignoring the fact that if I ask a religious person justify their beliefs I would get yelled at about freedom of religion and the mythical Christian Nation … I usually just say “I was raised Catholic with parochial school and nuns and everything.” and it is enough. But sometimes people need more. Usually it is new non-believers or quite religious people or more and more often, just another atheist looking for a friendly person.


I cannot point to any event in my life that really made me sit up and say “Oh my nothing. I am an Atheist.” I can’t even say, with any certainty, when I went from just your everyday, run of the mill agnostic to straight up Atheist. I do remember for a while saying I was “Strong Agnostic/Weak Atheist” but mainly to avoid the look of disgust that usually accompanies the realization that I do not harbor the same belief that the religious believer does. I looked into other faith systems. Buddhist, neo-pagan, even read about Mormonism, Scientology and Jehovah’s Witness. Of those Buddhist seemed to jive with my personal beliefs the best, and they all have a history that can be bizarre, hostile and just flat odd. The SciFi geek in me likes both Scientology and Mormonism, about as much as I like The Force, but apparently “Jedi” is only a religion in Australia and New Zealand. Now, to me, believing that “god” is from another planet and put us here, makes more sense than God is an omnipotent, omniscient being that has no body or earthly being.  One is a (maybe someday) provable point and the other cannot be proven, and that’s they way it was designed.

As I have continued the exploration of religions I found more and more hypocrisies and events and actions that seemed to be greed driven, not through divinity. Why “No meat on Friday” … Catholics controlled the fishing industry, and livestock was becoming more available to everyone and fishing saw a decline … Pope declares “No meat on Friday … but fish is OK.” As it was written so shall it be done. The reasoning for Holidays unraveled … Easter … the first Sunday, following the first full moon, following the Vernal Equinox. Ya, that sounds just a tiny bit pagan to me. “In everything, do unto others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” See The Westboro Baptist Church .. aka God Hates Fags.

I am not a Militant Atheist. I am fond of saying that I am an Apatheist.

… an apatheist is someone who considers the question of the existence of gods as neither meaningful nor relevant to his or her life; nor to human affairs.

That suits me fine. I don’t believe in a god or gods. I don’t care if you do.What I do care about is how you (and I) behave towards other people. I believe in The Ethics of Reciprocity.

“Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” Buddhism

“What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary.” Judaism

“Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself.” The Prophet Muhammad

“We affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a a.” Unitarian Principle

As for why do Atheists want to have bus signs, billboards and be allowed to place adverts … well, we are humans. Humans have always wanted to belong. Be it a tribe or a church. As more and more people are becoming weary of Churches and organized religion, we want to know that we have a common thread with others. We want to be able to go out and not get the stink eye because we aren’t religious. We want everyone to know that we don’t believe in god, that doesn’t mean we have no moral compass. There were laws long before Moses, and there will be laws long after the Vatican is gone. Most importantly many of us want the feeling of community that churches once gave us. Why can’t Atheists have a Mothers Day Pancaked Breakfast, or sponsor a Fourth of July Pig Roast. Right now, if it is attempted … we get shouted down by religious hypocrites that think that only “God fearing Christians” can be good, “Honor your Mother and Father” or be citizen’s of the USA … oh, and we are going to use the event to recruit lost souls to our evil ways. Apparently the only thing keeping some people from going on a murder spree is the fear of eternal punishment. That, too me, seems … ridiculous.

I leave with these parting words …

Don’t be dick. Peace.

2009 06 28 Politics and Religion Comments (0) Permalink

Cukes, Zucs, squash and melons …

We have had a hell of a time this year with the garden. Last year I had huge beautiful tomatoes and peppers, with herbs coming out the ears.

This year, the herbs are a bit sick. We transplanted them to the front yard, and I attribute much to that. They don’t get as much sun, but it is more morning sun. I was hoping the early sun and late shade would help what little burning I had last year. I guess I did fix that problem. Haven’t really had enough to make a nice Sage Brown Butter yet. We did get them all to flower, even the Lavender. The oregano is looking very bushy, where it should be more of a ground cover. The sage just isn’t as full as it was last year.

The veggies … ugh. The tomatoes are doing OK, and the peppers are not bad. We’ve had a few tomatoes with meals and such, but the red ones (Brandywine, Roma and some “native roma-like”) are still kinda … well not really healthy. Last year the one true failure we had was Cucumbers. Burned to a crisp. I chose a new location this year. It is a south face, but gets shade later in the afternoon. This year they are tiny. We also tried Zucchini and Summer Squash. The started out gangbuster, but then the whiteflies found them. Killed all them after one of each vegetable.

We have had raging success with Sunflowers. We planted a few varieties, from Mammoth to dark to some fairly small flowers that don’t have the classic Sunflower look. The look almost like a cross between a Sunflower and a Marigold. The Sunflowers seem to have handled the whiteflies pretty well, and we really enjoy watching the big honey bees on them all day. Even the regular bees hang around them, and leave us alone.

Well it has been a learning experience. I ripped out all the whitefly infested plants, prayed an organic pest control that specifically mentions whiteflies over the tomatoes and peppers. We have also purchased starters for a new round of Cucumbers and crook-neck squash, and I just put an Israeli Watermelon in the ground. I took the time to gently put some of the whitefly control on the undersides of the new leaves and re-apply to the Sunflowers. All this and I’m still trying to keep GK1&3’s pumpkins from dying.

On the bright side … Our lettuce has been fantastic!!

Boy, do I miss that great Western MA soil.

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2009 06 20 Family Comments (1) Permalink

That bee story from a few weeks ago …

A few weeks ago I was talking about bees in the neighborhood … well Lisa found the issue.

A neighbor a few streets away had a hive removed. Now, most, if not all, the bees in AZ are “killer” bees, so the soldiers that were out and about were a bit peeved. The person that was stung at the PO (about 300 feet away) apparently swatted and killed the one that got him, and within moments his car was covered. Our neighbor across the street was stung in the face and it abscised, hospital trip and antibiotics fixed that. We were lucky. We had three (maybe four) stings in our yard, Lisa killed two or three, I got one or two, but that was it. We were definitely held captive in our house. Every time we left a few VERY persistent bees buzzed and tried to get us. I must looked like a fool running around the backyard swatting at the air. I didn’t want to go into the house until after I lost the bee.

Of course now I am angrier at “The Killer Bee Guy” for not calling back. I told him where I lived so he /knew/ that there had been a hive removed and didn’t call back. But, that’s Bisbee man.

Rumor has it, the “The Killer Bee Guy’s” honey is only about 30% local … the rest he gets from Safeway and cuts it in. I can’t prove he doesn’t!

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2009 06 17 Family Comments (0) Permalink

Seriously Humanity … just leave me alone or Why Social Networks SUCKS

Nothing new, just boiling point reached. I really love how people on Social Networks (like Facebook) make me want to be anything BUT social. If people were as rude in face-to-face discussions are they are behind the mask of the keyboard and monitor the wild west never would have gone away. I know that I would be carrying a side arm at all times too. Of course looking around the world, I can see that Social Networks have destroyed the idea of “civility.” It used to be the domain of shows like Springer to have yelling guests and accusations of idiocy being thrown around, but not any more. Now every show is in competition to hate more than the others. This can’t be good for society. This creeping hate has made it to every corner of life. I can no longer just go about my non-believing business with out being called a “fucktard.” Mind you I don’t tell people that are religious that they are wrong, just that I disagree, and don’t believe. I put it in the EXACY same category are drugs. If you want to shoot up every morning … fine. Whatever. Don’t tell me I have to, and don’t allow it to interfere with my life or we WILL have issues. Ditto on any politics issue. If my position on international relations with upper lapland doesn’t fit your view … oh well.

But nooooo! not on Social Networks. If I were to post “I don’t like things that hurt me.” I’d get hit with people people who feel it their personal responsibility to and RIGHT to do whatever it takes to inflict pain on me, and I’m an idiot, naive, jackass, loser for thinking that.

I didn’t want to delete replies, but they got bad, not nearly as bad as “e-mails” I was receiving. So I started deleting replies, then posts, and you know what … fuck it all.

Effective 6/13: I deactivated my Facebook, stop using twitter, and stop the very little posting I did here.

Thanks Humanity … you suck!!

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2009 06 13 Family
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A series of random thoughts that didn’t qualify for a blog post but too big for a Twitter.

I have spent a good portion of my adult life lying to people I love. I rationalized it by telling myself that I was protecting them. I was wrong. I was protecting myself from the feeling of hurting them. I was wrong to do it. I am sorry. I promise I will try and be truthful even when it hurts. I hope you understand.

We, as humans, are not granted free will by anyone/anything. Reason protects our free will and therefore, our freedom. Fate, destiny and religion are lazy. They all essentially say the same thing, “Everything I do is predetermined, or part of God’s Plan. God has fated me to do this or that, and it is my destiny to follow God’s Plan.” Free will is hard. Every decision I make is mine and I must live with the consequences. What if I make a bad decision? I have to admit that I did it, I can’t shift blame to god/fate/destiny. Religious people try and say that the creator gave us free will … but if we don’t do what it wants, we will get tortured in a river of fire forever … ya, that’s free will. Worship me or live a tortured existence for all eternity. I have installed thoughts in my children while arguing that when religions do it it is wrong. I will try harder to allow my children to learn. Give them the facts, and enrich their knowledge to empower them to use reason to come to their own conclusion. I hope they make some powerful people angry as they grow up.

I want all people to question EVERYTHING. Not just government, but churches too. I don’t demand a stop in believing in god(s)/God, only that the church gets questioned. I’m not saying to start an armed insurrection, but to question the government. Question absolutely everything, it’s hard, scary an definitely an E Ticket ride if you do it right.

This is it folks. When we leave the mortal coil life as we know it is over. Love the now. Live loud. Let them never wonder who you were, don’t live an anonymous life. Personally, at my funeral, I’d rather have been hated, than forgotten.

I am an Atheist-Agnostic. I do not believe there is a g(G)od(s), nor do I think it is possible to know. I am a raging libertarian. The greatest freedom is the freedom to make a mistake. There is no better way to learn, and knowledge is power. So the more mistakes you make the more powerful you will become.

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2009 05 04 Politics and Religion Comments (0) Permalink