OK, I stole that from Andrew Sullivan. He has an almost daily blog post about the hypocrisy of the religious fringe in this country and around the world. I thought the below was pretty interesting. Turns out, Christians tend to be more raciest than the general population. There are plenty of things that you can draw from this, one of the big ones being that Christians tend to associate only with themselves and that includes a break down by denomination, which then includes a breakdown into race. Evangelicals = White Anglo, Protestants = Norwegian / Eastern Europe, Catholics = Latino, Southern Baptist = Black / African American. That’s just skimming of course but association is a big part of who we are as humans and as cultures. So the most interesting quote for me on this was:
“The authors failed to find that racial tolerance arises from humanitarian values, consistent with the idea that religious humanitarianism is largely expressed to in-group members. Only religious agnostics were racially tolerant.”
Here is a link to the PDF of the Study. Sadly you have to be a subscriber to see the whole thing.
I find this relevant because I consider myself a religious agnostic. I’m not quite to the point of Atheism, but science has not yet explained zero to me (the point of origin). Religion just can’t do it because the facts don’t support the theory and I’m not willing to just imagine something as factually wrong as Genesis. As a general rule, I don’t have an issue with the idea of a God or Gods. What I have an issue with are humans who believe THEY are God which stems out of ALL organized religion. I also consider myself to be pretty racially tolerant. I attribute much of that to my upbringing, which, even though it was not hugely diverse, I was able to take away an understanding of different cultures and races. As a child I was exposed to people all over the country as I toured with the American Boychoir and I met and stayed with everyone from Black deep south Evangelicals, to Upper New York State Jews with the stereotypical accents. I’ve sung music from every corner of the globe and not only did I sing it but it was expected that we actually understand where it came from and the language it was to be sung in and the culture it was created in. I spent 10 years of my life with a second generation Armenian American whose father was deeply rooted in the culture of his upbringing. I was able to experience a culture that I had not previously been exposed to and I benefited from that exposure. I think the difference with me is that I’ve not ever limited myself to association with only one type of person or one color of person because beyond that I believe we are all human and all of the same species with the same goals and aspirations. You are not of a different species because you have dark skin and I don’t. You are not a different species because you have blond hair and blue eyes and my hair happens to be brown. You are not a different species because your speak broken English or because you wear a Turban. I think that Christians tend to forget the commonality of humanity. They get so wrapped up in shouting their messages that they forget the common and core message of their faith. That is precisely what bothers me about organized religion and it is precisely why I refuse to attend a church. I’m not going to limit my life and my experiences to a congregation of similar thinking and looking individuals just for the sake of a common belief in God. And I’m certainly not going to associate with individuals who can not accept the idea that skin color is irrelevant to being a human. The year is 2010 and it is inexcusable for any individual of any race, of any creed, of any origin to antagonize people not like themselves simply because of that fact.
Four Christians on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging the recently enacted Hate Crimes Prevention Act, arguing that it seeks to criminalize deeply held religious beliefs that are in opposition to homosexuality.
Read Box Turtle Bulletin’s take on this story here. Find out exactly the only thing these Christians must want.
This shit get’s old, luckily so are the people espousing this bile.
“What I’m illustrating here is that you’re a blockhead. What I’m illustrating here is that you’re a close-minded bigot who is ill-informed. If you had listened to this program for a modicum of time, you would know it. But instead, you’re a blockhead. Your mind is totally closed. You have tampons in your ears. Nothing is getting through other than the biased crap that you read.”
Quote from Rush Limbaugh, responding to a female caller who did not appreciate Rush’s remarks on the tragedy in Haiti. And this is the man that is supposedly the leader of the GOP and supposedly a Christian. Do you wonder why I have such a hard time with religion? It is the behavior of the few who took away my belief that the church could possibly do something good for the world. I have no patience for it and no tolerance for their spineless arrogance because not a SINGLE religious political group or individual has demanded that this man shut his fat face. Silence = agreement. End of discussion.
By the way folks, I realize that many of the pictures I post on this blog are offensive to some. What comes around goes around, when you all decide to stop the hate, the persecution, the idiocy, and the general abuse in the name of your God, I’ll discontinue using your icons as fodder to piss you off.
Between the comments of Britt Hume suggesting that if only Tiger Woods converted to Christianity he might be absolved for his infidelity, now Pat Robertson has stated that the recent and devastating earthquake in Haiti was retribution from God for making a pact with the devil. It’s troubling that these “Christians” are being broadcast at all on TV and being allowed to spread their rather misguided opinions. That’s the price of freedom we pay in this country. Any jackass can get on TV, don a tin-foil hat and make a complete ass of themselves.
Sitting at home tonight on Christmas Eve listening to the broadcast of King’s College Choir Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and thinking back to doing this same service nearly 10 years in a row with the Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys. That service is so burned into my head, I can even recite each of the lessons nearly word for word. Honestly I think it’s the only religious service that ever had any impact on me in-so-far as spirituality is concerned. This is a hard time of the year for me, not really because of any mental stress but because I don’t really have much of an opportunity for singing this time of year, in particular singing the music I love and in the style that I love. There are a few choral ensembles up here in the northwoods but with a retail schedule, I simply don’t have time outside of work to make commitments. That’s the one thing I hate about my job. I’m so tied to it that I have no time for anything outside of work. I suppose that’s just like any number of other people on the planet but it just bugs me. I always made room in my life for music in the past, sometimes to the exclusion of just about everything else. That was back though when having a job and a career wasn’t necessarily a huge priority, nor was it an expectation. I have no doubts that in my retirement, if that ever happens, I’ll be involved once again doing this sort of thing. My worry is though that even now, my voice is so out of shape that it can be exhausting. I should find a vocal coach up here to keep me in shape should I ever have another opportunity.
I managed to finish wrapping all the Christmas gifts tonight. I hate wrapping gifts. I did take my time at it this year though so they look a lot better than in years past. Tomorrow I head out to the parents house for a nice Christmas dinner and some time out at the lake. We are getting freezing rain tonight, hopefully that will not cause too many problems on the roads tomorrow. I know the plows won’t be out at any point tomorrow. They don’t work unless they absolutely have to up here. That can be a disadvantage of living up here, you pay all kinds of money for services that are lackluster at best.
I hope everyone has had a good holiday season, the decade is nearly over and it has flown by. There have been lots of changes in my life over the past decade, in particular the last half of the decade. It’s hard to believe sometimes where I’ve ended up. I’ve learned though in life not to have have any regrets. We all have to make choices about the path we want to follow in life. If we fail to take risks and make changes every now and then, life can become pretty boring. Who knows where I’ll be in another 1o years, or 20 years. Planning that far ahead simply doesn’t allow for opportunities.
As we prepare to close out the year, thanks to all of you who continue to read my blog. This past year this blog has had about 1500 unique visitors. Of those, 300 of you have been back here more than 5 times and 30 of you have been here 20 or more times (amazing what analytical software will tell you). I don’t know who you all are but the things I write about must be interesting enough to keep you coming back. I appreciate the fact that you are interested. I hope everyone has a great “Festivus” and I look forward to continuing this blog and writing about lots of random things for years to come.
Once again Kalamazoo is in the news and once again it is a SCREAMING example of why I will never return to live or work in the southern part of this pathetic state of Michigan. What’s surprising is that this sort of thing isn’t coming out of Grand Rapids but perhaps GR has grown to big to be so intolerant. Anyhow, I won’t re-post the whole thing, you can go to mlive.com to read the rest.
KALAMAZOO — Theological disagreements over homosexuality are causing a divide within a downtown ministry that serves the poor, homeless and lonely.
Martha’s Table, through which eight churches have provided Sunday afternoon worship and meals for the needy at First Congregational Church, is losing three of the churches because of the issue of homosexuality, even though the ecumenical ministry takes no position on it, said the Rev. Matt Laney, pastor of First Congregational.
You know, having been raised in a fairly liberal church, the one thing I did actually take out of Sunday worship was that we as a society have a responsibility to those less fortunate than us. That Christ was FIRST about helping the poor, humble and meek for THEY shall inherit the earth. Granted, my views on the idea of organized religion are fairly well known here on this blog. I have little patience for the millions of “Christians” in this country who have all but forgotten WHY they are in fact followers of Christ, who would rather make threats and pass judgement on others AS IF they were actually following the example of Jesus Christ. FUCK YOU and your Church, if you are not feeding the hungry FIRST, YOU ARE NO CHRISTIAN. Even the drones I went to high school with in the CRC (Christian Reformed Church) understand that basic concept.
It is interesting though that stories like the above make it to national blogs. They sure don’t do much to help bring people into this state. The image below is a little over the top but fitting of the post. You of course know that I won’t apologize for being offensive. After all, you made the choice to come here and read this.
These folks are just too much. It just amazes me that there seems to be a great number of people in the world (or rather in this country) who have no idea WHAT-SO-EVER about the movements, policies, politics, (insert descriptive noun here) that they so adamantly support. You all know of my disdain for teabaggers. Here’s the thing. I dislike the “Tea Party” movement because of idiots in the story below. Come on, you don’t identify yourself as a teabagger without FIRST understanding the meaning of that slang term. That just starts it off for me. I DO prefer that the government generally stay out of my business and leave me alone. I am of the mindset that the government (as a rule) is good for very little… keep the peace, protect the minority from the majority, provide some limited assistance to help people better themselves. That’s about it folks. The rest of the shit our government does can be done just as poorly by private enterprise and it could be done AT NO COST TO ME. I hope you were able to pick up the innuendo in that previous sentence. Right, I’m not a big fan of big government and that of course puts me at odds with the gay liberal agenda I apparently am compelled to support most of the time. Anyhow, I’ve gone on a tangent. From the Huffington Post comes a tale out of the nation of California about Merry Hyatt, a “Tea Party Patriot”. Apparently she is unaware that teabaggers are FIRST about SMALL GOVERNMENT (less taxes and all that…when they are not teabagging their senators). Except when it comes to making sure her social agenda is achieved.
The Tea Party movement is still and has always been flawed. They would have done much better commandeering an existing party…I think the Green party is in need of some help right now.
For most of my life I’ve always lived by the mantra that there are no stupid questions. When someone has a question about something or questions a practice, definition, or some other aspect of life, I’ve always maintained that there truly must be a legitimate reason for asking those questions. Then I started working in retail. I’m not going to go into a long spiel here about some of the things I’ve been asked at work but I will say that I am sick and tired of being asked where the bathroom is and why we don’t have one in the back of the store. I DON’T FUCKING KNOW DIP-SHIT, I didn’t build the store, I just work here. Now, turn your lazy ass around and walk up to the front of the store and do what you should have taken care of before you left home.
Alright, that’s the most annoying question I get asked 500 times a day. My rant tonight really has to do with the level of intelligence I see on a daily basis up here in the northwoods. Granted, I’m not highly educated but I do consider the 3rd grade lessons of speaking in complete sentences something that is important in every day life. I do consider my adolescent years training of knowing how to read, understand, and communicate effectively through appropriate body language something that EVERY person should be able to do.
Alright, thats about all I want to say on that for tonight. I don’t like to rant too much about work because I do like my job. It’s just the people I can’t stand.
Most of you know I read a LOT of blogs on line that pretty much span the spectrum of intelligent political discussion to crude humour. I ran across a quote that I thought was interesting on one of the more obscure blogs that I read.
“The so-called Christian nations are the most enlightened and progressive…but in spite of their religion, not because of it. The Church has opposed every innovation and discovery from the day of Galileo down to our own time, when the use of anesthetic in childbirth was regarded as a sin because it avoided the biblical curse pronounced against Eve. And every step in astronomy and geology ever taken has been opposed by bigotry and superstition. The Greeks surpassed us in artistic culture and in architecture five hundred years before Christian religion was born.”
- Mark Twain
Someone said on NPR the other day that Religion today is more important in the lives of people than at any other point in recent history. I always have a lot to say about religion, especially science and religion. It’s nice to know that one of the greatest writers in our history also knew of the asshattery of organized religion.
So now it’s off to bed. Off on Tuesday, hopefully the weather will get better up here. This pic cracks me up.
