Atheists @ MindSay

Can someone please tell me why atheists need so badly to convince me that there is no God? Some of them are so hung up on converting me to their side it's like hanging out at a Baptist prayer meeting. They write books, blogs, do TV spots, make movies, all to get me to believe them. Is this some sort of inferiority complex? Do they need to bolster their numbers? If millions of Americans want to delude themselves with a "crazy myth", then why not let them? And please, don't give me that "killing in the name of God crap". How many "Christian Crusaders" are wiping out entire populations in the name of God these days? As a matter of fact, the last "Crusade" that attempted to destroy a people was Hitler's. And he did it in the name of atheism. So can those of you who believe that you are the highest power in the galaxy and continuously deny that there could be anything or anyone greater than your own selves, please just let the rest of us believe what we want to believe? Can't we all just get along?

Yesterday at work I was overhearing one of my colleagues on the phone with a friend talk about her daughter's school.  Apparently she was miffed because "Christmas landed at John Doe Elementary" right before Thanksgiving.  There were Christmas themed bulletin boards in the hallways, a tree in the classroom, and in the school library, each kid was asked to bring in a white teddy bear.  My colleagues daughter brought in a Chanukah bear, but took the Chanukah shirt off the bear because it was supposed to be non-denominational.  What did they do with all these bears?  They made a big tree of bears in the school library (some of whom apparently still had "Christian things" on them.).  I was laughing to myself when my first thought while listening to her was "Thank goodness we don't have to deal with that at our school this year..."

We spoke further after she got off the phone.  We were laughing as I told her my thought, and she said she had thought the same thing ("Well at least socKs doesn't have to deal with that at her kid's Jewish day school...")  So we talked about it some more.

Apparently her issue is not with Christmas - she can admire the beauty of the season and the decorations as much as the next guy.  Her issue is with the inequity in the displays and lack of sensitivity towards other religions.  Apparently there is a child in her daughter's class who is a Jehovah's Witness.  Therefore, the decision was made that there would be no birthday celebrations in the classroom out of respect for that student's beliefs.  While it would have been difficult to not have any decorations in the entire school (and I would assume that Witnesses are so used to being around public displays of holiday decorations given that they are everywhere this time of year), perhaps the teachers could have at least not had a tree in the classroom.  Her other issue was that there was no mention of Chanukah.

We talked about our past experiences with the holiday season, and what's going on this year.  Neither of us are anti-public Christmas decorations.  I don't expect every holiday display to include Chanukah stuff, although that would be nice - I'm pretty realistic.  I love seeing the twinkle lights in the trees around the city.  Our neighbor strung up lights in the huge pine tree (at least 14') that is in our community's common area between our homes.  This is the first time anyone has done it - and to quote my kid: "Wow...that's beautiful!"  I remember this neighbor saying the day he moved in: "I can't wait to put lights on that thing!"  We will put our electric menorah in our kitchen window for the neighbors to see, just like we do every year.

This reminded me of the recent seasonal display controversy at the Washington State Capitol.  A national Atheist group went through the proper channels to get a sign displayed at the capitol reflecting their views of the holiday season.  It was placed near the traditional Nativity scene.  There was also a Christmas tree.  In the past they have had a Chanukah menorah as well.  Conservative Christian groups around the country have been calling in and expressing their outrage.  I say three cheers to Washington State.  Their official statement was:  "The U.S. Supreme Court has been consistent and clear that, under the Constitution's First Amendment, once government admits one religious display or viewpoint onto public property, it may not discriminate against the content of other displays, including the viewpoints of nonbelievers." 

Equality and representation for all - isn't that what our country is all about?

So... what about coconuts?

it's july 1st and it's raining. I wake up and it's raining. I go to bed and it's raining. For a week now the only word I can use to describe the passing days is "wet". It kinda makes me mad.. it's summer and it's raining. Having a beach 10 minutes away is useless if it's pouring outside while the sun just hibernates on its ass.

 

Athazagoraphobia - the fear of being forgotten.

 

I'm not particularly religious. Actually, to be honest, I'm not religious at all. I might be leaping into death by putting this down for everyone to see, but I'll say it: I don't believe in God. (Now, please, if anyone is reading this, no evil comments about atheists, ok?) It's not that I stopped believing, I just don't think I've ever had religion as a part of my life. It's not in me; and, forgive me, but I'm not on any journey to find it.

Sometimes I envy believers. Those true believers - they probably never feel alone because they believe God is always with them. Whenever they're in over their heads with problems and issues to deal with, deep down they're okay, because they believe that God will see them through. It must be kind of cool.. believing in God. It's kind of like having a constant companion. Someone to talk to. A true friend. In a world of billions of people, we could all use at least one good friend.

Look at me: an atheist promoting religion. Irony makes the world go round. An atheist claiming that God is your friend. God will be a friend who'll never ever leave you, even if the going gets really rough, God will rough it along with you. That's probably a comforting thought to all those who feel it's true.

It must be nice to lie awake at night, and feel safe.

 

It's been a long time since I've lied awake at night and felt safe. I loathe getting into bed to sleep. It's in that moment when we're truly physically alone. We're nothing but purely ourselves. We're not trying to make somebody laugh, we're not fighting off our brothers, we're not working or watching television. It's the one moment in our entire day when we spend time with just ourselves. We sort out thoughts and feelings. Even if you don't intend to, and we're just silently lying in our beds, buckets of emotions and memories - whether they're old memories or things that happened 15 minutes ago - hit you. They don't stop until you're alseep.

What do you do, then, when instead of buckets, you've got an ocean? Every night, I drown in my bed. Every night I shiver until I snore. Every night I count the pieces of my broken heart -only to lose them again in the darkness. Every night.

 

As blasphemous and cynical as this may seem, this is an atheist saying "God help me"