Council for Secular HumanismSo I'm many, many months behind in blogging; I'm a bad boy. Let's see what comes to mind as I tap tap tap away. Well, the election comes to mind immediately. You know, as a secular humanist/atheist, I find it hard to swallow any brand of religion, but I voted for Obama anyway. I realize he doesn't hold any far right views, but the fact that he seems to be in favor of making nice with the religious concerns me. However, I also think that he probably doesn't believe a word of what he professes (presumptuous on my part, I know) and is probably just doing what he needs to do in order to be heard in our religious country. His views on the economy and social issues are what drew my support. I'm a bit concerned about his foreign policy skills because I get the impression that he is going to try and be a friend to all--which is probably not possible.
He apparently doesn't support gay marriage, which is a mark against him, but I don't think he would ever sign a federal law banning it. I really hope to hell that he honestly tries to fix health care and doesn't become corrupted by the insurance and drug company lobbyists. Let me just say this; I have great hope for his presidency, but if he fails, I'm through with voting. At that point I'll probably just say to hell with it, let the religious nutters have it and I'll move elsewhere. Hopefully the religious moderates will win the day and our land will never become a Christian Afghanistan.
The event at that preacher's church where Obama and McCain answered questions was pathetic. McCain sure knew his audience when he answered that "what you do with evil" question with "defeat it", and stated that life begins "at conception". No nuance, no fleshing out of the subject, just simplistic answers for a simplistic audience. Despite the fact that it left me shaking my head that Obama would bother answering questions from some idiot preacher, his handling of the questions was far more impressive than Johnny's answers. When will a brave politician refuse to answer questions from the nutters? I live for the day when a front running presidential candidate laughs when asked what his or her religion is, and says "None, I have a brain". That candidate would have all of my free time as a volunteer. But, I suppose that's too much to ask for in my lifetime.
It really sickens me to think of all the nonsense that was directed at Obama before the election, and still is to a certain extent. There's this bitch named Monica Crowley that was on the radio slandering Obama every fucking day, and is still at it. I cannot believe that someone actually gave this race bating dullard a radio show. She must have taken it in the ass from someone, is all I can say. The constant right wing diatribes and Muslim innuendos spouted against him everyday was stupefying. Those people have no shame. Listening to them is like porn for the credulous fools that worship them.
I do care about our country, but I consider myself a global citizen, without love for any particular ideology. And seeing the behavior of people during elections makes me love America even less. I love our Constitution, most of our citizens, and the greater part of our culture, but I honestly don't see anything here that isn't seen in the rest of the world. Of course it goes without saying that there are some countries that I would never live in. Dictatorships with their worship of the state, and theocracies with their worship of fairy tales hold not a lick of interest for me. I'd be more than happy to live in a fully secular state, but not one that mandates secularism or replaces religion with worship of the state. Unless a secular state is organically secular, then it isn't really an enlightened entity. But if the U.S. becomes more and more religious like it sometimes seems to be doing, then I'm not sure I'd care to be here. But I don't know if I would leave, or stay and fight. If they were ever put in absolute control, like all theocracies, they would bring this country to its knees. I'm not sure I'd care to see that happen first hand.
Well, what else?
Ah yes, the economy is tanking. Thanks, W, you began a useless war, raped the Constitution, and destroyed our reputation around the world. And now you have left us with a crumbling economy thanks to your laissez-faire attitude toward economic policy. It's mind boggling that people actually voted for John McCain knowing what a Republican had just done to our country. Of course all that he had to do was throw a fundamental (emphasis on "mental") Christian on the ticket and the holy credulous flocked to him like flies to a rotting carcass. McCain was about as Christian as Gandhi. The whole pregnant daughter episode was just too funny. Palin was the poster child for how preaching abstinence to teenagers doesn't work. Jesus doesn't mean shit when you've got a hardon or wet panties.
It just floors me that people can't see the right way to do things, and insist on sticking to ideas that have always failed, and will continue to fail. I certainly don't have all the answers for life, but I know when something isn't working. I wish I had the smarts, the eloquence, and the money to run for office, because there are many things I'd like to get off my chest on a national stage...right before they run me out of town. Religion is a poison and it needs to go away, as soon as possible. Yes I know it does some good, and gives many people direction in their lives, but it is holding us back from attaining everything that we could be. Despite the fact that religion can bring people together, it separates far more people than it can ever bring together. For every moderate religious person, there is a fundamentalist. For every good act that a fundamentalist performs, they bring a concomitant negative consequence along with them. It's up to humanists to provide alternatives to the enslaving of the human mind that religion requires for those that seek help with addictions and hopelessness. Thus far I would say we have failed. It may not be a fair game that we are playing because of the influence of religion, but we'll just have to try harder.
Man, we are so close to getting it right. I really don't think there is any reason why we couldn't attain a near utopia. Barriers are coming down because of travel and communications and the global economy. Overcoming the human condition is the major obstacle that we need to hurdle. Maybe I'm wrong, but I believe if we can convince people that religion is a dividing force in the world and is not something worthy of praise, we will have won half the battle. For it is religion that gives our evolved nature of mistrust an excuse to exist, an outlet for that mistrust, and an excuse to not overcome that ancient instinct. Sure, that wouldn't eliminate that instinct completely, because there are cultural reasons like past wars and such for hating people that are different than us, but it would go a long way toward exposing it for what it is, and a long way toward seeing each other as fellow humans, instead of objects of mistrust.
I envision a world without borders, poverty, or avarice. Now, I'm not so dumb to think that we will ever achieve that, but it is a goal that we should endeavor to realize because even coming close to achieving it will mean that we have made our planet a better place to live. Maybe we are doomed to destroying each other as we spin off through space on a planet ruled by hate and fear, but if we don't at least try to overcome the human condition, we will have failed to take advantage of the great gift that our evolution has given us -- the ability to overcome our base instincts and achieve things that no other species can hope to achieve. If we don't try, that may very well be a bigger sin than the destruction of our species, because by not taking advantage of our unique opportunity, perhaps we will have proved that we not worthy of our intellect, and that we are destined to be controlled by our lower nature.
Copyright ©2009 Rum Tickled Humanist
