Free Speech

Freedom of Speech means alot, not only in this country but all over the world. Those who have and those who would love to have it. Those who fear for their lives if they stand on a corner with a sign or shouting things at a public official. Those who use it, and then you have those who use to insight fear, violence, bigotry, hate,  homophobia, twist & manipulate science, so on & so forth, these people take advantage of a simple idea that every human has a right to. It’s just like the people who take advantage of ‘Right to bear arms’ amendment, holding tightly onto their automatic weapons as if they can be useful in hunting. People like Jerry Fawell, Pat Robertson, the WBC, and as of recent a popular internet troll who I will refuse to name, I didn’t even post any mirrored videos or comments on the AAR Facebook page. People just like Fawell & Robertson have been dooming America, and predicting the end times for years, blaming natural disasters on the sins of America, and even blaming terrorist acts on Homosexuality, but later issuing a half-hearted apology. The point I am trying to make is, just because you have the right to, does it necessarily mean that you should? Is it good for people to hear about how ‘god hates America’ and how Homosexuality is a sin? What exactly are you going to accomplish out of such hate filled speech?

The troll I mentioned above came out and claimed it was all a hoax and then shut down their Youtube account, claiming it was parody. A parody that was very hard to see through. I remember watching the video for the first time and just feeling sick to my stomach over anyone can actually think like this person did, actually smiling with glee at the deaths and destruction in Japan, while at the same time like all the other so called “religious”, “righteous” and “god fearing” people, hiding their hatred behind their made up god. The thing is she claimed it was a parody, a parody I didn’t really find amusing. I’ve been thinking was it really a parody or did they just get tired of the threats & awful comments on their Youtube account? In other words could they not take the heat that comes with making such comments? I mean how could anyone really tell if it was parody or satire? I remember watching EdwardCurrent for the first time and thinking “This guy can’t be Christian” and his videos were so outlandish. Even after watching his videos if you still can’t decide whether or not he was joking you can go to his channel, where if you read the description you finally see that he is satire & its meant to be taken as a joke. Now it’s not the same when you went to the trolls channel. You would find other videos made up with such crazy talk, not to the extent of the recent video but just as crazy. You would find quotes by people like Jerry Fawell, and even the famous “Atheists shouldn’t be considered citizens” quote by George H. Bush. So where was any kind of hint that this was a joke?

If it was a joke, I didn’t get it. If she is an Atheist, than she went about the message all wrong. Atheists are better off without people like that on our side. Because like it or not the video & the message is still out there for everyone to see. People who watched it and disliked it, people who watched and agreed with it, and people who watched it and who will never find out that it was a so called hoax. Like Glen Beck & Bill O’Reillys crazy rants, people will watch their shows and listen and actually believe the garbage that comes from their mouth without ever investigating the matter themselves. The fact remains the seed was still planted, and as I said above just because you have the right to do it, does it mean that you should do it?

All you have to do is put yourself in the oppositions shoes. Imagine being a homosexual after the 9/11 attacks and hearing the bigoted Jerry Fawell say that the attacks were caused by homosexuality. I don’t think for a moment he thought about who he was going to hurt and how awful his remarks actually were. Imagine having family in Japan and seeing the Youtube video filled with more hate inspired speech. Imagine how much that would hurt to hear that maybe some of your family members died because of gods will, or blamed the disaster on other peoples Atheism. It’s just a simple experiment that can actually go along way. I’m all for Free Speech and don’t like censorship of any kind, but when the speech turns hateful maybe its best that you don’t open your mouth. Not just for yourself, but for everyone else too.

Misunderstandings of Atheists

In my last blog, ‘My Story’ I had mentioned the misconceptions of Atheists and said that this was a topic for another day. Well, today I will talk about this topic, and why it’s important to me to rid society of these stigmas, and why in fact(in my opinion) these misconceptions exist at all.

How do any group of people get misunderstood or labeled as ‘bad’? It can stem from a number of things and really isn’t that different from pathetic junior high rumors. I have heard a lot of different things about Atheists, considering I am one it’s kind of hard to believe, since I don’t do or believe in what most rumors spread say about us.

Most of the rumors or misconceptions come from a small group or sometimes just a single person from a group acting out in a way not accepted as ‘politically correct’. Such as Fred Phelps and his group of nut jobs, I think most of us know that not all Christians act in such a hateful and disrespectful way that the WBC does. My Mother goes to church and prays but I don’t think I would ever see her picketing a U.S. Soldiers funeral, and that goes for all the religious people I know. Things like this can have a bad effect on Atheists and theists, some people, already in the process of questioning religion may see the WBC and its pathetic antics and associate this with other Christians and assume they are all alike and go on to hate or even do something terrible to theists. Same thing goes for theists who claim people like Hitler and Stalin were Atheists. While it has been debated, Hitler was not an Atheist, he was Roman Catholic and referred to God many times in his speeches and writings, the Catholic Church funded the Nazis for years. Stalin may have been an atheist but the genocide and strangeness of his character were not in the name of atheism. Unlike that of mass suicides by cult leaders and mass killings of people in the past, all of which are ‘in gods favor’. Spreading blatant lies like these, are a total waste of time and energy, but there is always going to be fanatics in everything, but that doesn’t mean that we have to make them the poster child of their ’cause’.

Sometimes the misconceptions consist of just ‘passing the belief down’. You know,  you ask your parents questions or you hear the preacher talk about non-believers and how vile they are. Children are very impressionable and they will remember what is said, especially when it pertains to burning in hell for eternity. Theists know children are very impressionable and that is why indoctrination occurs at such an early age, and then they sugar coat it with ‘I’m just concerned with their souls’, which translates into ‘Don’t ask any questions, or you will go to hell’. This is not a very good recipe for raising healthy and responsible children.

Last, but not least is one of the funniest misconceptions of people like myself. The belief that atheists worship the devil and/or some other evil entity. I would love to know the source of where this came from. Do people actually believe this ridiculous garbage? When they think of atheist groups do they imagine us dressed in cloaks with sacrificial daggers, with alters, and pentagrams? I hope before they believe such drivel they would use a dictionary and look up the words ‘Atheist’ and ‘Satanist’. How could I worship something who doesn’t exist? If I don’t believe in the supernatural, like god or angels than why would I believe in devils and demons? Atheists, like myself like to surround themselves with positive things in life, and devil and demons aren’t exactly positive things, this goes for the bible and god as well.

It’s very important for us as a society to get over such stigmas. To dismiss any rumors until proven otherwise. People need to learn to research and study for themselves instead of just believing because someone they look up to or is older tell them these things. Everything I hear or see, I automatically research, if it’s considerably important to me, I will read and research for hours on a particular subject, so why doesn’t the same apply for others? Atheists only have one thing in common and that is the non belief in a god or gods. There are many different types of atheism, like Richard Dawkins breaks down as ‘Weak Atheists’ and ‘Strong Atheists’ But we all use the same system to guide us through our lives. We use science instead of religion to guide us, reason and rationality instead of prayer. So, no we don’t sacrifice innocent animals, we don’t eat children or paint pentagrams on our chests in blood, if you are wondering how I would know about such actions without doing them, relax I’m a huge movie buff and read a lot, so this is where these statements are coming from.

In order for us to truly live in a free society, we have to be able to get over such childish notions. From people like Bill O’Reilly down to something as simple as a mom telling their children that atheists will go to hell. If people would only see what they are saying, they would realize the nastiness behind these messages. It’s no different from believing that women are inferior to men or the white race is the superior race. Notions like these not only make a bad image for the people who fall under these categories but it also can create a harmful environment just waiting to discriminate against them. Like in some states, an atheist is still not allowed to hold public office, even though it says in the United States Constitution that ‘no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.’ So how in is this legal at all? Some groups and organizations are simply denied or shut down because they are associated with atheism, again how can people get away with such things in a country such as ours? I say all the time if our Founding Fathers could see the state that this country is in, they would be turning over in their graves, and they would especially flip when they see the Christian right, claiming this country is based on ‘Christian’ Values, but just like in my last blog, this is a topic for another day.

The facts summed up are these: We don’t believe in the supernatural including god, satan, demons, angels, etc. We do not want world domination, we don’t eat babies, we don’t want to stop people from believing what they want to believe,  we just want a fair hand at things. We want to be able to come out and say that ‘I am an Atheist’. Without the fear of persecution or social suicide. Isn’t this the very principles that this country was founded on in the first place? The only thing I would like to instill in people is to question. Not just to believe in something whole heartedly without questioning and investigating it themselves. To question something or to simply say ‘I don’t know’ is a humble approach, and is respectable. But, somehow, someway this country went down the other path. Not to question, just ‘do’. This is a much different country now than it was when Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams were alive. For good and bad reasons. But to go against something that Article VI, paragraph III of the Constitution clearly states, is just down right, shameful.

My Story

Hi, I’m Mark, I am 24 years old, I was born an Atheist like everyone else, but early on in childhood I was introduced to Christianity. I was never baptized or ‘saved’ as they so arrogantly state.

As far back as I can remember my Mother always went to church, and she usually took her children unless they were sick or something. But I do remember never feeling quite ‘right’ inside a church or even during the sermon. I know I wasn’t quite old enough to understand what they were saying or even the ‘message’ of the sermon, but something inside me always questioned what they were trying to say. By the age of 10 or so I started having more of these doubts and then the inner questioning came, like ‘Who made God”? and other contemplating questions that any 10-year-old would ask. My Mother always said “God has always been, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end”. And this never really satisfied me for an answer.

By this time, I usually went to church nearly every Sunday and depending on whether I wanted to or not, also on Wednesdays for youth group. I think I just went on Wednesdays to talk with people my age or to do some other activity. But even there, I still felt the same way.

In my mind I started calling myself an Atheist. At school I would hear people talk about things such as religion and beliefs and would sometimes hear ‘Atheists worship the devil’ and other nonsensical rubbish. Knowing what I knew, I knew I didn’t worship the devil, how could I or anyone else worship something that isn’t there? That goes for god as well. It always bothered me and still does about the misconceptions of Atheists or Agnostics, but that is a topic for another day.

I was lucky enough to be surrounded by friends with the same disbelief as I did. Even though now, most of them claim to be Christian, or don’t call themselves Atheists anymore. It seems like I have been the only one to keep my stance on the subject, even though I would still sometimes go to church on Sundays and some on Wednesdays. But by the age of 12 or so, I started skipping more and more. By this time, it had become optional to me, even though my mom sometimes still went. Because this is the time in which I began to feed my brain everything I needed or wanted to learn about. Even though, admittedly I didn’t quite understand Evolution or other scientific subjects, but I always found them so interesting.

So, by High School I was an ‘outed’ atheist. Everyone knew that I was an Atheist. So, nobody in my family was really interested in what I felt about religion or my atheism because it always turned into an argument of some sort. So again, I had my group of friends to fall back on. By, this time church going was out of the question, and never even really crossed my mind. The funny thing is sitting here, typing this, I do remember times back then ‘praying’ sometimes when something didn’t go my way or something bad had happened. Good thing is I grew out of that, sad thing is, some people never do.

By my junior and senior years I had met my still current girlfriend. She never judged me or my Atheism, and that’s one of the qualities that I love about her. We moved out with each other, soon after graduation. About a year or more after that we had a baby girl, and we named her Kamdyn Julia. We only had about 7 months with her until a tragedy took her away from us. I never prayed in the E.R. but I saw my girlfriend pray and other family members, but nothing ever happened. There was never any glimmer of hope, or miraculous outcome. Nothing. So for me not believing in god, is this what I deserve? But what about so many others that prayed for our daughter that day to live, is this what they deserve for believing in god? For that day, many of our closest family members stood firmly beside their beliefs and it may have made them stand closer to it more than ever before. But for me, that was truly my first hand experience of the god hypothesis failing. It didn’t fail me, because I had already let go of false promises and the belief in god years before, but for so many others in that little room that day, when I seen the doctor come in and shake his head, I seen their ‘god’ was never watching over any of us, let alone the world. And if god does exist, did he choose to answer the prayers of a football fan, to help that team win a game, and excluded the prayers for a 7 month old baby? To actually take a step back and look at the tragedies in the world, let alone the loss of a child and to believe there is some sort of god out there is not only ignorant but its irresponsible.

No, I didn’t have any great revelation and run to the nearest church and begin to pray. This experience made me realize even more to cherish each moment, not only with our loved ones, but also the strangers that come in and out of our lives, no matter how insignificant it may seem. Because we don’t live forever, and this life is the only life that we get. We are so lucky to be here and be able to laugh, or to love one another, or goof off when we shouldn’t be, or simply ponder the universe and what is out there. Why do we need to be cooped up inside a church, stifling our thoughts, telling us what is there, and that we are born dirty and are vile creatures? This is not healthy for us folks, we have to learn to move on, from such disastrous notions. It also taught me a more disturbing lesson. It taught me that the world is indifferent in its disasters and tragedies, and things just ‘happen’. There is no reason or great lesson to be learned from these things. It just happens. No rhyme or reason. We don’t die because it was our time, or ‘god needed us more’. I have learned so much more about life through an Atheist set of eyes, more so compared to a religious pair, that I can say with my all of my heart “Thank god, I’m an Atheist”.