Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on February 5, 2013 at 8:08pm

Jim, I heard of people doing this but I no longer travel as I once did. Thanks for the text; I can use it locally.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on February 8, 2013 at 3:42pm

Oh my gosh, Jim! You have topped anything I can think of. I am a great believer in buffoonery, burlesque, caricature, comeback, digs, disdain, disparagement, farce, foolery, gibe, irony, jab, jeers, laughter, mockery, needling, parody, razz, rib, roast, sardonicism, and satire.

I was caught in an hypocrisy the other day on the Humor link and had to retract a statement I made and a change in attitude. It felt so good to get rid of that cognitive dissonance I experienced and am grateful for the nudge. 

I believe people are entitled to their opinions and respect, but not entitled to silence in the face of nonsense or harmful attitudes, beliefs, customs, traditions and values. 

We did a lot of that in 1960s in Washington, DC during the civil rights movement.

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on February 4, 2013 at 6:05pm

@Dustin

Sigh.  Sorry to say, I'm with you.  I came of age when the hippies preached peace, love, kindness to the earth, gay/women's rights, and good drugs.  OK, they leaned toward Eastern religions, but they were more secular than their parents as regards the Abrahamic faiths, and I was basically on board with their program. Of course peace is better than war! 

I thought that religion was fighting a losing battle (it had certainly lost me) and that the world would become progressively more enlightened, especially as science explained more and more of life's mysteries and reached farther and farther out into the universe.

WTF happened?? Muslim terrorism, intersectarian strife, Christianization of the US military, and INCREASING religiosity, especially in this supposedly enlightened land of ours.  Half of the respondents in a recent poll (I blogged about this) think that God rewards athletes who work hard. 

So yes, my attitudes have hardened.  I see the undeserved respect and credibility religion gets, and I seethe.  I go past a church that would bring in thousands of dollars in taxes, and I clench my teeth. 

I have become absolutely, physically allergic to prayer.  When my brother starting spouting Hebrew prayers at his son's wedding, my legs carried me out of there before I realized what was happening.

Meeting other atheists has enabled me to share my resentment.  We have to convert our POV to action. Religion has the capacity to cause great misery and environmental degradation. 

I can't see why people cling to these fantasies.  Or rather, I do see, and it's pathetic.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Richard Goscicki on February 8, 2013 at 3:54pm

As usual, Alan, you and I see eye to eye.  Richard Dawkins himself said numerous times that after he published The Selfish Gene in 1976 that he fully expected to see religion begin to roll back in power and influence.  To our chagrin, it was clearly not the case. 

I suggest that we not judge things by what’s going on now before our eyes, but by long-term trends that are noticeably taking place now.  Consider public schools in the northeast, for example.  Kids saying prayers or trying to proselytize playmates will be immediately chastised and put in their place.  Most teachers, especially science teachers, won’t tolerate hearing the word “Christ.”  We’re making progress.

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lillie on February 4, 2013 at 7:07pm

I would not go so far as to say religion drives one crazy but I do know that many people in mental institutions have some scary religious ideations.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on February 4, 2013 at 8:01pm

Religion bothers me more and more all of the time.  I think people bring it up more and more, too.  Honestly, I don't understand the hold religion has on people.  I just don't understand it.  But that''s because I'm an outsider.  They probably don't understand the hold religion does not have on me.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on February 5, 2013 at 4:31am

Religion destroys a person's ability to think clearly.

To remedy that, religionists provide more religion.

During twelve years in Catholic schools, Catholicism irritated me a lot.

I put limits on it; I resolved that since I had only two cheeks I would turn at most but one cheek.

Years later after I learned about S&M, I decided that for a real close female friend I might turn two more cheeks. I insist on equality; she would have to turn the same number of cheeks.

Despite all the nuns' efforts, I saw Heaven only as a place from where I could watch what humankind is doing.

Catholicism irritated me most with its condemnation of birth control AND its refusal to help me pay for the children I would have. I was, after all, a typically always horny teen. I locked Catholicism out of the bathroom, where I had more rewarding things to do.

Science and mathematics were two partial remedies. In college I left, but years later I described my volunteer work at SF Sex Information (sfsi.org) as a wonderful remedy for the crap I'd heard in Catholic schools.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by ali kh on February 6, 2013 at 12:56pm

you wouldn't have any idea of how annoying religions and all religious people can get until you actually find yourself stuck in a religious country like Iran and in some sort of traditional religious family. I am a non-believer but I strongly believe in hell 'cause i actually live in one. when you family wish you the worst that can happen, when they actually get happy when you hurt, and by saying anything in society it can cost you your life, literally, there is when you realize writing a post at a mid night-could ease your mind and feel comforting!!!:) 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on February 6, 2013 at 3:07pm

Ali,

I feel for you.  Religion can be brutal.  And often is brutal.

Just to be safe, if you are currently in Iran, please change your user name to something different from your own name.  One can never be too careful. 

As long as it is safe to do so, post here all you want.  The discussions on Nexus will make you know you are not alone.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by ali kh on February 6, 2013 at 11:43pm

thank you for the advice my friend, living in this kind of situation often couse you to be more fearless, but you are right I have to be more careful. it's kind of strange that it actualy feels good to be able to cominucate without being threatened or any insultion!!!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on February 7, 2013 at 6:39am

You are not alone in your conclusions!  Be safe and know that the one thing that is true everywhere is things change.  Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but things do change.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tammy S on February 6, 2013 at 3:09pm

Ali, in our search for work abroad this has been ever present in my mind, I think it is my greatest fear that we will find 'gainful' employment with good benefits in a country that will literally stifle me and drive me further inward. Living in the south of the U.S. has been dangerous at times, living in Iran or Saudi ( the later of which we were considering), would be dangerous for me all the time. I'm glad you have some form of outlet, I can't imagine not being able to vent to loved ones. 

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• Next ›
• Page