It's curious to me, that the most innately moral and stable and saner people I know are all agnostic or of the atheist persuasion. To be fair, I know many profoundly religious people who are truly empathetic, selflessly generous and socially aware, but, lately to even admit this is giving ammunition to those who want to use and misinterpret the graciousness of others to promote their own scurrilous agendas. Case in point, a week ago, Bill Donahue dishonestly distorted the meaning and intention of Richard Dawkins statement in his 2006 book The God Delusion, that the Catholic Church has "been unfairly demonized" in regards to the charges of sexual misconduct and abuse, to somehow justify his position that the legal cases against the Catholic Church in these matters are unjustified and in effect a "witch hunt". His Catholic League took out a full page ad in the NY Times to make his case that the charges amount to that homosexuals were somehow unfairly taking advantage of the church by trying to portray the abuses as pedophilia, when according to him, "the children involved weren't raped" they were active participants.
Of course, Dawkins was trying to be realistic and fair in his investigation into this issue and should be commended for it, but his attempt to be fair was unfairly hijacked by Donahue.....
One has only to look at the real records to realize that the majority of the cases were not of a homosexual nature and that the majority of the cases took place between youngsters and mature, adult priests. But, in the world of Faith and the manipulation of interpretation, if you are a true believer, you only have to turn your head and look away.
That is one of only a myriad of issues I have with the concept of FAITH. Americans regard the Constitution as a sacred writ. But how many Americans know anything about the Constitution? In the minds of many it is the Constitution of Independence...a weird construct, like a Holy Card filed away in a dusty prayer book. A concept with out any real meaning which can be interpreted by shysters, like a snake oil selling preacher in a tent to mean what ever they want the language to be manipulated to mean.
The Constitution was adopted in 1787. That was 224 years ago. It was written as a framework to protect the rights of the states and citizens thereof in the operating environment of the 18th century.
It worked to a point and has been amended and stretched to its breaking point a number of times. In other words, we are running a country in the 21st century with an operating system that has been hacked together since the end of the 18th century.
How many times in the last 5 years have you had to upgrade the operating operating system of your computer? How often do you have to upgrade the security protection of your system? How often do you have to run anti virus programs to protect your system from subversive viruses?
This is real time, not dream time....
So, while the majority of Americans are dreaming, encased in the synthetic fantasy of a perfect democracy and not knowing what the operating system of America is about, it has been systematically hacked by those who want to exploit every flaw and as the system gets older, it becomes less responsive and more open to hacking. Faith means nothing. Being good because you don't want to go to hell is so fucking lame. You either have a true moral compass or you are adrift. Being good because of the threat of eternal damnation is a joke to me. Hitler professed to be a christian, republicans and Wall street bankers who destroy the lives of the poor profess to be fervent christians. The decision to be socially responsible takes guts, determination and action. You can either live in a dream or choose between passive "faith" and active hope.
I chose HOPE a long time ago... and every day I say "Thank You" to Sister Mary Theonella for beating hope into my skull against a ceramic wall in St. Monica's Grade School in Detroit. I have become and will always be, your very worst nightmare.....umm Sister Mary Theonella, if you want to get a preview of hell, click here, NOW!
Of course, Dawkins was trying to be realistic and fair in his investigation into this issue and should be commended for it, but his attempt to be fair was unfairly hijacked by Donahue.....
One has only to look at the real records to realize that the majority of the cases were not of a homosexual nature and that the majority of the cases took place between youngsters and mature, adult priests. But, in the world of Faith and the manipulation of interpretation, if you are a true believer, you only have to turn your head and look away.
That is one of only a myriad of issues I have with the concept of FAITH. Americans regard the Constitution as a sacred writ. But how many Americans know anything about the Constitution? In the minds of many it is the Constitution of Independence...a weird construct, like a Holy Card filed away in a dusty prayer book. A concept with out any real meaning which can be interpreted by shysters, like a snake oil selling preacher in a tent to mean what ever they want the language to be manipulated to mean.
The Constitution was adopted in 1787. That was 224 years ago. It was written as a framework to protect the rights of the states and citizens thereof in the operating environment of the 18th century.
It worked to a point and has been amended and stretched to its breaking point a number of times. In other words, we are running a country in the 21st century with an operating system that has been hacked together since the end of the 18th century.
How many times in the last 5 years have you had to upgrade the operating operating system of your computer? How often do you have to upgrade the security protection of your system? How often do you have to run anti virus programs to protect your system from subversive viruses?
This is real time, not dream time....
So, while the majority of Americans are dreaming, encased in the synthetic fantasy of a perfect democracy and not knowing what the operating system of America is about, it has been systematically hacked by those who want to exploit every flaw and as the system gets older, it becomes less responsive and more open to hacking. Faith means nothing. Being good because you don't want to go to hell is so fucking lame. You either have a true moral compass or you are adrift. Being good because of the threat of eternal damnation is a joke to me. Hitler professed to be a christian, republicans and Wall street bankers who destroy the lives of the poor profess to be fervent christians. The decision to be socially responsible takes guts, determination and action. You can either live in a dream or choose between passive "faith" and active hope.
I chose HOPE a long time ago... and every day I say "Thank You" to Sister Mary Theonella for beating hope into my skull against a ceramic wall in St. Monica's Grade School in Detroit. I have become and will always be, your very worst nightmare.....umm Sister Mary Theonella, if you want to get a preview of hell, click here, NOW!
3 comments:
I just shared this post of yours on my Facebook page for the holy rollers I spent hours debating.
Couldn't agree more with your conclusions.
Thanks for this one!!!!!!!!
Microdot- could you please cross-post this on Man with the Muckrake?
Well, okay, but you have to have the definition of hell link included!
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