Religious Freedoms Are Being 'Trampled'

This idea is bullshit.

The Christians are always the ones claiming that they are being persecuted. You'd think one of them would own a dictionary. Or a thesaurus for that matter. In America the judeo-Christian God is EVERYWHERE! It's on our money, in our (creepy) Pledge of Allegiance, it was even made our national motto during the Red Scare. Billboards depicting a bloody Jesus (VERY creepy) that died for our sins are on most major streets. Churches are on EVERY street corner. There are an overwhelming number of laws protecting religious freedoms. 90%+ of Americans are religious. But....they are being bullied by people who just so happen to not believe and we're asking to not have it shoved down our throats. How very tragic for them...

We've been hearing a ton about the proposed laws in numerous states that would allow businesses to refuse service to persons who 'would burden their religious beliefs'. Meaning: "My god doesn't like you and therefore I don't have to like you or do anything for you."

I understand the concept of having small businesses run the way the owner sees fit. But don't we already have laws that state that small businesses can refuse service to whomever they please?

I have heard of the stories of businesses getting sued because they refused service to gay people. If you choose to deny service to someone who is causing a problem in your store, sure, kick them out. If they are constantly in the store to steal things or just wonder around making a mess? Kick them out! When you start to refuse service to willing customers because of their gender, race or sexual orientation that is discrimination and that is unlawful.

Jesus spoke against divorce. Are businesses going to ask every single woman with children if they are a single parent because of divorce and then kick them out if the answer is 'yes'?

Personally, I can't understand why a small business would want to deny themselves of the business. That sounds like a bad business move to me. If I am selling a service and someone wants to buy it- why the hell not? That's what the business is for. If you run a business with hatred and bigotry be prepared to run it into the ground.

For that matter, I can't really understand why someone would WANT to give assholes like this any business at all. But, I guess it's not the fact that this particular bakery had a really great recipe for fondant, that that photographer has a great sense of light, or that pharmacy is closest to my home - it's that this particular bakery/photographer/pharmacist found it in their best interests to be bigots.  And if we ignore it, it will continue and get worse.  

Now, I know where a counter argument can be made. If I had a business would I want to serve a KKK member? Of course not. But I'm not denying someone service because they happen to be white. I would be denying someone who is an active bigot. I want no part in that. Someone who is gay had no choice in the matter. They just ARE gay. And to deny them service would be on the same level as denying someone service because they happen to be black.

Also, how exactly would I KNOW that  a particular person is a KKK member? How would I KNOW that a person is divorced, or gay, or anything that I would be morally objected to without asking them? Are these business really asking people to fill out a form with all their 'moral misdeeds' so the owner can judge them? That seems like a lot of damn work. Again, not a great way to try to keep a business afloat.

I think that in a few years many of the people who argue against gay rights will find themselves on the wrong side of history. Wake up, people! You're not being persecuted because of your religious views. You're being called a bigot because you are being a bigot! 

Southern Public Schools

Recently there have been numerous reports about public schools being sued by the ACLU for some reason or another. Many of them, rightly so. There will always be the school districts that believe a simple prayer, Christian tabling session, or a Jesus rally won't hurt anyone. What's the big deal, right?

Here's the big deal:

In middle school I had a history teacher, 'Mr. White'. He was an amazing teacher. He kept us tweens interested in history. Good for him! Middle school kids are the worst. The only problem with Mr. White was that he would frequently interject his religion into his lesson. He always had his bible in class with him. And, he would get very passionate about telling us to read it. No one questioned him about it and no one seemed to have a problem with it. I didn't because, at the time, I was pretty religious. (About as religious as a pre-teen outcast could be.)  But, if anyone in that room wasn't Christian...I can see how it would have been a very frustrating thing... Mr. White was cool. Going against him was social suicide.

In high school, when I was starting to develop my own ideas about morals and what was right, I started to get a tad more lippy about my ideals. This didn't really get me into trouble with the school but, more so with other students. In homeroom I was asked by my teacher to participate in another student's psychological survey. The student said it was for a class although she may have been asking for a pro-life after school club. I can't think of why else she would be asking the following question- and only this one question: Would you ever get an abortion? My only answer was 'maybe'. You would have thought I had set a bomb off in the room. Gasps were widespread. Jaws were dropped. My sister was the most annoyed with me: 'THAT'S AGAINST OUR RELIGION!"  That was a major moment for me when I came to realize that maybe 'our' religion wasn't 'my' religion. Needless to say, I became pretty ostracized in my homeroom class...and in the halls...and invited to MANY more religious functions after that.....

In college, it was a different story for me. I was pretty active in the secular community by this time. I was working as an orientation leader and ambassador for my university. I had been asked by the student affairs office to help them run a leadership camp on campus for a few days. The students attending the camp would be incoming freshmen who would want to take leadership roles early on. Awesome for them, right?  I get there and the camp is headed up by the disabilities administrator- a known religious woman. Not a big deal to me. Until she started leading the students in prayer before meals. Most of the other students didn't mind it and followed along eagerly. However, there was a few students who had gotten to know me well enough to come to me and tell me that they were atheist and didn't know how to react to this. I ended up talking to the admin- who blew me off. She had even stated before her prayers that 'people are not going to like this but I don't care.'  I filed a formal complaint with the local chapter of the ACLU. I don't know what came of it. I do know that this admin had been reported before.

The big deal here is that school is HUGE social place for students. It's where we go to meet lifelong friends, learn our social behavior and figure out what is acceptable for us. We live in a nation that was founded on the right and freedom to choose our own path. Our major institutions should reflect that. Atheists are not trying to rip your beliefs out of you. We are trying to make sure that you are not trampling on others' beliefs. Government is for all people not just the ones who look and think like you. Public places should be separate from religion because they are that- public. Religious people already have institutions for their beliefs- tax free I might add.

**In all fairness, in middle school, myself and another 'religious' student bullied our brand new, very young science teacher out of teaching evolution because it was 'against our religion'. We really just wanted to roam the halls instead of going to class. Instead of letting people who had a problem with it out of class she chose to skip the chapter all together. I'm so ashamed of that now. I eventually learned about evolution in college but, I made other kids miss out on learning about it.I'll always be sorry about that.

Debating Creationism

Last night I, along with about 20 other people, braved the snow and below freezing temperatures to be able to go to the Secular Hub to watch the Bill Nye v. Ken Ham debate. The debate's topics was 'Is Creationism a viable option for the explanation of the Earth's beginning?' We weren't the only ones to see it streamed live over the interwebs. Thousands of people tuned in to see the show. So many, in fact, that the live feed dropped several times.

At first, I was skeptical about this debate. I really didn't like the idea of a respectable scientist giving religious nonsense a platform to stand on. I'm positive that Ken Ham and the Creation Museum will use this debate as a way to somehow prove their credibility.  I'm already annoyed at having to defend 'atheist churches' to Christians, I really don't want to have to now argue that just because there was a major debate that creationism is now a viable option.

The debate can be watched at www.debatelive.org where it will be available for the next week or so. I believe that YouTube will be archiving the debate as well. There are sure to be many ways that one can watch all the action. I implore you to seek it out and watch the whole thing.

My favorite part of the night was all the facial expressions Bill gave Ken when something didn't sound quite right. Here is my favorite:






 Isn't this just the look of 'I'm tired of your shit, Ken'?

A few points that I loved about Bill's way of debating: I LOVED that Mr. Nye was not afraid of saying that he didn't know an answer. He would spin the idea by making it sound wonderful that while, yes, we don't know the answer but HOW COOL IS IT THAT WE GET TO FIND OUT?!? Many times when I have debated a Christian and have answered a question with "I don't know" they use it as an 'ah-ha!' moment. They have me now! THEY have an answer. It's God and Jesus and the Bible. That's all they need. I feel sad for them at that moment. They have an answer so they are done?  How do they know that answer is right? What about the insurmountable evidence that is piled against their answer? They choose to ignore reason for their comforting answers.

I also liked how many times Bill Nye said, "It's an extraordinary claim" as compared to Ken Ham's "It's impossible." Ham just seems to be so immovable in his faith- which, in many circles, would be commended. But, when someone is so stuck in their opinion, they close themselves off to so many possibilities. Mr. Nye, by saying that there is an extraordinary claim, is still leaving room for extraordinary evidence; all someone needs to do is present it.

 Just like Bill, many atheists were not satisfied with Ken's answers to questions or his explanations of creationism.  Most of Ken's responses to audience questions were a mix of "I have this book that begins with 'In the beginning...,'" a complete lack of not answering questions, and his very impressive way of answering a question that no one asked. At one point he answered a question by stating that his answer had to be what it was because his sponsors 'would have wanted it that way'. That one baffled me.

Most of the evening had me feeling as if I were in college again. PowerPoint presentations and short videos were used a lot by Ken. I wondered if he was going to be speaking on his own at all during his 30 minute presentation. He did do a LOT of preaching, however, throughout the night. I guess he figured that would help.

The point that I think many people are fixated on was the responses by both men to a particular audience question. The question was, roughly, 'what would be enough for you to be swayed to the other side?' Ken's answer was that he was a Christian. Christians can't explain nor prove their evidence. It is something that was specially revealed to them via some non verifiable way by God. Ken is 100% positive that nothing will change his mind.

Bill's answer? Evidence. Spoken like a true man of science.

By the end of the night I was chanting "BILL, BILL, BILL, BILL! BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY!"