Moral Low Ground

I was recently un-friended on Facebook by a family member. And I know exactly why.

It was because of Satanists. Seriously.

So, recently, in Florida, a court ruling allowed religious materials to be handed out in public schools. Naturally, the Satanists group decided to hand out Satanic materials- a coloring book.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/19/satanic-coloring-book_n_5846640.html

Their intent in this was to show Christians that if they make a law that allows religion into the classroom they must allow other religions into said classroom. Including the 'icky' ones. It's either allow them all, or allow none.

Christian have lost their minds about the idea of Satanist materials being allowed to be given to children. I found this to be hilarious. My cousin on the other hand...not so much.

She posted about how parents in Florida (our home state) should be careful in watching what their children bring home. A few of her friends commented about how awful, disgusting, and serious this was. Some commented about how this country is circling the drain and we all need to pray to Jesus. I commented that I thought this was hilarious.

I got banned faster than I knew what happened.

I guess I had it coming. I had previously called out this cousin for claiming she was a victim of 'Christian persecution'. In Georgia. Southern Georgia. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

 It wasn't pretty.

I guess this was my final offence. I am an atheist after all. I am inherently evil. I also have no moral code whatsoever. I have a hard heart and I do no good things in life. Like, at all.

Speaking of which, maybe I'll now mention how her husband, who is a good Christian man, tried to have sex with me on a few occasions. How he would beg me to let him into my bed. Or, we can talk about how her relationship with this man started while he was still married.

All of this information I have kept to myself to keep the peace in my family. I'm sure I would have been blamed for tempting him anyway. My family doesn't read this blog anyway- it doesn't matter.

Look, we all have a past. I remember going out and smoking, drinking, and generally partying with this cousin. I remember late-night guy hookups and racing around town too fast. I remember tattoos, cursing, and skipping church. But I guess we were teenagers.

We've both grown up. She is married with children. I work full-time and run several community groups. But, I don't appreciate her 'Holier-Than-Thou' attitude. I don't appreciate being judged as unworthy because I don't happen to agree with her opinion of religion.

Maybe I just need to color...

Here's my problem with CoCORE

It's a great idea, United CORE. An umbrella organization that was put into place to support smaller secular groups. They were to give the smaller leaders a voice within the nation-wide secular movement. They are in place to help announce events, fundraising, and leadership training. All well and good. I agree with this movement.

Here's the problem with COCORE (Colorado's branch of CORE): It has been taken over by a man who is running amok with power. This one-man-show refuses to cooperate with others, has deemed himself to be the head of CoCORE (with no vote), and he has decided that his rule is paramount. He believes that because he has bought notoriety that he deserves accolades for his 'effort'.

He basically took over this year's Colorado Secular Conference on his own. He anointed himself the king of the conference. (Then bitched about how much work it took him to do it alone.) He put a lot of his own time and effort-and let's not forget a LOT of his OWN money- into making the conference a big deal.

And it was! It was a three-day event with high-end speakers from across the country. About 20 vendor tables, a fully stocked VIP room, and kids room. It was quite a spectacular event. The problem was that this was not a 'local' conference. There was a total of one local speaker. MANY local secular leaders were annoyed that we weren't even asked to represent our state/group/community.  It also made NO MONEY. I believe he lost a lot, actually.

We all know why. He wanted to be the star attraction.  He prefers to be the one in the spotlight and will step on you to do so. He does not work well with others nor take anyone else's opinions or suggestions.  If he is- god forbid- forced to work with other people he whines constantly when he doesn't get his way, pouts when he loses, and just does as he wishes on his own without approval.

He recently decided that CoCORE (mostly he) owns the Colorado Secular Conference. He put it to a vote among the COCORE community if the conference should merge with the American Humanist Annual Conference that will take place in Denver next year. He made up a rule that if a group does not vote than that is an automatic 'yes' vote. It's absurd. Some groups left because of this. One group raised questions, tried to speak with this man one-on-one, and spoke with other groups about our concerns.

This prompted this man to send an attacking e-mail, directed to the one group leader who dared to ask a question, to the ENTIRE COCORE LEADERSHIP LIST. At least 30 people received this e-mail. It was one of the most childish things I have ever seen from a grown man. He then proceeds to act as if he is being attacked.

He has done this before. It caused board members to leave a group and lead him to step down from his own group. But, here he is, at it again.  Again, acting as if he has done nothing wrong.

There are some really great people in our secular community in Colorado who refuse to work with him. They have opted to sit out of a conference if this man has any involvement in it. It's sad. I also do not wish to ever have to work with him. I really should have learned my lesson from the 2013 conference. Last year we had a committee made up of 6 or 7 different community leaders to make decision, follow a budget, etc. He constantly whined and argued when he didn't get his way. It was literally like working with an ill-behaved child.

CoCORE was sold to me as an e-mail list. I wanted no part of it. I am a pretty well known person within the Denver Metro secular community. It's not difficult to get a hold of me. I'm in very good contact with other members and leaders throughout the city. If there is something going on in another part of the state I will usually hear about it. I just didn't want to receive 20 e-mails a day about random things. Which is exactly what happened when I was forced to join.

I was bullied into joining CoCORE by this man. I was told that if I wanted Denver Atheists to be a part of the Colorado Secular Conference then I must join. Otherwise we would not be represented at all. We weren't anyway. No one was- except this man and his interests. He called the shots and he ran the show. Poorly. (In my opinion)

I was bullied into joining the CoCORE organization. I won't be bullied by this man anymore.

I wish I was in high school again...

Florida high schools are 'under attack' because Christians aren't being allowed to force people to pray.

Boo-hoo.

Here's an incredibly biased article written about it:

http://www.inquisitr.com/1442033/florida-high-school-football-team-covers-the-field-in-protest-of-school-prayer-laws/

Christians stormed the football field in a blatant disregard of safety and security of the student athletes in order to stop the game and advocate their hypocritical show of prayer. (Matthew 6:6)

I'm getting really tired of trying to be understanding of Christians. It's as if they intentionally are trying to twist laws and verbiage to make them seem like the victim.  Oh wait. That's exactly what they are doing. I was taught to do it when I was stuck in religion. I was constantly being told that we (Christians) were under attack by the evils of the ACLU, FFRF and other 'secular's. (And, of course, the Muslims)

I grew up in Florida. I went to Brandon High School just outside of Tampa. Did I see athletic teams pray before/after/during  games/practices/random events? Of course I did. I was on an athletic team- I had to participate. It was constant. It was time consuming. It was fucking annoying. But, if I had refused to participate, I would have been labeled. No one in high school wants to be labeled. For ANY reason. Let alone being a godless heathen. I remember a friend of mine in middle school who told us she was a pagan. My mother flipped her shit. She would drive by the friend's house and point out all the evil signs of the home. (It was Halloween- they had decorations at the time) She would tell us that we should stay away from the entire family.

Personally, I think the friend was going through a 'cool-new-plants-and-rocks' phase. She had been raised Catholic and, I assumed, wanted to try new rituals. That's all Catholicism is, right? Rituals, saints (gods), and candles? No big difference to me.

Anyway, the crazy Christians in Florida- and I'm sure around the country- are failing to see the point. They are insisting that anyone who doesn't want to pray can just not pray. They aren't thinking about the Jewish kid or the atheist kid who don't want to be ostracized. They are probably in the mindset that those 'different' kids should learn about Christianity anyway.

It NEVER occurs to the Christians that if THEY want to pray then they should just do so and not make a huge thing of it and force everyone else to act as they act. The problem is that Christians are told to make everyone else Christians. They are a contagious disease. It's why we need more protections and advocates in schools.

If I had had the courage that I have now- and the knowledge- I would have stood up for my rights in high school. Damn, that would have been fun....