Dropping in

I’m probably one of few people who likes Comic Sans as a font. It’s all good.

Life is rolling along, doing nothing exciting at the moment. Still waiting to hear from the RCMP about the jobs in the Great White North. One of my references was contacted to set up a time, then called by the Sergeant at the appointed time to rebook because things had come up, and as far as I know, he hasn’t called back. Oh well. I’m torn, anyway, by the decision. I like my apartment, I like the area I’m in, and I don’t necessarily want the madness of unloading most of my possessions, even though I like the adventure and something new aspect. So–meh. What’s frustrating, in a way, is that the different divisions don’t share staffing information, and the division here in the town where I currently work, is also in need of a dispatch person, but the posting hasn’t gone out to the public yet. They’re only staffing from within. It would amuse me greatly to accept the job in the Northwest Territories and then immediately transfer to where I am without the move in the middle.

At the same time, I keep thinking it would be nice to work for myself again back closer to where my grandchildren live, and only work 12 to 15 hours a week. I could live with that. Working for myself, I would charge about $75 an hour, so that many hours is a very comfortable living. Keeping my eye out for affordable housing down that way. I’ve seen two that might be appropriate, although both would require renovations. One is a former bank with a 2 bedroom apartment upstairs, the other is a former church and community hall, both buildings having wheelchair access. I could renovate one into a clinic and the other into my home. I don’t know. I keep pondering and thinking and mulling, but not wanting to make a clear decision until I hear from the RCMP. I’m thinking of unloading some stuff anyway, regardless. I think I saw a local flea market deal that runs on Sunday mornings. I need to track it down and maybe get a table and start selling books and stuff.

Watching the news around the world and becoming more and more annoyed at the way world governments are kowtowing to religious pressure. I am a firm believer in the separation of Church and State, and I despise theocratic governments. Look up pictures of Iran and Afghanistan from the early 70’s when they were ruled by Shahs, and from now when they are firmly under the thumb of Islam. It’s horrifying. I also disagree with the notion that I (or anyone) have to "respect religious beliefs". No, I don’t. If I find your religious beliefs harmful or dangerous, I’m not going to respect them. Religion is no more deserving of respect than politics. I can respect you as a human being, but I don’t have to respect how you think or what you believe.

Recently, a couple in Philadelphia lost a second child to easily treated disease. Why? Because their religion promotes prayer to cure children. After the death of their first child, they received 10 years’ probation. This time, they face murder charges. Do you know that a LOT of States have religious exemption laws? Yep. You can say, "It’s my religion, so I don’t have to have my child tested for tuberculosis, or be vaccinated, or receive insulin for diabetes, or antibiotics for pneumonia." And then they’re all shocked when the child dies. When your religious belief is killing your child, you need to rethink your stand. I don’t think religion should trump the law, and I believe the law should not be based on religion. I can already hear the ten commandments being trotted out. Stop it right now. Yes, killing and stealing is wrong and should stay on the books. However, the commandments say nothing about raping children, or neglecting them, or making sure they have what they need. And if you think that having a religion make the laws, let me point you to Iran and Afghanistan, and tell me how quickly you want to adopt those laws. Iran recently dropped the legal age for girls to marry to 9. Why? Because the Prophet, at 50-something either married a 9 year old, or married a 6 year old and waited until she was 9 to consummate the marriage. Once ANY religion takes over, the first thing it does is take rights away from people.

And consider that "Christianity" is NOT a religion. It’s a loose label that is slapped on a shitload of religions, many of which contradict each other, but all of which profess to follow Christ. Catholics don’t want to be confused wth Protestants. Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t want to be confused with Baptists, Baptists don’t want to be considered Mormons, and no one sane wants to be part of the Westboro Baptist Church, who are hate-mongers supreme. There are over 35000 different Christian sects in the world. Would you want the Westboro Baptists in charge of making the laws in your town? So–kick religion out of politics.

You probably remember when I was active in my local church. I enjoyed the community of it, but I knew I didn’t believe some of the core beliefs. The more I read, the more I think about things, the less reason I see to worship any god. I don’t know if any gods exist, but if they do, they’re going to have to get along without me. My concern in life boils down to this: regardless of how we got here, we ARE here. We are alive here and now, and if this is it, the only life there is, then we are bound by our humanity to be as decent and kind to other humans and living things as we can. Why? Because it makes life better for us all. Not because we expect a reward when we’re dead, or because we’re afraid of being tormented for all eternity after we’re dead, but because it’s the right thing to do. We have to stand up to oppression in all its forms. We need to encourage our own governments not to cave to Islamic maniacs because if we look back at Europe in the late 1930’s and the various governments that did not stand up to Nazi Germany when it first reared its ugly head, we see the consequences of standing aside out of fear.

I want to see graffiti artists around the world painting pictures of the Prophet on every damn wall they can. I want to see believers and non-believers standing hand in hand, saying "We refuse to give up our rights to live our lives on our terms." Atheists don’t have to respect religious beliefs, but we can allow other people to have them. Believers can have their beliefs without trying to talk other people into sharing them. Let’s give the same rights to everyone–if same-sex couples want the same legal rights as heterosexual couples, let them have those rights. But let’s not give special rights to anyone for religious reasons. Your religion says you should carry a big, sharp knife? Our laws say you have to leave that big, sharp knife at home. Law wins! Knife stays home. Your religion requires you to grow your hair? Grow your hair, but when you get a job where your long hair is a danger, change jobs, wrap your hair up well and put a tight cap on it, or cut your hair, because I don’t want your scalp torn off your head and I don’t want your 3 foot long hair in my food. If you want to wear a cross or a Star of David, go ahead, but tuck it under your clothes if the chain is long enough that it’s going to get caught in machinery. You work in an office? Wear whatever religious symbol you like, but don’t you dare freak out if a pagan co-worker comes in wearing a pentacle. If YOU can show your religion at work, so can everyone else.

If public buildings are going to have the ten commandments, then they should also have books from the Quran, (I won’t say the Torah, because the commandments are in there, as well, so they cover Judaism and Christianity), quotes from Buddha and on and on and on. Just take the religious stuff out of public buildings, otherwise we won’t be able to get through the lobbies. Teach religion at school, but teach ALL the religions. I know those of you who are deeply Christian don’t favour the idea, but stop and think what would you believe if you had been raised in a different place. So, teach all the religions and let children decide for themselves when they reach the age of reason. Teach children to reason, to question, to search for evidence, not to believe just because you do. And if they reach a conclusion that is different from yours, accept that and love them anyway. They’re your children. I would be concerned if any of my children or grandchildren joined some lunatic cult that made them cut all ties with family, but my door would always be open. If any of them decided that going to church makes sense and they become Catholic or Presbyterian or whatever, we might have lively discussions, but I would never turn away from them. That just makes Hell a reality here and now. And I don’t believe in Hell, so why create it? 

Okay, I’m done ranting for now. I may have to copy and post this into my blog. I now have a blog at WordPress.

Warm good wishes, my friends.