God thinks you're an idiot. So does Shikamaru.

[timepiececlock]

I bought a Time magazine issue tonight because the cover feature was about the increased fervor in the debate of evolution in schools.

I started reading it in the car, but when I got to the map showing which states had started to enact the predecessors to anti-evolution measures at which political levels, I threw it down in disgust and drove home. I'll finish later, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, it made me want to do what I want to do when faced with this kind of imbecillic stuff (or other imbecillic stuff) that comes from religious groups: throw this song in their face. Not because it indicates any religious belief on my part (hah!), but because if I were a religious person, I'm pretty sure this would be my take on it. It's an attitude of healthy skepticism I wish I'd see more in the masses that do subscribe to belief in higher beings.



EDIT:... further thought:

When I was in early adolescence, around the age of 12ish to 16ish, I really wanted to ingore religions, especially deity-based ones. You know, pretend it doesn't exist since it has little to no bearing on me anyway. Sometime in going from 15 to being an adult I came to terms with some inescapable facts:

a) I may not believe in a god, but lots of people do and they probably won't "get over it"

b) I want to function in the world and be friends with and possibly date some of the abovementioned people. Also, more than half of my family are those people too. Hard to get away from that.

c) Religion seriously influences politics and ideology and where people put their money, and since political science is my major and I want to be in public service, religion isn't something I can ignore.

d) It's p-c acceptable in conversation to say you're an atheist, but it's not p-c to admit that you secretly think most of the people in the world have to be kind of stupid to believe in anything that absurd in the first place. Also, saying that hurts people's feelings, which makes you feel crappy and stuff.

e) Having accepted the fact that religious belief is part of the world we live in, I really ought to put some effort into educating myself about it more simply so I can know what the frell people are talking about beyond the most basic of Biblical references.

f) Knowing that other people believe doesn't really help me understand why they do the things they do in the name of their respective gods. I don't understand why women get the crappy deal in most religions, I don't understand fundamentalism that leads to violence, and I don't understand the rejection of science that betters the lives of all human being. I highly suspect that I could read all the Bibles and Quarans and the ancient Hindu texts and I'd still not understand these things.

Comments

[scarlettfish.livejournal.com]

Well, my mother isn't completely subordinate...she earns the most in the household, after all! But when it comes to the woman's 'role', she is firmly in place...women are the house-keepers, the mothers etc. And occasionally she'll say things about gay people like 'they're sinning against God', which is crazy, because she has gay friends that she gets along well with, but that's the belief she's grown up with. It drives me crazy.

[flouritephoenix.livejournal.com]

Love the sinner hate the sin. We're all sinners. That's how they rationalize that.

What they don't get is that most people would rather that they were outright HATED than told that what they believe is a blessing is a sin.