Jesus is Anti-American

Well, it's the time of year when many Christians in this country become neocon patriots focused on letting everyone know how important Jesus and his daddy are to the creation of our country.  (If this generalization doesn't fit you or your situation, please tell me where you live so I can move there.)

What most Christians fail to realize, unsurprisingly, is just how anti-American Jesus actually is.

1) Jesus Is Your "Lord"

When the colonies declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain on July 4, 1776, they ceased bowing to lords.  And while many people still had "masters", the practice of subjugation was whittled down and stripped away because of the very ideals the nation was found on: the right of every human to seek happiness in life, and to have the necessary liberties needed to attain it.

The Christan religion, however, teaches that Jesus is a master and ultimate overlord to his subjects. This antiquated, small-minded idea is clearly against American values. We are a free people.  We have no lords, no masters.

2) Jesus Pervades Everything

With Jesus, it's an all-or-nothing deal.  As Bush would say, "Your either with us, or against us".  Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23 share the same sentiment.  This all-consuming approach to your religious ideologies are what drive vehicles like the Religious Right and, more importantly, becomes so pervasive that it starts seeping out into daily life.  People in power many decisions based on their religious beliefs (with exceptions, a personal favorite being JFK, who truly understood what it meant to put personal beliefs aside for the bigger picture).  But with the tunnel vision such a mind-frame puts you in, it's obvious that if God is your whole life, you'll be spreading it around everywhere you go...and indeed the practice is expressly encouraged.

The founders of America understood this.  They had been the subjects of British religious intolerance.  They didn't have a choice.  They also understood that the only way for all men to be free was to keep the business of governing separate from the business of the church -- from any church.  We can't have freedom of religion without having freedom from it, and America's separation of church and state makes that fundamental dream a reality.  It's sad and sometimes a little scary to think just how many ignorant citizens are working to change that basic idea.  They rant and rave about the men who died to give them liberty and freedom, but then bitch and moan when we want to undo the polarization effects of removing "IN GOD WE TRUST" from our currency or striking "Under GOD" from the allegiance pledge.  Do they truly know what "freedom" is?


3) The Ten Commandments vs Founding Documents

Once we get past the argument about which ten commandments are "the" Ten Commandments, we're left with the inane drivel that the nation's laws were derived from these ten lordly decrees.  I have a lengthy and perhaps vitriolic post from a few years back that deals with this very issue, so I'll direct you there.  Suffice it to say (for those of you who might be skimming these lines between rolls of your eyes) that there are zero "commandments" that became law because they were commandments.  The ones that did, such as not killing, did so with stipulations and conditional requirements -- something kingly overseers fail to consider -- and they just happened to be good ideas.  But just because a crackhead mentions it's good to put water out for your dog, does that mean you'll let him babysit you kids?  Sure, the bible got some things right but that doesn't give it a free pass to scrutiny, nor does it entail some privileged information.

The Christian nation myth will most likely abound right now, just look around.  Be sure to check local businesses for signs saying "God Bless America" too.  I just saw a local news channel show some redneck blubbering about how the nation was founded on God.  Did the "news" station provide any opposition?  What do you think?

These were just three reasons, but being free from religion, to me it's clear: the Christian religion -- the one claimed by so many to be the foundation of the United States -- does not secure the blessings of liberty to anyone.

Happy 4th!

~STA

Languidly Persisting

It would seem the New Year's high has worn off and this blog, my YouTube channel, and all my other online endeavors are suffering from a stagnation.  The lack of content is not the result of any change of heart, a sudden conversion, or angry Muslim payback; sorry to disappoint.  It's merely my apathetic nature coupled with a lack of topics.  I have pages of ideas for topics, but it seems I'm always finding time for other things in my life.  Life gets in the way occasionally, and at least for me, "real life" will take precedent over the virtual realm any day.

This is not a goodbye of any kind.  I'm simply on another indeterminate hiatus.  I appreciate the comments and views on all my internet outlets, and thanks especially to Fastthumbs and other constant readers of the STA blog.   There will be more to come...and perhaps soon.  I've been mulling over a future YouTube video, so if my computer cooperates and I can get the words to come out of my mouth correctly (it seems my fingers like to talk a hell of a lot more than my mouth does), I'll be uploading that before long.  Thanks again for the support, and always feel free to drop me an email or hit me up when I'm on Stickam -- you can now do that right from this blog!

Stay skeptical,


-STA

Draw Muhammad Day

(It's Muhammad, the prophet of the Muslim faith.  He's really, really far away.)


-STA

Put Down Your Old KJV Red Letter, The Good Book Just Got a Whole Lot Better

The Holy Bible.  It's been translated into 2400 languages and over 300 English translations alone, but when you get right down to it, they all contain the same boring, outdated, hard-to-get-through dry text.


But not any more!


How Many Meters in a Foot?
Now there's a way to read about the loving power of the Ultimate Father-Figure in Kyle Holt's "The Bible in Rhyme".  Yep.  Rhyme.

How many ten-year-olds can stand to sit through a dreary sermon that involves phrases like: "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."

Ugh.  Can't you feel your eyes glazing over?

Now take a gander at this little ditty from Genesis 3, with rhyme:

"Never will your kind view Eden again.

All are shut out for your cognizant sin.

Man, you shall toil and work in the earth.

And woman, your pain will come giving birth.

You’re banished! Get out! All three of you go!"

Then God set a guard at the Tree of Life so

we’d not be let in, but always we’d know

that this was how woman and man fell so low.

You can't help but try to sing it as you dance and smile, reading about God's wonderful forgiving spirit.  Be sure to pick up your copy today, and get your kids involved!  They'll have a great time learning how to regurgitate doctrine while beginning a long-lasting emotional attachment to ideas that make them feel good.  'Cause come on, I dare you to read this and not feel good:

Though everyone knew of the things God had spoken,

the men muttered angrily, "Our God is broken!

Why worship Him? Can He not see our power?

We're greater than Him. Come, let's build a tower

and show Him that He should be worshiping us."

But God saw their plan, and was filled with disgust.

"Man never changes, so I must change him."

So he twisted their tongues and confused all of them.

And he scattered mankind, confounding the rabble

and that's why it's called the Tower of Babel.

(From page 7, Genesis 9:18 - 11:32.  And remember kids, the perfect word of the Living God contains ZERO contradictions or errors because it was inspired by a god who does not author confusion!)

I dread how they sugar-coat the Numbers conquests.

-STA

Why Some People Need A God: Ignorance

In conclusion of this three-part miniseries, we take a look at what is most likely the main reason for some people to need gods or god-like figures in their lives: ignorance.  I call it the main reason because it ties together nearly all other reasons.  In part one, we discussed the fear of the unknown that drives some people to seek invented and unsupported answers -- in other words, being ignorant of the causes and reasons for those unknowns.  Part two discussed companionship, bred from ignorance of the unknown future, and the need for father-figures and "soul-mates".

You Don't Need Empty Answers
Staring into the maw of the unfamiliar and trying to make sense out of it is something we humans do pretty much constantly.  It should be no surprise that there should then arise a grand answer to fill those unsettling gaps. There are those who chose to remain purposefully ignorant of scientific knowledge and understanding, and that's a shame.  But there are a large portion of moderate believers who are clinging to religious beliefs in order to not have to learn or attempt to learn the answers to life's deep questions.

But once you remove yourself from the realm of religion, you begin to see the reality of the world, and fear actually diminishes.  You start realizing that the world is what you make it, how you behave and live your life is ultimately up to you, and the way you treat others matters in this one and only life you get.  Sure, we'll all be ignorant about something at some time or another, but it's how we handle that fact that determines the course and nature of our lives.

You Don't Need A God
If you've read this series and are a believer of some kind, I encourage you to challenge yourself with the following exercises.  Think about what you would need to change in order to live without God.  Think about what God actually "does" in your life that you can't find any other way of accomplishing.  Try taking off the theist mindset and view the world -- perhaps only momentarily -- without the need for your deity.  Imagine you and your family and friends having to live and help one another through hardships on your own, with the help of only each other.  Hopefully you'll find that you do much of this already, you only give God the credit.  Maybe you'll grow closer to becoming a person who doesn't need a god.


-STA