There is plenty of stigma attached to being gay, especially up here in the northwoods of Michigan.  At the same time there is a TON of stigma attached to being an atheist even that has become less of an issue over time, remarkably for me since I moved out of the promised land of Western Michigan and Grand Rapids.  For the record, I define an atheist as a person who does not believe in God.  Yes, it’s that simple.  I do not believe there is some supernatural being controlling things from above.  Nor do I believe there is some other supernatural being trying to direct me towards a place called hell by controlling my actions and thoughts.  Those of you know me well, none of this is a shock to you because I started to distance myself from religion years ago.  For those of you reading this that still believe, good for you, that is your prerogative.  Up until now though I’ve always left a little bit of room to believe that there might be a God, with a strong emphasis on the word MIGHT.  I’m not trying to make any sort of special statement through this post, I am simply acknowledging something about me that has been brewing for a good long time and I’ve decided before the years end to make it final because I’ve never really just come out and said it.  I am my own person, completely in charge of my thoughts, actions, and life and I’ll leave it to the words of Ricky Gervais to say the rest for me.  I don’t apologize for my acknowledgement, nor do I have any standing issues with those of you from my past who have tried to convince me of your God.  You don’t have to apologize for pushing me to consider it.  Yes, you failed, but I don’t fault you for it. Click the link at the bottom to read the whole essay.

Why don’t you believe in God? I get that question all the time. I always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. This is usually awkward, time consuming and pointless. People who believe in God don’t need proof of his existence, and they certainly don’t want evidence to the contrary. They are happy with their belief. They even say things like “it’s true to me” and “it’s faith.” I still give my logical answer because I feel that not being honest would be patronizing and impolite. It is ironic therefore that “I don’t believe in God because there is absolutely no scientific evidence for his existence and from what I’ve heard the very definition is a logical impossibility in this known universe,” comes across as both patronizing and impolite.

Arrogance is another accusation. Which seems particularly unfair. Science seeks the truth. And it does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. Science is humble. It knows what it knows and it knows what it doesn’t know. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence -­- evidence that is constantly updated and upgraded. It doesn’t get offended when new facts come along. It embraces the body of knowledge. It doesn’t hold on to medieval practices because they are tradition. If it did, you wouldn’t get a shot of penicillin, you’d pop a leach down your trousers and pray. Whatever you “believe,” this is not as effective as medicine. Again you can say, “It works for me,” but so do placebos. My point being, I’m saying God doesn’t exist. I’m not saying faith doesn’t exist. I know faith exists. I see it all the time. But believing in something doesn’t make it true. Hoping that something is true doesn’t make it true. The existence of God is not subjective. He either exists or he doesn’t. It’s not a matter of opinion. You can have your own opinions. But you can’t have your own facts.

Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, “Why don’t you believe I can fly?” You’d say, “Why would I?” I’d reply, “Because it’s a matter of faith.” If I then said, “Prove I can’t fly. Prove I can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” You’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, ‘’F—ing fly then you lunatic.”

Click here to read the rest.

I likely won’t write again before the new year but I do want to warn you that I am moving this blog to a new hosting service after the first of the year which will cause some down time.  I’ve about had it with my current web host, Go Daddy.  Over the years their servers have become slow and unresponsive.  I don’t like what I’m getting for what I’m paying (which is about $200 a year for hosting).  I’m going to be moving this blog over to DreamHost which is where my newest blog kingfisherchronicles.org is hosted.  Their servers are much faster and they will be more responsive to my blog which is nearly 5 years old at this point (if you count the time I was not writing much).  Much has changed in my life over the past several years and I’m happy to say that this blog has managed to keep up and keep you up to date.  Have a good holiday and I’ll write again in the new year!

Fallen from Sascha Geddert on Vimeo.

And this is acceptable?

“The authors failed to find that racial tolerance arises from humanitarian values, consistent with the idea that religious humanitarianism is largely expressed to in-group members. Only religious agnostics were racially tolerant.”

Here is a link to the PDF of the Study.  Sadly you have to be a subscriber to see the whole thing.

I find this relevant because I consider myself a religious agnostic.  I’m not quite to the point of Atheism, but science has not yet explained zero to me (the point of origin).  Religion just can’t do it because the facts don’t support the theory and I’m not willing to just imagine something as factually wrong as Genesis.  As a general rule, I don’t have an issue with the idea of a God or Gods.  What I have an issue with are humans who believe THEY are God which stems out of ALL organized religion.  I also consider myself to be pretty racially tolerant.  I attribute much of that to my upbringing, which, even though it was not hugely diverse, I was able to take away an understanding of different cultures and races.  As a child I was exposed to people all over the country as I toured with the American Boychoir and I met and stayed with everyone from Black deep south Evangelicals, to Upper New York State Jews with the stereotypical accents.  I’ve sung music from every corner of the globe and not only did I sing it but it was expected that we actually understand where it came from and the language it was to be sung in and the culture it was created in.   I spent 10 years of my life with a second generation Armenian American whose father was deeply rooted in the culture of his upbringing.  I was able to experience a culture that I had not previously been exposed to and I benefited from that exposure.  I think the difference with me is that I’ve not ever limited myself to association with only one type of person or one color of person because beyond that I believe we are all human and all of the same species with the same goals and aspirations.  You are not of a different species because you have dark skin and I don’t.  You are not a different species because you have blond hair and blue eyes and my hair happens to be brown.  You are not a different species because your speak broken English or because you wear a Turban.  I think that Christians tend to forget the commonality of humanity.  They get so wrapped up in shouting their messages that they forget the common  and core message of their faith.  That is precisely what bothers me about organized religion and it is precisely why I refuse to attend a church.  I’m not going to limit my life and my experiences to a congregation of similar thinking and looking individuals just for the sake of a common belief in God.  And I’m certainly not going to associate with individuals who can not accept the idea that skin color is irrelevant to being a human.  The year is 2010 and it is inexcusable for any individual of any race, of any creed, of any origin to antagonize people not like themselves simply because of that fact.

Four Christians on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging the recently enacted Hate Crimes Prevention Act, arguing that it seeks to criminalize deeply held religious beliefs that are in opposition to homosexuality.

Read Box Turtle Bulletin’s take on this story here.  Find out exactly the only thing these Christians must want.

This shit get’s old, luckily so are the people espousing this bile.

Alright, that’s the most annoying question I get asked 500 times a day.  My rant tonight really has to do with the level of intelligence I see on a daily basis up here in the northwoods. Granted, I’m not highly educated but I do consider the 3rd grade lessons of speaking in complete sentences something that is important in every day life.  I do consider my adolescent years training of knowing how to read, understand, and communicate effectively through appropriate body language something that EVERY person should be able to do.

Alright, thats about all I want to say on that for tonight.  I don’t like to rant too much about work because I do like my job.  It’s just the people I can’t stand.

Most of you know I read a LOT of blogs on line that pretty much span the spectrum of intelligent political discussion to crude humour.  I ran across a quote that I thought was interesting on one of the more obscure blogs that I read.

“The so-called Christian nations are the most enlightened and progressive…but in spite of their religion, not because of it. The Church has opposed every innovation and discovery from the day of Galileo down to our own time, when the use of anesthetic in childbirth was regarded as a sin because it avoided the biblical curse pronounced against Eve. And every step in astronomy and geology ever taken has been opposed by bigotry and superstition. The Greeks surpassed us in artistic culture and in architecture five hundred years before Christian religion was born.”
- Mark Twain

Someone said on NPR the other day that Religion today is more important in the lives of people than at any other point in recent history.  I always have a lot to say about religion, especially science and religion.  It’s nice to know that one of the greatest writers in our history also knew of the asshattery of organized religion.

So now it’s off to bed.  Off on Tuesday, hopefully the weather will get better up here.  This pic cracks me up.

*The survey found 55% say science and religion are often in conflict and 36% say science sometimes conflicts with their own religious beliefs. Among those 36%:

*41% refer specifically to evolution, creationism, Darwinism and debates about the origin of life.

*15% cite differences over the beginning of life, primarily concerns about abortion(12%) but also cloning and birth

More important than the above it appears that the concepts of science and science education and study churn out non-believers at a fairly high rate with 41% of scientists not believing in any sort of supernatural.

While 95% of the public said they believe in God or a higher power, 41% of scientists don’t believe in either. Nearly half of scientists say they’re atheist, agnostic or believe “nothing in particular” but only 17% of the general public is unaffiliated.

As this relates to my own life, I’ve got problems with organized religion in a multitude of ways and it’s not due to any sort of lack of education about religion or the types of religion or about what exactly religious faiths project to believe.  My biggest issue is one of proof.  Most believers will tell you that you don’t need proof of God to know he exists.  I disagree.  Saying you don’t need to prove something that might be obvious is a cop out and it’s riddled with what I hate the most: A failure to think for one’s self.  Science has always played an important role in my life.  Not because nature in general is fascinating but because it was the study of science in school that taught me how to think.  Science taught me to look for answers in places you might not expect to find them, it taught me to think critically about the physical world, where we came from, how we got to where we are now, and how we might proceed in the future.  Science shapes public policy, it defines medicine, without Science, we might all still believe the Earth is at the center of the Universe.

I view religion as a “gimmie”.  Religion promotes a lack of critical thinking that I believe is necessary to survive.  It inhibits greatly a thoughtful understanding of the planet we live on, and it creates a culture that survives based only on assumptions which in my mind is extremely fragile.  It’s easy for me in this blog to point out the fundamental flaw promoted by evangelicals (most of my disagreements with organized religion are from the fruits of the evangelical or hard core believer set) that the Earth is just 6000 years old when solid scientific evidence states it is significantly older.  Certainly not all believers fall into the evangelical trap…there are plenty of people who can indeed marry religion and science and that’s fine.  I prefer knowing the difference between fact and fiction and I don’t care to take life for granted.  A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

When you are done, take a look at Disbeliefnet.com.  Wow.

That is why today, I am also signing a Presidential Memorandum directing the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a strategy for restoring scientific integrity to government decision making.  To ensure that in this new Administration, we base our public policies on the soundest science; that we appoint scientific advisors based on their credentials and experience, not their politics or ideology; and that we are open and honest with the American people about the science behind our decisions.  That is how we will harness the power of science to achieve our goals – to preserve our environment and protect our national security; to create the jobs of the future, and live longer, healthier lives.

Finally, an administration that will support sound science over religious ideology.

“It amazes me when I looked at California and saw churches that had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when the they overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being delegated into poverty, yet they were organizing and mobilizing to stop consenting adults from choosing their life partners. There is something immoral and sick about using all of that power to not end brutality and poverty, but to break into people’s bedrooms and claim that God sent you.”

Right here in Michigan we continue to lose battles not just on the economic front but on the gay rights front as well.  This week the Kalamazoo city council rescinded a human rights ordinance that would have prohibited discrimination.

“Last night, the Kalamazoo City Commission repealed an anti-discrimination ordinance that sought to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered residents of the city from discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations. The Commission voted down the ordinance rather than put it up for a citywide vote after receiving petitions from residents opposing the ordinance.”

The ONLY thing I can say in a positive light about this is that the council, who previously voted 7-0 in FAVOR of this ordinance, refused to allow this issue of basic fairness be put before voters.  Rights of this sort should NEVER be subject to a popular vote.  End of discussion.  They will re-introduce another resolution in the near future hopefully with bigger teeth.  Michigan in general lags way behind the nation in regards to so many things, gay rights included.  This was a driving force behind getting the hell out of Grand Rapids and never looking back.  The rednecks up here however are just as bad, there are just a LOT fewer of them to get in the way.  Things like this really make me wonder why I stay in Michigan.  Of course there are lots of reasons why I do, I just know that I won’t be able to count on those people who represent me to actually consider the impact their decisions have on my life.

The more that I follow the current political trends the less I am inclined to really believe that significant progress can be made so long as religion continues to interfere and obstruct the lives of so many people.  I’ve spent a good deal of my life struggling with the concepts of religion, I’ve exposed myself to nearly every corner of it, studied it, read about it, talked to people about it and I always come back to one thought:  How can a religious person justify the pain that they as a collective group inflict upon their neighbors in the name of their God and at the same time sleep peacefully at night?  There are plenty of good Christian people (many of whom I know and respect), however as a collective group, their dogma has and continues to interfere with my life in ways that I am not able to interfere in theirs.  Religion it seems to me is a crutch for people who fear the unknown and who fear change.  Nobody can grow when they are afraid of change.  Each day, I read about horrors inflicted upon the GLBT community from religious people and religious leaders from people getting fired from their jobs to people being killed.  I just don’t get their justifications for their actions.

I digress.  This sort of thing tires me out.  How about a little humor.

I had to go to the Secretary of State this morning and renew my drivers license and also change my voter registration.  It never ceases to amaze me how busy that office is and how rude the clerks are.  I guess when you work for the state you have some sort of license to be a shit head.  Oh well, my new license is in the mail and within a couple weeks I’ll have my voter registration back in the mail so I can vote in the election this fall.  Without question it will be for Obama.  At one time in my life I called myself a conservative but I have never voted for a republican.  As I get older, it’s easier to see just how fucked up the world really is, the republican party to me is a party that is terrified of change, espouses hypocritical “family values” (Nice to see that abstinence only education worked wonders with Palen’s daughter…NOT), rules with heavy handed and unnecessary laws, spends uncontrollably, has NO concept what-so-ever of science, and is led by these righteous wing nut theocrats who really believe they are doing the work of Jesus fucking Christ.  Sorry folks, JESUS WAS A LIBERAL.

OK enough politics…it makes me crazy.  Gonna pack up the camera and the dog now and head out to Leelanau.  Maybe another post tonight with some new pictures!

So I’ve come to another conclusion about people in a comparison between Grand Rapids and Traverse City.  In Grand Rapids people drive like assholes but they have conviction and at least pretend they have someplace to be.  In Traverse City, people just drive like dumb shits, no, like really dumb shit redneck morons who have no place to go and nothing better to do than pretend they have a clue.  It’s funny, I hated Grand Rapids because of the abundance of arrogant God fearing religious nutcase people residing there.  I hate Traverse City because of the abundance of dip shit, one hand on the rifle in the pickup truck rednecks.   One is an urban nightmare, the other a rural nightmare (it’s only in the winter too that I have such a problem).  CLEARLY I’m the one with the problem here (and I have no issues admitting that I’m being unfair, incredibly stereotypical, and mean) but JESUS H CHRIST am I really an asshole for believing that people should know what they are doing before they get behind the wheel of a car???????  They apparently don’t think so up here.

Anyhow, I’ve got nothing else tonight.  Retail sucks, yada yada, yada.  People are stupid.