Last One of These I Hope...

"They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in east Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator." David Attenborough talking about the hate mail he gets for not crediting god in his nature documentaries.

A friend of mine posted a version of that quote on her wall. It took just a few seconds for someone to come in and tell her it was because she was reading the scriptures wrong: "the Earth belongs to Satan and those things are from Satan not God." 

Umm, I grew up reading the scriptures and that's a fucking cop out. Which, let's be honest, a lot of scripture interpretation is. I mean the whole story of Job is basically god and satan getting together and agreeing that they could fuck with this guy completely and he would still believe that god was good and worship him. Which is such a horrible thing to teach people. That no matter what bad thing happens to you it's not god's fault but all of the good things are his credit. 

I mean, they totally do that. They always thank god for the raise, or the new house, or the award but they don't blame him for the cancer or the flat tire or bankruptcy. That is your fault somehow. That's satan's work in your life. All the glory to god, none of the blame. What a great gig.

My response to my friend's post, and her friend's post under it was one of my standard reasons for why I don't believe in any god. "You either believe in an omnipotent god who could stop this and doesn't or a god who can't and isn't omnipotent after all. So which is it? Or....god isn't an actual supernatural being and just a story that was used to explain things people didn't understand and used to control the behavior of the masses. Like all gods through history."

A few years ago I heard a great quote about atheism from Stephen Roberts: “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

All religion is nonsense. You just believe your nonsense and nobody else's. 

Doing the Tommy Rivs workout and he is hiking the mountains in Italy. Lots of cows. He said it reminded him of his childhood in Eastern New Mexico and then Eastern Oregon. He talked about how the ranchers would get up early to tend to their cows before church on Sunday and would wear the same boots to services without cleaning them off. So this was the smell of church to him. 

Bullshit. (to be fair that wasn't what he was saying, but it struck me as funny and true at the same time)

The part that makes me so frustrated is that I live in a country where I am expected to treat your religious beliefs with respect while you use your religion to disrespect me and my beliefs. And not just disrespect, but use your religious beliefs to enact a rule of law that follows it. Turning a free country into a theocracy. And when I push back against that I get accused of being a religious bigot. Disrespecting your beliefs. Cramming my lifestyle down your throat. 

Yes, me saying, leave my daughter the fuck alone, let my friends live their full married lives, don't worry about what happens in the bedrooms of consenting adults, don't be an asshole when talking to people is somehow ME cramming my lifestyle down your throat but you passing laws saying you can't read certain books, go to certain shows, get healthcare you and your doctor deem necessary, because it offends your religious belief is not cramming YOUR lifestyle down my throat. 

I don't care if you are religious. Let me put that out there if anyone is confused. I have said over and over again that I have a lot of friends who are. And a variety of religions and beliefs as well. I even have a few pagans in the mix. Talk about old time religion, am I right? But the thing I care about is if you think your religious beliefs should dictate what I do in my life. I'm not going out and charging crystals by the light of the full moon. I'm not going to avoid shellfish or tattoos. I'm not going to blame poor people for not praying hard enough and claiming their wealth in the name of Jesus. I don't care if you do though. I mean, some of it really makes you an asshole, but you are free to be an asshole. 

That's what freedom is supposed to be. You are free to believe what you want to. I am free to believe what I want. But that's it. You are not free to force me to live in line with what you believe by force of law. You can restrict me from forcing your church to perform gay marriages. You can restrict me from forcing your non-publicly funded religious schools from allowing gender confirming pronoun use. You can do that. That's your right. I will say I believe you are wrong and doing the wrong thing, and that's my right. But those are choices. I have the choice of going to your church or putting my kid in your school. I wouldn't because well... church. But it's all about choices. 

 

I'm frustrated and angry and frankly more than a little scared as I watch our country slide more and more toward Christian Nationalism. As I watch one party embrace illiberal democracy and celebrate autocratic rule as long as it is couched in "God Said I Could" I'm worried. I grew up in the church. I know how badly this can go. And it's not just the LGBTQIA+ community that should be worried. All women should be worried. All people of color should be worried. We should all be worried. 

I titled this blog "Last One of These I Hope" but it won't be. It can't be. Because they aren't going to stop. So I can't stop either. None of us should stop. Silence is agreement in these sort of matters. We all need to be pushing back. To be standing firm in our own beliefs. Because it's not about Drag Shows, or books with two daddy penguins. It's not about protecting the children from groomers. It's not about any of the bullshit they say it's about. It's about weaving the fabric of our society to ensure that they have all of the power and we do not. It's about scapegoating populations while they rob the coffers and enrich themselves without you noticing. 

And we cannot be silent and watch it happen. We just can't. 

Use your voice while you can. Speak out while you have the chance. 

We need to keep moving forward and not let them push us back into the closet, or the kitchen, or the coal mine, or the cotton field. 

We the people. We. 

Speak up.