I'm tired of turning the cheek

One of these days I will treat the "honesty" I receive myself with like.  

When someone tells me I'd be better off with faith/god in my life I'll tell them what their religious beliefs amount to: mainly that as far as fantasy novels go, the Bible doesn't even make my top 40.

When someone tells me they tolerate gay people but don't condone their sinning ways, I'll tell them them my tolerance but non-condoning of their bigotry is infinitely more justifiable -- bigotry, unlike ones sexual orientation, being an _actual_ choice!  Yes, I tolerate you, but I don't enjoy it.

When someone tells me they're against High Speed Rail because they never fly to LA or SF... well what can I say?  Obviously I'm dealing with some new form of Super Intelligent breed of humanity so advanced they no longer need employ the reasoning of _Future_Preference_!  Just how advanced is this new mutant breed?  Well, they have quickly deduced that we receive ZERO benefit TODAY for what we do TOMORROW (news flash to all college students -- you're wasting your time! Did you know you could be making $8/hr at the starbucks down the street instead of paying tuition??).  Of course we don't need an alternative to our congested freeways, polluting airplanes/automobiles, and dependence on foreign oil.  IT works for us today, and IT will work for us 20 years from now.

Funny thing a certain someone did in her sleep

Sometime around 5:30 AM, still asleep, she rolls over on her side to face the wall.  This movement stirs me enough that I wake up just in time to hear her slide her glasses off the top of the book she has resting on the side of the bed.  Next, I hear her turning pages in the book for about 2 seconds, followed by silence.  Realizing she has just picked up the book and put it down, I ask her what she’s doing.

 

“I was on the 10th floor so I thought I should read.”

 

And then she’s again in deep slumber.

Till Death do us Part: Prop 8

And I savor the unparalleled memories of my bride at the altar, lips red, glowing skin, lovely in white; the way her dress twirled around her legs as we danced at the reception, the terrifyingly wonderful thrill of holding her in my arms.

In a time when so many good and lasting things are lost to a soulless modernity, can't we preserve this last tradition? Can't we keep it the way it has always been: husband and wife, bride and groom? `Til death do us part?

And that's where I stumble: `Til death do us part. It's the vow that makes marriage so singular—when we stand before God, our friends and families and make that unyielding commitment to the grave. I've uttered those words twice, and I remember the shame of failing as much as I cherish the wisdom I gained, and the blessings I've received, in succeeding.

Last week I spoke with Ed Gillespie, the Republican National Committee chairman, who shares my religious tradition. He seems like a good man; so do George Bush and John Kerry, all of whom say that marriage should be just for man and woman. Gillespie has dear friends who are gay, but he believes we need to stop the "activists" who would force change upon us, insult our faiths and defame ceremony.

I asked him: If his gay friends cannot marry each other, whom can they marry?

He stammered a bit and said they are free to join in lasting "relationships." But the real answer, the bottom line he could not bring himself to utter, is: "no one."

Gay Americans can marry no one.

So that is the price of preserving our traditions, our dreams of lace and cakes and bells and silly songs of romance: excluding a class of our fellow human beings from the ultimate test of love and its rewards.

by: John Aloysius Farrell

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/john-farrell/2008/11/13/allow-gay-marriage.html

How do I know the Mormon religion is BS?

In honor of the protests against the Mormon church over their involvement with Proposition 8 -- here's a little something about the Mormon church withholding from another minority group as recently as 1977 (this being the withholding from people of African descent of the church's highest priesthood and the rights/promises that go along with that; i.e. getting married in their temples, family sealing, etc etc; basically every reward they make a big fuss over).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacks_and_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints

The first statement by Young about a priesthood ban in the LDS Church was made on February 13, 1849. The statement — which refers to the Curse of Cain as the reason for the policy — was given in response to the question, "What chance is there for the redemption of the Negro?" Young responded, "The Lord had cursed Cain's seed with blackness and prohibited them the Priesthood."

Young stated, "Any man having one drop of the seed of [Cain] ... in him cannot hold the Priesthood and if no other Prophet ever spoke it before I will say it now in the name of Jesus Christ I know it is true and others know it."

Yes, you read that right: according to Mormon doctrine, blacks have the curse of Cain on them -- Cain who was said to have murdered his brother Abel (sp) and be cast away by God.  This is why Blacks, as late as 1977, were held at arms length from attaining the full rights of their non-black religous brothers and sisters.

Sorry, but the God I don't believe in is neither as petty as that, nor as indecisive as that (he is after all, infallible, no?  So why is he ALWAYS adapting his rules to match the societal norm??).

Maybe I'll post something like this for every other religion as well.  Catholics should be next in that case.

And as an aside: I was raised a law abiding Mormon and stayed that way until I was 16, possibly 17.

Faith

When I meet someone who is an outstanding human but practices a
religion, I can't help but think they're too good a person to be a <enter religous affiliation here>
.