Religion

Angie felt that the previous posting was mean-spirited and unlike me.  Oh so wrong on both counts.  I feel it was simply an expression of frustration about how some parts of Society feel the need to control others.  That’s political expression, not mean.

Unlike me?  Not at all.  I have a deep and abiding distrust and disgust with organized religion, and have for a long time.  I’ve never made a secret of that.  Religion has done a lot of good, much more bad.  To say that the good side of religion justifies the bad is to say the entire NASA program is justified by the invention of Tang.  Nonsense.

  Religion is a fantasy-based reality that can provide a means for people to make it through the trials of life, and life can be hard.  Religion can provide ‘answers’ that science can’t, it can ‘explain’ why things happen to us that don’t otherwise make sense.  It can relieve us of taking responsibility for the results of our own actions.  We can blame everything on spirits, demons, gods and goddesses, Mother Nature, Allah, Kharma, whatever.  Anything to avoid the truth; that we just don’t understand.

That can be comforting in times of need.  It doesn’t have to be real to be believed.

It comforts me to believe in Santa Clause, OK?  I like the image and it makes me feel good.  I know it makes no sense but I can feel the realness of him and what he represents.  Kinda like Jesus but no pre-conditions.  But I also know he’s not real.

I don’t believe in a god that causes people to live in sorrow just to test their belief in him.  I don’t believe in a god that burns those that fail the test.

‘The greatest joy of Heaven is in watching the torments of the damned in Hell –
a spectacle far more pleasing than any upon Earth.’  – the Tunisian Tertullian
(one of the ‘fathers of the Church’ who turned Pentecostal and thus was never sainted)

What a sweet thought.

I don’t believe in any Church that kills and wars over that belief, and enriches itself in the process.

I do believe that I’m an OK person, and I couldn’t be like that.  How can I believe in a god that’s worse than I am?

“God works in mysterious ways”.  That’s a cover-up to explain that no matter what, it’s OK.  It’s God’s plan.

I’ll buy that, sorta.  Leave out the ‘God’ part and you have evolution and ‘shit happens’.  Maybe Kharma.

Maybe there’s a bigger plan, maybe all religions are grasping at trying to understand the un-understandable.  Maybe bumblebees can actually fly, science aside.  That’s not a reason to create a complex religion which controls peoples lives, suppresses freedom, and always profits from it.

  And that may be the biggest reason I despise organized religion.  Believe in a fantasy?  If it makes life better, go for it.  Sometimes faith does help.  But with all the power that religions have, all their claims of goodness, with more power than any government has ever had, why haven’t they used that power to make the world a good place?  What are they doing wrong?

  Simple answer.  Because the leaders of those religions are just people.  They don’t believe in what they’re selling and they are in it for power.  Power, control, wealth.  They are a corporation, with self-interest being the prime motivator.  Maybe they started out with ideals, like politicians but, like politicians, the successful ones lose that idealism along the way.  They become part of the system, and the system becomes the reason for being.  God becomes a product.

I think I’m ranted out.  I guess if I haven’t made some sort of point by now, more yakking won’t add anything relevant.  If I think of something, I’ll let you know.  Actually, I could go on for hours but, I shall not, lucky you!  Have a nice day!  -Steve

Speeches

Gotta vent.  I hate speeches, committee meetings, city council sessions, places where people just talk about themselves or their favorite topic.  Blah, blah, blah.

Oh,  yeah, well…  This blog is different…  Plus, you can easily get away.

Just got back from a son’s graduation ceremony, bailed out early.  There were ten or twelve people on the stage and they each had something to say.  Much to say.  History of the institution, how their grads contribute to society, how many stay in the state, etc.

Boring.

The last straw was when a woman, having told us how happy she was with the school and had spent her working life there, saluted the Honors kids in general (mine is!), then went on at length about how truly wonderful the Phi Beta Kappa students (at a tech school?) are.  How they are so superior because of this or that.  Oh yeah, and mentioning the she’s Phi Beta Kappa.  That’s it, I’m outta here.  Less than halfway through the blowhards on the stage and  then my kid won’t be called up for a long time to get his diploma.  And then, too far away even to take a pic.  Screw it.

I am so proud of my son, he’s been through a lot and carried it off well.   I just wish that a graduation ceremony truly celebrated the achievements of the grads, the efforts they’ve gone through, rather than to merely be a platform for a bunch of old farts to pontificate.

Am I confused?  I thought graduation is about the graduates, not the staff.  Celebrate them,  not the people that like to  hear themselves talk.

  I am a member of an employee-owned co-op.  The workers own it.  We’re a bit socialist-60’s sort of oriented and everybody gets to have their say.  We elect our management and it actually works OK.  Mostly.

  But, committees.  We have more committees than Congress.  Lots of people like to be on committees because you not only get paid for meetings but you can puff out your chest and talk and talk.  We even had a committee on committees committee at one time.

One might think that after 25 years of doing the same job we wouldn’t need so many committee meetings.  And 200 pages of company policy rules.  More to come.

But some people  just love to hear themselves talk.  (stop it, I get to, it’s MY blog!)

Does this sound like Congress?  Hey, let’s make some more laws! Sure, we’ve got 200 years of laws but there’s always room for more!  Gee, gotta justify their existence somehow!

Ahh,  feel better with that off my chest.  I just wish that those college folks could have reigned themselves in a bit so I could have managed to actually stay to see my son’s graduation.  Falling asleep and tumbling off the bleachers wasn’t my idea of a good time.