HARK, HOW THE BELLS ARE TARNISHED!

I wanted to spend a few minutes with a quick rant about the goings on on the West Coast these days. If you aren't familiar with what has happened there, someone in a fit of Christian zeal stole a sign that read, and I paraphrase, that you should be nice during the season for the sake of being nice, that there were no heaven or hell, no gods or devils, and that religion promoted closed minds and ignorance.

Fair enough. I might not agree with this sign, but in the United States of America, they have a right to post it.

The mainstream media, including the LIBERAL CNN, or as it is referred, put a massive spin campaign on this story. Headlines on their website read things like "atheist sign ripped from nativity scene" and "atheist sign taken from nativity scene found in Washington state." Please.

First of all, I'm not going to give you any links to this story. I'm not even going to quote the story. I'm simply going to bitch about it. Why? Because it's not the story that infuriated me. It's the attitude behind it.

But first let me get something out of the way. This sign was not taken from a nativity scene. It was taken from a holiday display, you know that sort of thing that is supposed to be a safe display for ALL beliefs, or lack thereof. The headlines should have read something like "atheist sign removed from holiday display." But those idiots at CNN, who do as many others, continue to promote the belief that atheists and homosexuals are out to destroy your very soul and want you to be infuriated. Therefore, they make the reader think that some handjob came along and plopped a sign down onto a private nativity scene, leaving it as an insult to all believers in Christianity.

It was not that way. The sign did not attack Christianity. It attacked all religions that believe in demons and angels, heaven and hell. Christianity does not have the monopoly here.

Back to attitude. First of all, I am not an atheist. However, the actions of many "christians" are beginning to force me that way. Whatever happened to lead by example? Again this nasty concept comes up. And whatever happened, as one CNN article had the guts to point out, to "THOU SHALT NOT STEAL?" Lost in the tarnish, I guess.

There seems to be this attitude out there that Atheists, Homosexuals, and abortion advocates are out to destroy your soul. They are like Al-Quaeda, existing in sleeper cells in our community, ready to bomb us into submission. Or perhaps that child pervert who lives in the perfectly manicured house who stares at your pre-teen daughter through the window as she walks home from school. They are in our schools, preaching something to our children that will lead them down the path to hell. Evolution, Homosexuality, Depravity, Abortion, Atheism. All heathens.

This is the United States of America, the land of opportunity, the land of the free, where you have freedom of religion, and more importantly, freedom FROM religion.

Yet some people think that if we have a majority of believers, hell with all the others, let's burn them at the stake because they don't believe what we believe. After all, it is a democracy, and majority rules.

No, not quite.

In this country we are supposed to protect and defend the rights of the minority. That is what makes this country great. And don't give me that crap about majority ruling in an election, because that's voting and politics. Respecting one's right to not believe in God and to place a sign up in a holiday display is cultural. And if you believe that culture is politics, then you follow nationalism, and you've got a bigger problem on your hands. You might as well throw a swastika on your arm and learn to goosestep. And please for the love of god learn the difference between nationalism and patriotism -- that's another post.

As for the homosexual/atheist/abortionist invasion, I think if these members of the right who spent all this time trying to stall the rights of, fight or take away the rights of, or even murder (through bombing of clinics) human beings, would spend more time in charity, at a food bank, building houses for habitat, giving out birth control, or just being damn sensible, this world would be a better place.

But I guess we should smack the cheek of our neighbor when he smacks us. Hell that's what Jesus said, is it not? I have a strong sense of deja vu here. No, it's not me being redundant. It's the simple fact that this idiocy keeps cropping up.

As for schools and society, are Christians so afraid that their beliefs are without merit to the degree that someone reading a book about a child having two mommies will lose their soul to Satan? This is a conversation I have often with my wife, who, as you know, is a card-carrying Atheist. I'm proud of her and her stand. She's the most Christian person I know, being nice simply because she wants to be nice and not because she thinks she should. I may not agree with her stand on the existence of God, but her soul, as innocent as it is, is blessed, in my opinion. But if it even were a question of tolerance, her soul is her own, and is therefore her responsibility. I can answer her questions of WHY I believe what I believe if she asks, but I will not force my beliefs on her, as I do not wish her to do to me. I can not save her soul for her. To be honest, I don't even know if she has a soul to save simply because she's the best one I know. You idiots out there who give me crap about how nice souls will go to hell anyway can just shut the hell up. I've seen too many of you who say the magic words and then step on the backs of the downtrodden. Yours are the souls who will burn. Not the pure ones. Is this just my twisted belief? Maybe. But I believe in a loving and forgiving God. Not one who stands at the door and lets anyone into the club who has a stamp, no matter where they were stamped.

I do, feel at times that I believe that the club's doors are locked forever. And no, it isn't her evil influence causing this. It's yours.

But back to the point. I have confidence in my son that as I show him how to live properly, how to be charitable, respect his neighbor's opinions, not to judge PREMATURELY, and just overall be a humanistic HUMAN BEING, that no matter what he is subjected to (e.g. drugs, unprotected sex, alcohol, tobacco, nationalism, porn, etc.), he will come out on top and safe. I'm not worried about any slippery slopes because I know that through seeing how I live my own life he will live his. So let him see people smoke. Let him know about drugs and sex and unwanted pregnancies. If I actually educate him about these things, he won't do them. If I stuff them into a closet, he will.

I won't waste my time on homosexuality, atheism, or signs that should have been left where they were. I'm not afraid. Are you?