Thursday, September 01, 2005

It Has Been 30 Years Since My Last Confession...

In response to ~I AM~ announcing plans for a theist to guest post on his blog:

"It will definitely be a different experience.

My usual reactions while reading this [an atheist] site are: shouts along the lines of "Word!", "Yes!", "No S#it!"...maybe even "Amen!" or "Preach!"; nodding my head in complete agreement; laughing (at humor); shock at ridiculous, meaningless atrocities committed in the name of belief; excessive smiling; and general feelings of accomplishment, excitement, fulfillment, motivation, and acceptance.

(Hmmm...almost sounds like church...)

My usual reactions while reading religious sites are: shouts along the lines of "WTF?!", "Please!", "Are you kidding?!"...maybe even "Jesus Christ!!"; shaking my head in complete bewilderment; laughing (at gulliblity/ignorance/desparation); shock at excuses/calls made for ridiculous, meaningless atrocities committed in the name of belief; excessive blank-staring; and general feelings of hopelessness, despair, anger, an utter disbelief.

I'll go a step further and admit that the instant, comparative imagery I get of religious individuals is of little kids playing out scenes from their favorite cartoons with toys, simple-minded primitives completely awestruck while timidly reaching out toward fire, a dog staring - head cocked - at a television, and/or retarded children throwing ice at the sun.

This is usually followed immediately by terrifying nightmares of complete disregard for human life or decency, intolerance, xenophobia, groupthink, judgment, arrogance, and oppression.

In moments of introspection I realize that I automatically lose respect for a person when I find s/he's religious (or subscribes to the paranormal in general).

I need to do something about these knee-jerks. Apparently theists aren't the only intolerant, judgmental, arrogant, elitists out there."


In the spirit of lifting material from EA:

Not all of the believers are stupid or ignorant. Conversely, however, nearly all of the stupid or ignorant are believers. - ~I AM~

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