School Is My Second Favorite Place To Get My Christ On!

  The following is a draft of an email I wrote last Friday.  It's in regards to my son and some issues he's having in one of his classes.  Still unsure if I'm going to send it, but I'm certain that I'm going to go down and speak with his counselor after the "winter break" is over.  He's complained on a couple of occasions to me about these particular kids giving him grief, and I've tried to offer him ways to deal with their ignorance.  I wanted him to feel empowered and unafraid of the criticism he may face by having other than mainstream beliefs (regarding anything.)  But it was apparent to me Friday when I got home from work that these occurrences are weighing heavier on him then I can tolerate.  It's a fine line I walk as an outspoken atheist and a father (an issue I've touched on in previous blogs.)  I don't want to intentionally expose my children to abuse of any sort.  Is 12 years old to young to be critical of religions?  Personally I think it's not.  To give this context, these events are happening in a history class and during the first trimester religions of the world were being learned about and discussed.   I'll keep the blog up to date with developments as they come in.  Any how, here's the email. 

Mrs. Xxxxxx, 

 I feel it necessary to contact you directly regarding events that I have been made aware that are occurring in your classroom.  My son feels that he is being bullied by other students in class.  He has informed me that students are verbally abusing him because of their religious beliefs. He has been continually mocked for having other than Christian beliefs, as well as recently (today, in your classroon) being told he is not "allowed" to celebrate Christmas because he doesn't believe in god.   He feels (as most bullied children do) that standing up for himself will only cause further abuse.  My sons personal views (meaning his views as a person, not his views to be held secret) should bear no weight on history as it's taught.

  Being a history teacher I'm sure that you are aware that none of the modern day Christmas traditions have anything whatsoever to do with Judeo-Christianity.  That the 25th of December has no historical evidence of being the birth date of Joshua the anointed one.  That Christmas trees come from pagan traditions, that one of the real and historically accurate reason the 25th of December is used was to cover up the and "Godify" the Roman holiday Saturnaila.   Being an educated person, I'm sure you're more then aware of these elementary historical facts.   I'm sure you can understand why a reasonable person would be upset to find out that their child was being chided in a public school by fellow students  (who openly identify as christians) for participating in a holiday that is more secular and pagan then christian.  And how, if things like this were happening in a classroom run by a reasonable and educated adult could a situation like this not be quickly resolved?  There's no way it would continue for three months, right?  I'm afraid it has and that's why I felt it prudent to contact you.

  I'm certain that you must have been unaware of the instances were my son was berated or belittled because of his personal views (again, I mean personal being his views as a person, and not views to be kept secret.)  Because if you were, I would have to think you would have made an attempt to at the very least curtail such nonsense.  Mrs. Xxxxx,  I find it interesting that my son is aware of your own religious affiliation.  I find it interesting in the way that I can't for the life of me see how that is relevant to teaching history.  It would almost have to be because you were asked directly by a student, right?  It couldn't be because you own personal convictions have seeped into your lesson plan, have they?  The former would imply a simple honesty that I could completely respect. The latter would imply a reprehensible lack of judgement on your part.   Which is it Ma'am?   

  I expect this to be the last time my son will  bullied in your classroom.  Now that you are aware (I will provided names of the offending students if you require) I'm certain you will be vigilant in your protection of all the children left in your charge.  Thank you for your time. 

Death and taxes

  To tax or not to tax,  that is the question!  Here's my take.  Don't tax em.  Easy now-  Keep reading...  The purpose (as I understand it) of not taxing religious institutions is to ensure the First Amendment and the separation of church and state stay legit.  I'm cool with that,  I firmly believe that the government should stay out of the matters of religion, and religion should stay out of the matters of government. S-E-P-A-R-A-T-E....  Now,  if the pendulum swings one way, it swings back as well.  To maintain a tax exempt "religious" status, the religious establishment should void all abilities to contribute any financial support to any sort of political campaign or candidate.  The individual members of church should be able to donate to what ever crazy ass idea they see fit, they just have to do it personally.  This should clearly include any and all non profit, inherently religious organizations as well.    There,  the government doesn't tax you and you don't get to donate billions to what ever whack job politician (Perry and Bachmann come to mind really fucking quick) law, or any other sort of policies that would also affect any other person in the country.  Go to church and pray you get what you want....

  This goes for marriage as well.  Feel free to ban people in mixed race marriages, same sex marriages, marriages of people from other religions from your church.  It's your little club, be as picky as you want to be.  Marry only the people you feel are an accurate representation of the dogma you're pushing.  The validity of that marriage ends at the threshold of your building...  Want some legal rights? File for a domestic partnership license.  The license won't discriminate based on race, sexual orientation, gender, religious preference, income, blah blah blah blah blah.  Two consenting adults (at least one being a legal citizen) can apply for and receive this license in very much the same way its done now, just without the discrimination.  See?  both sides win!  People of religion can remain bigoted, hateful and ignorant inside of church.  But outside, we're all the same (citizens and human beings) and should be afforded the same fucking rights (how is this even up for debate still?)

  Big ideas, I know.  Vague on the details?  Yeah... I'm a fucking construction worker, not a lawyer.  Hard to grasp the principals of what I'm driving at? Only if your brain is stuck in neutral. As much as I despise all the turmoil that religion causes in this day and age,  I don't believe you can just make it go away.  You can't ban it, can't eradicate it like a disease,  you can only try and educate.  Only when people realize that that there is an option, that their lives don't have to be committed to fairy tales and myths, that they can do good things just for the sake of doing them,  only when people realize that they don't need religions anymore will the religions go away.

Holy shit, I just found out I'm a National Alliance Christian!!!!

   Not really (more like not in a million fucking years.)  But a conversation I was having with an acquaintance a few days ago shed some light on the insights of a casual Christian.  We were discussing the OWS movement and our differences of opinions and ideas when the conversation took a turn, and I was asked "What do Atheists do for Christmas?"  Since it was still a fairly good natured conversation, I gave the run down on the traditions and followed up with "What do Christians do for the holidays since the 25th of December has nothing to do with the bible or Jesus and the common traditions practiced in America have all been borrowed or twisted from pagan celebrations?  ;)"  I've included the winky faced emoticon to show that I was still trying to maintain a level of snarkyness in the exchange.  I got the run down of her families traditions, as well as being told that she wouldn't hold my lack of faith against me, and that she has "been who I am"..

  I just about went out of my mind.  Let me reiterate,  this person is an acquaintance.  We have some mutual friends.  The comment reeked of arrogance (In my opinion) and was preceded by me being told that she believes faith is a very personal thing and shouldn't be pushed on anyone.  Pissed off  I fired back that if she was a Christian, it was in fact her duty to spread the word and convert others to Christianity.  Which was in direct contradiction to her admitted belief that faith should be a personal thing and not pushed on anybody.  If somebody doesn't believe in or agree with a theology as a whole, why subscribe?

  Which brings me to my headline...  If I can identify myself as being a member of a belief system or group while only holding some or few of the general ideas in high regard, I decided to hit Google up and figure out all the groups I belong to!   Turns out that based on The National Alliances general principals that say "We believe we are all part of nature and subject to natures laws"  I agree with that,  therefore by the rule of picking and choosing,  I'm with the national alliance.  Wait, they're a bunch of shit fuck bigoted assholes? No worries, I don't believe in all that.  Now, the bible has it's ten commandments (old testament, check out that Moses dude.)  One of the ten commandments declares- Thou shalt not kill.  Yet all over the old testament god is asking his people to kill some other people! Soooo-  I take that to mean that we shouldn't kill people, but sometimes there's a pretty good reason so it's cool.  I believe the same thing,  I'm totally both Jewish and christian!!!   Turns out I'm also a communist, a socialist, a republican, a democrat, and a black panther.  It's easy when I can lock onto a few ideas, and dismiss the ones I don't agree with or feel are off-putting.  I am in fact, none of these things.

  Don't get at me with the whole "we're not perfect, just forgiven" shit.  That's not what I'm talking about.  To reach and fall short is different then to disregard all together.  And I still don't give a shit what you believe.  Just be about it. Don't half ass it.  Fer fuck's sake, if it's your eternal soul your so worried about why wouldn't you take it more seriously??  But please, please don't piss down my leg (or your own) and tell me (or try and convince yourself) that it's raining.  If you're going to fly a flag you should also be prepared to defend that flag.  If you can't or don't want to, you should get out of the camp.

Work Is My Favorite Place To Get My Christ On!

  Once again I get ear fucked by Jesus at work.   I was minding my own business, sitting at my desk (possibly checking my Face book) when my wonderful Office Manager pops her head in.  Let me start by explaining something- my office is 264 sq ft room in the middle of a 20,000 sq ft warehouse about 300 yards away from the main office.  Sheryl (that's what we'll call her) was diagnosed earlier this year with cancer.  She had no qualms at all after the diagnosis about sharing her belief that her god (She's a fundy christian) would determine the outcome of her life and for a short while eluded to the possibility of refusing medical treatments to remove the cancer as that might interfere with gods plan for her.  Any whoodle-  Sheryl pops her head in my door, and starts with the small talk- How have you been? Is everything going good? Do I have plans for my upcoming vacation?  I play nice, despite my outward  appearance and my curse laden rants on this blog I'm a pretty polite guy!  Next topical stop-  her hair growing back. More polite small talk, now I'm just hoping I get outta this whole thing soon because I think I just got a text message... Then, out of nowhere- BAM!  "You know Larry, I just thank the all mighty lord for taking this cancer out of my body, through him all things are possible".  Que awkward smile for me.  "Uhm, okay Sheryl" I reply.  Then as she retreats back out the door and I think I just got grazed by the bullet- she pops her head back in.  "Heavenly father deserves all the glory Larry,  and that's who I give it to. Don't you agree"? Que still awkward, now horrified smile "uhm, sure Sheryl".  I had officially been ear fucked by Jesus- again.

  Look,  I'm not trying to play the poor me card. Such is life in the work place, it's not always ideal.  But here's the catch.  If I was an office manager, and I walked up to ANYONE under me and through polite conversation tossed in a little "Hey,  how bout that whole god thing you believe in being a big ole joke?  A fairy tale, a myth, malarkey." or "I'm calling shenanigans on your bible, whats up?". Would I be seen as some  insensitive prick?  I think so.  Maybe I'd be written up, suspended or fired.  Who knows.  Thing is,  I would never do that.  My personal life is a matter I prefer to keep to myself.  The fact I am an atheist bears absolutely no weight on my ability to do my job (and to do it well I will add).  It just pisses me off that the stigma attached to atheism and my attachment to that word could very well be detrimental to my employment.  I have bills to pay, kids to feed, and a life to live. Advantage- bullying Christians (and they know it). You should have seen the gleam in her eyes, it was more then a little frightening.

  Here's the thing, you guys have churches for that kind of talk.  Really, I see em all over the place!  Chances are you go to one a few times a week.  Unless we car pool to that church together, assume (by all means in this regard) that I think your a fucking idiot and I'm personally offended by your lack of couth.  Now, if I happen to walk into your church feel free to bombard me with all the bullshit you can sling.  I asked for it,  I came to your place.  If I walk into your church and start telling you what I think about your beliefs, then I'm the total asshole and I can accept that. Please realize that your house, and your church are really the best places to keep your religion. I don't want to take it away from you, as that right has been afforded to you by the Constitution.  Just  keep it the fuck out the schools, the government, the work place and especially my office.

Fuck You Michigan

  Wow,  woke up this morning and read the news-  Michigan passes "Anti-bullying Bill" with a loophole so big, the entire Christian nation can fit through.  WHAT THE FUCK?  By now, you may have caught on to the fact that I have a hard on for the LGBT community (pun intended).  I have some very good friends and family who I can't stand to see discriminated against because of their sexual orientation (it's not a fucking "preference").  But this Bill goes much further then just the LGBT's.  Simply put, this bill affords anyone the right to bully anyone else if they can justify their speech with moral or religious convictions and or beliefs.  Now take a breath, this bill is not unconstitutional.  It is worded in a way that it doesn't endorse any specific religion, nor does it  name any specific religion or moral conviction that it prohibits.  Pretty much stating that "Hey, what ever form of hate you have is cool, as long as you're sincere about it." I'll provide a link to the bill at the bottom, as well as the section in question.

  I know what your thinking- "This guy is getting all steamed up again over some shit that doesn't have anything to  do with him.  That bill passed in Michigan, not in California!"  Bullshit,  this bill stinks worse then Prop 8 and that one passed here in my home state (which by most maps is considered a "blue" state.)  Imagine your daughter being harassed by the PARENTS of a fellow student, being called a whore, and being told that she was going to burn in hell because she was wearing lip gloss.  How about your son being told in class by the teacher or principal that he's an idiot for thinking that god doesn't exist (or simply believing in a different one) and that he should repent and accept the lord into his heart to avoid eternal damnation.  Hey Mormons- truth is, most born agains and a good percentage of the other Abrahamic factions don't think you're Christian.....   So even your kids could get bullied for being different.  While I find the irony of that somewhat comforting after the money their organization dumped into the Prop 8 campaign,  I will not stand for any child being abused and bullied (not even your Christian kids, which coincidentally aren't protected either.)

  The way the bill reads,  sincerity is the key to protection.  We all should be aware of what Leviticus tells about homosexuality and its consequences (I'm not going to argue the semantics of the scripture, lets just agree that it is generally misrepresented.) Are death threats now tolerable as long as we sincerely have a moral or religious conviction to them?  How about hate speech in general?  The Ku Klux Klan roots their racism and separatism deep in the bible.  How about it being okay for your kid to be called a nigger or a chink or a spic by a teacher, administrator, a fellow student, a fellow students parent, or even the yard supervisor?  Sick, sick shit.

  Bullying is about power.  This bill clearly shows that the Republican Majority (wanna guess what churches they're going to, or which god they're listening to?) in Michigan has the power.  Realistically, who is going to suffer because of this bill?  Is it going to be the Christian kids?  I admit that it's possible but I'd bet my paycheck that it's not likely.  As a parent I have an obligation to protect my children. As a human being, and a member of a neighborhood/city/state/country/planet I have an obligation to protect ALL children.  This bill does just the opposite as it's written.  One simple line shits on the entire premise of the bill by providing the only excuse this country needs to oppress, dehumanize, humiliate, or other wise cause emotional/physical distress and suffering to another human- Religion.

  My advice?  Contact Senator Gretchen Whitmer (I've included her email, and phone number)and tell her thank you for standing up for YOUR children.  Write your own Congressperson and Senator and let them know how much this bill disturbs you.  I hope you do. Otherwise, what are you going to do when it's your kid that's being bullied legally by their teacher?  This legislation could easily become law in what ever state you happen to be reading this in.

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2011-2012/billengrossed/Senate/pdf/2011-SEBS-0137.pdf

  SenGWhitmer@senate.michigan.gov   517-373-1734

10 reasons I wanna smack some fucken sense into you theists

  If it seems like a lot of this list is directed towards Christianity (when I use that term, I'm including ALL the factions of Christianity. Not just the Fundies.) That's pretty fucking astute of you!  It's my list, and I'll write it how I see fit.  Thing is, I don't have very many Muslims knocking down my door trying to convert me.  I do however steadfastly believe that the fundamental tenets of Islam as they are being practiced today are disgusting and disturbing as well. I've also yet to meet a person from any of the Hindu religions that apply to these reasons.


10.-  You think you're doing me a favor by telling me how god has worked miracles and blessed you in your life.
 Listen,  I can appreciate that you have some great shit going on,  but you have not been blessed by god with a kick ass T.V.  It's annoying and it discounts the hard work and effort (Not to mention a shit ton of other circumstances that come into play.) it takes to successfully achieve goals we set. You can't even agree on which god is the "real" god, so who's really getting the blessing anyway?  Keep it to yourself, and I promise I won't tell you how hard I had to work to earn the shit I got. Okay? Thanks.

9.-  God Bless you.
  NO,  I'm not going to thank you when you say "god bless you" after I sneeze.  I'm also probably not going to mention or acknowledge any of your awkward bodily functions.  It's an antiquated saying.  Demons aren't entering or exiting my body through my nose.  It's a sneeze, nothing more, nothing less.  A jab (albeit mostly unintentional) most of us atheists tend to take with minor disdain, all the way up to a full blown "fuck you" attitude.  Trust me, I'm not some PC asshole but how would you feel if I told your kid when he sneezes- "god is a lie."  Rude, huh?  Let's just leave my burps, farts, sneezes, wheezes, coughs, and any other unusual noise emanating from my body alone.

8.-  Christian rock.  Are you serious?
 The bible is filled with scripture regarding the dangers of emulating the things of the world, and yet how do you explain Stryper?  Stay out of our loud, dangerous, hedonistic music, and we won't pogo in your church!  How bout some christian sex, christian drugs, and christian rock and roll, sounds pretty fucking boring.  You don't get to talk shit about AC/DC while trying to convince me X-Sinner is somehow okay.

7.-  Halloween and Christmas.
  Speaking of things of the world, stay outta these Holidays!  Jesus is not the reason for the season. The reasons are an amalgamation of a shit ton of pagan traditions!  Some of these traditions are totally harmless, some are more then just a little "They did WHAT?"  The same goes for Halloween.  I know this spins off of number 8 a bit, but I want to make it clear-  having a "harvest festival" on Halloween is lame.  Get in or get out.  Just quite telling me how immoral I am when every time I turn around you're doing the same shit, just renaming it...

6.-   Trying to convince me that the United States of America was founded on Christian values.
  While I agree that this country was founded on inherently christian values, I'm sure we'll disagree on what those are. Entitled white men condoning slavery and misogyny sounds pretty Christian to me, but I'm sure most cookie cutter christians would have a fit at the thought (maybe not though).  The majority of the founding fathers where decidedly and openly not "Christians."   Do some homework, and shut the fuck up about it.

5.-  Religious people wondering why I'm so angry.
  Right off the bat, they're right.  I am angry. I'm pissed off that in this day and age 1/3 of this country (93.6 million*) believe the bible to be literally correct.  Another 146.5 million* believe it's the inspired word of god.  Now personally I don't give two shits about what kind of crazy stories you decide to live your life by.  It's when those beliefs dictate policy, procedure and inevitably law in my country, state, county or city that I begin to have a problem.  Nearly 75% of the population dictating law based on archaic writings with no regard for modern medicine or science? WOW.  To quote a line from a favorite song of mine "Majority rule, don't work in mental institutions."  But mention that a country in the Middle East that is predominantly Muslim wanting to implement Sharia Law (that shit is just as bad kids)and watch the Christians go nuts!  Yeah, I'm pretty pissed and I'm betting you still don't know why.

4.-  Telling me that Atheism sounds like a religion as well.
  I'm not going to get crazy about this one.  Just think about this-  how bout we come up with a word for not being a plumber, lets call it notaplumber.  Now lets call not being a plumber an occupation.  Are you still with me?  I am  notaplumber.  See,  now I have a job not being a plumber.  Asshats.  What about my tax exempt status for being a religion? Fuck yeah you can call it a religion if I get the same tax exemptions!  Wait, what's that? Oh, it's not a religion after all.    Fuck you very much.

3.-  Your kids telling my kid he's stupid for not believing in a god.
  This one makes me want to smack some sense into your kids too!  Please stop filling your childrens' sponge like little minds with threats of damnation, suffering, and pain.  With ideas of  intolerance, bigotry and hate.  Then you wrap it up in a nice big ole' blanket of love and forgiveness?  Fuck that.  Plain and simple.  Kids can be mean and spiteful without tossing in some of "gods love."  My kid certainly isn't stupid for asking questions or thinking it's silly that he came from some rib woman in a garden way back when.

2.-  Praying, but more specifically praying for ME.
  The irony must be lost upon you.  If you don't care enough to offer some sort of real help, then please don't insult me by offering to do what equates to nothing.  Need some help moving this weekend?  How bout I pray those boxes get to your new place. There, done. Now can we drink some beers?  I usually give a pass to those who don't know me well enough, but I will (when I can) let people know I don't buy into it.  It just sucks to have to play polite about this shit at work where I know it would be detrimental to expose my beliefs (or lack there of).  I think I'll try to handle my issue or dilemma with a little bit more enthusiasm, than with psychic messages to some omnipotent being who has made it clear in his story book that he's doing shit his way no matter what.  My dad used to ask me "Son, if you wish in one hand and shit in the other,  which hand do you think is gonna fill up first?"  Change wish to pray and now you begin to know how I feel.

1.-  Faggots, Queers, Homos, Dykes, Lesbos, Transgenders-
  Your hate mongering, homophobic books and teachings inspire and elicit insidious acts.  Cruelty, violence, intolerance- these are the brass tacks of your ideals.  Your religions of love quickly turn to hate as soon as you find out who is sticking what, where.  Bullying is psychologically devastating thousands of teens and young adults.  Want to know where kids are learning this cowardly tactic?  Church, home, and school.  Gays and lesbians aren't brainwashing your children, YOU are.  Look,  I'm not saying that you still can't hate gays. You have a right to be as ignorant and bigoted as you want, right?   But try and remember that god (of any variety) isn't allowed to make policy or law in this country. Check out the 1st Amendment in that same Constitution you're always screaming about when it comes to your guns!  Picking and choosing what is important as it pertains to your agenda is typical. Christians do it to their own bible all the time. Please stop confusing your beliefs with facts.  Get on board with equal rights, or I'm buying a lion.


* http://www.gallup.com/poll/27682/onethird-americans-believe-bible-literally-true.aspx

The joys of being a Atheist/Punker/Dad

  Lets just say that I love it!  It is however, becoming more and more apparent to me that I need to temper my opinions with a greater sense of fairness.  You see, my son is just starting to get to a point in his life where he is seeing things in the world as being connected.  We have these awesome conversations after I get home from work about what he's doing in school. Being 12 years old and in 7th grade, he's really just getting introduced to the cool stuff in science, and to broader ideas in history.  These subjects just happen to be high up on my list of things I think are really cool, and he's taking to them with an enthusiasm that makes my chest swell!  


  Here's where it gets tricky, and I sometimes over think myself.  Am I smothering his interests by unintentionally projecting my own ideas and opinions onto him?  Most of the time I don't think so,  but it's something I have to be constantly aware of.  If I where a practicing Muslim, Christian, Catholic, Protestant or  Baptist (I think you can see where I'm going) I wouldn't have to worry about it at all.  I would be parenting out of which ever holy scripture went along with my chosen deity.  That just seems like some lazy parenting to me. Going that route would also relieve me of any personal responsibility to what kind of person he becomes, right?  I was just passing along the information!  Maybe my kid must not have been good enough to deserve the grace of [insert deity here]!  


  The flip side of that coin is I also have to be very aware of how I share my opinions with him.  I will always try to be honest with him, but I try to make sure that he knows when I'm sharing my opinion and encourage him to look into it and make up his own mind. It's a trip to watch documentaries or talk about current events with him and hear him tell me what he thinks.  Sometimes he blows me away with the insight he has!  Sometimes he's so naive and idealistic I just wanna ruffle his hair and tell him I love him!  The bottom line is I have to ALWAYS be aware of what I'm putting out there for him to absorb. It is a pain in the ass to espouse free thinking while trying to maintain any type of a monocratic nuclear family! 


  My son is openly atheist.  But I allowed him to come to this on his own. Trust me when I tell you that for a few years, that was not easy to do. He was raised in a secular environment.  This wasn't done intentionally as much as it was just done. It wasn't until 5th grade that he was indoctrinated into Christianity.  A friend from his school attended the local non-denominational Calvary style church and frequently invited my son to attend. I utterly and completely despise these vile, despicable  piece of shit parents who use their own children to lure in other children so they can proselytize young, trusting, defenseless minds (this is the reason why I feel like I need to be hyper-diligent about sharing my opinions with my kids). For weeks after his mother broke the news that our son had decided  he was now a Christian, I had to resist the urge to find these parents and kick some ass.


Cooler heads prevailed, and I spent the better part of the next two years biting my tongue to respect his new view on life.  I never stopped being honest with him when he asked me if, and eventually why I didn't believe in his god, yet all the while being careful not to make him feel belittled or dumb. That's tough to do when it comes to a subject like this, we're not talking favorite football teams here!  It took a while, but he eventually got tired of hearing that his dad was going to hell if he didn't accept Jesus as his own personal savior.  He would ask me "Dad, why do you want to go to hell"? and I would ask him if he thought I was a bad person, and if he thought I should go to hell.  It opened up some really good dialogue.  Seems his biggest fear was burning in hell (no shit) and not fully understanding what it was I believed.  He's a bright kid, and constantly makes me proud.


  It's not all walks in park and root beer floats when you don't have a big scary place like hell to threaten you kids with.  It's never easy to have to face a problem and agonize over the solution.  I have to use critical thinking-GASP-and reason(tsk, tsk, tsk) to figure out how to be a good parent.  Fuck, you know what else works?  Parenting by example! Ya want honest kids? Be honest! Ya want your kids to be kind to other kids? Don't treat other people like shit!  It seems pretty obvious, right?  With those tools, a whole lot of love and the help and advice from my wonderful wife,  why the hell would I do something as useless as praying my kids turn out to be good people. 

Facebook and the atheist punk

  I've always been an opinionated asshole, that much I'll concede.  I came out with my atheism fairly recently, and felt compelled to share links on my Facebook page that I thought where genuinely interesting.  Articles that ranged from completely anti religion, to political, to science related, to just plain funny.  Now, let me preface this by saying that while I recently "came out" with my atheism, I have never in my adult life subscribed to or adhered to any sort of religion.  I didn't have some great awakening.  I simply realized that if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck,  I'm gonna call it a duck.  The links I shared I would have found just as interesting before I changed my religious views status to "ATHEIST".

  Holy shit I caught some hell!   From my own brother, from good friends, even from my lovely wife(she's on board with most of what I'm saying, but wishes I wouldn't make such a stink about it).  I've been told that my hobby must be religion bashing, and that atheism might be a religion as well (this on came today via comment on a picture I posted).  I was accused of doing the same thing I feel so passionately against (proselytizing) and that  I'm a hypocrite for it.  All because I posted some stuff to my own wall to share.

  I have friends and family that are religious. I see stuff all the time in the news feed saying "thank God for this and that" or "please pray for so and so." I have only on two occasions commented on them. Once to ask a relative about scripture that they had copied and pasted, because what was quoted from the bible,  was nowhere near what the actual bible verse reads.  Turns out I was correct on that one, and I was thanked for making them aware of the mistake. And on one other occasion I defended the constitutional  rights of the Westboro Baptists to peacefully assemble outside of funerals of soldiers. Again, it was a copy and paste link to a  news story that commended the local law enforcement for illegally detaining members of the church to prevent a protest.  I actually felt bad about that one. I detest everything that group stands for, I just thought it was interesting that "Good Christians" where condoning behavior that was not very christ-like, and unconstitutional.

 I am an atheist.  I don't believe in any gods.  While we can all argue semantics all day long,  I am just as likely to convert you to my beliefs as you're likely to convert me to yours (this probability being infinitesimal).  I however, am not trying to convert you.  I am simply sharing ideas, (that may or may not be in line with my own) stories, and pictures on a social network. There is no repercussion stated or implied for not agreeing with me.  That being said why the hell can't you choose ignore them if they don't sit well with you? Block me (because it's probably not the last time it's going to happen) if it is that offensive to you. Or, offer me an alternative opinion expressed without venom or animosity.  Send me a link to an op-ed story, offer me a different perspective rather then personally attacking me.  I'm not big on nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah arguments though.  So be smart, be creative!  Just don't be a dick.