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.