What. The. Fuck.

[whogeek]

So, I haven't had a good rant in a while, and brilligspoons posted a link to another LJ that had a link to this: mediamatters.org/mmtv/201001130024
Ok, this is just like when people say that AIDs is God's way of punishing the gay people.  Hello, go visit Africa, where AIDs is an epidemic among straight folk.  Also, the whole "God is vengeful and will bring terrible things to his enemies" is total bunk.  Why the hell else would he send HIS SON to die on a cross for OUR sins?  The second coming stuff was a parable of sorts about how the Roman Empire was going to end: in blood and violence, the same way it had exerted control for as long as it did.  God stopped destroying civilizations when Jesus died on the cross for us.  Natural disasters aren't God punishing the world.  They all have scientific basis.  Earthquakes: the plates that make up the Earth's crust shifting and scraping past each other.  Hurricanes: hot, wet, low-pressure systems that rotate around a concentrated center.  Tornados: a confluence of air flows with vastly different temperatures at the edges of strong storm systems.  Volcanos: spurs of hot magma into the Earth's crust that eventually work through to the surface.  Earthquakes are the least predictable, and those along fault lines can actually be predicted within a fairly good margin of error now.

Now, these whack-jobs promoting the second coming stuff and the idea of God as being vengeful are either delusional, greedy scamming bastards, or both.  The idea that the way to ensure you'll be saved is to be selfish and just try to save your own skin is repulsive.  Jesus sacrified himself.  He didn't try to save himself from dying on the cross.  He taught that it is better to serve others than yourself.  Better to forgive and forget than to hold a grudge.  He taught to accept others, regardless of whatever sins they may have, as no one is perfect.[/religious rant]

Comments

[brilligspoons.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY. I have NEVER figured out the disconnect between people believing the God had so much compassion as to die for us, and them turning around and hating/judging others. And having spent the first 18 years of my life around people who do this all the time, I've had a lot of time to observe this - still doesn't make sense.

(Side note: the AIDs thing - as soon as you mention straight people having it, most super religious people will go on a tangent about sexual promiscuity, so that's actually a dead end. *sigh*)

[whogeek.livejournal.com]

I find it annoying that so many super-religious people don't think that science and religion can exist together. Hello, I'm a scientist, and a Christian. Get the fuck over it.

And yeah, I've heard that one too.

[talkingtocactus.livejournal.com]

the one that always bothers me most is when the catholic church goes on about condoms *causing* AIDS in africa. WTAF??????

i would say more but i read your comment about science/religion coexisting and i just *can't* agree, sorry... but i'm not gonna start a row over it so that's all i'm saying :)

[whogeek.livejournal.com]

**gapes** Really?! Condoms causing AIDs.... that's utterly special.

I can respect that. My beliefs are mine, and your beliefs are yours. I don't try and force other people to believe what I believe, and I expect the same courtesy. Yes?

[talkingtocactus.livejournal.com]

i know, how nuts can you get, right? there was a documentary about it here a while back which was a real eye opener - it was done i think by a fairly well respected proper investigative news journalist, and stuff i've read/heard/seen elsewhere seems to back it up. that was a few years ago, but even last year the pope was saying he thought condoms made things worse in africa by causing instability or something like that (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/17/pope-africa-condoms-aids) - i think in a very small way he has a point, abstinence probably is a good idea to stop aids, but really, i mean how likely to happen in the real world?! especially in an environment where multiple wives are fairly standard and rape is rife, it just doesn't seem practical at all. from what i remember of the doco, while many humanitarian orgs were going around teaching on condom use and stuff (being pragmatic enough to know that abstinence is a nice *theory*) the church were then going around in their wake telling people condoms would kill them and were the work of the devil or something. the main thing i remember from it was this harrowing story, a woman whose husband had aids and they both knew it, they had 8 kids i think, something like that, all quite young, and yet he insisted she have sex with him because it was her duty or something, and he had decided that condoms were the devil's work and therefore she wasn't allowed to use them. so now she had aids too and their many kids were gonna grow up as orphans. and i think she was pregnant as well, so there goes the next baby.i also have a vague recollection of the cardinal who was making it his life's work to spread this crap was questioning condoms' efficiency by arguing that sperm were bigger than hiv molecules and so therefore aids could still "sneak through" so people who thought they were protected actually weren't. it's all a bit vague in my mind, it was a good 4-5 years ago, but even now just thinking about it makes me want to explode! aha, here's the link: http://bloggy.com/2003/10/catholic_church.html

and yes, that's basically it :)

[whogeek.livejournal.com]

being pragmatic enough to know that abstinence is a nice *theory*

Tell that to school systems over here. I swear, so many of the sex ed curricula over here are "abstinence only" and, clearly, that doesn't work. It really irritates me that people are all "we must protect their innocence" when sex ed starts in middle school. Teens and preteens are going to find this information somehow, and a lot of them are going to have sex anyways! Teach them how to be safe at least.[/rant]

[talkingtocactus.livejournal.com]

i hate that too. there are so many reasons it fails. we get it a bit over here as well but from what i've heard, nowhere near as bad as you guys do! i don't understand it - can't people see that making something a taboo makes it about 10000% more interesting to teenagers?! and let's face it *all* teens do it, surely doing something pre-informed and safe is better than doing it blind, and far less likely to lead to stis/unwanted pregnancy etc. it makes no sense to me at all. over here in europe there are a few countries that have very comprehensive sex ed (from age about 5) and very low age of consent (around 12-13) or even no age of consent - and they are the ones with the lowest rates of teen sti/pregnancy: er, hello folks, there's your answer! education and destigmatisation = good ideas.

[jetpack-angel.livejournal.com]

Bristol Palin, anybody? (And I swear, I cannot hear her name without thinking of Sir Robin of Camelot from Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail)

[whogeek.livejournal.com]

**snickers** "Oh, bad bad Zoot. Bad, naughty Zoot..... She must be punished..... You must spank her!" "Ooh! A spanking! A Spanking!!" that is a wonderful point.

[jetpack-angel.livejournal.com]

(I am bored and going through people's old journal entries)

Dunno if you checked out the link to www.lolgod.blogspot.com that I posted a bit back, but there's some amusing and also thought-provoking stuff in there. I especially like the pictures of the Pope in his bullet-proof Pope-mobile with captions pointing out the irony of him not liking people to use protection.

At this point, I am seriously considering becoming a Buddhist. The best part of that religion is that they don't get freaked out about 'sinning,' they just believe that if you do bad things now, then your next life will suck. Buddhists don't go "OMG SINNER!" they go "you know, what good is that going to do you? It's just gonna come back to bite you later. Wouldn't you rather be good and do good things and help people instead?"

Since I utterly fail to motivate myself to get out of the house unless 1) I have a specific purpose in mind, such as going to work, or 2) I have a companion, I'm trying to wrangle somebody to go with me to the flea market about half an hour's drive away because the more research I do into Buddhism (which started as research for fic, believe it or not), the more I wish I had a thing of prayer beads and the knowledge on how to use them. It's weird.

/random late reply

[talkingtocactus.livejournal.com]

(I am bored and going through people's old journal entries)

and why not?!

i think i did but i've not been back, probably just forgot or something - but i'll check it out again now, i like stuff like that :)

yeah, i mean, i'm not open to being religious in any way mainly because i can't bring myself to believe in either a higher power or an afterlife, one or other of which seems to be pretty crucial to all the religions i can think of. but i think there's a lot to be said for buddhism and karma, if nothing else, as a way of making people think before they do shit. and even if you don't believe in the afterlife/reincarnation stuff, karma during this lifetime is a great concept and does seem to happen to some people at least. i think the basic crux of it though is pretty inherent in the bible as well though - do to others as you would have them do to you; it's not exactly the same but it's a similar idea - only do stuff you wouldn't mind coming back to bite you on the arse. it's such a shame that 99% of christians seem to have forgotten that basic tenet of bibical teachings and can only remember the angry shouty discriminatory stuff. hmm i could end up having a long ranty analysis of old vs new testament christianity (ha! i may be the most militant atheist i know but you can't be a vicar's daughter without learning something!) here but i'll refrain! partly because i'm ill and partly because it'll bore everyone shitless!

as for the beads, is there anywhere online that does them? my brother got me some prayer flags in tibet (actually i think he got them in china - oh the irony!) but i don't know if i still have them. they were about 25 foot long!


ps - is mac behaving yet? i miss vampire mac!!

[jetpack-angel.livejournal.com]

I can find the beads (plus a guide for them) on Amazon, but it's kinda expensive (but then again, so would a half-hour drive to the flea market, as well as the probability that I wouldn't leave said market with just what I came there for). And the worst thing about Amazon is that if I see one book on the subject I'm looking for, I see about six other books, and I can't choose between them. There's a deal on a trio of books that are often purchased together, but it's still about thirty bucks.

I am still writing, but unfortunately it's more of the same: Mac doesn't want to work on the next chapter. I've tried bribing him, making digs at his work ethic, ignoring him... *sigh* I may end up having to try to write it without his help and end up with something crappy, but I'm just about tired of staring at the unfinished WIP.

[talkingtocactus.livejournal.com]

oh i know what you mean, amazon is dangerous for that kind of thing. but so are markets! i'm terrible for that, i go out/on amazon for one thing and end up with 20 things i don't need...

oh no, naughty mac! he really needs to learn how to cooperate! i know what you mean, staring at something you haven't finished and aren't sure how to is really frustrating, i get that with my essays and it drives me nuts!

[whogeek.livejournal.com]

(I am bored and going through people's old journal entries)

And how many times have I done this to you? A lot. Also, I'm probably going to want to pick your brain on the Buddhism thing. I'm always fascinated to learn about other religions.