Re: Any comments? (Answers to Pete)

Hey Daniel! Now you've gone an opened up a can - here goes my diatribe
- but please know that from reading your posts and willingness to help
people and discuss ideas I do respect your beliefs and can tell you are
a genuine person (as much as anybody can know from these posts). I
don't know how it is in Montgomery but here in Tennessee Mother Nature
is pissed off now and I can't sleep thinking I'm going to wake up in a
torn up trailer park landing in a bathtub stuck in a tree. I think I
have really angered the gods with my posts so I suddenly feel like
discussing religion and coming to Jesus. I hope you and your family
are safe - luckily everyone here is ok in my area but I was a bit
worried about my cousin who lives near where all the fatalities were
from the massive supercell tornado that hit Gallatin. I think the
weather now is better so I am going to take an Ambien so that if the
tornado does come to take me away I'll sleep through it all the way to
mainframe paradise.

I think the reason why I am nervous about fundamentalist christianity
which seems to be the norm here where I live - is that creationism was
taught in my school "unofficially", which by the way was a public
school, and we actually had a science teacher who preached to us in
class. When some of us complained, the principal who happened to go to
the same church dismissed our concerns. and invited youth group leaders
to sit with us at lunch. I even remember having my friends tell me
they didn't want me to go to hell and to please go to their church.
And I was an Episcopalian - which I guess in their minds was some sort
of evil liberal conspiracy.
I try to be accepting of other people's right to believe what they
want, except when it is imposed upon me, as it was when I was growing
up. Several of my friends and family members who weren't of the same
belief or denomination were constantly offended by people who may have
been well meaning but judged people based on what church they attended.
And some of them were no moral pillars of the community I can promise
you that. That kind of stuff doesn't bother me, we all make mistakes
and Christ would forgive, but what does bother me is hypocrisy (sp?)

It is not that I don't think that parents kids shouldn't be able to
learn creationism if they want- but I don't think that religious
beliefs should be mandated by government, in the public schools - we
still are supposed to have a separation of church and state. That's so
that everyone's beliefs, even the ones that don't match the majority,
are respected. And if somebody really wants to control what their kids
learn then they can always do what half of the people I work with do
(this is the bible belt to those of you not familiar with how it is in
the American South) and home school them or send them to a private
religious institution. That of course doesn't guarantee that they will
act how you want, because most of the kids that I knew who were the
wildest and passing out the drugs at the keg party when their parents
went out of town went to the private schools. We public school kids
couldn't afford it!

Now if people want to teach every religion that ever existed or
possibly could, then I say go ahead and teach creationism. So let's
then take up everyone's valuable time not learning humanities or
science or math, but learning about views of creationism in 1000000+
ways. Or we could make it simple and let a majority decide which
religion is right, and then we can roll back to the time when the
church restricted ideas and persecuted those who did not agree?

We just can't guarantee a moderate viewpoint when religion is involved,
because it is not science, fact or indisputable truth and it doesn't
mean the same thing to everyone. It is emotional, subjective and
personal and in my opinion should remain that way because that is what
makes my faith special and private and meaningful to me. I don't need
anybody to tell me what to believe, my parents encouraged us to seek
our own answers. They did a wonderful job leading by example, because
they are kind, intelligent, beautiful people who try to live by the
principles they believe in instead of just talking about it.

I hope you and your family are safe tonight - and that we can all log
on safely tomorrow and think about our blessings - whatever they may
be.

Peace be With You! or to some of you, the Force.

.

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