"Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law."
-- Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814
We are not all "created equally." We do not get born with a blank slate, in a state of original sin, or in a state of innocence. A blank slate is quasi-psychology. Original sin vs. innocence is a religious vs. philosophical debate. I will have none of that. We just get born.
Our Apgar scores are different at birth. We are not all born with the same one. We are not born in identical states of health. Some babies are sickly. Some are robust. Some are in-between the two. As babies grow, their personalities, behaviors, reactions to stimuli, likes and dislikes all become increasingly evident.
We humans vary from each other in intelligence, abilities, personality traits, and neurology. Whether our differences are determined by genetics or environment or some combination, we do not all have the same chances in life. One child excels in mathematics at school. Another struggles. One child is able to manipulate pens and pencils and art supplies with skill. Another not so much. A third has perception problems which renders their work in art class as slovenly or jumbled.
In our awkward haste to assure ourselves that we are all human beings underneath the scariness of our differences, we are subject to shoving aside those differences and join in the chorus of the litany of "Why won't theys?" sometimes asked in slightly different formats: Why won't they get clean? Why can't they snap out of their funk? Why don't they do something else when after all they themselves admit that what they are doing is not working? Why do they refuse to get off welfare/disability/the public dole and get a job like everybody else? Why don't they just get over "it"? Sometimes I get tired/ don't feel like working/ drink too on weekends but I take care of my responsibilities/ go to work/ control my drinking. What's wrong with them?
And hey, this nation was founded as a christian nation. Women should not abort ever. Kids ought to pray in school. It's majority rules. Atheists/ muslims/ hindus/ blacks/ whites/ drug addicts/ those crazed tea party folks ought to. Such a shame she is fat-- she has such a pretty face. When I get old and incontinent, that is the time to smother me with the pillow. Death panels. [Note: We already have them-- they are called insurance companies. When an insurance company denies coverage for certain conditions or medical procedures, yeah sometimes the patients die]. Political correctness. You think you got it tough now do ya? When I was young.
As individuals, we are alike enough to [hopefully] recognize each other as human. But we retain our differences which ensure that we do not all have equal chances at success. Some folks may give in to their laziness [yes, I've been there but now I can call myself on it and then go do what needs doing]. Some folks with traumatic brain injuries have malfunctioning frontal lobes which cause them to not be able to initiate activities. Some folks may have lesions in the left side of their brains which [dependent upon the location] may dictate limited insight. If you possess insight into your problems, you can thank the left side of your brain. You can set goals and take steps to achieve them? Thank your functioning frontal lobe. Sometimes some of us make excuses for our bad behaviors. Sometimes there is an underlying neurology at work. I know what I don't know today. And I know what I know.
Anchoring-- the act of deciding what is correct and what isn't-- is an attribute or action that occurs within our brains. This anchoring has evolutionary value. When a group of people are able to decide what is acceptable, what isn't, and consequences for those who don't follow the protocol, there is a society, a civilization, a culture, and a legal structure. When anchoring is not working as well as it should in a person, that person is apt to try on many different behaviors and values. When anchoring works too well, a person will hold on to old explanations long after they have been found to be inadequate.
Not every culture is worthy of admiration all of the time. On one hand we have advances in mathematics and medicine, architecture and the arts, education and electricity. On the other we have child brides, forced marriages, genital mutilation of females, genocides, politicians who excel at being reckless with the truth, and shady governmental agencies whose function is to spy on everyone everywhere. Cultures are neither equally admirable nor are they equally humane. In the rush to embrace multi-culturalism, we ignore the truth that not all cultures are "equal" at our own peril.
Any group that thinks of itself as elite or possessing special knowledge and thereby desires to impose its' cultural beliefs and values upon "everyone" is capable of evil. Besides the obvious example of the German Nazis and the Holocaust, there is the conflict between two artificially created tribes in Rwanda, one buddhist sect warring with another buddhist sect in Cambodia, the roman catholic church desiring to impose it's stand on abortion and end of life care upon everyone to the point where hospitals are being bought up all over various communities in the United States by catholic organizations. And the kicker-- now corporations have "feelings," borrowing a phrase from Stephen Colbert.
Catholic employers don't want to have to pay for birth control for its' women employees via employment-based healthcare plans. It doesn't matter that these same catholic employers accept public funding for payment of some hospital bills. It doesn't matter whether or not the women are themselves believers. And yeah there are other reasons for using birth control [pills]-- to control abnormally heavy menses and in the treatment of certain estrogen-stimulated cancers to name two of them. Politicians and employers and religious entities, please remove yourselves from my vagina. What I decide regarding birth control, a morning after pill in the case of rape, abortion in order to save my health or my life or in cases where the fetus is not viable [such as one without a brain stem] is quite frankly none of your damn business. All of those things ought to be between me and my medical doctor. And since when is the life or the health of a woman of less value than the life of a fetus?
With the repeal of D.O.M.A., Governor Huckabee expressed his butt-hurt on Twitter (registered trademark). That is his right. Folks responded by tweeting their agreement or non-agreement, as is their right. In expressing my disagreement with his views, I did not engage in name-calling. Respectful disagreement does not require such. Part of my expressed opinion involved the idea that as adults, we [ought to] get to choose who we love [as long as the lover is another adult]. Some folks are monosexual. Some folks are bisexual. Some folks are asexual. My niece married her [female] lover recently. We came together as a community to publicly affirm and support their marriage.
We are not enslaved by our sexual orientation. Those non-straight folks who are committed a religion which forbids homosexual activity can certainly decide to remain celibate if they choose to do so. In a state of celibacy, the attraction to one gender is not acted upon. [Voluntary celibacy is certainly financially cheaper than attending certain ex-gay seminars and treatments]. Other non-straight folks, along with some straight folks, choose to work within the framework of their chosen religions in order to effect change. Thus we now have Dignity, Integrity, and other groups within the bodies of some religious bodies.
Yeah, I think our government should get out of the marriage business altogether. If two adults are granted legal recognition of their partnership by a judge, that should be referred to as a civil union. If two adults are married by clergy-- catholic, baptist, buddhist, pentecostal, hindu, pagan, jewish, b'nai, muslim, unitarian, or other-- that marriage should be referred to as a marriage. Both should have the same rights and responsibilities.
Whether or not the United States ever was a christian nation, it certainly isn't one now. There are people here of every belief and of no belief. Yet, there are times when the rights of people to practice the religion of their choosing are protected over the rights of people who do not practice a religion.
The removal of bike lanes from a heavily hasidic populated area of Brooklyn so that hasidic men would not be subjected to scantily clad women on bicycles is a law that put religious beliefs over public safety. [http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/bike_war_paint_g7EizkFEZktV3IlNUJosQM]. In another known incident, an attempt was made to apply an anti-sodomy law to two same-gendered adults who were allegedly having anal sex in the privacy of their own residence. [Lawrence vs. Texas, 2003. http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_laws4.htm]. The actual alleged incident occurred in 1998 and was allegedly reported by a neighbor who may have allegedly harbored ill-feeling toward the two men. A protracted legal battle resulted.
Yes, Rick Santorum [and Governor Mike Huckabee], I certainly do support the right of two consenting adults to engage in sexual expression of their choosing within the privacy of their own residence. I support the right of a woman to abort a fetus-- especially if her life or her health is endangered by the pregnancy. I support the right of two adults to be recognized as a legal domestic partnership or as a marriage-- their choice. I support laws which are lobbied for by religious people so long as those laws do not infringe upon the rights of non-religious people. [Hasidic jews do not "own" the streets of Brooklyn. If they do not wish to be subjected to the ranks of un-modestly garbed bicyclists, they can avert their eyes or better yet, build and reside in a gated hasidic community]. I support the existence of public education as a secular education. [Those that wish a sectarian education can home-school or attend a school which is run by a religious outfit]. I have no desire to force my non-theism on others. I am willing to respect the fact that you believe. Please respect the fact that I do not share your beliefs.
radical sapphoq
Every day I make decisions. Hopefully the way that I live my life on a daily basis clearly reflect the principles that I hold dear to me. Here are some of the things that make me a unified me:
1. Addiction is not freedom. These four words are from a pamphlet produced by Narcotics Anonymous World Services. When I was in my active addiction, I was not free. I could not exercise much responsibility as an adult or as a citizen of my community or the world.
Recovery is not necessarily freedom either. I must not allow myself to use my past, present, or future states of being as an excuse to perpetuate a refusal to take on responsibility for myself. When I do so, I short-change myself. If I want something different, I have to do something different. Move a muscle, change a thought. Those are not empty words. They are challenges to me to extend myself and to continue growing as a mature, responsible adult.
2. I am at my core an atheist. I have an extensive history of membership in a large variety of religious groups. I have found that I genuinely do not believe in any gods. I prefer natural explanations to supernatural explanations and to preternatural ones. I like the patterns that I find in science and nature and maths and music. And yes, morals certainly can and do exist without the interference or encouragement of any type of deities.
I believe that public schools should provide a public secular education including but not limited to the teaching of evolution. Evolution is the basis of science. We have fallen behind in sciences and in maths. It is the job of the student to learn the material that the teacher is presenting. It is the job of the parents to bring up the child in the religion of their choosing.
If I was a Christian parent, would I want a teacher to try to convert my kids to Sufi-ism? If I was a Muslim parent, would I want a teacher to try to convert my kids to Judaism? If I was a pagan, would I want a teacher to try to convert my kids to the Bahai faith? Or if I was a Christian parent, would I want a teacher to try to convert my kids to a different Christian sect?
3. I support the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, inter-sexed, asexual, queer, and questioning communities. As a bisexual, my issues are closer to those of trans-folk than to those of mono-sexuals. I have marched in solidarity with my trans-sisters and brothers in the Gay Pride Marches. Our communities have a long history of struggles for recognition as people worthy of the same basic human respect that all people are worthy of. I believe in civil rights for all civils.
4. I am against the troubled teen teen trouble industries. The programs which are included are things like boot camps, wilderness expeditions, residential facilities, and rehabilitation centers which have as their basis the misnomer called "tough love." These behavioral modification placements, replete with paid educational consultants and transporters a.k.a. paid kidnappers, have known histories of abuse. Teens and pre-teens are "treated to" face-plant [ground] restraints, food deprivation, sleep deprivation, unsanitary and unsafe living conditions, rape, verbal and physical abuse, isolation, and an occasional suicide or death. The parents pay huge sums of money to these places. A few parents and teens write glowing testimonials all over the web. Recently, survivors have begun to tell their stories. These stories are not easy to listen to. The organizations that run the abusive facilities invariably use the excuse that "the clientele we serve are prone to lying and exaggeration." This is unsatisfactory to say the least. Our teens are the future. They will be here running the show after many of us older ones are dead. If I cannot honor them now, how will they honor the younger people coming up after them?
5. I am against abuse of any kind toward anyone. From the brutality that is honesty in the absence of any compassion to the parent who assaults their child of any age, from elder-abuse to the mishandling of disabled people by their professional caregivers, from the cops who beat on a detainee to the actions of a government that imprisons someone without a trial-- it is wrong. Being "against" abuse is not enough. I have a responsibility to report the things that I suspect. I have a responsibility to speak out, protest, blog, make phone calls, write letters. If I am able to, I have a responsibility to help someone get to safety. I am against pedophilia and sexual slavery.
6. I am an advocate for animal welfare, not animal rights. I am not a member of P.E.T.A. The PETA folks are animal rights activists. I support responsible animal husbandry. I eat meat. I wear cotton [but not wool because I find wool to be itchy, and not fur because I don't see any reason why I should spend that kind of money on clothing]. I have animals who live with us. Those animals get my love and attention. In return, they have rules that I have trained them to follow. I commit to my animals for the duration of their natural lives or until disease or infirmity forces me to decide to put them down. I believe that cows on a farm should be milked. My grands had a farm. To allow a cow to go without milking is to cause her pain. I have frogs. I only buy captive bred frogs, not captive caught ones. I do not believe that my frogs or my dog or my cats should have the same "rights" that I do. If there is a mosquito in my kitchen, I kill it.
The animal rights folks believe that an ant and a frog and a dog and a cat and a cow and a cockroach have the same right to be here that we human beings do. Over at Penns' Cove, the PETA folks came in and began to complain loudly that the wolves there did not have dog houses. Since dogs are descended from wolves, the wolves [which had several miles of an enclosure which included a few mountains and dens that the wolves had carved from them] ought to have dog houses. This is what the PETA folks were insisting. They came on the tours and began talking loudly about how the wolves at Penns' Cove were being mistreated for the lack of dog houses. The owner had no choice. He finally had to airlift the dog houses in and dropped them into the wolf enclosure. The wolves trashed the dog houses and pissed all over them. This is the kind of thing that happens over and over again when well-meaning people confuse animal rights with animal welfare.
The animal rights folks are against euthanasia-- even in the cases of long-suffering, painful, terminal illnesses. And they detest zoos, in spite of the fact that the zoos are often at the forefront of animal conservation efforts. They do not believe in the use of lab animals even in the interest of saving human lives in respect to medical research. For those reasons, I am not a supporter of animal rights.
7. I think marijuana should be legalized. Adults should be able to use pot at will as long as they do not put me at risk by driving when they are stoned [that is how I got my traumatic brain injury]. Any human being suffering from a disease or condition that the use of marijuana or a derivative can alleviate or ameliorate should have access to it. It's called compassionate use for a reason. The drug war is major fail. So let's quit fighting it people.
I cannot use safely. It does not follow that no one should use pot. If I am allergic to peanuts, do I legislate that peanuts should be banned entirely and that anyone caught eating them should go to prison? Should possession of a pound of peanuts yield charges that someone is pushing?
Along with the legalization of marijuana, I believe the morning after pill should be available to any victim of rape. I think abortion is a tragedy yet I remember the days of back alleys and coat hangers. I think abortion should be legal. I think same gender marriage should be legal. Actually, I think the government should get out of the marriage business altogether. If a couple, regardless of gender, gets hitched in a place of worship via the use of clergy, that should be considered marriage. If a couple, regardless of gender, gets hitched by a judge, that should be considered domestic partnership. No place of worship would be forced to unite a same-gendered couple. [That's silly]. Whether a couple is formally partnered in a religious or secular ceremony the rights and responsibilities should be the same.
8. I can no longer call myself a Democrat. But I am not a Republican or Tea Party Patriot either. I am non-partisan. I agree with the left on some things, with the right on others, and with no one on still others. If the Republican Party hadn't been hijacked by the Christians, I might have been one by now. I believe in small government and fiscal responsibility. I think charity should begin at home. I think the government owes us some type of accountability. And I am vehemently opposed to censorship and the increasing demands of internet social media for our wallet info. I know that privacy is not the same thing as security. I am hoping that cooler heads will prevail, I just don't know when that will happen. I think we have to become self-sufficient as a nation. If we develop our own fuels for our own consumption instead of having to depend upon other countries that hate us, I think we would be much better off. I want the government out of my Internet. I don't think I should have to give up a cell phone number just to obtain a freebie e-mail account. I am against internet censorship. I believe parents should be knowledgeable about what their kids are doing with their computers. And I would be willing to pay more for stuff that is made and assembled in the United States of America. I don't believe in giving any of my filthy atheist bucks or filthy atheist tax monies to places that hate and disrespect us for the nation that we are.
9. I am for civil commitment for all pedophiles, even after they have served out their prison sentences. Little houses behind the electrified fences of penitentary grounds sounds about right to me. Kiddie rapists sicken and repulse me. Period. Some people cannot be relied upon to function in society in a manner that keeps all of us safe. Inhumane? The real shame is that someone can sex up a child and then claim they couldn't help it. Once you've laid your hands on a child in a sexual manner, you have lost all of your rights to function in a free society as far as I am concerned.
10. I am against amnesty for illegal aliens, period. Sneaking across our borders is a crime. My grands came here legally. They were proud to have the opportunities to work for better lives for themselves and their children. Fence the borders. Electrify the fences. Do whatever you have to do to staunch the flow of coyotes bringing people over here. If I wanted to migrate to another country, I would have to go through the red tape. I would have to fill out the paperwork. I would have to submit it. I would have to wait for the approval or disapproval. I would want to take language lessons so I could be fluent in the language of the country that I am moving to. And I would have to have something to offer the place I am re-locating to.
What are my responsibilities as an adult who has these principles?
I have a responsibility to speak out against abuse in general of human beings and animals and the ecology. If I want to speak out in support of a specific case of abuse, I must do my own research first. I have to ascertain, as far as I possibly can, the veracity of any claims of abuse made by adults on behalf of children in sticky situations. The kids mostly may not lie about abuse. But parents with vendetta do. My mother did. I know it happens. If it is abuse of animals or the environment, I must do my own research in order to familiarize myself with the issues. I must use information presented by all sides, and not just those that I agree with.
I have a responsibility to help the people who want my help and who are asking for it. And I have a responsibility to not help the people who are functioning competently and do not want my help. I cannot be all things to all people. There's a bunch of people around who do not want my help, who are living just fine without my help, and who will continue to live without my help after I am dead.
I have a responsibility to care for the animals that share our home. We also have a plan for any animals should we predecease them or become too ill to care for them.
I have a responsibility to vote on the issues that concern me, crossing party lines if I must. I have a responsibility to vote for the people who can lead us. As a citizen, I have to know what is happening politically around me. I have to do the research so that way I can form educated opinions, take a stand, and choose my battles.
radical sapphoq
