RE: Speak Out !!
May 10, 2010 at 9:04 pm
(This post was last modified: May 10, 2010 at 9:06 pm by SleepingDemon.)
Anyone who knows me knows that I am an athiest. I've had more facebook debates with friends and relatives than I can remember, i'm very abrasive when it comes to religion because there are several phrases like "we're praying for you" and "it's in gods hands" that are really hot button issues with me. I'm proud to be an athiest, I don't wear t-shirts or anything, but I think it comes down to the fact that I think it's important for athiests to be outspoken. For 10,000 years religion has been the ruling ideology, it has controlled kings, emperors, presidents and dictators. A lot of people like me died over the last couple thousand years because they chose to think outside of the box. If I were alive 500 years ago, I would be burned at the stake. That's a source of disdain for me.
Some people are more humble about it, and that's cool too. But it's my honest belief that 90% of the world's population are very naive, and willfully ignorant. When the majority believe, when theology controls government, controls society, progress, technologically and socially is stunted. How much time have we wasted, how much good could have come from our species if we hadn't dedicated lifetimes to this fallacy? And if by speaking to me, 1 out of every 50 people that I talk to begin to question what they believe, begin to question things that they thought were off limits, then it's a small victory for free thought. Religion has supressed free thought since the birth of civilization. It has to change. And it changes when we become bold, when we forsake safety, forsake complacency and let our voices be heard. I'm tired of being unable to watch a presidential debate without the question of churches or ideologies coming up. I'm tired of kids dying because their parents take them to church for prayer instead of a hospital. We are smarter than that, better than that, and the responsibility is placed upon people who see things differently, and want things to be different to speak up. You don't have to preach, like i'm doing right now..:p, but at the very least don't be ashamed. I preach because it's my nature to be loud and aggressive. It's my nature to push people into defending themselves when I think they are wrong. And I don't feel the least bit sorry for it. Society needs conflicting sides for balance. And what kind of balance do we have in a country like the US when presidents are still sworn in with a bible, when people protest funerals as some divine punishment. Society changes when enough people of a common mind and common goal unite and force issues. Imagine if Thomas Jefferson, or Martin Luther King, or anyone else who made a real impact on society had kept their mouth shut. What kind of world would we live in when those with opposing idealisms were too afraid to speak out against the majority? Every revolution begins with a single act of defiance[/sermon]
Some people are more humble about it, and that's cool too. But it's my honest belief that 90% of the world's population are very naive, and willfully ignorant. When the majority believe, when theology controls government, controls society, progress, technologically and socially is stunted. How much time have we wasted, how much good could have come from our species if we hadn't dedicated lifetimes to this fallacy? And if by speaking to me, 1 out of every 50 people that I talk to begin to question what they believe, begin to question things that they thought were off limits, then it's a small victory for free thought. Religion has supressed free thought since the birth of civilization. It has to change. And it changes when we become bold, when we forsake safety, forsake complacency and let our voices be heard. I'm tired of being unable to watch a presidential debate without the question of churches or ideologies coming up. I'm tired of kids dying because their parents take them to church for prayer instead of a hospital. We are smarter than that, better than that, and the responsibility is placed upon people who see things differently, and want things to be different to speak up. You don't have to preach, like i'm doing right now..:p, but at the very least don't be ashamed. I preach because it's my nature to be loud and aggressive. It's my nature to push people into defending themselves when I think they are wrong. And I don't feel the least bit sorry for it. Society needs conflicting sides for balance. And what kind of balance do we have in a country like the US when presidents are still sworn in with a bible, when people protest funerals as some divine punishment. Society changes when enough people of a common mind and common goal unite and force issues. Imagine if Thomas Jefferson, or Martin Luther King, or anyone else who made a real impact on society had kept their mouth shut. What kind of world would we live in when those with opposing idealisms were too afraid to speak out against the majority? Every revolution begins with a single act of defiance[/sermon]
"In our youth, we lacked the maturity, the decency to create gods better than ourselves so that we might have something to aspire to. Instead we are left with a host of deities who were violent, narcissistic, vengeful bullies who reflected our own values. Our gods could have been anything we could imagine, and all we were capable of manifesting were gods who shared the worst of our natures."-Me
"Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men." – Francis Bacon
"Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men." – Francis Bacon
