The whole point of free speech is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Why I bother...

Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Bachman, Glenn Beck, Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, Paul Ryan, Jimmy Bakker (can you look at him and believe it!), Richard Nixon, John Ehrlichman, John Thune, Phil Robertson (I can't believe that one!), ....

These and thousands more are the reasons I bother to express my opinion about the existence of "God." I am forced by countless assaults on my freedom to live my life the way I want to, free of legal constraints designed to assure my moral purity, my ticket to heaven.

I am required to endure a prayer prior to the inception of the business of virtually every public meeting I attend. These meetings are held to decide who gets to do what to whom, with public funds collected and expended for the winners.

Since I don't care whether or not you "believe" in "God," I only occasionally chime in on a Facebook thread that proposes some nonsensical argument to support the poster's rejection of evolution. But the steady incursion of selective Biblical philosophy into the decisions of who gets to do what to whom with tax money is worth fighting.

Abortion: A woman has the right to decide whether she wants to allow a growth to exist in her body. Period. If there's a soul involved, God has the option of placing it elsewhere. In any case, I haven't heard a religious argument that says an aborted soul goes to Hell.

Enforced prayer before public meetings: What purpose does it serve except to help identify troublemakers (synonymous with Godless voters)?

Use of non-governmentally-approved methods to feel better: This is an argument that would not exist were it not for the prominent "theologians'" and political "spiritual advisors'" endorsement of an absurd set of public policies that result in the imprisonment of millions of people no sane person can call a criminal, while funnelling trillions of dollars to the most vicious people on earth (tobacco companies, pharmaceutical companies and their illegal counterparts).

The apparent recent endorsement of Everything Phil Robertson Says by an apparently sizeable portion of the electorate, including a Facebook comparison of the bearded duck-calling Robertsons to the bearded "fisher men" of Biblical lore makes my efforts to counter it necessary, if I do say so myself.

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