I'm still here

I end up here, on this blog, at various intervals. Since its inception I've created one or two others, but none with this longevity. 15 years. Wow.

I found god. Do you want him?

In a class learning about new technology.

A good friend and I were recently discussing athiesm - it was a fabulously one-side conversation due to some technology problems with our cell phones - and I got to thinking: are athiests inherently untrustworthy, evil, violent, self-motivated enemies of the state and humanity?

What immediately sprung to mind was that far more people have been killed to a religious end than by athiests. Then I thought: wait, what about Lenin and Stalin and the atheistic Soviet state? Then I thought: what about Hitler?

An amazing thing happened then. Into my mind, quite without prompting, sprung the thought: of course Hitler didn't believe in God; no religious person could have done that!

Well, why did I think that? Is it possible that I also equate morality with religious belief at some level? The answer is: of course! We are all products of our environment. That doesn't change the fact that killing for the sake of Christianity has happened in the past, present and, most unfortunately (and probably) in the future. But, does it mean that athiest have to somehow make up for their lack of religious belief?

Let me post a question. Which is worse: killing for the sake of religion or killing for personal gain? Before you give me the whole "religion is an excuse used by the powers-that-be" defense, let me say that I don't disagree with that. I'm asking for a gut reaction. A public reaction. I think you'll find even yourself saynig that one has more merit. Maybe not.

So, you're an athiest. Does that mean you have a greater obligation to behave morally? OH, that does beg the question. What is moral behavior? Let's start with the basics of killing, stealing, and...well, let's start with that. Is it more or less likely that a religious person would kill or steal? We'd have to check some major crime stats and a couple of social surveys for that. Someday, perhaps. But let's say that, if the majority of Americans have some belief then a good deal of them commit crimes of this nature. Ok, that's a lame argument.

Here's the deal: think about the question. I'll think about the question. Feel free to post a response. I'm really curious. Life is good and beautiful at times, with or w/o religion. Evil happens, with or without religion. What's the real point?

A recent USA Today/Gallup poll indicates that Americans are more comfortable electing a Catholic, Black, Jew, Woman, Hispanic, Mormon, Thrice-married, 72-year old and homosexual than they are with electing an atheist. [http://www.pollingreport.com/politics.htm]

In her article "Confessions of a Lonely Atheist," reprinted from The New York Times Magazine, January 14, 2001 at http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/angier.htm,
Natalie Angier reports that "According to the International Social Survey Program, a comparative study of beliefs and practices in 31 nations, while a mere 3.2 percent of Americans will agree flatly that they "don't believe in God," 17.2 percent of the Dutch concur with that statement, as do 19.1 of those in France, 16.8 percent of Swedes, 20.3 percent of people in the Czech Republic, 19.7 percent of Russians, 10.6 percent of Japanese and 9.2 percent of Canadians."

This makes me wonder if our tendency towards the ends of the spectrum doesn't correlate with our religious steeping. A person can be many things, but if they don't believe in God they cease to be trustworthy and moral, despite all evidence to the contrary.

A recent article in the April 2006 American Sociological Review reporting on data collected in the American Mosaic Project, states "that out of a long list of ethnic and cultural minorities, Americans are less willing to accept intermarriage with atheists than with any other group, and less likely to imagine that atheists share their vision of American society" (pg 216).

In short, it seems we're willing to elect (and re-elect) a self-righteous war-monger than to let our child marry an atheist. Fascinating.

Last night I was up until 2:30 a.m. playing CivIII. It is the devil.

Looks like Google absorbed Blogger. Nothing disconcerting about that, eh?

Ok Ok. I realize it hasn't been a year. What can I say?

I've decided to look for a new job, though until I find a way to be happy with myself, I expect it'll be hard to be happy with my work. I'll say this, I know how Kevin Spacey felt in American Beauty. Maybe when the new Charger coupe comes out in 2007 I can pull a KS and drop out.

Here is my yearly post. I am a Web maven.

I'm back. It's only been a year. Amazing that I can remember my pwd for this site.

Ok, it's been a while, but that Doonesbury has been making me laugh with his blogger-related comics, so I'm back in the saddle. Sadly, I have nothing to say. But that won't stop me (or will it).

This weather sure is wacky.

"Listen baby can't you hear the squealing
tires, pigs and babies, baby"

"Oh yeah sugar, I can hear that squealing
though it sounds more like more like Ned Beatty"

Break it down.....ShaKA!

"Man is born free, and is everywhere in chains." How true. I'll tell you what: I've got a noble savage fer ya, baby!

It's been an interesting week.

Ah, those Fall blues are upon me. Therefore, I'm writing to my aquarium rather than deliniating the fission transmorgifier. Who gives a flying rat eyeball? Also, though some say that Taco Bell (tm) uses soy, I'm pretty sure they don't.

My Library is beginning to sound a lot like a video game. Beep beep dingle squerch...sigh.

Today I received a message from a good friend. What follows is his suggestion:
"d00d b3tt4r m4k3 m0r3 k0m1k 5+r1p5 H4W H4W H4W!!!111"--what do you suppose he means by that?

Driving across country this week. Should be interesting. Taking plenty of whisky...hey, what can I say?

I wanted to go for drinks tonight after work. My wife said I had to come home and make dinner for her. I am so whipped. sigh.

Thank you blogger. You've changed my life. I just met a wonderful e-force named RoboNimrod. He's so groovy. AND funny.
Here he is holding up a convenience store. My hero.

YeeeHaw! My first blog.

"and i think to myself, what a wonderful blog..."