Why compare NZ to US?

In our local NZ news feed website stuff.co.nz a blogger has opened the topic of level of belief in god comparison between the USA and New Zealand.

Release the crazies....

Our general lack of belief in NZ - is this a sign of superior intellect? a result of our respective histories (NZ is younger than US)?  and well lots of questions and possible answers

I'm glad - I wouldn't want organised religion anywhere near my government.

My Father has passed away

Did he pass to "a better place"?  He didn't believe so. My mother believes that he does, but what the other place actually is, is not well defined.

During the days following his passing my sisters talked of him being there with us, and possibly now with his twin brother who passed away a couple of years ago.

These are nice sentiments in my opinion.  Not based on reality. 
Why? Well Dad was with us, in our hearts and minds.  His spirit had expired and we were speaking to his lifeless body in ways that allowed us to move on.

The afterlife is our hearts and minds where are departed friends and family reside.  And that is real. 

I will miss having Dad around to share the days and years with and this brings sadness.  However life doesn't give us options, just as we are born we have death to deal with.

The truth...

I like this theme (if it's ok to call it a theme...)

Everyone has a "truth", well a version of it.  Two people witness the same scene yet describe different facts about it, and sometimes contradicting facts.  So gaining a consensus on "the truth" is a difficult proposition.

However, I do like my previous posts concluding comment.  Why?  Well its concise.  Issues when stated simply often create more clarity than when issues are described with too many words which lead to obscurity.  My protagonist Matt suffers from this.  He relishes topics that need to be explained in minute detail which in turns obscures the issue/topic and thus blurs it's relevance.  I find when I read his posts that by the time I have entered the third paragraph I am having to hold many argument points "up in the air" as he carry's on towards his conclusion.

Mark Twain once wrote/stated: "I would have written less if I had longer"  as a form of apology to someone he had corresponded with.  A very cool sentiment. 

Well - As I said, I like this theme and I think it's worth carrying on with it.....

The truth sets you free

My former accountant once said to me "The truth sets you free".

He was referring to a business matter that we were having trouble with.  Anyway, he became my former accountant, and I'm a little embarrassed to say that I didn't tell him the truth as to why I sort accounting help with another firm/person.

Beyond that, I still think about that phrase, and nowadays how it applies to the religious amongst us.

The religious have a series of beliefs that for them are "the truth".  Those of us who are atheists believe that the religious can only hold these beliefs if they abandon "reason".  We (the atheists) find it amazing that the abandonment of reason places the religious in a position that they can not accept or are unwilling to accept a "truth" about a natural phenomenon.  That the position of the Bible or Qur'an is deemed sufficient word on the matter and that no other truth is possible. 

Now this seems to me like the mind is imprisoned in the beliefs of the religion that they hold.  In other words, they are not free.  Yes, they tell us otherwise.  They say that there beliefs are "they way and the truth".

What do I believe?  That we live in a natural world.  There is no after-life, or any supernatural forces guiding us or the universe.  We are not controlled and not responsible for our actions or thoughts to nobody but ourselves.  That being "good" is part of our genes, part of how we exist as a species, and this is echoed in many other species.  Being good is essential to survival as a group/community.

Our Purpose? To survive!  How do we do that? By having children and allowing our genes to survive beyond our own finite existence.

Are there anomalies? Of course.  Some in our species have no children, either by choice or by being incapable.  Also some amongst us form relationships (while natural to them - same sex) are in themselves not going to allow their genes to be passed on. 

There are also personalities that are destructive, and that appear to act in destabilizing humanity.  We aren't good at rejecting these people.  In other species these personalities usually meet with an unfortunate end.

The truth?  Be good for it's own sake and build better communities for humanities sake and live this one life as best you can.  This will set you free

Time to get moving with this - here is a CNN iReport

The following is from a CNN published report

CNN PRODUCER NOTE     TXBlue08, a mother of two teenagers in Texas, blogs about raising her children without religion. She said she shared this essay on CNN iReport because 'I just felt there is not a voice out there for women/moms like me. I think people misunderstand or are fearful of people who don’t believe in God.' What are your thoughts on this iReport? Share your written response via our Sound Off assignment.

Update: CNN hasn't flagged this iReport as inappropriate, but some community members have. This is a divisive topic, however it does not violate our Community Guidelines, so we ask people to please stop flagging it. We will continue to review the story as often as possible.
- dsashin, CNN iReport producer

     When my son was around 3 years old, he used to ask me a lot of questions about heaven. Where is it? How do people walk without a body? How will I find you? You know the questions that kids ask.

     For over a year, I lied to him and made up stories that I didn’t believe about heaven. Like most parents, I love my child so much that I didn’t want him to be scared. I wanted him to feel safe and loved and full of hope. But the trade-off was that I would have to make stuff up, and I would have to brainwash him into believing stories that didn’t make sense, stories that I didn’t believe either.

     One day he would know this, and he would not trust my judgment. He would know that I built an elaborate tale—not unlike the one we tell children about Santa—to explain the inconsistent and illogical legend of God.

     And so I thought it was only right to be honest with my children. I am a non-believer, and for years I’ve been on the fringe in my community. As a blogger, though, I’ve found that there are many other parents out there like me. We are creating the next generation of kids, and there is a wave of young agnostics, atheists, free thinkers and humanists rising up through the ranks who will, hopefully, lower our nation’s religious fever.

     Here are a few of the reasons why I am raising my children without God.

God is a bad parent and role model.

     If God is our father, then he is not a good parent. Good parents don’t allow their children to inflict harm on others. Good people don’t stand by and watch horrible acts committed against innocent men, women and children. They don’t condone violence and abuse. “He has given us free will,” you say? Our children have free will, but we still step in and guide them.

God is not logical.

     How many times have you heard, “Why did God allow this to happen?” And this: “It’s not for us to understand.” Translate: We don’t understand, so we will not think about it or deal with the issue. Take for example the senseless tragedy in Newtown. Rather than address the problem of guns in America, we defer responsibility to God. He had a reason. He wanted more angels. Only he knows why. We write poems saying that we told God to leave our schools. Now he’s making us pay the price. If there is a good, all-knowing, all-powerful God who loves his children, does it make sense that he would allow murders, child abuse, wars, brutal beatings, torture and millions of heinous acts to be committed throughout the history of mankind? Doesn’t this go against everything Christ taught us in the New Testament?

     The question we should be asking is this: “Why did we allow this to happen?” How can we fix this? No imaginary person is going to give us the answers or tell us why. Only we have the ability to be logical and to problem solve, and we should not abdicate these responsibilities to “God” just because a topic is tough or uncomfortable to address.

God is not fair.

     If God is fair, then why does he answer the silly prayers of some while allowing other, serious requests, to go unanswered? I have known people who pray that they can find money to buy new furniture. (Answered.) I have known people who pray to God to help them win a soccer match. (Answered.) Why are the prayers of parents with dying children not answered?

     If God is fair, then why are some babies born with heart defects, autism, missing limbs or conjoined to another baby? Clearly, all men are not created equally. Why is a good man beaten senseless on the street while an evil man finds great wealth taking advantage of others? This is not fair. A game maker who allows luck to rule mankind’s existence has not created a fair game.

God does not protect the innocent.

     He does not keep our children safe. As a society, we stand up and speak for those who cannot. We protect our little ones as much as possible. When a child is kidnapped, we work together to find the child. We do not tolerate abuse and neglect. Why can’t God, with all his powers of omnipotence, protect the innocent?

God is not present.

     He is not here. Telling our children to love a person they cannot see, smell, touch or hear does not make sense. It means that we teach children to love an image, an image that lives only in their imaginations. What we teach them, in effect, is to love an idea that we have created, one that is based in our fears and our hopes.

God Does Not Teach Children to Be Good

     A child should make moral choices for the right reasons. Telling him that he must behave because God is watching means that his morality will be externally focused rather than internally structured. It’s like telling a child to behave or Santa won’t bring presents. When we take God out of the picture, we place responsibility of doing the right thing onto the shoulders of our children. No, they won’t go to heaven or rule their own planets when they die, but they can sleep better at night. They will make their family proud. They will feel better about who they are. They will be decent people.

God Teaches Narcissism

     “God has a plan for you.” Telling kids there is a big guy in the sky who has a special path for them makes children narcissistic; it makes them think the world is at their disposal and that, no matter what happens, it doesn’t really matter because God is in control. That gives kids a sense of false security and creates selfishness. “No matter what I do, God loves me and forgives me. He knows my purpose. I am special.” The irony is that, while we tell this story to our kids, other children are abused and murdered, starved and neglected. All part of God’s plan, right?

    When we raise kids without God, we tell them the truth—we are no more special than the next creature. We are just a very, very small part of a big, big machine–whether that machine is nature or society–the influence we have is minuscule. The realization of our insignificance gives us a true sense of humbleness.

     I understand why people need God. I understand why people need heaven. It is terrifying to think that we are all alone in this universe, that one day we—along with the children we love so much—will cease to exist. The idea of God and an afterlife gives many of us structure, community and hope.

     I do not want religion to go away. I only want religion to be kept at home or in church where it belongs. It’s a personal effect, like a toothbrush or a pair of shoes. It’s not something to be used or worn by strangers. I want my children to be free not to believe and to know that our schools and our government will make decisions based on what is logical, just and fair—not on what they believe an imaginary God wants.

Marriage Equality Amendment Bill today

This parliamentary bill gets it's first reading/vote today.. If passed it goes to a second reading and select committee work-over...

The religious are generally against this amendment on the grounds that it breaks the sanctimony of marriage.  That marriage between a man and a women is the domain of god and while enshrined in law as being more than that it is still a religious institution first and foremost.

No surprise if you guess that I'm not supporting the religious argument.

One thing they do have right is the acknowledgement that marriage has become more than a religious ceremony.  It is now a state ceremony and it's definition has ramifications in law and society.  This amendment (if passed in to law) will have the effect of gathering in a part of our society that is excluded.  In other words we have legal and societal conditions that create a 2nd tier within our country and I happy to see this form of bigotry extinguished.

Quote from Penn Jillette on faith

Just finished GOD, NO! by Penn Jillette - a great read, his flamboyant personality leaps off the page...

An abridged quote from the book
"Its not fair to blame all the Muslims for the horrible acts of a few people.  That's wrong.  You cannot blame all thos epeople.  And we shouldn't blame a particular faith for the horrible acts of a few people.  At least we shouldn't blame just Islam.  We should blame all faiths.  We should blame faith in general. But Bush and Obama couldn't do that.  No religious person can do that.  Being religious means being okay with believing in things without evidence.  That's the most important part of any faith."

Cool !! "Being religious means being okay with believing things without evidence" - get it

So - and to use another quote: "The enemy is not Muslims.  Muslims are people.  The enemy is not people.  People are good.  The enemy is not Islam.  The enemy is not god.  There is no god. The enemy is faith.  Love and respect all people; hate and destroy all faith"