Seriously, if I open my email just one more time and get a "funny" email regarding the democrats, liberals or any other position or opinion not favored by my conservative friends, as the god I don't believe in is witness I am going to shoot someone! Perhaps myself for having allowed friendships with these half-wits.
Look, I'm 40. You know that. I've been a liberal since the age of 10 (more on that later). I am not going to change your opinions nor you mine so can we get down to the business of mutual respect and drink buying?
Why is it that I NEVER feel the need to forward anything even remotely about my political beliefs, nor do my liberal friends, but the conservatives feel it is their god (I still don't believe in) given right to clog my inbox with their opinion? If you know me well enough to have my email address then you must know my political bent. Cease and desist will you? Because if not, I'm going to start getting the idea that in the back of your mind you think there is something intrinsically wrong with me for not agreeing with you. And I might start thinking that way about you in return.
Is it we liberals, the true silent majority, that are wrong? Should we take up bullhorns and stand in front of churches and start chanting "wake up"? Should we start printing bumper stickers that say WWDD (What Would Darwin Do)?
I've been a liberal almost my whole life. Almost, because for the first 10 years I was on the fence. See, I have never had a hard time telling anyone what to do or to do it exactly as I say and I am more than occasionally convinced that I know what's best for the whole world; hence, a natural born conservative.
Sometime around the age of 10 I had a revelation. Following the rules of the schoolyard (and most Parliaments), if I posit that I can force others to behave as I think proper, then it is only a matter of time before a bigger, badder school yard bully forces his or her opinion on me. And as every 4th grader knows, you're always just one transfer student away from not being the biggest or the baddest. I figured out at 10 (precious, wasn't I?) that if I can tell others what to do then I am setting myself up to be told what to do by someone who can shout louder or hit harder. This is not a good thing. But what was the alternative? Simply to live and let live. Yes the tough guys of the world would still exist but one need only survive to the next grade or graduation to escape them.
But adult life doesn't quite work that way does it? There are co-workers, neighbors, in-laws and countless others that are forced upon us by societal conventions. There are even those friendly acquaintances and poorly acquainted friends with whom one shares facets of one's life but never the whole picture. And when these people decide to shove their ideas down your in box there is no nun or hall monitor to save you. Because you have allowed them access to your life and they haven't the common sense or civility to just back off. They are so convinced of their own superiority that they just can't help but smash their opinions in your face. How is that any less disrespectful that a schoolyard wedgie? It's worse! Because if these people had any respect for you or any real conviction in their own beliefs they wouldn't be so desperate in their attempts.
Please, please, please, I beg of you. For the sake of whatever good feelings I may have (or had) for you and you for me let us just agree to disagree. I know Hillary has huge thighs, I know Bill is a sex fiend, I know you think the polar bears are committing suicide and that melting ice caps just mean the Great Slushy shortage is over. I get that you think Guantanamo is the latest Club Med and water boarding is spa treatment; I understand that my uterus is your backyard, and that gay marriages that have absolutely no impact on you whatsoever would mean the end of civilization as you know it. I get it already. I have friends who took too many acid tabs at Dead shows and they hallucinate too. I'll do for you what I do for them-hold your hand, let it pass and try not to make you feel embarrassed when you realize what an ass you've been.
Tell me, why is it that those have the least clue about anything have the thickest manifestos? Why is it that these people who believe they have a blueprint for a proper life are also the most miserable? Wouldn't it be easier to stop trying to control other peoples lives and redirect that energy on living your own?
Look, this isn't open for debate. Don't write me back with your skewed, off-kilter, "right makes right" arguments. So help me, I will round up every lefty, pinko, femi-nazi, militant dyke, flaming twink, egghead intellectual, tree hugger, baby killer and greenie I can find and bombard your mailbox with something you sorely lack-common sense.
Please, cease and desist and be confident in the knowledge that in years to come when you're sunning yourself on the Atlantic beaches of Ohio in SPF 40³ and scuba diving the balmy Bering Straight, when Hillary will be dead and still fat (unlike the Polar Bears who all died skinny) and the gays will have experienced the horrors of marital bliss and the third world occupies 9/10ths of the planet that you, in your infinite right-wing wisdom were right all along. Because nothing in your world will have changed.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Magical Mystery Tour
Back in the day, when Rock stations in New York City actually existed and the universe hadn't been homogenized; back when newscasters were journalists and DJ's actually liked and understood the music they played, there was a show called "Desert Island Discs". The DJ would ask musicians to come on air and program a set consisting of the 5 albums or songs that they would choose to bring with them if they were (as the name implied) marooned on a desert island. Now my bro and fellow blogger asks a similar question: What music means the most to you?
Having just turned forty (ouchy) and realizing that I've lived in 5 different decades, understanding that a mere 3 generations of my family spanned 3 centuries and wanting to accept the quick march of time, I decided to peg my answers to a time frame in the hope they'd make more sense. Here goes:
60's: I was born in 68 and so there aren't a whole lot of cogent memories there but my early childhood was colored with the images of that decade. And, as is the case with most decades, the 60's (or what we most associate with them ) didn't really start until 66 or 67 anyway and carried over until maybe 75 when Disco gave the 70's a definition of it's own. So my 60's tunes are:
Woodstock, as performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, written by Joni Mitchell
The summer of love and me in diapers! Damn! Sure it's trippy and maybe a little bit dated but how can you live your life and not believe that "we are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden"? I beg you, Google the lyrics. It will bring you peace. Or maybe crunchy chicks.
Feelin' Groovy or The 59th Street Bridge Song, written and performed by Simon and Garfunkel
"I got no deeds to do, no promises to keep. I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep, let the morning time drop all it's petals on me. Life I love you! Feelin' groovy!" Ahh. Don't you just wish? This song most reminds me of my older brother and the weekends when he'd come home from college with a ginormous afro and pretend to dunk me in the toilet. I loved him so. Last I heard he was an engineer with a defense contractor. So much for the groovy.
70's: Ah childhood! Polyester and excellent British rock; later on came disco (which I will argue did not suck).
Philadelphia Freedom, written by Bernie Taupin (the best lyricist EVER and John's collaborator before he whored out to Disney. Oh well, platform shoes cost money ya know?) and performed by Elton John. It isn't the lyrics with this one, it's one very specific memory that for whatever reason got attached to this song; my dad and my family at Coney Island having a picnic in the parking lot by the old blue roller coaster (yes, we are Hispanic). The sun, the heat, the old brown Chevy, my mom's chewy ham sandwiches with mayo on Wonderbread and the smell of Coppertone. I miss them.
Show me the Way, Peter Frampton. This is the soundtrack for the endless summers in Brooklyn where the sun was as bright as ever it could be and the colors of childhood so warm the memory of them chills me now. As an adult I can appreciate: "I wonder if I'm dreaming, I feel so unashamed, I can't believe this is happening to me. I watch you when you're sleeping, and then I want to take your love". Oh yeah.
80's: My teens! Utterly misspent and all the better for it! Generation X had no intention of changing the world. We'd learned from all the hippies turned Gordon Gecko that idealism without action is mental/moral masturbation.
Personally, it was the longest decade ever: I turned 12 in "80 and 20 in '88. That's a lot happening in one little decade. I've had to mix artists, albums and songs; there's just too much salty goodness.
Angry Young Man, Billy Joel. Those lyrics and that prelude, God bless him!Describes every guy I ever loved, except the one I married. See, even I can grow up.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Tears for Fears. "All for freedom and for pleasure, Nothing ever lasts forever. Everybody wants to rule the world..." And didn't we just?
Forever Young, Alphaville . Yes dammit. I really do want to live forever, forever. But I'd like to do it young. This was my prom song and, as I told a fellow blogger, I last heard it on the oldies station. Shoot me now.
We're the Kids in America, Kim Wilde. Oh man, I can do a Molly Ringwald dance to this like you wouldn't believe! (see The Breakfast Club). Makes you wanna scream "Screw you mom and dad" and then give them a lace glove covered middle finger. We are still the kids in America and apparently we STILL live for the music go round!!!
Bat Out of Hell, Meatloaf. Oy, the angst! It's Goethe; The Teen Years. I know the album came out in '77 but it was still wildly popular in the 80's with a certain brand of tortured young man. For me that album was everything that time was, an endless succession of explosive passions and wrenching defeats. And to think my heart ended torn and twisted at the foot of burning biker. Sigh.
90's: Tough decade. Either I got old or there just wasn't anyone left to fight with or anything left to fight over or for. Apartheid got done, Mr. Gorbachev had taken down his wall with a little help from David Hasselhoff, no one was going to drop to any nukes on us and the Republican Guard surrendered to CNN. Makes you wonder why you wake up some decades.
Let Me Clear my Throat, DJ Kool. What the hell does "music in the monitors" mean anyway? I first heard this song at Coney Island, riding the Himalaya with my boyfriend the body builder. Young, pretty, healthy and in love. Uh huh huh huh, goddamn!
The Hair Metal Genre-the later years, Poison, Motley Crue et al. White Trash national anthems one and all but god, it was such brainless fun.
The Grunge Genre, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, STP. The first time I heard Teen Spirit I nearly fell off my bar stool. I thought it was the first genuine, completely unique musical form I'd ever heard. Like nothing before or since. And some of the best lyrics ever written. Don't believe me? "Take a bath I'll drink the water that you leave. If you should die before me ask if you can bring a friend, pick a flower hold your breath and drift away".
00's: What can say you about a decade that you can't figure out what to call? Is it the naughts? Or the zero zero's? I can't wait for 2013. I'm equally undecided musically . There isn't alot happening that I relate to. And what the hell is an "emo" and why are all the boys wearing guy liner? It's getting to the point that if Zach Braff doesn't include a song on his show or his soundtracks I figure it's not worth it. Could this possibly be a function of my getting older? Is this the first symptom of "if it's too loud, you're too old"? Was it not I who sat on the speaker stacks at CBGB's? I, who partied like a rock star at the Peppermint Lounge and made it to (and in) the VIP section at Limelight? Did I just name drop three totally ancient and now defunct clubs? I guess it's the natural progression of things.
Rudy Valle got knocked off the charts by Bing Crosby who was supplanted by Frank Sinatra who was dethroned by Elvis who was made obsolete by the Beatles. My friends and I have starting saying things like "they don't write songs like that anymore" or "things were just better then". In my heart, I don't think that's true. I think art and music are eternal because the human experiences upon which they are based are immutable. We're just too tired and bored and staid to really listen like once we did.
Thankfully, there are those immortal songs that live forever, at least for me. I don't know when they joined me exactly but they've never left and never will:
In the Mood, by Glenn Miller
Bolero, by Ravel
Anything he ever wrote, Mozart
My Prayer, by The Platters (my wedding song and proof that God loves atheists too)
Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans, as performed by Rosemary Clooney (yeah, yeah white soul whatever, I dig her)
Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White, versions by Perez Prado or Xavier Cougat
Now you know more about me than most. And I'm sure you don't care, which is good, this is the Internet after all. But do yourself a favor and look some of these up. They'll change your life.
Having just turned forty (ouchy) and realizing that I've lived in 5 different decades, understanding that a mere 3 generations of my family spanned 3 centuries and wanting to accept the quick march of time, I decided to peg my answers to a time frame in the hope they'd make more sense. Here goes:
60's: I was born in 68 and so there aren't a whole lot of cogent memories there but my early childhood was colored with the images of that decade. And, as is the case with most decades, the 60's (or what we most associate with them ) didn't really start until 66 or 67 anyway and carried over until maybe 75 when Disco gave the 70's a definition of it's own. So my 60's tunes are:
Woodstock, as performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, written by Joni Mitchell
The summer of love and me in diapers! Damn! Sure it's trippy and maybe a little bit dated but how can you live your life and not believe that "we are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden"? I beg you, Google the lyrics. It will bring you peace. Or maybe crunchy chicks.
Feelin' Groovy or The 59th Street Bridge Song, written and performed by Simon and Garfunkel
"I got no deeds to do, no promises to keep. I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep, let the morning time drop all it's petals on me. Life I love you! Feelin' groovy!" Ahh. Don't you just wish? This song most reminds me of my older brother and the weekends when he'd come home from college with a ginormous afro and pretend to dunk me in the toilet. I loved him so. Last I heard he was an engineer with a defense contractor. So much for the groovy.
70's: Ah childhood! Polyester and excellent British rock; later on came disco (which I will argue did not suck).
Philadelphia Freedom, written by Bernie Taupin (the best lyricist EVER and John's collaborator before he whored out to Disney. Oh well, platform shoes cost money ya know?) and performed by Elton John. It isn't the lyrics with this one, it's one very specific memory that for whatever reason got attached to this song; my dad and my family at Coney Island having a picnic in the parking lot by the old blue roller coaster (yes, we are Hispanic). The sun, the heat, the old brown Chevy, my mom's chewy ham sandwiches with mayo on Wonderbread and the smell of Coppertone. I miss them.
Show me the Way, Peter Frampton. This is the soundtrack for the endless summers in Brooklyn where the sun was as bright as ever it could be and the colors of childhood so warm the memory of them chills me now. As an adult I can appreciate: "I wonder if I'm dreaming, I feel so unashamed, I can't believe this is happening to me. I watch you when you're sleeping, and then I want to take your love". Oh yeah.
80's: My teens! Utterly misspent and all the better for it! Generation X had no intention of changing the world. We'd learned from all the hippies turned Gordon Gecko that idealism without action is mental/moral masturbation.
Personally, it was the longest decade ever: I turned 12 in "80 and 20 in '88. That's a lot happening in one little decade. I've had to mix artists, albums and songs; there's just too much salty goodness.
Angry Young Man, Billy Joel. Those lyrics and that prelude, God bless him!Describes every guy I ever loved, except the one I married. See, even I can grow up.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Tears for Fears. "All for freedom and for pleasure, Nothing ever lasts forever. Everybody wants to rule the world..." And didn't we just?
Forever Young, Alphaville . Yes dammit. I really do want to live forever, forever. But I'd like to do it young. This was my prom song and, as I told a fellow blogger, I last heard it on the oldies station. Shoot me now.
We're the Kids in America, Kim Wilde. Oh man, I can do a Molly Ringwald dance to this like you wouldn't believe! (see The Breakfast Club). Makes you wanna scream "Screw you mom and dad" and then give them a lace glove covered middle finger. We are still the kids in America and apparently we STILL live for the music go round!!!
Bat Out of Hell, Meatloaf. Oy, the angst! It's Goethe; The Teen Years. I know the album came out in '77 but it was still wildly popular in the 80's with a certain brand of tortured young man. For me that album was everything that time was, an endless succession of explosive passions and wrenching defeats. And to think my heart ended torn and twisted at the foot of burning biker. Sigh.
90's: Tough decade. Either I got old or there just wasn't anyone left to fight with or anything left to fight over or for. Apartheid got done, Mr. Gorbachev had taken down his wall with a little help from David Hasselhoff, no one was going to drop to any nukes on us and the Republican Guard surrendered to CNN. Makes you wonder why you wake up some decades.
Let Me Clear my Throat, DJ Kool. What the hell does "music in the monitors" mean anyway? I first heard this song at Coney Island, riding the Himalaya with my boyfriend the body builder. Young, pretty, healthy and in love. Uh huh huh huh, goddamn!
The Hair Metal Genre-the later years, Poison, Motley Crue et al. White Trash national anthems one and all but god, it was such brainless fun.
The Grunge Genre, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, STP. The first time I heard Teen Spirit I nearly fell off my bar stool. I thought it was the first genuine, completely unique musical form I'd ever heard. Like nothing before or since. And some of the best lyrics ever written. Don't believe me? "Take a bath I'll drink the water that you leave. If you should die before me ask if you can bring a friend, pick a flower hold your breath and drift away".
00's: What can say you about a decade that you can't figure out what to call? Is it the naughts? Or the zero zero's? I can't wait for 2013. I'm equally undecided musically . There isn't alot happening that I relate to. And what the hell is an "emo" and why are all the boys wearing guy liner? It's getting to the point that if Zach Braff doesn't include a song on his show or his soundtracks I figure it's not worth it. Could this possibly be a function of my getting older? Is this the first symptom of "if it's too loud, you're too old"? Was it not I who sat on the speaker stacks at CBGB's? I, who partied like a rock star at the Peppermint Lounge and made it to (and in) the VIP section at Limelight? Did I just name drop three totally ancient and now defunct clubs? I guess it's the natural progression of things.
Rudy Valle got knocked off the charts by Bing Crosby who was supplanted by Frank Sinatra who was dethroned by Elvis who was made obsolete by the Beatles. My friends and I have starting saying things like "they don't write songs like that anymore" or "things were just better then". In my heart, I don't think that's true. I think art and music are eternal because the human experiences upon which they are based are immutable. We're just too tired and bored and staid to really listen like once we did.
Thankfully, there are those immortal songs that live forever, at least for me. I don't know when they joined me exactly but they've never left and never will:
In the Mood, by Glenn Miller
Bolero, by Ravel
Anything he ever wrote, Mozart
My Prayer, by The Platters (my wedding song and proof that God loves atheists too)
Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans, as performed by Rosemary Clooney (yeah, yeah white soul whatever, I dig her)
Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White, versions by Perez Prado or Xavier Cougat
Now you know more about me than most. And I'm sure you don't care, which is good, this is the Internet after all. But do yourself a favor and look some of these up. They'll change your life.
Monday, April 14, 2008
WWJD? Sue!
A papal visit always inspires me to think of religion. Religion and really bad hats. If you're a Catholic, a papal visit is like a ticker tape parade for Neil Armstrong; cool guy but other than being on the moon what does he have to do with me?. And I can't imagine the Jews aren't thinking "gee, German and Catholic, this can't end well". If you're gay it's "nice hat but lose the attitude".
I was raised a Catholic and endured 12 years of Catholic school for which I am eternally grateful to my now gratefully dead parents because only those 12 years could have produced such a faithfully unwaivering atheist.
That having been said I have absolutely no beef with Jesus Christ on any personal level. You see Jesus is not my problem. My issue, which this papal visit makes most abundantly clear, is that it took longer for the Romans to un-cross Christ that it did for his followers to utterly miss the point and ruin the message.
The message itself is practically flawless in its simple truth: love one another as I have loved you; do unto others as you would have done unto you. Bang! Dead simple. No culinary rules, eat what you want. No need to meditate on a mountaintop to commune with your maker for your maker lives in the faces and hearts of all your grubby fellow men. Love them and you love me says our hippy-dippy savior. And not five minutes later the disciples are divvying up shares in Jesus Inc. and criticizing the Romans for drawing lots for his clothes. Some balls.
If I were Christ's counsel what would I advise he do? Sue. Sue the balls off of any and every loser manipulator who hides behind your trademark to promote his own agenda. Sue the churches for plagiarism, perjury, libel, and fraud. Sue the priests and the clergy for defrauding his stock holders and holding cheap the currency of his message. Sue for defamation of character for the horrors committed in his name. Sue for alienation of affection for every believer they ever tortured into hating him.
So what ax does an atheist have to grind with a church he or she has utterly abandoned? Only this-that said church, and all churches it seems, have not only so completely missed the point but worse yet, have promoted an antithetical dogma in his name that affects those who do want to play along. And while I am an atheist, I will fight to the death for your right to believe in that gobbledygook but I can't stand by and watch a good idea go so horribly off kilter and so many innocents hurt in the process.
Would Christ have ostracized gays? He ran with 12 unmarried dudes. Do the math.
Would he have stood in judgment of people who use contraceptives? He hung with a hooker, remember? How on earth did this simple and beautiful and perfect philosophy get so perverted? And don't think I'm only knocking the home team. While Catholicism may have it wrong, sure as you're breathing, the Protestants got it wrong-er. They took out the dancing, the sex and the wine. Two out of the three the Bible tells us Jesus partook in. The third got left on the cutting room floor at Nicea but you get the point. Good grief!
The New Testament bible is like a transcript of a bad game of "telephone". It starts out with Jesus saying "love your neighbor" and ends with the acid trip of Revelations and the apostles screaming "stone everybody". What the hell?
This particular pontiff is a real storm trooper when it comes to catechism (sorry, couldn't help it) allowing for no variations or exceptions to church rules. It's like trying to enforce a dress code on the deck of the Titanic. Dude, folks are leaving in droves, now is not the time to make staying more un-doable.
Hundreds of gay Catholics marched on the UN to raise awareness of how their church has abandoned them. Hey, wasn't the whole point to love your fellow man? Meanwhile the church that speaks of preserving life condemns condoms that would prevent the spread of AIDS thus causing millions of unnecessary deaths. Is it me, seriously?
I am an atheist and therefore find no need for faith in my life. Not religious Voo Doo-ey, water into wine, magic show faith. I have faith in my fellow man. That every single beautiful boy out in front of the UN yesterday is as deserving of love and respect as Christ himself. Because that is what Christ himself said. I have faith that we are the Gods and are capable of Godlike behavior. I've seen it and I feel it and if you don't believe me consider this: it took 19 men to kill over 3000 on 9/11 but 323 to save 60,000 in New York alone. The law of averages argues for the intrinsic decency of men's souls which churches would crush, but the word of Christ exalted.
Believe if you wish and don't if you don't. Frankly I couldn't care less. But if you are going to believe then for god(whom I don't believe in) sake at least believe it right. Believe in the actual message and not the translation. The bible says that Christ was warned he'd be betrayed by one of his own for pieces of silver. They neglected to tell him the real betrayal would be post mortem. The pieces of silver? Ask who is the largest landowner in New York City (although NYU may have beat them on this one). A papal visit isn't a mission of faith, it's a real estate appraisal.
So this weekend I think I'm sitting out Pope-a-Palooza '08 and instead sending contributions to GMHC, Planned Parenthood, and NOW. And with every check, I the atheist, am living the true word of Christ. Ain't that something?
I was raised a Catholic and endured 12 years of Catholic school for which I am eternally grateful to my now gratefully dead parents because only those 12 years could have produced such a faithfully unwaivering atheist.
That having been said I have absolutely no beef with Jesus Christ on any personal level. You see Jesus is not my problem. My issue, which this papal visit makes most abundantly clear, is that it took longer for the Romans to un-cross Christ that it did for his followers to utterly miss the point and ruin the message.
The message itself is practically flawless in its simple truth: love one another as I have loved you; do unto others as you would have done unto you. Bang! Dead simple. No culinary rules, eat what you want. No need to meditate on a mountaintop to commune with your maker for your maker lives in the faces and hearts of all your grubby fellow men. Love them and you love me says our hippy-dippy savior. And not five minutes later the disciples are divvying up shares in Jesus Inc. and criticizing the Romans for drawing lots for his clothes. Some balls.
If I were Christ's counsel what would I advise he do? Sue. Sue the balls off of any and every loser manipulator who hides behind your trademark to promote his own agenda. Sue the churches for plagiarism, perjury, libel, and fraud. Sue the priests and the clergy for defrauding his stock holders and holding cheap the currency of his message. Sue for defamation of character for the horrors committed in his name. Sue for alienation of affection for every believer they ever tortured into hating him.
So what ax does an atheist have to grind with a church he or she has utterly abandoned? Only this-that said church, and all churches it seems, have not only so completely missed the point but worse yet, have promoted an antithetical dogma in his name that affects those who do want to play along. And while I am an atheist, I will fight to the death for your right to believe in that gobbledygook but I can't stand by and watch a good idea go so horribly off kilter and so many innocents hurt in the process.
Would Christ have ostracized gays? He ran with 12 unmarried dudes. Do the math.
Would he have stood in judgment of people who use contraceptives? He hung with a hooker, remember? How on earth did this simple and beautiful and perfect philosophy get so perverted? And don't think I'm only knocking the home team. While Catholicism may have it wrong, sure as you're breathing, the Protestants got it wrong-er. They took out the dancing, the sex and the wine. Two out of the three the Bible tells us Jesus partook in. The third got left on the cutting room floor at Nicea but you get the point. Good grief!
The New Testament bible is like a transcript of a bad game of "telephone". It starts out with Jesus saying "love your neighbor" and ends with the acid trip of Revelations and the apostles screaming "stone everybody". What the hell?
This particular pontiff is a real storm trooper when it comes to catechism (sorry, couldn't help it) allowing for no variations or exceptions to church rules. It's like trying to enforce a dress code on the deck of the Titanic. Dude, folks are leaving in droves, now is not the time to make staying more un-doable.
Hundreds of gay Catholics marched on the UN to raise awareness of how their church has abandoned them. Hey, wasn't the whole point to love your fellow man? Meanwhile the church that speaks of preserving life condemns condoms that would prevent the spread of AIDS thus causing millions of unnecessary deaths. Is it me, seriously?
I am an atheist and therefore find no need for faith in my life. Not religious Voo Doo-ey, water into wine, magic show faith. I have faith in my fellow man. That every single beautiful boy out in front of the UN yesterday is as deserving of love and respect as Christ himself. Because that is what Christ himself said. I have faith that we are the Gods and are capable of Godlike behavior. I've seen it and I feel it and if you don't believe me consider this: it took 19 men to kill over 3000 on 9/11 but 323 to save 60,000 in New York alone. The law of averages argues for the intrinsic decency of men's souls which churches would crush, but the word of Christ exalted.
Believe if you wish and don't if you don't. Frankly I couldn't care less. But if you are going to believe then for god(whom I don't believe in) sake at least believe it right. Believe in the actual message and not the translation. The bible says that Christ was warned he'd be betrayed by one of his own for pieces of silver. They neglected to tell him the real betrayal would be post mortem. The pieces of silver? Ask who is the largest landowner in New York City (although NYU may have beat them on this one). A papal visit isn't a mission of faith, it's a real estate appraisal.
So this weekend I think I'm sitting out Pope-a-Palooza '08 and instead sending contributions to GMHC, Planned Parenthood, and NOW. And with every check, I the atheist, am living the true word of Christ. Ain't that something?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)