Think before you hit “forward” - the “delete” key might serve you better
Posted
December 4, 2006 at
3:50 pm by
Julie
DI Hartman:?‚? You goddam communist heathen, you had best sound off that you love the Virgin Mary . . . or I’m gonna stomp your guts out! Now you do love the Virgin Mary, don’t you?!
Private Joker: Sir, negative, sir!
(additional dialogue)
DI Hartman:?‚? Private Joker is silly and he’s ignorant, but he’s got guts, and guts is enough.
This weekend, an old friend (with whom I no longer routinely correspond) forwarded an e-mail to several addressees, adding her own subject line: “Food for thought”.?‚? The content included a monologue from Ben Stein, most of which I enjoyed, and an addendum that verged on fundamentalist propaganda.
My only argument with Mr. Stein’s monologue was with his statement that “I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution, and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.”
Frankly, I find that statement to be a bit melodramatic as well as inaccurate.?‚? Apart from the holiday season and the melting pot of celebrations - some based in religion, some not -?‚? that take place, separation of church and state is specified in the Constitution.?‚? ?‚? People may?‚? worship as they please - assuming they don’t infringe upon the rights of others who may choose NOT to worship.
There’s a lot of inaccurate information and ridiculous speculation contained therein - such as that God stepped back and allowed Hurricane Katrina to devastate the Gulf Coast because we as a country have made it clear that we don’t want God in our lives - but the part to which I objected most strongly was the end:
“Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it… no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.”
WHAT thought process??‚? Swallowing propaganda without considering its accuracy?
And do you mean to tell me that if I hit “delete” that I’m a Communist heathen like Private Joker?
The world has been in bad shape (and “bad” is a relative term) for thousands of years.?‚? There will always be disagreement and discord.?‚? There will always be death and destruction.?‚? Much of it is under our control as humans, but some of it is not.?‚? And no, I don’t mean that it’s under the control of a deity.?‚? Nature takes its course as well, such as in Hurricane Katrina (where we as humans contributed to the destruction too).
Believing in a deity will not right the wrongs of the world.?‚? And non-believers are not to blame for those wrongs simply because they do not believe.
Tags: Religion |
6 Responses to “Think before you hit “forward” - the “delete” key might serve you better”
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1. Kim said:
December 4, 2006 @ 4:13 pm
Thank you! It’s nice to see someone have a balanced thought about these things. I live in Utah where being a non-believer is only the worst thing ever and most people don’t know what an atheist is! I wish more organized religions taught tolerance.
2. Jessica said:
December 4, 2006 @ 6:06 pm
Blaming heathens for Hurricane Katrina is just as bad as ultra-libs blaming Bush for Hurricane Katrina. But see, it cancels each other out, IMO. Who’s crazier, the Weathermen or Fred Phelps?
I do think most Christians get a bad rap. Most are not thinking that Hurricane Katrina was a punishment from God. It’s actually very few that do, but the anti-Christians in this country use it to fuel their own agendas.
Everybody has an agenda. Everybody.
I also think that anti-Christians love the whole separation between church and state, but really don’t know what it means. Our states are not supposed to sponsor a government sanctioned or endorsed religion or national religion. It’s not really about whether or not individuals can pray in school (they can!). I do both sides of the aisle also grossly misinformed on this issue.
Perhaps the real peace and tolerance comes from those who don’t believe in anything to an extreme.
3. thordora said:
December 5, 2006 @ 8:54 am
I routinely hit “reply to all” and blast people when I get crap like that forwarded to me. One of two things happen-the sender reevaluates what they sent, and a dialogue is opened, or people stop sending me crap.
The ones like this drive me nuts the most. send
4. kim said:
December 7, 2006 @ 6:51 pm
Julie, how silly, everyone knows that believing will make you rich and that it’s not non-believers fault for all the wrongs of the world, it’s Eve’s.
Hit delete, they can’t even get their own religion right. Seriously, who is this God they believe in? I know they think that this smote and abandon God is Biblical, but really this God is the creation of ignorant theology perpetuated by those too dim to grasp truths that transcend literal text.
5. Jessica said:
December 7, 2006 @ 9:26 pm
[quote comment="11549"]I know they think that this smote and abandon God is Biblical, but really this God is the creation of ignorant theology perpetuated by those too dim to grasp truths that transcend literal text.[/quote]
It is not their God that is the problem, it is the people. God cannot be faulted for problems brought on by free will.
6. TOP DOG said:
December 17, 2006 @ 7:10 am
I WOULD LIVE MY LIFE BELIEVING THAT THERE IS A GOD AND WHEN I DIE FIND OUT THERE IS NO GOD THAN TO LIVE MY LIFE BELIEVING THAT THERE IS NO GOD AND TO DIE AND FIND OUT THAT THERE IS A GOD.