Response to Criticism of This Here Blog

Every once in a while I'll get a criticism/critique of something controversial that I've posted here or elsewhere. I welcome these kinds of things because I think having more conversation about any topic is a good thing. After all, the issue that I support is probably controversial and should be out in the open.

Today I posted a link on facebook to the picture that you see below. The sign was created by a freedom from religion group and is meant to support the right for gays to marry and have the same rights as anyone else in this country. After all, our constitution guarantees it. In case you haven't noticed, the vast, vast majority of the groups that are against gay rights are Christian. Why? Because the Bible says so.

First, let me say something about myself and my own beliefs. I consider my principles and my ability to follow them (after all, those are two very different conversations) to be as important as anything in my life. Without them I am nothing. Also, my principles are my own. They are not dictated to me by any group, organization or text. I may consider myself to be a Libertarian but I'd never join the party. I don't belong to an organization that promotes atheism. There are few things more important than being able to think for yourself. If I could only teach my child one thing, it would be that.

I think some of you think that my frequent jabs at religion are due to my own beliefs. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Once again, the issue is ALWAYS what I want to talk about. At times this will put me in the company of strange bedfellows. Not long ago I gave Nancy Pelosi props for killing a bill. I agree with Nancy Pelosi almost never, but when she is right I will gladly say so. I think that is the other part that people get wrong - they may be principled but have a hatred of a person or group so that it skews their belief on a given subject. What good are principles if they aren't applied consistently?

Here are my replies to some of what I've heard:

Alright already, you don't like religion. We get it. Move on to something else.

Once again, I bring up religion in the context of an issue. In this case it is gay rights. I don't see Microsoft or the Automobile Workers Union coming out against gay marriage.

Why do you rail against them? They aren't bothering you. You're not gay - why do you care?

I beg to differ, they are bothering me. And you should be bothered as well. Since the beginning of man people had religion. And ever since the first person claimed to know the word of God(s), man struggled to break free of the bondage caused by these holy men.

Lets take Christianity as an example. As soon as the Bible took hold in the second and third century, all science and philosophy came to a halt. People were burned for saying they didn't believe. Galileo spent the last twenty years of his life in jail for saying that the Earth wasn't the center of the universe.

Better yet, lets go back 150 years. Slavery was justified because the bible not only says it is ok, it tells you how to treat your slaves (in the ten commandments, no less). But what about women? The Bible was used as justification to to keep women from attending school, voting or having the other same rights as men (Elizabeth Cady Stanton went so far as to make her own Bible). There isn't a major religion on Earth that doesn't treat women as possessions. The Bible clearly says that women are possessions (in the 10 commandments, no less) and that they are not to speak in church or be in a position to teach men.

So who fought these battles? Was it only blacks? Only women? No, it was people of every gender, race and background. We are where we are today (far from perfect, mind you) because people before us fought to get us this far. If people would have said "you're not black" or "you're not female", where would we be? Humanists of all kinds of backgrounds - Christian, atheist, black, white, male, female - bonded together to fight the good fight.

But you're an atheist. How can you possibly know what is good or moral?

I get asked this one a lot, and this is the one that people get the most wrong. The answer is easy - because I have a brain. It isn't difficult to know right from wrong. I know that we should all have the same rights and that it is important to fight for those rights. I don't need a book or a preacher to tell me this. Neither do you.

Furthermore, I'm not bound by some ancient text to limit my beliefs. There is absolutely nothing in the Bible that talks about human rights, but you can find PLENTY of places where it advocates murder, rape and slavery. Yet you think because I don't believe in that book that somehow I'm morally deficient?

Why don't you write about how Muslims treat women, or some other religion?

Once again, my beef isn't with Christianity. I couldn't care less what you do on Sunday as long as it doesn't interfere with public life. But the fact that you asked this question proves my point: in almost every instance of human rights being violated, religion is behind it. And for the record, the right to worship as you wish is absolutely a right that all people should have and I would be just as consistent in my support of anyone that had that right violated. Fortunately this is almost never the case, although there is an endless list of examples where Christianity tried to force its will against other religions or non-believers.

But religion isn't all bad.

I've never said that it was. However, you can't think of a single act of kindness or generosity that couldn't have been done without it. Good people will do good things no matter what. Bad people will do bad things, and I could argue that they are more likely to do bad things if their book justifies it or if they have the belief that their sin is already paid for.

There are in fact Christians that "get it" when it comes to the rights of others. Once again, at the end of the day we all forge our own beliefs. I'm not railing against the book, I'm railing against your belief. And that is the point of the sign below - nobody believes everything that is in the Bible. I'm sure you aren't going to stone your misbehaving child or murder the next Amalekyte you see, even though you are commanded to do so. We all decided what we are or aren't going to believe so stop hiding behind something else.

Despite what you may think, religion's goal is not to make better people. It is to make better (and more obedient) Christians/Muslims/Jews.

But don't you realize how this makes you look?

I don't know - do I? I only look the way that you see me. And that says more about you than it does about me. Who wouldn't want to do the most to promote humanity?

Better yet, where do you stand on these issues? Are you principled? Do you hold a position because you found a spot in your book that justifies it? I dare you to ask yourself the tough questions.

Susan B. Anthony said it best:

Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations... can never effect a reform.

and

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.