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My Profile
Fairytales for a Practical Princess - 2008-11-30
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9:26 p.m. - 2005-07-17
For those who are finished or taking a break from and you few heretics who are 'above' reading Harry Potter. No, no spoilers here. Just thought I'd mention how quiet it is and how fun it is knowing what 90% of my buddy listers/constant readers were doing all day. Weekends tend to be quiet in this corner of D-land anyhow, but with the new Potter on the scene…sheesh. Still it's cool to see in my mind's eye all my friends with their noses buried in The Half Blood Prince. I keep such varied company here that there's no telling what y'all are doing on a regular Sunday. Having it nailed this one time tickles me. You know, now that I think on it I can make a fair accurate guess at what most, if not all of my buddies aren't doing on any given Sunday. That would be attending church. Bunch of heathens, the lot of ya. That I have drawn so many like minded folk rather belies that oft repeated statistic that the US is 70% church going Christians. Of course the demographic of my buddy list and constant readers isn't as random as an opinion poll, participation here is strictly voluntary ie: we all like each other. But still, I find it hard to believe that if 7 out of 10 people get jiggy with Jesus every Sunday morning that there's probably not a dozen church goers out of the 300 or so folk who come by here every day. My antipathy for church is based on two things. One, I detest the political bent of so many of the religious types these days. I detest it because it's unfair. Imposing one's voluntary doctrine on others regardless of their feelings on the matter is just rude. As it stands, we have a pretty decent set of laws in place. The true meaning of rule of law is not to force people to behave a particular way, but to serve as the boundary for behavior which infringes of on others. I don't care who said it first or if it was inscribed on tablets or on the lid of a pizza box, 'Thou shalt not kill' is a good rule. Killing is the ultimate infringement on someone else's right to live. So it goes on from there. Law should be more focused on what we may NOT do rather than what we MUST do. I know I'm being kind of vague. It's difficult to articulate precisely. Especially if you turn my words and say that a law saying you're not allowed to kill someone IS in fact telling them how to live. But I'll try to explain more fully. To me law and ethics always come down to civil rights. Civil liberties. I agree not to kill. I agree to advertise truthfully. I agree to follow traffic laws and noise ordinances. I agree to dispose of my trash properly. I agree to those things because not to do so would have an impact on those around me. I do not, as a member of the agreed upon society, have the right to stink up the joint nor endanger those I share space with. But what the agreed upon society may not do is tell me how I must conduct myself when others' liberties are not at issue. The law may not tell me what I may cook for dinner. It may not tell me the kind of music I may listen to. It may not tell me who I am allowed to love. Who is anyone to make laws about those things? Yet, this is the persistent and abhorrent desire of those church types who are determined to impose their chosen rules on the rest of us. I loathe it. And I will fight it until my dying breath. The other reason I dislike church is an off-shoot of the first. Again, control. Who has the say over my life? Being with a majority has never been a priority for me. Yeah, I like to be part of things, but not at the cost of giving up the final say on how I think and live. Some would argue that free will is the central message to God's word. But I don't see it that way. Tossing my life in God's lap and blindly following someone's interpretation of His word seriously squicks me out. That others draw comfort from being part of this lead-by-the-nose herd is scary to me. I don't get it. I could NEVER allow someone else to tell me what I am supposed to think. What I am required to believe. Even if it's 'God' doing the talking. And that so many others do this willingly…eep! It frightens me. To be that passive and to happily forfeit control of self smacks of cowardice. How little belief in yourself you must have to turn the reins over to someone else! To abdicate responsibility for not only actions, but thoughts! Ugh. The 'comfort' of having someone else do my thinking for me is no comfort at all. Each of us comes into this world alone and each of us dies alone. In between we each must determine for ourselves how we should spend that time. What pursuits we will follow. What avenues of thought. What experience we wish to have. And ultimately the responsibility for the course of that life rests with the individual. To do less is not to live at all. It's backing down and giving up. To duck out on the responsibility of minding yourself is to spit in the eye of life itself. I couldn't do it. Even if St Peter himself showed up in my office waving the 'In' list for the gates of Heaven and told me I had to go to church or forever be shut out of the Celestial Viper Room. This is MY life and I will live it as I think best. No pope, shaman, or government hack will ever be permitted to step in and say otherwise. Yeah, yeah, pride goes before a fall. But if I am living the best life I can carve for myself and am holding myself to the standard of civil liberty I so fervently believe in then there's no fall to make. Ideals, morals and values aren't the sole province of the church goers and it would be really fricken great if they actually understood and respected that. Philosophically, ~LA
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