Okay, so you’re a Christian and every time I post or comment something negative about Christians you tell me you’re not like that. That REAL Christians aren’t like that.

I’m sorry, but I think you’re deluding yourself.

You are part of the Christian Taliban if you:

• Vote for any of the current Republican candidates.
• Support any legislation regarding life beginning at conception.
• Support any legislation regarding tighter restrictions on abortions.
• Support any legislation regarding same-sex marriage or parenting/adoption rights.
• Support any legislation regarding supporting creationism in schools.
• Support any legislation regarding an adults’ ability to live their life as they chose as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else – and that includes fetuses that are not developed enough to live outside the womb.

Here’s the thing, you can believe anything you want, but when you pass legislation to force people who don’t believe as you do – you are the Christian Taliban. I don’t care if you think gays are icky or people shouldn’t kill the babies. That’s your right! If you want to be close-minded and bigoted at home, go for it. But when you people gang up on everyone else, you’re wrong. You’re not making anything better. You’re not saving anyone from themselves. You are dangerous.

Five minutes on Google outside of Christian websites will teach you that this is NOT a Christian nation. Our founding fathers specifically wanted it to be an everyone nation. The 1st Amendment doesn’t say freedom to be a Christian, it says freedom of religion – no matter what religion it is. And my religion is NONE, just like 15 million other Americans.

Either stop being in denial or stop supporting legislation curbing the rights of others. Stop pretending you’re not one of those Christians. Either own it, admit it, stand by it – or get out. Because yes, you’re all painted with the same Christian Taliban paintbrush.

Oh, and clean up your own religions before you think you can make everyone else believe like you. When your every marriage is successful and life-long, when your every child is happy and well cared for, when your women are equal with your men, and when your ministry stops being con men, child molesters or bat-shit crazy, then you can look outward.

Like I said, believe what you want but leave the rest of us alone. We’re getting along much better than you guys. At least we get along.

*Edited because it’s the 1st Amendment debbiedumbass, not the 2nd. Duh-me! Numbers are hard!

Well, apparently my grandson was baptized over the weekend. My daughter asked me weeks ago if I was okay with it. Sure, it doesn’t mean anything to me. She’s mentioned it a couple of times since but I thought it was later in the month.

Her boyfriend’s family is very Catholic and she’s been living with them, so it was a given. If it makes them all happy it’s fine by me. I’m sure Jack won’t be any different when I go see him tomorrow.

I had my kids baptized Episcopalian back in the day, even though I never actually joined the church and never went back. Maybe I thought it was a fail-safe at the time.

But even now I still don’t get it. What’s the point again? The child won’t remember, the child may or may not ever decide to follow that or any other religion. Baptized babies aren’t any healthier or happier.

There is that godparent thing. So Tyler’s brother and his wife? girlfriend? I can’t remember are now Jack’s godparents. That means they’re in charge of his spiritual upbringing (whatever that is) and supposedly take custody if anything happens to Tyler and Ginnie right?

Let me tell you now, if anything happens to my daughter and that child needs care that family is in for a big awakening. None of us may have been invited to attend his baptismal or even invited to visit him (only me) but when push comes to shove we’ll be fighting to keep him. It’s her choice now to go along with their religiosity in order to keep the peace where she lives, but so far deep down inside she’s still an atheist just like the rest of my family. We’ll share, but we won’t give up.

And when he gets big enough to question I’ll make damned sure he does. Just like Kira, when she asks me questions I tell her what I think and that other people think differently and she needs to make up her own mind.

My cousin’s wife sent me this email:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  May Christ’s birth bless you with love and forgiveness in 2012.

(What’s with the love of exclamation points?)

First of all, I prefer Happy Holidays as it’s more inclusive of everyone who celebrates this season. I’m not sure I know any Jewish people or anyone who does Kwanzaa but everyone celebrates something, right? Even our Atheist family we have Christmas trees and gifts, traditional Eve pizza and then drive around looking at lights.

Last night we gathered at Max’s and had our family Christmas. Everyone was happy with my well-thought-out gifts and I was happy with the earrings and fireplace tools I received. And especially the Zynga game card! We even had my Dad on Skype while we opened presents so it was like he was actually there.

Secondly, why do I need forgiveness? One thing I dislike about religion is the assumption that everyone is bad unless they ask forgiveness from some god constantly. What a way to go through life. I’ve read the book and nobody can live up to the standards set there, even if one religion or another could actually finalize them. I feel people are basically good, but some make more bad decisions than others. If I’ve done something I need forgiveness for be sure to let me know.

So… I hope you’ve had a happy holiday whatever it is, and here’s hoping 2012 actually finishes even better than this year.

I never do this but I want you to go to Single Dad Laughing and read this blog post.

Go ahead. It’s a long post but it is the most moving thing I’ve ever read. This is what I as an Atheist think religious people should be doing. We ALL should be doing.

And if you have more time, his follow-up post is fantastic, too.

Go.

We laugh over the claim every year that non-believers are waging war on Christmas. So here is my collection of recent battles:

Let’s start with Fox’s. Fox is the biggest PITA complainer and yet when they put up their ornaments this year, they were listed as “Holiday” ornaments. Apparently someone got the heads up on it and the page was changed to Christmas ornaments – though I can’t verify because as of this minute you can’t even get to any Fox ornament page. 404 my ass.

(Haha, I get a “potentially dangerous” warning from McAfee when I open Fox News website)

Another uber-religious blowhard, Rick Perry and his family wish you Happy Holidays.

Sure there are minor battles going on all over the country regarding government-sanctioned nativity scenes like this one in Santa Monica and another in Athens, Texas. Some city governments get it and let every religion (or non-religion) put up a holiday symbol but others assume when Atheists ask for equal treatment they’re really at war against Christians. Actually we just want fair and equal treatment for everyone, all or nothing.

The Atheists I know don’t complain about Christmas trees, official or otherwise. In fact, the rumor about the White House renaming their trees Holiday Trees is false. I don’t put up a tree anymore but it’s not for any non-religious reason. I love Christmas Trees, I just don’t have the room or the energy. In fact, Christmas Trees aren’t religious anyhow:

I love decorated houses. When I had a house I went overboard with the lights. I still have a 6ft winter penguin and a cute little inflatable reindeer. I love gift-giving and fellowship, some of the music and most of the other traditions for this time of year. I’ve even visited various nativity scenes (and a live one in Florida) with the kids over the years. The nativity is one of the nicer parts of the jesus myth. Who wouldn’t want to believe in a miraculous child? One of my favorite songs is Mary Did You Know? But to me it’s about as believable as Star Wars legends.

There is no war. People, especially Christians, must be reminded the season is NOT all about them, that’s all.

When did it become normal to change the way you do business because one person bitches? Or to cave to whatever some minority of your customers demands?

Case in point:

Lowe’s pays for commercials during a show called Muslims in America. I’ve not seen the show but I have seen the ads. Apparently Dearborn MI is a hotbed of normal people who happen to be Muslim, right? So they need a reality show? Okay, like an extended version of the …and I’m a Mormon ads. Whatever. Carry on.

Then Lowe’s pulled their ads because The Florida Family Association had their members send a bunch of anti-Muslim emails. BACKLASH blows up. Then some California state senator mentions he might call for a boycott against Lowe’s if they don’t apologize and re-run the ads. Poor Lowe’s. Who knew running a home-improvement empire meant you have to take a stand one way or another on Muslims? All Lowe’s wants to do is make money. I don’t shop there because they are anti-gay (and more expensive than Home Depot) but are they really anti-Muslim too? No, they ran the ads until they were pressured by religious bigots. Makes me wonder if their anti-gay history can be planted in the religious bigot garden too.

Another one: Alec Baldwin supposedly went a little nuts when a flight attendant wanted him to turn off his cell phone and now the flight attendant union wants the American Airlines to pull 30 Rock from the in-flight rotation.

Isn’t that a little much? Social media nightmare there. Nobody give a shit about Alex Baldwin making a fuss except the people who were there but let’s make a huge fucking deal about it.

I keep seeing more and more over-reaction to the squeaky wheel. Why is it companies are bending over backwards to keep the religious people happy? To keep any tiny portion of their customers happy? Just do your damned job and let people decide for themselves.

What happened to personal responsibility? If you don’t want to shop at Lowe’s for whatever reason then don’t. If you don’t want to sleep with people of the same sex then don’t. Stop getting offended over every little thing. Stop blowing shit out of proportion.

Stop trying to make everyone live the way you do.

Personally I don’t even notice which ads run during which shows. I don’t relate the plethora of Ford truck commercials to support of the message of any particular show. And though I have personal boycotts against certain companies I never expect anyone else to boycott with me or take any other action against them. I may provide information as to why I’m boycotting them but the decision is yours.

BTW Chik-fil-a is anti-gay too. Everyone should stop eating there. Seriously.

I’m kidding… but not about the anti-gay thing. If you really want to eat their food I won’t judge.

Don’t get me wrong, the signs are GREAT! I kind of have a problem with the locations though. The whole point is to raise questions and get people thinking, right? Who exactly? The churchy people, right? So why are the three billboards I’ve found so far is such shitty locations?
First one, the one on Apache Trail east of 80th St in Mesa. Surrounded by old fix-it shops and a block away from Castle Boutique. Not a great stretch of Apache Trail. Not a church or even a neighborhood in sight.

The second one I found at Dobson south of Main in Mesa, in front of some furniture store, actually on (what appears to be) railroad property. Swell. And I can’t think of a church within miles. Also not a family neighborhood. Mostly stores and industrial-type businesses. The only people who will notice it are the ones trapped by trains, and as seldom as trains roll through there, that’s not much.

The third one is only slightly better. It’s on Southern east of Country Club and right outside of Mesa’s only roller rink. Children. Get kids thinking. But it’s actually on crammed on railroad access facing the other way and there are giant palm trees blocking it until you’re right on top of it. I have NO idea how often trains roll through there to stop traffic.

Were these locations decided upon by the local FFRF people or by Clear Channel? Are the locations designed to comply with posting them but in the most non-offensive places available? Why not along the highways? Why not closer to actual neighborhood full of soccer-mom traffic? Why not outside of a major mall or giant shopping center? We certainly have enough of those in Mesa.

Only the Chandler Heights/Arizona Ave billboard is within my normal driving area so I likely won’t go looking for the rest. Maybe someone closer to them can scope out the actual locations and let me know. Are any of them in good locations?

In the valley:

• Southern, 2,640 feet east of Country Club, south side facing west.
• Chandler Heights Rd., 1,375 feet east of Arizona Ave., south side facing east.
• Apache Trail, 20 feet east of 80th St., south side facing east.
• Dobson, 500 feet south of Main, east side facing north.
• Washington, 115 feet south of 27th St., north side facing west.
• 16th St., 30 feet north of Grand Canal, east side facing south.
• Cave Creek Rd., 0.5 miles north of Bell Rd., west side facing south.
• Glendale Ave., 120 feet west of 25th Ave., south side facing east.
• US 60 Grand, 2,112 feet north of Northern, west side facing northwest.

Tucson:

• Ajo, 700 feet west of Alvernon, north side facing west.
• Speedway, 60 feet east of Main Ave., south side facing east.

Yes, I believe our wonderful planet is going though some obvious and somewhat dangerous changes in climate. Arctic and Antarctic ice fields are melting more than in previous recorded history. There is evidence of that. There has been record-breaking heat and snowfall over the last few years. Hurricanes are coming more often, tornadoes are hitting places they’ve rarely been before, even the earth is quaking in unusual places.

We had horrific dust storms here four afternoons in a row whereas we might have had one or two big ones in the entire monsoon season before.

Shit be happenin’ folks.

Now, there is sooo much information and misinformation out there as to why. Some people believe it’s just the way the earth evolves (that’s not the right word but I can’t think of the correct one) and we’re just due. Some people believe it’s connected to how we’re treating our planet. Some idiots believe it’s an indication that god is pissed.

To me why doesn’t matter. To me it seems that if burning fossil fuels enhances the change in any way, then we should work harder to get away from that. If we’re putting too many chemicals into the air and our ozone layer is effected, then stop putting fucking chemicals into the air. Even if it is earth’s natural inclination to go through one of these global climate shifts every million years or so fine, but let’s not make it worse by helping her make it harder on us.

With the freshwater polar ice melting, our seawater consistency is going to change. That will endanger marine life and only so much of that will survive. So let’s stop over-fishing our seas and them stand a greater chance. Over-cutting of forests (not here so much as most lumber companies replant trees) endangers both the ecosystem in that area and the planet’s ability to clean the air for all of us. So stop wasting paper.

Every time you leave a light on in a room you’re not in, you hurt everyone. Every time you run water without using it, you hurt everyone. Every time you drive a gas-guzzling vehicle, you hurt everyone, right?

I don’t understand enough about the process of making things. Is it better for the environment to have wood furniture and replant trees? Or is plastic furniture made out of who-knows-what better? Maybe glass and steel furniture is better for the environment. if you break it all down to the building process which is less offensive to the earth? I’m betting though that buying gently used stuff is best for all. Let’s use up what’s already made before we destroy more resources to build new.

So here I am, running the A/C because it’s still hot outside and it’s almost November. I drive a big-ass grand marquis because I have no choice at the moment. That’s the only used car I could afford at the time. The next one will be better for the environment, I promise. I consistently save water so I get points for that. I’d love to recycle but my apartment complex doesn’t have that option. Most of my furniture was bought used.

Where are my options? Why aren’t there solar panels EVERYWHERE here in the valley of the sun? Why aren’t there recycle bins everywhere? Why are new houses allowed to be built when there are so many empty ones around? Why are electric or hybrid cars only now becoming available? Why aren’t big stores and other huge buildings required to have solar panels?

What is the hold up? Are we seriously waiting for bigger disasters to happen? Or is it all about the benjamins? Really? We have got to stop thinking about the bottom line and start planning for the future. Where we’re all freezing or melting. A future where oil reserves are tapped out, trees and animals are only found in zoos, and we’re all using gas masks that are probably made out of chemicals that will kill us anyway.

Well… not MY future. With my health issues I’ll be lucky to survive the zombie apocalypse. Kira and Jack’s future. Their children’s future. If there is one. It doesn’t matter why the global climate change is happening, what matters is that we get through it. Stop arguing about the why and come up with ideas to make it better.

I’m the first to admit I’m a cynical bitch but this morning was a… a… complete waste of my time. I’m kind of looking for new groups to check out. Looking for new opportunities to meet like-minded people.

So today I show up at the location of the local Freedom From Religion Foundation group. The majority of the attendees – 90%? – were retirees. Nobody spoke to me. There was some eye contact, but no greeting or anything.

I’m used to welcoming and being welcomed into groups like at our evfn and PodcampAZ events. Not even a hello.

The actual meeting started out fine. Sort of introductions of the #1 and #2 people. We were told about the upcoming placement of the FFRF billboards (and she promised to send out exact locations) a couple of which I jotted down. They talked about a couple of books we should check out. Then the special guest started…

Bob McWhirter, “Baby Don’t Be Cruel: Origins of Punishment, The Eighth Amendment, and Religion”

Oh. My. Gawd. This had to have been the most boring and painful 1:45 minutes of my life. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

• this guy needs serious help in putting together a power point presentation.
• we don’t need 100+ slides of quotes from old greeks and bible stories tied in with Elvis and The Princess Bride references.
• his points could have been made with 1/3 of the slides and in 30 minutes or less

I’m pretty sure he was shooting for why the death penalty is wrong. And though I disagree with him I might have been swayed had his presentation been better.

The thing is, almost everyone in the audience was all for him and his presentation. Forgive the expression, but he was preaching to the choir. There was no discussion, no Q&A or any chance to ask for citations – and believe me he pulled some of his information out of his ass.

This is so not the group for me. I’m for conversation. Discussion. Points and checks. Questions and answers. Oh well, I tried something new and it failed. Moving on.

I like happy dragons. The Anne McCaffrey version of dragons and Puff the magic dragon and Pete’s Dragon, but not the Chinese version of dragons full of fire and death. In fact, my first tattoo was of a happy dragon. I love the idea of it. But I know it’s fantasy – there have never been dragons. But it’s fun to imagine, right?

Santa Clause is a really nice fantasy. Fun to believe in when you’re a kid and fun to help kids believe in.

Aliens! Egads, I KNOW there’s no scientific proof of aliens ever actually being here but I think it’s fun to think so. It’s just FUN.

Fairies are fantasy, but that doesn’t stop us – even as adults – from loving Tinkerbell. Unicorns are fantasy, but that doesn’t stop some people from having collections of unicorn art.

Ghosts, gods, superheros, vampires, bigfoot… the fantasy list goes on and on. Somebody made these stories up years ago and they were such good stories we still enjoy them today. What story imagined today will become the next bible or scary campfire tale?

The problem comes when adults believe in these things with such fervor that they base their lives on them. UFO hunters? Ghost hunters? Religious people? Even worse are those people who set up businesses to take money from the fanatics. If you don’t know the difference between fantasy and fact, how can you protect yourself from the shysters ripping you off?

Thousands of people spend money on psychics and horoscopes. Millions of people tithe 10% of their income (or more) to a church. And what do they get out of it? Maybe piece of mind. Maybe hope? Is it worth the cost? Do you know the difference between your fantasy and actual facts? Is there scientific proof or is it all allegorical? Science expects you to get a consistent result when you test a theory. Can you test your fantasy and get the same results every time?