Religious Persecution in America

And by this I mean, being persecuted by Christians, not the silly notion that Christians are somehow persecuted in America...

Extremism

Blog against Theocracy



Expelled at Expelled - PZ Myers gets bible-blocked at a creationist movie that supposedly addresses the issue of SUPPRESSION. I've got mixed feelings about this movie since another equally intellectual flick is about to hit the theaters and is aimed at the same demographic, the average American idiot.

Will Ben Stein convince Amerkan idiots that Jewish Mythology is getting the short end of the stick in Amerkan education? Will Harold and Kumar touch a nerve of morality within that same dumb Amerkan bastard and convince him (in between tokes) that destroying the constitution and torturing people (although hilarious) is bad? God (my one true god, not yours!) only knows...
Make sure you check out the link to see which big bad atheist made it in to see the film.

"Whoever fears to submit any question to the test of free discussion, loves his own opinion more than the truth."

I should have known this already, but I discovered yesterday that the reason we hide eggs on the spring festival of Easter is because centuries ago Christians tried to kill off the pagan tradition of giving colored eggs as a symbol of fertility on this pre-christian holiday. They banned the practice of giving the eggs and punished those who they caught giving them as gifts on Easter.

I guess the ban didn't work. A thousand years later, my brother, a part time christian, took his children to the largest easter egg hunt in our area yesterday, a church sponsored event where 5000 christian children unwittingly participated in an ancient pagan ritual. And I'm sure, like me before them, there were 5,000 children wondering what rabbits and eggs had to do with the death of Jesus. I sat down with my daughter and we discussed what Easter meant to our ancestors. We discussed the celebration of Spring, the rebirth of the earth, the traditions and the meanings of the colored eggs and the rabbits. It ended up being a great conversation that I believe enriched her understanding of our world, and the mentalities of people both past and present. Unfortunately the parents of those 5,000 children (like my brother) will brush aside their own children's questions and inexplicably attempt to convince them that this is all for Jesus.

After talking about the christians attempting to make Easter their own holiday, she told me something I've heard many, many times growing up in West Texas: "My friend Bethany isn't my friend anymore because she says I am not a christian and I'm going to ... down there"
I smiled and replied "Honey, there isn't a hell. Why would a god who loves us and forgives us need a place like that?" She shrugged, and gave me that I dunno look.
"God doesn't NEED Hell. Only christians do. The ways of our ancestors were not the ways of christians. Their prisons are the ones they create for themselves. You don't need to worry too much about their judgements. " And then, realizing the cold truth of the matter, I added "But sometimes, it's safer not to make yourself a target for them. What you believe is only your business."

"He who will not reason is a bigot, he who cannot reason is a fool, and he who does not reason is a slave."

UPDATE: Creationists instruct their children about Vegetarian T-Rex