The So Called War on Women

This is getting out of control America.  You can not and will not be allowed to violate our constitutional rights any longer.  We all need to stand up and say enough is enough.  In another states attempt to strip women of their constitutionally granted write to choose what to do with their body.  This is incredibly un-American.  These law makers in Mississippi whom just passed a bill that will effectively close the states only abortion clinic a few days ago.  The law states that any doctor perform abortions in the state must have admitting privileges at a state hospital.  What does this do for anyone? Nothing.  What it does is restrict who can give abortions in the state, and it's already really impossible in Mississippi, this makes it so.  Now I doubt that this law will stay in effect for very long, it's so blatantly unconstitutional that it screams to me undone.  If you're reading this and live in Mississippi do whatever is in your power you can to get behind having this bill overturned.

This is not the only legislation working its way around the country in these weeks.  In Pennsylvania the congress there is trying to pass a bill that is similar to the bill that passed in Virginia recently that would force all women claiming to have had a miscarriage to be subjected to an ultrasound.  The ultrasound would be done by shoving a twelve inch long probe into their uterus.  The most disgusting part is that part of the law requires that the screen for the ultrasound be in full view of the woman.  When asked how forcing a woman to watch that could be considered right, the Governor said that they weren't forcing the women to watch, that they could just shut their eyes.

Oh my GOD, how is this okay?  I know that we are calling this a war on women in this country, but it's not a  war on women.  It's not a war at all.  This is the end of justice.  People in this country have the right not have their bodies invaded by the government because certain super-right tea party politicians and Americans have a religious problem with abortion.  This is something they have no right to do.  They even agree with this.when the helped defeat another law that democrats where trying to pass in another state that said that conception began at fertilization and that anything that prevented fertilization was against the law.  Making male masturbation illegal.  The same right wing political pun-dents that think a women should have no right to
decide what to do with their body, feel it is unconstitutional to say what a man does with his.  For now.  Some states have actually passed laws that make it illegal for a man to masturbate, like Alabama, for instance.  This is the greatest miss use of our taxpayers dollars.  It has to stop.  Our state, our country has so many more important things to worry about than whether or not I play with myself.  We need to fix the economy, lower gas prices, fix the health care system.  Why are things like this even being discussed?

Mississippi articles:
http://news.yahoo.com/miss-gov-signs-limits-abortion-providers-230051341.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75218.html

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/03/11002420-mississippi-anti-abortion-bill-obviously-unconstitutional

Pennsylvania articles:
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/03/13/pennsylvania-postpones-debate-on-abortion-ultrasound-bill/

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/27/pennsylvania-poised-to-enact-most-restrictive-abortion-law-of-2012/

Woman Forced to Watch Her Baby Die

If you are one of those people who are against abortion, and believe that there is no situation where an abortion is a good idea, then watch this video. It is one thing to try to prevent women from using it as a form of birth control, but most abortions are NOT in that category. 

A woman from Nebraska was forced to watch her baby suffocate to death because she was not able to get an abortion regardless of the situation.  Her water broke at 23 weeks, which, without the amniotic fluids, the baby would not develop lungs to survive after birth. So when she was forced to wait to go into labor naturally, and when the baby was born, watched as her baby girl gasped for breath until she died.

So. With that short re-cap of this woman’s story, how can you honestly believe that banning abortion after 20 weeks regardless of the situation is a GOOD thing?! A woman makes her choices for a damn good reason (at least most of us). The choice to abort a baby is not something that we would take lightly, and it’s certainly not something that you have the right to take away!

So I have a question for the legislators of Nebraska. What the hell would it have hurt, to allow this woman an abortion? If you can’t respect a woman's choice to do what is likely the hardest thing that they will ever do, then YOU do not deserve the respect to create laws that govern us. There are about a dozen states who are looking into copying this law, because they don’t actually CARE what is best for the woman or their families. That is not important to them. 

States that are next in line for this law? (click the links for more info)

Oregon.

Minnesota.

Georgia.

Idaho.

Iowa.

Florida.

Missouri.

Ohio.

States that already have a ban on abortions

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Michigan

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

New Jersey

New Mexico

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Utah

Virginia

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Political Secretions

Why oh why do people think that America is still a Democracy?  Seriously, when the major corporations of the world govern those who govern us, how can we justly say that this is a country of the people?  We don't have a voice and when we try to, we get called whinny children who are just upset that we lost and didn't get our way.  The worst part is that people like the country bumpkins that flock to there Republican masters, will talk about how liberals are un-American for not wanting to fight needless wars, or for the poor to have access to health care, or unemployment benefits, or college educations, or bargaining rights, will with same mouth say that limiting the freedoms of gays, and women, and immigrants, and minorities are amazing examples of the freedoms our founders fought and died to give us!  How is this possible?  How can we all be so blind that we can think that this is how we should live?

Here's what I want for America.  WAKE UP!! Stop just listening to what your told like little sheep! Not even from me.  All you all seem to do is bleet liberal and conservative propaganda like a bunch of sheep or Lemmings.  I'm serious, if you're not going to learn to think for yourselves then stop talking, because this country could be a country of thinkers and progressives.  So if you're going to vote on Monday in the Presidential Primary here in Wisconsin than please, do your research, learn about the candidates and then vote for the one who you feels best represents the values that are a part of you!  Prove that we are stronger than the corporate evils that run this country think we are, prove we can lead ourselves, that change is coming and like a swift wind it will blow away the idiocy of the current era we live in.

Why I am an Active Atheist.

Where I am from, I have not personally come across any real resistance to atheism, or even a fixation on Dawin’s theory of evolution. It annoys me that there isn’t a single person in my area who is not religious, or that would stand for something. Now, granted, it is nice to know that if I am publicly ‘outed’ as an atheist, the general response is probably going to be “Really? You don’t believe in God?” and that’s about it. So far, that’s all that has happened. I am actually very grateful that my area is so tolerant. However, this also means that I am easily swept under the rug. That bugs me.

I had worked at a few old folks homes, and they are all pretty much religiously run. I don’t have a problem with this at all, it was just a little difficult to keep finding excuses to leave the room or to go do something else while they held prayer or sermons. Other than that, the religious part of it was fine. The entire staff that worked there were Christians, with the exception of me. One girl had even became a missionary teacher on some island near the Philippines. I liked her. We had a long discussion about why I don’t believe in a god, and why she does. She was very understanding of me, and I hope she thought the same of me. She had asked me some questions that probably would have irritated me if it had come from anyone else, though. One of these questions was basically asking if my parents were divorced. The answer was yes, however I don’t think that this had anything to do with my lack of belief in a deity because the divorce happened after I stopped believing it in. She suggested that maybe the way I was raised, and possibly the lack of union in my family might make me question things about life that those who had not been in my shoes would have. While this may be slightly offending in a way, the way she had meant it could very well be true.

This brings me to my next thought, which is ‘Had I been born and raised in the traditional Christian family setting, with parents who don’t hate each other, would I still be a Christian?’.  I hate to say it, but I probably would be. Looking back at it, the thing that made me question everything related to the Bible, was how my parents should have divorced 10 years earlier than they did. The reasons why they didn’t divorce, was because it was supposedly a sin, and that they didn’t want to break up the family. So, I was wondering why they don’t just get it over with instead of dragging it out and making it more painful for the entire family. The way that I saw it, was that if my parents had just gotten the divorce, it wouldn’t have been any different than the way things already were except that my dad would have been free to decide things for himself without the craziness of my mother, and my mother could decide things for herself without the constant feeling of being looked down on by my father. This would have drastically improved the relationship of the entire family. So the argument that they wanted to keep the family together was kind of a farce, especially since that particular idea failed. My mother kept saying something about how getting a divorce was a sin, but wouldn’t elaborate on the specifics of that.

So, without the internet at home and SO not up for reading the Bible, I just went along on my way with my own thoughts on the whole thing. I felt that it was a stupid idea that two people who hated each other so much should be forced to stay together in a way that did not benefit anyone, simply because it was ‘wrong’ to get a divorce. So, why is it wrong to get a divorce? Who said so? What makes a divorce so wrong? This idea is pretty much where it all started. Then I started to question why ANYTHING is wrong, and who decides what is right and what is wrong. I didn’t come up with any conclusions on this thought for a few years, and they definitely weren’t things that I was going to talk about to anyone at the time.

Another question that this missionary girl had asked me, was if I had any other friends who were atheists who might have influenced or convinced me not to believe in the religion I was raised with. The answer, was actually No. This bothers me a little bit now, but at the time it didn’t seem so important. Yes, I felt very alone with my thoughts and beliefs, but considering it didn’t seem to be something that people would zero-in on, I didn’t feel particularly hated for it. So it was okay. But this made me ask her the same question in return, with the same theory. What about all of the people around her? Would she be as religious as she is, if she had not been raised that way, or did not have all of the people around her believing in the same thing? She had admitted that no, she might not be. Her faith was based on how she understood life, and the values that she personally finds important. I have an enormous amount of respect for her and her way of thinking. I also hope that she understands how much this discussion has helped me to deal with others of the same religious background.

The thing that I find most important in life, is understanding. She didn’t immediately dislike me, or what I believe or don’t believe. She took the time to find out why, and try to understand it, and THEN decided that she RESPECTED me for my decision. If only everyone could do that… Now, the entire discussion was based on a ‘mutual’ respect for each other, which meant that I also respected her for her decision about her belief. Had either of us not held that kind of equal respect for each other, the entire conversation would have probably ended very badly.

The reason why I have become more vocal about my beliefs (or lack of belief in a deity) is because the mutual respect is not there. I try to show all people a general respect for their own lives and experiences that gave them the faith that they do, but most people completely disregard mine. Around here, they don’t become angry (at least I haven’t had an angry response to me specifically), but they just ignore me like my thoughts and ideas don’t matter anymore simply because they are different from what they ‘know’ to be the truth. I appreciate that those around me don’t become confrontational, but at the same time, they won’t even listen. So, I have adopted the title of Atheist. While it does draw a bit more of a confrontational response, I at least get the time of day. I feel like the naughty neighbor kid who gets into trouble just to get attention. : /

So, with the territory of announcing a position, I needed to arm myself with the knowledge to argue facts and reasons that I could defend myself with if someone decided to attack me for it. This particular step didn’t happen until last year sometime. I hadn’t felt especially ambitious about finding out this kind of information until I had found a website someone had posted on Facebook that was talking about how the theory of evolution was a load of crap. This sort of sparked my curiosity because I had thought it was common knowledge that evolution was a known truth because of science, and genetics, and different species, family trees, ect. What I had discovered with this article, was that people were actually denying that evolution was the truth because it didn’t match a story in the Christian bible. I remember my biology class from high school pretty well. We didn’t really talk about evolution very much, but we did talk about genetics, and how it was passed down through generations, and cloning, and how humans had evolved from Neanderthals and all of this was proven through science. But never once did the topic of evolution actually come up in this way. What I had learned by reading this article and then doing the research myself, was the actual meaning of ‘The Theory of Evolution’ and how the entire concept of Biology would not work without it. This is NOT something that I was taught in school. There needs to be some fine-tuning with the theory, but that is because it is a THEORY that Darwin ( ßan actual human, not a God) came up with to try to explain the origins of humanity.

Now, the outright rejection of the theory of evolution made me question why people think this theory is so wrong, especially if an entire study of science is based off of it. The answer, I found, was simply that the Bible says that God created Adam and Eve and evolution tells a different story, saying that we evolved from apes and we are not apes. So, me being naturally curious about why people would put so much faith in the Bible, but completely reject an entire category of science, I decided to find out where the Bible actually came from, and who actually wrote it.

As it turns out, the first testament (or Old Testament; OT) was the original word of God that the people were supposed to follow. It is also the part that the Jewish people follow, because they rejected the second testament (the new testament; NT) since you can't just 'change the word of God'. The second testament is basically a compilation of letters and gospels thrown together by the Church to ‘adjust’ the laws. This is my understanding of it, and if you don’t like it, then go look it up yourself and make your own judgment of what you find.

So, this totally blew my mind with the entire Christian religion, and I felt personally betrayed that nobody had actually thought to find out who said what, and why. I found out that a lot of the second testament were letters by Paul, that were written to his private church as a way to continue his preaching while he was away as a missionary. They were not written with the intent to be added to the Bible, and many of them were definitely not even written by Paul himself. Some of them were written in his name after he died. So, my problem then became ‘How can people follow every letter of this book if it wasn’t actually written by God, or even the people who the Church tries to say they were? And on top of that, with letters that were never intended to be added to the second testament?’.  An easy answer, they don’t. They cherry-pick the Bible and follow only what makes sense for them to follow, and only if they feel like following it.

This is probably where I became more ‘activist’ minded, in the sense of trying to stop people from being hateful and bigoted towards others, simply because they read something about it in the Bible, or that they heard God doesn’t like these people (if they didn't even read the bible, others telling them what to believe). My focus seems to be on freedom of religion, LGBT rights, feminism, racism, and any other kind of hate that comes from being religious. I am in no way against believing in God or having faith that the Bible is true, the part where I butt in is where individuals/groups of people's lives are physically and emotionally destroyed. If all people were as understanding of me or other people, I wouldn’t feel the need to actually speak up against them. If only everyone were as understanding as the missionary girl I had spoken too. Unfortunately, she may never know how grateful I am to her for how she helped me to personally grow and understand other people. She set one heck of a high bar for me to follow. J

SO! With my new-found enthusiasm for secular activism, I found several things to help me get more information and find other issues that I had previously not considered. This is where I found Greta Christina’s blog. Well actually I found a video of her, which then made me have to look up her blog… Anyway, this woman is responsible for opening up the can of worms in my brain. This video perfectly describes why I am an active atheist, and what an atheist really is. 

I am tired of being called a ‘devil worshipper’ and other ignorant names like it. Most people don’t even know what being an atheist means. It has nothing to do with the devil, because I don’t believe that there IS a devil in the same way that I don’t believe that there is a God. But also, that it’s not even just attacking religion and hating people. The whole point is that we want to STOP the hate. And we are tired of being ignored. So now we are starting to take a more confrontational approach, where we can’t simply be ignored as if we aren’t even here.

For example, when we say that we are not being represented as a group politically, we mean that in the United States of America we are supposed to have the freedom of/from religion but somehow the only group of people who don’t have a voice politically, are atheists. The non-religious outnumber all but Christianity and Islam. So why are the non-religious the only ones who do not have any say in politics?