Posts

Showing posts from September, 2015

On the Abortion, Pro-life, and Pro-choice Debate: Some Questions

Image
So you think abortion is murder do you?  If so, then this post is for you!  And I have some serious questions that I need to ask you regarding abortion. You say abortion is the deliberate taking of a helpless life, and that it equates to murder. This suggests to me that you take "life" to be sacred, correct? (Sanctity of life and all that jazz.) If so, let me ask you some questions that we must resolve before I take your claim serious. 1. Do you eat meat? Or isn't animal life sacred? If not, why not? Aren't animals part of God's creation just as humans are? 2. For that matter, how does one go about determining what is and isn't sacred? 3. You say abortion equates to murder. This is a legal term. I am curious, at what point do you consider a collection of living cells to become a "life" unto itself?  4. Do you think it's at conception?  5. If so, would it still be murder

The Dangers of Being Funny: On Épater Les Bourgeois and Black Humor

Image
épater   ( épater les bourgeois) eɪˈpateɪ, French epate/ verb Meaning: to shock people who have attitudes or views perceived as conventional or complacent. Black Comedy A black comedy (or dark comedy) is a comic work that employs farce and morbid humor, which, in its simplest form, is humor that makes light of subject matter usually considered taboo. Black humor corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor. Black comedy is often controversial due to its subject matter. I was just thinking how funny I was being (trying to be might be more accurate) when, to my surprise, a person took great offense at my joke. It wasn't that they didn't get the joke. They got it. They were just deeply offended by it. But it wasn't a racist, xenophobic, or homophobic joke. It really wasn't even that much of a judgmental joke. It was just a couple of uncommon styles of humor. Although there is room to debate whether these styles of humor are in good taste, but as with all

Why I'm a Rationalist

Image
I've only been a rationalist for about 6 years now (give or take a year of deep reflection and questioning). But I've come to find that a strong and steady rationalism almost always negates superstition, and good critical thinking skills make requisite the challenge for me to find valid reasons for believing in something other than it being something that is ubiquitous among society and thus acceptable to believe for no other reasons. Striving toward being more rational has not always been easy. It has often made me the black sheep, the odd duck out, or even the lone wolf, depending on the context and the type of issues I am contending with. It has forced me to take the contrarian position more times than I can count. It has caused me to side with unpopular minority views which have, in turn, made me unpopular with others. But becoming a rationalist has improved my life by noteworthy and substantial leaps and bounds over what I used to be--a superstitious, uncr

Why I'm an Anti-Theist and an Atheist (Clash of Ideologies)

Image
Why I'm an Anti-Theist and an Atheist Previously under the title: Clash of Ideologies  I am an anti-theist as well as an atheist because I think religions are more pernicious than polite, and they place primitive ideologies above compassionate ones. The trick is, almost every religion places "love" at the top of their list of questionable and/or malevolent teachings so they can always claim (lie) about their faith being one of love. This vexes me to no end. Let me use Islam as an example to stress my meaning, although I am sure you shall find it true of most religions that contain totalitarian views and calls to theocracy over democracy. Here we have a religion where its adherents, otherwise good people, are raised to believe they will free themselves by building a caliphate, where the supreme ruler of the global empire would not be a Nazi fuhrer or communist general secretary but a theocrat ruling with total power in accordance with the Koran and Sharia.