Sick of it all
I was just at my parents' house. I saw a DVD on the table entitled 'Have we gone too far?' It was, according to the description on the back, all about how Americans turned their backs on God in the 1960s, and the country has been going to hell in a handbasket ever since.
This sort of attitude really pisses me off.
First, what makes you think the country is in worse shape now than it was before? Most people point to several conditions and decry them as 'symptoms:'
1. The economy is going down the shitter. We must never forget that the economy is a totally man-made entity, and is controlled entirely by the actions of man. People claim that paying hourly retail employees a decent wage will inflate prices, but they don't bat an eyelash at the news that CEOs are giving themselves multi-million dollar bonuses on top of their several-million-dollar-a-year salaries. Why is it that the people doing the most work, the most important work, and in many ways, the most difficult work are the ones getting the least benefit from that work? The asshat executives sitting on their lazy asses in their comfortable offices where they don't have to deal with Jackass Q. Public get paid at least (at least) twice what the actual retail employees earn. Why can't they cut their own salaries by a few percent to give their employees an acceptable standard of living without raising prices? Oh yeah, because they're greedy as fuck. Even if they did raise employee salaries without lowering their own income, it would still only raise prices 1%.
And yet, despite this obvious correlation between human behaviour and economic performance, people still insist that it's God's doing as punishment for our ungodly ways. But it has never been worse than it was during the Great Depression, but you don't hear about people bemoaning the ungodly ways of people in the early 20th century. Nor do you hear about the return to piety as the remedy for the economic woes of that period.
2. Natural disasters are more common and more devastating. First of all, even if this is true (which I don't believe), why do we assume that it's a punishment from God? Why don't we stop to consider that there's neither rhyme nor reason to where these things strike beyond where natural conditions allow them to develop? As Bill Maher said on twitter (I've edited his post for grammar): 'Scientists say Hurricane Sandy is likely linked to record Arctic Sea loss this year; but fuck them, they're just scientists! What does the Bible say?' Also, isn't it interesting how the faithful insist that whenever anything bad happens to those they consider 'ungodly,' it's God's will, but when something bad happens to the faithful, it's just a coincidence? I point, for example, to the burning of Touchdown Jesus which should have been seen as a sign from God, but was instead passed off as a freak occurrence of natural phenomena. And even if, even if we accept that natural disasters are a sign from God, why would they insist that Hurricane Sandy was a symptom of God's wrath when there are just as many faithful people being injured, financially ruined, made homeless, etc, as there are non-faithful (or of differing faiths) as there are Christians? And why would God focus his wrath on America, when there are completely (or almost completely) non-Christian nations like India that are not suffering such calamities? What, does God sit around heaven saying, 'I don't care about those places where no one believes in me, I'm going to punish the countries that are faithful!'
And all of this assumes that there is no link between humans and the environment. Firstly, maybe there are more people living in more places in the world, so we are more likely to observe natural disasters than we were before. In other words, how do we know the number of natural disasters isn't increasing, but instead we're just observing more of the ones that have always been occurring because there are more of us in more places? Not to mention, that even if the number of natural disasters is increasing, why does it correlate to our godlessness? Doesn't the same number of natural disasters also correlate to the increase in human population? For that matter, it can also be compared to the number of iPhones in the world. Maybe the number of iPhones are causing the increase in natural disasters?
3. Crime and violence are on the rise. No, they're not.
4. Immorality is on the rise. What is considered immoral is completely subjective. For example, the Bible specifically condones slavery. Yet we no longer consider slavery to be a moral practise. How long will it be before we, as a society, realise that there is nothing wrong with polyamory, homosexuality, extra-marital sex, and responsible drug use (before you get freaked out about that one, consider that alcohol and tobacco are drugs, just as cocaine and marijuana, and yet we allow people to consume those drugs, so long as they do so responsibly. How is it any different from allowing people to use marijuana as long as they do it responsibly?)? More to the point, morality is just as much a cultural concern as it is a religious one. Americans consider it to be immoral to have more than one wife, despite the frequency of polygyny in the Bible. Yet in Saudi Arabia, a man is permitted to have up to four wives, so long as he can support them all (it's not common, but it's permissible). It is unfair of you to point to activities that you, personally, consider to be immoral, and claim it is a sign of growing godlessness.
5. The general human condition is in decline. Droughts, crop failures, infectious diseases, and so forth are rampant. Has it ever occurred to you that these are the result of overpopulation rather than a creator's will? We are pushing our ecology to the limit, and as populations continue to expand, we will continue to do so in ever increasing quantities. How presumptuous, how arrogant, how indescribably conceited of you to insist that these maladies are the result of people not being christian, or sufficiently christian.
Maybe, just maybe, there are mundane causes for these issues, and you should stop trying to claim that it's a punishment from God. Don't be such a fucking twat. Claiming that the world will get better if everyone just gets down on their knees to pray will not help. Prayer does nothing. Get off your fucking knees and do something useful.
This sort of attitude really pisses me off.
First, what makes you think the country is in worse shape now than it was before? Most people point to several conditions and decry them as 'symptoms:'
- The economy is going down the shitter.
- Natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy are becoming more common and more devasatating.
- Crime and violence are on the rise.
- Immorality, as evidenced by behaviours such as homosexuality, divorce, intentional childlessness, polyamory, extra-marital sex, and drug use are on the rise.
- The general human condition is in decline, as a result of things like drought, crop failures, infectious diseases, and so forth.
1. The economy is going down the shitter. We must never forget that the economy is a totally man-made entity, and is controlled entirely by the actions of man. People claim that paying hourly retail employees a decent wage will inflate prices, but they don't bat an eyelash at the news that CEOs are giving themselves multi-million dollar bonuses on top of their several-million-dollar-a-year salaries. Why is it that the people doing the most work, the most important work, and in many ways, the most difficult work are the ones getting the least benefit from that work? The asshat executives sitting on their lazy asses in their comfortable offices where they don't have to deal with Jackass Q. Public get paid at least (at least) twice what the actual retail employees earn. Why can't they cut their own salaries by a few percent to give their employees an acceptable standard of living without raising prices? Oh yeah, because they're greedy as fuck. Even if they did raise employee salaries without lowering their own income, it would still only raise prices 1%.
And yet, despite this obvious correlation between human behaviour and economic performance, people still insist that it's God's doing as punishment for our ungodly ways. But it has never been worse than it was during the Great Depression, but you don't hear about people bemoaning the ungodly ways of people in the early 20th century. Nor do you hear about the return to piety as the remedy for the economic woes of that period.
2. Natural disasters are more common and more devastating. First of all, even if this is true (which I don't believe), why do we assume that it's a punishment from God? Why don't we stop to consider that there's neither rhyme nor reason to where these things strike beyond where natural conditions allow them to develop? As Bill Maher said on twitter (I've edited his post for grammar): 'Scientists say Hurricane Sandy is likely linked to record Arctic Sea loss this year; but fuck them, they're just scientists! What does the Bible say?' Also, isn't it interesting how the faithful insist that whenever anything bad happens to those they consider 'ungodly,' it's God's will, but when something bad happens to the faithful, it's just a coincidence? I point, for example, to the burning of Touchdown Jesus which should have been seen as a sign from God, but was instead passed off as a freak occurrence of natural phenomena. And even if, even if we accept that natural disasters are a sign from God, why would they insist that Hurricane Sandy was a symptom of God's wrath when there are just as many faithful people being injured, financially ruined, made homeless, etc, as there are non-faithful (or of differing faiths) as there are Christians? And why would God focus his wrath on America, when there are completely (or almost completely) non-Christian nations like India that are not suffering such calamities? What, does God sit around heaven saying, 'I don't care about those places where no one believes in me, I'm going to punish the countries that are faithful!'
And all of this assumes that there is no link between humans and the environment. Firstly, maybe there are more people living in more places in the world, so we are more likely to observe natural disasters than we were before. In other words, how do we know the number of natural disasters isn't increasing, but instead we're just observing more of the ones that have always been occurring because there are more of us in more places? Not to mention, that even if the number of natural disasters is increasing, why does it correlate to our godlessness? Doesn't the same number of natural disasters also correlate to the increase in human population? For that matter, it can also be compared to the number of iPhones in the world. Maybe the number of iPhones are causing the increase in natural disasters?
3. Crime and violence are on the rise. No, they're not.
4. Immorality is on the rise. What is considered immoral is completely subjective. For example, the Bible specifically condones slavery. Yet we no longer consider slavery to be a moral practise. How long will it be before we, as a society, realise that there is nothing wrong with polyamory, homosexuality, extra-marital sex, and responsible drug use (before you get freaked out about that one, consider that alcohol and tobacco are drugs, just as cocaine and marijuana, and yet we allow people to consume those drugs, so long as they do so responsibly. How is it any different from allowing people to use marijuana as long as they do it responsibly?)? More to the point, morality is just as much a cultural concern as it is a religious one. Americans consider it to be immoral to have more than one wife, despite the frequency of polygyny in the Bible. Yet in Saudi Arabia, a man is permitted to have up to four wives, so long as he can support them all (it's not common, but it's permissible). It is unfair of you to point to activities that you, personally, consider to be immoral, and claim it is a sign of growing godlessness.
5. The general human condition is in decline. Droughts, crop failures, infectious diseases, and so forth are rampant. Has it ever occurred to you that these are the result of overpopulation rather than a creator's will? We are pushing our ecology to the limit, and as populations continue to expand, we will continue to do so in ever increasing quantities. How presumptuous, how arrogant, how indescribably conceited of you to insist that these maladies are the result of people not being christian, or sufficiently christian.
Maybe, just maybe, there are mundane causes for these issues, and you should stop trying to claim that it's a punishment from God. Don't be such a fucking twat. Claiming that the world will get better if everyone just gets down on their knees to pray will not help. Prayer does nothing. Get off your fucking knees and do something useful.