Jesus Pimps
Why is it that it's ok to 'update status' on and on with how much you love Jesus (primarily) or other deities of choice is socially acceptable but it seems so not the case for anyone to object?
Every single day I'm inundated with "Jesus is Lord Praise His Fucking Name" updates, or something similar. It's distressing that there's no similar way to post "It's Your Own Fucking Life, Own It" with the same impact. Agnostics and atheists really need a serious marketing campaign.
Surveys show our ranks are growing. It is becoming ever more obvious that religions, as defined by our parents, are purely human constructs. I think the biggest obstacle is guilt for having rejected a fundamental parental teaching, coupled with a profound sense of the unknown and unexplainable craving an explanation. I think the numbers of agnostics and atheists would immediately double if some were just willing to admit their parents told a lot of stories, example: Santa. Just because they didn't actually believe Santa was real doesn't prove the other stories true.
From the link above, this point stands out: "People not affiliated with any particular religion stand out for their relative youth compared with other religious traditions. Among the unaffiliated, 31% are under age 30 and 71% are under age 50. Comparable numbers for the overall adult population are 20% and 59%, respectively."
This highlights a personal observation of mine, which is that people who I knew while younger, who were not the least bit religious, "suddenly" became far more-so after turning 30. WTF is this about? Is it merely being confronted with potential mortality, uncertainties of adulthood, etc and needing to find a convenient answer key? Or is it something more innate and unavoidable?
I think it's surely a combination of both, but exacerbated by a total lack of skill and training in critical thinking. Whether this is intentional or not on the part of the industrie academe in the US, it's clearly a residual effect. How is it that the majority of rational thought from at least the 18th (possibly earlier) through the early 20th centuries was firmly in this direction, but failed to be absorbed in significant (substantial?) quantity? Was there a conscious effort to stem the tide? Why is there a virtual absence of philosophical study in secondary education? Isn't that where the most questioning minds exist?
I just want people to leave me the hell alone about religion. I read that and laugh, as I know the religious would say something like, "Well, that's where you're going..." All I know is that if I'm going to give 10% of my monthly earnings to some guy in drag, there better be a floor show.
Every single day I'm inundated with "Jesus is Lord Praise His Fucking Name" updates, or something similar. It's distressing that there's no similar way to post "It's Your Own Fucking Life, Own It" with the same impact. Agnostics and atheists really need a serious marketing campaign.
Surveys show our ranks are growing. It is becoming ever more obvious that religions, as defined by our parents, are purely human constructs. I think the biggest obstacle is guilt for having rejected a fundamental parental teaching, coupled with a profound sense of the unknown and unexplainable craving an explanation. I think the numbers of agnostics and atheists would immediately double if some were just willing to admit their parents told a lot of stories, example: Santa. Just because they didn't actually believe Santa was real doesn't prove the other stories true.
From the link above, this point stands out: "People not affiliated with any particular religion stand out for their relative youth compared with other religious traditions. Among the unaffiliated, 31% are under age 30 and 71% are under age 50. Comparable numbers for the overall adult population are 20% and 59%, respectively."
This highlights a personal observation of mine, which is that people who I knew while younger, who were not the least bit religious, "suddenly" became far more-so after turning 30. WTF is this about? Is it merely being confronted with potential mortality, uncertainties of adulthood, etc and needing to find a convenient answer key? Or is it something more innate and unavoidable?
I think it's surely a combination of both, but exacerbated by a total lack of skill and training in critical thinking. Whether this is intentional or not on the part of the industrie academe in the US, it's clearly a residual effect. How is it that the majority of rational thought from at least the 18th (possibly earlier) through the early 20th centuries was firmly in this direction, but failed to be absorbed in significant (substantial?) quantity? Was there a conscious effort to stem the tide? Why is there a virtual absence of philosophical study in secondary education? Isn't that where the most questioning minds exist?
I just want people to leave me the hell alone about religion. I read that and laugh, as I know the religious would say something like, "Well, that's where you're going..." All I know is that if I'm going to give 10% of my monthly earnings to some guy in drag, there better be a floor show.