it's like that pearl jam song

[phaballa]

Contrary to popular belief, I am still alive!

Things at work have slowed down from the OMGOMGOMG pace of the past month or so, but I still have more to do than usual and not a lot of time (sadly) to spend on the internets. I'm improving, though! I am caught up on my flist (helps that I took ontd_ai off) and I even started writing both my Queen Bitch

Comments

[phaballa]

They already are :) I did that a while back.

Since you're an expert... is there some sort of form or something I need to fill out so that the government knows I'm working in public service and I'm wanting to take advantage of that? Because all I could find were informational pdfs, nothing that says HOW to get your loan balance forgiven.

[phaballa]

Ooooh fabulous. Thanks! I will look at the site. That's really helpful. I wish I could count ALL my years of public service towards my 10 but... this is better than paying off my student loans for an extra 10 years.

[yeats]

this is the part of this post i most like: work on my Queen Bitch fic !!!

but i am interested in what you mean by "the idolatry of science!" &also, i agree that there's an alarming lack of civility these days when it comes to respecting other people's beliefs -- from both sides. proportionally, the number of angry atheists might be the same as the number of angry theists (in fact i think it's likely), but that ends up meaning there are a lot MORE people who are upset about atheism. so i can understand why some atheists would feel like they need to adopt a siege mentality, even though in reality they're being just as judgmental as the people they judge.

[phaballa]

By the "idolatry of science" I just mean that some people (people I know, actually) worship science as blindly and faithfully as others worship God or Adam Lambert. I think it's a fallacy to be blindly faithful to any one thing. I'm a big fan of maintaining perspective, being critical, and realizing that nothing, even science, is 100% accurate and foolproof.

And see, I can understand atheists being angry or frustrated by the way they are treated, but I think it's more productive to direct their energies towards changing the way society and culture views atheism rather than toward a futile attempt to destroy religion itself, and make everyone believe what they believe.

[yeats]

yeah, i tend to stay out of arguments between science & faith -- mostly because i am completely a creature of my immediate needs, and it all seems a little, well, floofy to me. (do not ask me to define that word. i can only give you a rough approximation of how it makes me feel to say it.)

and oh, i am totally in agreement with you that being a hater is counter-productive. i just see how you could get into that position. (and honestly, again, i am just sort of like, "...who cares?") ♥

[misskittye]

On the other hand, I found out that if I apply for Income Based Repayment on my student loans, I can reduce my payments by $25/month and as long as I continue to work for the government or in public service, even for a non-profit, the balance of my loan debt will be forgiven after 10 years. Which I think will end up being at least $10,000, so I will TAKE that, fuck yeah.

Wait, what? I work for a non-profit! I have a sub and unsub Stafford loans! My loans are consolidated! But... I don't know what the Direct Loan program is. If they were consolidated through that, would I know?

[phaballa]

As long as they're not private loans, you should be able to reconsolidate your consolidated loans into Direct Loans. I just did the application, actually, since it turned out I didn't have Direct Loan Consolidation or whatever. This webpage:

http://www.ibrinfo.org/faq.vp.html#Loan_Consolidation_Questions

answered pretty much all of my questions about it. FANTASTIC.

[dmlpacker]

I've always felt that religion and atheism/agnosticism is a person's individual choice. As such, no one else has the right to condemn it. I'm agnostic and one of my closest friends is atheist, but I will never think it's okay to attack religion based on purposefully biased evidence. I see this "New Atheism" as just another form of radicalized religion where one group so strongly/blindly believes in its ideas that it won't accept anyone else's. Sounds pretty familiar...

It's like fandom (shipping). I JUST WANT PEOPLE TO GET ALONG PWEEZE!

[phaballa]

I see this "New Atheism" as just another form of radicalized religion where one group so strongly/blindly believes in its ideas that it won't accept anyone else's.

YES EXACTLY. It's amazing to me that people who rant about blind faith and ignorance and dangerous ideas are so blindly faithful about their own dangerous idea of forcing everyone to Be Like Them.

[lurkitty]

I've come to realize, too, that it is not the religion I object to. I can name perhaps two religions that I have problems with (small sects that refuse medical treatment to babies). What I really object to is blind extremism. Atheists are just as likely to fall prey to extremism as the faithful, and I have meant many fervently faithful who are very tolerant at heart.

I really hate the term "Islamist extremist". The whole thing implies that it Islam had some causative effect. The religion wasn't the cause, the situation is. The religion is the excuse. Atheist extremism is the same way. Atheism isn't the cause, it's the excuse. Someone wants to control another person's life.It's not right. Sure, there is a need for watchdogs to make certain that majority religion does not steamroll over the the minority. Blaming the fact of faith doesn't help, though, and attacking faith leads to entrenchment.

[phaballa]

Blaming the fact of faith doesn't help, though, and attacking faith leads to entrenchment.

Precisely. I also find it baffling that these New Atheists think they can force people NOT to believe, in the same way that I find it baffling when evangelicals try to force me TO believe. Faith isn't something you can force; that's its very nature. Faith can be lost or found, but only by the individual. Any other motivation would be false and thus deny the very nature of faith.

[pensnest]

I think the "New Atheists" are generally misrepresented. They're not quite as aggressive as that, but a lot of the time, people with strong religious beliefs interpret "I don't agree" as ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK. Do you read any atheist blogs? I think you'd enjoy Greta Christina's, which is very cool.

[phaballa]

No, the New Atheists I am talking about aren't saying, "I don't agree," they are saying that religion is dangerous and needs to be eradicated for the good of humanity. I'm not exaggerating; these are the sorts of statements people who run national atheist organizations made to NPR in the piece I heard on the radio.

There are lots of atheists (myself included) who just don't believe in God and that's the end. And then there's this new and radical group of atheists who make us all look exactly the way religious folks have been depicting us for decades: like scary fundamentalists who want to take away your right to believe in God.