T is for Theocracy

Last week the United States was stunned when Iowa governor Terry Branstad signed a bill into law that effectively ended the separation between church and state in Iowa. If you missed it, you can read different views on it here, here, here and here.

People are saying Iowa is now a theocracy. I wanted to know what a theocracy was. So I went and looked it up. A theocracy is a government run with the idea that God (or whatever deities you worship) is the supreme civil ruler, his laws being interpreted by the ecclesiastical authorities. Now, I'm not entirely sure Iowa has taken it that far, but what it did is very disturbing. It has broken the Constitution and declared something that will probably end up in the Supreme Court when a motion is filed by people in the state.

I think one of the most noted theocracies in history has been when the Pope and the Catholic church dominated a good chunk of Europe. The Pope granted the right to rule to kings and queens, but it held the right to revoke that and name someone else in their place if they didn't approve of what they did. Priests held the power through the nobility, and those among the peasantry were left in their charge. Even the poorest couldn't escape the power of the church.

One thing I would hate to see is the United States become a theocracy. I can see what it would become: a Christian country. There are more Christians in this country than any other religion. I am not a Christian. I do not claim to be one nor will I ever conform to a society that demands it of me. What do you think would happen to me, to my husband, to many of our friends? Would we be left in peace? Or would something else happen to us?

There are still countries in this world that are ruled by religion. Some are quiet, not bothering their neighbors and living out their lives with peace in their borders. As much as there can be in this world these days. There are others who are violent, torturing and killing people who don't believe as the rulers do. These countries wage war on those who don't follow the same religion, aiming to destroy the “unbelievers”, the “infidels”.

I wish the world would stop relying on religion for everything. That just because I don't worship your god doesn't mean I'm a bad person. It just means that I don't have a set of rigid guidelines to live by and instead am judged solely by my actions. There are people who do not claim to worship any god who do good in this world. There are those who claim they are Christians who do harm. There are worshipers of Islam who would rather live in peace. While there are others who would destroy the rest of us.

I could go on and on with this. It is my opinion that if you want a theocracy, write a story about it. Don't impose your religion on people and say it's the “one true way”. Let people make up their own minds. Let them exercise that free will so many religions say we've been given.

Thursday Thoughts - Religion

I know this is a touchy subject for some, but I wouldn't be true to myself if I didn't post some of my thoughts on religion. This is my soapbox so feel free to disagree with me. Do not try and preach at me, however. You will be ignored.

Let me start out by saying that I started out my life in one of the Christian religions. To be precise, the LDS faith. I was weaned on the stories from the Book of Mormon. I was taught church history and how our view of the world was the "one true way". I grew up believing it. Then a defining event happened that made me realize just how corrupt the LDS church really was. I was excommunicated at 21 for having a girlfriend. I haven't looked back.

I've attended a few other purely Christian denominational services. I've come to realize that I do NOT believe in the Christian concept of god as based on the bible. Everyone is taught that god is a good and loving god, that he is merciful and kind. He's nothing of the sort. He's a vengeful, jealous, murderous bastard. Just read the bible and you see that.

I neither believe in heaven or hell in the common concept of those. I believe that our lives can be heaven or hell here on Earth, depending on how we live and what we do with those lives.There are things that are bad in this world, things I would class as purely evil, but people have that freedom of choice. We may not like the choices some people make. We're not required to. But everyone has free will and has the right to exercise that will. They just have to be ready to face the consequences of their actions. Their punishment will come at the hands of other people, not some faceless god.

Now, interestingly enough, I believe that Jesus existed. Not that he was the son of god, but that he was a wise and gentle teacher who taught such radical thinking that the high priests had to get rid of him before he screwed up their gig. I believe he was crucified for his beliefs. That was a common enough occurrence in those days. I don't believe he came back from the dead. I also believe his teachings stuck around and that's where we get the early vestiges of the Christian faith.

What do I believe in? Well, that's a good question.

I believe that a person's spirituality is largely a matter of personal study and experiences. I believe that everyone has a choice in their lives. I believe that everyone should be allowed to face the consequences of their choices. I believe that suffering in some way is inevitable, but how we deal with that pain is entirely up to us. We can let it destroy us or we can let it make us stronger. I believe that when we die we don't go to a predetermined place of rest. I believe our energy is recycled into this world and goes on in one form or another.

Monday Maundering - Religion vs. Science

I got into a couple interesting conversations this past week and it got me thinking. I am not a religious person by inclination. I believe that spirituality comes from within, not without. I believe that people choose their own paths in life, not that they were predestined to do anything. I believe people have free choice and those choices are inspired only by their own minds, not by any outward influence save that of their environment, upbringing, and mental state.

One of the conversations I got into was regarding Adam and Eve. If you think about it, Adam and Eve were the first humans. They had at least two sons. We all know the story of Cain and Abel. So...who was Cain copulating with when he produced his children? Adam and Eve were the only people on the planet, other than their sons. But Genesis tells us Cain found other people. So were there other Gardens of Eden? Other people like Adam and Eve? Where did these other people come from? Adam and Eve had other children. Who did those children marry to produce their children which ultimately led to the population of the world?

What about when the flood wiped out humanity, except for Noah and his family? How did we avoid inbreeding irregularities when the children of his children only had each other to marry? How did humanity get to the point it is today without the host of problems you see in families too closely related? How did we end up with so many varyingly different peoples if we're all descended from the same stock?

I found no answers to my questions.

My second question revolved around how science has shown that we did evolve and change as we spread out over the world. It has also tried to prove how the universe was created, and has done a good job of it. Where is god in all of this? If he created the world in seven days, where did the dinosaurs come in? Where did the neanderthal and the other primitive lives that were found to exist prior to us come from?

No one can answer these questions for me. I find myself questioning a lot of the beliefs I grew up with lately, and would love to hear some insight from others.

Things I read today that bothered me greatly

I've got a blog and I've got an opinion.  Many people are scared to utilize their blogs to express their opinions.  I'm not one of those.  As I've stated before, I'm opinionated and cranky - and I'm not afraid.

The first thing that got my attention was this set of blog posts recently tweeted on my Twitter feed.
Laurie Halse Anderson's Blog
Myra McEntire's answer to this same situation

There's also a tweet chat hash tag for this.  If you've got a Twitter account and want to follow it, I highly suggest you do so: #SpeakLoudly

First, I HATE censorship and denying access to books to people that might give them hope or help...or might just entertain them for a brief time.  I'm all for allowing people to read/watch whatever they want.  Let them form their own opinions.  I understand there are some things that you don't want a child to read, but that's up to the PARENTS to monitor - not society, not outsiders, and most certainly NOT an outspoken man who claims to be a Christian.

Now, for the record, I'm a Christian.  I'm not one of those in your face, Bible thumping, "do it my way or you're going to HELL" Christians.  I don't go in for that, and will walk away from people who do that.  But today...today I couldn't walk away.  I couldn't stay silent, and I won't be silenced.

I am referring to the horrific statement by Wesley Scroggins, referring to the rape scenes in the YA novel SPEAK as "soft pornography".  I was already feeling sick because of a stomach bug I seem to have caught.  That made me want to puke even more.  (My apologies to my more sensitive readers but again, I won't censor myself on this blog.)  Spoken like someone who has no concept of what rape does to a victim.

Here is Scroggins' article, for those who are interested

Rape is a violent and brutal violation of a person's body - and their soul.  They begin to doubt themselves when society - people like Wesley Scroggins and those who share his beliefs - says that it must be their fault they were raped.  I'm sorry, but in this case I am deeply ashamed and disgusted to be a Christian because the opinions of people like this man and his rabid, foaming at the mouth followers give the rest of us who have a personal and more compassionate connection with God and Christ a bad name.

I've never read the book in question.  That doesn't mean I'm not qualified to give my opinion on the situation.  That book has also been moved to the top of my 'to-be-read' list over on Goodreads and will be one of the first books I try to get from the Library.  Why?  Because I want to see what this story is about.  I want to know what I'm defending and why Scroggins thinks it's evil.  Personally, when fanatics like him swear it's evil I end up loving it and adding it to my personal collection.  I can quite cheerfully say I own quite a few of those books that are now on the "banned books" list.

Religious fanatics in general irritate me.  This leads to another link that got tweeted that really got to me.

A journalist apologizes for his fellow Americans

I used to shop at Paul's, a local grocery store that is only (or so I've seen) really popular in Southwestern Idaho.  I made friends with a woman who lived in my old apartment complex who was Muslim.  She was a very sweet woman who was living there with her two daughters.  She'd left her abusive (Christian) husband when he told her that she and her daughters were no longer allowed to practice their religion and would have to convert to his.  She was working as a cashier.  She wore the head scarf that Muslim women wear, and I always thought she had some of the most beautiful things ever.  Bright and colorful, I always knew where she was and would go through her line even if there were several people there.  I just loved being able to say hi to her.

One day I found myself apologizing to her for the behavior of the people in front of me.  They were a couple of young male college students (they'd been bragging to the young ladies in front of THEM in line about their studies which is how I know this) and one of them tried to reach over and pull off her head scarf.  She stepped back, smiled, and politely asked him not to touch her.  He went off and started screaming at her about being a terrorist, asking her how many babies she'd murdered, how many people had she killed, if she'd been bin Laden's lover, etc.  I almost clobbered the guy and I'm not a violent person.

My estimation of the store owner and managers went up 1000 times that day as they came out of the office when one of the other cashiers called them.  These were a trio of older men who walked up to the cash register.  The louder of the two young men demanded that my friend be fired, or at least that she be required to remove her head scarf when serving "real Americans".  The other guy, who'd been quiet up until now, chimed in that since she was a Muslim we were at war with her and technically that meant that all Muslims who still followed their beliefs were war criminals.  My brain about exploded at this.

The owner of the store, who also lived in our same apartment complex, saw me and knew that I was this woman's friend.  He asked me to take her back to the break room so he could personally deal with the two men.  I did as he asked, and let her cry into my shoulder.  I reassured her that I thought that those two college students were bloody idiots and that I loved her and her daughters as some of my dearest friends.  A few minutes later, the manager came back and asked her if she wanted to go home.

I applauded my friend's bravery as she looked up and shook her head.  She asked for a few more minutes to get herself back together and some time to wash her face, and then she'd be back on her register.  He told us that the two men's sale had been voided and they'd been forcibly ejected from the store.  They were also banned and that if anyone - customer or employee - saw them in the store we were to notify the managers who would call the police.

I went back out and picked up a couple items I'd forgotten and went back to her cash register.  I was disgusted by the fact that there were still people mouthing off about how she deserved everything she got.  But I was also touched to see that the other cashiers stepped in and told them to leave, and those who were there and actually cared spoke with my friend and assured her she was beautiful and she was their favorite person to deal with.

Two months later, my friend's apartment was vandalized and her younger daughter was rushed to the hospital with multiple lacerations due to being next to the sliding glass door when some fucking ASSHOLE threw a cinder block through the glass door.  My friend and her daughters disappeared.  I've had two emails from her in the last year.  All she'll tell me is that she and her daughters are living "somewhere new".  I think she's still scared of being attacked again.

So...to my friend, to the non-extremist Muslims who just want the option granted by the First Amendment to ALL Americans, and to those who truly believe that people should have the freedoms we're given by the Constitution and Bill of Rights that people seem to want to deny them (Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion being the main ones these days)....I APOLOGIZE ON BEHALF OF ALL THOSE THAT ARE TOO BIGOTED, STUPID, OR BLIND TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE'RE ALL HUMAN AND DESERVE THE SAME RESPECT REGARDLESS OF WHO WE ARE OR WHERE WE CAME FROM.

Censorship isn't just for the written word.  It comes when we deny the basic right to believe as they wish to people.  We need to remember that.  We also need to remember, for all our "holier than thou" bullshit attitudes, that Americans destroyed the lives of the Native Americans because of bigotry and racial hatred - just like we're accusing the Muslims of doing to us.  Christians have been persecuting people who don't follow their beliefs for centuries.  We've even killed people for it (the Crusades, anyone?  Spanish Inquisition?  Do those ring a bell?).  We need to step back and realize that we are all humans, and that while there are those fanatics out there who try to ruin it for everyone, that NOT every Christian/Jew/Muslim/Pagan are the same as all of the others who profess to follow the same faith.