One more thought; if you make up 80% of the population, how is it that your religion is under threat? If the majority feels threatened, imagine how the minorities feel.

Ah. Yes. Here it is, the link to the video of the show about the Lubavitcher who threatened to sue the Port of Seattle if they didn't add a Menorah alongside the Christmas trees...or are they just secular holiday trees? Give me a break.

The Pastor Fuiten is a turd and an insult to Christ, who was a decent, credit-hating, prostitute-helping, hippie. I bet Fuiten smokes meth with Mel Gibson.

My 100th post! And time for more bile. Am I a 'Christ-hater'? Why is it that it causes me pain that 80% of the nation I live in is, nominally at least, in one form or another, Christian? Can't I just accept it, as part of the local culture, and get on with my life?

I do, I accept it and get on with my life, in the same way I accept a blister on a long hike or the itchy neck of a wool sweater on a cold day, or a nagging pain in the knee. I accept it, but I don't like it, and if I can I will do something to deal with it, as in, exterminate it from my experience.

I used to be a Muslim- NSA, did you get that? Like most religions, their dogma provided a nice, orderly program, a routine, and a direct line for prayer; prayer for thanks, for help, for protection in times of danger and fear, for forgiveness; it provided an external scapegoat for my internal demons (that would be Satan); in short, it gave me all the useful psychological levers and meditative practices that make religions so soothing to so many. In the end, though, the dogma and the basic issue of faith- in an invisible, prayer-answering, all-knowing/powerful/compassionate being, and I mean just God, just didn't make sense.

But at least believing in and praying directly to God made more sense than the Trinity! Father, son, and what? Three in one? Buy one get two free? Let me get it straight; God, who is all powerful, needs a right-hand man? I pray to a middle-man? No, no, Jesus and God are the same, Jesus is God incarnate. Then why does Jesus refer to God as his Father, in the third person? Then there is the math: D(J)= S(infinity*H), that is, the Death of one Jesus is somehow equal to the Sins of an infinite number of Humans. How did God come up with that twisted equation? God sacrificed his only son? If He is all powerful, why did he need to send down a man-God? Why couldn't He stop the death of his son? What kind of twisted path to salvation is this; some commandments on a mountaintop, a human prophet, some books scribbled and squirrelled away, then compiled hundreds of years later by a committee of old guys, who choose to discard some stories and keep others and God only knows if yet others were lost- and few of them particularly original (prophet raised from the dead, great flood, both re-runs)...The compilation of the Qur'an has its own methodological problems, but at least it was a firsthand transmission. And at least there was no original sin and no confounded blood sacrifice of a man-God and Trinity. As many times and ways as that is explained to me, it makes no sense- any more than a God that demands someone take their son up on a mountain side and kill him. God as a sadistic control-freak? Yeah, I want to serve that one. Not.



So, now obviously I am a skeptic- an atheist-leaning agnostic. I have moments of pagan wonder, where nature tempts me to consider a bit of 'intelligent' designism, a bit of universalist whimsy; but that is nothing more than being overwhelmed with things which are too vast and complex for our feeble minds to easily understand. And sure enough, most of the times when humankind's understanding falls short, we give all the credit to God- at least until we are able to figure it out for ourselves. Sun rotates around the earth? Oops, well, ok, got that. Who causes the seasons to change? Well, sorry Job, we got that one now, too- some physics, some math, no need to be so dazzled, in a few years you could figure it out.

I am not a Christ-hater. I am just annoyed to be swimming in a smug sea of idiots who are convinced that their beliefs are right and true and good. It is annoying not simply because they forget to consider some of their neighbors, and not only the brown ones, do not agree- but because they often insist on pushing their beliefs. I am happy to get a Christmas card- but not the kind that says, 'Merry Christmas, and by the way don't forget Christ died for your sins, Bible verse attached.' Take your Bible and shove it up your ass. Seriously.

Now, don't get me wrong; I know and love and work alongside many fine Christians, and a few Mormons, whose faith inspires them to a life of helping others. That is beautiful. Churches have a much better record than mosques in collecting gifts and books and money and helping the poor- mosques are very clannish and generally engage in charity only to help other Muslims. I grant that Muslims are often particularly poor and oppressed, but still- never seen a mosque throw open the doors and give to the whole community like the Jesus people do. And I know people who were smoking crack, meth, whatever who got back on track with religion. So of course, when it isn't inspiring bombings in Ireland or tribal head-soccer in Borneo (yes, the Dayak are mostly Christian) or sectarian killing in Lebanon or Pentagon crusades in the middle east, or other wars, religion is great.

When is the last time your Hindu or Pagan or Atheist friend gave you a card with a verse from their beliefs in it? You know, like Happy New Year, Krishna is God? Or: Happy Solstice, pray to Mother Earth? Or: Happy Holidays, by the way There Is No God? When is the last time the Muslims came to your door on a Saturday morning giving away free Qur'ans? Never happened! None of these groups is constantly pushing the tenets of their faith in your face like (some of these) Christians. (The Muslims limit their American Dawa to the prisons.) It isn't enough for these Jesus-freaks to be happy with their faith; no, they have decided it is part of their duty to tell you all about it and try to get you to believe it, too. Well, fuck off and have a nice day!



As a non-Christian I am adamant about separating our church and state; despite the majority culture, in fact because of it, and to protect the minority views, it is essential. Our nation may have been founded by Christians, but they were Deists- and slaveowners, who also believed blood-letting cured disease...in other words, not all of their beliefs are in any way sacred; something the Muslims would do well to consider- you don't have to grow a beard just because the Prophet had one. Seriously brothers, you don't have to dress like an Arab to legitimize yourself...to me, dressing for desert heat on a rainy Seattle Friday looks foolish. And as for 'pray as you have seen me praying', maybe that also means pray in a language you actually understand? Sorry. Recovering Muslim side-rant....you hat-and-bearders will get yours in another rant. This one is all for my Christian brothers.



Merry Christmas! Enjoy your pagan Christmas tree and don't forget the date of this celebration comes from the Roman Saturnalia! I can't wait for Easter, when I will share a long list of the stories of Gods and prophets who people have claimed came back from the dead...

God? Jesus resurrected? Miracles? Says the skeptic: believe it when I see it.

War on Christmas, my ass.

I can't find King5 Up Front footage yet, but Robert Mak interviewed a typical pastor, a Mr. Fuiten, who in one breath insisted the Christmas Tree, despite its name and (recently) traditional associations with, uh, Christmas, is not a Christian symbol. Then, in the next breath, he claimed Christianity was under attack by those who would like Christian symbols removed from public spaces. This pastor wants it both ways- the Christmas tree is secular, so no one should take offense- but it should not be taken down because it reflects the Christian heritage of the majority of citizens, which the minority should just shut up and deal with. It's just a tree, but by the way, Merry Christmas, Jew. Merry f-cking Christmas, Muslim. Not celebrating? Too bad for you! Ho ho ho!

He also claimed Christians in 18th century America invented religious tolerance...demonstrating a remarkable ignorance of Muslim Spain and of the adventures of the Puritans, not a particularly tolerant bunch.

By the way, the removal of the trees was not what the Rabbi wanted at all. He protested that move- he had wanted a menorah displayed, too. As for me, I'd like a big golden Baal statue, and some fornicating Hindu deities.

The pastor didn't directly state the trees are not Christian; no, for that assertion he cited an unspecified court ruling. Sure, cite the courts when it pleases you, then attack as activist judges those who have wisely kicked your prayers out of our schools.