Post for the week

I found this article mentioning how atheists are seeking a sense of community. (http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2009/0628/p22s01-ussc.html). I found this interesting because I distinctly remember someone putting up a flyer for the Baylor Atheist society in Morrison Hall. He seemed terrified that anyone would see him. There's another recent article that says religious people are healthier because they associate in groups. As this article says, these atheists are looking to benefit the community through service projects such as creek cleanups. I think it's interesting that people are using their lack of a religion to preform community service. You can join almost organization and do community service. It's interesting to me that some groups would support meeting because meeting to talk about things could seem like going to church. I just think that people can do the same thing these atheists groups can do what they're doing through another group. It saves the members less controversy when they are discovered.

Time for a story

The other day I was at an SI for class. I sat next to this kid I'd never seen before and he was a nice guy. Because of that I didn't think anything of it when he asked me if I wanted to come eat with him. He said he was bringing some friends. That was fine with me. After eating, I thought we were going to go study at his apartment with the other people. I was wrong. These were a group of Antioch members. Instead, they wanted to show me a video of some televangelist that claimed to heal some child's legs. Of course they then thought I should go and pay this evangelist a visit. I was stunned. Were these people serious? This sort of thing happens to me a lot and I hate it. I know people have good intentions when they ask to pray for me but standing in the middle of campus having people pray for my legs is a little too much. I wonder why people have difficulty accepting my condition is a permanent one? No amount prayer is going to solve it. I certainly don't need to be "saved" from my condition as someone put it. The world is welcome to pray for me, just do it in a private place.   

9/11 and religion

This past Saturday was the anniversary of the attacks. Obviously everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing at that time. In addition to shaking my sense of security, the attacks also destroyed my idea of religion. I lived in the bubble of North Dallas. That's about five times worse than the Baylor Bubble. So honestly, I had never seen anything really evil until that day. I didn't understand that people could willingly do such an evil thing as crash a plane into a building on purpose. The thing I had even more trouble understanding was when Osama Bin Laden came on TV and said that these attacks were in the name of God. What God was this? The God I knew about from Sunday school was a nice one. When I brought this up, the response I got was that God makes everything happen for a reason. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. In my 12 year old brain, I took this to mean that God supported both good and evil. I didn't want to be friends with this kind of God. I realize now what a dumb rationalization this was but, I stood by it for years. It also didn't help that bad things just kept happening to me for years until I hit rock bottom in spring 2007. In spring 2007, I decided to give up on God because i decided he was behind all the bad things that were happening. I haven't willingly set foot in a church sense. I want to change that but aren't sure how. Now, religion is pitched to me as something that will fill the missing pieces in my life. Well, I don't feel like I'm missing much of anything right now. So, 9/11 not only shook the world but, my religious foundation as well.  

The bible and tattoos

While looking for information on my research paper topic (cosmetic surgery) I found that another highly debated topic between Christians was tattoos. I found this interesting because I know two people that recently got religious tattoos. Both of these guys are extremely proud of their tattoos and are sure to take off their shirt and show it off whenever possible. When I asked them why they got these tattoos, their response was that they were a reminder of their faith. To me that seems a little silly. Does a good Christian really need to spend money and endure some pain to be reminded of their faith? Also, the bible has specific versus against tattoos such as Leviticus 19:28 which says that a person shouldn't put any marks on their body. When I asked one of the guys about this, their response was basically that the meaning of tattoos have changed over time and thus the bible is outdated on the issue. This had me very confused. How come some rules of the Bible such as thou shall kill have stood the test of time while the rule on tattoos was outdated. It seemed like my friend was manipulating religion to fit his situation.  

Watching the National Geographic Channel

I'll admit that I'm a little bit of a nerd. Therefore, I watch the National Geographic Channel a lot. Over the summer, I saw several shows on various cults. These include the Branch Davidians, Heavens Gate, and Jonestown. This lead me to wonder why people join cults. Obviously, these people are missing something in their lives. I'm not why they think that someone such as Jim Jones or Marshall Applewhite have the answer. It seems like cults are just one giant form of manipulation. The leaders exert total control over the followers and in some cases lead to followers to death I think it's interesting how people can people use religion to justify death. It happened in the U.S. with Heavens Gate and is one of the reasons behind suicide bombings in the Middle East. There's plenty of good works that have been justified by religion too. Sadly, most of those don't make the national news.