Religions // Current TV

When you say the word "god" to somebody like me, you might get a look like a deer in headlights. I can't relate. But it wasn't always that way. I was raised by two people who were both pastors. I was the oldest of 4 kids all raised almost literally within the walls of the church. So it made sense for me to also be in the faith of my parents because that's all I knew. But there was something in me that always questioned it.

Now as an adult I'm the only person in my family who can call themselves a transcendentalist which is by my meaning, someone who believes in mystery and that it is perfectly fine that life remains one. Apposing this notion of course is my upbringing where the whole essence of the Christian system is to acknowledge yourself as a soul not bound by this life and to "know" beyond any doubt your destiny in the after-life.

Now when I look at my family there isn't a single member who doesn't somehow subscribe to the faith in one way or the other. I'm the only one who doesn't. For the longest time I thought there might be something wrong with me. Why has it been only me in my entire family and extended family who couldn't get with the program?

Maybe it was because I was religiously abused. I've read about this. The idea that when you are bombarded from birth with a god who frowns on you for most any humanly impulsive proclivity, then, rather than the normal guidance parents are supposed to provide, their instruction is heavily weighted by this eternal being who will crush you in life and throughout eternity.

My parents believed in the rapture which meant that Christ might return at any moment "like a thief in the night" and that he would come out of the skies to take home his believers. If even the most devout Christians were to have a sinful thought at that moment they would be left behind. One day when I was 13 I came home from school and my parent's cars were in the driveway, the front door to the house was unlocked and my family was gone. No parents, no little brother or sisters. Nobody. I thought I missed the rapture. Turns out they were at the house next door checking out their new pool.

Yeah that's probably abuse.

But my sibs and cousins were all dealt with with the same draconian ideas so again...why only me?

I've since come to realize what a gift all of my questioning has been. I've gone on to study comparative religion and I work in music, art and film making. I'm also the only one in my entire family who has done that too. So I can't help but think that it is somehow rapped up in my love of art and beauty and our own sublime humaness that we share in the world. And that same idea of god is right here. In us. While the gray bearded man in the sky works for a lot of people I think he's quite imaginary and needs to be destroyed. Not with tanks and bombs but with a simple poof of an ideal that really needs to vanish from our thinking so we as humans can get down to the business of loving and living together. There is no hereafter. It all happens now.

People who want to believe in god see what I'm saying as being bleak and hopeless. I think it's exactly the opposite. The greatest hope is that we learn to live our lives being mindful of our friends, reducing our enemies, not fighting wars and accept mortality as a natural and wonderful thing. There is no greater morality than the caring for our fellow person and our planet. While that notion of living forever seems nice for the ego it seems very counter intuitive to the whole "selfless" idea of religion doesn't it? I think so.

The reason my skin crawls when religion becomes the go to, particularly with younger people is that once again, we can't seem to evolve away from this notion. This superstition. It will never cease to be problematic.When you say the word "god" to somebody like me, you might get a look like a... more

mtheory
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Kill the Atheists

Enjoy!

Vierotchka
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2 years ago
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29 comments

GMO or No: Problematic Intersections of Religion, Biotechnology, and Food

,_biotechnology,_and_food__ Why is genetically modified food an issue for kosher... more

Vierotchka
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2 years ago
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5 comments

Church Simulator 'Mass: We Pray' Revealed To Be 'Dante's Inferno' Publicity Stunt

Once again, Electronic Arts has exploited Christians to help promote its upcoming... more

remanns
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2 years ago
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Mass: We Pray - The Video Game

A family shouldn’t have to wait until Sunday to worship the Lord. Now you can go... more

remanns
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6 comments

Religious abortion rights backers push to change health care bill

Members of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice want the Senate to alter... more

Vierotchka
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2 years ago
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Israel has nuked itself?

UK, September 17, 2009 (Pal Telegraph)- Could anyone imagine as a result of your own actions you are killing your own troops and your own population? This is now the case in Israel.

Many weapons used by the IDF in Gaza contained uranium components and upon impact set off huge volumes of aerosol particles that then drifted back over the border into Israel with devastating results.

It has been some time since the Israelis bombed Lebanon and the Gaza Strip and in both cases the weapons used left behind a trial of misery for all those that lived downwind. We can now start to see the results of those actions and I must say the term "What goes around comes around" rings true in the ears of the residents of Israel. Some interesting health statements have been released that prove when you play with dirty weapons it can all come back to you. It would now appear that we have a situation whereby Israelis are killing Israelis.

In May this year we saw the following headline appear in the Haaretz:
"Quality of Israeli sperm down 40% in past decade" The quality of Israeli sperm has declined alarmingly in the last decade, according to recent research conducted at Jerusalem's Hadassah University Hospital, Mount Scopus. The cause for the decline is not known, but it's believed by some researchers to be connected to the exposure of children and pregnant women to hormones and other contaminants in food and water.

This month started to see some more statistics appear out of Israel which again indicates that contamination by DU may well be the cause. The next headline was even more alarming: "More women diagnosed with cancer in Israel than in Europe" Israel's health ranking is dropping compared to those of developed European nations, the Israel Medical Association said yesterday. Israel lags behind the European average in disease prevention.

The report gave a clear message that something in the environment may be causing these dramatic increases. The comparison gave the number of new female cancer patients as follows: 290 per 100,000 compared to an average of 179 in Europe. The report went of the say that for men the average was much the same but again was showing a steady rise since 2005.

When you think you have heard the last of the bad news you are then confronted with another shocking headline from the IMA: Hodgkin's lymphoma is a distinct primary solid tumour of the immune system that shows wide variation in incidence among different geographic regions and among various races. It was previously suggested that susceptible people living in certain parts of Israel had a higher risk of HL because of exposure to unidentified environmental factors in these regions. Compared with other parts of Israel, these regions were characterized by a higher proportion of Israeli-born Jews.

A total of 4812 Jewish cases of HL were reported to the Israel Cancer Registry during the study period 1960-2005. There has been a persistent increase in the age-standardized incidence rate of HL, all subtypes pooled, in Israeli-born Jews in both men and women. The age distribution pattern in both genders was bimodal in all periods. The highest incidence was observed in the 20-24 year age group: for women (9.13 per 100,000 per year) during the period 1988-1996, and for men (6.60 per 100,000 per year) during the period 1997-2005.UK, September 17, 2009 (Pal Telegraph)- Could anyone imagine as a result of your own... more

Ihatethemall
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Experience of a minster who converted to Islam

" Experience of a minster who converted to Islam " I know that the title... more

baspren
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Questions from a confused Christian

Questions from a confused Christian I read in the newspaper that 15% of the Koran... more

baspren
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2 years ago
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12 comments

Why is the apostate to be executed in Islam?

Why is the apostate to be executed in Islam? As a non Muslim, I find myself Intrigued... more

baspren
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2 years ago
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