Dangerous Lunatics

Sunday's sermon was on forgiveness. Toward the end of the service, the minister asked, "How many of you have forgiven your enemies?" About eighty percent of the congregation raised their hands.

The minister then repeated his question. All responded this time,
except one small elderly lady. 

"Mrs. Jones?  Are you not willing to forgive your enemies?"

"I don't have any." She replied, smiling."Mrs. Jones, that is very unusual. How old are you?"

"Ninety-eight." she responded."Mrs. Jones, would you please come down in front and tell us all how a person can live ninety-eight years and not have an enemy in the world?"

The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, faced the
congregation, and said: "I outlived the bitches."


     Religion has been the butt of some number of jokes, the bane of many a gathering [along with political opinions], and the source of admittedly sometimes heated discussions between theists and non-theists on Twitter [and in "real" life].  I recently received a mass appeal e-mail from an elderly relative written to the un-churched among us asking us to please allow his god to be our god too.  We were to return the e-mail to him after agreeing to this so that way he could be assured that we would find each other in the same heaven after we are all dead.  How unabashedly cheerful! I thought.  Not.

     Since today is Yom Kippur, the Wall Street Journal has published an article at http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-financial-cost-of-religious-faith-2013-09-13?siteid=yhoof2 by Charles Passey about the monies that the faithful spend during the course of their attendance at organized religious gathering sites.  And in order to remain in good standing with said places.

     Folks in detoxes and rehabs for addictions treatment are almost immediately confronted with the word "God" usually followed by "as we understand/understood Him" in the form of The Twelve Had Betters of traditional 'self-help' or 'mutual aid' programs.  If those folks continue in out-patient and with attendance at meetings after their stint in a hospital, they are sure to find people suggesting that they use the group as their "Higher Power" for now.  They will also be "reassured" that without such a "Higher Power" in their lives, it will be impossible to achieve sobriety/ remain in recovery/ sober up/ stay clean.

     Believers everywhere grouse about the atheists, Dawkins atheists, new atheists, Those People who are ungodly Satan worshippers.  Non-believers everywhere grouse about believers, theists, fundamentalists, fundies, dangerous fundies.  Some folks firmly believe.  Some sort of believe.  Some don't believe.  And some don't frankly give a damn.  Contrary to popular opinion, one can be both an atheist and an agnostic.  One can also be an adherent to an organized religion yet be more of a deist [think "generalist"] in actual philosophy and practice.  The shouters proclaim that the "other side" is full of dangerous lunatics.

     We are all dangerous lunatics.  Every one of us [in a general way] is a dangerous lunatic.  Regardless of where we fall on the spectrum labeled religion, we humans [in general] have proven ourselves to be argumentative, explosive, impulsive, full of hate, and prejudiced.  We humans [in general] have also proven ourselves to be capable of peace-making, thoughtful, deliberate, loving, and willing to celebrate our differences.  Is it our individual stances on religion that separates us into petty categories?  Or is it something else?

     Perhaps our ancestors' ability to survive in a harsher environment depended partly on the ability to conform, to surrender individualism in favor of the group, to bond together in order to confront dangers both known and unknown.  In learning to use language as a tool of communication, we've also learned to label.  This is good.  That is evil.  This is acceptable but that isn't.  That I am able to mentally masturbate on these things is a definite sign that I have a First World Life with First World Problems.  People who have to struggle to find potable water or shelter or safety don't have the luxury of massaging their brain cells with supposes.  I bitch because the recent spat between two mega-companies has left me without the ability to flick a switch in order to watch a series about a fictional serial killer for several weeks.  Some other folks worry about their next child succumbing to a poverty-induced disease.  I have many pairs of clean white socks in my dresser drawers and other human beings go without the basics.  I find within myself exists a certain apathy that shields me from the harshness of true poverty and deprivation.  It is my apathy that renders me a dangerous lunatic.  Whether or not I am a believer of any sort, I am allowing myself to be lulled into a state of macro-consumer.

     It is neither my religion nor my lack of religion that determines my state of being.  There is first the accident of birth.  The facts of my birth determined that I would be a native to First World Problems, that I would not grow up in a bombed out city, that I would have access to an education and transportation and leisure.  The genetic code entrenched in my DNA determined the ease in which I would move around this First World.  The lack of genetic diseases or lethal birth defects gave me a pretty good shot at an average or better than average First World life expectancy.  The functioning of my brain influences how I exist and how I think about my existence.  My choices determine my health risks, how I deal with my assets and liabilities, my challenges and what I do with my abilities.  Birth.  Genetics.  Neurology.  Experiences. 

     Any choices that I make within the religious arenas are also determined by the timing and the geographical location of my birth, my genetics and neurology, and my experiences.  Were I born within certain timeframes and geographic indices, I might not have been ever presented with the dazzling array of religions to choose from as an adult.  Had I been born with a fatal genetic mutation, I might not have attained the age of majority or the ability to choose from various religions.  Had my brain functioning been sub-par, my experiences certainly would have been different than the ones that I've had to date.  It is birth, genetics, neurology, and experiences that determine what choices I have even in respect to religious practices and beliefs.  My tentative conclusion is this:  Religion is a function of rather than a causative factor in the makings of us who are the dangerous lunatics of the world as we know it.

 sapphoq itching for a coffee

I Shouldn't Be Saying This

A my name is Azrael my lover's name is Aristotle we come from Arizona and we bring Aventurine.

B my name is Baby Bell my lover's name is Barrett Brown we come from Baghdad and we bring bacteria.

C my name is Charlotte my lover's name is Comrade we come from China and we bring Copper.

D my name is Diamond my lover's name is Daniel we come from Denver and we bring dancing pigs.

E my name is Easter my lover's name is Enya we come from Egypt and we bring Electrum.

F my name is Forteana my lover's name is Fistball we come from Fort Hood and we bring fork bombs.

G my name is Galaxy my lover's name is Gansu we come from Galveston Bay and we bring Geometry.

H my name is Hadera my lover's name is Haggai we come from Houston and we bring hypoveridae.

I my name is Iglu my lover's name is Indur we come from INTERPOL and we bring insomnia.

J my name is Jusayr my lover's name is Jungle Boot we come from Jordan River and we bring Julian Assange.

K my name is Knotty my lover's name is Konkan we come from Kryqi Cross and we bring kickball.

L my name is Ladbrooks my lover's name is La Caixa we come from La Brea Tar Pits and we bring LOIC.

M my name is Moyaux my lover's name is MS-DOS we come from Metro Footy and we bring measles.  

N my name is Nineveh my lover's name is Netcat we come from New Orleans and we bring nocturnal emissions.

O my name is Ormus my lover's name is Oxygen we come from Old Goa and we bring  oncovirus.

P my name is Pussy Riot my lover's name is Publius we come from Portugal and we bring Property Law.

Q my name is Qaddita my lover's name is Qazaza we come from Qannir and we bring Query Language.

R my name is Rapture my lover's name is Reason we come from Romania and we bring Roulette.

S my name is Snow Cave my lover's name is Skull Cave we come from Sri Lanka and we bring scareware.

T my name is Tiara my lover's name is Tilsworth we come from Tunisia and we bring Topiary.

U my name is Undertaker my lover's name is Underboss we come from United Kingdom and we bring Uppies and Downies. 

V my name is Viccania my lover's name is Vindaloo we come from Vatican City and we bring vulnerability.

W my name is Watchmaker my lover's name is Wolfy we come from Wikileaks and we bring widespread panic.

X my name is Xenu my lover's name is Xenu too we come from Xiong Dynasty and we bring X-ray Astronomy.

Y my name is Yageo my lover's name is Yoshua we come from Yugoslavia and we bring Your Anon News.

Z my name is Zirconium my lover's name is Zephaniah we come from Zuccoti Park and we bring zombie computers.      

sapphoq itching for a coffee says: Maybe you recognize the old jump-rope rhyme A_____  my name is A_____  my lover's name is A_____  we come from A_____  and we bring A_____  ...and so forth.
The fill-in words came from this list: http://par-anoia.net/assessment/us/bofa/keywords.txt
I made this post for the LULZ.  

You know what bothers me about this list and various other lists of "naughty" watchwords?  Some hi-tech people in various places got paid oodles of money to identify allegedly dangerous words and/or to read through hours and hours of chat logs and other stuff with allegedly dangerous words in them.  Words are ideas.  And ideas are the stuff of revolution.  Even so, the evolution of words has become a bedsheet rope hanging out of windows.  Even though I am laughing, a part of me is crying on the inside.