Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Care

Why do we care about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" anymore?

What good, exactly, has our military done for this country or the world in, say, the past sixty-plus years?

I understand rights, but frankly, the military has been all about tricking people to join in order to carry out mostly immoral acts.

I'm no longer putting any focus on DADT. But I would like to see recruitment taken off of ALL public schools, both the high school level and the university level. ROTC off of campuses, the "ASVAB" eliminated, etc.

Frankly, I'm tired of my tax dollars doing to the military. It needs a major revisioning and revamping. Until then it's like putting all my money in a mulcher.

Leviticus Schmeviticus

I don't for a minute accept the holiness code as legit. All those bizarre prohibitions and purity rules. God can't handle a little menstrual blood? Give me a break!

I'm grateful I live in a place and time in which, if you stone your kids to death, you get tossed in jail.

I just do not and will never believe that any of that has anything to do with God, for nation building or anything else.

Whatever or whoever God is, I'm thinking that God is pretty BIG. I don't need to try to explain away Leviticus to accept that ;-) It's much easier to just toss it in the trash.

Then again, I'm really getting grouchy about all this Bible stuff.

Statement of belief

For today.

I am using "belief" to mean "an accepted thing." I do not present evidence, much reasoning, evangelical earnestness, or apologetics.

Beliefs (mine):

1. The truth is not fully perceived.
2. There is more than what we presently know/theorize/hypothesize scientifically.
3. The truth may or may not be scientifically knowable.
4. The truth may or may not be perceptable with any instrument of our physical bodies, including our ability to reason.
5. The truth may or may not be perceptable to our spiritual selves.
6. We have eternal selves.
7. The properties of the eternal self are not fully perceived.
8. If there is a deity (or more than one deity), then it is (they are) not governed by human emotions and motivations.
9. There is probably not a deity.

Accepting these, rather than lying to myself after all of this time, I can let go of:

1. Asking permission from other people on what I am allowed to believe.
2. The need to belong to a community that is religiously defined.
3. Mental contortionism.
4. Obligations to participate in Biblical debate, explanation, or apology.
5. Obligations to go to rituals.
6. Obligations to pray.
7. Self-judgment about the lameness of my prayers.

Accepting these, I find it natural to accept:

1. Responsibility (the ability to respond).
2. A greater infinity of connectedness among the all, of which I am a part.
3. Spontaneous joy without guilt.
4. My own perfection.
5. Yours too.

Peace and all good,
Andrew

Big boy

Not the restaurant! :)

Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole was a superstar in Hawaii, and because of a disorder (I don't know the details) he was very large. He died early. This video is his beautiful version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and near the end we see them pouring his ashes into the sea with hundreds of fans in the water and on the beach cheering. This has me in tears.



Some nice pics of Hawaii too.

War on gay marriage by black preacher

So, this religious "leader" is declaring war on gay marriage in D.C. WAR! Declaring war with the purpose of keeping us in the back of the bus.

Am I being racist by calling this "ironic"?

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid86744.asp#Receipt

May 28, 2009

Gay Marriage Foes Seek D.C. Referendum

(see link)

My second memorial day post

A couple more deserve high mention.

My memorial day blog...

In memoriam of:

AND...

Victims at Hiroshima, Nagasaki

The killed, raped, tortured in acts of imperialism, terror, and seemingly random crime

All who have died in nonviolent protest and disobedience

All who have died while in concentration camps, prisons, and other centers of detention

Victims of disease, corruption, poverty, hunger

AND SO MANY OTHERS

WHO HAVE DIED FOR PEACE, FREEDOM, AND EQUALITY

PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE

AND THE FIGHT CONTINUES

UNTIL THERE ARE VICTIMS NO MORE

PEACE AND ALL GOOD TO US ALL

Question of the Day: Punishment and Reward After Death?

Do you believe in punishment and reward after death?

No, I do not. Seems like being threatened or bribed into forcing oneself to believe something. Is God a tyrant, a small child in the fit of self-centered insistance that everyone stare at him in awe and give him chocolate when he demands it, and if you don't, the whiny little monster threatens to send you to hell? No. I do not believe any of that.

Is it possible to not believe in punishment and reward after death yet still believe in the afterlife?

Of course.