Sometimes religion just pisses me off

No all religion.  Not even any specific religion.  Maybe I should amend it to “sometimes the religious just piss me off”.  But I don’t feel like it.  Instead, I’ll just blatantly troll for readers with an inflammatory headline.  hee hee…such a heathen.

So for those of you who don’t already hate me, I’m an atheist.  It’s important to note that atheist means “without god” (not God – the word references any god, it’s neutral as to which one).  It does not mean “antagonistic to god”.  That’s a very important distinction to make – believers often assume that since I’m an atheist, that I “hate” god or am “opposed” to god – or even that I “refuse” to believe.  None of those things are true.  I’m not opposed, I don’t hate, nor do I refuse to believe in any particular god.  It just doesn’t make any sense to me.  A world without a god makes more sense.  To me.  This boggles believers, and that’s okay – I totally get that from that worldview, mine is confusing.  I don’t expect everyone to share my views; some folks are more agnostic on the whole thing, some folks just get more sense from a world with a god.  That’s cool.  But here’s where I get pissed…(okay, there are more, but this is today’s)

This sad story is about an idiotic douchebag whose girlfriend was either having an affair with, or just had a friendship that he didn’t approve of with, another man.  He saw a text from the guy, flipped out, and killed her.  Up to the killing her part, this happens all the time.  When arrested, he told the police that she had made a “Wiccan blood oath” to end the relationship.  Okay, so they’re Wiccan.  Whatever.  Ignoring the idea that this particular religion apparently had him believing that a “blood oath” could be sworn and met with death if broken (this is more a sign that he’s immensely stupid than that religion is evil), what got me is in the comments.  (Okay, no.  It does piss me off.  This evil prick tried to hide behind his particular religion to rationalize murdering his girlfriend.  Fucker.)

Here are the comments that led to today’s post:

Great_Teabagger 29p · 46 minutes ago

This is what happens when liberal religions induce folk to stray from the Cross.

Reply

al_wa 99p · 37 minutes ago

I am having trouble grasping that concept.
Definition of Liberal Religion
"What does it mean to be a religious liberal? To be a liberal according to my favorite scripture, Merriam-Webster, is be open minded, is to be free from the constraints of dogmatism and authority, is to be generous and to believe in the basic goodness of humankind. Religion is defined as that which binds us back or reconnects us to that which is ultimately important. Thus religious liberals are those that are connected, through generosity and openness, to the most important aspects of life."
–Rev. Kimi Riegel, Minister, Northwest UU Church, Southfield, MI

Reply

Great_Teabagger 29p · 18 minutes ago

Fancy talk, but the fact remains that the follower of this liberal-flavored religion dismembered a woman.
Witches, Wiccans, or however they choose to call themselves are bloodthirsty devil-worshippers and this grisly act proves it.

‘al_wa’ is engaging in the time-honored practice of answering religious insult with religious quote, which I think was unneccessary as it’s way off the point, but hey – it’s the internet, and people do it.  But ‘Great_Teabagger’ really captures the worst side of religion. And then prints it on a flag and waves it around.  The suggestion he makes here is that “the Cross”, obviously he means a specific brand of Christianity, is separate and apart from “liberal religions”.  And I think we can safely assume that all non-Christian religions will be lumped in that group.

This is lunacy.  The stupidity of reading the story of this woman’s death and jumping to “liberal religion” and implying that somehow being a Christian would’ve prevented this guy from doing this…it boggles the mind.  Focus, people.  Christianity is not the answer to the world’s evils.  This had nothing to do with “devil-worshippers” (wow, btw. The 16th century called, they miss you.  They want you to come home).  It’s about a crazy guy who did crazy shit.  And should be punished accordingly. 

You see, Wicca is the polar opposite of devil-worship – it’s about respect for the natural forces of the world.  It’s about not causing harm.  I don’t say this to refute Great_Teabagger – I say this to underscore how far from his religion this murderer strayed.  Had be been a Christian, he would’ve strayed just as far.  Religion simply is not a magical panacea that cures all ills. 

Religion has much to recommend it.  It gives some people hope.  It gives others answers to scary questions.  It gives some people a home, or a family, or peace.  But ultimately, religions are filled with people, and all religions recognize that people are flawed – and none claim to fix that.  They just give you a set of guidelines to strive for.  Too many believers fail to see this distinction, and think they’ve not just been absolved of their sins, but are magically prevented from committing (or at least being found out for) others.  No.  You are still, no matter how pious or genuinely righteous, responsible for you, until the day you die and go to find out if you or I were right all along.

Liberal religion didn’t lead this man to kill his girlfriend.  It can’t be blamed, and when he inevitably turns to “the Cross” in prison, it won’t change what he’s done.  He alone bears that responsibility.  Focus, people. 

This entry was posted on Friday, June 18th, 2010 at 7:10 pm and is filed under Religious nonsense, Stupid Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.