This is to be a two-part segment, except I'll more than likely just end up doing both today, so it's more of a multi-faceted post... or something.

What is it with Christianity and belittling human accomplishments? Maybe it's just a Baptist thing. But everytime I go, I hear the same thing: "If God were to come back right now, he wouldn't be happy. He wouldn't look at us and say, 'Well done, my good and faithful servants.' No, he would look at us with disgust. He tells us our good deeds are as filthy rags. Completely meaningless in his eyes." Well, if that doesn't give you the warm fuzzies, I don't know what will. Helping to rebuild New Orleans? Meaningless. Buying a homeless guy a cup of coffee and an hour of your time? Worthless.

Any religion that puts down human decency has some serious issues with it. I can understand the salvation through grace bit, and not of works. But to say nothing we do is ever smiled upon by our supposed savior? I want no part of it.

And now, for something [not really] completely different.

Ah, music. The power to enlighten, to depress, to anger, and to inspire. It speaks to us on so many levels, with or without lyrics. When you're deliriously happy, without a care in the world, what do you do? Crank the music up and revel in the happiness. When you're depressed and feel as though no one cares, you softly hit play. When you're pissed off, you dime the volume and release yourself in the screaming sounds of thrash. Music is life for many, and for good reason - we understand it, and it understands us. I guarantee you, any possible emotion or situation you will ever encounter, there is a song written about it.

Because of this, I think there should be (if it's not already been created) a religion of music. If you're going to worship something, why not something that is understandable and reachable? Personally, I would much rather sit down and play my emotions than pray to an invisible deity, hoping that my voice isn't lost in the millions of other souls crying out.

I don't know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you
I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps

-While My Guitar Gently Weeps (The Beatles)

He sewed his eyes shut,
because he is afraid to see.
He tries to tell me,
What I put inside of me.
He's got the answers,
to ease my curiosity.
He dreamed a God up,
and called it Christianity.

God is dead,
and no one cares.
If there is a hell,
I'll see you there.

He flexed his muscles,
to keep his flock of sheep in line.
He made a virus,
that would kill off all the swine.
His perfect kingdom,
of killing, suffering and pain.
Demands devotion,
atrocities done in his name.

God is dead,
and no one cares.
If there is a hell,
I'll see you there.
Your God is dead,
and no one cares.
If there is a hell,
I'll see you there.

God is dead,
and no one cares.
If there is a hell,
I'll see you there.
Your God is dead,
and no one cares.
(drowning in his own hypocrisy)
If there is a hell,
I'll see you there.
(burning with your God in humility)
Will you die for this?

-Heresy (Nine Inch Nails)


I've been listening to a lot of NIN recently. It's the type of music where you have to read the lyrics just to figure out what's being said; the vocals being rather distorted. Brilliant stuff, though. Quite powerful. Anyway, this sums up my feelings quite well.

The Fundies cry, "God is being pushed out of the schools, out of the workplace, out of life!" No shit. Welcome to the 21st Century. Ihr Gott ist tot, und keine Obacht.


Bitter, much? Yes, I am; thanks for asking.

What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
goes away in the end
You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

-Hurt (Nine Inch Nails)

When you hurt someone you love more than anything in the world, what does make you? A liar? Surely if you cared, you wouldn't have hurt them. And what can be done for the hurt? Should you hurt yourself? Wallow in misery? Apologize endlessly?

It has been said that the most important question that can be asked is "Why?". I believe this to be true. However, it is also the most painful question that can be asked; be it of yourself, or another.

I apologize for the angst. Not usually my style. But, y'know... every once in awhile, it's the only mood that fits.

Now this is just one heckuva moral dilemma. [Repeat] burglar discovers evidence of child molestation during burglary. Burglar [anonymously] turns it in. Police arrest child molester. Police later arrest burglar on another charge. Burglar requests clemency, citing his assistance in catching the child molester. What to do?

Human instinct would be to laud the burglar for helping with the capture of a scumbag, for lack of a better term. However, he still did commit crimes, and continued to do so after turning in the evidence; which he did anonymously. Where's the heroism in that?

Personally, I say reduce the burglar's sentence. One good deed does not undo twelve (in this case) bad ones. It does help, however. And as far as karma is concerned, I would say a deed such as this would balance out a great many grievances.

As to the child molester... I'm torn between two options, both of which would have the same result: either give him a prison sentence (where he would be subsequently beaten to death by the other inmates upon their learning of his crime), or give him to the girl's parents. However, this also goes against my feelings on capital punishment. Granted, the state would be in neither case actually killing the man. Since the latter is not going to be a reality, the only real way to avoid his death in prison would be to put him in solitary. Some might argue that would be far worse than death.

Does everyone deserve a second chance? Even people such as that? Or are some crimes so heinous that death is the only morally sound choice?

He took something from that girl which she can never have back. It will very likely affect her life in a negative way. Where's the justice if he only gets a prison sentence (assuming he survived)? "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind," said Gandhi. An admirable maxim to be sure, and one that flies in the face of human justice. Should the girl and her parents forgive and forget? I've heard of parents being able to forgive their child's murderer, which is arguably worse than molestation; so forgiveness is possible in even the most extreme cases.

While on this subject, I've a related topic: that of forgiveness by God; or more specifically, Jesus. Christianity teaches that no matter what, a truly repentant person will be forgiven. There are no exceptions (well, except for this one - and it's open to debate), no matter how repugnant the sin. It's a beautiful idea to be sure, but again lacks human justice. A fitting analogy is the story of the thief on the cross. A thief is perhaps not the most horrible of criminals, but is by no means innocent. And yet at the last moment (quite literally), by believing the man hanging next to him could save him from eternal damnation, he is lifted into paradise (which may or may not be heaven: again, subject to debate). So where is the recompense to the people who were stolen from? Somehow I doubt God is cutting checks to the victims. In a more interesting case, let us use the original story. What if the molester were to become a Christian? From the Bible's standpoint, he is forgiven, and will be in heaven. So Gandhi goes to hell, and a child molester goes to heaven. Yeah, that's fair. And again, where is the recompense for the girl or her parents? It's not as though time will be reversed, and innocence restored. Biblical morality falls short, methinks.

And here I thought state-sponsored religion was unconstitutional. To his credit, at least he's not coming right out and saying Christian prayer. I love the little blurb at the end, too...

"We are a people united by our love for freedom, even when we differ in our personal beliefs," the president said. "In America, we are free to profess any faith we choose, or no faith at all."

"See, you don't have to be religious. But everyone else is. And you want to be like everyone else, don't you? Well? ANSWER, HEATHEN!"

Heard at the airport... "Report all suspicious persons." What qualifies as suspicious? If I had to guess, I'd say skin color and accent. Sad.

Today I discovered the meaning of the phrase culture shock. It's amazing that you can live somewhere for two years and yet never really figure it out. Certain things that are taken for granted in one (the rest? Maybe New England, too... somehow, I can't see the Californians caring much, but then, what do they care about? And if any Californians get pissed, I lived there for eight years. So shut up.) part of the country is greeted with shock in another.

It can be discussed endlessly, and eventually, a consensus can be reached, but the root of the matter is that different cultures have different customs. The Europeans have no problem with full nudity (or to go even further, the Japanese show porn on mainstream TV) in media, yet shrink when violence is displayed. The U.S. is the complete opposite. Different cultures, different morals.

The colloquialism "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" would seem a perfect fit to this, but then, what of personal morals? I'm reading a most excellent book currently, Point Counter Point, by Aldous Huxley. Chapter I, Page 16 contains this thought:

"One should be loyal to one's tastes and instincts." But one's tastes and instincts were accidents. There were eternal principles. But if the axiomatic principles didn't happen to be your personal major premiss...?

When in Rome indeed. It certainly makes things easier. And it's the polite thing to do, no doubt. But if you firmly believe something, should you allow it to pass idly by for the sake of avoiding confrontation? This is equally applicable to the Romans and the visitors.

Life... at once complex and simplistic.

It's things like this that make me want to bang my head repeatedly into a carbon fiber reinforced concrete wall. Renting a house (to the tune of $50,000) for a birthday party? Not one, but two shiny new cars? Hiring a band to fly in to play at your party? It goes way past wrong. I have nothing against those with money (other than griping about my lack of it); hell, I don't even have a problem with flaunting it. But to display such a callous attitude to the other 99% of the world, it's just wrong. C'mon, Bill Gates donates billions to charity. That's billions with a capital B. (well, not when I used it the first time... but the point remains)