But something must've got in us, cause all of us turn to sinners!

DISCLAIMER: Before you read this, know that I don't hate religion, religious persons, or the idea of spirituality. My critiques of religion and mythology (the term I use for most religion), is a general statement on ignorance as a whole, and not just the ignorance of "religious" persons. I don't fault people for not actually knowing what they believe in, I fault people for believing in that which they don't know. So I wrote this not as a slam against "religious" persons, I wrote this so that so-called "religious" people would examine their beliefs and obtain a better understanding.

To start this blog entry, I will set up a few scenarios and ask all of the "faithful out there a few questions.

Here's the first scenario, it's a sunny Sunday afternoon (you skipped out of church this weekend because you spent all night getting "right" at the club), you're on your way to the local Wal-Mart Super center (to get some Advil for that hangover). As you're walking towards the Wal-Mart, you pass a homeless man. This homeless man seems to be talking to a person that is not there. You walk closer to the vagabond, out of curiosity, and you overhear him call his imaginary friend "God". My question is what is your opinion of the homeless man?

Second scenario goes like this; you're watching a talk show on a cloudy Tuesday morning. A panelist on the show tells a tale of how he disappeared for a number of weeks to a mysterious world. He tells the audience that these beings, which he refers to as "extra-terrestrial", gave him warnings of impending doom and destruction. He states that the beings sent him visions and sent him back here to warn the rest of humanity of the coming annihilation. My question is what do you think of this guest on the talk show?

Okay, for the last scenario, a news broadcast interrupts this Wednesday's "American Idol"; they talk about a man that refers to himself as a prophet. He claims that his deity appointed him as a messenger. He gains the trust of a numerous amount of followers; they look at him as their messiah. What is your view of this self proclaimed prophet?

Now before I get to the heavy stuff, I've got one more question. To quote a line from my favorite McDonald's commercials, do you believe in magic? Now I know most people are reading that question and saying "hell to the nah!". Now really think about magic and the definition of that word, "the art of producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation or various other techniques that presumably assure control of supernatural agencies or the forces of nature". According to most religions, western as well as eastern, control of supernatural agencies or the forces of nature, plays a major role in their doctrine. I'll now delve into what I presume would be most people's answers to the fore mentioned scenario's. For the first scenario, I know most people (including myself) would say that the homeless man is insane or just a little bit imbalanced. But let's think about this from a religious aspect, throughout the book of Christianity, the Bible, throughout the Jewish Torah, and throughout the Quran, men talk to a voice that isn't talking to anybody else. These men heard things that no other man heard, yet they are divine while this homeless man is insane. Could God not have picked the meekest of men to convey his message to, could it be he is receiving divine guidance? What if he's homeless because he followed your Jesus Christ and gave up his worldly possessions, and this was conveyed to him by God, himself (or herself, or itself, or themselves)? How is he different from a man that lived in a magical whale? And who are you talking to when you kneel on the edge of your bed at night? Now, for the second scenario, I know a lot of religious people don't believe in aliens because in the Bible God doesn't create them (he also doesn't create dinosaurs, explain that). So is the second man as crazy as the first, did he see imaginary beings from out of space? Now according to the Bible and the Quran, people had visits from mysterious beings from the "Heavens" (which is somewhere out in space, even though the Hubble couldn't find it), they referred to as angels, or the host of heaven, or the Elohim. These beings had mysterious powers and abilities that mere men didn't have, they cast of a glow that mortals wouldn't. All the characteristics besides the wings (unless you factor in the people that saw Mothmen) and the weird shaped heads of aliens, are very similar. So what if this man was visited by your angels, even better, what if your prophets were visited by aliens? I mean wasn't John the Baptist whisked away to Patmos and given visions by one of Gods angels (it's called Revelations, if you didn't know)? People claim to have the same experiences as John the Baptist, yet he is a messenger and they are nuts. Okay, the last scenario revisits the whole Waco and Branch Davidians, a man claims to have a message from God and proceeds to spread it, the world views him as an insane man and kills him. Now, most religious people view him as insane because his name wasn't written in a scroll in a cave somewhere. But it makes me think of Christianity and Islam, both religions are based on men telling people that they were sent by God with a book (they just happened to last longer than David Koresh). Lets take Christianity for example, after Jesus' death, rebirth and then death (and you don't believe in magic), a man named Paul runs around talking about his dead friend and his dead friends illegitimate father. Paul runs and tells the Romans (the people that supposedly killed his friend) about his dead friend, and they decide to take and mold a new religion out of Judaism. The Roman scholars sat in a dark basement and pieced together various stories, throwing away the ones they deemed unnecessary, and created a new book to add on to the Hebrew Torah. Word spread around and people converted (mainly because if you didn't do what the church said, they'd kill you). As for Islam, it was spearheaded by an Arab named Muhammad who went around the Middle East and recited lines from his book that he wrote with the aid of his invisible friend, Allah. He and his cousin / son-in-law went around killing those Arabs that didn't follow his doctrine, they referred to it as "slicing off the heads of devils" (the slaughter of infidels in the name of Allah continues). So if Jesus' so-called friend can sell his story to his enemies and make a religion out of it, or if a military general can persuade people to follow his religion; why can't a man in modern times be given the divine task of leading people to a divine being? Now I want you to pick up whatever holy book you believe in (that you only read a passage or two from when you're in your in you church, mosque, synagogue, temple or shrine) and read it thoroughly. After you've read the entire book and analyzed all the wonderful stories, pick up a Harry Potter book and read that. After you've done all that reading (and wasting time), ask yourself, do you believe in magic? Of course you do!

Peace, I mean WAR!

Only Built For Cuban Linx...

So I occasionally talk about revolution and issues of social injustice, but for this entry, I'm jumping on the other side of the debate. My view on civil rights and equal opportunity is simple, like the Declaration of Independence states, "all men are created equal" (even though when it was written, it was far from true). I believe that everybody should be treated as equal to everybody else, until they do something stupid that devalues their worth as a human being (a la George W. Bush). Now for me to jump to the other side of the argument, it seems that when a group of people are discriminated against, the federal government sets up some way to get that group equal treatment (which usually turns into preferential treatment). I don't have any problems with Native Americans, but they receive preferential treatment in the form of tax free reservations, casinos, and etcetera. I understand that the Caucasians came across the Atlantic Ocean and slaughtered most of the native people of this nation, but most of the "Native Americans" are using false birthrights to obtain government assistance and preferential treatment. Another group that receives, at times, a free ride are African Americans (a race in which I belong). My reason for this thought is Affirmative Action, which sets quotas for businesses, cause qualified persons to compete with less qualified individuals, on the sole purpose of filling the nations outrageous idea that discrimination can be destroyed. In this day, the government gives services to businesses that show a wide "diversity" in their office. African and Native Americans both have step ladders to help them climb to success. As for Disabled, Handi-capped, Damaged, Impaired persons receive aid from the government. They get special parking spots everywhere (most remain empty whenever I'm trying to Stop & Shop), the have special entrances (for which I understand, but I'll complain anyway), they have special items which are mandated by the government to be installed in businesses, as well as other special provisions. I have nothing against Impaired people (except that spot I could've parked in), I just think that these provisions make them not want to fend for themselves and live as a "normal" person (whatever normal is). I find it wrong that groups ask for equal treatment, and later follow up with extra provisions that make them unequal. I want Homosexuals to be able to get married (do what you like), but in exchange I don't want to see a Gay Pride Parade, a Gay club, a Gay group, or anything else that is specifically Gay (especially those thugged-out Harvey Milk High School kids). I want job interviews to be conducted with the facial and voice scrambling software that they use on America's Most Wanted, and applicants to be judged on their actual merits. I want Impaired, Disabled (somebody tell me the politically correct term for them) persons to be tested for their level of impairment (no idiots), and then I want them to try their best to walk, or roll, or hop from that parking spot in the back where I usually park. I want every child to ride a short bus, so that nobody is feeling inadequate (and pussified). People whine too much about equal rights, equal treatment, and equal opportunity, yet they take or ask for government handouts that actual make them unequal. Civil Right activists in the 50's through 70's wanted equal rights, not special provisions. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said he dreamed that man "will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Yet it seems that these so-called equal rights activist want to be judged not by their character but yet by their skin color, their religion, their sexual orientation, their impairment and so on. This has been another installment in my series on "The Pussification of Modern Society".

On a side note I want Mexican immigrants to be welcomed into the United States with open arms (The Statue of Liberty does say "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"). But first, I must address all foreigners, if your country is so much more beautiful than America, why are you here. If the women in your country are so much better, why are you here? If your country has the best beach in the world, why are you at Daytona? America, land of the free and home of the crybabies.

Peace, I mean WAR!