I know it has been some time since I have posted here, and it has been even longer since I have posted anything here worth reading. Well I was feeling a bit sentimental today, so I dug up a moldy-oldy I posted to the Democratic Underground a couple months back that didn't get a whole lot of play...so I am resurrecting it. Enjoy!

When I say I'm an atheist, that doesn't tell you a whole lot about what I do believe - only what I don't believe. So, for the record, here are a few things that I do believe:

I believe that belief with respect to the unknown or unknowable is a fundamental human right. I make a lot of noise about the religious right in this country, but only because they are the ones in power. If there were organizations attempting to make atheism the law of the land, I would fight that to my last.

I believe that the separation of church and state is about as close to sacred as anything I can see in this world. I realize that the United States is lucky in this respect, as there are countries where apostasy can mean a death sentence. Once the state makes certain beliefs illegal, punishable by any sanction, incarceration, or worse, then we have left the land of the free my friends. If one of us is not free to be a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, a Wiccan, a Scientologist, or not a believer at all, then none of us are. A theocracy, or an atheocracy, places all of us in mental bondage.

I believe that the aforementioned human right ends at my doorstep. If policies are created based on personal belief, sans reason or evidence, that affect my home, my classroom, my hospital, my battlefield, my courts, my legislature, my jails, then I am being denied my fundamental human right. When my fiance is denied emergency contraception based on the personal beliefs of the dispenser, she has lost that fundamental human right. When my father is fired fired from a job for insisting to teach the Big Bang theory, he has lost that fundamental right. When my tax dollars support faith-based initiatives, then I have lost that fundamental human right. We all have. Whether or not you are against emergency contraception, whether or not you are against the Big Bang theory, whether or not you are against faith-based initiatives, you have still lost your rights. You have still lost your choice.

I believe in the solidarity of people. It is an incredible fortune to be alive now, with all of you. Considering all the people that have ever lived, and all that will ever live, it seems to me short-sighted to regard one another as an enemy, a foe, an adversary. In that context, it seems ridiculous that we should be so concerned with who is right and who is wrong. At the end of the day, I know I may very well be wrong about my personal beliefs. I know that it is easy to get wrapped up in our own concerns, our own troubles, and our own egos (I am guilty of all three). On a good day, I can see past of all that, though, and realize that it really doesn't matter who is right and who is wrong about the unknown. On a good day, I can see that the most important thing is that we focus on protecting one another, on defending one another's rights to believe or not believe as they see fit, and on caring about one another.

I believe in good days.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

| | | | | | | | | |

varkam's blog | printer friendly version