A Is For Opinion

Musical Spoken Word. Audio Persuasive Essay.

 Homosexuals should have the same rights as heterosexuals
 

They don’t and there is a movement taking place that isn't fully placing the blame where it should
fall: Squarely on the
shoulders of any organized religion, religious dogma, or “holy scripture” that
strictly forbids homosexuality. I want to see these
things happen because as humans we are equals.
We should all have the same chance at the same things, and there should be no
prejudice for any of the differing attributes we may have.

 

Human rights everywhere are infringed upon by religious
dogma. Politics should be secular. The laws that affect all of us should be
free of any religious influence or interest. They clearly are not. In America, the Christian Right has a far, heavy handed reach
into public policies. It is considered
political suicide to be atheist. To be in politics in the united states, you must believe in God.

 

Education standards need to be
raised. Students
should be taught to think for themselves and how to think critically. These
kinds of classes need to be standard curriculum. Intelligent design and creationism need to be thrown out the
window entirely. Sexual education should be a non-issue. 

 

 

And if they want, yes people should be able to practice
their religion, so long as it doesn't affect those incapable of
deciding for themselves, or anyone else. But as it currently stands, it does affect
those incapable of deciding for themselves, as well as the rest of us. If you
don't believe me- Well, good. You should research it for yourself. Something a
religion would never recommend. 

 

 

All my life I've always heard: “Be the change you want to see.”  Well I want to see childhood indoctrination abolished. I want to see children be taught how to think for themselves, rather than what to think. Questioning my own beliefs is what put me on the path of education. But the path is filled with obstacles, some of them in violent opposition to the goals. One thing I realized is that while atheism has very little to do with my stance on religious practice, it is that very label that puts me at a disadvantage.

The majority of people see atheists as arrogant, rude, and unwarranted in their anger. Though I ask you, are we? The answer is a firm, resounding no. We witness religious practice and its influence on education, children, the treatment of women and women’s rights. We see violence every single day that is a direct result of disagreeing about God. Folks will often claim, “Well my religion isn't violent!” And while that may or may not be true, their religion is a product of the problem, and it harbors those that would commit atrocities in the name of their god. By what standards do we pick which religions are “right” and which are “wrong”? Do we cherry pick from the Holy Bible? Do we merely allow intolerance for other faiths and “blasphemy” from the notoriously violent religion of Islam? Religious practice in all forms must be considered, the root of which all contain something fundamentally wrong and backwards: That faith is a virtue. 

Yes, there are “good” things in “holy books”- but for every good one you can show me, I can probably show you two bad ones. What do we do with the commandments to rape and murder? Just toss them out? Well as you can see, that doesn’t jive with the religious extremists all over the planet. Muslim and Christian extremists alike- so very, very many of them justify killing in the name of their GOD.

For a lack of better words- bullshit. So as long as it is bad, who teaches those kids to ignore them? Extremists don’t. Extremists exist because extremists keep breeding them, using their Holy Books as their source and justification. They are not insane! They believe that what they are doing is good and right and just! Ask any extremist that hates “f**s” or “womens rights” why. They’ll tell you “because God commands it!”

 It is the moderates that change the books! The fundamentalists are the ones that follow them literally! And for every atheist you can show me that has committed mass murder, I will show you many, many more religious people that have killed in the name of God. You can directly attribute so many of the murders in the name of God not to “illiterate ignorance” but to “holy men” that are absolutely literate and probably very intelligent! 

While religion is not the only problem our society and planet faces, it IS one of the biggest- and in so many ways. Religion has had its place and role in the evolution of humans. It has been helpful at times and served a purpose. Religion gave answers to questions long before science was able to figure them out- but that is exactly what modern science and technology and medicine has done- We have a VASTLY greater understanding the fundamental aspects of reality than at any other time in human history (spanning over 100,000 years)- We have mapped the human genome, we have launched satellites into space, we are exploring our solar system and beyond, we have an understanding of how the universe formed, when it formed, and what is going to happen to it in the future. We have an understanding of how life evolved and what humans are. We have made cell phones and computers and the internet and we have connected the entire planet through the use of social networking. Did religion do any of this? NO! for thousands of years it just proclaimed “GOD DID IT! That’s the END! NOW HAVE FAITH AND BE OBEDIENT!” while skeptics and scientists and free thinkers figured things out in the back ground. We have SCIENCE to thank for almost every single advancement that the human race has seen. And now religions are just doing the same thing still in the face of current evidence to the contrary- I know I am generalizing and lumping all religions together in what I am arguing, but I am only doing it for simplicity and because its largely the truth. You can argue “well my religion doesn’t do that” or “they aren’t a true Christian if they do or say this or that”, but those arguments are logical fallacies and have been debunked over and over again.

if you can't decide if you're atheist or christian... no big deal! but i would recommend asking yourself questions and thinking on the answers critically- what is reality? what exactly is evidence? if you use the scientific method and think critically in all things, you will find that the more you learn, the more there is to learn! i'm not trying to tell you what to do... that's up to you. live your life as you see fit. but if you wonder if there is a god... don't be afraid to search for the answers- pretty much any atheist will tell you that they are atheist because they did some research and found there is no evidence whatsoever to support the idea of god(s). humans have been making them up for thousands of years- christianity is relatively young when you look at human history. it sprang up as a monotheism of worshiping Yahweh only within the last two and a half thousand years (or so, give or take). but modern humans evolved over 100,000 years ago (we have evidence of this), and only in the last ten thousand years have invented things like agriculture and forms of government. humanity NEEDS critical thinking and intellectual integrity- religion suppresses both of those. almost every religion will tell you to just "have faith".

 

 

All children of religious parents are taught this. This is teaching children what to think. It is teaching children to be satisfied with ignorance. I now witness this broadly and first hand. It angers me, and I feel like something needs to happen. The majority of parents are instilling the fear of God in their children. It can absolutely be psychologically damaging to young and older minds alike. It is a form of abuse and simultaneously a breeding ground for ignorance, bigotry, and intolerance. 

Children everywhere, not just in the Bible Belt or Utah, are being blindfolded from infancy. I am writing and arguing on behalf of them. They are too young to know what’s going on. They should not be abused, psychologically, mentally, or physically. They should not be indoctrinated. They should not be subjected to guilt over the vengeful eye of the Lord. They’re children, and they've done nothing wrong.

Author's Note

listen!

Reviews

[The Verse: A Poetry Jou..]

I had to pause the highly distracting audio, your a good essayist, loads of intelligent (ramblings) that somehow unite and make an urgent call to action. You hold on to the attention of your reader and don't release until you create and impression. Excellent.

[IWRITE]

thank you! is the audio distracting in the sense that you'd rather read it by itself? because the audio is a reading of the essay...with music... just an idea i've been working on recently. fusing music and words- but not like songs or lyrics. not singing. spoken word- poetry, stories, or even this essay- with music. the idea is to make the spoken word more accessible with music... but alas, i guess that means the listener has to happen to like the music!

[The Verse: A Poetry Journal]

No, I think it's a personal issue, I simply couldn't focus on either the audio or the essay. So, I had to cut one off.

[BreatheBrittany]

This is amazing. Truth!
I admire greatly the way you think :)

[Budimir Zdravkovic]

I only wish more fundamentalists would be open to arguments and reasons like these. But like you mentioned the indoctrination starts when they are very young and that's a very powerful thing. No amount of reason can shatter that barrier.

When it comes to science vs religion, there is no question that science studies fact rigorously and it prevails when it comes to natural phenomena. When it comes to moral education, religion has had some positive influence on social justice, because the doctrines do promote solidarity and social well being. But unfortunately the whole hierarchy of religious practices then gets in the way, hierarchies concerning matters such as who is more moral than who and who deserves to "burn" for being a certain way. This gets in the way of actualizing religious social justice, or more precisely religious social justice for everyone, not just for the "morally righteous."

[icelandicblue]

Margaret Mead said we must teach children how to think not what to think. As a teacher I take this to heart. We must give them the opportunities to make up their own minds. Religion and science can and have filled books with treatises that discuss them both. Even Albert Einstein said, "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." You pose strong arguments in this piece. It is well written and thoughtful. Religion just like science can be misused to blind and control others. That is why thinking for ourselves is the key to our survival.

[IWRITE]

hmmm. you're a teacher?! awesome.

You say religion just like science can be used to blind and control others- but the problem with that is that no, science does not blind and control-

the way science works is observe and think and admit you're wrong and try again- kinda stuff...

religion, however, IS used to blind and control

[icelandicblue]

Not all science is absolute despite the scientific method and those conclusions or deductions change over time because science is investigated by people who make mistakes. The problem is many scientists think that they are infallible and that is a dangerous thing. Look how many men watched the blast of the atomic bomb in boots and sun glasses because scientists told them it was safe. Don't get me wrong I put a lot of faith in science but I also put faith into my ability to determine whether I agree or not.

[IWRITE]

i see what you're saying. and i agree with you- i guess i was just disagreeing with the statement "blind and control" thinking of it in the same terms as i think of religion with that phrase. you're right that not all science is absolute. and yes, many scientists think they are infallible! and yes, i guess lots of people trusted the scientists over the atomic bomb thing- although i do think that todays scientists are getting better about that sort of thing. at least i hope!