Many people think I'm a fool. I will admit that I do some foolish things, some of which (like my goatee) I am considering changing. However, I have come to two conclusions that explain why this is so. First of all, most human beings are not logical, and so they are no more rational than I am to choose to believe in God. Secondly, many of the people if not all who mock my beliefs are not really sure of their own.
Back in graduate school, our plant research group used to get together for journal club and critique the research of others. I learned that just because people agree doesn't make it sound research or useful or even true. I remember very vividly how we became inquisitive and discussed both the methods as well as the results. Most of it was not research on which I would be willing to hang my hat. Yet, many people trust scientists. I try to teach my students to be skeptical of science; that's probably my 'angle'. Just because many scientists agree doesn't make it true, let alone useful.
Consensus is a bad way to arrive at truth. As I have said before, I am fairsure lots of folks went down to the Spanish coast to watch Columbus sail off the edge of the earth, only to have him return many months later claiming to have circumnavigated the globe. Far before his time, scientists had established that the earth was curved, but they were probably all burned as heretics.
Today however it is the believers who are the heretics. People have become so dependent on people that they believe people are the be-all and end-all of everything. How vain. Human life is very fragile, and if the universe wished it, we would all die instantaneously. See, no matter what they say, even they believe in a higher power- even if it's cosmic dust, the Force, or a personified diety.
This morning, I dealt with this. In addition to a comment left by a previous reader, I saw several attacks on matters of faith. After reading the comment, I could tell that she was writing from emotion; she had not addressed or refuted any of the article's points; she assumed because I am strong in my Faith that I will enforce it on everyone else. She doesn't know me very well. Contrariwise, the secretary's daughter reported events from one of her classes that show her professor actively engaged in an attempt to proselyte and convert his students to agree with him. In this online discussion post, he clearly demonstrated his bias while claiming the guise of objectivity. How much more subjective can you be than to say, "You go girl!" in response to a post?
Then there are all the leading assumptions. I am really far more aware of how frequently this is as well as how frequently I say similar things. They say that one person who has an 'imaginary friend' is delusional but that many constitute a religion. In saying so, they are assuming the imaginary friend really is imaginary. How is this any more foolish than to think that drinking beer will get lots of women to want to date you or using drugs to escape reality or that one day soon we won't need any oil? Frequently they are quick to unjustly ascribe positive traits to innocent Muslims while concurrently ascribing negative intentions to most Christians. Honestly, I get very sick of the duplicity.
No matter what they tell you, the President and his closest hangers-on are the ones who are most at war with what you like and believe. They use the same old arguments. They say that we glut ourselves on the labor of others, that we teach people to believe in something that never was or will be, and that we are misleading them to become great. They are the ones who glut themselves (how many vacations is appropriate in a recession anyway?), who teach people to believe in things that never were nor will be (can a solar panel power a diesel truck? how much algae do we need to make a gallon of fuel?) and who mislead people to become great (Obama promised them money 'from his stash'). Whatever a liberal says you are doing is what he's actually doing.
I really think this comes back to consequences and accountability. These people who argue for fairness and equality really want permissibility and allowance. Freedom is responsibility. They preach that whatsoever a man does is no crime, unless you're religious, prosperous, and white, as if I had any say in the circumstances of my birth. They are trying to say that you are a villain because you were born to be one by virtue of where you were born. Say what? That sounds a lot like they're trying to create a Miscreant Class of people. That's contrary to their claims of utopia and peace to keep attempting to balkanize us.
Despite all of this, I still believe in people. I still believe that it is common for the majority of people to desire what is right and good and true. I still believe that, if they know the options, the consequences, and the truth, people will choose what is actually best for them. Whereas many people are kept from the truth because they know not where to find it or because they are deceived by liars, I think they can and will do what is right when the time comes. At least, I'm counting on a specific fraction of them to do so when the time to choose comes. To that end, I will continue to speak and think as I do, because even if you disagree with me, if I get you to think then the effort was worthwhile. Also, I still believe in God. I have arrived at a land of promise by trusting Him, and so I shall continue so to do.
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