I’ve been remiss…

I apologize to all the dear people who have responded to my blog, to whom I have not responded! I’ve found it wonderfully difficult to keep up with all the responses I receive through my YouTube channel ( http://www.youtube.com/user/ReligiousFiction ), and I let this blog slip through the cracks. I feel a little like a parent who’s just realized that she favors one child over the other, at least in actions. Although I recognize the power of multimedia, I hadn’t realized (because it took a long time to get much response from other bloggers) that the written word can have just as much impact.

Thank you, thank you for staying with me. Even if you don’t agree with me. Even if you’ve felt neglected. Thanks. As always, I am grateful.

Haiti, YouTube, Ideas and Dreams

I think YouTube is a powerful wave of the present – a means of communicating and sharing information, opinions, images and sounds which is almost incredible in its scope. I’m not yet 30, but I’ve seen the invention of the internet, video websites, laptops, cell phones, camera phones, iPhones, and snuggies. Ok, the last one was a joke (although I do own a knock-off snuggie, thanks to my family’s Christmas giving binge). I admit, I like my pseudo-snuggie… but these other inventions are indisputably amazing!

I’ve been fairly active on YouTube since posting my challenge video (“Atheists: Why Live?”), though I’m not busy posting new videos. I’ve been taking time to invite people to respond, and the responses I’ve received are inspirational. I have a vision that any theist looking to smugly ask the question, and also any person who in desperation asks the all-knowing internet gods (aka search engines) “why live?” will have a cascade of answers at his or her fingertips.

But when I happened to check my “channel comments,” a place where other YouTube users can post comments your channel page (http://www.youtube.com/user/ReligiousFiction), user LoveMattersMost had written (among other nice compliments):

You are obviously a smart, thinking person..so I am surprised you would have a website devoted to Theism/Atheism/Agnosticism, etc.- Isn’t that inviting a lot of hostility on yourself from all the crazies?

Remember the three don’ts of polite discussions:
1) Don’t discuss Politics.
2) Don’t discuss Relationships.
3) Don’t discuss Religion.

Why not avoid all the grief and dedicate your website towards cultivating and breeding Roses, etc. ? ; )

In my response, I enumerated:

1. I don’t follow social taboos simply because they’re commonly accepted; I think we should question them. I don’t think talking about religion should be taboo.

2. I live in an area where the word ‘atheist’ is a terrible cut-down, and I’m trying to get the message out that it’s not a terrible thing at all. Quite the opposite, really.

3. I have other aims and desires for future channels, but for now it’s important to me to discuss how wonderful life is, with or without belief in a deity, deities, or supernatural entities.

I think the reason I wanted to share this with you is the first independent clause in #3 above. After 10 years of percolation, study, frustration, emotional peaks and plateaus, self esteem battles, and non-stop dreaming, I have hit upon a goal I can pursue for the rest of my life. At least, it’s the morning after my brainstorm, and I don’t feel any different than I did yesterday. Just more determined, and a little more nervous about creating my own schedule and being disciplined in the pursuit of my goals. Other dreams and goals have been fleeting and effervescent in their effects. And this dream involves YouTube and disseminating ideas on a grand scale.

But that’s only a small part of my dream. I want to be another Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Eugenie Scott, Natalie Angier. Another Julia Sweeney, PotHoler54. Ideas, memes, are the new genes, and I want to improve humans’ meme pool on a scale larger than I’ve yet dreamed. I’ll probably write more about my plans, but not today. Not publicly. These plans are just germinating, and are precious to me. I want to make sure they can weather storms before I plant them outside (she wrote while looking at the two hibiscus plants she planted last year from seed).

I’ve made contact with several other bloggers lately, and I also find them inspirational. Angie The Anti Theist (http://angietheantitheist.blogspot.com), Edward Tarte (http://edwardtarte.blogspot.com), Pharyngula, and two of my friends who are pastors all write well and have opinions, stories, and interests that get me thinking. So I’m grateful to them.

You may notice that I haven’t mentioned Haiti at all. How can someone who calls herself a humanist not be paying attention to Haiti? I am paying attention. My husband came home one night from what was supposed to be a fun evening, but he looked so sad the first thing I said to him was a breathless, “What’s wrong?” It was the news about Haiti. We sat and watched the news together for over an hour after that. Orphans. Injuries. Bodies. Stench. Suspicion. Starvation.

My husband pointed out that most of our Christmas money had gone to Haiti (through Alternative Gifts International at http://www.altgifts.org). We tried to help with Haitians’ education, their terrible environmental situation, tried to alleviate some of their suffering. Where was that money now? Did it even make it to the people of Haiti? How could it help them in this disaster?

I was reminded that a disaster like this, on a much grander scale but much farther away, got me thinking differently about my (then) Christian doctrines. The tsunami in Eastern Asia. When was that? Four years ago? I haven’ t looked up the dates in years. The devastation is already of mythic proportions in my mind. And I suddenly had to face a question that loomed like a mountain, casting a shadow upon my sunny life: Did God create all things?

It doesn’t take an overly-developed understanding of cause and effect to follow events in “creation” back to a “creator.” I struggled for weeks, and finally came to the conclusion that if nature was the primary path to understanding God, then god was amoral. You can read my evolution here (http://www.crossandflame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15038).

I hate to give evidence that supports any fundies out there, but it’s true – once I made a few concessions in doctrine, the others seemed to follow naturally. Ha. Literally, naturally. I’m now a philosophical naturalist, and I never thought I would be. Not in all those years of reading the bible, praying, singing, volunteering, sharing the gospel, and dreaming about a heaven so gorgeous and fun it made my eyes water with joy.

Well, I’ve given up my visions of heaven, and what I’ve gained is a heaven now. Which I’m making.

Why Live?

I aimed the question at theists, because it was  a theist who posed the question to me.  I realize that asking “why live” of someone who has different beliefs is usually a rhetorical device, albeit not a good one. However, I think the question is bandied about enough that a sincere answer is merited.

Here is how I shared the question with the youtube community:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RUMUBWEU9A

And here is how I responded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb5NOxobmmk

Be sure to check out the other responses by following this link to youtube ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RUMUBWEU9A ) and clicking on any of the responders’ videos.

What do you think?

Christmas Quizzes

Tis the season… to review how your fellow humans celebrate, and why. I am a secular human, but I grew up Christian. I still joyfully celebrate the best that the holidays have to offer: family, friends, fun, and food. However, I wonder how many fervent Christians are aware what their scriptures say about Jesus’ birth and the surrounding events. I created a few quizzes to find out. See what you think, and how you do.

First Advice to the World

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.

Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.

But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

~ Attributed to the Buddha

I didn’t think I’d open my first blog with a quote from a religious figure. Yet as a human, I’m free to gain wisdom from any fellow human – and how I gain wisdom is by following the very process illuminated by these ancient words.

Imagine how different the world would be – how sane, how humane, how peaceful it could be – how much more comfortable thinking people would be bringing another human into it, or leaving their loved ones behind in it – if more people followed this advice.

Not out of dogged deference to a person who has become the symbol of a religious movement. Not out of feelings of guilt or superiority or indebtedness to tradition.

What if the people of the world engaged in the process of critical thinking, joyfully aware that it is their choice to do so, and aware that by doing so they enhance their own lives, the lives of other humans, the lives of all beings on earth, and the lives of future beings in our cosmos?

This is why I strive to share a cosmic perspective with my fellow humans. They, in turn, will help other humans, other animals, plants, and future people of the world. If I can be a tiny part of this legacy, so be it. To that sentiment, I could say “amen”.