Family Ties
ne thing religious people cannot stress enough is that they're all about family. Their organizations even have names like Focus on the Family and the American Family Association (branded a hate group out of MS). For the most part I find this to be true so long as everyone's keeping the faith and maintaining the status quo. I can say from my upbringing (aside from corporal punishment and having no say in church attendance) that our Christian family was very tight-knit and we spent a lot of quality time together. It wasn't perfect, but it was far better than a lot of other families I've seen. Now, to clarify, some of these not-so-happy families I've seen are religious as well so it's not as though they have a corner on the market. I'm just speaking to the Christian view that family is important.
As I said, religious families are close-knit and happy so long as everyone's keeping the faith. They don't say, "The family that prays together stays together" for no reason. It's literally true. I found this out myself when I started to upset the status quo of my family and I was made to feel like an outcast. My family's treatment of me was mild compared to what some people endure at the hands of their religious parents, grandparents, and siblings.
Dear Catholic League
JT Eberhard recently posted a story about an "Adopt-an-Atheist" program proposed by Bill Donohue of the Catholic League. I, like many others, think this is a great idea! I'd love to have the Catholic Church send a few unsuspecting saps my way to try to justify the behavior and beliefs of the Catholic Church, its clergy, and the whole of Christianity. If you're an atheist and you want to be adopted by the Catholic Church, you can fill out this contact form and let them know.
Seriously, Bring It!
Here's my invitation:
Dear sirs,
I recently got wind of the "Adopt-an-Atheist" program proposed by Bill Donohue and want to congratulate you on such a wonderful idea! As an atheist activist myself, I'd like to let you know that I'm effectively orphaned from gods and as such up for adoption. Since no gods have contacted me as yet, I avail myself to humans to rescue me from my spiritual broken home and make me feel wanted again.
You see, I've personally been guilty of anti-Catholic bias. More accurately, I'm biased against all untestable, unfalsifiable claims to the supernatural and the people in leadership positions who exploit the gullibility of other human beings. It's not just Catholicism, if you want to know the truth. It's all forms of manipulation, greed, abuse, oppression, ignorance, violence, intolerance, and bigotry. It's a bias against people who enable others to harm children by looking the other way. It's a bias against those who avoid responsibility for their actions by claiming that a cosmic "good guy" forgives them unconditionally so long as they apologize telepathically. I'm most certainly biased and I think the only way for you to show me the light is to adopt me and put some real time and effort into helping me see exactly why all of this is OK. You certainly have your work cut out for you.
I suppose the worst that could happen is that I talk some sense into whomever you send my way and you lose a tither. In that case, you shouldn't look at it so much as the Church losing money but as the world gaining one more rational, responsible, compassionate human being. I said before that your idea is wonderful and I mean it. Send us some Catholics! We love the challenge.
You can reach me any time at jon(at)willisweb(dot)com or via my contact form on The Wayward Willis, http://willisweb.com.
Yours truly,
Jon
If they get back to me (their contact form says they have a high volume of requests so they may not answer all e-mails), I'll most certainly be posting up the results here. I doubt anything will come of this because the religious community seems to be all talk and no action but you'll hear it here first. Stay tuned!
Inferiority Complex
hen you grow up in Christianity, one thing is made very clear to you over and over: you are a horrible sinner and deserve to burn in Hell forever. This sentiment rears its head pretty early on, as soon as you're able to understand and repeat the name "Jesus." The adults begin to prime you for the doctrine of salvation through grace. In order to do this, you must first accept that you are undeserving of anything but the worst punishment imaginable. Just to clarify, this punishment can be presented in a number of ways. My family subscribed to the "lake of unquenchable fire, eternal torment and darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth" doctrine. Other sects of Christianity view Hell as simply the complete lack of the presence of god. Still others view Hell as obliteration (which, Heaven aside, aligns quite nicely with the atheistic view that once you die you simply cease to exist).
"Please, just a single drop of water!"
Spare the Rod
s I said before, I don't remember much about my childhood. My earliest memory was my acceptance of Jesus into my heart and then nothing until about 10 years old. It's been suggested by more than one therapist that I've repressed those years because of abuse but I have no real reason to believe that's the case. Although, corporal punishment in my family was applied (pardon the pun) religiously.
This will hurt me more than it will hurt you.
I and my siblings were spanked with hands, belts, rulers and wooden spoons. I had a wooden spoon broken over my tush -- an occurrence over which my mom had voiced much lasting remorse. As long as I can remember, spanking was nearly the first line of correction and it wasn't until later in life that punishments like grounding were implemented. My dad always told me, "You're never too old for a spanking."
Jon Willis
"Yes, I've read the Bible; it's why I'm an atheist."
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