Simple Respect
[thoughts by ~Sha'Tara~ ]
It's a small thing, that which could actually bring peace to this world of man - a thing so simple that even a child could learn it and do it. It's called respect.
What is amazing is that this simple thing is taught in even the most bigoted schools, and by well-meaning teachers. Of course, they don't mean for the kids to actually respect all, but only those of their own kind; of their own belief. After all how can you teach children and students to respect, even tolerate, people who refuse to believe the truth; who think and do things that can only net them an eternity in hell? If these unbelievers refuse the truth, it means they choose to live a lie. By extension, this means that whatever they say, demonstrate or live by, has to be lies. "Surely you can't expect those of us who have the truth to respect lies: what sort of message would that give our children? The Bible tells us is to be intolerant of sin. How can anyone not believing correctly not be sinful? Sinners can only produce sin, how could it be otherwise since there is no forgiveness for them?"
And there you have it. Respect, a simple, clear-cut concept for interaction in inter-dependence, like love, becomes neutered and useless. Religious people are adepts at doing this with all the great concepts they claim as having originated with their god and which they claim to live by. Anyone can see that none of them live their great concepts, yet they talk about them ceaselessly, preach them and make a pretence of teaching them to their young. Predictably the resultant crop is a world filled with hypocrisy, for what else can you call something that claims to be a certain way and clearly is not? Unfortunately for them (and the rest of the world!) religious people live in their closed-minded Pleasantville's and all belong to their *Harper Valley PTA's, being "all of one mind" on what constitutes "the truth" leaving no one among them to point out the obvious: that it is their emperor who is naked.
I know from personal experience, having rejected religion as any legitimate path to becoming fully human, that I will never feel respected for my choices when interacting with religious people. I may have received "admiration" for efforts made on behalf of the needy but in every case I have been "reminded" that my desire to help the less fortunate was obviously motivated by *their* god.
Can anyone express more blatant disrespect than by voicing such a bigoted opinion? To use one of my favourite comparisons, let's say that I used a Toyota 4x4 to pull a car out of a water filled ditch, saving the lives of two people. Let's say that after the event, the people commenting to me on it all hate Toyotas for not being kosher, and only drive Ford trucks. Their comment would be, "You were successful because you really believed that your vehicle was a Ford at the time of the event. Thus you must give Ford the credit for having done what you did. It could not have happened otherwise; this is Ford country.
These benighted people manage to convince themselves that by giving their god credit for an unbelieving individual's charitable efforts, they are actually heaping praise on such a one! According to their myopic judgmental yardstick it is impossible for me to do good on my own, especially since I'm more than an ordinary sinner: I'm a transgendered heretic to boot. My "good" deeds can only be possible through god's grace. I guess I should be thankful that their god loves me that much. I wonder though, should these people regain the political power they had some three hundred or so years ago, if that would suffice to keep me from being burned alive at the stake?
Sadly, that is as it must be among believers. They cannot conceive that anyone who does not believe in their god, or who is not, puppet-like, manipulated by their god, could ever do anything good, let alone do something selfless just because it's the right thing to do. That is the main reason why I have turned completely against all religion, whether organized, as in Christianity, or "disorganized" as in New Age. I also reject the new and most dangerous kind now creeping into scientific circles, where "science" becomes the new by-word for "god" to dictate what one can or cannot think or do, based on brain research.
In my view, there is no greater "sin" than denying an individual the right to be just that: an individual with an individual mind who can use imagination; who can have any kind of thought; who can make personal choices based on the most basic of human rights to unimpeded free will.
To particularly deny anyone the right to make correct life choices without some divine or institutional jurisprudence is to deny that person her or his unalienable (or inalienable) right to life. By "correct life choices" I mean choosing to serve others without any agenda other than that called for by compassion, or unconditional love, if you will. This is in contradiction to any organization that survives by using those it serves to receive support for itself; for its bureaucracy and properties. This situation is greatly exacerbated among religious charitable organizations so-called, because the first order of business (after the $$$ donations of course) is proselytizing.
Where personal, individual choice is arbitrarily denied, that is where you find hell.
Unless Earthians learn to respect - without the need for laws and institutional enforcement or divine intervention - each other's beliefs, races, languages, bodies and properties, this species is doomed. Earthians have reached a final crossroads and must change direction as a species. The road it is on terminates at the edge of the proverbial cliff and they are the proverbial lemmings rushing to tumble over its edge.
*"Harper Valley PTA" is a song written by Tom T. Hall; a major international hit single for country singer Jeannie C. Riley in 1968. The message is about hypocrisy.
I especially liked the reference to what is kosher. We could use kosher to describe most of the idiosyncrasies like "thou shalt not eat pork, for it is unclean" or "we must eat only fish on Fridays" to name only two. My two articles on Hypocrisy and the Righteous Right nicely dovetail with this article.
For the very first time, you have some wording problems in the couple of places, and you used the possessive ('s) instead of plural for describing Harper Valley PTAs.
Ron
This piece was well written and well thought out. I could have wrote a very similar piece before I became on of those Christians you are talking about. However, I was much more rebellious and against religion than one can imagine. However, I was a good person so who the ?##!!!!! was going to tell me how to live my life. One problem though, I was not at all too happy or at peace with myself. Unlike many others that you mention, I don't think that following Christ is for everyone. For being a Christian these days you will face rejection, persecution, isolation, hate mongering and ridicule from many. So it is no great honor or glory in being a outright believer in Jesus Christ. Then again, there are too many borderline Christians who are just FULL of it. They have NO backbone whatsoever and have no business calling themselves Christians. All they do is piss off the public and other true believers. You see many of these fake believers on TV and on radio and about 80% of them I cannot stand to listen to. So I can fully understand and respect why you feel as you do. So that's about it. I myself am just a very happy man (deep inside) and it's because there are a very small inner core of believers who I can trust with my life. I never had that kind of trust before and it took many tough trials to find the right body of believers. So would I want to go back to my old ways. HELL NO!
For having inner peace and happiness in life is a lifetime achievement
that I would not trade for any amount of silver or gold. That's about it my friend. I do wish you all the best in the pursuit of your dreams.
Peace, Much Love and Blessings,
John Michael
Love ya!
Jane