"Are atheists suffering from civil rights violations?"

I actually find this question pretty ironic considering that usually those attempting to achieve religious freedom are those who practice religion!  (Oh geez, Hilary Duff in my ears again...)

I find it also pretty surprising that there are so few atheists in politics. Not to insult heavily religious people or anything, but I feel like people who's morals come from religion tend to have more extreme views about politics as well. Politics and religions overlap a lot even though we pretend they don't. The best politician would have no bias, not just from religion but from other beliefs. So you'd think people without religion in their lives would not have to consider the effect of certain laws on their beliefs, and would therefore get more involved *without bias* from religion.

^^That's all hypothetical though. I wouldn't say that's based on any fact but just my experience. It's so messed up that atheists growing up in the "Bible Belt" feel oppressed by their lack of belief. (But then again, why would you choose to live their knowing fully well that atheism is socially unacceptable?) 

So on Monday we talked about government intervention in several religious issues--whether contraception should be insured, even for patients of Catholic organizations, and whether a business has a right to discriminate based on sexual preference. I feel pretty strongly about both these issues.

Pardon the rambling--with Hilary Duff blasting in my right ear I think my IQ was lowered a few points. This song reminds me so much of my childhood--!!! Augh! Okay sidetracking over.

Anyway I mostly don't understand why anyone would have an issue with subsidized contraception. If you don't want it, don't buy it! Just because one group of conservative Christians doesn't believe in it doesn't mean that no one should be allowed to benefit from it. Ultimately, contraception prevents people getting themselves into difficult situations, and why would we lose the chance to prevent pain and suffering? Silly people in suits! Sometimes I wonder if politicians just wear the suit and then watch Celebrity Apprentice all day instead of actually thinking. 

Okay I've been meaning to blog about this issue for a while! Although I have been known to shake my head at any mention of the end of the world occurring this year in December, I actually don't really think it's a bad thing to consider the apocolypse.

I think we all need some kind of reason to reorganize our priorities. And if not out of fear of the end of the world, then maybe out of fear of death. People have always been scared to death (haha) of what comes after we die--it's nothing new. Poets consider it, writers consider it, even our parents consider it because they write wills! And in considering the end we think about what really matters. 

So maybe the end of the world isn't such a bad thing. In theory. I mean, I wouldn't want the world ending, but maybe I want people to think it's ending...?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/world/middleeast/israel-faces-crisis-over-role-of-ultra-orthodox-in-society.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Can religious groups be a threat to a community? To a country? Maybe.

I really do have difficulty deciding who's in the right here, especially with the above article discussing the extreme measures some ultra-Orthodox Jews are taking to assert female subjugation. Blacking out billboards with women on them? Spitting on young girls dressed too immodestly for Jewish men's ideals? Yeah that's a bit crazy.  We've seen violence inspired by extreme interpretations of religion, and here we're seeing unfair treatment of women based on the same thing. Segregating women from men within their community is harsh enough--but in the modern world, ultra-Orthodox Jews can't expect everyone to conform to their ideals too! Sheesh. People get so worked up by religion.

So basically, women OBVIOUSLY deserve equal rights as men. Religions like Orthodox Judaism just complicates that. And different women probably feel differently about the issue, too--like in Islam, Jewish women dress to different degrees of modesty, following different "codes" of behavior. And no one can tell them what's right or wrong in religion. What can we do? Nothing really, except expect them to figure it out.

Is Islam a "religion of peace"? To be honest I think that's a stupid question.

You look at any media source--a newspaper, the tv, the internet--and radicals from almost any religion pop up here and there, blowing up this or shooting that or protesting something. To question Islam as a peaceful religion doesn't make sense unless you question other ancient religions. In the Acts of the Apostles, God condones violence by smiting people left and right! Violence everywhere.

Surely Islam has some violent roots, but don't many religions? Christianity stems from violence, as does Judaism because they share the Old Testament/Torah. But a book doesn't make a religion. A group of people do. Belief systems cannot be held responsible for violent acts committed by religious people because it is merely an extreme interpretation of their sacred book that creates reason for violence. It's not the religion, or the book--it's the interpretation. 

Islam is not any more "violent" or "peaceful" than any other religion. Radical Islamists who interpret their religion as motive for violence do not represent the majority or the religion.

Despite the contrasting ideas found in the Qur'an, I find that the stereotype of Islam woman strongly overwhelms the actual facts. When we first had the discussion of the hijab with Ms. Malik earlier in the year, I raised the notion that many women probably wear the veil out of choice, not obligation (despite the strong cultural influence to do so!). Some of the Islam "fashions" that we looked at were pretty startling, the burka in particular. So maybe we're justified for feeling "offended" that these women are wearing something we view as suppressive.

And yet, Islam women like Khadija and Tamanna brought to light my question--what about women who choose to wear traditional Islam garb, not as a symbol of suppression, but of reform?

Walking through these halls, I admit, I shake my head a little to myself when I see what some of the girls my age are wearing (or aren't wearing, for that matter!). So maybe it would make sense if we took a tip or two from Islam women and cared more about comfort over style, more about expression than conformity.

Do religious people handle suffering more effectively than non-religious?

You know this conversation really struck me as one with two very different sides to it. Firstly, that suffering acts as a reminder to people that they're human, acting as a penance dealt by whatever god they believe in. This kind of suffering helps "build character" and helps religious people find hope for deliverance from pain.

And then there's the other side, that suffering is, in essence, bad, and that all the suffering in the world doesn't make you a better person.

Religious people who handle suffering find a silver lining amongst all the bad, and I feel like a religious community is more intimate and supportive than a secular one, their common bond being faith. And it's this faith they hold on to when they suffer. And even if they are misguided in viewing their pain as a punishment, at least it gives a reason for it. When something bad happens, don't we always ask why? Maybe religious poeple can handle and thus overcome suffering more effectively because they have an explanation supported by a group of like-minded people.

I love having class interns. Generally they're actually a breath of fresh air. Last year when I took history (with a certain teacher I will not name...) I didn't learn ANYTHING until the student teacher came and taught us. I mean no offense to our AWESOME oakland mills teachers, but often I find the student teachers are just more cheerful and excited about teaching. Ms. Malik was always upbeat on Monday mornings when we were all pretty much dead...

From the warm up question: is love the solution to end hate?

Often, we like to think it is. If hate is returned to hate, isn't it only reciprocated? We tell ourselves then that we must treat hate with its opposite to cancel it out--love. But love is very rarely the opposite of hate. More often, it's the source of it. Because people love their religion, they choose to hate others'; because people love money and power, they hate people in their way or who have the things they think they want.

And in this unhate campaign, it's the love of certain beliefs that  instigate hate between parties: the belief that homosexuality is bad, the belief that one religion is better than another, or the belief that one nation can invade another freely. The campaign was criticizing the hate that happens between world leaders; but what did they prove, or solve, by angering those leaders and their supporters? In this scenario, this company is acting merely as a rabble-rouser, not proposing a solution. I think they tried to make a dramatic statement about overcoming prejudice, drawing parallels of love as the solution or opposite of hate. The opposite, or solution to hate is not a kiss on the cheek, but understanding and tolerance--something much harder to achieve than an emotion as fleeting and extreme as love.

Yes. I'm doing it. A second song post.

Today I chose "Roll Away Your Stone" by Mumford and Sons.

Roll away your stone, I’ll roll away mine
Together we can see what we will find
Don’t leave me alone at this time,
For I'm afraid of what I will discover inside

Cause you told me that I would find a hole,
Within the fragile substance of my soul
And I have filled this void with things unreal,
And all the while my character it steals

Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I see

It seems that all my bridges have been burned,
But you say that’s exactly how this grace thing works
It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart,
But the welcome I receive with the restart

Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I see
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I've seen

Stars hide your fires,
These here are my desires
And I won't give them up to you this time around
And so, I’ll be found with my stake stuck in this ground
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul

But you, you’ve gone too far this time
You have neither reason nor rhyme
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine