Monday, January 11, 2010

And so it begins....

So, like so many other people, I've decided to start a blog. I do this mainly because I find myself more and more wanting to share my two cents with the world and a few lines in a FaceBook status update isn't enough. I'm hoping that at a least a few people will find what I have to say interesting enough to read, although I harbor no illusions about that.

In terms of what I'll be writing about here, it will basically be anything that I think is important enough or interesting enough to post. As anyone who has read my status updates on FaceBook knows, there will definitely be postings that have to do with politics. There will most likely also be some concerning religion. Of course, there will be plenty of other subjects too (at least, that's the plan), but because those two subjects WILL be part of what I post, I feel the need to say the following and why I will put a recommendation in the "About me" section telling people they should read this post before reading any others.

When it comes to politics, you could call me either a progressive or a liberal (which is not a dirty word, no matter how much those on the right try to make it so). I'm not a "bleeding heart". There are definitely people more liberal then me, but I do tend to lean to the left. That being said, I have no problem with hearing the opinions of those on the right and having intelligent discussions about topics. The key word here is "intelligent". If your comment on my post consists of you screaming about how Obama wasn't born in this country or if you want to parrot the lies on the right about how he doesn't ever use the word "terror" or "terrorists", something which anyone with an internet connection can disprove by going online and finding videos of his speeches(and, really, why would it matter even if he didn't ? Do you think the terrorists are going to hear it and say, "Uh oh, he's onto us, we better cool it !" ? Seriously, people !), in other words, if you're part of the lunatic fringe or you want to spew out a bunch of easily disprovable lies, then don't waste your time trying to post a comment, because it won't see the light of day. If, however, you want to have a reasonable discussion, I welcome your input.

As for religion, I'm an Agnostic. I think knowing all that we know about the way the world works that it seems highly unlikely that there is any Supreme Being watching over us and based on what we know about the human body, and more specifically the brain, having a soul seems highly unlikely as well. But, God isn't really a falsifiable concept and frankly, I don't like the idea of death being oblivion, so I try to keep an open mind. I don't have any problem with people who are religious. My wife, who means everything to me, is religious. My in-laws, who I love dearly, are as well. Where there will be a problem in terms of your comment being allowed on the blog is if you try to tell me that my opinion on something is wrong because the Bible (or the religious text of your choice) says so. First of all, this argument carries no weight with me and second of all, you're probably wrong about what it actually says anyway. Many self-professed Christians have never actually read the Bible. (For example, this past Christmas, I read and heard a number of people talking about "the reason for the season". There are two accounts of the birth of Jesus in the Bible, in Matthew and Luke. Neither one gives a date or even a time of year. The reason Christmas is celebrated on December 25th is because early Christians wanted to oppose the winter-solstice celebrations that people celebrated during those days. THAT'S the reason for the season). And if you're one of these people who believes that if you don't accept Christ as your personal savior then you're going to go to hell, who claims that their God is a loving God, and yet will say that this same God is willing to condemn billions of people to Hell, no matter what kind of life they lived or who they are in their heart of hearts, just because they don't believe in the divinity of Christ, if you're one of those people, not only do I suggest that you not waste your time posting a comment, I further suggest that you take a piece of one of the stained glass windows at your church and shove it where the sun doesn't shine.

If you've read all this and are so totally offended that you never want to read another post of mine, sorry that you feel that way (well, not totally). If not, great ! I want to update every day, but life may get in the way and, realistically, updating my blog has to be low on my list of priorities, but I am going to try. To be honest, how much I worry about updating it will depend on how many people there are who are looking for updates. If nobody is reading this, there isn't much reason for me to stress about updates. Hopefully, though, I will have reason to stress because at least a few people will read it , and if not enjoy it, at least get something out of it, even if the something they're getting is their dander up.

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