Monicks: Unleashed

Tag: Beliefs

  • What I Believe

    What I Believe

    This entry was originally posted by my friend Joshua McGee (@mcgeesorg) at his website.  I am reposting it with his permission.

    What I Believe

    Regarding the shared bits of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, etc., here it is, in second person:

    I believe that your God was the favorite tribal deity of a polytheistic, nomadic, historically insignificant Bronze Age people living in North Africa and the Near East.  Through a bizarre historical accident, a tiny messianic doomsday cult of this people was adopted as the state religion of the most powerful empire on the planet, despite the utter failure of any of the doomsday prophecies to transpire in the allotted time.

    I believe your shared “testament” is a heterogeneous anthology of self-aggrandizing revisionist history, stolen legal codes, institutionalized bigotry, justifications for ethnic cleansing, “Just So” stories, the ravings of the mentally ill, census data, a sprinkling of common sense, and some truly beautiful poetry and children’s literature, all of which was rolled together and authorship attributed to a deity, which means to many of you that it has to be 100% factually accurate, even when it’s internally inconsistent or demonstrably wrong.

    I believe the premise and existence of the modern state of Israel is at least as bizarre as if my family declared ownership of the British Isles, invaded, subjugated the citizenry, imposed martial law, renamed the nation “Gondor”, and declared war on Western Europe.

    I believe that were we to argue theology, I’d argue to the point where we agreed that your god is undetectable, untestable, unpredictable, inelegant, unnecessary, paradoxical, and at least one of impotent, malicious, and completely incomprehensible, not to mention just plain weird, at which point I’d consider the topic not worth any further thought, you’d declare ineffability a feature rather than a bug, and I’d look at you as if you’d turned into a walrus in front of my eyes.

    I believe people who “sort of” believe in God, “don’t really think about it”, “guess they do”, or find it the path of least resistance, are pussies leading unexamined lives.

    I will, however, fight tooth and nail for your right to engage in your superstitions in your own home or normally-taxed buildings, or very quietly and personally in public.  I believe it is your right to live an unexamined life, in the same way that it is my right not to exercise, even though I know failing to will contribute to my early death.  I get it, kinda: we all have mental blocks.  I will even tolerate you indoctrinating your own children, although I really wish you wouldn’t, in the same way I wish Jews would stop mutilating the genitals of their male infants and Mexicans would stop piercing the ears of their female infants.

    So there.

    Related articles
  • The word God is for me…

    The word God is for me…

    ❝The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this. These subtilized interpretations are highly manifold according to their nature and have almost nothing to do with the original text. For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.❞

    — From a letter Albert Einstein wrote in January 1954 to philosopher Eric Gutkind.

    Related articles
  • Farewell, Christopher Hitchens.

    Farewell, Christopher Hitchens.

    Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011

    Do I fear death? No, I am not afraid of being dead because there’s nothing to be afraid of, I won’t know it. I fear dying, of dying I feel a sense of waste about it and I fear a sordid death, where I am incapacitated or imbecilic at the end which isn’t something to be afraid of, it’s something to be terrified of.

    It’s in times like this when, ironically, words just fail — it is so hard to convey some feelings. No, I was not so lucky to have met Mr. Hitchens in person, I cannot claim to know what kind of person he was, or how well he performed all of those roles each individual assumes throughout their life.

    But I did know him as a mentor, as a writer, as a delusion slayer, as an educator of the masses. I was so fortunate to have exchanged a few emails with him, such an inspiring human being.

    We knew him through his essays and books, his loudness, his brilliant rhetoric, his boldness, for his inspiring reasoning, and his amazingly blunt debate skills. He was such a pleasure to listen to.

    I remember a few months ago, he was asked in an interview, “so, you’re dying…”, He calmly smiled and said, “Yes, but so are you.” The only good thing about these announced deaths, is the opportunity we get to show the sick person how much we cherish, and appreciate them. I hope he sensed how much we treasured him and his work.

    He’s not resting in peace, he’s not in a better nor worse place, he simply is no more. Hence this feeling of irreparable loss.

    https://twitter.com/#!/Monicks/status/147557957360549888

    All that is left for us is to celebrate his time on earth, and be thankful for what he gave us, that hopefully will continue to enlighten future generations. This was a life worthy of a great celebration.

    Farewell, Hitch, you mighty warrior for rationality and reason, you! Thank you for your invaluable contribution to humanity’s enlightenment.

    This is not a tribute, I am not qualified to do that. I just needed closure.

    Related articles