| The Meaning of "Secular" - 5/29/03,
2:30 p.m. I think I've always supported the separation of church and state. But since leaving my Christian roots for atheism, I've become much more passionate about it. I truly think that a secular government is fair to everyone. I've heard many Christians say that a secular government is the same as an atheistic government. Not so. One problem, I think, is that such people cling to a false dichotomy. An "either-or" idea that just isn't true. It's as if the Christians against secular government are using the tired old ploy "if you aren't with us, you're against us!" Sad, and wrong. A secular government is NEUTRAL on the subject of religion. It favors neither atheists nor theists. It stays out of the whole subject. Perhaps I can illustrate this with our currently-debated Pledge of Allegiance. I think that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals actually used similar reasoning (in part) to support their controversial decision. At least three versions (not just two) are possible. Theistic: "one nation, under God, indivisible" Secular: "one nation, indivisible" Atheistic: "one nation, under no gods, indivisible" Notice how the secular version is NEUTRAL on the subject of religion. It leaves people free to draw their own conclusions about religion without the influence of the government. It allows all of us to participate in our government and to be patriotic without sacrificing our conscience. Secular government isn't a win for atheists. It's a win for everyone except those who feel they need the government's help to push their religion on others. |
| Moving Madness - 4/1/03, 10:05 p.m. Did I mention we're moving? Ugh. Packing, changing utilities, driving that damned U-Haul, etc. etc. etc. Why the hell would we subject ourselves to this? My job. I'm really not getting along well with my job. <sigh> It's not that it's a bad job in any substantial way. And it's not that I can't do the job. Mostly, it's just that it doesn't agree with my temperment. More than that, it actually seems to be my career. If that's cryptic enough for you for now, maybe I'll go into it more in a future blog. Then there's Southeast Kansas. "The armpit of Kansas." That's what a State Trooper who had worked this area told us before we moved here. We really haven't liked it since we got here. It's economically depressed and ... well ... too close to Arkansas if you catch my drift. I probably shouldn't talk like this, but seriously ... a trip to Wal-Mart on any given Saturday quickly reminds you how many knuckle-draggers are lurking in the backwoods. So, we decided to move on. Where? After a lot of thought, "back home" seems to be a good choice. I could list a bunch of reasons why (we actually made a list of pros and cons), but I'll just throw out a couple of the biggest ones. We get back to the country, and Tommy gets to see his grandma, grandpa, aunt, and uncle a lot more. Yep, "back home" means very close to my family. My mom and dad are setting us up with five acres on a corner of their farm, and we're shopping for houses. Trailer houses. Aye, a trailer. I grew up in a trailer until age eight. Then later lived in one for a couple years in college. After that, I told myself I'd never live in one again. But ... poor people have poor ways so ... I'm eating my words. <sigh> And speaking of poor ... that's my greatest fear in all of this. This whole move is a leap into uncertainty, financially speaking. We expect our living expenses to decrease, but don't know exactly by how much. And who knows what job I'll find. It'll certainly be in a new career field. And almost surely will pay considerably less than I make now. Hopefully we'll make it work. If not ... we'll move on and try something else. Life will go on. For now, though ... there is a lot of work and a lot of logistical headaches. Getting a house, setting up and repairing the house, getting utilities to a piece of property that now has none, giving two-weeks notice at my job, giving 30-days notice to our landlord, packing, trucking, unpacking ... Moving. Ugh. Why are we doing this again? |
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A Blog Is Born - 4/1/03, 1:55 p.m
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Woo hoo! Here I am making my first blog entry. "Angelfire?" you ask. "I thought this was going to be at blogger.com," you say. Well, I got sick of waiting for blogger to correct the technical difficulties they were having. And I thought it would be cool to be able to add pictures without having to pay extra for it. So... Angelfire, here I am. Now... why a blog? Well, most of you reading this probably know, but... this has started as a group undertaking by a bunch of us in Atheism / Agnosticism Chat. I'll give nef credit for coming up with the idea. Whether that's good credit or bad credit, time will tell. ;-) Basically though, I'm hoping this will be a way for some of us to get to know each other better and help stimulate chat, too. You know... "I saw in your blog that you said x. What do you think about...". So, I'm looking forward to reading what everyone has to say. And we'll see what I can spout from my own little soapbox. |
