Hush.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nessrriinn#p/u/6/Ts55E_ajR8w

[youtube=425,350]Ts55E_ajR8w[/youtube]

My only comment:    

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Aww.

[Sibling DavidH]

I find that really moving. 

[Darlica]

  but good.

[Sibling DavidH]

Oh, yes, very good.  It touches me emotionally because we militant atheists generally march in aggressively, all guns blazing, with logic and reasoning.  This is quiet and emotional and personal, though strong - a very different approach.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Perhaps like:

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

If you like J.L.'s song, you may like this new offering by Nessrriinn

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nessrriinn#p/u/0/aDJblk0jgHA

[youtube=425,350]aDJblk0jgHA[/youtube]

[Ageis]

Touching yet sinister.
The suggestion that thought there may not be an all knowing god watching over us his followers are listening at the door to the nursery.

Hmm I don't think I have what it takes to be a militant atheist.
I'm more an apathetic atheist.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Touching yet sinister.
The suggestion that thought there may not be an all knowing god watching over us his followers are listening at the door to the nursery.

Hmm I don't think I have what it takes to be a militant atheist.
I'm more an apathetic atheist.

I understand-- I, myself, reject the term "atheist" as too confining.

The typical meaning of the word among the majority of people does not truly fit me, so I prefer the term "ex-believer" or "unbeliever" or even simply "skeptic" or "freethinker".   Too much emotional baggage associated even with "agnostic" and certainly with "atheist" for me.

But I've grown quite fond of Nessrrinn's poetry.  She calls herself an "ex-muslim" and I can relate to that quite well, at least the "ex- xxxxxx" part.

I sometimes wonder if all humans are not "ex- something". 

Perhaps we should concentrate on what we are moving towards, instead of what we are moving from.

Alas, if only society would let us.

[Ageis]

I knew a fellow once who told me that the term Heretic comes from an old Latin phrase meaning "Able to choose".
Whenever anyone asked about his religious leanings he would proudly announce he considered himself to be a heretic.
Which to his way of thinking was anyone who made up their own mind of the subject of God and who had private beliefs not codified and approved by some manner of reigious organistation.


I always liked that

[Aggie]

Sounds

Which to his way of thinking was anyone who made up their own mind of the subject of God and who had private beliefs not codified and approved by some manner of reigious organistation.

Sounds about right.

I'm starting to think of the major organized religions as simply ways to get God out to the largest number of people in the quickest amount of time, with as little training as required - sort of fast-food chain restaurants of the soul.  I still reckon that one is better off learning to cook than mindlessly ingesting mass-produced, globally homogeneous garbage.  Personally, I like to try my hand at all different sorts of food, but that doesn't mean that someone who's tastes are so inclined can't focus their attentions on perfecting the homemade hamburger.

[Ageis]

Would you like fries with your God?

Suddenly early career in the fast food industry can be viewed in a spiritual light. I wasn't standing at that deep fat fryer staring off into space I was in a deep medatative trance, at one with the universe.
Those two things can be easily confused.

[Aggie]

I wasn't standing at that deep fat fryer staring off into space I was in a deep medatative trance, at one with the universe.
Those two things can be easily confused.

Yes they can - there are quite a few people who get confused the other way around, too.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

LOL!  God is deep-fried fatty 'goodness'...

[Sibling DavidH]

LOL!  God is deep-fried fatty 'goodness'...

... and therefore very bad for you.

[Aggie]

LOL!  God is deep-fried fatty 'goodness'...

... and therefore very bad for you.

Anything in moderation, provided you are eating your vegetables.  IMHO, this quote from an interview with Michael Pollan quite applies here:

"Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself." That gets at a lot of our issues. I love French fries, and I also know if I ate French fries every day it would not be a good thing. One of our problems is that foods that are labor or money intensive have gotten very cheap and easy to procure. French fries are a great example. They are a tremendous pain to make. Wash the potatoes, fry potatoes, get rid of the oil, clean up the mess. If you made them yourself you'd have them about once a month, and that's probably about right. The fact that labor has been removed from special occasion food has made us treat it as everyday food. One way to curb that and still enjoy those foods is to make them. Try to make your own Twinkie. I don't even know if you can. I imagine it would be pretty difficult. How do you get the cream in there?

Taking the time and effort to actually get in touch with God enough to make properly authorized God-given proclamations would be quite enough to shut the yap of those who are prone to doing such things, methinks. 



On the flip side of that, food science has given us some very beneficial advances in food health and safety, but also some major setbacks in the actual healthiness of technologically-advanced processed food and in the safety of factory farmed food, both meats and produce.  I got sick from spinach last summer, fer cryin' out loud!

On both fronts, humankind had gotten hold of some important ideas that have the potential for positive personal impact, but the execution of said ideas has been horribly bungled in the execution (in the name of power and greed) such that these ideas are waved around to distract us while the end result takes its toll on a systemic level.

The trouble is, most folks have gotten so busy trying to keep up with the pace of life that they don't have the time nor inclination to sow the seeds, pull the weeds or slaughter the beasts anymore.  It's easier to hit that drive-thru or megachurch for your quick fix.

_{Hmm...  maybe the Catholics would do well to set up drive-thru confessional and communion lanes on their churches?} 


On a related note:

[youtube=425,350]m5kHx1itU8c[/youtube] & live version: [youtube=425,350]1wfamPW3Eaw[/youtube]

[Opsa]

I knew a fellow once who told me that the term Heretic comes from an old Latin phrase meaning "Able to choose".
Whenever anyone asked about his religious leanings he would proudly announce he considered himself to be a heretic.
Which to his way of thinking was anyone who made up their own mind of the subject of God and who had private beliefs not codified and approved by some manner of religious organization.


I always liked that

I totally love this, Aegis, and it suits me well too.

I was not enchanted by the "Hush" video, because it occurred to me that telling a child that there IS no god is really quite a lot like telling her that there IS a god. Let the kid make up her/his own mind. But I do realize that that is my UU upbringing talking, and possibly just as egocentric as anything else.

As for twinkies, please see my signature line.
Tom Waits IS God, by the way.
Then again, aren't we all?

[Aggie]

Tom Waits IS God, by the way.

He makes a damned fine Mr. Nick, too.

[Lindorm]

I was not enchanted by the "Hush" video, because it occurred to me that telling a child that there IS no god is really quite a lot like telling her that there IS a god. Let the kid make up her/his own mind. But I do realize that that is my UU upbringing talking, and possibly just as egocentric as anything else.

Hardly egocentric or uniquely Unitarian at all. I feel much the same way as you do. Which, by the way, is also one of the reasons I have a hard time stomaching the Dawkins/Randi/FSM crowd and their evangelical atheism. "Rah-rah, I just ran all over your dreams and hopes with hobnailed boots, but it was only for your own good, rah-rah", so to speak. If you preach tolerance and respect, maybe you also ought to practice it.

[Darlica]

I think it's a matter of interpretation.

In this context, the lullaby, I hear a mother trying, wanting, to protect her child from the not so nice sides of religion...
I guess I hear "there is no god above" as there is no god above (that have absolute power over your life).

I don't like Dawkins approach either but I don't get that vibe from this song.

[Aggie]

Agree with D (although I was not much taken by the video). It was the sense of protection from religious operatives (of the human kind) that seemed forefront to me, not the rejection of god.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I also read it as freedom from indoctrination. 

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I think it's a matter of interpretation.

In this context, the lullaby, I hear a mother trying, wanting, to protect her child from the not so nice sides of religion...
I guess I hear "there is no god above" as there is no god above (that have absolute power over your life).

I don't like Dawkins approach either but I don't get that vibe from this song.

(emphasis mine)

I agree with that, and that's what moved me when I first saw it:  it was a sad lament, with a spark of hope at the very end.

I also saw it as a mother's fierce determination to leave the world a better place for her child than when she was young-- or die trying.

[Opsa]

I would agree with that. I think that the idea of god is so completely open to interpretation that sometimes things get confused. I believe in the Spirit as the summation of everything, and is inside and outside of all of us. I do not, however, believe in an angry, giant superman who lives in the sky and wants to punish everyone who is not in any certain religious organization.

[Lindorm]

Perhaps I ought to make it clear that I was only referring to Opsanus' comment, not the film itself. For some reason, YouTube and my browser doesen't always agree, so I haven't been able to view the film myself.

I still think James Randi is annoying, though.