Why is it so hard to find intellegent people.

So the title of my blog now seems like I am quite the pedantic person. But really I hope I am not. However, on Monday and Tuesday of this week I found more people that made me sad and feared for the future of the world.
Monday was my birthday. It was great night, and the night ended with me having quite the annoying conversation with a co-worker at a bar in Fort Collins. This person is what i would like to refer to an angery athiest. He prides himself on not believing but alas has no belief or system for himself. He knew i believed in God and also worked with Sex offenders. (Side note: I used to feel like i needed to have other people KNOW what i believe, but I have finally realized that just asking questions really makes more sense.) So this person didn't believe in anything other than material things, and believed that Good and Evil are social constructs... *NOTE: HE WORKS WITH SEX OFFENDERS!!!* So, I asked him, if he then thought that the genoside in Rawanda was ok then because it was socially acceptiable by the majority of the people there at the time... He conceded that he had problems with this too.
Anyways, I could write a book about this but i won't. It was like talking to the athiest on the show 30 days (see post below). I have a good friend who is an athiest, but he is an ethical athiest and believes in Good and Evil. But then again he is an evolutionist, which has room for ethics, because consistant and healthy ethic is needed for the survival of a species. I just hope that most out there are more honnest and look to both the faith and reason of what they believe.

Also that is another thing that annoys me is that people that are not really honnest and dogmatic believe that faith and reason are mutually exclusive... But we all know that faith and reason work hand and hand... there still must be some sort of reason in faith, and reason (specifically scientific method) has faith that things will always happen the same in the same conditions.

Note too: I am a big believer in the scientific method and really believe that science and faith (read: religious philosophy) are not at odds.

Then on tuesday I had to sit on the "Multi-cultural competency comittee." This is one of the most offensive meetings i have ever been apart of. So i admit that i have beliefs and and I believe things to the exclusion of other's beliefs. However, all i ask is that i am afforded the same respect as other people. But alas, I was treated to such comments as "When i hear things quoted out of the bible I just feel sick to my stomach, and i don't feel that way about people reading from the Koran." or "Those fundelmentalists are so stupid. how do i conduct a group and change their thinking." and lets not forget the culture of politics "George Bush is a facist"

Yeah, so if it is a competency comitee then why are we trying to change the belifes of our clients? Why are we call teh religious belifes of our clients dumb? Why is George Bush being talked about in the "Cultural" meeting. That's freakin' politics.

So here is the side note: As a therapist, i don't believe it is my job to change people's mind, but help them make informed decsions based on their beliefs. If their beliefs change then so be it. However, unless they are my forensic clients, i am not there to challenge their belifs. Also, I am a politically moderate Christian. I am not a fan of George W. and his social policies, but that has nothing to do with me being a good therapist. And finally, why is that it is hip and cool to dig a misogynistic reading of the Koran, but then berate a misoginistic interpretation of the Bible and not even look at what was the meaning in the original Greek. Also, the ignorance about Esther, Ruth, Debrorah, Mary, Mary Magdiline, Pricilla ect... and all the amazing women in the Bible just makes me cry...


I wonder how long until i get kicked off of this comittee...

But hey, it was a great week, and I finally feel like i helped someone today. horray.

Birthday

So this is kinda self-serving, but for the three people that actually read this... Hey it's my birthday. And to wish me birthday cheers. I am posting this picture. Why? Well because i can.

"That is Enough" -Samuel L. Jackson

So yes, i feel into the wonderful world of marketing and saw "Snakes on a Plane." And yes it was really good. Bethany, if it plays in Taiwan you should see it, since you love that cheesey horror movie stuff. But really it was good.

Oh yeah, also I saw the B-52's and Nickle Creek this weekend. How crazy is that. I love the new west fest...

Also, i think my dogs are gay... They were spooning the other week, and I think i caught them kissing. Weird I know, but it really didn't look like playing to me. It was kinda of weird in a Brokeback Mountain sort of way. They were wrestling and play biting, then they had their tounges in each other's mouth... Oh yeah, and Ang Lee and Annie Prolux were over for Breakfast at the time.

Very Strange indeed.

30 Days and why i cry in a small ball under my desk

I just finished watching an episode of 30 days from the FX channel. Granted i don't have cable and bought an episode off of Itunes. Anyways, the theme of the series is having someone live 30 days in an awkward situation. This episode was an athiest living in a conservative Christian household in Texas... and really this whole show made me sad... Why? Well it was all stereotypes on all sides.
1. Apparently, all Christians love the whole "war" metaphor that plagues the church and validates a horrific pro-war stance in the first world.
2. Athiests are all shrill and smug psudeo-intellectuals that only believe in not believing... Yeah so they just don't believe and that's cool, and they don't really need to explain why they have ethics and such, they just feel good so that is good.
3. The major crisis of faith is in the suburbs with people that have everything.

OK, so i didn't really explain it too well. The show had an athiest mother from Lawrence Ka move into a home with conservative christians (yes i know i didn't capatilze that) from Texas. So both of these families are more well off than i ever will be and more well off than 99% of people in world. Again a false dichotomy. It is easy to believe in anything as long as it is validated by wealth.
So the athiest never clarified where she got her ethic, and why she believed what she believed. She seemed to just hold to the shrill and smug belief that she had arrived and the CHristians had not.
The Christians made more infuriated. They kept saying things such as " well how to make ethically judgments without doctrine." And other stock, and useless arguments for people that only belive in humanism... Did the Christians miss the part about all humans being created in God's image... hmmm... maybe a universial ethic may be part of that.
Anyways, the most profound part was a clip about a church service the athiest attended. It was wrought with North American CHristian Cliche. It was about how you just have to experience the love of Christ and then really FEEL it, and then you will know..." When did the US Church move away from rationality and exigesis. Never once did I hear good exegisis or anything that didn't just appeal to a halmark feeling of God. No wonder people think Christians are dumb... We lost are edge by preaching to those who already believe and not ever challenging the cultural dogma we ingest every day. UGH! It makes me so frustrated...

So, why couldn't FX have the comfortable athiest go live with people like Tony Campolo in NJ, or my friend in Rawanda trying to build schools, or the people who give up wealth to work at the Union Gospel Mission in Downtown Vancouver? Or even me, who is frustrated with complaciency and the idolitry that I see in our North American Christendom? Why must I have to fight against this crate n' barrel, and Gap Christianity that I see everywhere and struggle to find an honnest and sacrificing group that I long for.

Have a good night Friends.

I am such a nerd

So alas, i love riding the coat tails of being cited by publications that i read... So i find it way cool that I got two letters posted in the latest edition of clicked. It is a blog on MSNBC that has other links to random news articles and odd stuff on the internet. Anyways, my two letters got published near the end of of the blog today. One, about the photographer Kevin Carter and the book house of leaves, (Yes Bethany, it's the scary one with the magically appearing hallway), and the other is about the crazy Chineese model found on google earth. Horray, this is just like when my comic heroes made fun of me the other week.

Here is the link to clicked website: Clicked