Agnostics Thinking...

Agnostic Thinking...

This is the title of my New Blog - Dedicated just to Agnostic/Atheism, Rational Thinking, Gay Subculture  And Related Topics.  You can access my new blog by clicking on the above link or going to the following blog address...

http://www.AgnosticThinking.blogspot.com/   

I have moved over to that blog address all of the relevant posts from this blog  Just Thinking...  as well as some new posts I've recently created.  When appropriate, some posts will appear on both blogs.  But only the aforementioned topics will appear on the new blog.  This will hopefully appease my friends in the Atheist/Agnostic community who have been critical of the many political tangents and the variety of topics I tend to go on about here. 

This Blog, My Main and Original Blog Just Thinking  will continue and will always be available Here at this address http://www.eddieoreilly.blogspot.com/  Please feel free to visit and comment on both.


Just Thinking

Please feel free to comment below, ( just click on the word comment if the panel is not open). Or you can e-mail me direct at eddieoreilly@hotmail.com and your comment will be posted.

"Letting Go of God"

Julia Sweeney's "Letting Go of God" airs this month on Showtime.

Perhaps best known for her performances on Saturday Night Live (1990-1994) Julia Sweeney is a successful American Actress, Comedian and Author. Here she chronicles her journey of faith from a lapsed Catholic recommitting to the church, to Buddhist, to New Age Mystic, and finally agnostic/atheist whose philosophical transformation upsets her family and friends. This is a lighthearted (sometimes hysterical) look at a very serious subject. It's a fascinating and extremely entertaining one-woman stage show that follows up her critically acclaimed "God said Ha".
The remaining December schedule includes...

On Showtime Showcase: Thursday, December 10 at 7:55 AM Eastern.
and also at 8 PM Eastern that same night.

On regular Showtime: Saturday, December 12 at 10 AM Eastern.
and again on Wednesday, December 16 at 10:15 AM Eastern.

On Showtime 2: Thursday, December 17 at 1:40 PM.

If you're unable to catch it on Showtime may I strongly suggest you rent or buy the video. This show gives new meaning to the words "Must See".

Here's a 17 minute excerpt...



Please feel free to comment and thanks for reading.

Religious Absurdities

When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an animal cruality ordinance for the City of Hialeah Florida, in 1993, Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah , the Court legalized the practice of Animal Sacrifice for religious purposes.

The Afro-Cuban/Caribbean religion known as Santeria, who was the Plaintiff in the case, rejoiced as animal rights activists despaired.

Contemporary mainstream Religions (Catholics, Christians, Jews and the like) renounced the Court's decision, lest they risk being associated with such barbaric practices. The fact is though, ever since animal sacrifices (for religious purposes) were made legal some 16 years ago, more and more mainstream religious sects have been returning to there ancient rituals.

Here we have Rabbi Shea Hecht from a synagogue in Queens, N.Y., who demonstrates to an NPR news reporter how to swing a chicken.

"You take it by the wing," explains the Rabbi "You put one wing over the other wing. See? And you swing it over your head like this."


Hecht holds the bird, waves it three times above his head, and says the prayer of Kapparot aka Kapparos, depending on heritage.

He prays that his sins will be transferred to the bird and he will escape the divine punishment that he deserves. The prayer is centuries old, and countless Orthodox Jews recite it every year in the days before Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement.

Hecht says waving the chicken isn't the point of this ritual. "The main part of the service," he says, "is handing the chicken to the slaughterer and watching the chicken being slaughtered. Because that is where you have an emotional moment, where you say, (preferably in a New York, Jackie Mason style dialect) 'Oops, you know what? That could have been me'."

While the hands of the authorities may be tied when it comes to religious sacrifice, New York City has given fines for leaving public places a mess and looking like a slaughterhouse, with blood and dead chickens all over the place.


You see the sacrifice of animals is nothing new. It's occurred throughout history in nearly every religion and every culture around the world. From Europe to Africa, from Asia to the Americas.

Most sacrifices were performed to appease angry Gods or to ensure prosperity. Sacrifices were also used to predict the future and of course to wash away sins.

The whole concept is very much supported by "The Holy Book of Hear Say" (a/k/a The Bible). Some of you might be familiar with the story of "Legions". It seems there was this man who lived near a cemetery and as a result had "Legions" of Evil Demons possessing him. God cast out the demons into a nearby herd of pigs. Those pigs, wild with demons, ran off a cliff and killed themselves therefore shedding blood and resolving the man of his sins.

This is very much the same way that Christians believe it was necessary for Jesus to die and shed his blood for their sins to be resolved.

Just Thinking...

Please feel free to comment below or email me direct at eddieoreilly@hotmail.com and your comment will be posted.

Thanks for reading!

Thomas Jefferson Quotes...

I recently received one of those viral e-mails.

This particular e-mail, by using selective quotes, tried to imply that if Thomas Jefferson were alive today, he would be aligned with contemporary neocons and right-wing fundamentalist christian conservatives. Needless to say, I couldn't help but respond.

So, I thought I would share that response, as a new blog post...

Hi,

While I admit to being surprised, I am also pleased that you sent me this e-mail featuring quotes by Thomas Jefferson. A man whose scholarly intellect I have long admired. Even if some of his best ideas may have come from the Magna Carta circa 1215, he and his colleagues showed the wisdom to adopt and embrace them.

Which is not to say that I'm completely on board with all of his thoughts, teachings and philosophies, but I do have a great deal of respect for the man.

I was especially happy to see one of my favorite quotes...

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on, would save one-half the wars of the world." -- Thomas Jefferson

I remember reflecting on the wisdom of that quote when George W. Bush led us into two wars and yet insisted on lowering taxes not once, not twice, but three times. The only President in the history of our Republic to lower taxes while committing us to war. The consequence of which was to spend the entire budget surplus he inherited and turn it into a massive new deficit.

Yet Republicans still claim, with a straight face no less, to be Fiscally Conservative.

The fact is, true health care reform, with a public option, could be paid for a few times over with

what we spend on unnecessary wars.

The irony of this, of course, escapes them. (much like Bin Laden did)

It seems to me, the choice is clear...

Health Care or Warfare,

The Common Good or The Common Destruction?

Anyway, I digress. (as usual)

So back to Jefferson.

As anyone who has ever read the Jefferson version of the Bible, or "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" as it is formally titled can tell you, Jefferson was a bit of an agnostic, if not an atheist, as well as a pacifist. Jefferson believed Christ to be a peace loving man, and a wise & moral teacher. He saw no evidence however to support the notion, that Jesus was the son of God.

Now, please permit me to share some of my favorite Jefferson quotes.

Thomas Jefferson on war...

"I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Conquest and or war with other nations is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government." -- Thomas Jefferson

"If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest." -- Thomas Jefferson

"I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The most successful war seldom pays for its losses." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force." -- Thomas Jefferson

"War as an instrument, is entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses." -- Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson on poverty and the distribution of wealth...

"Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor." -- Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson on God, religion and such...

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, 'if there be one', he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion and question the existence of a God." -- Thomas Jefferson

"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition ,Christianity, one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded on fables and mythology." --Thomas Jefferson

"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God." -- Thomas Jefferson

"In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty." -- Thomas Jefferson

"If God is just, I tremble for my country." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced 1 inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half of the world fools and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and terror all over the earth." -- Thomas Jefferson

"I'm for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one religion over another." -- Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson on books and reading...

"I cannot live without books." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital." -- Thomas Jefferson

This - as opposed to George W. Bush who once famously said "I don't really like books, I guess that's because I hate reading".

Thomas Jefferson on the censorship of books... (Sarah Palin, please take note)

"I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too." -- Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson on big corporations...

"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country." -- Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson on hate, intolerance, individual freedoms, homosexuality, and what we now call alternative lifestyles...

"I never will, by any act, word or deed bow to the religious shrine of intolerance." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Taste cannot be controlled by law. We must resist at all costs any attempt to regulate our individual freedoms and to legislate our personal moralities." -- Thomas Jefferson

And, of course, then there's this...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." -- Thomas Jefferson

It's perhaps worth noting , I have installed "Quote of the Day" gadgets on my Google home page.

So that every day I'm greeted with quotes from, among others, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein.

I also, as you may have noticed, have installed an "Atheist Quote of The Day" gadget on this blog page.

What fascinates me is how often The quote here is from, among others, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein.

Just Thinking...

Please feel free to comment below or email me direct at eddieoreilly@hotmail.com and your comment will be posted.

Hate, in The Name of God!

The President speaks to children and says work hard and stay in school.

So this is controversial, what's the next controversy - the golden rule?

Apparently so, for weeks now Pastor Steven L. Anderson of the "Faithful Word Baptist Church", in Phoenix Arizona has been leading his congregation in prayer. Each Sunday they pray for the death of President Obama. As he explained to CNN he doesn't really care how the president dies, it could be of natural causes or however the Lord sees fit. "Read your Bible", he commands "The Lord is a Vengeful God".

A week or so ago Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) told a town hall meeting that the GOP still needs to find a "GREAT WHITE HOPE". ( Seriously, she really said that!)

"Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope," said Jenkins. "I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington." As examples, Jenkins mentioned Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Then of course we have, "The Birthers" a thriving birth obsessed fringe of very "White" mostly Fundamentalist Christian Psychos who still insist that Obama is not an American Citizen. Even though Courts across the land including the Supreme Court of the United States have repeatedly, summarily and unanimously rejected the movement's theory.

There can be no denying it, these people are Hateful Racist Bigots who are desperately seeking a way to get the "Black Man" out of the "White House".

So is it any wonder that when all else fails, they will gather in their White Anglo Christian Church's and pray to a Non-Anglo Semitic Jew Named Jesus, that The President Should Die!!!

And people ask me why I'm not religious.

 - Just Thinking...


Please feel free to comment below or email me direct at eddieoreilly@hotmail.com and your comment will be posted.

Thanks for reading!

"Religulous"

Religulous, Now on DVD - Think about the word Religion and it's synonym Ridiculous and you'll completely understand why I really liked this movie!

Written by and Starring the ever controversial and outspoken comedian Bill Maher and Directed by Larry Charles of "Borat" fame, Religulous takes us 'round the world exposing the absurdities, peculiarities and ridiculous foolishness that is organized religion.

Now granted, some of these are really easy targets, like the Creationist Museum in Hebron Kentucky where they believe and teach that the earth is only about 5,000 years old and that man actually coexisted with dinosaurs.

He also shows us a scene from a 2008 Republican Presidential Debate where a majority of the panel expresses a belief in Creationism. (Yeah just what I want, one of those guys with their finger on the button.)

Maher further skewers the absurd ludicrousness of Scientology and the equally ludicrous and racist teachings of the Mormons. Yes, easy targets all, but he also goes on to expose the superstitious underbelly of mainstream religions as well. Including but not limited to, Catholics, Muslims and Jews.

As an Atheist, I naturally found all of this to be very gratifying but at the same time, somehow sadly insufficient. That was until the closing monologue where Bill Maher explains why religion is not only holding us back but actually endangering the future of all mankind and the planet we live on. It's at this point where the movie becomes more than just a clever, witty and satirical expose but rather a meaningful documentary with serious food for thought.

The DVD with it's extra features, additional monologues, deleted scenes and commentaries continues this enlightening theme. It turns what was an acceptably good theater going experience into a masterpiece at home.

3 and 1/2 stars for the movie as seen in theaters.

5 Awesome Stars for the Complete DVD. By all means rent it or perhaps even buy it. This is a film you can watch repeatedly and still discover something new each time.

   Just Thinking


For a preview of "Religulous" click on link...
www.lionsgate.com/religulous

Please feel free to comment below. Anyone can comment. You Can even do so anonymously, if you like. If the comment panel is not visible below, just click on the word comments (In Blue). Thanks for reading!

My First Holy Communion!

I was having one of those "Religion" Vs. "Reason" discussions on line the other day. When, this Frustrated, Sacrosanct "Theist" finally ran out of Rational Defenses for his Superstitious Beliefs, he came up with the following...

"You know what? - The only reason you're an Atheist, is because you're a Gay."

Needless to say, not all gays are Atheists. In fact there's a multitude of Gay Religious Groups, Churches, Synagogues, Temples even Mosques, (on the DL of course) but his statement did get me to thinking.

Even though I was raised in the Catholic Church, Parochial Schools and all, was it easier for me to resist Indoctrination because I was Gay? You see I always knew I was gay from my earliest recollections (about age 3). I always thought boys were cuter and more interesting than girls. Except, of course, when girls were talking about boys, that - I must admit, could be pretty interesting too. I didn't like sports much as a kid, but Barbie's Dream House always fascinated me a bit. Now granted, at age three I didn't know what it was called, but let's just say I knew I was different.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I was a big Swish or anything. I knew how to "Pass". Growing up in The Bronx, going to Catholic School, and dealing with Nuns, Brothers and Priests everyday, I kind of had to. After all, we all know how Straight the Clergy is. Right? Well at least so I thought at the time.

I not only had to "Pass" as Straight growing up, but I had to "Pass" as a Catholic as well. You know, pretend like I actually Believed all this crap they were teaching me. Trust me, it wasn't always easy. You see, I was a skeptic and a bit of a cynic, pretty much from the start.

Granted, when I was very young I did sort of reluctantly embrace the Jesus Story, but I kind of believed in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, as well! (although, I still believe in fairies - just not the same kind.) But, When I found out the Truth about the Santa Dude and the Bunny Guy, I just naturally figured the whole Jesus thing was Bullshit too.

I remember in second grade we were preparing for our "First Holy Communion", Sister Mary Whatshername told us we must never, ever bite into the "Host".

(For those of you unfamiliar with Catholic Absurdity, The Host, The Holy Eucharist, is an unleavened wafer that Catholics Believe is the body of Christ. Not that represents the body of Christ, like many other Christians believe, but actually is The Body of Christ. They even have a word for it, it's called the "Transubstantiation". Don't believe me? Look it up on the Vatican Website or any Catholic Encyclopedia for that matter. It's there, it really is!)

Anyway, when Sister told us we must never bite the Host, but rather, let it dissolve slowly in our mouth, and then swallow, I raised my hand and asked, why? Innocent enough question, I thought. I wasn't trying to be a smart ass, really. I was only seven, after-all. Well, She looked at me sternly, with her eyes ablaze and shouted...

"Because It Will Bleed In Your Mouth and You Will Burn In The Fires of Hell For All Eternity. That, Young Man, Is What Happens When You Violate The Body of Christ!" Ah, come on Sister I said, "You don't really believe that, do you?" With that, Sister raced down the aisle to where I was and vigorously slapped me across the face several times. (no easy feat for a 200 lb, 4 ft. 11 in. Nun)

        Typical Second Grade Class at Sacred Heart - Highbridge - The Bronx, New York City

Latter that month, when we made our "First Holy Communion" the first thing I did was Bite into the Host, as Hard as I could. You Know What? No Blood, Not a Drop! So I just kind of Grinned! I grinned as I solemnly walked back to my pew with my hands clasped in prayer. I did just as Sister taught me and just as we had been rehearsing for weeks. And that grin on my face. Believe it or not? No one saw it as sarcasm. In fact, Sister latter commented, "I could tell by the look on your face Edward, that you were finally filled with the Sanctifying Grace of the Holy Spirit". She kissed me on the forehead as she gleefully exclaimed how proud she was. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing, but I didn't.

You see, even at the age of seven, I was learning how to "Pass". How to survive, in this spiritually strange, and superstitious alien environment. I was learning how to be what Sister called, "A Perfect Little Angel". I was indeed, the Perfect Little "Straight Boy" and the Perfect Little "Catholic"!

     Just Thinking

Please feel free to comment below. Anyone can comment. You can even do so anonymously, if you like. If the comment panel is not visible below, just click on the word comments (In Blue). Thanks for reading!