UberPocky

All this hubbub about Obama’s Pastor in the last couple of weeks has got me thinking. What role should Religion really play in politics?

Years ago I would have said NONE!

That was when I was not religious. Since then I’ve realized religion can be helpful in life.  Religion is a good guide for morality. As long as Religion is supplemented with a healthy dose of reality and taken in moderation.

So what role should it play?

I’d like to see religion as an issue, an issue under a ‘character issues’ category, like economy is under ‘national issues’. I’d like each candidate talk about their religious beliefs, in a very candid way. However, that would never happen. I think most of them would sound similar.

I would use this litmus test: An’ it harm none, do what ye will.

A.K.A. As long as their religious beliefs didn’t condone harming anyone I could vote for them.

This would again, never happen, but I think it should.

Comments?

So today marks 5 years in Iraq. So I thought this would be a good time to talk about it. My opinions on this issue have ALWAYS been against the general public. My thoughts on this topic have always been “against the grain” The general public was for it in the beginning, and against it now. Which is rather interesting because I’ve been opposite that both times. I remember at the beginning of the war, there was a protest at my high school (I live in a very democrat anti-war village). I didn’t feel like I could support this protest for two reasons:

• Most of them seemed anti-war because: “War is bad.” This logic drives me absolutely insane. If you are going to protest a war have a reason to protest that specific war. Say your reason. I believe: “War should be avoided, but if it must be done it must be done” It is not something to be entered into lightly. (See my notes below on peace)
• I didn’t think that ditching my education, even if it was during a class that I hated, was a good idea. Actually, looking back, if there was a class that I would have liked to ditch it was the one during the protest. In fact many people went to the protest because they wanted to ditch their classes. The class I was in was almost empty

This does not mean I supported the war, In fact in the days following the protest a couple people asked me and I had to clarify, “No, I do not support the war, but no, I do not support your protest either” It was an odd position to take, in retrospect. I was not in support of the war in those days for one major reason: “It would be a distraction from the real conflict: Afghanistan & Bin Laden” Today, who talks about Afghanistan? It’s gotten better in the last couple of months, now that Iraq is getting quieter (I’ll get to that). However, during the time of the worst in Iraq, Afghanistan was never mentioned. That is the real war on terror.

I have much more to say but it’s far too long for the front page: continue reading…

First of all “≠” is “not equal to” and “≈” is “approximately equal to”.

I’ve been thinking about this for the last couple of years. I’ve been fighting with this idea. I’ve been trying to come to some conclusion. The general thought is Science ≠ Religion. However, in some ways I’ve never been able to shake this feeling that Science = Religion. For me Science is like Religion, more then not.

So here it is in list format.

Science ≠ Religion:

• Science is based on ‘scientific fact’, Religion is based on ‘religious fact’ or belief.
• Science has a ‘right answer’, whereas in Religion each ‘right answer’ is determined by the person practicing the religion.
• They get ‘conflicting answers’ on some similar questions. Which creates a little bit of a contest, so one must step back and the other will reign that answer. Which steps back? I think that’s up to the person.

Science = Religion:

• They both are working to answer some similar questions: “Where did we come from? Why are we here? etc, etc.”
• Both Science and Religion has massive grey areas of discussion, how the practicies are done and if they are safe and right. If the answer is that of the one predicted, if there even is an answer yet.
• It’s a process though experiments (at least I feel it should be, some religions aren’t). E.g. If something isn’t working for you in your religion, take it out. At least I would. Don’t drop the whole religion, pick and choose. With science, it picks and chooses for you. Some things don’t work so those theories are dropped and reworked.
• They both make people feel on top of the world now that they have all these answers, they are both very easy to convince a human their way is right.
• They both help make sense of the world, and help us humans live in this increasingly complex society. They both provide a way of living.

Therefore, I’ve come to the conclusion: Science ≈ Religion. I’ve found a way in my life, that they do not conflict at all. Is this a good way? Do they need to be kept apart? Can they work together for a ‘greater good’?

P.S. I’ll be adding more as I think of things, and please leave comments on the compare, contrast of science and religion. I will update the time stamp each time I update the page. That will make the post ‘bump’ to the top of the website. I would kind of like this article to become a discussion, if you all are interested.

So, I realized a little while ago that I never have explained to anyone more about what I believe in terms of Gods and Goddesses. All I’ve ever told anyone is that I believe in sixteen (16) of them. For me deities are a council of checks and balances. If something shouldn’t happen they make it not happen. If fate hasn’t pulled though to make something happen, it happens because of them. In daily life nine times out of ten, they will not get involved. My beliefs are a strange mix of Greek Myth and Paganism. Most pagans believe in One God and One Goddess making a total of two. I’ve wrapped that belief into Greek Myth. So two of them have to be on top.

So it may as well be the two I feel the most connected to: Artemis & Apollo.

The other fourteen appear in my beliefs for various reasons, they all specialize in something (they are in alphabetical order not order of importance):

Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, Dionysus, Erebus, Eros, Gaia, Hemera, Hephaestus, Hermes, Khaos, Khronos, Posiden & Uranus

So, shall we take them one by one? continue reading…