Evil: What's In a Word?

After Friday night and the "Dark Knight Rises" massacre at a theatre in Aurora, CO, America is in a deep collective search for a motive that would cause James Holmes to shoot 70+ people before turning himself in to police outside of the screening. But, as is usually the case, the conversation is never elevated to a point where we can investigate societal, political, or idealogical factors that would turn a quiet college student into a mass-murderer. Instead, we label the perpetrator as "crazy", "maniacal", or "evil"; and we allow ourselves to avoid confronting the true reason that Holmes opened fire in a theater of innocent moviegoers.

Of course, this psychological deception is par for the course here in America. The most obvious example of this is the September 11th attack, where (if the official story is to be believed) radical Islamic terrorists hijacked planes and crashed them into designated targets, killing almost 4,000. The attack was quickly labeled as an "act of evil" and less than 2 months later...we had boots in the ground in Afghanistan to find and destroy Al-Qaeda cells. It's unfortunate that we weren't able to turn these tragic circumstances into an analytical study of why these terrorists wanted to commit such heinous violence and use this information to promote a more harmonious world. It wouldn't have been very hard, either. The easiest element of the attack to deconstruct would be the targets themselves. The Pentagon is a universal symbol of war, and commands that have been issued from here have affected the majority of the world's population. The World Trade Center is an international financial hub and represents both the good and the bad of our global monetary system. Knowing these basic facts about the targets, we're prepared to investigate the true motive of Bin Laden and Al Qaeda and come to a greater understanding of their grievances against the US. This, by no means, exonerates the crime. Nor does it mean that the attacks were in the slightest bit valid. It does, however, paint a picture of the world we're actually living in, and exposes the foundation of international resentment of America.

Why We Shouldn't Be Praising Barack Obama For His Support of Same-Sex Marriage

Today should have been a hopeful day. On the heels of yesterday’s successful vote to amend the North Carolina State Constitution to ban gay marriage, the internet quickly and vociferously decried the intolerance we witnessed with the passing of A1. I was relieved to see the overwhelming opposition of this amendment through discussions on a multitude of politically neutral online communities and in the columns of today’s (supposed-to-be politically neutral) papers. My faith in the conjecture that the majority of well-informed, rational Americans did not see gay marriage as a “real” issue anymore was quickly reaffirmed, as the conclusion of this morning’s discussion tended to be that this amendment was archaic at best.

But this afternoon, President Barack Obama announced that he now supports same-sex marriage. Even though I believe that this is a step in the right direction, and that the effects of this decision will be advantageous for the LGBTQ community… I don’t think we should be praising President Obama for finally adopting a policy that grants a large group of Americans such a basic human right. Furthermore, we should question the integrity of this decision given the events in North Carolina yesterday, and the falling poll numbers of the Obama campaign.

THIS GUY

Alabama Town Gives Offenders Choice: Jail or Church.

In a move of unprecedented stupidity, the town of Bay Minette, Alabama is set to begin a new sentencing program where some convicted criminals will be given the option to choose to choose to go to Church over a jail sentence. The offender would be sentenced to mandated weekly attendance at an institution of their choosing, and would need to meet weekly with the head of the congregation and parole officers. But, is this really a viable option?  Do we really want to "re-moralize" people through institutions that have relied on the threat of eternal torture as their primary means of deterrence for the past 2000 years? What similar options are Bay Minette officials prepared to offer atheist offenders?

As you would expect, an onslaught of civil liberties lawyers have challenged the program, stating

 "It is a fundamental principle of the Establishment Clause that the government cannot force someone to attend church...When the alternative to going to church is going to jail, the so-called `choice' available to offenders is no choice at all."

Read the full story at The Huffington Post.

New Palin Campaign Ad Calls Out Christians

Sarah Palin is not happy about the 60 million Christians who aren't registered to vote. Drop the Dorito's and grab a voting app before you're engulfed in flames for not fulfilling your duty to God and country.

Found at Christian Nightmares

Quick Facts: God in America

• 3 in 4 Americans believe "God has a plan for me. 
• 57% of Americans think that God rewards faithfulness with success and happiness.
• 1 in 5 Americans understand the Earth to be the center of the solar system.
• $100 Billion dollars a year "donated" to religions in the U.S. (est.)
• 83% of Americans identify with a religious denomination, (see chart below for more detailed breakdown)
• 42% (~56 million people) attend a church service at least once a week.
• 1 in 3 churchgoers pay a tithe to their congregation. 

The Cornerstone of Faith

The most compelling piece of evidence I would be able to produce against any "higher being", is the lack of any evidence to support the claim that there is a higher power. In fact, this is the cornerstone of “faith”; the ideal that to be a true believer…you must trust what you’ve been told without any reasonable reason to do so. Doing this guarantees you an eternal home in the sky, where you are given an everlasting body and reunited with loved ones. To not do so means that you will spend eternity burning in a world of sorrow, a place we refer to as Hell. My initial problem with this concept is the complete disassociation with our virtue here on Earth. A believer in Christianity is free to commit horrendous crimes, so long as he/she atones properly to God, and carries out the trivial punishment that a clergyman deems necessary (usually a set number of prayers.) In fact, if you’re a member of the Baptist church, you can skip this step entirely, because you’ve been forgiven simply for being a member of the correct and proper church. The reverse side of this principle is absolutely enraging. If you’re a good and moral person, who doesn’t believe in the correct higher power, you’re doomed to an eternity in Hell…regardless of your righteousness on Earth. 

If you’re a religious person you must seriously ponder this concept, not only because it is unjust, but because you must ask the one true God for your forgiveness. Given the amount of religions that have existed throughout the course of humanity, it is a statistic certainty that almost anyone who lived will be damned. Although this is a humbling and relevant point, it is not the one which I wish to address.

I wish to challenge that God is just and loving, on the basis of his hidden and secretive nature. If you can be convicted to an eternity of fire and suffering, for not believing in the one true deity- why would that deity remain completely hidden through the course of modern history? Why was there no intervention during the Holocaust? Why hasn’t God stopped the AIDS crisis in Africa? Why hasn’t there been any sign of God, at all, other than lore that was passed down through generations of scribes, and eventually placed in Iron Age texts? It would be so incredibly easy, if God simply announced his presence, no sane person on this planet would have the audacity to not believe it. If this higher power has the ability to create life, hear millions of simultaneous prayers, and to construct a universe that is perfectly suited to our sustainability- any announcement of his existence wouldn’t seem like much of a chore.