Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Cryin' won’t help you/Prayin' won’t do you no good
morning all
i went to a catholic school and we had a resient priest.
after a while i made it my mission (i was a precocious little bastard) to give him ethically phrased questions that i knew, he A couldn’t answer, or B, would be mortally offended by.
i confess (no pun intended) that i did really enjoy watching the gears crunch in his head as he tried to come up with a response to this one....
Michael “God is omnipotent, and omnipresent right?”
Priest “yes”
Michael “ What the #### is he doing in porno cinemas then?”The best he could come up with was something about “saving the souls” of the people in there
Posted by michael on from exile 01/03 at 05:10 AMThis is an absolutely perfect start to my day.
I’m glad I found you (via godisnotanasshole)Thank you MikeyZ!
Posted by jerseycynic on from ? 01/03 at 05:34 AMHi again
“Totally mad, frustrated, angry, and hateful”
was perfect! May I recommend a book for you and your readers who mentioned “doing more of nothing” this year
A book written in the 1930’s “The Importance of Living” by Lin Yutang. Truly a ‘Just pick it up and open to ANY page book’. No effort necessary! No thinking involved. WONDERFUL!
hope this link worksPosted by jerseycynic on from blondesense 01/03 at 05:48 AMAint humanity grand? LSD testing on cats..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Y2sE10OCY
Posted by Paul M on from Scotland 01/03 at 08:51 AMGood morning, Expendables...from a damp NYC (but they say sun is on the way).
Michael: I can relate. I spent 12 years in Catholic school and stonewalling priests and nuns was a popular diversion.
Welcome jerseycynic. Thanks for the kind words and book suggestion. If you liked those two posts, I have a feeling you’d like the general vibe here. Hope you’ll stop by often and join in the fun.
Paul: That video may be appalling but, sadly, it doesn’t surprise me. I like to look at those “scientists” in the same way I look at “our” troops. Are they just doing their job? When does that copout excuse no longer apply?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/03 at 09:28 AMTargeting Iran?
http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=708Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/03 at 09:49 AMGood morning, michael, Mickey, Paul, jerseycynic, and all yet to arrive here today.
I guess that I stand alone in thinking that sometimes religious beliefs can result in positive actions. I think of Dorothy Day, the Berrigan Brothers, Bishop Romero, the priest (whose name I always forget) who leads the protests at The School of the Assassins,the Maryknoll sisters in Central America who teach Liberation and many others. But I agree that a lot of harm has been done by organized religions. To me it is a mixed bag.
This link is not a mixed bag. It shows what we have became. This is us.
http://foia.fbi.gov/guantanamo/122106.htm
Today Democracy Now showed video from an Iraqi Emergency room. It was taken during the Blockade and shows what we have done to the children and civilians. They said that the video would be on the web site.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 01/03 at 09:57 AMGreetings, Expendables.
RMJ, is the name you’re searching for Fr. Roy Bourgeois (sp)?
I’m reading “The God Delusion” by Richard Hawkins, and find myself rather disinterested. It’s entertaining and Dawkins a gifted writer but, like the Bible, it doesn’t move me. No matter the vacuity I see in religious thought/behavior, I’d no more label myself an “atheist” than to try and coin a word for not believing in the Easter Bunny. The problem is that most organized religions (even the sorta-lefty ones) are engaged in pushing their beliefs, gently or with an electric cattle prod.
I prefer indigenous forms of belief, as they are almost always connected to something tangible: the Earth. The tomatoes I grow are divine.
But when in the ring with some zealot, I alternate covering up with short jabs of reason (the “Pope-a-Dope") until they run out of gas. Then I hit ‘em with an Enlightenment haymaker: take an apple out of my pocket and drop it on their head.
Captcha sez ‘training,’ and I’m too pretty to train. (Massive thanks and respect to Muhammad Ali.)
Posted by Zenprole on from Urth 01/03 at 01:55 PMHey Zenprole, here’s what holy man Pat Robertson sez:
http://tinyurl.com/y5sj3sCaptcha sez: “off”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/03 at 01:59 PMcouldn’t have said it better myself, Zenprole.
As to prayer...I think it is simply misunderstood. There is much peace of mind to be gained through prayer and much more to be gained through meditation...it’s amazing what one can gain by simply shutting off the constant chatter in one’s mind. Listening is a much underrated quality in a human being...talking being the most overrated.
To me, life itself is divine (anything from the Zenprole’s tomato to whatever keeps me animated and searching for the short time I am here on Earth). The capital “G” god is mostly a figment of some human minds who lived several thousand years ago...talk about effective propaganda!
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 01/03 at 02:07 PMwhat a jackass:
“The broadcaster’s 2006 forecast of heavy storm damage in coastal areas was followed by the second-lightest hurricane season since 1995.”
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 01/03 at 02:09 PMZenprole...Yes, that is the name that I can never remember. I do remember him very well. He is forever locked in my memory. He came here to my little town a couple of years ago. I went to hear him speak. It was something I will never forget.
JOS… I too believe that all life is “divine” as you say, or “sacred” as I say. About prayer, to me it is just a way of tidying up thoughts and sorting things out in my mind. Also, there is one aspect of religion that I think is very useful- the examination of conscience. To me that is just a tool to help in leading an examined life. There are many who say that feeling any guilt is wrong. I disagree. Guilt is another useful tool that is designed to make us empathetic to those with whom we share the planet.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 01/03 at 03:51 PMExcellent posts, everyone!
I concur, JOS, with Zenprole’s remarks also. Have always had a strong connection with the indigenous view; for some reason it just seemed to come naturally.
Montreal had another mild (winter?) day, today, with no real cold temperatures in sight. Fortunately, we had a small snow fall on boxing day that still has not melted. Other than that you would never guess it’s January 3rd.
Don’t know if you have heard or not, but Canada is losing artic ice. Is it a natural or man-made occurence, what do you think?
Posted by Canadian Observer on from 01/03 at 04:07 PMOne thing I have to give to Al Gore, CO, he sure explained how it is our fault well.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 01/03 at 05:38 PMHello JOS, RMJ, and CO. In terms of climate change, even if we can’t 100% prove that humans play a major role, what’s the harm in acting as if we could? Besides a drop in corporate profits, no one else would suffer. (insert laugh track here)
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/03 at 05:42 PMfunny how this article kind of fits in with today’s topic:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/article_print.html?id=39891
Yoko might have destroyed The Beatles, but saved John from Oral Roberts. Of course, magical Egyptian artifacts, astrology and the like are pretty much the same thing…
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 01/03 at 06:00 PMZenprole #8: I prefer indigenous forms of belief, as they are almost always connected to something tangible: the Earth. The tomatoes I grow are divine.
Yeup. And planting, tending, harvesting the said divine globules of water, cellulose, and natural flavors is the best form of prayer I can imagine...meditation, stillness, listening for a voice from so far within it’s without again.
RMJ, JOS: potato, potahto…
MZ: how cool to find Chomsky asking these types of questions before we were born, no? I am always happy to learn that my forebears in questing and questioning are so respectable.
CatLady...husband of mine...another cat simply means even less chance I’ll be visiting in 2007, although I must absolutely come there because CM, a close and dear friend, has her 60th birthsay this year. It’s simply you I’ll be avoiding like the plague from the dander.
xoxo
Posted by Mudge on from Austin, Texas 01/03 at 08:54 PMMudge, I thought fer sure you’d say “tomayto, tomahto.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/03 at 09:30 PMAnother excellent post, Mickey! I could not agree more - am a very lapsed Catholic.
Back in Daylesford after a ‘flying visit’ to Melbourne. It is quite hot and humid here: about 90F, so it is quite hard to think straight.
‘Hello’ to Michael, jerseycynic, Paul, Rosemarie, zenprole, JOS, Canadian Observer and MUDGE (good to hear from you again).
Be well, all of you.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/03 at 10:27 PMI’ve been on an tirades of sorts (Christmas, anyone?) concerning religion and its intellectual laziness. At times, it comes down to name calling but one cannot reason with unreasonableness. It becomes frustrating introducing people to critical thinking. And I have an aching suspicion that the “mid-life crisis” that people find themselves in (in our society, in particular) is merely people encountering their first true existential thoughts. And sadly enough because religiosity (and schools, and work, et al) keeps doubt or healthy skepticism at bay with “serving” blindly supernatural characters or “doing god’s work” without serious inquiry or debate (in fact, proactively endorsing “blind faith” (which is redundant)), they’re not equipped to comprehend little else and their release from intellectual impoverishment becomes “their world falling apart” and true anguish ensues; hardly, a ringing endorsement for secularism. But it could be if we could fostered a society of critical thinkers, of persons who indeed question authority. The parallels religion holds to capitalism is also pretty outright and, if nothing else, the former fosters the latter (and vice versa).
"Religion gives good people bad reasons to do good things when perfectly good reasons are available." ~Sam Harris responding to criticism that religion can be a conduit of good such as Jimbo Carter’s foray into Habit for Humanity.
Thanks as always for your mighty words Mickey Z.Posted by ultrafknbd on from Cali 01/04 at 02:18 AMThanks, Helga and ultrafknbd.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/04 at 05:16 AMUnfortunately, logical arguments don’t count for much with Christian folk. They can just respond that it is all a part of God’s great plan and beyond our understanding.
Posted by kim on from 01/05 at 05:43 PMI know you’re right, Kim...but when I get that answer, I can’t help but respond that if we don’t know what god wants in this case, how is we know what he wants at other times?
Futile, I know.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/05 at 06:42 PMMost of the time I end up paraphrasing Bertie Russell and say in an air of defeat that if there were a god, it would respect the honest skeptic more than the blind follower. And then I would slunk away with my “jesus hates me” stickers.
Posted by ultrafknbd on from Cali 01/05 at 07:18 PM
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