deletedItems: Life, Love and the Pursuit of Zombies.

A simple, concise way to end religious arguments, via Kobra’s Corner.

For Christians:

1. America is not a “Christian country.”

First and foremost, 100% of the United States population doesn’t believe in Christianity. Until the day that this statistic is achieved, kindly shut the hell up.

2. The Constitution comes before the Bible.

“I have a problem with people who take the Constitution loosely and the Bible literally.” - Bill Maher

Regardless of what the Bible says, while you live in this life, you will follow the rules of the country you live in. Secular law is sovereign. If you have a problem with this, you’re more than welcome to hurry yourself to the next life so you can follow Biblical law exclusively.

3. Keep your nose out of other peoples’ business!

Simply put, your ethics and political views don’t license you to dictate the personal lives of other people.

If you’re anti-abortion, don’t get an abortion. If you’re opposed to same-sex marriage, don’t marry someone of the same sex. If you don’t want other people to have abortions or same-sex marriages, TOUGH SHIT! It’s their right to do those things; like it or not.

4. Religion is not a basis for enforcing a policy.

This one goes out to a number of political figures (Mike Huckabee, George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, et al.):

Your personal beliefs, in a democracy or a republic, should never restrict the rights of others. Since we live in the United States, which is a federal constitutional republic, the justification of unconstitutional laws with the religious views of one person is a threat to freedom and should not be allowed.

5. Keep your religion away from the throats of others.

Before you discuss religion with anyone, ask them if they’re interested in hearing your bullshit. If they say, “No,” it doesn’t mean you are authorized to continue forcing your beliefs down their throat. Forcing your beliefs onto others is the equivalent of theological rape.

6. Research unverified claims.

A large majority of Americans would not vote for a qualified Atheist President (link). This is because of an unverified belief that atheists are immoral; which is utterly unacceptable.

Instead of basing your votes on superficial qualifications (religion, gender, political party, race, age, etc.), why not base your vote on something concrete? I’d rather have a competent President than a Christian president of lesser competence; would you disagree?

For Muslims:

1. Stop trying to enforce Sharia law.

As I just finished saying to the Christians, secular law is sovereign. You’re free to follow whatever laws you wish, but don’t force them onto other people. To do so is a violation of their basic human liberties.

2. Stop blaming everything on the Jews.

There are more Muslims than Jews in the world; you can’t blame all of your hardships on them. Shut the fuck up and take responsibility for your own predicaments. (This only really applies to the radicals.)

For the “Church” of Scientology:

No compromise for you. You aren’t a religion, you’re a cult. Crash and burn, you fascist bastards!

For Atheists:

1. Let History remain intact.

I am in support of laws preventing new court houses from displaying the Bible’s 10 Commandments, but I am adamantly opposed from removing existing ones. Why?

Two words: Historical value.

2. Unless your rights are being stepped on, shut the fuck up.

If Congress ever passed a law requiring all students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, then I might relate to removing “Under God” from the oath. Since that is not the case, and you are not required to recite it, stop wasting our time with irrelevant bullshit.

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I just got back from the Switchfoot/Athlete concert. I was actually impressed by both bands, even though I didn’t really expect it to be that great.

First up was Athlete, a band of adorable bumbling Brits. The music was mostly laid back, reminiscent of a jam session. Not really an arena band by any stretch of the imagination, but pretty decent just the same. The lead singer, Joel, seemed pretty personable, and was certainly very vocally talented. They were missing their drummer, but it actually didn’t take a lot away from the performance. I stuck around after the show for an autograph. Damn, British accents are freaking sweet. :)

The main act, Switchfoot, is a band I’ve been familiar with since around 97/98 or so. I had their one of their first albums (Legend of Chin) on cassette, and I listened to it quite a bit, especially the track, “Underwater”. Of course, tonight, they didn’t really play anything from that album, or anything, that I noticed anyway, from “New way to Be Human”. Even though I was only familiar with a few of the songs they performed tonight, it was still a pretty damned good concert. The front-man has so much energy and life on stage, you are just waiting to see what happens next. Another good thing about the band, is that you do not get bored with the music. Each track has a different feel and flavor. I also liked that they did not launch into “canned sermon” mode like most Christian bands are prone to do. The only nod to their faith was a simple hymn sung as an encore song. Vastly more acceptable than a Jesus-Pitch that lasts 15 minutes and ultimately says nothing new, and pretty much just makes me want to punch the nearest baby.

Overall, I give the concert a B-. Not because of anything the bands did wrong, but because the overall environment was not very pleasant. Before the concert, there were a couple groups of people getting ready to fight a few rows away from us, and had to be subdued by the cops. Secondly, there was a group of obnoxious teens sitting behind me that would not shut the fuck up, in spite of the many glares being sent their way.

Final comment: Even if you aren’t a big Switchfoot fan, they are pretty decent in concert, and well worth the 18.50 I spent on my two tickets.