The Branson Cross

It's difficult to know where to begin.  The Branson Cross "began" over a year ago, to the best of my recollection.  The billboard stands tall, north of town on the only highway one can take to travel into our little town.  I became interested out of curiosity at first.  But then some nagging questions began to surface.  "Who are these people?"  "What is their motive?"  "How can this be seen as welcoming to visitors who are not Christian?"  For example:  My neighbor is a very devout Catholic.  Why won't this cross have her Lord and Savior bound to it?   It won't speak to her.  It won't speak to Muslims, Buddhists, Jews or Atheists either, among the many other expressions of ones understanding of one's place in the Universe.

Some local data, to begin.  Branson has over 40 churches.  That information I found from www.bransonchurches.com, yes there is even a website.  76% of Taney Country identifies as Evangelical Christian.  This is a VERY religious community.  A.O.C.s (Anything Other than Christian) are not made to feel welcome as it is!!  A visitor to this town would be hard pressed to attend a show, for example, that doesn't end with a lengthy religious tribute...some even begin with a Christian prayer.  So it begs the question, "Why is it necessary to build a huge, monument to one narrowly defined idea of Christianity?"

As this developer has purchased the land and is free to do as he wishes with it, this is not about his right to commence with such a project.  It's about a great many other issues.  Just to name a few:  Taney county has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country.  One in four young women in this town will find themselves pregnant before the age of 18.  The list of residents who can't pay their real estate taxes is unimaginable!!  Unemployment is staggering.  The homeless and the hungry IN BRANSON are growing in number week after week.  We have real problems in this cozy little tourist town.  We have real problems that $5,000,000.00 would go a LONG way in helping to remedy.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this developer is probably a staunch Right Wing Republican.  The Conservative model demands that government NOT intervene in such  problems as these on the local level.  Therefore, they speak of "pulling oneself up by one's boot straps!"  "Neighbor helping neighbor" (which I totally agree with) and finding local solutions to local problems.  If this $5 Million dollars does come to fruition, wouldn't it be better spent helping the communities of Taney County?  How is erecting a large, towering cross saying anything other than, "Look how pious I am?  Look at what a Christian City on a hill you are about to enter!!!"  For starters, such piety sounds an awful lot like arrogance to me.

1 Samuel 2:3 

Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

Proverbs 8:13 

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. 

Secondly, if Branson is a Christian City...well then, there are quite a lot of its residents who are not welcome, and yet still pay taxes (unlike any church in this town) and still fuel its economy day in and day out.  We help our neighbors and contribute to the well being of Branson any way we can.

So you see, this isn't about being "offended" by a huge monstrous cross on the highway, not at all.  It's about exclusion, division, arrogance and a total misunderstanding of what it means to be a member of an entire community.

In closing, I'd like all of the Branson community to look a little more closely at this project and see if it really is in the best interest of our little town, or is it truly just in the best interest of some guy who would really like to show the world just how pious he is, and what a "Good Christian" he is...while many members of this community benefit not at all.

REASON RALLY!!!

I attended my first American Atheist convention last year in April in Des Moines, Iowa.  I'd been to Skepticon here in Missouri before that, and truly enjoyed the speakers, meeting new people, and learning something new every single day.  But the American Atheists had a different feel to it.  There, I felt part of a "movement" like never before.  Listening to the letter written by Christopher Hitchens, then far too weak to attend in person, I sensed that something was "afoot".  There was palpable movement in that ballroom filled with hundreds of Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Humanists...the whole lot.
Each day brought a new perspective, a new idea, heck even an amazing movie, "The Ledge" that was screened for the first time right there in Des Moines, Iowa.  President of American Atheists, David Silverman saved his big announcement for the end of our time together.  He announced at that conference that the "Reason Rally" would happen in 2012!!  YES!!!  There would be a gathering on the National Mall in Washington D.C. of non believers from all over the country.  He billed it as the largest gathering of Atheists, Freethinkers and the like EVER to be seen in this country.  Everyone went wild at this momentous announcement!!  I can remember heading home with every intention of filling bus loads of us from the Midwest to attend the event.  Well, I tried anyway.  Turned out that the cost was a bit prohibitive as well as the time investment that just seemed to be too much for my target audience.  I honestly began to worry a great deal about this event as the months wore on and the date neared.  I recalled Mr. Silverman remarking that if our numbers weren't huge, it would not bode well at all for our "movement".  He was right.  Had the numbers in attendance been in the hundreds, say...well, the media would have had a day or two of mocking us, and the christians...well, they would have run with that for weeks.
But a funny thing happened on the way to DC......20,000 PLUS people showed up on the 24th of March, 2012 in the POURING RAIN and situated themselves on the National Mall in our Nation's Capital!!!   History was made that day and I'm thrilled to say that my husband and I were a part of it!!  Not to mention friends from both the Branson and Springfield Freethinkers!!!  We picked out our little plots of real estate and made base camp for the next six hours!!
With few exceptions, everyone was polite, gracious, and helpful as well as thrilled out of their socks to be there!!!  We were there early enough to watch Tim Minchin take the stage for a pre-rally sound check!  Hell, we're so easily amused, even that made the crowd go crazy!!!
I wandered around a bit.  I made my way over to the "protesters" to find mini debates taking place, but no outward hostility was witnessed from either side.  People dawned hilarious signs and shirts.  "Hi Mom! I'm an Atheist" was one of my favorites along with "Canadian Eh! Theists".  I saw Jesus riding a dinosaur!  Jesus was spotted another time standing 8 or 9 feet tall!!  I found that costume particularly clever.  Occasionally one would look toward the back of the mass of humanity to see this HUGE Jesus...swaying back and forth and waving!!
From Adam Savage, to Richard Dawkins the speakers were tremendous.  Social issues were addressed.  Political issues too.  But the thread that brought all the speakers together was simply that the voice of the non believer would no longer be whispered faintly in small groups afraid of reprisal.  Oh no...control of the conversation in this nation would no longer be monopolized by the religious!!  The myth of "religious persecution" is being torn down swiftly by this one simple show of solidarity!
From famous Atheists, to the little known poet, to the amazing talent of Tim Minchin...the stage was always filled with someone exciting!!  Despite the rain....it was a day I'll never forget.

I encourage everyone to search for the Thinking Atheist, and watch the video that Seth put together.  You'll get a much richer picture in your mind of that day...a bit like 'being there'.

Suffice it to say though, that one day in the rain in our Nation's Capital has set the bar quite high.  I am out and proud as an Atheist but a little more so now.  David Silverman made it clear  a year ago in Des Moines that we all need to come out from behind that proverbial closet door.  We deserve to have our views and voices heard. As citizens of this country we deserve our seat at the table.  The christians have had a monopoly for far too long in this country, and it's time for that to come to a grinding halt.  Reason must reign if we, as a society are to survive and thrive in a global community.  There is too much at stake to turn back now.

Obama's Brilliance Shines Again

For many of you out there in CyberLand, the information coming at you is mind boggling.  If you're anything like me, I can't get enough of politics.    I consume that information in any form it's presented, well except from FAUX NEWS of course...but seriously, have any of you seen ANYTHING like what we've seen over the last month or so in the news cycles??  Here was our President coming out with a provision that employers must offer conception coverage in their health insurance plans.  The religious exemption turned my ear a bit, so I kept up with the conversation for a few days...watched him "change" things a bit in order to "placate" the religious among us...but found this to be interesting....why was he doing this??

I watched as the earlier news conversation went from "Jobs" and the "Ecomony" or a reasonable facsimile thereof, to contraception for women....then the wheels came off!!!  A veritable attack on the American Woman, the rights of the American Woman. The "Family Values" brigade was out in full force, locked and loaded!!  From whence did these people surface?  One minute I'm watching Democracy Now and wincing at the travesty that Syria is becoming; to MSNBC in the evening and all of the sudden I learn a new word, "Personhood".  What? 30 million Americans are out of work, how many millions of homes are under water and you're concerned with defining life as if you have the right to do so??  Who the hell gave you permission to decide when life begins?  I'll leave that to people with the education and the expertise to do so, thank you very much.  Now I'm curious, so I watch........

BAM!!!!!!  The state of Virginia has decided that it's time to put the religious/moral thumb screws to every single woman in their state who dares to expect fair and dignified treatment from her medical professional if she seeks to have an abortion.  "The vaginal probe!!!"  YES!  How many states have already made it mandatory to watch videos and such before having a perfectly legally protected medical procedure, not to mention parental permission and a waiting period....now it's time to be personally violated without consent with a probe inserted inside you for no other purpose than to, well VIOLATE YOU and shame you into perhaps changing your mind.  I don't wish to make this about abortion, but you can't make this stuff up!!!

So here is where The Obama Dream Campaign Team get a nod from me:  Could you have set the stage for a win any more succinctly if you tried, Mr. President?  Here we have, on the Right a party that is metaphorically eating their own, coming completely unhinged, getting the base all shook up and motivated to fight this culture war of moral values!!...or so it seems......and on the Left, no, let's say in the entire rest of the country......................52% of the electorate saying, "Are you friggin' kidding me??!!"  I'm not saying all women will now vote for President Obama for a second term, but you have to think that the scales are tipping just a bit.  You see, this is no longer a Left or Right issue.  This, the Republican/Tea Party/Religious Right Party has MADE their issue!!!!  Denying women  fundamental access to safe and effective health care is now the Right's issue!  I hope they're happy their Tea Baggers made it all the way to Washington DC back in 2010, because they're running the show from here on out.  Do you think, for a second that George H. W. Bush's Republican party or Reagan's Republican Party would be this friggin' INSANE??  Hell no, they wouldn't!  They actually understood what the word "Conservatism" means.  These people are completely out of their minds with religious fervor demanding that our Secular Government become a Theocracy.  And the old guard is being led around by the nose by a bunch of Freshmen Zealots in the Capitol!!!  Think the President doesn't know this?  He sure does.................



He'll sit back and watch as this circus continues, meanwhile preparing every single stump speech to reflect the issues that really matter to the American People.  In the end, the Republicans can eat their own and fight this ridiculous Culture War, while our President sticks to what really matters to America.....yeah, crazy like a fox.

Religious Freedom

The events of the last few weeks have been a blatant attack on Women's Health in this country.  The Religious Right would have you all believing that it's actually an attack on Religious Freedom.  Not so...not by a long shot.  President Obama has taken steps to ensure that women have the access to birth control, among other things.  Why the outcry from the Right?  "Smaller government" is their mantra!!  They decry the move by this administration as an "attack on religious freedom"...bullshit!

Religious institutions have made it their rallying cry to cripple sexual expressions by their parishioners for centuries.  One has the freedom, in this country,  to practice any religion of one's choice.  With that comes the responsibility of understanding the tenants of that religion.  Unfortunately for us Atheists, the burden of understanding seems to fall on OUR shoulders.  If you choose to align yourself with a religion that makes it nearly impossible to be a healthy human being, partaking in activities that are completely normal for you, such as sex, well then, that's your decision.  It is NOT the role of government to ensure that YOUR religious tenants are being respected!!  You are NOT ALLOWED to stand on your religious principles in the halls of Congress!!  Your religious convictions are given space in your religious institutions...period.  Your TAX FREE religious institutions, I might add.  I am forced to suffer a tax hike because of the taxes you are NOT contributing to the welfare of the community.  Want to tell me again how your "religious freedoms" are being infringed upon??

I've not completely taken a stand on how I interpret the 1st Amendment of our Constitution concerning religious freedom.  On the one hand, your religion should have no place, whatsoever, in our legislative bodies, or in our laws.  On the other hand, how much of a price is being paid by religious institutions who don't pay taxes?  You are signing off on allowing the government to set limits on what can and cannot be said inside your churches?  It cuts both ways, it seems.  I'll lean more toward the former:  Your religion, your views, your "principles" and all the rest of the drivel that spews forth from your "religion" has NO PLACE in government, period.  Keep it as far away from me as possible.

Religious freedoms are being hampered to the extreme in other parts of the world.  You wouldn't know religious discrimination if it bit you in the ass.  Do some research about how highly regarded religion is viewed in China, for example.  You want to scream discrimination?  Do your homework!!!  Religious zealots in this country are a disgusting band of low information, low education folks who are too scared of their own shadow to think for themselves.  When your fear of death trumps your ability to reason, you've already lost the battle.

Attacking women all over this country in order to keep up your illusion that you are somehow superior to the rest of us is not the way to go.  Your illusion is crumbling beneath your feet rapidly.  Look around you, especially if you are a woman of faith reading this blog.  You are allowing your life, your decisions, your health to be corrupted by a host of old white men who get off demanding respect from you and wallowing in the control that they have over you!!!  And for what??!!  So you can look in the mirror, with a straight face, and reassure yourself that there is a supernatural being in the sky that gives a shit about you?  So that you can feel that smugness of being somehow superior to me and others like me?  Does that really feed your ego?  Or do you, deep down, know on some level that it's all bullshit, but it feels good anyway?  Are you so afraid of death that you'll spend your whole life supporting rich, white men in the Republican party who don't give a rat's ass about you, your loved ones, your future, or your value in this society?  Admit it!  You're so scared, you'll support this church or that church, this candidate or that one...as long as they reinforce the myth that is your religion?  Heaven when you're dead.  Hatred of gays and lesbians.  Iron clad laws that put every single woman in this country in grave danger.  Discrimination of all the "others", just so that you can feel like a valued member of your particular club?

It's not a problem for me if you choose to be religious.  As difficult as it may seem to believe at this juncture in this blog posting, I do not care if someone holds religious beliefs.  Where I draw the line is when those religious beliefs enter into our state and federal legislatures.  They do not belong there, at all!!!!  You can believe that life begins at conception all you want to...it does not.  Your own holy book says it DOES NOT!  One's first breath is the beginning of life...according to your own holy book.  Could care less what your holy book says or doesn't say actually.  Just pointing that out for anyone curious to know.  Passing "Personhood amendments" is a direct VIOLATION of our First Amendment!!!  Passing laws that curb one's ability to secure birth control or abortions is a direct VIOLATION of our First Amendment!  Attacking Planned Parenthood is a despicable, pathetic attempt to show, once again, your superiority complex.  Just stop it!!

Spend some time really thinking about WHY you 'support' such egregious actions...please.  Millions of women in this country benefit from the support of organizations like Planned Parenthood.  How many low income women are still with us because of a breast exam they received that found an anomaly they were able to address in time?  How many young women are free from early child rearing because of the birth control they were able to afford through Planned Parenthood?

To be clear, I'm not saying that if you're religious you're automatically a supporter of the zealots on the Religious Right.  I know plenty of compassionate, reasonable people of faith.  Faith fills many needs for many people, please don't misconstrue my meaning here.  I'm on the attack of the zealots.  I'm trying to shine a light on the people in government who are hijacking faith and making it their rallying cry for votes and money.  If you are Christian and support a church, you are also supporting these zealots in one form or another...that's what I'm trying to bring to light.  If you're more in line with women's reproductive freedoms, and sensible foreign policy decisions and the like...then we're all on the same page at the end of the day....