As you know, Tennessee isn’t known for its intellectual prowess when being compared to the rest of the country. The school systems here regularly rank at or near the bottom in most subjects, including overall literacy. There are also a number of stereotypes out there regarding Tennesseans that are very insulting. Most of them have to do with being uneducated, inbred, racist, or a combination of the three. Tennesseans are also known for being overly-religious in their political beliefs–which was confirmed in the 2008 elections when Tennessee picked the reverend Mike Huckabee in the primaries. As a Tennessean, I am often saddled with all of the above characterizations as well as homophobia.

The point of this letter, Mr. Baker, isn’t to insult you or to encourage you to resign from your position due to your open and blatant racism. No, the purpose of this letter is simply to request for you, and people like you, to move out of Tennessee. Yes, you read that correctly. I want you, and those like you, to pack up your belongings, sell your house at a fair market price, and leave this state.

I was born in Indiana but have lived in Tennessee for most of my life. I married a Tennessee girl and we’re raising two Tennessean children. We enjoy the mountains, the wonderful town we live in, and our community. We root for the Vols and the Titans and we try our hardest to be upstanding members of our community. We are raising our children to be open-minded and tolerant of those who are different from them. The bottom line is that we love it here. We will likely grow old together and die here. We won’t leave.

I’ll be honest, each time I hear of some high-profile Tennessean displaying their overt racism, I start thinking about moving my family. I cannot stand the thought of my children growing up to believe that the color of someone’s skin makes them less-important or inferior. Seriously, it’s bad enough that we live in one of the most homophobic states in the entire country, but we have to be one of the most racist too?

I’ve given up the idea of moving my family. I love this state too much for that. Instead, I’m going to assume that you love this state just as much as I do. I’m going to request that if you love this state that much, then move from here. You and people like you are bringing this great state down. We have so much potential here but people like you create the two steps back for every one step forward scenario that has plagued us for so long.

I’m not asking you to change. I have a racist grandfather and father, so I know how fruitless it is to make that request. The fact is, you won’t change–so I’m asking you to do the most logical thing: leave. I’m also not asking you to change your political beliefs. Don’t. You are entitled to whatever political beliefs you have. For the matter, even I don’t agree with Obama with everything. But then again, I don’t have to and neither do you. That is what makes this country great. What I want you to do is help make Tennessee greater by leaving. Please.

Sincerely,
Eric Ragle

P.S. Could you take Sherri Goforth and Brent Gobbell with you when you go? Thanks!

Life continues to be abstract
we insist we understand.

The decisions come easier
we put less thought into them.

Bodies expire and we
want to know what
happens next.

When she asked me my opinion, I really felt it was necessary to temper my response. After all, there was no need in getting into a Atheist vs. Christian debate with only a few days out from her surgery. I explained to her my beliefs, but then told her that my advice to her was to, “cling to whatever beliefs you need to in order to wake up from the anesthesia.”

I really think I differ in a lot of ways from my brother’s brand of atheism. While I do view religion as irrational and sometimes dangerous, I don’t have any desire to destroy anyone’s faith with a devastating argument. I know the personal comfort that religious beliefs bring–especially in times of emotional stress. Yes, it is better to face reality with a reasonable and sound perspective, but that won’t be something that can be imparted on someone five days away from open heart surgery. No, I’d rather let someone find their own way upstream if they aren’t hurting anyone with their beliefs. My brother preached and wailed at me for years but I wasn’t ready. It wasn’t until I desired to learn the other perspective that I began my journey.

People have to find their own way. They have to make their own mistakes–even if that means they pray to a never-seen deity.

I’m not sure what intrigues me more about this poem by Anne Sexton–the content of the verse, or the tone of her voice as she recites it. Either way, do yourself a favor and listen.

I hope you all enjoy it and I look forward to reading your comments and hearing from you.

After gaining liberation, my brother quickly embraced atheism. I on the other hand, wasn’t quite ready to turn the page on religion, god or this character named Jesus. In fact, after the passing of my grandmother, I dived even further into the religious landscape and became a preacher. During this time I wrote a very popular journal located at evangelicalunderground.com. At one time, it was ranked in the top 100 blogs for viewership; keeping in mind that blogging was relatively new at that time. But alas, like most ideals not firmly rooted in reality, things quickly fell apart. I found that every time I tried to dive deeper into what I was brought up to embrace, the more I had to consciously suspend some element of my own intelligence or common sense. Now, I don’t say that to offend those that still cling to some sort of religious dogma, because I understand how unsettling it was to read something like that when I was still a believer.

The fact of the matter is, I’m an intelligent man. I believe most people are far more intelligent than they choose to express. That is the society we live in, unfortunately. Children grow up being made fun of if they do well in school and are pressured to do well in things like football or cheerleading. Regardless, this past year as been one of exploration for me. Now some will attribute my awakening to the fact that I went back to college after a 10 year hiatus. I’ll be honest, it DID have something to do with it, but probably not in the manner which they suspect. Going back to school at 33 requires monumental effort. Not am I at a great disadvantage compared to those fresh minds just leaving high school, I also have responsibilities such as working and being a good father and husband.

College requires thought, and for a long time I didn’t really have to put much thought into my place in this wonderful world. Why? Because I was taught that faith in a belief should trump critical thinking and basing beliefs on fact and science. Going back to school acted only as a stimulator in that regard. Having my brain spurred to action triggered a chain reaction of sorts. Now that I was thinking again, I might as well read a book that isn’t designed to make me feel good about religious beliefs. So I read. And read. And read some more.

The conclusion I have come up with is that there is no evidence for the existence of a diety. Furthermore, nothing makes Christianity any more significant in the bigger timeline of religions than say, the story of Horus–son of Osiris. In Egyptian belief, Horus was born of the virgin Isis. I think you can imagine where the story goes from there. Needless to say this story predates Christianity.

It’s also interesting when you look at the Biblical narrative as a whole. Yes, I well know the arguments that Christians are now saved under a new covenant and that the brutality and murderous rampaging god of the Old Testament was replaced by the caring, hippy god, Jesus. The fact remains however, that if we are to believe that the Christian god never changes (as Christians are happy to claim) then we should know that the Christian god condones slavery, rape, incest, and a host of other nasty positions.

Therefore, it is with a touch of guilt (brought on by a childhood steeped in it, I imagine) that I declare myself void of a belief. When the Christian god, (or any god for that matter) decides that I should believe in them, they may make themselves known. If they should make themselves known, (if any gods are reading this) please be armed with a good explanation for why I should worry my life away making sure that you are pleased with me. Please do not tell me you love me enough to burn me forever if I don’t fall inline with your tenets. Please do not tell me how you gave me free will but I’m not allowed to use that free will to do anything other than worship you. While you’re at it, you’ll need to have a pretty good reason to demand I worship you. Sending yourself to impregnate a teenager with yourself in order to sacrifice yourself to pay for the sins you created us with just won’t cut it.

So to all my friends who remain my friends, thanks. To those who feel that Jesus has told them to shun me, ta-ta. To my new friends, welcome.

Ssempa called the conference to announce his plan to mobilize more than one million people to march on February 17th in Kampala to show the world just how strong support is for the proposed ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’. “We want to give a postcard that he [President Museveni] can send to his friend Barack Obama,” he says. However Ssempa, clearly relishing the media’s spotlight, takes the opportunity to begin a lengthy digression on his deep-seated feelings about homosexuality, pedophilia and the “broken” West’s decadent influence. Most of what he says might be laughable if his influence wasn’t so far-reaching and the message so deeply offensive. As he repeatedly boasts, 95% of Ugandans are against homosexuality, “this is democracy at work.”

Okay, we get it. Ssempa is a Christian and feels obligated to be against homosexuals. Not a new narrative. But what about this press conference got the crowd so stirred up?

I want to say homosexuals eat each other’s poop. Homosexuals stick their hands into their rectum. Homosexuals stick all sorts of deviant sexual things into their rectum. I want to show you this is from their website. So the first picture that I want to show you, you can see this man has just eaten the other person’s poo poo and is rubbing it on his mouth, and I’m going to ask that we print for each of you a photocopy of this story so you get it fully.

Then, of course, they are grabbing each other’s gentials, that is level number one, touching each other, grabbing each other. Then number three, now they are licking eachother’s anus and are licking poop. And they call poo poo, chocolate. You see it is a change of words. I want you to see, Sheikh please forgive me but I want these people to see, they say a picture is worth one thousand words. This is a man eating the other person’s poo poo, can you see that one? Please from BBC, I want you to tell them, we know what they do.

Apparently during this diatribe, it became obvious that Ssempa has been doing quite a bit of research on the topic of scat-eating and whatnot. Of course, he has probably not introduced a bill calling for the death penalty of heterosexual couples doing the same thing but apparently that is beside the point. The idea that all homosexuals engage in what Ssempa calls “poo licking” is ridiculous. We all know that it’s easier to dismiss an entire group for the actions of a few.

Some would argue that the actions of Christians like Ssempa and Robertson would qualify for that same point–that Christians shouldn’t be judged on the words of their extremists. The only problem is, the Christian Bible clearly demonstrates the types of hatred that people like Ssempa and Robertson profess. It would be nice if the more sane Christians dominated the landscape but unfortunately they do not.

…

Merriam Webster’s 10th edition, which has been used for the past few years in fourth and fifth grade classrooms (for children aged nine to 10) in Menifee Union school district, has been pulled from shelves over fears that the “sexually graphic” entry is “just not age appropriate”, according to the area’s local paper.

This type of shrewd fundamentalism could explain why America is such a repressed society. These are the same types of people who teach the Bible to their children without batting an eye. I wonder if they ever go over Ezekiel 23:19-21 with their little ones?

19 Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. 20 There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. 21 So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled. [a]

Loathsome as Robertson’s views undoubtedly are, he is the Christian who stands squarely in the Christian tradition. The agonized theodiceans who see suffering as an intractable ‘mystery’, or who ’see God’ in the help, money and goodwill that is now flooding into Haiti , or (most nauseating of all) who claim to see God ’suffering on the cross’ in the ruins of Port-au-Prince, those faux-anguished hypocrites are denying the centrepiece of their own theology. It is the obnoxious Pat Robertson who is the true Christian here.

I think it’s important, and apparently Dawkins does as well, to point out that Robertson’s words, while extreme to rational people, are actually a good depiction of Biblical language.