One of my favorite atheist personalities, Seth Andrews, posted a status on facebook that got me thinking:
“Watched David Silverman on Hannity. I am continually amazed at the proclivity of ALL Fox News hosts to ask a question and then refuse to listen to the answer. Of course, we know that the segment isn’t about informing a viewing public, but about giving Sean Hannity another opportunity to chest-thump in defense of his personal faith. (Did you catch the O’Reilly guest host, Eric Bolling, in his exchange withDave Muscato and literally bursting out the proclamation that he was a practicing Catholic/Christian?) Same thing happened to Jerry DeWitt on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, when Joe couldn’t WAIT to exclaim that he believes ‘Jesus is the son of God’ and he believes ‘what the bible says.’ Do so-called journalists do this with other topics, like proclaiming to a Tyson exec that they only eat fish, or exclaiming to a BMW rep that they personally drive a Ford, or responding to a political candidate that, ‘I voted for THIS OTHER GUY!’ There are cases, surely, and hosts do like to make the conversation about themselves, but nothing causes these pundit preachers to spontaneously combust like a non-religious person in the room. And Fox News, already a disaster, again jumps the shark with this War On Christmas nonsense. The only upside to this circus was the Unintentional Comedy Moment of the Year: watching Megyn Kelly assure America’s children that Jesus and Santa are both white. Caucasian Jesus. Coming to a white person’s nativity scene near you.” Seth Andrews
I just had a few things to say. The reason religion is so prominent for people to “chest thump” about, is because it is a “hot topic” right now. In the United States, there is a need to push ones own ideas onto everyone else, regardless of what those ideas are. If you are sitting in a biker bar, people will push their ideas onto you concerning which kinds of motorcycles you should ride, and which kinds of beer you should drink. If your ideas differ, a(n) debate (argument) will ensue. In a classic car show, people will push their ideas of which model of car was the best. It doesn’t matter the setting, people in this country will always push their ideas of what is better, or what should happen, onto others.
The political arena is probably one of the worst, right next to, or following religion. If someone does not have strong beliefs in these areas, a lot of times that person will create strong beliefs to push onto others. I once attended a secular event where a man tried to push his belief that microwave ovens destroyed all the nutrients in food, leading to sickness and death in humans. He went so far as to say it was unhealthy to heat a cup of water in the microwave. I tried to explain how certain items are dangerous to put into the microwave, and that certain foods can lose some nutrients when heated that way, but that he had taken the concept to an extreme, but he was utterly devout in his faith against microwaves.
The point here is that religion may seem like the only thing people are so devout about, but I think that’s because it’s such a collective delusion. People take strength in their beliefs because they’re not the only ones who believe such insanity. They know it sounds crazy, they know it sounds irrational, they know it sounds ridiculous, but over 60% of the US population believes the same things they do, so it can’t be that crazy, right? The knowledge of the insanity of the beliefs, coupled with the knowledge of so many people who share their beliefs makes them scream even louder about those beliefs. It’s comforting to come together to try to make sense of such insanity.
Other strong beliefs come out when the time and place is right for them. This is mostly because there are fewer people who share those beliefs, and the communities that do, tend to be more tightly knit…like bikers, or chefs, or baristas, or gangs…you get the picture. The subject of politics is more like religion. The people who have strong beliefs about it are spread out, but there are a lot of them. Even if the beliefs are crazy, or irrational, there are plenty of people who share those beliefs, and finding those people is easy over the internet, on forums, ect. Finding those who oppose your views is also easy, therefore picking a fight…pushing your views onto others, is simple.
Don’t think that religion holds a monopoly on pushing ideas onto other people. True, religion is responsible for some horrific things in that area, but people should always be on the alert. Your minds are your own. People should always think for themselves. I get so irritated with labels, with the way we separate ourselves into neat little boxes. Why must we be either Christian or Atheist? Why must we be Republican or Democrat? Why must we be Conservative or Liberal?
What labels do I put on myself? I don’t. I am a free thinker, with new, and fresh ideas. The worn out labels this society has do not apply to me now, and they never will.
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