By Madison S. Hughes (08.I4.2011)
I much prefer written correspondence to verbal communication, for verbal communication does not allow for due diligence of thought. I would much rather be afforded the opportunity to inflect my thoughts through proper written word than to hear the inflection provided audibly.
By Madison S. Hughes (07.25.2011)
Since Norway’s tragedy, at the hand of a right-wing Christian terrorist, I have noticed two interesting, albeit predictable, responses from Christians.
1. “He is not really a Christian; he is a madman that is mentally ill.” Why is it that when a right-wing Christian terrorist commits an act of terrorism it is presupposed that the Christian has a mental condition, but if a Muslim terrorist commits an act of terrorism the Muslim is presumed to be an Islamic terrorist?
2. “Anything to an extreme is bad.” Well, this particular tragedy was committed by a right-wing religious extremist. Consider this, if you will, religious extremists would not exist if there were no religion.
Fourteen percent of Americans (about 40 million) are illiterate. They cannot read a newspaper or user manual.
The final jackboot on the neck of the working classes was the second coming of George W Bush with a brain – the presidency of Barack Obama, thought by the deluded to be a resurrected FDR. For a brief credulous period during his campaign of “hope and change” he was thought to be the last, best chance for a transformative federal government, but now revealed as a total fraud and the ultimate in cynicism and futility.
The bedrock of North American morality including hatred of the unorthodox, anti-intellectualism, homophobia, divorce, sexual repression and guilt, fear of the unknown, absence of critical thought, blind faith over facts, unthinking acceptance of the tyranny of the majority, subjugation of women, gullibility, obsequious sycophant-like respect for “charismatic leaders”, profit before people, the right to make a buck at the expense of the environment, unflinching intolerance for anyone who deviates one iota from the narrow Judaeo-Christian sense of moral outrage, the desire to inflict pain on the “immoral” and a respect for power regardless of its source or legitimacy.
This definition and many more may be found at the
Curmudgeon’s Lexicon of Religion
Arthur Schopenhauer, Ph.D., German Philosopher, Atheist
Since love is a deception practiced by nature, marriage is the attrition of love, and must be disillusioning. Only a philosopher can be happy in marriage, and philosophers do not marry.
He who marries from love must live in sorrow.
Clinton Richard Dawkins, Ph.D., (born 26 March 1941)
Ethologist, Evolutionary Biologist, Author, and Outspoken Atheist
Ignorance is something that can be remedied by education.
Sean Carroll, Ph.D., Theoretical Physicist and Astrophysics
I do admit that I’m regretful that there is no such thing as an afterlife. It is not compatible with the laws of physics as we understand them. There’s no evidence that we have for it, and we should always be skeptical when we want to believe something is true. I think that we want there to be an afterlife. That’s not an argument in favor of it. That’s a reason to be doubtful.
Always Question Authority 