I’ve been coming out of my apathetic phase and my militant atheism is reemerging. I’d probably credit it to what’s been in the news lately. My state, Indiana, has temporarily shelved (but it will be back) a bill mandating that creationism be taught in science class. Then there’s the whole birth control issue (no mention of Viagra, though) and the Catholic Church getting all huffy and offended - I think they’re the worst when it comes to annoying, sensationalistic persecution complexes. When I take a moment to think about all of the ridiculously ignorant shit they’ve spewed against homosexuals, birth control, science, and secularism, I can only laugh when an occasional critical voice speaks out and suddenly all you hear about is a “war” against the Catholic Church, as if they’re some tiny, defenseless minority.
My grasp and understanding of science and the universe makes me think of the Earth in a very tiny context. My base view is that we’re a group of intelligent, evolved organisms on a tiny planet in a solar system which is located in one of billions of galaxies in the universe. Our own lives are incredibly short and precious, and there is nothing in the world that gets me going more than one group of people (or in this case, a higher “institution” of people) telling others how they should live their own lives.
I think about all of the fascinating historical stories of adventure, conquest, conquering, traveling, and love - but then those thoughts are replaced with crowds of people waving Bibles, politicians shamelessly pandering, all this phony talk of a “war on religion” and the sanctimonious assholes packed into churches around the country, standing in street corners, bothering me at my door, telling me how I should live my life. There’s no way for me to express the amount of disgust and contempt I feel toward organized religion. And I suppose that makes me the stereotypical “angry atheist”, but I think it’s entirely justified.
