Christopher Hitchens Owns the 10 Commandments...

Hello, my awesome friends & audience! Time does fly, as it were. Okay, on with a new entry. I'm still trapped in Bumfuck, Egypt & surrounded by people espousing their christian mythology. As stated previously, I generally allow people to believe what they want as long as that belief system doesn't involve me & mine. And as usual, these people perceive kindness for a weak cranium & pounce on my lack of a 'church home' as a gaping spiritual void they need to fill. Under penalty of execution would be the only way I could ever be compelled to hear another sermon on the sins of 'men craving strange flesh', gay marriage &/or adoption, or being all their 'gawd' wants you to be. It is sad & frankly, more than a little disturbing, that seemingly reasonable & articulate folk perpetuate myths & superstition on those of us who do not wish to partake of the Koolaid.

Living in Podunk means that I must interact with these people, but the constant religious talk is making me even more antisocial than usual. My outcast status really doesn't bother me. But it's the continuous intrusion into why my Sundays aren't filled with constant adoration for a mythical figure that have me questioning the sanity of those I encounter. One of my philosophies is 'adults with imaginary friends are mentally unstable'. Does this mean everyone in this backwoods town is a mentally unstable hillbilly? Maybe I should rephrase... Let's scrap the question, because I still have to live here, for now. To a degree I can excuse some people as just repeating what their families have beaten, sometimes literally, into them. But when people tell me to 'walk on faith', that's usually when I question verbally or internally what kind of brain damage they have. As in, did it come from excessive drug abuse or constant head trauma from child abuse?

The bullshit assertion that their mythical deity has a 'plan' & they quit jobs, lend others money, or a whole host of other bad decisions is just that. Complete & utter bullshit. So, for now, I have Twitter friends & Facebook friends that respect my atheism. But no friends here in B.F.E. that respect my lack of religion. It's a sad reality that I do feel superior to most residents of this bastion of redneck backwardness. How could one not feel superior to a population of people who are doomed by their desire to not only cling to their guns & bibles, but also racist & homophobic views that are often inflamed directly from a pulpit? Those of you that read my post about Terry 'let's burn some books' Jones know how I feel about religions. They are all basically lies. End of story.

But I do get so tired of people in Podunk insisting that 'dirty mooslums' are hunting down & murdering 'innocent' christians who are only doing 'gawd's' work in the Middle east. It is one of the most frustrating aspects of living in such an uneducated place, to see people getting their information from Fox. And from their local pastor. And then of all things, sweet geezus, they spread these fallacies as truth. It's like intellectual STD's. Racism is the STD equivalent of herpes. Their is no cure. You can treat it, but it does spread. People around here hate anyone different. Like any thriving republican backwater, & by thriving I only mean in the attitudes & beliefs, not monetarily, they would rather see a child die than to be adopted by a gay couple. They would actually prefer that a child be raped at the hands of a christian adoptive parent than to be adopted by an atheist. And don't even get me started about how they feel about an unmarried couple procreating. I was threatened by a supposed CASA representative that my kids would be taken away from me if I allowed an unmarried couple to stay at my home while they were attempting to find a place to rent.

I could go on & on & on AND ON about how people here engage in bold discrimination of anyone who isn't white, heterosexual, or belongs to their Skydaddy cult. It's hard to say whether hating people of the muslim 'faith' is favorable here because of the color of their skin or because of religious competitiveness. Let me expound further upon this notion, while it's still fresh in your mind. I use the word competitiveness because people here fear what they can't understand. Of course, you must exclude the author, because I'm not from here! These hillbillies would lose their minds if they were compelled by Federal law, of all things, to allow students of another 'faith' to worship as such. I'm losing you, I can tell. But wait, I'm getting to the point. In the grand scheme of things, I'm still right & the religious of any religion are still wrong. In my vindictiveness, I would love to see some people from other countries come here & spread their views. I know it sounds strange to hear an Atheist espouse such radical thoughts.

In my own defense, I'll rattle off some more. Living here has shown me you have to fight fire with fire. Human beings seem to be, in general, a superstitious lot. Most would completely lose their fucking minds at the thought we're on a sick planet, hurtling through space. And nobody cares. There is nobody to 'pray' to that is gonna pull our flaming shit out of the proverbial fire. If what these people understand has to have a religious connotation, let it come from just as primitive a place as where there Skydaddy was created. Maybe the residents of this town can find common ground with others & be more tolerant. The sad truth is there's not a ton of reasons for immigrants to come to a county of less than 10,000 people. It's not as though there's thriving commercial industries or even a stellar school system to send one's kids to. And hopefully, I will be long removed from Podunk when the first Turkish or Arab family actually buys a home here.