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Tennessee barely escapes bible bill.

    Tennessee got one right.. kind of.  Tennessee House votes no to overturn veto The article talks about the Tennessee House vote to overturn the veto on Tennessee's bible bill. The bill would have made the christian bible the official state book.  The vote to overturn the veto was only short 7 votes to get the 50 they would need.  The above article cites diminishing the significance of the bible as the reason for opposition. The bible lost its significance the moment we realized slavery was bad, when women weren't property, and mixed fabrics is a bad reason to kill someone.
  The bill was dead on arrival because it violates both the United States constitution and the Tennessee state constitution.  With Tennessee being a majority evangelical state, it would be safe to say that the poor reasons given were more than merely pandering. Our secular constitution separates the church from state. This separation will serve dual purpose to both protect the religious from a state that forces a belief they don't have, and to protect those with no belief from following religious dogma.
The bible is a terrible book to place in any position of reverence or relevance to anything in today's society. It promotes slavery, rape, incest, and genocide. Why do we even have people trying to make this the official....anything?    Sure you can dig through and pick the lines you happen to agree with, but that is just the secular morality of the modern era forcing you to throw out the atrocious.  With Tennessee's bathroom bill still looming, we have a long road ahead to eliminate big orange bigotry. But as an atheist in east Tennessee, I will take whatever progress I can find.

Persecution complex

Gods not dead 2 is just a further evolution of the persecution, and torture porn fetish that is Christianity. It started in the original gospels and is now being portrayed with modern technology instead of campfire fables. True GND2 is not a retelling of these ancient stories, but still seeks to frighten the masses with tales of persecution. These false narratives are drivers in the political will that is behind some of these egregious new laws popping up in the more evangelical states. Laws like the Tennessee bathroom bill, and Mississippi's Christians can shoot people bills. A staggering majority of the populations in these states are evangelical, and indubitably buy into the “if I can't be a bigot I'm being persecuted” message the proponents throw around. The truth that I wish they could see is that the world around them is moving forward and leaving Christian privilege behind.

 No group should have rights that harm other groups. The evangelical majority has held positions of privilege and power over others for far too long, and the rest of the country is fighting back to make America “one nation, indivisible ,with liberty and justice for ALL ” again. This does not mean everyone has to agree on everything just that every one enjoys the same liberties.  

My path: brief summary

In our lives there are few moments that force us to reevaluate the way we
approach our core beliefs. Whether we can actually control what we believe or
not is in question. I tend to think that we don't actually control what we
believe so much as we control what we do with our beliefs. The average person
either doesn't challenge their own beliefs, or they don't see a reason to
challenge their beliefs. Many can go their entire lives without seeing this as
a necessity. For some we get into a situation where something we see, read, or
experience can cause a moment of self-reflection. If confronted with this
situation some people can find themselves not trusting their own mind. I know
that for me it was very disturbing. I still find myself embarrassed at the way
I saw the world. Many of the things I thought were true, were completely false.
I believed in all sorts of conspiracy theories, magic and above all God.
As I came into adulthood I was slowly letting go of the specific gods of
scripture, and fell into a pseudo deism. It was closer to pantheism. I believed
that all of the god claims were true,but just misunderstood by the rest of the
world. I believed that God was an emergent phenomena of the collective
consciousness of the entire world. I was so completely convinced I had this
right,and the rest of the world held onto scripture because they were unable to
think properly. This to has slowly faded to where now I look back and laugh at
how wrong I was. I had just became very astute at leading the evidence to my
conclusion.

Tennessee theocracy strikes again...

Tennessee fails again with their new "bathroom bill". This bill requires
transgender students to use the restrooms that match the sex on their
"original" birth certificate. Effectively, this prevents transgender students
from using restrooms in public schools.  The bill sponsored by Tennessee
theocrats highlights the need for the secular community in Tennessee to make
themselves known.  We are an ever growing number and must show politicians that
we are a viable voting block.

With the presidential elections looming over us,
it is easy to over look the importance of participation in local elections.
It is on the local level where our legislators cause the most problems, or
potentially make the most progress for our communities.  Tennessee has been
ruled by theocrats for far too long. We must organize and stand behind more
progressive local leaders. We need to support leaders more willing to stand up
for the rights of the minorities. The evangelical majority has harmed too many
and needs to be removed. We need to clear the way for Tennessee to move out of
the dark ages.

The necessity of secularism

Secularism has become a necessity in a world of such diverse beliefs as ours. These beliefs lead to irreconcilable political differences. The various sects of religion all have expressed a desire to legislate their oppressive doctrines. Secularism solves this by leaving room for all to participate, while preventing any from becoming oppressive. A truly free and open society will thrive only when all are represented, and none are privileged. The theocratic regimes in the world are being seen with a new clarity as the world is shifting toward global communities. People are communicating and connecting with people around the world in ways never before seen in all of human history. And from this global community we are slowly learning to accept people of various cultural backgrounds. In fact, a new culture is forming. An interconnected global culture shifting toward reason, acceptance, and above all equality. It is on the lips of all forward thinking humanists, who desire to make this life here and now the best life possible. After all is that not the true meaning of life, the life your lead, the decisions you make, and the people you help. These are the factors that give our lives purpose.


The laws for any society must be written with pure secularism, reason, and compassion. Any sectarian ideals that are not conducive to equality should be left off the table. Equally any anti-theistic ideals that would suppress the practice of religion should also be dismissed. Now I would like to make this point clear , there is a distinct difference from private citizens and government. Legislators and other government officials should absolutely be restricted from influencing laws on any religious or anti-religious grounds. I would also like to make clear what is meant here by anti-religious. By anti-religious, I mean against or oppressive to private citizens who wish to practice their faith traditions. Lawmakers, however, should be barred from using their faith or lack thereof as a political tool.

In America , people often fail to realize that although we hold democratic elections ,we are a republic. Public servants are chosen to represent everyone in their communities, not just the majority. The constitution outlines the protections that individuals and minority groups are given. Often miss-understood is the first amendment protections for religion. And it is important to understand, that without freedom from religion there is no freedom of religion. Many progressive Christian groups understand this. If one is to interpret it as a freedom to legislate dogma it will lead to oppression of minority religions. The atrocities of bloody Mary alone show the dangers of sectarian leaders. When they implement dogma as the law, reason goes out the window.

God of the week: Hades

Hades in Greek mythology is the son of Cronus and Rhea. He is brother to Zeus and rules over the underworld. Hades tricked and kidnapped his niece Persephone and made her his bride, causing Demeter to curse the Earth part of the year giving rise to winter. Hades is known as Pluto to the Romans. The name is the Latin derivative of the name the Greeks began to call Hades,Pluton. Guarding the entryways into Hades underworld realm Erebus, is the three headed dog Cerberus.(Although Homer refers to Cerberus as a dog it is closer to a serpent as its is the child of a half-human half serpent hybrid Echidna) Cerberus is later defeated by Heracles(Hercules) in “the twelfth labor of Heracles” where Hades agrees to let Heracles take Cerberus to the surface if he can subdue him unarmed.

 Hades is the ruler of the underworld, and is often feared by mortals. The realm of Hades is the place where all of the dead go when they die rather than simply a separate place of punishment. Erebus was one of the three realms divided up by drawing of lots, whereas Zeus(Jupiter) rules the skies, Poseidon(Neptune) rules the sea, and Hades(Pluto) rules the underworld. If you were judged to go to Tartarus it was there Hades would decide how you would be punished, according to whatever crimes you committed. Although hated and feared, Hades was more of “supervisor” of the underworld.