I am a person who has a sense that we are a part of a larger whole;
i.e. not an atheist. I am a person who does not subscribe to
the belief that we are physical beings who occasionally have a
spiritual experience; on the contrary, I believe that we are spiritual
beings who occasionally choose to have a physical experience.
And I am a person who believes that organized religion, with its
dogmas, myths, fear-monging, judgments and hatred, is one of the primary
reasons that we as a species may be well on our way to extinction.
But. I also don't proselytize my viewpoint, and I defend your right to
have yours, as long as it does not interfere with mine or anyone
else's. May the deity of your choice bless you abundantly. I wish you Peace.
With this in mind, I invite you to listen to Julia Sweeney's
beautiful and funny and moving account of her loss of faith, broadcast on This American Life. I don't share
her conclusions; mine are different. But this is one of those once in a
lifetime, profoundly human documents that just sparkle with the best
of who and what we are.
Quicktime stream of her segment available; click the icon:
Or download a full program torrent here.
(Julia's segment begins at 30:15.)
Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, has
told acquaintances over the past year that he suspects that the
election was stolen, but that he didn't challenge the official results
because he lacked hard proof and anticipated a firestorm of criticism
if he pressed the point.
Can we not find one strong person, capable of speaking the truth,
to represent the people of this country? Anyone? ANYONE??
I am no fan of the New York Times; I think that they've taken the
gold standard of journalism and turned it into an incompetent rag more
akin to "The Forbes/National Inquirer Lite" in the last five years or
so. But it does remain an influential paper, still riding the vestigial
coat tails of its previous greatness. So when they release an op-ed
that opens like this,
I tend to take notice:
After President Bush's disastrous visit to Latin America, it's
unnerving to realize that his presidency still has more than three
years to run. An administration with no agenda and no competence would
be hard enough to live with on the domestic front. But the rest of the
world simply can't afford an American government this bad for that
long.
