With this being my first blog, I thought I would start with explaining about who I am and what the purpose of starting this blog is.
I grew up in southern California near Los Angeles. Growing up with divorced parents, I spent my childhood living with my Mom, stepfather, and siblings and saw my biological father on the weekends. I had a pretty happy childhood. My family took vacations, weekend trips to vintage car shows, and really spent a lot of time together. Things were a little different when I spent time with my Dad, though. It was mostly going to church, and although we were close, I really only remember the things I wasn't allowed to do. I wasn't allowed to swear (and by swearing, it was words like "stupid", and "shut up"), I wasn't allowed to watch certain cartoons because they practiced witchcraft or cursed in the same manner I wasn't allowed to. My father's religion was very important to him, and I'm sure he felt it was necessary to pass on his beliefs to his children. We were always told to accept Jesus into our hearts, pray every day, and never take the Lord's name in vain. And it was then, at this young stage in my life, that I really discovered what religion meant to me. I always had so many questions, and there were never any answers to them. There were so many things that didn't make sense to me, and no one could give me an explanation. There was something that told me it was OK not to believe, but then there would be someone else telling me to be ashamed of not believing.
It took me years to eventually and proudly proclaim I was an atheist. And I haven't looked back since. Even though my father wasn't happy when he found out, there really was no other explanation for my non-beliefs other than the fact that it resulted from me going to church. I felt better in my life knowing I wasn't promoting hate and discrimination. I never thought people who lived their lives serving and believing in God could justify that happiness because to me, they were so full of anger, hatred and hypocrisy. I knew I was never going to let anyone make me feel guilty or ashamed for not believing in God. And that's where the purpose of this blog comes from.
Up until the 2008 Presidential elections, I had no interest in politics whatsoever. I didn't understand any of it, and frankly, I thought it was boring. As I became more confident in what I believed in and what issues I stood for, I started to take notice which issues were going to impact my life and those like me. The Christian influence into politics has been heavily apparent, and it seems like people are content with this. But, I know I'm not the only one who isn't content with this. I feel there aren't enough people like me getting angry. It's come to the point now where I think conservatives and the Christian right are taking it too far. They're being fueled by propaganda, and I believe there aren't enough people taking a stand against it. They're disguising their ignorance as a "patriotic American trying to take back its country", and now I think it's time for them to be exposed for the hate-filled liars they are.
I want to bring attention to certain causes the Christian right is trying to change, impact, and influence, that people may not know about. My blog is open to debate and discussion, but what I really want to do is make people aware of these issues. If you like what you read and want to be a part of these discussions, follow my blog, and I'll try to have a new one up with a new topic as often as I can.
-Crimes Against Humanity
I grew up in southern California near Los Angeles. Growing up with divorced parents, I spent my childhood living with my Mom, stepfather, and siblings and saw my biological father on the weekends. I had a pretty happy childhood. My family took vacations, weekend trips to vintage car shows, and really spent a lot of time together. Things were a little different when I spent time with my Dad, though. It was mostly going to church, and although we were close, I really only remember the things I wasn't allowed to do. I wasn't allowed to swear (and by swearing, it was words like "stupid", and "shut up"), I wasn't allowed to watch certain cartoons because they practiced witchcraft or cursed in the same manner I wasn't allowed to. My father's religion was very important to him, and I'm sure he felt it was necessary to pass on his beliefs to his children. We were always told to accept Jesus into our hearts, pray every day, and never take the Lord's name in vain. And it was then, at this young stage in my life, that I really discovered what religion meant to me. I always had so many questions, and there were never any answers to them. There were so many things that didn't make sense to me, and no one could give me an explanation. There was something that told me it was OK not to believe, but then there would be someone else telling me to be ashamed of not believing.
It took me years to eventually and proudly proclaim I was an atheist. And I haven't looked back since. Even though my father wasn't happy when he found out, there really was no other explanation for my non-beliefs other than the fact that it resulted from me going to church. I felt better in my life knowing I wasn't promoting hate and discrimination. I never thought people who lived their lives serving and believing in God could justify that happiness because to me, they were so full of anger, hatred and hypocrisy. I knew I was never going to let anyone make me feel guilty or ashamed for not believing in God. And that's where the purpose of this blog comes from.
Up until the 2008 Presidential elections, I had no interest in politics whatsoever. I didn't understand any of it, and frankly, I thought it was boring. As I became more confident in what I believed in and what issues I stood for, I started to take notice which issues were going to impact my life and those like me. The Christian influence into politics has been heavily apparent, and it seems like people are content with this. But, I know I'm not the only one who isn't content with this. I feel there aren't enough people like me getting angry. It's come to the point now where I think conservatives and the Christian right are taking it too far. They're being fueled by propaganda, and I believe there aren't enough people taking a stand against it. They're disguising their ignorance as a "patriotic American trying to take back its country", and now I think it's time for them to be exposed for the hate-filled liars they are.
I want to bring attention to certain causes the Christian right is trying to change, impact, and influence, that people may not know about. My blog is open to debate and discussion, but what I really want to do is make people aware of these issues. If you like what you read and want to be a part of these discussions, follow my blog, and I'll try to have a new one up with a new topic as often as I can.
-Crimes Against Humanity
