The Cheese Grates It: The Satanic Panics Were and Are Stupid

Just putting this out there. 

Obviously I'm still pissed off about this because I've never forgotten it.

Back in the day, ya know, when dinosaurs roamed and we had to fear being crushed by brontosaurus with their big feet and walnut brains, I was in high school, and I had a really bad reputation for being a "devil worshiper." 

There seemed to be two reasons for this.

One was my belief that government sanctioned health care "such as they have in Sweden"was a good idea.

The other was my love for what became known as "classic rock" music, especially a weird little band known for a weird little guy who sometimes wore a hat with devil horns and was infamous for dropping trou and mooning the audience.

Call Angus Young cheeky--hell, call the entire band cheeky, and you're right. But I never understood for one minute how people could accuse them of being evil. 

I think I'm feeling particularly sensitive about it at the moment, having read how Angus makes sure to frequently contact his very sick, dying brother, even though he's said that his brother "isn't in there at all any more."

Angus always tells Malcolm that he loves him and that everyone misses him, even though he isn't sure if anything he says gets through.

What an evil, evil bastard. What kind of a monster does that?

Angus also said that disbanding after Malcolm could no longer continue might have been the right thing to do, but back when they first started, if you didn't play, you didn't eat, and that has always stuck with him.

You don't forget being really poor, which these guys were.

I initially liked them for their music. I wouldn't have noticed them if it hadn't been for that. Once I found out what kind of people they were, I liked them even more because of that.

I guess I've never understood how people can start really nasty, baseless rumors about other people. I never understood the Satanic Panic crap, not even for a minute. I can tell you that rather than making me want to become more religious, it pushed me away from religion. Even though I feared that I might be going to some sort of hell, because I was raised with those beliefs, I wasn't going to join in a witch hunt.

It's a real lark that people are still talking this kind of shit today. 

Ask me again why I think humans are the creator's biggest mistake.

I'm really not a complete misanthrope, even though such a statement might make me appear to be one. I like people one on one, unless they give me reason not to. It's the human race as a whole that I have problems with.

~The Cheese Hath Grated It~

The Cheese Grates It: A Label I'll Accept

 Friends, I am an agnostic.

Let's break this down, because that is what I do.

I am a fallen Catholic who long ago soured on the "Church God," mostly because of the way many religious people treated me. From the time I was ten years old, I lived in a town that we'll just call Peyton Place.

I was labeled a communist for my statement in social studies class that I thought that socialized medicine, "such as they have in Sweden," seemed like a good idea.

Communist devolved into "Satan Worshiper," and I suppose the fact that I liked these fuckers

did nothing to counter the argument.

Cheeky bastards were talking about driving across Australia in the summer, by the way. To paraquote Phil Rudd, anyone who's done so knew exactly what they were talking about.

This isn't my music blog, so let's get back to the other reasons why people think I'm going to hell.

I have spiritual beliefs, but I'm not religious. As I've grown longer in the tooth, I've become more sour on religion over the years--any religion. This isn't strictly a Let's Bash Christianity post, (in fact, I'm trying to avoid bashing anyone's beliefs) although Christianity is the first religion I soured on.

This doesn't mean that I have any problem with Jesus, by the way. Like the Doobie Brothers said, Jesus is just all right with me. He's a good guy. It's certain of his followers I have problems with, not him.

So, we've established that I really don't like religion much.

Religion does not automatically make anyone a good person. Your actions count for far more than what deity or deities you worship.

On the other hand, being religious does not automatically make a person ignorant or an extremist. I'm not keen on hard line Atheism either. I cannot get behind ridiculing people for having faith in a higher power. "My way or the highway" thinking is short sighted, whether the person engaging in it is a theist or an atheist.

There are charts which divide agnosticism into "Agnostic Atheism" and "Agnostic Theism." I guess I'm closer to being an agnostic theist, but hell, who knows?

I'm not an Atheist or a secular humanist. I believe in at least the possibility of a higher power.

 For many years, it has been my opinion that it is highly unlikely that a higher power gives any more of a fuck what we humans think of it than I give what a paramecium thinks of me. Something mighty enough to create universes does not need the parasites polluting its planets worshiping it to satisfy its ego.

I believe in at least the possibility of a soul that survives the death of the physical body. However, this actually has jack shit to do with whether or not I believe in a higher power. There could be an energy which survives the death of the body, which might be referred to as a soul, regardless of whether or not there is a higher power.

I mentioned that I soured on Christianity a long time ago, in great part because of the way I was treated by the lovely, Bible-thumpin' citizens of Peyton Place.

I also soured on what might be termed New Age thinking, and even on Paganism, at least in any organized form.

Why would this be true?

Because all of these schools of thought have way too many "my way or the highway" adherents and not nearly enough people willing to try and understand the often scarred and damaged souls of their fellow travelers. New Ageism tends to blame those suffering from illness as having brought that illness on themselves, and I encountered far too many people calling themselves Pagans who may have left the Christian god in the church but did not leave their dogmatic attitudes there.

I also soured on the Unitarian Universalist church, which I was part of for about 10 years. I found it to be the Church of Secular Humanism, and any discussion of spiritual ideas was greeted with an allegorical pat on the head and a "bless your little pea-pickin' heart" attitude. 

I searched for many years for kindred spirits, only to find that they really are few and far between.

I have also discovered along the way that everybody hates agnostics, except for other agnostics.

Ah well. I should be used to being a pariah by now.

~The Cheese Hath Grated It~

Religion and Community

Although I tend to be critical of organized religion, one aspect I tend to approve of is community. People involved in a church may come together in a positive way, as these people are. There are several benefits to this sort of gathering, including forming bonds with others and spending an enjoyable time in the company of like-minded people.

The problem with organized religion is the intolerance that is often inherent in religious communities. A similar-minded outsider would be welcome, but someone with a very different mindset, even if said visitor were tolerant, would likely be treated with suspicion if not outright disdain.

If we could all learn to open our minds to one another's viewpoints and beliefs, and respected such, even if we didn't share the same belief, we could create a greater world community. Then we could join together in love and tolerance. It may seem a foolish idea, but I believe that one day it may be possible.

~Ellie~

Happy Birthday Father Roger

In truth, I don't know the Good Father Roger. This was a video I stumbled across while looking for something else. However, it got me thinking.

Father Roger seems a companionable sort, a bit of a colorful character who enjoys telling a story and likes seeing others happy. One might say that Father Roger seems to embody a truly Christian spirit. 

I would far rather listen to someone like Father Roger, and would be more likely to take his words to heart, than to listen to one of these hate-mongering sourpusses such as Bill Donohue. That's the fellow who said that marriage wan't about love, it was about having children, his point being that same sex couples shouldn't be allowed to marry because they can't have children. 

My question for Bill is if marriage isn't about love, why the hell do it? We live in modern times where one neither needs to be married or to have sex outside of the bonds of marriage in order to conceive a child. If I really wanted a child, I could go to the sperm bank and have a doctor perform a medical insemination. By having this procedure, I could skip the whole loveless marriage business while also avoiding sex outside of marriage. 

In any case, if Christianity is to survive, it needs a whole lot more Father Rogers and a whole lot fewer Bill Donohues.

I hope that Father Roger had an excellent birthday. He seems like a nice chap who deserves good things.

~Naila~

The Hate that Hate Bred

I will state right up front that I don't know what it's like to be black in America.

I believe I have an idea of where this kind of extremist thinking comes from. White people in Western society have caused a lot of grief to people of other races. The European settlers stole the land from the American Indians and destroyed their society. They enslaved the African people. 

Generations later, there are still pervasive racial issues that desperately need to be addressed. Some of what this man says makes a lot of sense, but then he drowns out the sensible parts of his argument with hateful rhetoric. I can't bring myself to believe that hate can ever be the answer.

I am not a Biblical literalist by any means. However, I feel that he is taking certain passages from the bible and using them to suit his belief system. The Bible can be interpreted a million different ways. It can be used to promote peace or spread hate.

Why would a creator deity make a variety of races and then hate certain of those races? That makes no sense to me. Why would you hate what you have created?

The actions of certain white people in the past created this climate of hate. However, responding with more hate can't be the answer.

Extremism is never the answer.

~Dolly~

The True Light

We should share kindness

Not suppress others through hate

Hate extinguishes

~Cie~

Inspired by the Carpe Diem Haiku prompt, and the distressing recent news of Buddhist attacks on Muslims in Burma. The actions of these people goes against everything Buddhism stands for.

Cross Posted to:

One Love

Poetry of the Netherworld

Try to Understand

I am not terribly knowledgeable about Islam. The Muslims that I know are definitely peaceful people. It was upsetting to see the way they were attacked following 9/11, being grouped with extremists.

Extremism of any kind is always destructive.

We need to try harder to understand one another.

In the end, we all bleed red.

~Adam~

Hateful Fundamentalists

This is a response to a post at Triangulations.

The sort of holier than thou Christians (or whatever religion) who claim that only by believing just as they do can lead to salvation are truly insufferable people. They don't care if those who would suffer in accordance with their terrible beliefs are helpless children. They so badly want themselves to be special snowflakes that they are willing to become vile, hateful, intolerant people to achieve that goal.

If deities there be, then they are much more evolved than humans. They would not have egos which require worship from said humans. Fundamentalist Christians believe in a cosmic abusive parent: the Demiurge.

I had nightmares about hellfire and damnation from a vengeful God until I was nearly thirty years old. It took many years to get rid of the fears that were put into my psyche during my childhood.