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Religion can be a good thing so long as it isn't forced down the throats of others. Having one's own views and beliefs is fine, but nobody deserves to have their rights as a human taken away because they do not believe what another does. Once a religion is used for political purposes, such as to justify things like conquests, etc, it automatically begins to lose some credibility IMO. Much of science goes against certain religious views, but many of religions most fiery adherents have no problems with the fruits of science.
Just take a look at some of the documentaries on the Westboro Baptist Church as an example. They preach damnation, but they sure are choosy. Did they check to see which of all those technologies their homes are filled with were made or created by Jews, Gays or any other “sinners?”
Al Qaeda rails against the West and it's nonbelievers, but how much technology created by non-believers do they believe in? Even though I am not gay myself, I wrote to a very well known organization that is set up to lobby against gay marriage because, according to them, it helps destroy the family and family values in accordance with the Bible. I asked them why they only chose that one issue. I asked why they didn't also target other issues. I informed them that their tax dollars don't actually go towards supporting gays were they to be married, necessarily. However, every day their tax dollars went directly towards supporting undercover operations undertaken by the likes of local and state law enforcement, the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, military intelligence, etc wherein operatives were sent in to sleep with people they were spying on, etc.
They sometimes slept with married people. They sometimes had sex out of wedlock. They sometimes actually got married, thus entering into false marriages and taking false oaths “under God” knowingly. They at times arranged to have people sleep with prostitutes, and since we were paying them to have sex with others, weren't we paying for them to be prostituted? They even had sex with others of the same sex as part of their job and tax dollars were going directly to fund that. Why did they never raise any alarms over that if “God” and what the Bible said remain so important to them? How could their conscience allow their tax dollars to go towards the one and make sure the other that their tax dollars may never touch to become such an issue of contention?
I'm not against gay marriage nor legitimate spies and legitimate undercover work, nor a person's right to have their opinion and state it, it just seems a touch hypocritical and certainly choosy. They never wrote me back, prompting my observation that it's also a little ironic that a group that's so vocal about their opinions regarding the state and family values would remain so silent about that one.
I also saw similar things when I was a student at the University of Connecticut's landscape architecture department I went through harassment based on my race and there were many things I noticed while going through it. In fact, noticing what was happening and paying attention to the hows, whose and why of what was happening to me is began to demystify the circumstances I found myself in. I saw patterns in what was happening, and became less frustrated by feelings of helplessness. It was a cathartic experience in many ways kind of like when rap artist La Chat talked in an interview about her abusive relationship she went through, and the things the person did to her in that relationship. It was freeing.
By seeing what was really happening I was able to define it and then take some impact out of its intended blows and even parry and dodge because the more they happened the more “telegraphed” they became. I also learned a lot about human nature, its light side and its dark side. Regarding God and the Bible I noticed there were people that tried to intimidate me by pretending to pray for my demise right in front of me or for strength in bringing it about. Once they realized I was a Buddhist and not a Christian and that this had no affect on me, whatsoever, they tried using it to bully other classmates into doing what they wanted.
Admittedly, it was a move of desperation on their part by this time. They were having much more trouble with me than they thought, and they decided to call on “God.” Of course in this case I'm not sure how appropriate it was. I mean I'm no Biblical expert or theologian, but wouldn't Jesus be against harassing an innocent person just because you enjoy doing so and don't like their race? I mean at least according to the Bible's teachings? Really, weren't their prayers pointed in the wrong direction just in terms of a Judeo-Christian POV or uh compass? Yeah, it didn't last long and nobody bought it.
And guess what? Their goal was to stop me from graduating, and graduate is exactly what I did. Just like the Westboro Baptist Church hasn't stopped pride in America or support for the troops, I stood there on a bright sunny graduation day cap and gown and diploma in hand. And all the false praying in the world just did not stop it.
To read about my inspiration for this article go to www.lawsuitagainstuconn.com.