Radical Belief

Talking to myself about “radical”

Important word…

especially today, in light of recent events…

and lets add on “belief”…

radical belief….

Hmmm, I think that I die, that is, that I cease living…

Is this radical seeing that most people don’t believe this…

Does radical belief then come down to a numbers game…

What MOST people believe…

Or does logic or truth or fact dictate radical belief…

Hmmm, seems evident that I die, I have this instinct to live but why would I have it…why would I have a fight or flight response if I never really die…

So strange…that most people believe they are immortal and never die…

Isn’t this a radical belief…

so odd…

what other radical beliefs might flow from believing you never die…

I mean how could life have value if it never ends…

Life can’t be precious if it’s always available, never ending…

Maybe if believing we are immortal leads to the idea that life is cheap on this plane…

And can therefore easily be taken, ended, shot up, cut up, blown up, sniffed out, burned out???

SCOTUS with the MOSTUS

So the SCOCTUS with the mostus went and legalized same-sex marriage. Like you I am reading and listening when I came across this tidbit from 2016 Presidential hopeful Ben “Don’t call me Jonny” Carson on NPR

Ben Carson:
"While I strongly disagree with the Supreme Court's decision, their ruling is now the law of the land.
I call on Congress to make sure deeply held religious views are respected and protected. The government must never force Christians to violate their religious beliefs.”

Now let us focus on this portion:

“I call on Congress to make sure deeply held religious views are respected and protected. The government must never force Christians to violate their religious beliefs.”

Why would beliefs of any ilk need to be respected and protected? Believe 2+2=5 if you want or that god created the world in 6 days or that Jonny Manziel is a viable NFL quarterback. No person or government can change your belief. I think what is implied here is that Mr. Carson doesn’t want any competing beliefs and that my friend you can’t have. Why? Well how do we decide which beliefs should have no competitors? And isn’t it competition that keeps the economy going? Neeeeeeeeeeeeeext.

“The government must never force Christians to violate their religious beliefs.”

What would this look like? Seems like if you had a moral qualm with gay marriage and the government forced you to marry someone of the same sex, then this would be violating your religious belief. Is allowing people that don’t have your particular belief a violation of your belief? Again, seems like Mr. Carson doesn’t want any “belief” competition. 

You don’t really want that Ben, do you? Do you want a theocracy with no belief competitors a la https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theocracy#Islamic_states_or_Islamic_theocracies?

 No rights have been violated with the legalization of gay marriage. No religious beliefs disrespected and unprotected. You can still have your jesus, your belief that homosexuality is a sin, or that Jonny Manziel can be the next Tim Couch…no government is taking that away from you.

What the government can’t guarantee is that you won’t be offended.

How could it?