Visit with family

ugh.....recently we saw my sister in law's family. They have 2 girls, one who is 4-ish and the other who is almost 3. Since becoming married and moving across the country, the sil has become a x-tian and attends church regularly with her kids. We think in some ways it was to establish a "family" or a support system that she was without.

Anyway, the 4 year old is a talker. While we were visiting, she talked about bible school and while drawing and writing words out, she wrote god on the top of her paper. Many of the family members were just smitten when she sang "god Bless America."

I also have an acquaintance that has talked about how proud she is of her 3 year old son reciting his first bible verse. 3!

The indoctrination starts early.....feeding the propaganda to babies.....this makes me sad.......

First Freedom First

The organizer of our local free thought group sent information about the First Freedom First film being shown in our community. The film was free at one of the local theaters last night and it discussed safeguarding separation of church and state. The film was shown in several cities across the US. The website is here.

I enjoyed the film, thought it was worthwhile. There were aspects that were pretty cheesy. Some of the people and especially the audience looked like they were pulled out of the 70's. I don't know what it was exactly, the coloring/lighting of the studio, the people's clothes....something was just funky. Some of the writing/questions felt forced/staged and some of the attempts at humor just didn't cut it, but for the most part, it was well done.

It is interesting how the fundies can put dramatic music, emotional guilt, money towards a film, and hype shit up to make what seems to some a good production together. I wish educated, reasonable, freethinking people had the same funds to develop better quality films. I think the scientific community needs to work at improving the accessibility and communicating some things for a layperson better than they have at times.

The film was NOT anti-religious, mostly promoted the personal freedom US citizens have protected by the first amendment to believe/not believe however one wants, as long as it remains personal and discouraged proselytizing to others.

I liked the way the film was organized into sections of what they felt was important. The focus points were:
Worship.... or Not
No Religious Discrimination
End of Life Care
Democracy - Not Theocracy
Reproductive Health
Respect For All Families
Academic Integrity
Sound Science

One of the interesting things to see was Kevin Bacon (yes Mr. Footloose) play and sing in the Bacon Brothers Band. I could not get the images of Footloose scenes out of my head! I also enjoyed the singing and songwriting of Catie Curtis, a folksinger, who advocated the Respect For All Families point. She lives in Massachusetts , where same sex marriage is legal. I am going to look into more of her music.

I made some points here that I want to elaborate on and explain further, but my bed is calling to me. I will come back soon after I get some rest..............

Where have I been?

Well, I, like every 3rd blogger, have failed to keep my posting up! Life gets in the way! I focus much of my energy on my family blog - ltmrfmly - on this same blogspot.com.

Sometimes, I have rants, thoughts, and things I want to get up, but just end up not getting to it. I am gonna keep this up and hope to post something at least monthly. There are times when I get a spurt of energy that I want to post on here, so I will keep it up just for that purpose. Hope to be back soon.

In the mean time, I will continue to enjoy all those atheist bloggers who do keep their blogs up! Thanks for all your hard work and commitment!

Real or Fake?

I found this coin while walking home from school when I was a kid. I showed it to my dad, who has kept it for over 20-25 years! The last several years I have been bugging him about it, wanting to find out more about it,(like it is worth $$$$), and he finally gave it to me!

I want to know is it real or fake, is it worth anything, and where do I go to research it? I thought I would try my blogs and some places online before taking it to a coin shop.

My dad did a little research, thought it was maybe a roman coin, maybe King Hadrian, but did not find coins with this exact front and back together.

Is there anyone out there that can help?

Help possum momma - fellow atheist

I have enjoyed being a regular reader of possum momma's website. She has lupus and has had several complications lately. This is an effort to raise funds to get her some UV film to install on her windows so she can come out of her cave of a bedroom to join her children in the rest of the house during daylight hours.

It has been amazing what this small grassroots effort has already raised. Thanks to Berlzebub for setting this up. You can find a history of the effort at his website.

Martin Sheen burns a hypo-x-tian

I don't really watch TV, but I think this is from the West Wing. The video touches on the craziness of x-tians to pick and choose verses from the bible that they like and desire to follow, but NOT follow others. I always have found this picking and choosing to their own desire rather stupid on their part. Following the "word of god", huh? Why this verse, but not others?! These people are morons!

The first "agnostic gospel" album?

This could be an interesting album. The artist' s name is Susan Werner. There are sound samples of her songs here. I liked the sound of her voice - and music, kinda folky, bluesy, jazz.

It sounds as if the songs vary greatly from traditional to greatly doubting religion. For the hard core atheists out there, it will probably still be too soft for them.

Not sure if I will purchase the album...but I do like her voice and style.