Dear Senator:
In his most recent embarrassment, President Bush has articulated a policy in which he will only nominate judicial candidates who believe our rights come from God. Perhaps he has forgotten Article VI, Section III of the constitution which states in part, “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Bush’s requirement of a judicial nominee would by definition be considered a religious test. What Atheist, Buddhist, Hindu, or Taoist could meet this litmus test? Certainly if he swore to nominate only those judges who believed that our right came from Allah or Shiva it would be clear that it was an impermissible religious test.
As a member of the Senate you have the right of “Advice and Consent.” I urge you to use it make it clear the the “Bush Test” for judicial nominees is impermissible. Make him send you judges who are not ideologues, and who represent the beliefs of American not some small far right corner of it. Like all Americans I’d like to see more judges confirmed, but not at the cost of selling out the court to a far right agenda.
In politics everything is either extreme Left or extreme Right. Keep in mind that most Americans lie somewhere in the center and find themselves uncomfortable with both sides of the debate.
Philosophy/Religion, Politics
If indeed non-believers do seemingly ignore the emotional side at their peril (which is preposterous), believe you me that emotional side comes screaming back when you loose someone you dearly love. I think it`s especially wrenching when you consider you will never ever see that person again. You can develop very close ties within a family and even though you arrange your mental furniture to accept life`s inevitabilities, that essentially flies out the window whenthat loved one….umm…..joins your ancestors. No two ways about it, it sucks! The upside is that you can still carry on the family legacy of decency to your fellow human beings and that`s cool. I try to live the remainder of my life AS IF my loved one was looking down on me even though intellectually I`m pretty certain that`s not true.
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This is another one of those problems of cultural linguistics. We don’t have the words of mourning that don’t involve supernatural aspects. I think a great service would be done to change the language of mourning away from the supernatural and bring in aspects of remembrance and responsibility.
The concept of someone being gone is to harsh and raw for people to take and ultimately it isn’t true. I’ve lost many people over the last several years and in each case none of them is gone they continue in my memory. I know who they were, what was important to to them, what they taught me, their quirks and even their failures. Those things don’t go away so long as I remember those things. As a mourner it is our job to remember those and share that memory with others. So even in death a person can continue to grow and teach. So in a way they do live on but not as an independent entity. More concentration on thinking about the deceased and less effort talking about how they are in a better place can only help us come to terms with life without them.
Truly coming to terms with loss is not really helped by talk of heaven, but is greatly aided by connection to the circle of people who also feel loss. The Friends and relatives of the deceases who hold the other parts of him, and the release felt by sharing. That is the truly human and honest response to lost.
–Nephlm
Philosophy/Religion
I’ve been absent for a while do to work demand and the incredible volume of the board, but I found something that ought to be posted since this is its target audience.
http://www.godlessamericans.org/
Apparently American Atheists are putting together a coalition of atheists and our ilk to march on DC on Nov 2nd.
May not be your cup of tea, but it is an action to say we can not be ignored. May succeed, may not, you may not like American Atheists, but we can’t be heard if we don’t speak publicly.
This is in my backyard so to speak so I plan on participating. Even you don’t, think about signing the petition, and maybe we should think about being a supporting organization, several other online communities are listed as supporting organization. I guess we could have a poll and decide if that is something we want to do.
Anyway I just thought I’d spread the word.
–Zafkiel
News, Philosophy/Religion, Politics