So in some respect, out of self preservation, I have to censor my full opinions down to what my bosses won’t get angry about so I don’t lose the tenuous grasp I have on the lower class and (sans-income) begin a spiral down into homelessness and inevitably male prostitution and starvation. (The starvation would be due to my total inability to succeed as a male prostitute. My jaw doesn’t open very far.) I still think I can get on board rule number one though, since even a conscious effort to moderate my detest for the religious right doesn’t filter out enough for anyone to wonder where I stand on the issue.

I actually make it through the whole list with no more problems, until rule number seven. I find the opinions and actions of the saved, most especially here in the bible belt, to be so perverse, dispicable, and down right sadistic, that I can in no way “strive to respect the dignity of all people”. Without considering any other topic, I think the religious stance on homosexuality alone is enough to condemn anyone who professes belief in the “good” book. When an entire group vocally and energetically denies basic human rights to people outside of their pious holy roller circle jerk, I get pretty pissed off. I would argue that the policies of the american church are so disastrous for progress and equality that those involved should be publicly shamed until they reluctantly drop their bigotry (on the surface) and finally allow people with different beliefs to be treated like actual human beings. As an add-on to that point, I would also argue from my extensive experience with the mind numbing garbage spewed across the nation in the form of conservative radio ready packed for mass consumption by a predominantly white, predominantly christian audience. By extensive experience I mean a forced listening period of at least eight hours a day of conservative talk radio. (I’m getting hungry for a bullet just thinking about it) Over the last year that I have been listening to a work day’s worth of panic soup with hate crackers, I have not been given much of a sense that the religious right in America has any dignity for me to disrespect. Somewhere between screeching like a banshee about how we should be shooting illegal immigrants at the border, and face-sharting ad nauseam to the effect that our country should let the children of minorities go without food because their parents are lazy liberal parasites, my perception of the renowned dignity and civility of people who stockpile food in their bunkers at the advise of their freakishly Aryan-Mormon fear puppeteer with a chalk board fetish shifted from one of respect to one you might experience while poking the maggots out of roadkill with a stick, or inspecting your feces to admire the quantity of corn you consumed the day prior. That is, an attitude of morbid curiosity at best. As a result, even if I found dignity in the cult of Jesus which I had the option of respecting, I don’t feel they deserve it.

Also I have an aversion to signing up to follow inflexible rules someone else came up with. But despite what my incessant venting may infer, I actually see the point of this pinky swear dealio, and I think it’s good to try to encourage like minded people to stand up for the secular values that so many of us silently adhere to.

With other people around I am know for yelling out “I swear to God!” when joking about something. Friends see the jokes, other people believe me.

I mean, why shouldn’t we swear on something everyone can see? Everyone can see me??

(Hmm… I think there may be another atheist blogger who has been in a similar place before, I wonder who that could be? )

I have neuroses that make me extremely uncomfortable with sex, but I don't project them onto everybody else (well, within reason – I don't like to see people engaging in overly passionate "public displays of affection" and I might snidely ask them to get a room, but aside from that…), and I think that's the difference between somebody like me and somebody like the man in question who is basing his concerns on religion. I know that my issues are irrational; he does not.