10 Thoughts

I’ve been listening to talk radio a lot lately, mostly right-leaning programs such as Rush, The Factor, and several Christian programs, and my mind has become increasingly stuffed with thoughts and ideas for which I have no one to chat with about. So here are ten topics that I have been pondering, in no particular order.

According to Neal Boortz (1340 AM) there was a study conducted which showed that both democrats and republicans tend to ignore negative facts or statements about their own party or favored politicians. The study included a brain scan which showed that when one of the people studied was given a negative piece of information about a political figure that they liked, their brain activity revealed that the area in which the brain deals with “rewards” had the most activity. So, in essence the person would compute the negative information and their brain would respond as if the information was positive, therefore causing that person to either ignore or irrationally discredit the information without really thinking it through and without even considering whether the information was true or false. I have a strong feeling that many people’s brains are wired in such a way and I hope that more of us can understand that and attempt to keep our biases from clouding our vision.

After hearing about that study I started to wonder about a segment I heard on Relevant Radio (930 AM), a Catholic talk station, in which the host was describing how difficult it was for him to install laminate flooring in his home over the weekend. According to the host he was having a very hard time putting down the floor, which was supposed to be easy to install, and he was becoming frustrated to the point of almost uttering some expletives, which would be very un-Catholic of him. So he stopped what he was doing and decided to pray for a saint (I forget which one) that may be able to “help” him complete his task. The host went on to say that after he stopped and prayed he had a much easier time with the floor and he thanked the saint for helping him. After the host finished his story I could not help but think, “Wait a minute, this guy was frustrated and angry so he stopped and took a breather, which would calm most people down and allow them to refocus and clear their head, therefore allowing them to accomplish tasks more easily. But instead of perceiving the situation that way, his faith (bias toward religious beliefs) led him to credit his new found focus to a supernatural being.” So now I wonder, is it the hosts’ brain that is causing him to ignore the facts, or maybe, is it my brain?

Speaking of clearing ones brain, is it really possible to be a freethinker? By "freethinker" of course I mean someone who is able to think and comprehend thoughts and ideas without having a preconceived notion about those thoughts and ideas or any biases one way or another. I think in general the answer is no, or at least it is extremely difficult to be a true freethinker. I think this because it would be nearly impossible for an adult to put aside his or her life experiences in order to approach an idea/argument/situation and set all things equal in an attempt to have a truly unbiased view. With that said, being a Judge must be an extremely difficult job.

Listening to Christian radio programs and listening to Christians themselves I've begun to see a trend that Christians as a group have a lot of complaints about how their religion and morals are treated and viewed in our society. Before I go further let me just say that I in no way believe that only Christians complain, I agree that everyone has complaints. The complaints range from not teaching intelligent design in public schools to how the "Yu-Gi-Oh" card game is disrupting American youth. One of the major complaints that I hear is how public schools keep our children from practicing their faith, which is totally not the case since any student can pray or wear religious clothing in school as long as they are not disruptive. According to www.religioustolerance.org, "...the same First Amendment guarantees that students may engage in many forms of non-disruptive personal religious expression, including the wearing of religious clothing and jewelry. They can pray (individually or in student-led groups) on the school bus, at the flagpole, before lunch, in the corridors, in the classroom before and after lessons, at sports events, etc. They can talk freely about religion to other students outside of class. They can distribute religious literature. If there are any student-led clubs in the school, they have the right to organize student-led Bible prayer clubs." It just seems to me that the Christian-right just will never be satisfied. They can pray in school but now they want the commandments posted on walls; they can view whatever media they wish but they still want to censor anything they don't find morally sound and etc. I have a strong feeling that no matter what concessions the government may give to Christians, be it outlawing abortion and gay marriage or making Bible study mandatory in public schools, they will not be content unless the U.S. goes from being a democracy to a theocracy.

So, let's assume for a moment that the U.S. becomes a Christian run nation and all laws are created with the Bible as the main inspiriation, would that solve the problem of religious strife in America? I think not, for once a "Christian-state" is created it is only a matter of time before various versions of the faith are fighting for power. Will the Catholics win, or the Lutherens, or the Protestants, or the Baptists, or the Evangelicals????? Let me just say this, for as peaceful as Christians are most of the time, this hypothetical battle would most definately turn bloody. For proof, just see Northern Ireland.

Random thought: Why is it that religion will trust and rely on science only when it can coinced with the religious beliefs themselves but when the science doesn't go along with what the religion teaches it is discredited by the religious leaders and the faithfull. That logic seems a quite nonsensical to me. On one hand religion will trust the science behind bullet-proof materials to protect their leaders and they will trust and rely on medical science to aid those in their missions but once science says, "Hey, we may have found evidence that appears to contradict your religious texts/beliefs." then all of sciences credability is lost on the religious faithful, yet they still ask for those antibiotics that medical science dishes out.

Speaking of science, when did it become offensive? The other day my girlfriend and I went to a bookstore with one of my friends (a Christian) and his girlfriend (Hmmm, wonder who they were...) and we just looked at books/magazines and talked about stuff. Afterword my girlfriend asked me if I had chosen to read the science magazine and book on purpose in order to offend my Christian buddy. I was stunned. For one thing, I'm not the type of person who is going to try and purposely offend a friend, at least not covertly. Believe me, if I want to offend you, you'll know. But that definately wasn't the case in this instance. I just like science! I like to read about science and learn about science! Is that offensive to Christians? It shouldn't be. And why is it that my girlfriend or anyone for that matter, would think that science material would be offensive to a religious person, yet I was never asked if I was offended by the religious material that my friend was looking through????? (Btw, I was not offended)

Well, as usual I always think I can keep a post short and then fail miserably. So, to wrap this all up here are my final three thoughts summed up in one sentence each.

The "right" often talks about the "Moral fabric" of America as if it were one uniform color like a bedsheet, but I tend to think it's more like a patchwork quilt with varying shades, colors, and designs, which is fine by me.
Is is just me or are preists who are accused of child molestation treated much differently and significantly more lightly than say public school teachers who are accused of the same crime?
And Finally, to me all of this fuss in the Muslim world about these Mohamed cartoons means only one thing; with so many people throughout the world believing that their religion or their version of a religion is the correct and undeniably "true" one we as a society are headed for one hell of a train wreck. (That is of course unless we are already there.)

And that is what I've been pondering.

P.S. - I appologize for any spelling/grammar errors. The computer I'm on doesn't have Word (no spellcheck) and I don't have enough time to reread everything. Sorry.