May 13, 2009
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What do you do when you catch kids stealing apples from your tree?
Punishing kids may be one solution,
but the parents need to be held accountable for members
of their family! |
Recently I was appalled to watch two kids stealing apples from my friends tree in the middle of the day while their mother stood across the street collecting their spoils. This wasn't a case of the needy doing what they had to survive. This was a case of blatant theft. Since the mother condoned their behaviour, I had to excuse the kids for their behaviour. I did nothing more than insist that they return the apples. Of course, as this was taking place, the mother disappeared into her house. She was quite willing to let her kids take the rap.
Some would exact a punishment on the kids and overlook the mother's complicity. In fact, often a family may be absent from the scene of a crime but should still be held accountable because they have passed on immoral values to their kids.
The entire family must be held accountable
Most would agree that the family should be held accountable, except when it comes to other types of organizations or identifiable groups -- like religions.
For example, there was a time when wearing a Boy Scout uniform carried with it an implied promise to live up to the ideals that went with it. A boy may have been the worst possible kid in the neighbourhood but when he wore his Boy Scout uniform he seldom, if ever, violated his oath. It was not just a matter of personal choice, he also knew that other Boy Scouts would be watching him. He was honour bound to act honourably. Their was a code of conduct that was universally known and understood.
The Christian churches should take a lesson from their offsprings -- the Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Brownies and Girl Guides.
Every Christian should wear the same uniform
A battle rages. It is mainly being fought between Christian extremists and their designated enemies -- the gays and atheists. Gays have made some inroads in the Christian community -- at least that segment that accepts gays. Atheists have made none because our goal doesn't happen to be membership in a church.
Most atheists would rather continue with a 2,500 year practice that, for the most part, did not confront those who believed in Gods but only asked that we be left alone in our non-belief -- and not be the objects of discriminatory practices that would deny us basic human rights.
Unfortunately, this live and let live philosophy is not being practiced by religious extremists who are following the age old practice of waging war on anybody who is not one of them -- and if you haven't been paying attention, they fight dirty.
Which brings us to a searing question.
Do extremists speak for all Christians?
While Christians may make distinctions as to which flavour of Christianity they follow, non-Christians do not appreciate the task making similar distinctions between one Christian group and another. Heck, in my home town a Catholic in one part of town does not agree with what is taking place in a Catholic church on the other side of town. And don't bother asking their priests for guidance, they are too used to keeping a tight lip.
Consequently practically every Christian group takes it personally when one of "their" family is attacked. It does not matter how grevious the immoral harm being attacked, most Christians either circle the wagons and defend, without question, the offending Christian group - or worse yet, do nothing! It would appear that any group labeled as Christian gets a free ride from other Christians when it comes to morality, values and, most blatantly of all, interpretation of the Christian Bibles -- there are quite a few of them and, like it or not, they differ on a lot of issues but, who is noticing. One Christian group is not about to take another to task over a bibilical interpretation. But watch the war begin if an Atheist dares point out the same questionable interpretation. Which leads me to my atheist complaint!
Hey, Christians,
some of your flock
steal apples!
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And now, what are you going to do about it?
Are you willing to stand by and let us Atheists fight some of the atrocious acts of your fellow Christians, or are you sanctimoniosly excusing yourself from the entire issue since you won't be eating the apples?
I would be willing to wager that if a particular Christian group was found guilty of a major moral sin and all associated groups were to be punished accordingly, those other Christian groups would disavow any relationship.
Its time, therefore, for the Christian community to "clean house" and stop members of their group from stealing apples and, at the same time, quit leaving it up to non-Christian victims to deal with your Christian extremists.
We are not like some of the gays who want to join your congregations. We are simply people who have learned to survive and thrive. . . without gods!
Anton Kozlik
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I commonly encounter the attitude of, “Boy, glad I didn’t grow up in that cult! I’m just a plain old Christian.” 
