Morons in Our Midst.

Note: Since this is my first blog on blogger, I wanted to create an introduction for myself for you to get an idea of my background and why I'm writing this blog. But something happened to me this week that needed to be reported immediately, so the introduction will have to wait -- probably until my second entry.

Since I'm postponing the introduction, a very brief overview of what it will be is that this blog, Religion, Superstition and Ignorance, will be about how people need to become aware of the realities of the world. Too many minds are clouded by beliefs that are false, and sometimes dangerous, when we consider that these believers constitute the voting public, our elected officials, and foreign policy makers.

Enough. On to the topic at hand.

Ignorance

About two weeks ago, I was working ( i.e. sitting in a small office doing nothing) with a coworker of mine on a lazy do-nothing Sunday. With nothing to do, we held chatted about small, insignificant things, like grades, classes and work. The conversation led me to mention that for a history class once, we had to read the Koran. My coworker was surprised to hear this. I started explaining what I'd read, talking about the assignment, and what I'd found. Soon, she interrupted me to ask,

"Wait... The Koran is that the," she paused, "Jewish book?"

I said nothing. I could say nothing at all. I only could give her the nastiest look, telling her, without words, "You could not be more wrong if you tried. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard." This cold, disgusted glance was interpreted correctly, as she immediately laughed at her absurd question.

Alas, if it was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard, it was abruptly knocked into second place by what she said next, after composing herself from laughing:

"No, wait, is it" she paused, "Kwanzaa people?"

My jaw dropped. My eyes bugged wide open, and immediately sealed shut as I hoped that she was joking, or, more likely, that this was some bizarre dream, and that I would soon awake and chuckle at the absurdity of what was just said.

But no. This was real. It's almost as if Will Ferrel was there to rub it in, saying, "That just happened!"

As amused as you may be at this point, certainly I tell this story to get a few laughs, no one really should be chuckling at all. This ignorance should be completely unacceptable in our society; we are at war with people protecting an ideology that takes firm root in the Koran. If anyone cannot identify a simple fact regarding the free world's greatest enemy, what hope is there for this country?

I'm convinced that this sheer ignorance is not isolated. I think most of this nation's ignorance regarding our enemy stems from our religion: Christianity. This religion teaches us of good and evil: black and white, and nothing of gray areas, or complicated situations. Satan is evil. He is not a complicated character, just evil for no reason except that Yahweh and his people need an antagonist. He's like the villain in children's cartoons: One dimensional, uncomplicated, pure evil.

And if you believe that the evil we encounter in the real world is like this -- simple, bland, evil simply for the sake of being evil -- then let me put this kindly: don't vote. Please.

The reality is that the evil we face does not come from Satan, or some malevolent force of the supernatural. This evil comes directly from religion -- an entirely human creation -- and I think it hits closer to home than most people think. Could it be that the same human characteristic that allows someone to believe that this life is meerly a precursor to the afterlife, is the same human characteristic that allows someone to believe that they will be rewarded in the afterlife for blowing up a bus full of innocent civilians?

I think people, particularly Christians, focus on how they are different from fundamentalist Muslims. Of course, that's what they want to see. We want them to be barbaric, and one dimensional, and just evil. But look at the beliefs they hold and compare it to your beliefs. If you defend a belief that you think is the only acceptable ticket into the afterlife of preference -- heaven -- then you have something strikingly similar to these fanatics.

Let me not be misunderstood: I am not comparing a Muslim suicide bomber to a church-going family of five from Kansas. Although I believe Islam and Christianity to be more similar than people give credit, Christians and Muslims in the year 2006 practice their religions in very different ways; i.e. Christian fundamentalists are not committing acts of terrorism on behalf of their god, whereas Muslims are.

Mainstream Christianity and fundamentalist Islam (which is the mainstream) have at least one glaring similarity: the belief that theirs is the one and only truth, and that anyone who fails to accept their truth will receive their god's wrath once they die.

The differences are obvious; the similarities are clear, yet ignored, because they are uncomfortable, and challenging. We can all agree on the differences, but its time people started realizing the similarities, because they are glaring.

Superstition

The second occurrence of morons in my midst happened more recently. Another uneventful Sunday at work gave me and the two other student workers that afternoon plenty of time to chat. Somehow a conversation about the upcoming Minnesota State Fair transformed into a conversation about the end of the world (don't ask me how; you know these things happen.) A coworker, not the same from the last story, started explaining his beliefs about the soon-to-come end of the world. He based his beliefs on two sources: the ancient Mayan calendar, and the alleged Bible codes.

It seemed very strange to me that he was mixing two entirely different cultures: ancient Mayan, and ancient Hebrew, with two entirely different mythologies: polytheistic vs. monotheistic being one of many major differences between the two cultures. Yet somehow made them reconcile into a single world view that agreed on a date for the end of the world. The only sources he was able to use to support his beliefs were "something [he] saw on the History Channel" and "stuff online."

He claimed that the Mayans made several predictions that have come to pass to a startling degree of accuracy. He claimed they predicted World War II, including the Holocaust, among other less specific predictions of war and natural disasters. However, when pressed with the fact that the ancient Mayans could never have had any knowledge of the existance of Jews, he backstepped and gave a more generalized overview of the holocaust, "a people will be massacred," or something along those lines. He also said the temple in Jerusalem will soon be rebuilt, a sign in Christian and Jewish mythology that the end is soon to come.

My coworker settled on the year 2013 as being the final year of existence. Although he has been (thus far) admittedly wrong in his former prediction regarding the year of the appocolypse: 2006.

I tried to get him to think critically of his beliefs. I did so to try to give him a new perspective, and consider all possible explanations of his "research," but mostly, because his beliefs are just incredibly, incredibly stupid.

Once again, part of me found this interaction amusing. I couldn't help but laugh during this conversation. But also, at one point, he mentioned that he voted for George Bush in the 2004 election. It didn't so much bother me the fact that he voted for the worst president in American history to be reelected; it bothered me that perhaps he based his vote on the notion that we all only have 7 years to live.

Frankly, this is very scary to me. A poll I read recently indicated that 44% of Americans believe that Jesus will return to earth in their lifetime, effectively ending life as we know it on earth. Doesn't it worry you that these people not only vote, but are elected to serve our country? Is this why our government is so inactive on long term problems such as global warming, a 7 trillion dollar deficit and failing social security? Because they and their constituents aren't entirely worried about the distant future?

This should be very worrisome for people like me, who hope to live past 2013.

If you believe that this world simply leads up to the real deal, afterlife where you spend eternity with god, let the rest of us make the decisions here on planet earth, because we think they actually matter. You can have you afterlife all to yourselves.

Let's all accept that this is the life that matters because its the only one we know for sure that we get, and for all we know, its the only one. And if you think that the world is ending next week, shouldn't you be on some cocaine and hooker binge right now?