Thank God

So as I sat staring at my blogs, only one thought can come to my mind. Thank God this is finally done. As I said in my first blog, I really don't like writing about my feelings or do I really think people want to read them. This blog assignment i had turned out to be harder than I thought. It seemed to take me forever to find something that wouldn't bore me enough so I could read the whole article and then after that I had to write about it. I did enjoy finding some of those videos though and speaking of Bush. As I am on my last blog I would like to look back at everything I have learned. I feel like I have learned a lot since I did not have any prior knowledge of any other religions or that much political background. I am a political science major but I like the animal rights class and stuff like that. I feel more educated and hopefully I started to sound more educated too. I really did enjoy Lobdell's class and it has proven to be one of the more beneficial classes I have taken here at UCI. I feel now like I can debate in religious talks and political ones. I feel like I know more about Romney than he does. I got to see how religious some leaders are and it really does scare me. I hope that in the future our leaders have a faith but are not ran by it. I have nothing against religion but I believe it plays too big of a role. Look at all the major wars in history and religion can play to some part of it. In closing, thank you for taking the time to read my blogs and I hope it was beneficial. As I finally finish I am thankful for taking this class and learning as much as I did. I am forever changed.

Jesus Juice

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-huckabee2dec02,1,7091858.story?coll=la-politics-campaign&ctrack=1&cset=true

Conservatives have a new guy to look up to: Mike Huckabee. He is the governor of Arkansas for the last 10.5 years. He is a Southern Baptist that proclaims his faith is foundation for all his decisions believing in what is right and wrong. He is hoping the be a Republican presidential nominee. HIs faith is the main reason for this article though. They keep bringing his South Baptist background to all his policy-making since he was a southern preacher. He is anti-abortion and anti-gay rights but definitely loves to tax people so already I don't like him. He kind of is like Bush. He lets his faith rule him. I have nothing against faith but why does your faith have to dictate my life. He may be a great but I have already shut him off since he can't be logical and let that play a role in his decision making. From the article he has many accomplishments but can he really credit them all to his faith and nothing to his own rationality. Are rationalist a minority in our country? I hope not. Rationalist keep us alive. Huckabee could be a great leader, but he needs to tone the faith down. Be faithful but don't impose it on everyone else.

Gay Hotel

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/world/americas/03argentina.html?ref=world

Gays are finally accepted in Buenos Aires. They have made a hotel entirely designed to accomidate gays. It's nice to see a country to accepting of gays and I wish our nation could be more accepting. This country used to jail gays but not holds the most gay rights. They even had the first World Cup for gay soccer players there. Buenos Aires has a Catholic descent but they still believe in people's right. I believe being gay is a biological thing and why should you be punished for how you feel inside. This country is so anti-gay and so bible crazy that they won't let gays have any rights. We can learn a thing from Buenos Aires and really accept people for who they are. As a country ran by money, you think they would love gay money but I guess they think they are better.

An Increase In BC

So you may ask, how does birth control have anything to do with religion? Let me answer you. It has everything to do with it. How come birth control used to be cheap and now all of a sudden its expensive? Look who is in office, Mr. Bush. I am not saying he did it himself but he probably approved or started this change. Birth control is a necessity. With the higher prices on birth control, girls either switched to the morning after pill (which in multiple doses is not healthy for you) or nothing at all. Kimberly Martinez of some Abstinence group thought this was a great thing. She thinks without birth control, girls will stop having sex. Wrong, they will just keep having it but not the government may need to pay for her abortion. Abstinence is some Christian thing so this increase can relate back to that. If we didn't have such a religious right in our government, this increase would never happen. They think it is abuse of our insurance companies but insurance companies should be there to help us, not make a profit. We should really follow the French and have socialized insurance.

Chuck Norris on the Bible

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7czRrFNRQO0&feature=related

Chuck Norris is on a tangent now. He appeared to be speaking for the bible being taught in public schools. Why Chuck why? Is everyone Christian in public schools??? Does everyone have to waste even more time and teach kids of something they may not need in the future. Spend that time and teach more math. Most people still can't add. Why is Chuck making a commercial to promote this. What is it to him? I find it stupid. I went to Catholic school and I hated bible classes. Now imagine you have that class in high school. Already so many people ditch class, this would only increase that amount. Go back to fighting in movies Chuck and leave the public schools alone.

Bible and Romney

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/us/politics/01romney.html?ref=politics

So basically on Wednesday's night Republican presidential debate, Romney was asked if he believed every word of the bible. He sort of tip-toed around the question but said, “I believe the Bible is the word of God, absolutely.” He didn't want to answer the question directly because he doesn't believe every word but that would of made Christians mad and that is who he is trying to appeal to. I hate how he can't answer honestly (or for that fact, no one ever answers honestly) what he really believes. Has our nation really come down to this where we can't really speak our true feelings. Do we really have to mask everything to make everyone happy? Can we not stand out and stand up for what we really believe in? So what, he is Mormon. Get over it. Does that mean he will trying to get everyone to have multiple wives - No. That's his personal life and has nothing to do with how he would run the office. The only guy that really infused his faith on the world in Bush. His right-wingedness doesn't like abortion, gay rights, or stem-cell research. All things that are against his faith to him. if I want to get an abortion, I don't want Bush telling me I can't. Is he going to pay for the hospital bills, food, clothes, and the personal trainer to get me back in shape - No. Unless you are going to help everyone with your faith, leave it alone. It is just faith and nothing else.

Romney is back

Romney is back and he is hear to talk. It is decided that on Thursday, December 6th he will address the nation with their concerns on his faith in Texas. This was pretty close to where John F. Kennedy did his speech nearly 50 years ago. His speech will be called "Faith in America," which will “share his views on religious liberty, the grand tradition religious tolerance has played in the progress of our nation and how the governor’s own faith would inform his presidency if he were elected.” I think it is about time. Most people said they wouldn't vote for a Mormon candidate so he needs to show the people what they are missing out on. It's sort of ironic since he really didn't want this election to be on his faith but it is. This nation is always fixated on the unimportant things. Because of peoples stupidity is why Bush is in office. If Al Gore was president the world would of been much better. No global warning for one thing and probably no war. But back to Romney. I can't wait until his address and plan to watch it. Hopefully it will be beneficial and not destructive. (You may find this article on the New York Times website and I am not sure where the speech will be aired).

A Challenge for the Future

What if my child wants to become a member of the Islamic faith? First I would ask why? If his or her answer is well thought out I would support them. I was not brought up with a overwhelming religious background. This was good and bad. I probably would not have done a few things if I was a little more religious, but hey, what are you going to do? But back to the topic. The Islamic faith is strong. There is much debate and scandal in the news about it, but the core of the Islamic faith is not the extremist attention grabbing topic you see on the news. How many of you know exactly just how many Muslim families work and live right besides you? There values are similar to the Christian faiths with one obvious difference. In a Muslims eyes Jesus was not God’s son but just another prophet such as Muhammed. This one ideal I think is the largest challenge for Christians to get over. If you compared the two religions after that there is actually much similarity and I challenge all of you to educate yourselves on that.

Choices

What are the politics of religion when it comes to marriage? If the husband is Jewish and the wife Catholic, should one convert? Or should the children of this marriage be brought up to have an appreciation and a choice for themselves? It is difficult to control who the one is that you love. I personally believe that the children should have a choice. But think about what your personal religion is. Did you choose it? Most likely not. Most likely your parents passed it on to you. Are today’s children more mentally capable of that type of choice? I think so. At least I hope so. Children of this era are much more capable of such a choice. I am sure we have all spoke to that five year old that made us feel young. Of course not all children are at this level, but the maturity of all kids is becoming a much shorter phase. There was an episode in 7th Heaven that dealt with this issue and it was very educational. I still remember if 5+ years later. All children should get that choice and really decide if any religion is right for them.

Virgins

How can one man kill innocent people for his religious beliefs? For the promise of a large number of virgins waiting for him in the afterlife? Speaking of this belief I saw a humorous play on it, I believe on Family Guy. They showed an extremist blow up some people then when he got to heaven he did have virgins waiting for him, just not the type he expected. He found a bunch of pimple faced computer geeks playing Dungeons and Dragons. That was hilarious. But back to the topic. Where does a group get off killing fellow members of their society for religion? That is not appropriate and will never be accepted. What point does it serve? They are just killing some many innocent people. If you want to kill yourself then go ahead but don't take away that choice from someone else. I hate suicide bombers because they take away that choice. How can you justify killing all those people to yourself. I will never understand.

Food for Thought

I think separation of church and state is a good thing because in America we have so many different religions represented. How could we ever decide which religious beliefs to follow? If we all believed in the exact same ideals it would be easy to include some more conservative values in our laws. Some would say that our laws are plenty conservative, but the extremists will beg to differ I am sure.

Back to the Disgusting Perverts

Catholic Priests and the continuing stories about the molestation of young boys. How am I supposed to have faith when there are so many instances of such sinful acts? I know that God will forgive them, but should he? To me, if I was one of those molested I would feel just as horrible as someone that lived through the holocaust. And I do not believe that there is anyone that feels that Hitler should be forgiven. Are these two acts equal? When you compare the forced intercourse of a young boy to the forced starvation and humiliation of the young Jewish prisoners; there is at least room for debate. That debate if done by a holocaust survivor and a rape survivor I am sure would be intense. (Please do not assume I am comparing rape to murder. I did clarify ‘holocaust survivor.’) It is just sad that both these things happened and I wish they hadn't. The world is a messed up place and hopefully the right punishment will happen to those inhumane people.

How can I tell if I really love something? I cannot tell anymore if the new thing I must work extra hours to obtain is something I can really use or just another waste of money that will be subordinated by the new product a month from now. I am off the topic of religion, but my point is still on. What I am saying is that with every new interpretation of religion or the more that I learn about it, makes me question if there is something better or if I should just appreciate what I have. Did my parents pick the correct religion for me? Is being of the Catholic faith all that great? I've been learning about other religions lately from the media and in class and some have great points and some have not so great points. After learning these other ideals, I'm starting to become more agnostic. How do I know which religion is right and which one should I choose?

Words For Thought

How does one believe in religion if one has a formal education? What is the main thing that a formal education teaches us? Question everything. And what does religion ask us to do? Have faith. Religion expects us to believe and accept that what is in the “Book” whatever your personal book is. How are we to keep accepting that we go to heaven when any scientist will tell you that when you die, you are eaten by bugs and processed back into the Earth? I think it makes those of us who have nothing else to believe in feel good inside to believe there is something else than this battle for social status and constant achievement for more, whatever ‘more’ is. I too am plagued by always wanting the next comsumerist item that corporate America shoves down out throat. But will we ever just realize what life is really about? And if we realize it, will we act on it?

Funny Funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o

So I was searching the web trying to find something funny about religion for my blogs. I like to make people laugh. George Carlin makes some pretty valid points in his rant about religion. It talks about how God is all willing and can do many things but he needs one thing... money! Isn't that sort of funny. How home the church is always trying to take money from us. Does God really need it? They make $100,000 a year through the basket that gets passed around during the sermon alone. George Carlin is right, that is bullshit! We give money to an imaginary man hopefully so we can go to heaven. Look at the world today, does it look like a God is guiding us? Look at the war, it's terrible. Carlin brought up another funny topic. Everyone prays for anything or everything. They do it on one day, Sunday. God's day of rest. That sucks for God huh? Carlin came up with some good points. He is going to worship the Sun now, doesn't seem that crazy. At least you can see it.

Ok I have done research on the Islamic religion enough to understand that the prophet Muhammed is not to be portrayed in any physical form. Obviously, everyone knows that now. Even in ancient artwork of his stories his face is left blank. I understand the reasoning and purpose. But what about when some school children name a teddy bear with his name? I just heard about the volunteer Western school teacher that has been placed in jail for letting her students choose the name of the classroom mascot and when they chose Muhammed, she was arrested. (Thank you Howard Stern once again for giving me News with Robin Quivers). These acts are the kind that push the West away from acceptance and adaptation of Islam. To any Westerner, I think even some Islamic Westerners, the act of putting a volunteer school teacher in jail is beyond extreme. It is plain crazy. Being reprimanded and asked to change the name would have been much easier. For those who do not understand the serious nature of this act, this punishment is just wrong. In my opinion it actually goes against Islamic law. Sharia law clearly says that these laws are intended solely for those of the Islamic faith. So where do authorities get off enforcing these laws on a non-Islamic person? This is very upsetting. I know they were trying to giving her 10 years in jail and 40 lashes in the beginning but that has changed. She got sentenced to 15 years in jail. I know some are trying to pardon her now.

Gobble Gobble

Turkey. No, not what you just had your fill of for Thanksgiving. I am speaking of the nation here. Turkey is a nation that is the West’s great hope for having a secular Middle Eastern country. The West believes that if Turkey can have a successful secular nation, then there is hope for the rest of the Middle East. But is Turkey the best choice for a shining example of a secular state? Have you ever heard of the Armenian Genocide? Ya, that was the Turks. They tried to completely wipe off the Armenian culture from the face of this planet. To this day they have not admitted to causing that genocide. As an Armenian it deeply hurts me that a nation could not face their consequences. Don't get me wrong though... I have a house in Turkey and I love going there. But do they deserve to receive all of the praise they do? Well…I think what it comes down to is that they are the best shot we have or maybe the only one.