Do you decorate your home for Xmas or any other winter holiday?

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

never having been christian, i do not decorate my home for any christian holidays. one year when my folks were out of town, when my sister and i were young, we decided to see what it was like to have a christmas tree. it shed needles and the cats ate them. that was enough of an education for me. g

What is everyone's thought on this?

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

why would that be surprising? college grads don't automatically lose the superstitions, prejudices and delusions of their parents and their upbringing just because they attended some classes. it's not as if they've been deprogrammed! g

This is important.

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

we must not vote third party, either. we do not have a parliamentary system; there are no coalitions. there are winners and losers, and a vote for a third party is a vote for the current administration. if you are not sure about this, think: why is the republican party paying to have green party candidates' names put on local ballots? g

Just curious...

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

it depends on whether the flat earther is trying to push flat earth on me, or worse, on the world. a flat earther selling burgers isn't a problem. a flat earther appointed to lead the science committee in the house of reps -- that's a problem. g

Is living together an acceptable alternative to marriage?

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

acceptable to whom? to the government? well, it's not illegal but in terms of what you describe -- child support and all that -- you have a different legal standing in some instances from the standing you'd have if you were married. if there are children, then the above is a consideration. if there are no children, then just make sure you have directives in place regarding being able to talk to doctors is the other one is in the hospital, for example, and make sure there is a clear will. g

I was just reflecting on my "what seems to be unacceptable" behavior lately and searched the net...

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

if you don't turn FROM ethics you don't have to turn TO ethics. it's not something from which one takes a break. g

What's your idea of marriage with or without children?

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

there is no one answer; different things work for different people. but no, the foundation of marriage does not originate from early abrahamic religions. it originates pre-hominid, and there are other monogamous species. the ceremony may have developed later of course! through most of recorded history, marriage has been not a religious arrangement or a romantic arrangement but an economic one, designed to combine fortunes of houses and nations. g p.s. a strictly monogamous marriage does not have to disallow friendships.

How many of you had a boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse tell you that they wanted to end their long-term ...

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

not i. my guy believes, in a vague way, in a god he can't define, and doesn't try to define, and he doesn't want to talk about it. he is a little upset that i mention, from time to time, that i am an atheist. i can usually shut him up by saying "talking snake." he hasn't ever read the bible (i will mention here that we are jewish, and the bible in question is the jewish bible). i have. he isn't sure i'm telling him the truth about the talking snake, even though i actually read him that part. i am not trying to get him to stop believing in a god. i just want him to be nicer about my not believing in any gods. he's been better lately. "talking snake" seems to be working! we happen to love each other. what can we do? it's not a huge issue in our lives. nonetheless, tomorrow night is rosh hashana. if i feel well enough i'll go to shul with him. i kind of enjoy it. it's interesting. but no WAY am i going to waste my monday there. hours and hours of it... not so interesting, even once a year. the music is good, though. he likes me sitting next to him, even though i make him sit front row center (he's a little shy). he usually kisses me right there in shul and wishes me a happy new year. g

Why are you agnostic or atheist?

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

because there aren't any gods. therefore it would be delusional of me to think there were any. g

Here is a game adapted from one i've seen on facebook.

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

on a cleric day you can see forever priestesses in the heart the druidiot g

@genessa -- Hello, and welcome to the group.

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

thanks :-)) g

Here is a game adapted from one i've seen on facebook.

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

loki back in anger the monotheistic lisa billy buddha g

Here is a game adapted from one i've seen on facebook.

genessa comments on Sep 9, 2018:

i love cthulucy a tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow bastet yahweh we were blue suede zeus rock and roll is hera to stay g

Dr Donald Hoffman has discovered that seeing accurately is not beneficial; the opposite is the case.

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i'll start at the end. what scheme? there is no scheme. i do not believe in the usual definition of the supernatural either but my reason cannot be it cannot exist because it would destroy a purpose. if it existed and destroyed something, then that thing would be destroyed, and too bad. that would just mean rethinking everything. so that reasoning is way off. who says all life is in the same boat? all life is not in the same boat in every respect. we don't even really have a solid definition of life. scientists have long thought that without water there can be no life, and yet recently they have found life forms (not very advanced but still life forms) living happily enough in methane, which would kill everything else we think of as being alive. i think there are a lot of different boats! and life is not evolving as one. if it was, extinction would be... well, extinct. i don't know this dr. donald hoffman but what he thinks he has discovered, if your description is to be credited, is false. even the opening statement -- that seeing accurately is not beneficial -- is ridiculous. does he mean seeing with our eyes, or seeing as in understanding, and beneficial to whom? maybe a mole doesn't need to see; an owl does! it's a vague statement and most interpretations of it would lead an intelligent person to reject it, which i do. g

New here saying Hello

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

howdy! g

When and why do people become atheists?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i was not raised religiously, and i was not frightened or disgusted away from religion. i simply realized that there were no gods. it wasn't traumatic or anything. why would the world need an atheistic organization that cared about LOYALTY? what does loyalty have to do with the price of beans? there are atheistic organizations that help atheists advocate for their rights in a world where religion seems to rule. i do not think they desire loyalty! i would be quite suspicious of them if they did. cult leaders require loyalty. ugh. g

I am having lunch outdoors.

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

she was lucky, because in parts of this country, too, that vehicle would've been gone. g

This may have been asked before but I haven't seen it as I was scrolling through topics.

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

businesses don't have religion. people do. when people force their religion onto their business (with the possible exception of a business that actually does have to do with religion -- the catholic church, for example, and YES that's a business) then they are potentially violating the rights of their employees, their customers and maybe the nation if they take their cases to the scotus. therefore i do not do business with walmart, which isn't religious but which violates people's rights and destroys neighborhoods; with hobby lobby, which uses religion as an excuse to violate people's rights; or papa john's pizza, which doesn't use religion as the excuse but violates rights nonetheless. i don't care what the excuse is, whether it's religion or something else. and i don't care what religion the business' people follow as long as they do not so use it. oh yeah and coors. i don't drink beer anyway but the powers that be at coors are homophobic and act on their homophobia. i don't know whether they use religion as an excuse but i don't care. there IS no excuse. g

When I came out as an atheist to my parents, my dad was okay with me being an atheist because he was...

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

lol shhhh don't tell her! labels are not important. what she actually thinks and feels is more important. g

I do not own a TV.

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i love my tv. i have a mute button. i have a channel changer. g

Should I get the flu vaccine? What to know before flu season

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

and the immune-system compromised should seriously consider not getting vaccinated at all. g

Everything we do is selfish.

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

maybe you're confusing cause and effect. maybe a man saves someone from altruism and the result is that he feels good about himself but that wasn't why he did it. maybe a mother takes care of her child because she truly loves the child, and then she enjoys being needed but that's not why she took care of her child. there is an awful lot of assumption going on in your premise. g

So I’ve been trying to understand this for a long time.. so. There’s only two genders. Why?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

you are confusing gender with sex. regarding sex, there are animals (and fish) that do not require two sexes to reproduce. meanwhile, there are various iterations of gender, and we have cultural baggage regarding what each gender means anyway. (who says pink is feminine and blue is masculine, anyway? and do they say it everywhere?) as for our not knowing where we come from, actually we have a pretty good idea where we come from. however, not everyone is equally educated about that, and even some who are remain in denial, and back in the days when we did NOT have a pretty good idea, magic was the only apparent solution, since nothing visible seemed to fit the bill. why do we STILL do that? human nature and stubbornness, and a large dose of not-very-brightness. g

How come that Nazis are walking on our streets

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

because the current administration and legislature are not only allowing but encouraging it. change that administration and legislature, and that means locally too. g

When and how did you figure out religion was BS?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i never concerned myself much with organized religion, and the organized religion, such as it was, in my family was secular judaism. i came to the realization at age 15 that there was no god (later to be expressed "were no gods") but it didn't even occur to me to challenge judaism itself, since while it was (and is) a large part of my cultural identity, religiously i was just a sort of believer in a personal god who was my confidant when i wanted him to be and didn't interfere much in anything. so he became a fictional character and that was that. judaism doesn't actually disallow doubt (or disbelief). g

Here is a game adapted from one i've seen on facebook.

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

deity or no deity! what's my divine i've god a secret passweird (okay that's more a witch reference) holyword squares a funny thing happened to me on the way to the quorum the 64 thousand dollar confession the goduate all the president's mennonites g

It is a recurring theme that liberals/progressives/secular are on average more educated, more ...

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

what regressive left? it's the right that's regressive! liberals don't promote believers of minority religions, and minority religions are worse than western religionists HOW? your assertions make no sense because they're based on other assertions that are patently untrue. back to the left: we promote TOLERANCE of people who believe differently. that's different indeed from what you said. meanwhile, why do we need to become a religion in order to fight against religion? there is an organization called the freedom from religion foundation but it doesn't exist to convince everyone there are no gods. it's to make religionists stop persecuting the rest of us with religion. that doesn't mean we have to go around hating people who believe in various religions. g

Every time I open up to family, friends and acquaintances about my open mind, non religious and ...

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

well, i would if i had been raised christian i suppose. since i was raised as a secular jew, it never even occurred to me to tell my folks when i realized there were no gods. it just didn't seem like something they'd be interested in. i am sure had i told them they'd have been okay with it, but it just never crossed my mind to bring it up. g

I would never debate someone on their religious beliefs (unless they ask to have that debate) but I ...

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

hello back, and i'm with you with the caveat that i am not always averse to bringing it up. i don't feel compelled to do so but there are times i feel it's appropriate. i'm not shy about saying what i do and do not believe, and, if asked, why. g

Can science and religion be reconciled?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i think they have to be in denial, or redefine god in some compatible way, or both. so my answer is a general NO. i have also never seen or heard of any of the supposedly respected B scientists. g

How do you express anger?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

it depends on angry at whom or what, where, and about what. i might curse. i might cry. i might isolate myself. i don't hurt myself or use drugs or alcohol, and i have rarely indulged in revenge. i try not to hit; it depends on whether i've been physically hurt). g

Are there any nudists on board here?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

sort of kind of semi. indoors, without company (except my guy, who's used to me). i won a recipe contest in 2004 and we were sent to a clothing-optional resort in jamaica. i loved it. my guy didn't get naked as often as i did but he had a good time too. g

How do you like, or do, your potatoes?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

many ways, but i adore patatas bravas! g

Many television shows are based on god or religious themes, and was wondering if any of my fellow ...

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i hate all of those shows. i mean really, really hate them. they're badly done and preachy and they make disgusting assumptions. i prefer joan of arcadia! and yes, i am an atheist. g

I am wondering about your feelings toward movies or books with fantastic religious themes, ...

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i don't sort things i like by genre. my favorite horror film is the manchurian candidate (the original). if something is well done, and makes me suspend my disbelief, i enjoy it. that's all. g

At the age of 33, I am trying to come to grips with the possibility that I may be alone for the rest...

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i was alone for most of my life and then i met my guy at the age of 48. he was almost 52. that was 18 years ago. i wasn't looking for a guy. it just happened. now, if you don't get out much, you may never meet anyone, but i think deliberately meeting people with the idea of scouting for a partner can often lead to making bad choices in order to avoid being alone. being alone is better than being with the wrong person. i don't know anything about you in terms of how well you have learned to live with and appreciate yourself, but my advice in general is to do that, and continue to do that. be who you are. when you go out, go out to do something or be somewhere or socialize but not as a love-scout, you know? you may or may not meet someone, and it may or may not be soon, but you'll be doing something interesting and you will be in good company wherever you go as long as you bring yourself along :-)) g

Here's my struggle I am trying to figure out.

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

why would you want to encourage your kids to believe in something you think is false? g

Synesthesia.

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i am envious, although i imagine it's hard to adjust to if you were not born with it. i have, ever since learning of its existence, wished i had been born with synesthesia. it sounds just wonderful. i actually can imagine it, or i imagine i can imagine it. but then, i am an atheist lol. one topic you just can't explain to people who believe in magic? why you don't. i am currently arguing with someone who says atheism is faith-based. give me a BREAK, yeah? g

Are you a romantic? Are you passionate in a nonsexual context?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i think i am romantic but my guy is sentimental. this causes friction now and again. g

How long should you go without sex before giving up?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

with or without a partner? and why would someone else's threshold impact your own threshold? only you know the answer to this question. g

Name something that the the opposite sex do every day that is not specifically sexual in nature, ...

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i don't know what the opposite sex does every day. i only live with and love one member of the opposite sex and i cannot generalize based on that. i know that i personally never, ever apply lipstick (or any other makeup) and that i am not the only woman who refrains. my guy found a blossom on the ground in front of the hospital he was visiting and brought it back to me and handed it to me saying, "because i love you." he doesn't do that every day. he has done it maybe once or twice before in the 18 years we've known each other. i liked that. g

Is anti-theism on a par with racism?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i think you are misdefining antitheism. being against religion is not the same thing as hating or discriminating against religionists. protecting yourself from their discriminating against you is no more equivalent to racism than being black and objecting to being shot dead for no reason by a racist policeman would make you racist. g

Do you like the beginnings or they scare you?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i don't have one way of dealing with beginnings. it depends entirely on what they appear to be the beginnings of. "appear" is an important word here too, because not all beginnings are apparent until they've already begun. g

Long distance relationships : can they work when both parties haven't even met irl?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

it depends on what you expect, want and/or need from the relationship. g

Something Instead of Nothing. Why?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

you may wish to explore the concepts of antimatter and dark matter (which are not the same thing). you may also wish to avoid buying into the kind of verbal tricks my college philosopher teacher used to play (except as far as i could tell he believed in them, which did not endear him to me one bit). he said "god exists because the word god implies existence and therefore god exists." i thought him then, and think him now, an idiot. g

A well-known writer of Kerala, India, was traveling on a bus with his pregnant daughter.

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

it doesn't require explanation because it's not parapsychological. it could actually have been gas. of course the premonition isn't described here. did the writer see a vision of a sinking ferry, or just get a funny feeling in the pit of his tummy, or something else? had anyone bad ever happened to him before (or has it since) without warning of any parapsychological kind? this individual incident, lacking certain information (but even if it contained it) proves nothing and requires no explanation. stuff happens. g

Nihilism is honesty in a dishonest world

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

says you lol. but in fact our survival as a species has long depended on cooperation, which requires organization, however minimal (and sometimes minimalism is not what is required at all). nihilism isn't honest. it's just selfish. g

A question for someone out there with arcane knowledge: were oxen ever used extensively as draft ...

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

yes of course they were. here is one of many articles i have found with a quick google: https://www.deseretnews.com/article/558316/What-happened-to-the-Wests-oxen.html g

Do you believe it's unethical to eat meat?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i do not believe it is unethical to eat meat. we are omnivores, as a species. there are unethical ways to produce meat and i am against that. every vegan i have ever personally know has become ill from being a vegan and had to stop. every single one. i know someone who has been a vegetarian for about forever but somehow manages not to care much for vegetables. i think she eats a lot of pasta. she is a very intelligent and good-hearted person but healthy she is not. becoming ill from being a vegetarian or vegan would not be related to the ethicality of eating meat so no, if i believed it was unethical (i don't), someone's becoming ill would not change my mind. it would change my mind, perhaps, about its being practical. g

Veggies you like

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

everything but celery. i am particularly fond of brussels sprouts. g

What is your favorite place you've ever lived?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i think i liked best the campus of my first college, fairleigh dickinson university, in northern new jersey. it is a tree sanctuary and used to be a private estate, so the trees are gorgeous, the architecture (except for the newer buildings, for which no trees were cleared) is gorgeous -- georgian? maybe someone can tell me -- and i sort of came of age there, so it's meaningful to me in that way too. i don't know whether i would now enjoy living in the nearest town, madison, but new york city is a medium-length trip away, close enough for a day trip, so whatever madison lacks i could probably find in nyc. come to think of it, there were many annoyances about the part of brooklyn in which i once lived, largely because i was broke and ill and living in a tiny, overpriced room with a loft bed that took up most of the space, with three cats and facilities down the hall, but going into the city was the BEST! not that i would say no to living in paris. i've been there but have not lived there. g

More Atheists know the Bible better than most Christians because the majority of Atheists are ex ...

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i am an atheist and i know "the" bible better than many christians, but i am not talking about the christian bible. with that i am not familiar. familiarity with either bible is not the reason i am not a christian, nor the reason why i am an atheist. i have never been a christian; i was raised as a secular jew. i never read our bible when i was young. i read it out of interest these days. it hasn't changed me into a religious person (i never was one -- well, okay, i was more active as a jew for one year when i was about 14, to my family's surprise and amusement) nor swayed me from my atheism (disbelieved in any gods since age 15) but it's interesting on many levels. i think i have enough of a grip on many parts of it to argue with christians who, for example, think the whole sodom think was about god's hating gays (it was about god's hating the discourteous, unwelcoming and inconsiderate, which describes many of the christians in question!) i can make their heads spin discussing onan. i can agree, conditionally (again, which bible) with your statement that many atheists know the bible better than most christians. i may even be able to agree that belief may well depend on not realizing what it is one purports to believe. my only quibble is that i don't know whether most atheists even ARE ex-christians, and if they are, whether they became so as a result of reading one or the other or both of the bibles. it does depend largely on each reader's sense of humor, i suppose. g

The rise of post-truth liberalism -

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i will add, in response to many of the other responses i see here, that there are no more conservatives. i didn't like their way of thinking when they existed but they no longer exist. now we have liberals/progressives and we have regressives. the regressives, who claim they have conservative values, are profligate and corrupt, and the only thing they're interested in conserving is their own personal wealth and power. g

What's your favor science popularist?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i have a few but michio kaku is so cute and fanciful, i just love to hear him talk, even when i think he's a little flippy. he's smart flippy. i have the science channel on right now. i have to turn it off when it does shows that could be called "big noisy machines and men yelling" or "in search of crap we know isn't real but we want religionists to watch the science channel too" but a lot of its programming is really fascinating. anything cosmological is of particular interest. g

Should professional athletes be required to stand for the national anthem?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

why athletes? what has the anthem got to do with sporting events? (oh yeah, the pentagon paid sports producers to play it to encourage recruitment during one of the world wars. gotcha.) and what has saluting or not saluting the flag got to do with veterans (the common complaint being that kneeling quietly somehow offends veterans)? we don't fight wars for the flag. we fight wars for... well, money, actually, but ostensibly to defend our free country, whose freedom includes the freedom to express our discontent when things aren't going right (such as, oh, i don't know, when black people are murdered for no reason by people whose job it is to protect them, not murder them). how about we stop playing the anthem at sporting events? g

I’ve just had my very first conversation with a stranger who is an atheist.

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

small samples lead to lousy judgments. so you met a stranger who happened to be an atheist and also happened to be obnoxious (in ways you have not specified, so it is hard to understand what bothered you about the conversation). i mean, i have NO idea what behaviors you're talking about. i'm not doubting you -- but i can't have an opinion about behaviors that have not been specified. did the person spit? call you a name? tell you you were stupid? what? anyway, let's imagine (since, without information, all i can DO is imagine) that this person was just plain vile. is this what WHAT is like? it's what THAT PERSON was like. would you judge all women by one rude woman? would you judge all short people by one short person? how about people from iowa? would one rude person from iowa make you ask "is this what it's like"? i also have to wonder what you think "atheist" means. an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in any gods. s/he might even actively believe there are no gods.. that's ALL it means. it doesn't mean a member of a certain club, or a crusader for a certain cause (although since atheists get attacked a lot, sometimes we have the pretty reasonable agenda of getting people to stop attacking us), or people who like pizza, or people who don't like pizza. it JUST means someone for whom there are no gods. so since you don't believe there is a god, in what way are you not an atheist? what is wrong with the word, for you? g

Letting people know I'm agnostic?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

"i'm an agnostic" works. is there some reason another person absolutely needs to know your views on religion? i mean, if someone tries to drag you to a place of worship, it might be appropriate to say that while declining to go, or "no thanks" works too. but if you need to let someone know, just tell that someone directly and honestly. g

How do you tell religious people that you're an atheist?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

how i tell religious people i'm an atheist: i say "i'm an atheist." i don't hang out with religious people, but you never know -- you could get a religious cabbie or be in a social situation with strangers. it can happen. so if someone asks, and it's not inappropriate to ask, i answer directly and honestly. if someone does NOT ask but just assumes, i respond similarly but perhaps with slightly less patience. g

How does one go about being a polite atheist?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

i don't feel a need to broach the subject. why would i? i don't walk up to strangers and tell them i hate celery, or that i think john wayne couldn't act his way out of air, or that i don't intend to get a haircut ever again, so i wouldn't walk up to them and announce my lack of religious belief for no reason either. i might mention any of those things in an appropriate context: someone tries to serve me celery, or show me a john wayne film, or encounters me while my bangs are growing out and i happen to let out a frustrated yelp and then strengthen my resolve. if someone brings up religion, i am not shy about my lack of belief. in the right context, i might bring it up myself, but i am more likely to bring up politics, as it's on my mind more. this is a nice site on which to discuss such things (and discuss other things with folks who also hold no gods) but the fact of my being here doesn't mean i am obsessed with gods or atheism. it's not as if i have an agenda, like trying to get people to quit their religions. i do have a bit of an agenda regarding people who try to lay their religions on me! g

Definition of God

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

nope. there are so many personal gods, and so many conceptions of god as something other than a personal god. i have encountered people who suggest that i am not really an atheist just because i don't believe in any personal gods, and that i really am quite spiritual because... because... well it gets murky there but they suggest that there is such beauty in nature, nature is a kind of god. i tell such people, we already have words for natural phenomenon, and there is no need to redefine a tree as god, or love as god, because that just confuses those real (if sometimes intangible) things with an imaginary humanoid in the sky. so you can define god as pretty much anything if you're in need of a god, but if it's not an omniscient, omnipotent living thing made in man's image, it probably already has another name. g p.s. you might think "how do you know you don't believe in it if you can't define it?" my answer: i am capable of not believing in a whole bunch of stuff at the same time. i don't believe in any gods and simultaneously don't believe in unicorns! (i'm so talented!) i am capable of not believing in zeus or baldur (but i kind of like baldur) while also not believing there is anything paranormal about a tree.

Annoying Christian rhetoric

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

the blessed one is the only one i've ever actually heard! i always get "i'll pray for you" after i've already said i'm an atheist. amazingly enough, as a jew i also encounter "how can you not believe in jesus? he was a jew!" i always reply "so am i. so worship me. wear a fat little old lady on a chain around your neck." i shouldn't be surprised by circular logic from christians but that one is so funny (and frustrating). g

Does anyone else feel like there's an increase in Christianity being treated "as the norm" on ...

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

as a jew (and an atheist, i hasten to add) i have always been more aware of it than others to whom i mention it (everyone is always surprised and claims not to notice). however, i think there really is an increase in the assumption. i see more commercials for online universities, and being christian is mentioned matter-of-factly as one of the universities' advantages. i see commercials for various sects. shows appear to be culture-bound in a christian way. i'm not just noticing it more (because as i say i have always noticed it). there IS more. g

Who likes obscure words? I have just come across this one anthropophagi.

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

well i hadn't heard it, but phage is eat, so it wasn't too hard to figure out! g

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

my guy, who is not an atheist, will go to synagogue this sunday evening to celebrate rosh hashana. i might go with him. now why would i do that? after all, i AM an atheist. well, for one thing, i don't get why we have to date our days from when the time of a possibly fictional character who, as portrayed, was jewish and therefore marked his days by the jewish calendar, which says sunday night begins the new year. the jewish calendar doesn't have an a.d. (anno domini, year of our lord) -- i don't see any years as the year of anyone's lord -- or b.c. (before christ, an alien concept to a jew as well as to an atheist). so i am okay with marking the new year this sunday. for another thing, i like to go places with my guy. it makes him happy for me to sit next to him -- i always sit front row center, which i think he finds slightly embarrassin, but i am long-legged and short-waisted and if i sit in the back i can't see! anyway he always gives me a nice kiss right there in the front row and tells me he loves me and wishes me happy new year. and for yet another, i rather like how it's done. the music is nice, the sermons are interesting (no hellfire in a jewish sermon, folks!) and 10 days later, when the yom kippur fast is broken (i am diabetic so even if i were inclined to fast i couldn't -- jewish law would forbid me to endanger my health) the food is FABULOUS! you should see the huge mound of lox! i love lox. i mean, i really, really love lox. i like the high holy days, even if i don't consider any days holy, or hold the concept of holiness (not in the religious sense, anyway). i don't have bad memories or associations with going to shul; my family never went except if someone got bar mitzvah'd, married or buried. i was raised secularly, but reform and conservative jews don't badger their kids (or neighbors) with religion anyway. so my gorge doesn't rise when i go, although i understand why someone who has been inundated with religion (generally christian) might balk. it's like a special event for me. so if i am well enough to go (that's always an issue with me) i will accompany my guy and have a cool weekend doing that. g p.s. around this time of year, i love baffling people -- the metro mobility bus driver, for example -- by wishing them happy new year. they get SO confused!

Being on the net as often as i am, i need the civility-fixes here at agnostic.

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

ah but preaching to the converted, to use an oddly appropriate phrase, doesn't do as much good as countering the widespread crap. g

What is something you ate growing up that you never ate again once you became an adult?

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

nothing. there were things i wouldn't eat that i now like: lima beans, asparagus and liver. there were things i wouldn't eat that i still won't; white bread, not normal white bread anyway, and celery, eww. but stuff i was forced to eat? i don't remember being forced to eat anything, so there isn't anything i had to eat then that i now rebel against. g

How many hours a day do you spend on Agnostics?

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

it's hard to say because i multitask. i have... lemme count... 44 tabs open on this browser and one on a different one, where i sometimes open a second. i go back and forth, around and round, among, at any given moment, this, email, two games i play, one of which has a dozen tabs open right now and the other of which has one tab open on each browser, and facebook, and youtube music playing on another. the others are open for easy reference but i might open another if i need to look something up. so how much of my time is spent here? i check back for responses, or hear a ding and come back to check it out, or have an idea for a post, or browse posts, but i am doing all that other stuff at the same time. g

You are your worst critic? Is that quote true or false?

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

it depends on two things: 1. about whom you're speaking, and 2. what the issue is. it certainly isn't true of donald trump, regardless of the issue. i am my own worst critic when it comes to my looks. i am not my own worst critic when it comes to my musical taste. i have a lot of confidence in that. sometimes people are hard on themselves when they should go easy, but easy on themselves when they should examine themselves more closely. g

Do you think all religious are equal?

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

equally false in terms of involving a supreme being? sure. equally false in terms of what they teach, even if what they teach is ostensibly what the supreme being wants/prefers/demands? no. and the issue does not only underline the presumed christianity vs. islam debate; those are not the only two major religions. i can make a good case, i think, for judaism's being less false, god aside, than other religions, by virtue of its humanism and its focus on the present world instead of an afterlife. in judaism one is not asked to be good in order to get to heaven. one is asked to be good because being good is good. yeah, there's the whole if you love god you love his creation so be good to his creation deal, but the premise survives without god too, which is one reason i can still be a jew and also be an atheist (try doing that with christianity or islam!) judaism also does not condemn doubters, or even disbelievers. the only thing you can do to get kicked out of judaism, so to speak, is take on another god (so buddhism is not incompatible because buddha isn't a god). in addition, jews don't demand that everyone become jewish; it's not a requirement for being a good person (hence the term "righteous gentile) nor to get to heaven (which is not much like the christian or islamic perception of heaven either). there are fewer commandments for gentiles than for jews. jews have 613; for gentiles jews require only seven of those. not to worship idols. not to curse god. to establish courts of justice. not to commit murder. not to commit adultery or sexual immorality. not to steal. not to eat flesh torn from a living animal. number two is open to interpretation, especially for an atheist, since, if there is no god, then saying "goddamnit" is not meant literally and thus might not count. likewise, "sexual immorality" isn't defined right there in the law, and barely defined elsewhere. the rest are not such bad commandments, god or no god, right? (i am not talking about the super orthodox, and i am not talking about the 613, which include rules for kashruth and all that, because i am only considering what jews and other religionists expect from OTHER people. levels of interference with others in the universe counts, for me, when considering "equally false." the more you interfere, the worse you are, right?) compare that to some sects of christianity whose members kill abortion doctors, or demonstrate loudly at military funerals because jesus hates gays (kind of convoluted, that) or try to legislate the 10 commandments (THE 10, right? not the 613 or the seven!) into law or post them in courtrooms, or who demand that everyone else follow their religion or end of up an imaginary hell (or jail, depending on how your local government ...

[yahoo.com] Brett Kavanaugh Calls Birth Control Contraception-Inducing Drugs - Dark Ages WTF!

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

ignorance is bliss... but only for the ignorant. the rest of us suffer! g

The rise of post-truth liberalism -

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

uh... none of this is actually true, but it sounds all real and well thought out, doesn't it? g

Does Atheism Attract A Specific Political Affiliation?

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

you'd THINK atheists would be democratic, or at least liberal, since the republicans play so strongly to the super-religious, and are so against human rights, including freedom from religion. that's not always how it works out though. people often do things against their own self-interest. g

How does one start a group? I have an idea for one, but I don't know how to start it.

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

discuss -- groups -- create g

Do you make the distinction between being skeptical vs. cynical?

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

i am skeptical of some things and cynical about others. neither term describes my attitude toward the existence or nonexistence of a god. regarding that, i am an atheist. g

How do you make friends?

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

the trick is not how to make friends -- friendship kind of happens -- but how to be exposed to people who might become friends. when i was seven and a half and freshly moved (with my family) into a brand new neighborhood -- not just new to use but actually so new that some houses were still being built -- i walked around the block looking for children. sometimes i saw them in an upstairs window, sometimes on a lawn. i called out "wanna be my friend?" no one did. when i got two thirds of the way around the block i ran into a child almost as ancient as i, and asked her if she wanted to be my friend. she asked me if i liked animals. i did. she said she had a lot of pets and asked if i would like to meet them. i said i would. her pets turned out to be stuffed animals, and we played together, on her bed, every day, until her mother decided i could no longer come into the house unless i said i loved jesus christ. even at the age of seven i knew i couldn't say that, so that was the end of that friendship. so i can't recommend walking around your block calling out to folks your own age. now about trusting people: trusting them to do what, or not to do what? how about browsing around here and finding someone who frequently makes sense to you and seems friendly. then you could message that person with a compliment or a greeting or whatever. "let's be friends" would not be the best approach. just take it easy. it happens, or not. post stuff that interests you, or respond to posts that interest you, friendship grows, sometimes in the least likely places. but if you want some suggestions how to get yourself into a mixed social situation rather than a specialized one (because specialized ones tend to focus so strongly on the specialty you really can't tell what ELSE there is about a person) then i suggest taking a class (in something you're interested in), joining a theatre group (even if you're shy -- it can help with that) or going to a political event (something smaller than a rally; i just went to a labor day bbq!) go for the thing itself, not to find friends. maybe a friend will find you! good luck! g

How true is this ?

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

generalizations are ALWAYS wrong. g

Faith Lost

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

only other fits the bill, the others not only were not my reason for losing faith, and not only were they not in play in my life regardless of whether they were the cause, "losing faith" does not accurately describe what happened to me. first i'll start with the general and then i'll drill down to myself. if bad things happening was a legitimate reason to lose faith, religion would have fallen by the wayside eons ago. i think faith is often a coping mechanism for people to deal with bad things, not something people give up when life turns ugly. how can there be proof god doesn't exist? there would also have to be proof the tooth fairy doesn't exist. it's a nonissue. religious people doing bad things doesn't redound to the deity of their choice unless that deity reveals itself and confirms the order. besides, my cats are atheists and they are sometimes naughty. okay now for me: i was raised as a secular jew. judaism itself relies very little on actual faith as christians know it. there is no basic "shut up and pray" thing going on. questioning is a natural part of judaism. some of the best chassidic stories involve humans having arguments with god! so there was no "faith" for me to lose, per se. what happened was that i found out that what i had been told, and believed, about a completely different matter was wrong, and i decided to reexamine all the things i took for granted. as i like to say, god went out the window pretty early on. there was no trauma involved. i didn't need a reason. i'm not mad at god (or oliver twist or golem, but if you see that tooth fairy, you tell her she owes me!) nothing HAPPENED. i just realized i'd been told there was a god and that just clearly wasn't so. it was as simple as that. g p.s. i am sorry i keep picking on the tooth fairy. it's just so easy!

How can we find the truth about "God"?

genessa comments on Sep 7, 2018:

that's a tough one because you can't prove a negative. you could substitute any myth for "he" (which, by the way, is not a given within every religion). if you substitute the words "tooth fairy" or "spaghetti monster" (admittedly neither of whom are purported to control or guide everything) the immensity of the task becomes clearer. to make it even clearer, not every belief system that involves a supreme being involves one who controls or guides everything, or even anything. so there is a lot to prove or disprove. so let's go back to basics and call this thing god, and assume it has some active interest in what's going on in our lives. look for one thing that cannot otherwise be explained. then realize that our not individually knowing the explanation for a phenomenon doesn't automatically justify attributing it to a supernatural being. there is another element to consider as well: if there is a controlling thingie, and it refuses to reveal itself to us, why are we so concerned with it when it is so little concerned with us? i know you are interested and you have a right to be interested, but i can't help feeling otherwise. i have seen, heard, felt no evidence of any supreme beings, and have seen, heard and felt lots of evidence for natural causes of everything currently attributed to a supreme being, so i don't see any reason even to suspect, much less try to prove, the existence of such a being. (i will admit that the tooth fairy still owes me a quarter, and with interest, a settlement could solve a lot of my worldly problems, but i am not holding my breath here.) okay, that was long. let me ask you a short question: apart from the fact that lots of people SAY there is a supreme being (and keeping in mind that some people SAY that they've been kidnapped by aliens, and others keep missing the deadline for when they SAY the world is going to end), why would you even imagine for an instant that there was a controlling/guiding being? g

Is it normal or strange someone wouldn’t like French kissing?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

it is certainly a personal matter. it is neither normal nor strange. g

Are you racist?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

i not only don't believe that i am racist, i also believe i am not racist (there, we have agnosticism and atheism regarding racism too!) first of all, as ashley montagu eloquently proposed, race an artificial social construct. anthropologically, there are families and populations, not race. now, an artificial social construct has been constructed and therefore exists, as such. it can't be avoided. people are going to notice your skin color, the amount of epicanthic fold you've got, stuff like that. and subcultures have evolved (nonscientific use of the word) from the separations this construct has caused. to be racist you have to think there is something more to it, or at least feel there is something more to it. i hope i don't. g

What is the main reason why you are not religious?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

the ONLY reason i am not religious is that i believe that there are no gods. g

Does anyone believe that theists are generally honest and sincere in their claims?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

there are an awful lot of christians, for example, who are not sincere. there are even more, though, who are sincere but ignorant of their own religion. then there are the super-delusional who are sincere, ignorant of their own religion, ignorant of pretty much everything else in the world, and determined to convince everyone else that they are the sole keepers of the truth. they're absolutely sincere. they're the most frightening. g

What do you do better than anyone else?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

i am the best allegorical thinker i know. i see connections between things. on a practical level this is not as useful as you may think, but it isn't as useless as it looks either. g

What is the best thing to do when someone says something to you you find offensive?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

my reaction would depend on circumstances. if it was someone about whom i cared i would be more likely to challenge that person than if it was someone who meant nothing to me. my response would certainly also depend on whether i perceived that the rudeness was intentional or delivered in ignorance/innocence. it sounds as if the person who advised you to get fit was ignorant, but not innocent -- but it was also someone with whom you have no emotional ties, and from whom you needed some information. if you could come up with a friendly-sounding but somewhat barbed response, that would be cool... but it's not easy to do that on the fly. it's easy enough for me, reading about it, to say you could have said "i'm fit as a fiddle... a bass fiddle!" (passing the remark off as a joke) or "my physical fitness doesn't control the weather" (which would have opened up "but you can control your response to it" for him so maybe that one isn't so great) or "let's focus on fishing instead of my perceived level of fitness" (which could be followed by "... about which you only know what you think you see, which doesn't tell the whole story." but if i were confronted similarly, would i be able to think of those things? maybe. maybe not. but his "sorry" told the tale, didn't it? he knew he'd been rude. so maybe the best answer would've been a pointed "apology accepted." that would show him that YOU knew it had been rude, too. g

What has being a skeptic cost you?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

i will add that homeopathy is not a religion, and that while relying on it in lieu of traditional medical treatment regardless of circumstance would be foolish, learning about it as an adjunct to traditional medicine isn't a terrible thing; it's better than proceeding WITHOUT learning about it! i have medical issues that i treat with standard medications, and i also know that if i have a bout of irritable bowel syndrome, nothing the doctor gives me will help and a nice short program of goldenseal tea will. a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. a lot of knowledge is a lot better! g

Paul Manafort's daughter has filed paperwork to change her last name

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

that is a strong statement, or as my guy just commented, "pretty emphatic." that is just as it should be. the situation warrants it. g

Are you an early bird or night owl?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

whoooooo me? g

When do you feel safe to talk about your beliefs/nonbeliefs?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

i generally feel safe. i was in a cab once with a driver who was a trump supporter and i felt a little fearful then. there was no reason why the conversation should turn to religion, and it didn't, but he had a political radio station on and i did feel he was sufficiently aggressive for me to keep my mouth shut about pretty much everything. i do not evade the topic or lie about my atheism when it comes up. sometimes i even bring it up. g

Questions for Democrats: Which Candidate is your top choice to run for President in 2020?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

i am trying hard not to think about 2020 because 2018 is so important that if things go wrong there will be no 2020, just a sham, worse than 2016. however, i cannot help letting my mind wander once in a while. among my considerations: eric holder, john kerry, deval patrick, cory booker, yes i would love to see a woman as president and i don't care how old she is. why should i? but i don't know offhand yet who, if not hillary, who i still consider to have won the election and who should be president right now. my indecision is not because there are none but because there are many and will be more, and no one has even remotely declared. g

Is it time for us to be a political force?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

it is time, yes, but it is the republicans who have cornered the evangelical market, while even religious democrats recognize that their religion is personal and absolutely must not be legislated. maybe the first thing we need to do... haha is everything, since we're being attacked on many fronts, but okay, ONE of the first things we need to do is get those laws changed in i forget how many states that forbid atheists to run for office. we need to keep the pressure up to get legal action against every attempt to shift public funds from, say, public schools to parochial ones. there is much more but most of it will just be a matter of maintaining a stalemate until we can flip everything blue, and that IS what it will take, because even republicans who are not themselves religious rely on the evangelicals to keep them in power, so they're never going to pass the legislation we need. it's against their self-interest. g

Age of understanding

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

it's different for secular jews. i never did reject the religion (and certainly not the culture) -- just the existence of a god. that happened at 15 as part of a bigger process of questioning everything i held as true. some stuff stuck, others didn't make it through the questioning. god went out the window pretty fast. it wasn't traumatic or anything. it was like "oh. okay." g

What made you smile today?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

one of my cats was watching me sleep. i woke up and caught her at it. that made me smile. g

Anybody out there like musicals?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

i like some, eschew others. i tend to like 'em rather wicked (oh, that's a pretty good one too) like cabaret or chicago; the sound of music leaves me cold. (blasphemy!) i do like singin' in the rain, guys and dolls, pennies from heaven (okay that's pretty dark too!) the wizard of oz, showboat, into the woods, hair, maybe even jesus christ superstar if i'm in the right mood. carousel... NO. just no. no no no. g

I can clearly remember my mom praying (and I’ve heard others say this too) that if her children ...

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

i agree. there are, in fact, delusional mothers who take their children's lives in the belief that they'll be happier in heaven than in this cruel, cruel world, or in the compatible belief that they should die before becoming sinners. be glad your mom just prayed about it and didn't act on it! g

Ceremonies

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

i've been moved by many moments but if any of them happened to be ceremonial, i can't recall. i've enjoyed witnessing some ceremonies, chief among them the inauguration of president jimmy carter (not on tv but in person -- i was there) and his subsequent swearing in of attorney general griffin bell (i worked for doj at the time, and we got to go down to the rotunda and watch that ceremony). but moved? every time i was sent on business from the warehouse-like sixth floor of the doj down to the carpeted (even the hallways) fifth floor (where the attorney general's offices were), i would stop for a minute in front of one of the portraits that lined the hallway walls. most of the portraits were what you would expect: full-on formal pictures of the gentlemen in question staring back at you, doing their best to look serious and competent. the one that caught my attention and held it every time was different. it was a profile of bobby kennedy walking, windblown, along a beach, wearing his late brother's jacket. i stopped and gazed and was moved. g

Yay Oct 7th new series debut

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

i can't wait that long! i faint, i need something to hold onto.... g

Favorite classic TV show?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

one show? one? lol okay here is a short list (short for me, anyway): hill st blues, st elsewhere, murphy brown, quantum leap, m*a*s*h, midnight special, the dick cavett show, the smothers brothers comedy hour, l.a. law, civil wars, law and order, cosmos! i spy, the man from u.n.c.l.e., the professionals, the prisoner, the avengers (with diana rigg), upstairs downstairs, saturday night live (the first couple/few years). second tier: the dick van dyke show, the mary tyler moore show, the monkees (i can't help it; i was 15!), barney miller. i am sure i am forgetting something important (to me) but... it's two in the morning here! g

How do you respond to the “what church do you go to”? Question? Just out of curiosity.

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

i don't get asked that. i sometimes get asked which synagogue i go to. to this i respond "i am not religious" or "i'm an atheist" depending on the context, how well i know the person, etc. i'm not shy about telling people what i do or do not believe but with being jewish it's not as if they're inquiring about my denomination (we just have degrees of orthodoxy). anyone can see i'm not orthodox. the question usually literally means what location, rather than what KIND of synagogue. i can understand that the question is more complex with christianity since there are so many different kinds of christians. still, the question assumes you go to some church! so if you want to be honest you could say "i'm not religious," "i'm not a church-goer," "i'm an atheist," "i am not a christian" or any variation thereof. then the ball is in their court. you've been honest and polite! g

"Gender" is a grammatical term. It has no relevance in a biological context.

genessa comments on Sep 5, 2018:

if you think the brain is part of your biological makeup, then your statement is incorrect. if you do not think the brain is part of your biological makeup, then what IS it (apart from some strange gray jello)? just because people can be gender fluid doesn't mean gender doesn't exist in humans (grammar aside). it's just more fluid than previously thought to be. and there wouldn't BE gender in grammar if there wasn't some perception of it in nature. g

Do you ever feel like you live in a different world to everyone else?

genessa comments on Sep 5, 2018:

we all ARE living in different worlds. we have unspoken contracts: we share roads, sidewalks, language (for the most part) -- but we can't see through others' eyes in a literal sense. dyspraxia complicates things; self-awareness of the dyspraxia must somewhat counteract that, but life is complicated at best, anyway! you're high self-monitor, too. that can be a blessing and a curse. but you know what? since everyone is in a different world, perhaps the best thing to do is appreciate your own the best you can, and let your curiosity bring you into others' as well, as much as possible (all the way is not possible). curiosity should be your driving force. people are interesting! g