Liberty is an inherently offensive lifestyle. Living in a free society guarantees that each one of us will see our most cherished principles and beliefs questioned and in some cases mocked. That psychic discomfort is the price we pay for basic civic peace. It's worth it. It's a pragmatic principle. Defend everyone else's rights, because if you don't there is no one to defend yours. -- MaxedOutMama

I don't just want gun rights... I want individual liberty, a culture of self-reliance....I want the whole bloody thing. -- Kim du Toit

The most glaring example of the cognitive dissonance on the left is the concept that human beings are inherently good, yet at the same time cannot be trusted with any kind of weapon, unless the magic fairy dust of government authority gets sprinkled upon them.-- Moshe Ben-David

The cult of the left believes that it is engaged in a great apocalyptic battle with corporations and industrialists for the ownership of the unthinking masses. Its acolytes see themselves as the individuals who have been "liberated" to think for themselves. They make choices. You however are just a member of the unthinking masses. You are not really a person, but only respond to the agendas of your corporate overlords. If you eat too much, it's because corporations make you eat. If you kill, it's because corporations encourage you to buy guns. You are not an individual. You are a social problem. -- Sultan Knish

All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war. -- Billy Beck

Monday, July 07, 2003

Lest Ye Think I'm a Bible-Thumping Right-Winger

Over on AR15.com, someone asked a series of questions of those of us who are non-believers (and if you have to ask "Non-believers of what?" where have you been the last couple of decades?). Sort of an eight-question quiz of the type that have been so, um, popular around the blogosphere of late.

Here are his questions (in bold) and my responses (in grey):
Our initial kickoff to the USA was the Declaration which says;

"WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness"

*If you do not believe in such a Creator, how can you lay claim to any such unalienable rights as listed in the BOR.
I disagree with the source, not the rights.
If you do not believe in a Creator, how can you sing America the beautiful, Or the National Anthem? How do you pledge "one Nation under God"?
I sing them off-key, and I pledge "to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." The "under God" part was added after the fact, and I ignore it.
Do you think all this was an accident?
I think it just is, and very well could be the confluence of multiple unlikely conditions, but given the vastness of the universe I don't find the odds all that daunting.
Do you think that miracles are impossible and things are a coincidence?
I think that "miracles" are what you call high-improbability events, not "acts of God."
Do you not think there is any higher power?
Higher than what, exactly? Ever seen a quasar? Now THAT's power.
What do you believe in?
I believe that human beings can accomplish whatever they set out to do.
Who/what do you turn to when things seem out of control?
Me, first. Family if necessary. But mostly I'm quite aware that I'm not in "control" - I'm along for the ride, and I can somewhat guide the path, but caca pasa and I deal with it when it does.
What do you think happens after death?
I honestly don't know. Soon enough I'll find out. I like to think that whatever it is that makes me "me" will continue on, or come back and be recycled, but there's no evidence of this that I accept as factual. As far as I can tell, when I'm gone all that will remain of me is the memories I leave in the minds of others, and the things that I have accomplished in my time here. (I have no offspring, nor do I plan to have any.) I'm quite OK with that.
Your thoughts?

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